I hate coffee

I hate the way the taste stays with me for next 3 days. I hate the pungent smell that hits my brain.

And most of all, I hate going to fourbucks for it.

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TO: vpostusa AT vpost DOT com DOT sg

Hi

My VPOST id is VPXXXXXX

I had the following 4 items meant to be delivered today

No.	Shipment No.	Merchant	Sub Merchant	Product Description	Product Value	Item Status
9	VSXXXUS	WOOT, INC		DVDS	USD 64.97	Allocated to Couriers
10	VSXXXUS	AMAZON		DVD, WATCH	USD 192.99	Allocated to Couriers
11	VSXXXUS	AMAZON		SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL BRACELET	USD 47.97	Allocated to Couriers
12	VSXXXUS	WOOT.COM		ROBOTIC VACUUM	USD 154.99	Allocated to Couriers

However, the Singpost postman delivered only 2. He claimed that the other 2 were stolen from him when he went to the toilet while the van door was left open while delivering. Apparently he HAD TO GO.

The STOLEN items are

9

VSXXXUS

WOOT, INC

DVDS

USD 64.97

Allocated to Couriers

12

VSXXXUS

WOOT.COM

ROBOTIC VACUUM

USD 154.99

Allocated to Couriers

Pls investigate and provide a refund on the item as well as shipping charges paid. I would really appreciate if a replacement item is provided by Singpost for item#12 as I got it at a huge discount when I bought it.

For verification, the postman is:

XXXXXX

Delivery vehicle: XXXXXX

Mobile#: XXXXXX

Regards

Arun

WTF

This should be a primary weapon when I do some product reviews...

Adobe AIR's fatal flaw

If Adobe AIR is to gain traction in the "Enterprise", AIR applications should not require admin rights to install. In this day and age when Google Chrome can be completely installed into user space, this is a gaping major flaw.

This is what happens when people who have used Macs and Solaris all their life write installers for Windows...

Sunday morning rant

Called delifrance home delivery in the morn, and was greeted by a clammy "Bonjour Monsieur". 

I hate this foreign love. You are in Singapore.. Speak in English motherf...

Same goes to Audi. When selling overpriced cars in Singapore don't end your commercials with "Vorsprung durch Technik"

"Email This" Hall of Shame - NewsGator Online

For context, see my earlier post - "Email This" - The cheapest and simplest way to attract new users


Now on to today's star...


Yes. Ladies and Gentlemen. Removing spaces b/w the 2 addresses thru JavaScript seems to be an NP-hard problem.

Bob Woolmer's death

In case any of you still think Bob Woolmer died of natural causes, please contact me ASAP. I have some lovely riverside property in Brooklyn to sell.

Corvette not GS450H

Why is it that Nokia insists on branding their phones around some stupid number series... 6510, 6210, 8210, N73, N91, E71????? Who remembers these names?

I am shopping around for a phone, and its so maddeningly difficult to remember the Nokia model recommendations from colleagues and friends. I am reduced to asking about "that Nokia with the great camera" and "the Nokia with the good keyboard" etc etc.

Nokia should learn from the dudes at Motorola. Those guys are on a roll with the awesome "4 alphabets ending in R with a vowel in the middle" theme. RAZR, ROKR, SLVR etc etc. I hope they take it to the logical next step with FUKR and LOSR. That would be so AWSM.

So if you are a marketer, it's very simple - Corvette, not GS450H

Red Hat just lost the chance to understand their core problem

The Red Hat Challenge:
"This is your opportunity to help solve a real-world business challenge posed by the standard-bearer in the open source software industry. The top submission will receive $20,000 in cash and an opportunity to present in-person to Red Hat management during the Red Hat Summit."


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arun:

I understand your frustration at the limitations of the competition. While Red Hat wished to be as inclusive as possible, there are some restrictions on accepting ideas from people who are employed by another company at the time of the submission. Also, these intellectual property legalities vary from country to country. By targeting academia, Red Hat feels it can realize its goal of interacting with potential new recruits while being unencumbered by complicated international legalities which would arise when soliciting ideas from individuals under someone else's employ.

Unfortunately, we will have to remove your registration from our system. Thank you for your interest in the Challenge, and we regret not being able to include you.

-XXXXX

Red Hat Challenge Team

On 3/7/07, Arun Jacob wrote:

Hi

I think it is ridiculous that this competition is open to only business school students, when most of the ideas people are not in business school.

I am not in a business school. [MO Business School = My own business schol.]

It would be great if you could accept outside nominations and count me as one of them.

Pls let me know if this is possible. I can send the details in that case.

Regards

Arun

On 3/7/07, Red Hat Challenge Support wrote:

Greetings Mr. Arun,

Thank you for registering for the Red Hat Challenge! Your account is missing some information that is needed to complete your registration. We were unable to identify your school based on the school name provided (MO Business School), and our records indicate we do not yet have a street address for you.

Please reply to this email and provide the following information so that we may update your account and complete your registration:

1) The full name and address (or website) of your school:

2) Your address:

Again, thank you for participating and Good Luck!

YYYYYYYY

Red Hat Challenge Team

A way to see if some thought has gone into a laptop's design

Sit at the laptop, crank up some music and start typing.
If your palms are obscuring the speaker, then the dumbos haven't used the laptop they designed.

Quote of the Year: Cisco enters social networking space

via TechCrunch
Cisco has bought social networking startup Tribe.net as well as Five Across. Apparently they want to start offering "social networking services" to their corporate clients.

The enormity of the stupidity amazes me. Companies should focus on what they do best. No corporate customers are going to buy more routers if Cisco throws in a social networking app for free.

This is what happens when companies don't know what to do with so much cash lying around. But still, even a share buy back would have been better than this.

At least some entertaining quote has come out of this -
“The idea that Cisco is going to be a force in social networking is about as plausible as Ning being a force in optical switches.”
- Mark Andreessen, founder of Ning (another social net)

Windows Media Player 11 sucks

Is it only me who finds WMP 11 among the most atrocious software out there?

1.) I can't find the friggn menu bar
2.) The whole thing takes ages to start up and freezes whatever is running on my PC at the same time
3.) It sucks up so much memory
4.) There is some fundoo menu system running from left to right that is very very unintuitive

My suggestion to Microsoft. Instead of getting program managers to come up with specs to catch up with iTunes, please do this. Allow 1 talented developer in your Media division to take 2 weeks off. Let him sit at home, code and come up with his own version of WMP 12. Its gonna be loads better than what your (Media GM + Media Product Unit Manager + WMP Group Program Manager + army of WMP Program Managers) can come up with. Since MSN Messenger has around 40 program managers, I am guessing there are loads more for WMP.

Great software does not come from Program Managers, Business Analysts or Interface Designers. Great software is visualised by craftsmen. And the craftsmen in software are the developers.