cpjackson.co.uk

I don’t normally post about financial stuff – however it does make me wonder when the sh*t is going to hit the fan, re: China.

For far too long, we in the west have taken cheap goods from China (and other far-eastern countries) for granted, with little care about the effects. But now China has got the biggest currency stash in the world, it seems we’re approaching a problem.

China has been undervaluing it’s currency for years, which gives an advantage to chinese companies over locals (UK or USA): It means buying slate roof-tiles from China and shipping them halfway around the world is cheaper than buying locally. This has allowed them to stock-pile currency.

People like Dick Cheney are starting to put their money in foreign investment funds… It seems they are realising the dollar could be in dodgy territory.

Over the coming few years the west is going to get into some serious problems, and it all seems to be own our fault! Now that China seems to be wanting to invest elsewhere, this will probably make the interest rates in the US higher and have a ripple effect in the UK and Europe.

… And with the US owing $8 trillion ($2 bil a day in interest) – this is not going to be rosy!

I just hope that it doesn’t have too bad an effect on the tech industry…. Is now a good time to buy memory and hard drives I wonder?!

Technorati Tags: china, currency, money, debt

Microsoft have, quite amazingly, admitted that piracy does actually benefit them. An article on the register quotes Jeff Raikes of Microsoft as saying:

If they’re going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else…

We understand that in the long run the fundamental asset is the installed base of people who are using our products

It’s really just what people have been saying for years. Microsoft will use any method possible to convert users to their software, even if that includes “allowing” users to pirate their software so that they can get a large installed base of users.

Think of it this way: All the users have Vista (pirated) at home, and start moaning at their workplace “This is out of date”…. Forcing the workplace to upgrade (and now pay) for Vista.

I just wish the time would come when Microsoft realise that rather than renting their software out, they should just make it free for consumers/home users.

According to boingboing – 95% of us brits have pissed, shat or puked in public.

I’m not exactly shocked at this statistic? To be honest – the other 5% are just lying.

Mind you – the article does bring up a real problem in the UK – the stupid cost of land at the moment, and the fact that public bogs are being converted into houses/flats.

Technorati Tags: 95% of brits, pissed, puked, public, boingboing

America continues with it’s history of really stupid law suits, this time with a 54-year old doctor who crashed his bike into an 11 year old girl and broke his collarbone.

He says she behaved unreasonably when he rang his bell and shouted “watch out”.

When will people in our society finally realise that accidents happen – and when they do, sometimes the only person to blame is yourself.

I think it’s absolutely awful that a 54-year old doctor could sue an 11 year old girl – she should countersue for mental anguish. This sort of thing would put a lot of pressure on a child, and Alexander Dlugi should feel ashamed of himself.

Technorati Tags: alexander dlugi, bike accident, 11 year old, doctor

It looks like Microsoft will be facing further EU fines in the anti-trust battle.

… The latest formal charges could lead to new
daily penalties on top of fines already levied.

“You have to look at their attitude faced with other antitrust authorities in other jurisdictions. This is a company that apparently does not like to have to conform with antitrust decisions,” Todd told a news conference.

It couldn’t happen to a nicer company – SHOW US THE CODE.

Technorati Tags: microsoft, antitrust, showusthecode

I’ve just been reading about a big issue some people over in the USA are having with a domain name FamilyAlbum.com.

It seems that GoDaddy.com has taken the FamilyAlbum.com domain from it’s rightful owner because emails to FamilyAlbum.com were not getting through… They then cancelled the domain. After it was cancelled, someone came along and bought it.

GoDaddy are trying to defend their position, and have said they were completely in their rights to cancel the domain, but have offered to give the domain back (!?) if the old owner is willing to indemnify godaddy against legal action from the new owner.

UPDATE 2/28/07: Here’s an update from the (former) owner of FamilyAlbum.com. GoDaddy has offered to get the name back for him if he indemnifies GoDaddy from legal action by the new registrant.

How disgusting. It’s plainly obvious that this is GoDaddy’s fault – but they are trying to worm out of it, and not admit that they are totally at fault for losing this domain name.

Technorati Tags: godaddy, familyalbum.com, whois