Wires Crossed #65 – December 16

Sneaky Microsoft Jumps The Legal Gun
There’s a hidden surprise awaiting Xbox Live fans when they get the latest update.  When you agree to the new terms and conditions you have signed away rights to sue the company if things go pear-shaped. Instead, the company would like its customers to use a neutral arbitrator to settle disputes. Not a bad idea, as an arbitrator would certainly move a case a long a bit faster than lawyers and judges tend to do, especially in the United States. However, we feel it was a little sneaky of Microsoft to slip the new clauses in while doing an update. More transparency would be nice, yes?

A New Way To Wage War
Kenya recently invaded parts of lawless Somalia due to the fundamentalist Islamist group al-Shabab causing problems in the region. And as well as throwing bombs and firing bullets at each other, they’ve taken to social networking by tweeting insults at each other. The Associated Press claims the al-Shabab Twitter accounts are genuine and might be being sent by Americans of Somali descent who have joined the terrorist organisation. We say insults are better than bullets.

RIM Execs Fired Over Airline Antics
Blackberry manufacturer Research In Motion doesn’t muck around if you bring the company’s reputation into disrepute. Two RIM executives, George Campbell and Paul Alexander, were fired by the company after being allegedly extremely drunk on a flight to China. They were so obnoxious and rude, that they both had to be subdued with handcuffs and the flight had to be diverted to Vancouver. And if being fired wasn’t enough, both men were fined almost CAD$36,000 each. Ouch, ouch, ouch!

Man Found With Cameras In Pants
Not what is seems, but makes a great headline. No, the bloke in question wasn’t going around doing sneaky videos without people knowing, but he was trying to steal a couple of Nikon Coolpix cameras. The weird thing is, that even after two deputies were called, he tried to get away with stealing the items by putting them down his pants. I don’t know how big his trousers are, but sticking two cameras down your pants is gonna get noticed!