Jeffrey McManus

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Entries Tagged as 'That's Pretty Messed Up Right There'

Google Answer to Filling Jobs Is an Algorithm

January 3rd, 2007 · No Comments · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There

Link: Google Answer to Filling Jobs Is an Algorithm – New York Times.
Unfortunately, most of the academic research suggests that the factors Google has put the most weight on — grades and interviews — are not an especially reliable way of hiring good people.
“Interviews are a terrible predictor of performance,” Mr. Bock said.

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From the Lips of Children, Tips to the Ears of Investors

December 16th, 2006 · No Comments · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There

Link: From the Lips of Children, Tips to the Ears of Investors – New York Times.
“Children are a secret weapon in my arsenal for making investment decisions,” said Heidi Roizen, a managing director at Mobius Venture Capital, a Silicon Valley firm.

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Fandango makes it hard to give them money

August 12th, 2006 · 1 Comment · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There, Web/Tech

I use the Firefox AdBlock extension to block a site called one-time-offer.com, which pops up various useless marketing offers in checkout flows.
Fandango has a fairly straightforward multi-step checkout process. The last step of the process contains an image button which concludes the transaction — no problem so far. But the button that concludes the transaction [...]

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Turisti Pay More in Roman Restaurants

August 9th, 2006 · 1 Comment · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There

Why do Italians charge tourists up to 30% more for their meals?
Diner Beware: Turisti Pay More in Roman Restaurants
“They don’t see it as a crime but as a kind of justification,” said Tegan Shioler, a Canadian chef and sommelier who has worked in restaurants and hotels around Rome for several years. “It is part of [...]

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BBC NEWS: Searching for a mobile interface

August 5th, 2006 · 1 Comment · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There

Link: BBC NEWS | Searching for a mobile interface.
Nearly a quarter of phones returned for being faulty are working properly, a recent survey suggested. The problem is people just cannot figure out how to use them.

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Enterprise Software Pricing is Junk

August 1st, 2006 · 2 Comments · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There

The other day I was looking at a commercial tool for a project I was working on. I couldn’t find pricing on the vendor’s site, which suggested to me that the price of the product was “overpriced”. Typically when this happens I feel like somebody’s trying to gouge me or waste my time; this is [...]

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Servicemaster.com Violates Its Own Privacy Policy

May 25th, 2006 · 3 Comments · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There

When we bought our house last year, it was pretty much perfect except for the back yard, which was a grungy mess. We’re currently investing in some upgrades to the yard. Over the past few days we’ve had landscapers tidying it up a bit and fixing a collapsing wooden fence back there; our hope is [...]

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Do Not Run from the Police.

March 23rd, 2006 · 2 Comments · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There

I woke this morning to the sound four or five pops off in the distance outside my window. I wasn’t sure if it was gunshots or whatever, so I went back to sleep. Within a few minutes we heard the sound of a helicopter orbiting our neighborhood, and later a light plane, so I figured [...]

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Skype Picks a Winner

February 8th, 2006 · 2 Comments · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There, Web/Tech

This sounds like a brilliant strategic partnership: this story says that if you’re using Skype with a dual-core Intel processor you’re allowed to have 10-way conference calls, but if you’re using a competing processor (or, presumably, an older Intel chip) you’ll be limited to 5-way calls. Apparently this is the case regardless of whether the [...]

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Ten Reasons Why Pickles Suck

January 13th, 2006 · 10 Comments · That's Pretty Messed Up Right There

10. They are usually served cold.9. They are green.8. They are preserved in vinegar, which tastes like the rot of death to me. (I don’t eat a lot of salad dressings, either, for this reason.)7. They are bumpy.6. They often hide in hamburgers and are difficult to remove until you’ve accidentally bitten into one (unlike, [...]

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