Wires Crossed 49 – August 26

Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Apparently not when it comes to the tech giants. On top of Apple stopping Samsung from releasing its latest Galaxy slate in Australia due to patent issues, Microsoft is doing the same to Motorola in the US. The software giant has accused the recently Google-acquired mobile phone company of infringing on seven of Microsoft’s patents. But what this is really all about is Windows Phone vs Android and market share in the mobile market – a battle where the lawyers must be rubbing their hands in glee at the fees they will be billing due to the stoush.

Big Brother Wins Out in The End
Britain has one of the highest number of public CCTV cameras on the planet, and cynics from that part of the world compare their society to that described by George Orwell in his book 1984. However, on occasion, the use of this technology leaves a little smile on your face. There is well documented footage of Malaysian student Ashraf Rossli being caught up in the London riots a few weeks ago. The sight of so-called ‘good Samaritans’ helping him, only to steal gear out of ruck sack is enough to make anybody sick to the stomach. Now, one of the culprits has been caught, no doubt due to his face being plastered over television sets the length and breadth of the country due to being captured by the CCTV cameras.

Tweet Gets Woman Kicked Out Of Bar
Not too sure what to make of this. Bar patron Allison Matsu objected to a comment made at a restaurant she was in and tweeted, in no uncertain terms, what she thought about the bartender who made the aside. Then things got a little weird. The general manager of the Down House bar where the incident occurred  – the magnificently named Forrest DeSpain – read the tweet. He wasn’t at the restaurant at the time, so rang the bar, got her on the phone, and asked her to leave, which she did. I’m not too sure what weirds me out more – he asked her to leave over what appears to be quite a trivial matter, or how he got to read the tweet.

Apple Outshines European Banks
From the sublime to the ridiculous. Never thought we’d see that day when a corporation would be doing better business than a bank – let alone 32 of them.  Due to a sharp drop in the Euro and how bad the financial institutions are going at the moment, the capitalisation of Apple exceeds that of several leading European banks including Deutsche Bank AG of Germany, ING Group NV from Holland and Britain’s Barclays PLC. Wonder if Apple has thought of going into the lending business.