I was reading an article in The Guardian about a new "no frills" transatlantic airline. The author talked about the various costs, and whether the cost savings were worth it. So, how much cheaper is it really? BA wanted a minimum of £709.31, while Virgin's cheapest was £689.31. Norwegian offered us a flight at £579.20 without hold luggage or meals, or £649.20 with. So while the new challenger is still cheaper, the difference becomes more marginal, narrowing to as little as 6%. Can Norwegian r…
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BitCoin and other crypto-currencies are gaining popularity at the moment - but I remain firmly convinced that they're too hard for the average person to use. I have, however, watched with interest as an ecosystem grows around them. In particular, I like the way The Pirate Bay (and others) have used QR codes to facilitate easy payments and donations. The QR codes contain only three variables - the payment method (BitCoin), the destination, and a message. As this is a donation there is no…
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So, Yahoo! is to buy tumblr for $1.1 BEEEEEELLION. I don't understand money. Well, specifically, I don't understand how companies are funded, classify shares, or any of that finance stuff. But, there's something which has been bothering me about the recent sale of some social media properties. According to some estimates, tumblr has 170 million users. $1.1 billion / 170 million users is.... double checks workings $6.47 per user. Err... what? Even if those number are off by 50% - Yahoo have …
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... as our money becomes completely electronic, new crimes will undoubtedly be committed which take advantage of the technology itself. Perhaps if we could imagine what crimes might happen, we could start to think about how to prevent them. What financial crimes could be committed within a completely electronic marketplace? Future of Money Design Award On one level, there's no change to the basic ideas of monetary crime. You either target an individual or a bank, then fool them or force…
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In the year 1124, the King of England had a problem with the people who produced the kingdom's money. The quality of the coins in the early part of the reign was poor, as the moneyers made a large profit by producing underweight coins or coins of debased fineness. In 1124 Henry called all 150 moneyers to Winchester, and called them to account for their activities — 94 of them were convicted of issuing sub-standard coins and were mutilated, their right hands and one testicle being cut off, as a …
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There's a whole science dedicated to the universality of human expressions. Across vast continents and endless oceans, humans make the same face whether in a state of grief, joy, or disgust. More or less. The face of the Indian street vendor clearly said "Oh, FFS!" I had made the universal tourist mistake of paying for a cheap product with a ridiculously large bill. The bottle of mango juice I needed so desperately to cool down in the mad-dog sun came to 20 rupees. The smallest…
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