Boycott Apple – Really?

Apple, the computer giant whose sleek products have become a mainstay of modern life, is dealing with a public relations disaster and the threat of calls for a boycott of its iPhones and iPad.

via Apple hit by boycott call over worker abuses in China | Technology | The Observer.

Two Important things to note about this ‘bogus-ness’:

A) Foxconn make lots and lots of consumer electronics for practically every company on this earth. Xbox or PS3 yup that’s them.

B) Apple, has been extraordinarily transparent about its manufacturing record. But, rules and expectations do not translate from one country to another.

“If you add up all the workers who have died to build your iPhone or iPad, the number is shockingly high,”  – Peter Cohan : Forbes

Finally, if your going to write sound-bites, at least have the decency to give the number or cite the source.

Bogus Science: Computer Games = Dementia

Children’s brains could be left damaged and they could suffer temporary ‘dementia’ by playing computer games, a leading scientist has warned.

via Computer games leave children with ‘dementia’ warns top neurologist | Mail Online.

I think it would be entirely appropriate to lose the “Leading” and “Scientist” from the article.

A “Leading Scientist” would be happy to publish papers in order to be peer-reviewed. Baroness Susan Greenfield as zero science behind this stupid claim. Lets make some wild claims to get funding and recognition for my current do-gooding project.

RBS: Win for Team GB – £320m vs a Bonus.

Thanks to a mob mentality of those who are ill-informed or just plain stupid. Forcing the RBS Chief to refuse his bonus has just written £320,000,000 (the loss is growing see) off the market cap of RBS.

That means this whole debacle has cost the taxpayer at least £262,400,000. Paying the bonus in the first place would have cost the tax payer nothing, the payment was coming out of profits.

And as for the idiots who think good money is being thrown after bad at RBS. RBS is owned by the taxpayer and not funded.

Well done to the Ed Millerband and the cronies.

First rule of security.

The first rule of security, the mechanism for your security/encryption should be able to fall into enemy hands without compromising said security.

Several years after the theft of source code for several of its security products, Symantec has recommended that users of pcAnywhere, which allows users to remotely connect to another computer, disable the software until further notice.

via Symantec warns users to disable pcAnywhere in wake of source code theft | The Verge.

 

Cable: Shareholders More Power… Who are the shareholders?

One measure announced was greater power for shareholders to block excessive pay or redundancy packages.

via BBC News – Government plans to curb executive pay announced.

The once great Vince Cable, sprouting some tosh. Thanks to the coordinated effort of the worlds’ central banks, dolling out effectively free money to anybody who asked. Large corporations/companies i.e those big enough to have shareholders, have been steadily buying back their shares.

So lets give more power to the shareholders… I think I can foresee a problem with this.