Ask the Readers: A Fool and His Money?

It’s April Fool’s Day, one of my favorite days of the year at Get Rich Slowly. It’s the day I get to share the story of some foolish thing I’ve done with money in the past. This year, though, April Fool’s Day falls on a Friday, which is when I traditionally field reader questions. So, [...]

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How UBM's 'Project Caxton' Brainstorms Content Strategy

Right now, almost all United Business Media’s magazine websites are free. And, although the B2B publisher wants to extract more money from them, there is no one-size, group-wide lurch to paid, as there has been at counterparts like Emap.

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Bankruptcy: It's us and Kerry Katona

Bankruptcy is no longer the soft option as the Insolvency Service gets tough. Strangely, that's not true for some celebrities

The new get-tough attitude at the Insolvency Service will appeal to many who feel bankruptcy has become a soft-touch option. From now on individuals whose recklessness has left them unable to pay their bills won't be able to enjoy spa days out, expensive gym memberships or drinks in the golf club. They will be strictly limited to pocket money only ? �10 a month ? with any other surplus income they have going back to their creditors.

Unless, it seems, you are Kerry Katona. We don't normally find ourselves sharing much common ground with the readers of the Sunday People on Guardian Money. Nor do we usually care what "celebrities" such as Katona are up to. But the fact she has moved into a Surrey mansion allegedly worth �3m, replete with indoor pool, gym and cinema, has understandably left readers of the red-tops fuming. You see, Katona, despite a career advertising Iceland's tasty fare, is a bankrupt.

She was tipped into bankruptcy by an �82,000 tax bill two years ago, and is yet to be discharged. Maybe she saw herself as a low rent Leona Helmsley, the New York socialite who is famously quoted as saying: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes ?"

How is it, the readers of the Sunday People ask, that the likes of Katona can continue to enjoy a champagne lifestyle while they still, presumably, have sizeable unpaid debts?

"The system is wrong when a high-profile debtor can give a two finger salute to pursuers," said one People reader from Stockton, Teesside.

It's a fair question, and one my colleague Rupert Jones has tried to put to "her people" (aka Can Associates) ? but despite many phone calls and emails we have had zero response.

In modern Britain there appears to be one rule for us (tax rises, job cuts, lousy pensions) and one rule for the Kerry Katonas of this world. Let them eat cake, said Marie Antoinette to the revolting masses. I suppose for Katona it is let them eat Iceland prawn rings.

? Brits are getting wise to online banking fraudsters, according to figures last week which revealed that online banking, card and cheque fraud losses all fell in 2010. Financial Fraud Action UK ? the name under which banks and providers co-ordinate fraud prevention strategies ? says this shows industry initiatives are proving successful.

But if the sad story of Mike Milotte is anything to go by, there is a worrying new trend. It's when a company asks you to send money direct to its bank, giving you an account number and sort code to let you pay in. Normally it's because the "credit card machine is broken" or "you don't want to waste money on credit card charges". It feels safe, too, as you're just transferring the cash from your account to another big bank.

But once you send the money down the line, down goes your consumer protection ? readers may recall the "Rentmac" ("rent me any car") fiasco last Christmas, in which people were also conned into making bank transfers. If you haven't already received the goods or service, it's quite simple: never pay by this form of bank transfer for anything substantial.

• Bankruptcy and IVAs
• Celebrity

Patrick Collinson

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Google Talk Guru Takes Us Back to 2001, Resurrects Chat Bots

Google Labs is attempting to resurrect chat bots with Google Talk Guru. The Guru is an automated IM service that can define words, perform basic calculations, translate text, pull in sports scores, perform Google searches, and tell you whether you should be glad or upset that you're stuck in front of a computer. Just send an invite to the Guru to chat with you, and ask away.

Google Talk Guru Takes Us Back to 2001, Resurrects Chat Bots originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Laser Implants May One Day Restore Hearing to the Deaf

Scientists at the University of Utah led by researcher Richard Rabbitt, have found a way to stimulate inner ear cells with infrared laser light. Using low-powered optical signals, the researchers triggered the inner ear hair cells of an oyster toadfish to send signals to its brain, raising the possibility of using the technology to restore hearing to the deaf. Rabbitt believes the cells released neurotransmitters because the mitochondria they contain are sensitive to infrared wavelengths. Current hearing implants rely on electrodes that use electrical simulation, but only deliver a limited range of frequencies (usually eight). By contrast, the human ear is capable of hearing over 3,000 frequencies, and Rabbitt believes that optical stimulation, which can be focused on narrow sets of cells and tuned to different wavelengths, could restore the full range of hearing to patients.

Rabbitt said the research is at least five to ten years away from implementation in a viable optical cochlear implant. To be practical, the size of the power supply and light source would have to be dramatically reduced, and power consumption would also have to be minimized to run on tiny batteries similar to those used in hearing aids. The research also has potential for treating vision impairment, balance problems and movement disorders like Parkinson's. The team also developed an infrared laser-based pacemaker, but current electrical pacemakers work well enough that no one is clamoring for a laser-powered replacement.

Laser Implants May One Day Restore Hearing to the Deaf originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Need to Go 'No Glow,' Christopher Poole Drops by Reddit

Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.

Read:

The History of the Teardown: The Need to See Our Gear Undressed

In the case of the Kinect, there was also an element of history involved. Wiens and the iFixit team tend to look at designers and engineers almost the same way other people look at bands or film directors--analyzing their new work in comparison to their old work, seeing how they've improved, how their voice is changing.

No glow

This was something I knew but didn't really want to admit: in the evening, when I'm reading on my laptop or iPad, my eyes are hurting a little. After 8-9 hours spent in front of a 24" screen blasting light in my face at work, my eyes feel a bit like two sun dried tomatoes. They are tired. As I'm writing this, after work, I can feel it.

Watch:

• The creation of Nokia's new 'Pure' typeface

Know:

• Desktoday keeps your Mac tidy by throwing all the files on your desktop into a dated folder. [From: Lifehacker]
• 4Chan's Christopher "moot" Poole took questions from the community at reddit's IAmA section today. [From: reddit]

Got a tip? Want to talk to us? In need of more choice links like these? Drop us a line on Twitter and check out our Tumblr blog.

The Need to Go 'No Glow,' Christopher Poole Drops by Reddit originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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News Corp. Tells Time Warner Cable To Stop Streaming Channels On iPad App

After several days of grumbling, it looks like the knives are coming out. Fox confirms that it sent a letter Tuesday demanding that Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) stop streaming its National Geographic and FX channels to iPads. This scuffle with TWC could turn into the first battle over whether iPads are covered by existing payment and licensing schemes, or whether content owners can insist on new iPad video streaming rights.

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