Wires Crossed #128 – August 16

 

Apple Feels Pinch In China
China and Apple have never been comfortable bedfellows. With a rash of suicides at the Foxconn factories that make its gear, Apple has also let a big part of its iPhone market share slip in the booming Chinese market. This year it has gone for nine percent down to five. That is quite a lot of phones sitting on the shelf when you consider the number of people in China. Is this a result of bad publicity in its factories? No, it appears cheap android handsets are being taken up in larger numbers. Does that mean are discounted iPhones on the horizon? Doubtful.

 

Dope Gets Fired After Silly Tweet
If you’ve never heard of the Darwin Awards, they are tongue-and-cheek gongs given out to people who do stupid things that end up getting themselves killed or seriously hurt. While Canadian Sunith Baheerathan didn’t die or hurt himself, he sure was dumb and we think he should be a contender. He decided he wanted some marijuana, which in Canada, as in most countries, is illegal. So did he nip down a side street looking for a dealer? No. Did he talk in code on the phone to a friend of a friend? Nope. Did he nudge some trench-coat wearing goon in a nightclub? Nada. He decided to tweet his craving and asked any pot dealers in the area to visit his workplace, Mr Lube. As you would expect, it went viral – not only did the police find out, but so did his bosses and he is now looking for a new job. Dopey indeed.

 

Nintendo Get Aggressive Over Demos
This is the second time in a week we’ve mentioned Nintendo in a Wires Crossed, although there is no law suit involved this time. It involves the demo of its new game, The Wonderful 101, and how it has restricted it being played to a maximum of 20 times. There is code written in the download that will stop gamers from exceeding that limit, but as pointed out in the article, if you like the game you’ll buy it long before that limit is reached, and if you don’t like it the chances of you playing it more than a couple of times is low. It’s not a great look for the company, and all it has done is make them look miserly.

 

Seven Years Prison For Stealing Phone Cable
Authorities don’t muck around in Ghana, especially when it comes to theft. Three men were arrested for stealing copper cable belonging to Vodafone. In Australia, depending on your previous form, you’d get some sort of fine with community service, or maybe prison. In Ghana, all three thieves were sentenced to between five and seven years in the slammer, which we feel is a tad harsh. But what is even more interesting is that Vodafone Ghana helped the judicial service hold special court seasons over the theft. We reckon that’s a bit dodgy.