Gas Prices around the world.

With gas hitting $3/gallon today in some parts of the US, I figured I’d let you in on what other countries are paying.

here’s some gas prices (converted to US dollars per gallon) from around the world:

UK: $5

Germany: $5

Italy: $4.86

Japan: $3.84

Australia: $2.63

China: $1.54

Russia: $1.45

Azerbaijan (no clue where this is) $1.15

And finally…

Venezuela: $0.14 No, that’s not a typo!

Anybody else wanna move?

January 1st, 2005

0.000001 % = a HUGE problem?

Reading Wired today I noticed an article titled “MySpace has a perp problem” where they run the database of sex offenders against a MySpace search.

Their results? 5 confirmed accounts of sex offenders on myspace.

5!! that’s not a problem… 5/500,000,000 = .000000001 That’s really really really small. that’s 0.000001 %

It’s not like looking for a needle in a haystack and finding a pincusion.. it’s like looking for a needle in 100,000,000 haystacks.

This seems like such small numbers that it’s not even statistically significant.

I just wish the media would quit inventing problems and deal with actual ones.

Besides, who cares if a sex offender uses myspace?

In this example.. none of them had children in their friends list. NONE!!

Guess what.. tons of sex offenders use AIM, Yahoo, Gmail, and (gasp) most of them have computers too!

While we’re playing the numbers game.. I can say that statistically more sex crimes are committed by people with no criminal history than sex offenders. (there’s more non offenders, and most offenders are in jail.. duh!)

so OMG, WTF.. we need to protect ourself from non offenders too….

I don’t see the media going crazy with that statistic though..

January 1st, 2005

Wacky Taxes

Think you’re getting bent over this tax season? It could be worse:

• Arkansas taxes tattoos and piercings.

• Tennessee taxes illegal drugs.. that’s right, you need to pay a tax to put a stamp on your pot..pothead.

• Don’t play poker in Alabama.. they tax playing cards

• Maine taxes blueberries.

• Utah taxes sexually explicit business.. (wonder if blogging in your underwear counts?)

It could be worse though.. the average US citizen pays 29% in taxes..

Compare that to france where they pay 50.1% and we have it sorta good.

January 1st, 2005

New Car Time

Ok, it’s new car time. Here’s the short list of what I’m considering. Basically.. if it doesn’t go topless, it’s not for me.

Which one would you get?

Mustang GT convertible

Solstice

Sky

Thunderbird convertible

Corvette

crossfire conv

I really really like the Sky, but there’s an 8 month waiting list..

I’m also limited to Ford, GM, Chrysler, and Toyota cars… otherwise I’d have already bought the nissan 350z

Somebody help me decide.

January 1st, 2005

Apple Customer Service

Let me tell you a story about how NOT to treat your customers.

When ordering my Ipod online, I decided to order the play it over your car stereo accessory, so I added it to the cart too. A quick check of it’s description says “works with all Ipods”.

Upon recieving my order though, I found out it was an old package and it didn’t work with the new ipod that I ordered.

So, I called Apple, explained the situation and asked that they send me a box to return it. While on the phone, I also ordered a correct part and a AC adapater from the gentleman. I was going out of town, so I paid for next day shipping to use it on my trip.

Well, it came next day, but signature required.. so I didn’t get it next day, in fact I got it 5 days later! Even worse, I had to drive 20 miles to the fedex office to pick it up myself because they had “retryed” shipping while I was away, and wouldn’t leave it without a signature.

So, I called Apple again and asked them to refund me the shipping, as it’s only fair that I don’t pay for shipping when I have to pick something up right? Well, they hung up on me.

It’s at this time I notice that the power adapater the guy sold me is only an attachment, not the adapter itself.

Since my box for the itrip hadn’t arrived yet, I decided to give up and take it to the apple store 30 miles from my house. Store credit only.

I say fine, give me the right stuff… sorry we’re out of stock.

Finally the manager gave me my money back and all ended well, but should I really have to go through all this just to order a power adapter and car part for my ipod?

January 1st, 2005

Copyright Infringement

I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.. but not in this case.

