Author: Carrie

  • More fun with eBay buyers

    David’s selling a phone for me on eBay, and the first listing was invaded by scammers. Relisted with the usual “I’ll only deliver to the UK” stuff and the following bit of blah: This is a re-listing thanks to time-wasters, so unfortunately I need to take a few steps to avoid the scammers. I’m afraid…

  • Fergie “looks like something Aquaman would fight”

    If you’ve ever wondered why celebs are mumbling unhappily about appearing on giant, high definition TV screens, the professionally nasty What Would Tyler Durden Do? gives an insight: hi-res pics of erstwhile Black Eyed Pea Fergie are perhaps a little more hi-res than she might like. Usual disclaimer: WWTDD is usually foul-mouthed and more often…

  • eBay again

    [Quick recap: my eBay account was compromised by villains; eBay spotted and spanked them, but forgot to credit the fees they’d run up. Many emails ensued, and most recently eBay promised to refund the fees and said “don’t worry, we don’t expect you to pay these fees”.] INT. A CRAMPED HOME OFFICE – DAY Gary…

  • Slugger O’Toole on battling bloggers

    Mick from Slugger O’Toole casts his eye over the current Britblog battles. Although the current barney revolves around political blogger Guido Fawkes, Mick’s interested in the bigger picture. And yet, according to Ipsos-Mori: “Blogs, or weblogs, are a more trusted source of information than television advertising and email marketing.” So it is the case that…

  • Now that’s what I call an opening paragraph

    From the Daily Mail: A female teacher at a church high school is being investigated over complaints that she operates erotic vampire websites.

  • Dr Ben boots old boot-face

    Ben Goldacre’s gone after Zelda from Terrahawks Gillian McKeith again, and this time it’s serious: ASA verdicts that she can’t call herself a doctor, selling products in defiance of the law, that sort of thing. So naturally he does what any right-minded person would do: he sticks the boot in. Heh.

  • You don’t need Vista to view Da Vinci

    Can’t remember which paper it was in, but there was a piece this morning saying that Bill Gates is a big old baddie because if you want to see the British Library’s digitisation of his Leonardo Da Vinci notebook, you need to spend at least £100 on Vista. Not true: the app runs on XP…

  • The dangers of decorating

    I’m painting walls this weekend, which gives me an opportunity to catch up with the various tunes on my iPod I haven’t really got round to. However, I think paint fumes do something to my brain: while I’m not particularly surprised to discover that I love Tom Petty’s Highway Companion, that I like roughly half…

  • Fake blogs and Googling guests

    A few bits and pieces from the papers: I hadn’t spotted this before, but under new trading standards legislation due this year firms who pretend to be punters online – by writing fake blogs, or posting “user reviews” of their own products or services – face prosecution. Apparently even author reviews on Amazon will be…

  • Optimistic marketing

    Marketers offer all kinds of goodies to make products more attractive, but I fear that sometimes their choice of gimmick may be a mistake. I think this one, from an ad for a firm selling vanity number plates, may be one such mistake: Free magazine – featuring Paul Daniels!