Wires Crossed #122 – July 9

People in the media are a funny lot. Cynics out there claim (rightfully so in some cases) that we cherry pick statistics in order to prove a point in our favour. Case in point – the popularity of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

 

By Mike Wheeler

 

Yahoo Mayer’s Popularity Slips…Er…Rises…Er…
Mayer has been in the top job for just over a year and depending on who you read, you’ll find that her popularity amongst staff has either gone up or down. If you read this piece in the Sydney Morning Herald (via Mashable), the headline is Yahoo Employee Satisfaction Hits Five-Year High Under Marissa Mayer. And sure enough that is true – her approval rating amongst employees when she took over was 91 percent, according to Glassdoor, a website that has reviews of employers by employees. Previous CEOs had ratings as low as 25 percent, according to the figures, with co-founder Jerry Yang one who never surpassed 40 percent in the popularity stakes. However, if you read Bloomberg/Businessweek you’ll see the header Yahoo CEO Mayer’s Popularity Slips After One Year, Survey Shows. And sure enough, this is also correct. As mentioned her approval rating started out as 91 percent, but 12 months later is now down to 84 percent. Interesting to see how some see the glass half full and others half empty.

 

Murder Suspect Removed From EA Games
New England Patriot’s American Football player Aaron Hernandez has been removed from EA’s NCAA Football 14 game as well as an upcoming version of Madden 25 after being charged with murder. Hernandez has been the subject of quite a few police investigations, the latest of which led to his arrest for being connected to the murder of one Odin Lloyd. As well as losing income from the video games, he will lose his signing bonus due to him in 2014, as well as Puma and CytoSport endorsements. Overall, if found guilty, he will lose the best part of $20 million worth of income and spend a long time in prison.

 

Google Interns Cause Mayhem
Google is oft cited as having one of the best working environments anywhere, but sometimes too much of a good thing can lead to negative consequences – just ask residents of the Crescent Village apartment complex in Silicon Valley, California. It appears that residents have had an influx of Google interns – those that are on temporary assignment, work experience, or a bit of both at the company – at the complex, and the latter are not happy. It seems the interns are fans of the “work hard, play hard” ethos, and are up to all hours partying and getting up to mischief. Now residents have had enough and want the Googlites to chill out and have more respect for those around them. There has been no word from Google management on the issue, but we’re betting they’ll be telling a few of their brethren to pull their heads in, as an intern, by their very nature, are not permanent staff…yet.

 

Teen Blames Exploding Phone For Burns
Swiss teen Fanny Schlatter is blaming her Samsung Galaxy S3 for causing second and third-degree burns to her thigh after it allegedly caught fire in her pocket while at work.  Schlatter works as a painting apprentice and says she noticed a chemical smell, then that her trousers were on fire. Her boss managed to get her to the workplace bathroom where the flames were put out. Schlatter intends take out a criminal complaint against the smartphone manufacturer so she can collect damages, but we’re not convinced just yet that the smartphone was the culprit.