All Things Digital

QOTD

I thought it was actually quite a funny response. But what really incensed me was when I was told I could not change it back to ‘Lloyds is pants’ because they said it was not appropriate. I asked if it was ‘pants’ they didn’t like, and would ‘Lloyds is rubbish’ do? But they didn’t think so. So I tried ‘Barclays is better’ and that didn’t go down too well either.”

– Lloyds TSB customer Steve Jetley, whose banking password–”Lloyds is pants”–was changed by a Lloyds employee to “No it’s not.”

QOTD

We deeply, deeply love the variety of these dishes–Wood-Roasted Lobster with Garlic Crisps and Blood Orange-Cilantro Vinaigrette! Sweet Potato, Spinach, and Shiitake Mushroom Gratin that calls for an entire gallon of heavy cream! Foie Gras-Stuffed Falafel that is categorized under salad! Can we just point out that in a cookbook of only 43 recipes, two call for foie gras?”

– MenuPages reviews “Keyword: Delicious,” the Google cookbook

QOTD

Rather than call for government regulation of technology itself, perhaps the best way to limit the avalanche is to make the technologies that overproduce information more expensive and less widespread. It could be done via a progressive energy tax designed to keep energy prices at a consistently high level (while providing assistance to lower- and middle-income Americans).”

– Attorney Dusty Horwitt says we must save Democracy by making blogs and other online media too expensive to maintain

QOTD

It’s trivial to clone a device. In fact, I have several clones with my own ID already.”

– Security researcher Nate Lawson says the FasTrak toll system can be hacked to evade toll

QOTD

We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone.”

– An Orange Poland spokesman lays the groundwork for a forthcoming Polish joke

QOTD

Oh, no, no, no, no… My frustrated users don’t need to hear about that. See, fear of switching is the foundation of customer loyalty for PCs.”

– PC shows Jerry Seinfeld what he’s up against in Apple’s latest “Get a Mac” spot

QOTD

Bill has definitely not retired for us.”

– Scott Prevost, general manager and product director at Powerset, the semantic search start-up Microsoft recently acquired, says reports of Chairman Bill Gates’s retirement have been greatly exaggerated.

QOTD

It definitely looks like our costume.”

– Jerry Parrino, owner of TheHorrorDome.com, says the men who claim to have the body of Bigfoot may have something else entirely.

QOTD

eBay does connect colourful buyers with colourful sellers and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did buy these items, though I couldn’t speculate on who would buy them or why. This is obviously very therapeutic for this woman and it must be a great channel for her views on cheating and the sanctity of marriage.

– eBay spokesperson Inessa Jackson on an auction entitled “Empty condom packet & a photo of The Tart’s knickers”

QOTD

I don’t believe in the lazy people/dumb people. I think people are smarter because they have access to more information. Google just organizes it. The people are still asking the questions, they’re still thinking it. They have so much more information available to them.”

– Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the company isn’t dumbing down mankind, it’s just giving it better access to dumb information.

QOTD

This is the first major combination of an online company and a bricks-and-mortar media company. It’s the deal that everyone will have to follow.

Together, they represent an unprecedented powerhouse. If their mantra is content, this alliance is unbeatable. Now they have this great platform they can cross-fertilize with content and redistribute.”

– Ben Rogoff, manager of Aberdeen Asset Management and Bear Stearns analyst Scott Ehrens comment on the AOL-Time Warner merger, circa 2000

QOTD

I do hope Mr. Yang enjoys himself (with) the new board members. I call them the gang of three, because you all deserve one another.

– John Harrington, CEO of Harrington Investments, welcomes Carl Icahn and Co. to Yahoo’s board

QOTD

The iPhone, as a device, is in the same generation power-wise as the PS2 or Xbox. The graphics are a little lower but the RAM is a lot higher. … You could easily spend $10 million on an iPhone game, but the market just can’t support that yet.”

– John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and creator of the “Doom,” “Quake” and “Wolfenstein” franchises, says iPhone users have a lot to look forward to.

QOTD

I wish I knew.”

–Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on when we’ll see a Facebook payments platform

QOTD

Steve loves Apple, and serves as the chief executive at the pleasure of Apple’s board, and has no plans to leave Apple. Steve’s health is a private matter.”

– Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer refuses to answer a question about CEO Steve Jobs’s health during the company’s Monday earnings call.