Charles on… anything that comes along

John Dvorak one day, Paul Thurrott the next. At the latter’s blog are some (?alleged?) pictures of the new HP iPod.

Ah, so Paul, will those play WMAs as you forecast in January (”to add support for WMA format to the iPod by mid-year. You heard it here first”). I don’t think iTunes offering internal WMA->MP3/AAC conversion counts, really. Just say: “I was wrong.” I managed it, so can you.

To be fair I should also put up my list of predictions for this year, as they’re now behind a paywall, and so less easy to pick apart. (Here’s the Slashdot thread from it. Note that a lot of the predictions there are the posters’, and that the link back to The Indie page is now 404 - we reorganised.) The majority (of mine) remain or have come true. One I recall being wrong is that a virus did appear with a malicious payload. Oh well.

If I ever organise myself sufficiently I’ll put it on the site somewhere. I’ve done the HTML conversion; now it’s just a question of completely overhauling the site, with new index, directories, and CSS.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Zapping the boiler-room spammers (6 November 2006; score: 42.34%)
• If the name fits... (26 May 2005; score: 37.11%)
• Silly season? Yes, I may have heard of it (30 July 2008; score: 35.19%)

The long wet summer has finally got to them over at ZDNet. Another rainy day, another daft press release, and pop! Result: at last, what everyone needs to know about what journalists think about the plethora of useless surveys, at Take your surveys with a pinch of salt - ZDNet UK Comment. It’s been a good irony harvest this year, even if the wheat’s been a bit damp.

The message for PR people? Most surveys are junk - save us all the bother unless you know what makes a statistically valid one.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• A quick survey: does anyone believe surveys? (27 July 2004; score: 51.65%)
• But hang on, if they're phishing.. (9 April 2005; score: 51.53%)
• That's funny, I thought the answer was 'an iPod' or 'Robosapien' (7 December 2004; score: 36.68%)

In a bar last night, I noticed as a young kid walked in and approached a couple who were sitting - quite far inside the bar - and opened out a sheet of printed paper and started giving them some spiel.

He looked South American, and small; and I did wonder why he’d gone so far into the bar, when there were lots of other groups of people nearer the door. The couple shook their heads at him while he did his spiel - it seemed (I was standing a few yards away) like some quasi-religious thing for which he was seeking donations.

Seemed like. After a while he gave up and went. Out.
And a moment later the guy leaps up and yells “Hey! Stop that kid!” Under cover of the sheet of paper, the kid had nicked the guy’s mobile phone. Unfortunately for the kid, they guy was wearing running shoes.

I’m fascinated by these scams, and the variety of scams. That one is essentially a magic trick: distract the audience while you do something else. Tell me what scams you’ve witnessed, or experienced. (419 emails don’t count. Too common.)

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• iPod arrives... and is a clunker^W^W ..maybe OK (20 October 2005; score: 37.98%)
• How editors think the newsroom works, and how it really does (8 November 2006; score: 28.21%)
• First thought on eBay buys Skype (12 September 2005; score: 27.94%)