Hacking defined, via Gizmodo It gets a bit repetitive after the first 30 seconds.
Author Archives: Lance Wiggs
There must be a better way: Airlines that get it right
Third in a series. Sadly no airline gets it completely right, and we won’t be happy until almost all airlines (and airports) get it right. But the good news is that some airlines are getting some of it, and one even gets most of it. Let’s have a quick look at some good practices, and …
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There must be a better way: Qantas shows how not to do it
Second in a series. This is the Qantas airline lounge right now. It is 7:10pm on a Friday night, and these folk are standing because all of the seats are taken. It’s much better outside in the normal section of the airport, though it’s also manic there. Airline lounges seem to be designed for good …
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There must be a better way – The Pain of Flying
It’s 320pm – and I’ve just been trapped in a chair for over 2 hours. Trapped in one location with no chance of standing up, no chance of stretching, and no chance of working. Clearly I am flying. However, it isn’t meant to be like this. I’m sitting in business class, the plane isn’t delayed, …
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Blockbuster and Circuit City = AOL TimeWarner
A brilliant move for Blockbuster – Blockbuster’s business is dying, while Circuit city is in retail – which always has some sort of future. If Blockbuster can raise the money from markets that do not realise their business model is dead, then good on them for exiting a bad situation early. Ignore the rhetoric. The …
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Vertical and Horizontal
If you were following the comments on a previous post, you may have noticed an arcane commentary about “Vertical” documents versus “Horizontal” documents. It’s consulting gobbledegook, but the differences between vertical and horizontal documents are important. Our friends at the NZ Institute are a bunch of consulting refugees, and their output will serve as good …
Global official aid falls – NZ languishes at the back
Pathetic. Official development aid worldwide actually fell by 8.4%, in real terms, last year. This meant a drop from 0.31% to 0.28% of OECD member’s GNI, rather than rising up towards the 0.7% of GNI agreed to at the Gleneagles G8 and UN Millennium + 5 summits in 2005. Much of the change was because …
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New site TheVine shows what really interests “18-29s”
Fairfax Digital Australia and youth publisher LifeLounge have launched a new site: Thevine.com.au, “aimed at 18-29 year olds”. Now like everyone I’d hate to be in a “target market” and I suspect, like “young adult literature”, the real target is somewhat younger, although the design of the site is pretty placid: The surefire killer sign …
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China: all but wheat, sugar and rice
Wheat, sugar and rice, along with “certain paper products” those are the items that will remain subject to tarrifs when we export them to China. They represent about 4% of our exports to China, so not a bad outcome. All three grains are subject to some pretty serious subsidization and quota-driven distortions in the world …
How journos see the world.
Check out this fascinating series of maps which show how various on and ofline newspapers and the blogosphere cover the world. Interestingly NZ is pretty well covered regardless of the source. more here, and flash version with high res links here
Healthcare – double the inflation rate is unsustainable
I’m reading Stiglitz and Bilmes’ new book – The Three Trillion Dollar War. It sets out to show the cost to the USA of the Iraq war, and they go to lengths to be conservative in their calculations (the end number goes over $5bn, but I have not got there yet). But that’s not the …
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3 weeks
It’s pretty obvious that a better offer for Yahoo is not out there, as Microsoft has the wonderful combination of being cash-rich and desperate – and can outbid anyone else out there. But Yahoo directors do not want to lay with the lumbering giant. So this week Microsoft first whispered that the offer may be …
Should you buy an iPhone now?
Imagine buying a new iPod, and then a week later new versions are announced – quelle horreur! Rest easy – MacRumors has the Buyers Guide – that lets you know whether the timing is right to to buy your favoured Apple product. This is news as they’ve just switched the iPhone to “Don’t Buy”, due …
Netguide has fixed their voting – so vote
After last year’s terrible system that required you to register for some dubious website. Netguide have thankfully chosen to use a simple one page form. You do need to enter an email address and name, and a tech savvy person could game the entries, but overall this is a major improvement. Trade Me is still …
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US Share Portfolio update – 12% up YTD
My US Share portfolio (green) in 2007 was up 63.5% versus the S&P500 index return of 3.53%. A great year, and I did sell down a bit around the peak, which hit 77%. Can I do it again? This year to Friday the 28th of March – I’m up just 12.6%, but the index is …
Lance Wiggs 