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This is really interesting. The NYT covers the tech story du jour, and what Microsoft had long feared, one suspects, is formally happening. It's war!
This is really interesting. The NYT covers the tech story du jour, and what Microsoft had long feared, one suspects, is formally happening. It's war!
War of words before BA and unions hold talks - Times Online
BA work practices
British Airways faces significant hurdles if it wants to change work practices, as it found this year when it wanted to start a hot-towel service in premium economy.
Bassa, the union that represents cabin crew, said that negotiation was required.
It wanted the number of crew on a Boeing 747 increased from 15 to 16 — at a cost of tens of millions of pounds — in return for distributing the hot towels.
BA refused, claiming that hot towel service did not constitute a significant change in working practices.
The service has been introduced, but BA cabin crew told The Times that many staff still refuse to give out the hot towels because it is not a union-sanctioned activity.
Reading the Times today and they are reviewing, along with many other media outlets, the report from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. It's a sign of openness that the entire report is now published online, which is a good thing. It's not fun reading but even a brief scan is informative. Though, it is depressing that:
A trip to Seattle for me isn't really complete without Virgin America, Avis, and the Bellevue Club Hotel.
Virgin America gets better and better with each usage: now, as I just updated, they have inflight WiFi which meant that I was able to be online for almost 1:15 of a 1:30 flight. It was fast, it was easy to use and it was useful. I continue to fly Virgin here to Seattle because they are cheap, they fly from the the international terminal at SFO (no lines in the morning) and because I get a comfortable seat and good amenities. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to friends.
The Bellevue Club is also cheaper than the Westin and many other local hotels: it is a member's only high end recreational facility with a hotel attached - so if you like to work out, there's really no better place. Parking and internet are free. It's also somewhere I recommend.
Avis, however, are completely, totally, fucking useless. Unutterable morons. They couldn't arrange a fuck in a Vegas brothel for a group of drunk college guys with pocketfuls of cash. If Avis was a cup of coffee, it would be cold instant coffee, made weak and improperly stirred. If Avis were a country, it would be somewhere in the 3rd world where the water was unsafe to drink and there was a high chance of being robbed at gunpoint. If Avis was a disease, it wouldn't be fatal but you'd be permanently incapacitated with a really bad facial rash, chronic diarrhoea and impotence. If Avis suddenly said they were starting an airline, I'd never ever fly out of fear that the plane wouldn't go where it was supposed to, or worse.
If I had a choice - and working for a large company where Avis is the service provider, I don't - I would always use one of their competitors. I really encourage all of you to do the same.
Today, when I got to the parking garage (having been through all the loops with customer service that I described here and here, I was welcomed by the following message on the Preferred Board:
Once again, even though I had been assured by their customer service representative that all was well, it wasn't true. First of all at the desk they told me I was early (which was true,so I settled down momentarily.)
But then they told me that ... wait for it ... my Australian Drivers Licence number was still in the system. As I had to delete my Australian profile and start from scratch with my US address, my US credit card and my California Drivers licence, I know I didn't enter it. Of course, their system doesn't empower employees to amend the data at the terminal. The woman at the desk told me to call the 1-800 number on the back of my preferred card. She's lucky I am not a violent man.
I have now gone online to update my drivers licence information to be rewarded with the system message that my information was successfully updated. We'll see. I completely lack any confidence in their service, systems and brand.
The only satisfaction arising from my interactions with Avis is thatI am able to blog about it to do what I can to alert others to my dreadful customer experience, and encourage capitalism and market forces to take their course.
I posted a while back about my bad experience with Avis. Last night, I received the following email (my email to them was around 3 weeks ago.) It was good that they replied and apologised and assisted.
Except that the password reset she did for me didn't work: at least, when I went to log back in to update my password from the generic one she had given me, it failed and the service locked me out. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.
I spent some time in Auckland in 2006. Never lived there. Now, the Mercer survey proves what I always suspected. Auckland is right up there with the best that Switzerland and Canada have to offer.
Of course, this is the same survey reported in the SMH yesterday which, according to the Herald, concluded that "Sydney's public transport network is "comprehensive and well-integrated" and the availability of housing is perfect."
What drugs do these people take? At least they were right about the food in Sydney. It's not perfect (no city is) but it's damn good.
I wonder if broadband connectivity is measured in the survey and what weighting it is accorded?
10 Best Cities: 1. Vienna (Austria)
2. Zurich (Switzerland)
3. Geneva (Switzerland)
4. Auckland (New Zealand) and Vancouver (Canada)
6. Dusseldorf (Germany)
7. Munich (Germany
8. Frankfurt (Germany)
9. Bern (Switzerland)
10. Sydney (Australia)
As the Swine flu outbreak hits Mexico and the United States, so too does it hit Twitter.
This is an amazing piece of audio (if you're a pilot, anyway) from the FAA.
My old school friend Paul Fletcher, now a telecommunications consultant, was recently interviewed on ABC radio in Australia and sums up the whole story well.

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