* Posts by John Ford

6 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Dec 2010

Apple's Retina Macs: A little too elite?

John Ford
Facepalm

Ego-feeding price tags.

All manufacturers need a flagship piece of kit so that the self-important PHDs/MDs can get 'the best' laptop money can buy in order to run basic power point presentations and spreadsheets. It's foolish not to service this demand with a huge mark-up. Fit for purpose doesn't come into it. See also the type of car these pr*cks invariably drive.

Top Facebook exec begs students: 'Click on an ad or two'

John Ford
Facepalm

Trash

Given most of the ads I've seen on facebook are of the scammy 'you've just won an iPad!' or 'You have a secret admirer, click here to find who' variety it's no surprise people aren't clicking. There's a finite amount of morons. I suspect those kind of companies don't pay their bills either.

'Perfect storm' drives electronics stores to EXTINCTION

John Ford
Meh

Supermarkets?

From what I've seen, supermarkets gouge for accessories too - any kind of audio cable or extra is about 5 or 10 times the ebay/amazon price. I once wanted a cable to connect an MP3 headphone socket to the 1.5mm jack input in a car - a fiver in ASDA, without even the promise of gold contacts or any of the other upselling bullshit.

I just pinched the old tape lead from the ZX spectrum in the attic, job done.

Teens break up with Facebook

John Ford
FAIL

Bloat

Nobody has made the connection that the bloated mobile app for facebook (on android and IOS) isn't actually very good, and this may be contributing to user churn? It's why I prefer twitter, it actually bloody works most of the time.

The problem with a lot of succesful sites is that they attract a shed load of money which they then feel compelled to spend on developers to add more whistles and bells that make the site less and less useable. Why have a simple hyperlink when a drop-down menu that scrolls off the page or freezes up the browser will do? See also Flickr, eBay, BBC sport and the desktop twitter client. Simplicity is underated.

UK cops arrest five in Anonymous attacks probe

John Ford
Unhappy

Priorities

This shows the police can move when there is political will for them to act. A pity they can't apply the same resources to spammers, ebay crooks, hawkers of stolen property on Gumtree etc. who make life crap for regular folks.

Queen set to outlaw ID cards today

John Ford
Unhappy

Cards for sorrow, cards for joy...

I wish I'd got an ID card now, it would have been a valuable collectable in the future.