Umamiblog

TNW UK reports:

UK mobile operator Three helped its customers utilise more than 80 terabytes of mobile data on New Year’s Eve, recording a 600% increase on figures from the year before

The thing is, I’d love it if my own mobile data usage had increased 600% year on year. But no, I still have the same 1GB-sized quota that I had the year before…

Matt, at TVHE:

Does the US have a marginally functional government?

We already know they don’t have a fully functional government, or a reasonably functional government. But we are waiting to see if the government really exists at all, and is able to muster itself together enough to avoid accidentally defaulting on debt and starting a new financial crisis.

I’m a little late to this nugget but what a great question. (Happy to see he’s writing again.)

DHH, on LinkedIn stock:

So they want you to pay $85-92 per share for a company that posted 9 cents per share in earnings last year (or put another way, value a company with $18 million in profits at $8 billion). Heh.

Heh indeed. At least they’re actually making a profit I guess.

Interesting to see Chrome break 20% market share, mostly by eating into IE, but also a fraction of Firefox.

Certainly is my browser of choice.

Arts & Letters Daily introducing ‘How China sees the world’:

Beijing’s chattering class. China has 400 think tanks, where opinions vary from government-approved to government-approved…

Interesting article if you’re into any combination of China and foreign policy.

Mercenary Trader on the AUD/USD pair:

It might be time to get short the Australian dollar if you haven’t already.

Go have a read, not a bad analysis. I’m hesitant to bet against AUD and I suspect the tipping point is still months away. But, I’m shorting regardless (I have time).

What you get visiting Turntable.fm these days:

We’re very sorry, but while we would love to let you in and rock out with us, we need to currently restrict turntable access to only the United States due to licensing constraints.

This really sucks. You may remember how excited I was about Turntable.fm. It’s hard to watch music startups hit that music-industry-plus-internet roadblock.

Nat at Simple & Lovable on the first fatality-free holiday road toll:

As someone on the road who, just by being in a car has a chance (albeit a small one), of winding up a statistic, I appreciate their efforts.

Nice work five-O.

Via Bryce Edwards at Liberation, quoting Horizon:

Horizon Research shows 6.4% of New Zealanders 18+ do not have a landline telephone at home. This rises to 19.6% among 18 to 24 year-olds; 18.8% for those earning $100,000 to $200,000 a year and 12.5% for those earning less than $20,000 a year.

Basic findings; if you’re poor, young, or rich, you’re less likely to have a landline. This is only going to head in one direction. Expect more bias in polls.

Minimal Mac, on seeing the future:

Perhaps that is the most frustrating part to me. I see this future, and all the pieces to build it, sitting right there. We could have it, today, in every room in our house. Walk up to a screen and command it. Interact with the stuff you have there. Naturally. But, due to lack of vision, it’s not magic. It’s a game. As long as the blinders of the present and past remain, it will never be anything more.

How to find fault with with the company that produced the the fastest selling consumer electronics device in history. Flawless.

Gareth Morgan, opinion piece for Interest.co.nz:

We continue to live it up like we are right up there with the world’s richest. And of course you can only drink champagne on a beer budget by selling your assets or raising more debt.

We do both.

I really only see one way this is going to go for NZ. Yawn.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, on the promise of impending industrial action:

It will be the biggest since the general strike. It won’t be the miners’ strike. We are going to win.

Yeah, I’m filing that one away for the future.