Bill Bennett
Annoyed that my personal data is among the material the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department gave to Facebook. Doubly so because I haven’t used Facebook in more than 12 years.
I doubt it is a popular opinion, but I feel New Zealand media is spending far too much time on an election in a foreign country.
Predictions for Premier League Match Day 10
Track record so far:
Week 4 predictions: 6 out of ten correct.
Week 5 predictions: 4 out of ten correct.
Week 6 predictions 5 out of ten correct.
Week 7 predictions 6 out of ten correct.
Week 8 predictions 5 out of ten correct.
Week 9 predictions 4 out of ten ccorrect.
Overall so far: 50 percent.
I’ve spent more than 20 years working as a freelance, 99 percent of the time I deliver on time… but for some reason when I worked for a client that used Asana, I found it reduced my productivity and reliability.
Is that unusual? Is it generational?
Sitting here in New Zealand, my strategy for coping with the US election is to stick fingers in both ears and say “LA LA LA” very loudly.
Predictions for Premier League Match Day 9
| Leicester | Notts Forest | Draw |
| Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Home |
| Brentford | Ipswich | Home |
| Brighton | Wolves | Home |
| Man City | Southampton | Home |
| Everton | Fulham | Home |
| Chelsea | Newcastle | Home |
| Crystal Palace | Tottenham | Away |
| West Ham | Manchester United | Draw |
| Arsenal | Liverpool | Draw |
My track record so far is not great:
Week 4 predictions: 6 out of ten correct.
Week 5 predictions: 4 out of ten correct.
Week 6 predictions 5 out of ten correct.
Week 7 predictions 6 out of ten correct.
Week 8 predictions 5 out of ten correct.
Often when I read about US politics in 2024 I think back with nostalgia to that scene where the Blues Brothers drive the Nazis off the bridge.
They don't make newspapers like they used to
I’m so pleased this had nothing to do with me. This was published in _The Australian _ 15 years ago and spotted by Mumbrella.
So let’s do some role playing. You’re a sub on The Australian.
Your boss has just given a speech about the health of newspapers.
You’ve got to put a headline on the speech.
Do you a) Check the spelling of the word “newspapers” in the headline or b) Not check the spelling of the word “newspapers” in the headline? Remember, your career may depend on the choice you make.
Do people outside the US still care about Chromebooks? Back in the day I’d get huge amounts of local traffic when I wrote about them, then, almost suddenly, crickets.
Am I alone in thinking Bing Webmaster Tools is utterly worthless or are there stealthy fans out there?
Earlier this year I looked at whether New Zealanders pay too much for broadband.
Farewell Computer Music magazine
Although I mainly worked for newspapers, I spent a few years working in magazines too so it’s always sad to see one go. This was the last what might be loosely described as personal technology magazine I can think of. It’s certainly the last title I read. While there may be a few limping on unseen elsewhere in the world it feels like the end for the entire genre.
From ten years ago on my site:
At the time Chorus struggled to pay for the fibre build.
Predictions for Premier League Match Day 8
| Tottenham | West Ham | Home |
| Fulham | Aston Villa | Draw |
| Ipswich | Everton | Draw |
| Man United | Brentford | Draw |
| Newcastle | Brighton | Home |
| Southampton | Leicester | Away |
| Bournemouth | Arsenal | Away |
| Wolves | Man City | Away |
| Liverpool | Chelsea | Home |
| Nottingham | Crystal Palace | Home |
My track record so far is not great:
Week 4 predictions: 6 out of ten correct.
Week 5 predictions: 4 out of ten correct.
Week 6 predictions 5 out of ten correct.
Week 7 predictions 6 out of ten correct.
52.5 percent right so far.
Reading a series of movie reviews where variations on the phrase “it doesn’t completely suck” keep appearing is not filling me with confidence.
Ten years ago on my site I wrote about the launch of MyRepublic as a fibre-only ISP. The brand no longer exists.
Was thinking about food miles. I’m not sure if they contribute much to global warming, but now temperatures are higher, it’s possible to grow bananas in Auckland, I guess custard apples and mangos can’t be far behind. Done well, tropical fruits could make economic sense in northern regions.
Was looking at a post on my main site and realised it is now 16 years old. This story was posted before the iPad arrived. It still has some relevance, but not so much now that voice recognition actually works most of the time.
In general I’m a touch skeptical about using ChatGPT in my work, but there is one area where it really shines: Getting better answers to specific and narrow questions than Google search can manage without lots of stuffing around with complex queries and wading through SEOed-to-death nonsense.
I’m disproportionately cross after buying what I thought was a low priced 1kg block of Tasty cheese in my local supermarket only to discover when I got home that it is in fact a 800g block in identical packaging to the almost finished 1kg block still in the fridge. Feel cheated.
Luxon meets Modi
Of course it is good for New Zealand’s prime minister to meet Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister.
We should have strong diplomatic relations with the world’s most populous nation. And India is a major source of immigrants to New Zealand which makes meetings like this important.
Yet even the most skilled NZ diplomats would struggle to get a good free trade deal with India. There are huge potential conflicts over dairy and while India has a handful of small FTAs, it remains relatively protectionist. It is certainly not another potential China.