Just one clause, and I’m out of there

17.08.2010/01.38

A contact of mine kindly sent me an invitation to a Chinese business networking site, called Ushi. All seemed well till I looked at the terms and conditions, which have, inter alia: You agree to abide by any and all the related Chinese laws and regulations of the Contract Law of the People’s Republic of […]

I found a new search engine (after Google signed me up to another mystery service)

16.08.2010/12.46

I’ve a bit more reason to moan about Google of late, after a few more dodgy happenings on the site. But before I do, some good news: I found a very good search engine. And it’s not Bing. Ironically, one of the alternatives to Google search that I liked was Yahoo!, but even […]

Deciphering geo-targeting on OpenX; and why Mediaplex is a cheeky sod

21.07.2010/12.34

Between a few of us here and my friend Pete in the UK, we’ve spent nearly two weeks trying to get OpenX to work. We’re ﬁnally getting ad-serving technology put in in-house, after years of relying on the US ad networks we primarily work with. It’s also walking the talk: since I have advocated that […]

Getting Wellington out of debt—by growing the right businesses

01.07.2010/22.42

In plain English, when a city is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt—depending on who you believe, the ﬁgure is between $200 million and $400 million—how do you get out of the hole? 1. You can sell the family jewels, and there’s water left. We tried this in the 1980s, and now so […]

The ‘Wellywood’ sign: people power gets things done

10.03.2010/06.18

That was a very interesting 30 hours. I found out about the ‘Wellywood’ sign yesterday afternoon, through Twitter, and Tweeted to say I hated it. Little did I know then that there was a huge Facebook group—6,000 strong at the time of writing—where Wellingtonians were making their voices known. And when I got there […]

Did I mention I dislike junk faxes?

08.03.2010/05.34

I received yet another junk fax today, which I believe are not permitted under the Telecommunications Act. My enquiries to Telecom suggest that this is the case. This time, it’s a well known business based in town and in the Hutt. And you know what? I’ve now made a mental note not to go […]

Jailed Minnesota Toyota owner may get retrial

27.02.2010/03.49

You can’t help but wonder (without reading the court transcripts and judgement) how the sentencing of Koua Fong Lee could be so harsh. In 2006, Lee’s Toyota Camry, with his pregnant wife, daughter, brother and father on board, accelerated out of control and smashed into an Oldsmobile, killing three people in the second car back […]

I don’t have Gmail. So how did I get a Buzz account again?

18.02.2010/13.48

Can someone please explain to me how I have a Google Buzz account? Yes, I know, all those people complaining about Google Buzz found that their Gmail contacts where, all of a sudden, added to the service. And Google, this week, apologized for messing up. Well, Google, please explain my scenario, because […]

A way to delete your Google Wave account?

15.02.2010/12.51

For those trying to leave Google Wave—and who have had no satisfaction whatsoever from the Google forums (what a surprise)—there might be one way. There are quite a few reasons people want to leave Wave. One netizen had this concern: ‘It appears I have been linked to former associates who I have kept in […]

Google might have signed you up to stuff you never asked for

13.02.2010/12.15

I was getting annoyed at Google for the services it counts as part of my ‘products’, but that was minor compared with what Harriet Jacobs has gone through with Google’s new Buzz service—which appeared to have put her personal safety in jeopardy (hat tip to Simon Green). From what I can tell, Buzz shares, […]