French ruling party taking a beating at local elections

From the Times. I think that while many French voters were put off by the President' showbiz approach to government, the majority just understood what he meant by "change"... As this election results shows, the French do not have an appetite for reforming their system yet. This could dampen the government's initiatives and push the country back into its well worn cycle of "immobilisme". Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!

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Misery makes Britons happy, says US writer

"Former New York Times journalist Eric Weiner claims Brits are never happier than when at their most miserable."
The Telegraph

Warner music declares war on Apple with £5 iPod album

Warner: £5, Apple: £7.99. Price war! It is about time...

Daily Mail

Note2be, teachers rating website lost court case

A French tribunal condemned Note2be (see my previous post) to remove all personal and identifying informations regarding teachers. The website can still rate schools but not individuals. The site owner are appealing the ruling.

This could apply to any website ratings individuals (plumbers, accountants, consultants...).

French article in Liberation.

Man charged £11,000 to download 4 episodes of Friends on his mobile phone

Wife used an unlimited broadband package from Vodafone mobile to order the programs in the UK, husband went to Germany with the phone while the download was still in progress. The bill: £11,000 ($22,000). Ofcom said it will investigate.

Article in the Telegraph.

'Pilgrim' abandons cashless 'peace walk' to India after encounter with the French

At least, this is how it sounds in the Evening Standard. Mark Boyle and two companions planned to walk to India relying solely on people's generosity to fund their trip. They made it as far as France: "Not only did no one speak the language, they also see us as just a bunch of freeloading backpackers, which is the complete opposite of what the pilgrimage is really about." They called off the trip and are now back in the UK.

Scott Adams on Sarkozy and France's catchphrase "du moment" : "Casse toi pauvre con"

From my favorite blogger: The Dilbert blog.

The comments are degenerating into love/hate the French, Freedom Fries and the meaning of "con". The latter was a slang for female genitalia (until the 70s) as well as meaning "jerk".

Super Monk: Animation

Apparently made in France. Great stuff.

Supermoine
by supamonks

Top 10 cheap eats in Tokyo

In the Guardian.

French teachers rating website to be sued, ruling to affect user generated content in France

Note2be (a play on "not" and "note" meaning a grade in French) allows French pupils to mark their teachers. Within 3 weeks or its launch, it was sued by the national teachers union on the grounds of "disrupting public order". The court is due to decide on the 3rd of March.
So why are teachers so unhappy? According to Aurelie, a 24 years old primary school teacher "On the Internet, everything is graded. We are not products». Oh the irony...

Article in French in communist paper Liberation.

French President: "Casse toi alors pauvre con!"

Nicolas Sarkozy is known for his "franc-parler" (straight-talking). While visiting the "Salon de l'agriculture", a customary political exercise for all French presidents, he came across a passer-by who refused to shake his hand "not to be dirtied". Sarkosy's response "then piss-off you jerk!". Reactions have been divided: those who were shocked by his language, those who sympathized (after all, he has been trailing in cow dungs for a few hours fending the crowds) and those who think he could have used more dignified insults.

Facebook's first decline in users

Users fell 5% to 8.5 million in January from 8.9 million in December in the UK, according to data from Nielsen Online. BBC article.

Blip or trend?

Edited: "Three Skypephone, second-thought due to lack of customer service". Happy ending.

I had the opportunity to experience Three's (lack of) customer service today and I am not impressed. I topped up my account on their website and got an error message, informing me that I may have been charged and should contact customer services. The irony is that none of the option on their automated service deals with this kind of queries. I tried another number and here again, I was trapped in endless automated loops. No option to speak to a human being. I was left to send an email and to hope for a reply within a few days...

I will keep you updated.

Update: I had a call from Three at lunch time. The error is now fixed. The option to speak to a human being is there but quite hidden. The guy I spoke to was courteous and efficient though so that makes up for it. Case closed.

Update 2: I have receive an email from an executive at Three regarding my negative experience. The issue I highlighted above was fixed in a matter of 2 hours by phone. I will suggest that an option to speak to customer rep be made more prominent in the automated options for phone support. Apart from that, I am still happy with my Three Skypephone and I am happy to recommend it as well.

Cool Mobile Startups Products From the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

Article on BusinessWeek. It is not obvious but you have to click on the pictures at the bottom of their page to see each product.

My favorites: GestureTek (let you play games and use applications by detecting movements from your phone, like a Wii nunchak) and Audience, a noise suppression technology that recognizes your speech and filter out background noise for clearer voice chats.

Poor young people use Yahoo!, rich old people use Google

Intriguing research from Hitwise. Yahoo!'s users tend to be younger than Google too (which would partially explain the wealth gap). The size of the bubbles is the propensity to have spent $500 online.

Tips for Yahoo! - How to Negotiate with Microsoft

Sadistically Entertaining Japanese TV Game

Facebook to make it easier to quit Facebook

NY Times.

Thanks to El Blogador.

Why Illegal Downloaders Will Not Face a UK Ban

There are been a lot of gesticulations from the music industry recently, culminating to a release about how ISPs could be forced to enforce a "three strikes" system and ensure that those found downloading copyrighted materials do not ever come close to an Internet connection again. Read the Telegraph among others on the subject.

I personally think that the music industry should be spending more time working out a business model that is in tune with 21st century consumers instead of threatening privacy laws and its customer base. For an enlightened viewpoint, read the Register: "ISPs are calling on the record industry to put its money where its mouth is on illegal file-sharing, by underwriting the cost of lawsuits brought by people who are wrongly accused of downloading or uploading music" and Matt's excellent analysis of why this is stupid on torrentfreak: "This idea makes as much sense as trying to ban people from singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to each other over the telephone network, or burning down libraries to protect the publishing industry."(...) "CD sales are falling because nobody uses them anymore, and Hollywood is in rude health despite the pirates. There should be no more talk about changing laws and spending tax payer’s money on this ‘problem’ until someone proves there really is one."