PR NEWSWIRE: After some weekend deliberation over a bottle of scotch in a scientific setting, Tony Abbot amends list of things he “doesn’t believe”:

• Humans are not the cause of climate change
• Smoking doesn’t cause lung cancer
• and even if it did, then second hand smoke certainly wouldn’t anyway
• HIV doesn’t cause AIDS
• The earth is not spherical

Sorry mate. But some things you are free to “believe” or “not believe”. These are things like your religion (for you, apparently in the “believe” category, at least on paper). But when it comes to science. Either get a qualification and debate the science in the right forum, or shut the fuck up.

$1 apps are one thing. Now people are releasing 15 games in 1, for $1. Wow…

Seems like Apple needs to add some new pricing categories, especially for games. I suggest:

$0.19
$0.09
and, my personal preference:
$0.01

Just think about it – at 0.01, your audience could be HUGE!!!!!!!!%!!!!! Enjoy your instant noodle dinners!

I’ve got no issue with people modding/hacking their iphones (even as a developer myself), or any hardware they own for that matter.

But please. Don’t blame Apple for viruses/malware that f*ck you up when you do. This “worm”, and the subsequent more malicious versions only run on hacked iPhones. You run unauthorised software on the iPhone – you’re on your own…

The BBC (and the rest) really should make it clear that “anyone running Apple authorised software are completely unaffected”. And put that in the first paragraph.

Rather than screaming “Worm attack bites at Apple iPhone” what about “Worm attack bites at Hacked iPhones”. At least they didn’t spell bites, “bytes” :-S

Source

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner did acknowledge that a “tiny proportion” of the money might be spend overseas, by expatriates

OK, this has really got my goat people.

Every time I read about the aussie stimulus package, someone complains that the money might be spent overseas (e.g. like mine), and politicians have to justify it (even if they know better).  Well get this:

1. You only get the money if you paid Australian Taxes.  I paid my taxes just as much as everyone else and I’m not even in the country to use the benefit of any of the services this money buys me (e.g. medical care).  I’m not asking for my tax back – so shut up about my stimulus money.

2.  THIS IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM.  IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE YOU SPEND THE MONEY. Got it?  GLOBAL PROBLEM.  It didn’t start in Australia, and it won’t end there.  I spent my stimulus money in the United States of America, which probably did a lot more to help the world economy (and thus Australia’s) then spending it in Australia.

So just shut up, buy a plasma TV, and be happy.  OK?

iPhone users really have come to expect a bargain.  Odd considering how much cash they forked out for the phone.  But so many people discounting their Apps in a desperate bid for popularity (it’s based on downloads, not downloads * price, which encourages $1 apps), the prices are generally undervalued (that – and there’s a lot of crap on the App Store).

I’ve had 2 people now review the free version of GPS Log (albiet with overall positive reviews) asking for a lower price.  But it’s only $10.  I’m trying to think of computer software I have bought for less than that, and I can’t.  I’ve bought a dozen small utilities over the years, from screen capture tools, to newsgroup software, all in the $25 range (sometimes US).

lwb@sg writes, “Excellent GPS software. It’s easily one of the best geotagged-related programs I have tried on iPhone. If the full version is more reasonably priced, I would not hestitate to get it!”

So it’s better than all those other shitty apps.  But it costs more than them.

hmm.  lets think about that for a minute.

It’s better.  But it costs more.  That’s because it’s better!  Maybe if those other devlopers were working on their apps full time they would be better too – but then they would also want more money, because hey – you have to pay for the food you eat!

So I don’t get it people.  Reward quality with purchases, and you will encourage more quality.  Set the bar at $1 and expect 8 pages of crap on your iPhone.

The thing is that you can’t make up for the low price with volume, unless your App has mass appeal.  If GPS Log was $1 I would have the same number of people interested – but perhaps a small fraction extra would buy it because they are unwilling at the current price.  But I would need 10x more purchases to make up for this!  I know GPS Log doesn’t have mass appeal – I never intended it to – I want it to appeal to a small group of users who need the extact features it provides (such as me), and thus are willing to pay $10 for the privilage.  So far this seem to be working.

I’m asking for $10 – and I’m keeping it that way.

The next time I see a newspaper article (even in The Age) that talks about the “iPod generation” or the “Facebook generation” and their careless ways, I will throw a maxed-out credit card strapped to a first generation iPod through one of their windows.

What is it about these technological advances that encourages other generations to label us by them? Do we call them the “TV Generation” or the “Space Rocket Generation” or the “Marijuana Generation”? NO. So why don’t you just sit down in your home (yes, the one you paid $25,000 for but expect us to pay $500,000 for), stop overgeneralising, and enjoy your tax-free retirement (which we will pay for, by the way).

*humph*