The International Telecommunications Union reports that there are 4.6 billion cellphone subscribers world-wide, a trend that outpaces Internet connectivity rates.
It should be noted however that “subscribers” don’t equal “people” as some individuals have multiple phones. For example, both Israel and Italy have 1.3 cellphones per person. It was nearly a decade ago when Motorola found in a study that one in ten subscribers had a second cellphone for engaging in “extramarital affairs or clandestine business dealings”.
It is the developing countries that are seeing more cellphone usage because of its price thanks to steady competition (far better than Canada); the study says 57% of people in those countries are using cellphones.
Ouch! This Winnipegger got thrown out by his love because of some sultry text messages he didn’t even send; his phone sent them.
This must be like when your phone dials someone while it’s in your pocket. Note to new phone owners, especially those with Virgin Mobile, remove your pre-defined text messages. Also, this says a lot about what market Virgin Mobile is targeting: booty call?
Earlier today, Steve Jobs announced the new Apple toy of the year, the tablet-like iPad.
It might look like an iPhone on steroids, but it’s actually a mini-laptop.
It’s nearly the same screen size as a MacBook (the iPad screen is 9.5″ x 7.5″ while the MacBook screen is 9″ x 13″), one third the weight, and one half the thickness. The last stat is key because what makes the iPad a mini-lapto is that the iPad has the keyboard and monitor in the same space.
Similar to the iPhone, you can type via a QWERTY touchscreen keyboard but of course the keyboard is bigger, and Apple is offering accessories that will allow you to dock the iPad with an Apple keyboard in case all that touching is too much for you.
You can surf the Internet, watch movies or TV shows (Netflix anyone?), listen to music, play with photos and play iPhone games. Because of the iPhone network already in play, iPad users will have access to over 140,000 apps (and growing). The only downside is that it doesn’t come with flash.
Anyone who already owns an iPhone, will easily know how to use this device and that’s what Steve Jobs says will work for sales. For e-book readers, this device may be tempting because not only does it do more than most tablet PCs, but Apple is going live with their own “iBookstore” offering a place for publishers to sell their e-wares, just like it does for musicians (on record labels) and for iPhone game developers. Jobs says that they already have five of the largest book publishers on board already.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) fired ten employees in the last year for swiping Air Miles on purchases made by customers without the reward cards, after receiving access to the private card information of Air Miles transactions at their stores.
Since August 2006, an agreement with LoyaltyOne Inc., the company that runs the Air Miles program, has allowed LCBO auditors access to that information.
An internal audit in late 2008, obtained by The Canadian Press under the province’s freedom-of-information legislation, stated that due to the poor economy at present, “many retailers are expecting an increase in the amount of inappropriate behaviour by front line staff.”
The same internal report revised its guidelines on employees accepting gifts from the companies that supply their stores with liquor, beer and wine. While only a third of these gifts were tickets to hockey games and concerts, many of the gifts were meals under $50 which are still allowed.
By coincidence, the union for the LCBO staff are taking a strike vote this week after their contract expired in March.
Today is Earth Day: a religious holiday for corporate social responsibility.
So this is [Earth Day].
And what have you done ?
Another year over
and a new one just begun.
Well, IKEA is doing away with their plastic bags (in July 2009) and from then on you’ll have to buy their “blue bags” for one dollar. Whether you re-use them or not doesn’t matter to IKEA. At one dollar? Really.
If you bring a travel mug to any Starbucks coffee shop, they’ll give you a certain kind of free coffee. Walmart is highlighting 10 environmentally friendly products under $10 all month to respect the “day” while McDonald’s celebrated Earth Day by announcing that its global headquarters building in Illinois has been awarded the LEED Platinum certification. Sony’s PlayStation Store will donate $1 for each of the first 10,000 movies and TV shows purchased through the PlayStation Network on Earth Day to some environmental group.
The lobby to remind us about the ecological issues has gone beyond the “one day”. In the shadow of the green movement, lazy leaders use the “day” to capitalize on how they are so great and responsible. Get with the program guys, just be yourself and celebrate that. Cuddling up to a theme for a day just makes you look cheap.
