Worrying over Inequality

Strange place for this to be a worry:

Billboards that promote luxury and indulgence undermine the goal of maintaining harmony between the rich and the poor, Beijing's mayor complained, according to the Xinhua news agency Thursday.

Billboards promoting expensive villas, cars and other luxury goods plaster Beijing, often on the high walls that are erected to hide building sites and the demolition of older houses.

"Many use exaggerated terms that encourage luxury and self-indulgence which are beyond the reach of low-income groups and are therefore not conducive to harmony in the capital," Xinhua cited mayor Wang Qishan as telling a seminar on outdoor advertising.

Words like "supreme luxury," "utmost prestige," "extreme comfort" and "hedonism" frequently appear in advertisements for apartments that sell for more than 10,000 yuan ($1,299) per square meter, as well as for townhouses and villas costing millions, Xinhua noted.

I thought they'd stopped worrying about inequality and were in the "it is glorious to be rich" stage?

Nice Ringtones Site

"Ringtones are undoubtedly one of the most popular features that somebody can download from the net. While searching for Ringtones I found a very cool site. GoldRingtone.com is the best site to download free ringtones without restrictions. The information mail I received from the site says that the database is enriched with new ringtones every week. I decided to test it and download some ringtones (Rihanna’s Unfaithull is cool) and it works just fine.

I have to notice that the site offers free free MP3 Ringtones, Real Tones, Midi Ringtones. Every carrier is available. Get free Cingular Ringtones and free Sprint Ringtones.

Besides the site has an informative blog for mobile phones and a page dedicated to the famous Mosquito Ringtones. Do you know what a mosquito ringtone is? It is the new, cool weapon that children use in order to receive a call or an sms without being noticeable from the adults. This is due to the fact that the adults can’t hear some high frequency sounds.

Well, I suppose that Goldringtone is the ideal site for someone who wants to download one or more free ringtones, easily.

Wiki in the new OED

It's that time of year again and the new words are being welcomed into the OED. Wiki's made it:

THE OXFORD ENGLISH Dictionary has granted ‘wiki’ access to its hallowed ranks of words deemed acceptable.

‘Wiki wiki’ is actually a Hawaiian phrase that means ‘quick’ but ‘wiki’ earned global renown in a secondary meaning as a communally editable web page.

'Virtualize' is also there although the OED seems to think its recent upturn in usage comes from virtual reality rather than the techie business of making a computer act as many computers.

Members of think-tank Demos - and how much freedom to nip down the pub for a few hours brainstorming does that job suggest? - have thrown in the opinion that what is really needed is a web page that reflects the fast-moving change of today’s language. Yes, that’s really necessary.

What the fools at Demos think is really of no concern to any sentient being.

Latinos and Web Usage

There could be a couple of reasons for this:

WASHINGTON  —  Latinos are not going online as much as non-Hispanic whites and blacks, even at younger ages where Internet use is far greater, according to a report released Wednesday.

Fifty-six percent of adult Latinos use the Internet, compared with 70 percent of whites and about 60 percent of blacks, according to the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The Internet use of U.S.-born Latinos is comparable to that of whites, but about two-thirds of adult Latinos in the United States were born elsewhere.

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The study found that only one in three Spanish-dominant Latinos use the Internet. Latinos online tend to be primarily English speakers or bilingual and have graduated from college and high school.

"There hasn't been as much attention paid to offline populations as the Internet has become almost de facto in the United States. People assume you are online and that's not the case for everyone," said Susannah Fox, one of the study's authors.

Yup: recent immigrants are likely to be poorer, so they'll use the web less.

iPhone Pricing

One of the big questions surrounding the Apple iPhone is, well, how much will it cost? $499? or at the higher price point of $599?

(Economists know that pricing the iPhone at anything in between is silly, because of people's perceptions of the price.)

The iPhone's $499 and $599 price points are still a hot topic of debate in the geek world, and many Maclots have somehow justified to themselves that they can (and will) spend the money on it. But what does the rest of the general public think?

Market research firm Compete Inc. conducted an online survey of 379 participants recently (really, 379? C'mon guys, I'm sure it's pretty easy to get more participants than that online) about whether they would be willing to buy the Apple iPhone at its current $500 price point. The results were not all that shocking: of the 26 percent who replied and said they'd buy an iPhone at all (so that's what, 99 people?), only one percent—roughly 1 respondent—said that they would pay $500 for the device.

One is a very lonely number indeed. 

42 percent of those who said they'd be willing to buy an iPhone said that they'd be willing to spend $200 to $299 on it, which I do admit is a much more attractive price tag than $499. Analyst Andy Neff from Bear Stearns & Co. told IDG that it's likely that Apple will debut the phone at this price at first, but will likely drop the price by $100 to $200 as Apple targets the mass market. If the results of this (extremely small) survey are any indication, Apple's going to have to if they want the iPhone to achieve iPod levels of consumerism nirvana. 

Well, the sensible thing to do is to bring it in at the higher price point and sell it to those who will in fact pay that much first. Then, 6 months later, bring in the upgraded model, drop the price of the first one and maintain the market segmentation.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online

Disney is to offer a free online game based on the movies Pirates of the Caribbean:

Disney Online will offer the legions of fans who have flocked to see Captain Jack Sparrow in movie theaters a chance to star in an original video game adventure for free with "Pirates of the Caribbean Online."

The massively multiplayer online game, slated to launch in the spring in conjunction with the May 25 theatrical release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," will bypass retail and be available via a free download at www.PiratesOnline.com.

The game takes place in an alternate universe, with a new story arc that introduces Jolly Roger as a nemesis. Players must help Sparrow get his crew back together to find the Black Pearl and restore order. The story line will span hundreds of hours of gameplay, and Disney Online will launch free expansions for the game every two to three months.

Who knows how good or bad the game will be but it will, at least, be free to download. You'll be able to pay for the upgrade though.

 

Technorati tags: pirates of the caribbean, jack sparrow, disney

Phishing Up

Cases of phishing in the UK have soared although it remains a minor problem: 

 

UK incidents of phishing scams have grown 8,000 per cent over the last two years, according to the government's financial watchdog authority. Although losses remain modest compared to other forms of financial fraud, banking security experts speaking before the House of Lords science and technology committee are concerned about the growing prevalence of scams designed to trick consumers into handing over online banking credentials.

Rob Gruppetta, of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) financial crime team, told the parliamentary committee, "We are very concerned about the rate of increase. It has gone up by 8,000 per cent in the past two years. But in the grand scheme of total fraud it is still quite small," he added.

Judging by the number of phishing attempts that come into my email box (7 so far today) they must be making decent money when they actually manage it.

 

Technorati tags: phishing

Nokia 9000i

The Nokia 9000i is a mobile phone for the US market.

Specifications are as follows:

	Telnet
	Cover page options
	PC file transfer and backup via cable or infrared*
	Sync with ACT! database and other applications*
	Connect to printer with cable or infrared*
	Upload and download contacts
	Personal calendar
	Address book
	Scheduler with alarm
	Remote calendar appointment booking
	To-do list
	Handsfree speakerphone
	Conference calling*

For further information and specifications please visit the Nokia 9000i web page.