Interesting Links for 30-3-2011

[andrewducker]

• Technical Debt on DreamWidth and Livejournal.
  (tags: dreamwidth livejournal programming)
• GAME staff told to buy 3DS from Tesco, so they can resell them second hand for a profit!
  (tags: computer_games nintendo consoles)
• Irish banks in a worse state than previously thought. Completely fucked, in fact.
  (tags: banking ireland property EpicFail)
• Times/Sunday Times online readership rises to 79,000. £2/week - is that viable?
  (tags: RupertMurdoch online paywall TheTimes)
• Who Wrote The Bible and Why It Matters
  (tags: religion bible christianity history)
• Next season of Mad Men confirmed - for 2012. Episodes will be shorter, have less people, and more product placement...
  (tags: madmen tv wtf)
• The Dutch have levied a 100% tax on bonuses at failed banks. Chances of it happening in the UK....not high.
  (tags: banks europe finance banking)
• Your New TV Ruins Movies - how to calibrate a TV so that it looks like it should.
  (tags: movies tv technology)

Comments

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

It doesn't surprise me that Game did this, it isn't uncommon for smaller businesses to take advantage of others loss leaders.

I remember talking the landlord of a pub we used to go to in Ayrshire. He used to go to Asda and buy cans of lager and cider in large quantities when it was on special offer because Asda were selling it for less than 50% of the price he could buy it for from the brewery wholesalers.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

News Corp were for a while artificially inflating their subscription figures to make it look more popular than it was, as in, they were counting people on free trials as paying subscribers.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Technical debt is a very good way of putting it -- I will remember the term and chuck it at project managers who don't yet get the concept!


> it's a common truism that code you yourself wrote six months ago is as impenetrable as code written by a complete stranger

Well, while that is true, it is also hugely mitigated by writing well-documented code!

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

The TV calibration article is good, although these things always go on about settings for movies. For me, it's more important that my TV shows HD football well.

I knew vaguely about calibration but only saw what a difference it makes when I went to a specialist dealer with a proper display showroom. That's also the way to see the difference between 'decent' tellies and bloody good ones. I ended up buying what was then the best TV on the market and (now that it is no longer made) is now the best TV ever made and the "greatest gadget of the 21st century".

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/televisions/why-the-pioneer-kuro-is-the-greatest-gadget-of-the-21st-century-50001368/

Absolutely worth every penny.

[andrewducker]

Looks good!

I'm actually very happy with my Samsung, but I'm sure it could be better.