I was just forwarded a link to this frankly ridiculous credit card offer….

“Vanquis does not believe that credit problems in the past, the lack of a credit history or a lower than average income should exclude people from having a credit card. To achieve this, Vanquis has designed a range of products tailored to customer needs…”

“Typical APRs are based on a £250 credit limit, the APR is 49.6% on the standard variable product and 58.6% on the ‘no surprises’ product”

Can anyone explain what it would take to become a customer who would find this offer attractive?!? A brain-ectomy, perhaps?

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I know reality shows are wearing a bit thin, but Channel 4’s new daily reality show, “Space Cadets”, sounds like it could actually be the funniest thing ever!

The basic gist is that C4 have recruited a bunch of contestants, who will be flown to Russia for space training, with the winners becoming Britain’s first space tourists. Except it’s all a big con
They will actually be taken to a disused airbase somewhere in the UK which has been made up to look… Russian and their ’space shuttle’ will be a movie prop with monitors so the (hopefully) unsuspecting contestants will think they’re in space - don’t worry though, it’s ‘near space’ where gravity still works…

Ever the optimists, C4 has been sure to line up a Plan B schedule in case they get found out!

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After a considerable period of squirming, Sony has finally had to concede defeat and recall all of their CDs containing the highly dodgy copy protection system XCP. Perhaps this should serve as a reminder to the music industry that they cannot unilaterally impose copy protection systems or restrictions on the consumer without there being some kind of reaction, be that yet another file sharing network being set up or exploitation of their system by the more nefarious members of the internet community…

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The Register have reported that Apple have rather quietly started bundling thin (and not overly pretty) cases with their iPod Nano, without making any announcement to that effect. Is it just me or just that seem a tiny bit underhanded, since they maintain that the well-publicised scratchable screen problem is only limited to a small number of units.

I have nothing against Apple (I own an iPod myself) but maybe this results to an admission that their designers got ahead of the engineers a bit on this one…?

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Just a quickie to say that I’ve just finished a quick re-design of a website for a customer of mine, Diversity Plus, in order to fit their new corporate image.

I hope it brings them renewed success

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Since I’ve been working so hard (!) I’ve been privileged to be allowed out of South Yorkshire on two consecutive weekends for trips away.

Last weekend I went to the International Motorcycle & Scooter Show at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham. I’ve been midweek in previous years so I was expecting it to be bedlam, but thankfully it wasn’t that busy - maybe because it was the first of the two weekends of the show. It’s an opportunity to get up close and sit on loads of bikes that I’ll only be able to afford in the most optimistic of dreams. I plonked myself on many machines, but even I couldn’t get near what was arguably the star of the show, the new Triumph Daytona 675:

There was one available for the drooling public to sit on but the queue was a bit nasty… I did manage to pick up my now obligatory end of season BSB t-shirt though, so that was a result
This weekend’s trip was rather more painful - a visit to Highbury to see Sunderland comprehensively outplayed and beaten 3-1 by Arsenal. At no point in the game did we ever think we’d get something from it, which isn’t a very pleasant situation to be in, but it’s good to be realistic I suppose…

While in the area I took a little walk to see Arsenal’s new ground currently under construction, the Emirates Stadium:

It looks like it will be a fantastic venue, that’s for sure. Highbury has certainly had it’s day and is looking pretty outdated and tired now in comparison to the new grounds built in the last few years:

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