PCWorld has listed Fifteen Consumer Electronics Design Mistakes, “modern marvels of technology [that] drive us bonkers, day after day.” Top of the list is the “red light off” LCD that reminds us our VCR, TV, etc is on stand-by. As the article points out, an “off” light is almost by definition redundant and pointless. Number […]
Wag/celebrity multi-tasker Cheryl Cole has the most asked-for hair, according to UK hair salon chain, Rush. Cole has been dubbed the “nation’s new sweetheart” by our tabloids and it’s hard to escape her dulcet Geordie tones on TV. She is the face – or rather hair – of L’Oréal and it is wholly predictable that […]
YouTube celebrated its fifth birthday the other day (they’re younger than Paperstone!), The video-streaming site was launched on 14 February 2005 and is now a permanent fixture of popular culture. Its centrality is taken for granted by the millions who post visual ephemera every day and recognised by all but the most naïve politicians who […]
Naomi Klein writes in The Nation that although debt cancellation is to be welcomed, The West in fact owes Haiti much more. Our debt, she argues, stems from four sources: slavery, the US occupation, dictatorship and climate change. This is not merely a moral argument – the claims to repayment “rest on multiple violations of […]
Prospects for continued economic recovery looked a bit bleaker as it emerged that the Treasury borrowed another $4.3 billion last month, the first time Britain has been in the red in January since records began in 1993. Economists had expected a surplus of £2.8 billion in a month that should be bolstered by tax receipts. […]
Strong Xmas sales of PCs and printers have seen a 25% rise in the profits of Hewlett-Packard (HP). Its net profit for the three months to 31 January totalled $2.32bn (£1.48bn), compared to $1.86bn for the same first quarter period a year earlier. Revenues were up 8% to $31.2bn, higher than market predictions. The company […]
Photoshop, the graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems, is currently celebrating its 20th birthday. The program was first released on February 19th 1990 and quickly became the image manipulation tool of choice for media outlets and individuals alike. So much was the penetration of the program into popular culture that “to photoshop” […]
See John Maynard Keynes – advocate of interventionist economic policy – and Friedrich von Hayek – defender of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism – battle out their economic thing through the medium of rap. Which skool of economic thought do you subscribe to? Chorus: We’ve been going back and forth for a century [Keynes] I […]
The shortlist for the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year, 2009 has been drawn up. The public are invited to vote for their favourite and the winner will be announced on 26 March. Since last year, submissions for odd candidates have been accepted from the public. The book’s title, however, should […]
Despite our anxieties about internet security, identity theft and online fraud, some of us don’t make much of an effort when it comes to conjuring passwords. Security company Imperva has analysed the passwords of 32 million accounts of RockYou.com, a social networking application and advertising site which stored passwords on behalf of sites such as […]
How to plan the office Christmas party Whether you count down the days, or desperately scrabble around for an excuse not to go, the office Christmas party is an event on almost every company’s calendar. So, how do you plan a party that everyone will enjoy? It’s a tricky balance to get Bob from Accounts […]
Top tips to improve your time management skills Despite what people say, time is not a commodity. It cannot be traded, expanded or reduced. It is fixed. Our perception of time, however, is another concept. How often do you think at 4pm “Where has the day gone?” and go into panic mode to try to […]
Planning in business is essential Everything from the monthly sales drive to a new product launch or project needs planning. It promotes joined-up thinking and good decision-making throughout the whole organisation. “A goal without a plan is just a wish”, observed the famous writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery, summing up a key business principle. Each business […]
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