neverforeverdotnet

Over on TheeCakeScraps (via BoingBoing), this guy gives us the rundown on how much profit is likely turned by a single laptop auction on swoopo.com. Going through the mechanics of the site, I can’t help but draw parallels with local baby tatarah.com - only difference being that here “single highest bid” wins over “highest bid” - which is the case on Swoopo.

An auction for a laptop that says on the auction page, and I quote, “Worth up to $1,399.99″ The winning bidder, as stated on the site, placed 2020 bids. That is $2,020!! And the auction page proclaims “Savings: 0%” when it really should read negative! So Swoopo made like $600. BUT WAIT! The auction started at $0.00 and finished at $3,353.85. Now read that again. They were already up $600 from the winners bids alone. The winner sucker still had to pay $3,353.85 because that was the price of the auction. Okay, so Swoopo walks away with a cool $4,000 pure profit. (Like a bad TV commercial) BUT WITH THERE’S MORE! Remember that bids are placed in 15 cent increments. That means that if the auction finished for $3,353.85 you take that divided by $0.15 which equals $22,359 in bids!!!! That brings total profit to $22,359 (bids) + $3,353.85 (auction) -$1,399.99 (retail cost of laptop, probably not their cost) = $24,312.86

You feel lucky today?

Gary :: Oct.06.2008 :: General, All the news that's fit to print, Good readin' :: No Comments »

Hot day + slow afternoon + ham and cheese sandwich + beer + YouTube + senseless stinkbomb prank videos = WIN.

Gary :: Sep.27.2008 :: General, All the news that's fit to print :: No Comments »

So it appears that one day, Chee Soon Juan showed up in NTU out of the blue and the Chronicle scrambled to piece together a story - which was unfortunately killed by the Suits:

After much negotiation between the paper’s teacher-advisors and the university, NTU president Su Guaning gave the article the go-ahead. However, he changed his mind at the last minute, and the article was removed just one day before the newspaper’s publication on Monday (15th September).
…
In the end, it featured only a visit of a different sort – that of the former President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who is a stranger among Singaporean students.

“there was a feeling of concern over the use of student media to publicise and promote the unsolicited views of an uninvited person to the campus,” goes the official word, but hey - you wait. Just wait till one day the PM shows up unannounced. It’ll be on the front page of not just the Chronicle, but every sheet of paper leaving the corporate comms office.

Disclaimer: Don’t let the fact that I’ve had so many run-ins with the NTU admin fool you into thinking that I”m biased. Not at all! :)

Gary :: Sep.23.2008 :: All the news that's fit to print, Stifle me, stifle you :: 1 Comment »

This is the kind of news you make up, then have a chuckle about. Only this time it actually happened. Somone on Fark pointed out that God hates Fuqing liars.

Lightning strikes as man takes oath

IN a bizarre incident, a man in eastern China was struck by lightning just as he lifted an iron bar over his head to swear that god would punish him if he had taken money from his friend.

The man, who was identified as Xu, had borrowed 500 yuan (US$73.21) from a close friend surnamed Huang three years ago. Xu, who lived in Fuqing City, Fujian Province, later forgot all about it, according to a news Web portal in Fujian.

But Huang remembered and complained before other friends that Xu had taken money from him.

On Tuesday, Huang took a wooden rod and rushed to Xu’s home asking him to return the money. Xu too confronted Huang with an iron bar and stood his ground.

Huang then told Xu that he should swear before god that he was not in his debt. Xu lifted the iron bar over his head and said if he owed Huang money, the god would punish him. Just then he was struck by lightning.

He was later taken to hospital, and doctors said his injuries were not serious.

Gary :: Aug.30.2008 :: A thousand words, All the news that's fit to print, w00t! :: 1 Comment »

Hmm. According to Wikipedia Singapore is one of 13 countries on the allowed-to-import-JDAMs whitelist.

i wonder why they don’t show these off during NDP.

Bonus ownage vid:

Gary :: Aug.17.2008 :: A thousand words, 1337, All the news that's fit to print, w00t! :: No Comments »

Move over, you Sunday-morning photographers with your pretty DSLRs and gleaming lenses and expensive megapixel collections! This here’s a digital camera for people who know about cameras, and want to look fabulous using one.

The world’s first DTLR:

Gary :: Jun.08.2008 :: A thousand words, 1337, General, Tech, All the news that's fit to print, w00t!, Photography :: No Comments »

The Onion gives us a look at what would happen if sepak takraw went mainstream in the US. I lol’d.

Gary :: Feb.18.2008 :: Funny, A thousand words, All the news that's fit to print :: No Comments »

Canon yesterday launched the Digital Rebel XSi, a 12.2 MP successor to the XTi. Argh. The kit lens is 18-55mm IS.

Now at work. Update later.

Gary :: Jan.25.2008 :: Bitchin', All the news that's fit to print :: No Comments »

And that offspring is Battlefield Heroes. Details are sketchy right now, but it appears to be a free download, available “summer 2008″ (read: fall 2008) and the website looks legit.

From the press release:

Unique Cartoon Shooter Introduces a New Way to Play Battlefield

Munich, Germany, January 21, 2008 – At the Digital, Life, Design Conference (DLD) in Munich, Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) today unveiled Battlefield Heroes™, an all-new Play 4 Free cartoon-style shooter that will bring classic Battlefield gameplay to an all new mass audience. Available for download at www.battlefield-heroes.com this summer, Battlefield Heroes is EA’s first title that is offered completely for free, and features a built-in matchmaking system to ensure that players of equal skill are paired together for fair play. Developed by DICE in Stockholm, Battlefield Heroes is leading EA’s new web-focused free to download, free to play business model which generates revenue through advertising and micro-transactions. With zero barriers to entry, now anyone can be a hero on the battlefield!

I can live with this as a free download (kudos!), I can live with this being a casual game, I can live with this being ad-supported, but please, for the love of god, don’t let this count as BF3.

Gary :: Jan.22.2008 :: Games, All the news that's fit to print, WTF :: No Comments »

Thanks to Chin Yaw for sending me this… it’s a whole new level of (offensive?) humour.

Gary :: Jan.22.2008 :: All the news that's fit to print :: No Comments »