While reviewing my site logs, I found a hit from another website that was an exact copy of my txt2day.com website. I mean exact.. the wording, the layout, the images, everything. IN fact, his FAQ page even had my site’s name in it!

anyway.. I sent off the usual cease and desist letter, and this is what I got back:

Please, provide the proper proof that the website is indeed yours. I require the sales reciepts, payroll for the coders you hired to create the site, proper copyright documents showing you have file the proper copyrights to the concept of creatting a text messaging script. I have bought the script from a user and would like to find out if they have cheated me, but without the proper proof I will take it that your copying thier work and have indeed tring to harass me to not use thier script and will follow up with proper legal action’s. You are annoying me with the emails. Please, provide all contact details to me or I will have a legal right to follow up with a lawsuit against you.

Have a nice day.

Name Removed

Payment details? sales receipts? copyright documents? None of these things exist for any website, let alone are required by law.

The law is simple.. I made it first, and I can prove that.. he copied the exact wording. Anyway, him and his laywer will be hearing from my attorney first thing in the morning. I don’t have time for this immature crap.

January 1st, 2005

You Owe Royalties

No seriously.. thanks to the wonderful invention of the Patent, if you’ve ever done one of the following tasks, you owe the patent holder royalties:

• licked a postage stamp

• swung sideways on a playground swing

• compared 2 numbers to see if they are “not equal”

• Used a stick as a dog toy.

• used a laser pointer to entertain or exercise a cat (4 patents relating to this)

• Made a webpage with a form on it.

• sent a smiley face 🙂 over a wireless device

Anybody else know of any crazy patents?

January 1st, 2005

Customer Service Donts

Don’t: Put your customer service web page online without having a copywriter read it first.

Example: Yahoo’s YPN (ad program) help page. It lists a phone number to call for support, but next to it there is an email form with the words “for prompt support..” above it.

I say “oh great, prompt support with no holding”.. Fill out the form, and get this. “Thank you. You should hear from a Yahoo representative within 48 hours….”

48 hours is NOT prompt. If it is, just how long were you planning on leaving me on hold if I called the phone line?

This will NOT reduce your call log, it will only get you double the complaints when all the people who sent you email get tired of waiting and call.

January 1st, 2005

Poker TIp: When NOT to bet

I promise I won’t turn this into a Poker Site.. But I want to offer some valuable poker tournament advice.

Sometimes, it’s more profitable to NOT bet at all when you have the best hand.

Here’s a common mistake most players online make.

You’re in the big blind. The small stack moves all in. the small blind folds, and you look down to see a marginal K10. You call and the flop hits. There’s a flush draw, and a straight draw out there, but you have a pair of 10s.

DON’T BET.

Here’s why: If the other stack has that flush draw or straight draw, you don’t want to bet him out. Don’t risk lettign the small stack triple up. Check it down, and chances are one of you will take him out.

In the world of online gambling, seasoned players, especially those familiar with UFA ???????????????, often rely on their instincts to make strategic moves. However, it’s not uncommon to encounter players attempting to bluff, hoping to force opponents with better hands to fold, inadvertently allowing players with smaller stacks to triple up.

Remember, in tournaments it’s not how many chips you get, it’s what place you finish in.

Check it down, get the guy out, and it’ll help everybody make more money in the long run.

January 1st, 2005

More UI Nightmares

A few days ago I talked about how MSN screwed up the user interface on their new MSN Live search engine, but will that really hurt them?

If history proves, it’s not the interface that matters, it’s the marketing. Look at Red Bull… They not only successfully marketed a piss tasting energy drink, they created a market for piss tasting energy drinks, but I want to talk about a more ubiquitous product (is that even a word? It should be!)

The Ipod has to have the WORST user interface design ever! Seriously, how intuitive is it to have to scroll your finger in a circle to turn up the volume or select a song? That’s not natural.

Another non natural feature is the time delay of buttons. Press the play button and it pauses, hold it down though and it powers off. That doesn’t make sense.

Even worse, there’s a “hold” switch at the top, that makes the other buttons not function.. good idea as it’s very easy to press the play button when my ipod is in my pocket.. but here’s a better idea…

Just make the hold switch the power button… It’s impossible to accidentaly flip that lever, and then you won’t have to worry about the time delay button stuff that confuses the hell out of most consumers.

Remember, these are the same people who think that they plug their ipod into their “modem”.

Here’s a tip for all you college students, and MBA’s out there.. UID (user interface design) isn’t about what looks cool; it’s about being intuitive and just working.

January 1st, 2005