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Customs moves in on cut-price CDs, DVDs and games
According to The Inquirer, HM Customs isn’t too chuffed with companies such as Tesco setting up offshore CD/DVD/games shops to dodge VAT. A crackdown seems inevitable; expect Bittorrent downloads to go up, then… Update, 27 June The Inquirer reports that Jersey’s authorities are moving to close the tax loophole.
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Feed me, feed me, feed me
I was updating my big list’o’links this morning and realised something: of the sites I’ve linked to, I’ve barely visited the ones without RSS feeds. It’s not intentional, it’s just that when you get used to newsreader software you spend less and less time using your Web browser. I wouldn’t go as far as Microsoft’s…
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eBayers strike back
Today’s papers mention that Bob Geldof is appalled by the online touts flogging Live 8 tickets on eBay, but what the stories don’t mention is that the eBay community is already doing something about it. While a search for tickets uncovers hundreds of listings like this: Most of them now look like this: This isn’t…
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Journalists are bad for your health, again
As I’ve mentioned before, some of the health articles in magazines are wrong at best and dangerous at worst. The current issue of womens’ title R contains a particularly blatant example: under the banner headline “Is Salad Making You Fat?” it spends three pages singing the praises of the Novo Programme. The Novo Programme is…
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Smart mapping
Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble links to this stunning map/search system from Switzerland. It’s very impressive; as Scoble writes: This thing is awesome. Zoom in. Click on a parking lot. It shows you how many spaces still are open in that lot. Click on a webcam. See a live webcam.
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Things I have learnt while lying on the sofa recovering from back surgery
In no particular order: * When you see GQ magazine in the newsagent, you immediately forget that the last issue was rubbish and buy the current issue because it looks interesting. So you take it home and… it’s rubbish! * Women’s magazines are much more interesting than men’s magazines. This month’s GQ? A man ranting…
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Mr Jobs, I’m ready for my Tablet Mac
Now that the dust raised by the Apple/Intel news has settled somewhat, various sites are asking the big question: what does it all mean? If The Register’s readers are typical, a significant chunk of people are going to hold off purchasing new Macs – not just until the Intel-powered versions are out, but until version…
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Copyright out of control
Max Barry, author of the excellent sci-fi novel Jennifer Government, comments on the UK’s plans to extend copyright protection: I’m a writer and earn my entire living from copyright, but this is nuts. Copyright has become a corrupt, bastardized version of itself. [Via BoingBoing]
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Get your apps out
I’ve been meaning to do this for ages: a quick list of the applications that make my Mac world a better place. I’d be interested in your own nominations: Tigerlaunch One of the things I miss from Windows is the Start button. TigerLaunch basically gives you a Mac equivalent: click on the icon in the…
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Apple goes Intel
Interesting: as of this time next year, Apple will start shipping Intel-powered Macs. It makes sense, but as one Rick James (presumably not the esteemed funkmeister) notes in an Engadget comment: Who the F*** is going to buy an apple PC over the next year with a processor that is effectively redundant? Price cuts ahoy?…