July 2, 2008
Is it a boy or a girl?
IT World Canada
Sharky recaps a recent Reuters report that says Facebook users may soon need to specify their gender if they are to publish their profiles.
“This was prompted by concerns over the inevitable grammatical errors resulting from the use of gender-neutral personal pronouns. For example, if a user who has not specified his or her gender updates his or her profile, the site would normally generate a message to the effect that the user has updated ‘their’ profile.”
Working at Microsoft vs. working at Google
Wired
Paul McNamara shares Dare Obasanjo, program manager for Microsoft’s Windows Live Platform group’s thoughts on employees who move over to Microsoft from Google, and vice versa.
Dare Obasanjo says, “‘Recently I’ve been bumping into more and more people who’ve either left Google to come to Microsoft or got offers from both companies and picked Microsoft over Google. I believe this is part of a larger trend especially since I’ve seen lots of people who left the company for “greener pastures” return in the past year (at least eight people I know personally have rejoined).’”
Rogers reveals iPhone tariffs, Canada groans
Wired
Charlie Sorrel outlines Rogers’s fees for the iPhone 3G in advance of its Canadian availability starting July 11.
“The cheapest monthly rate from (Rogers) will be $60 per month…and you’ll get 150 minutes. The crunch comes with the data plans…At the basic rate, you’ll ‘enjoy’ a whole 400MB per month. And Rogers makes it clear that a Megabyte means 1024 KB, so you’ll get closer to 390MB of the kind you’re used to…The top-flight plan, for $115, gives you just 2GB… If you go over these limits, Rogers will sting you for an additional 50¢ per meg, going down to 3¢ after the first 60MB (or after the company had rolled you for another $30). Depending on plan, included text messages run from 75 to 300 per month. There is one piece of almost good news. iPhone users will get unlimited access to Rogers and Fido Wi-Fi hotspots.”