2008 July

Crime, Damned Crime and Statistics

The Fundy Post, in a confused state, writes:

Oh dear. In an effort to make everyone, but especially members of our Asian population, feel better about crime, I decided to do some research. So I googled. And sure enough, we score really low on the World murder rankings, just above the Scandinavians, Hong Kong and Japan (which has few murders but interesting ones).

Then I took a look at the total crimes per capita and found, to my horror that we are second from the top, just ahead of the Scandinavians.

Whoops! Above the USA? Above South Africa? Above Zimbabwe?!?

The clue, of course, is at the bottom of the page…

Note: Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.

New Zealand has the second highest reported crime rate of countries surveyed. Obviously not something to be hugely proud of, but you can not even start to track and fight crime without having accurate reporting. Take a look at the comments section for an interesting view on the actual crime rate, not the hugely inflated “spree” being run by the mainstream media.

Hey Canada, You Think Your iPhone Deal Sucks?

I feel a bit sorry at the moment, watching Mark Rushworth squirm on Campbell Live trying to defend an indefensible position. Unfortunately, I can only hear the phrase “our plans provide great value” so often before I switch off.

For those new to the game, iPhone 3G is a new device produced by Apple. It’s a second generation product but it’s the first time that Kiwis will be able to get their hands on it fully supported by a telco. In NZ, that telco is Vodafone. The offending plans are here. A run-down on other countries far more reasonable plans are here. Sweaty geek outrage can be found here.

Obviously, Vodafone have the freedom to take their iPhone resale privilege wherever they like, although it seems that Apple did not look to kindly on providers who upset their customers over the much drooled-over device. So in this instance, if the Herald “Your Views” section is to be believed, Vodafone has used their freedom to walk off a cliff and spell the end of their business (Isn’t the crowd a fickle beast? Hard right when it suits them, socialist comrades when it’s something they want, plain frothing insanity the rest of the time).
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iYomu Shuts It’s Doors

iYomu, the “Social Network for Grown Ups” has gone the way of almost every other social network – tits up. A promising New Zealand startup made the fatal mistake of Web 2.0 – do not exclude.

The site was only available to those over 18, but it turns out that adults didn’t want their own exclusive social network and even their million dollar bribe didn’t muster up enough hits on the site to keep it alive.

Although boasting a healthy 100,000 members, the concept and execution suffered several flaws. Apart from excluding the most internet-active generation, the site was completely flash-based, inaccessible on mobile platforms and at times very difficult to navigate.

So another internet startup chalks up failure, not big news but the site and founders were New Zealand based so I thought it worth mentioning.