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Don't mess with my iPhone

Google Nexus has gone through its teething process on the market. Reviews have not been so good for the phone that has been dubbed the G-Phone. The complaints range from the relatively superficial – why doesn’t G-Phone retail in shops? – to the serious – who is the customer’s reference? The latter complaint is the result of Google not being the direct manufacturer of the phone (HTC is) and also of the fact that the distribution of the phone also introduces a network provider intermediary (Verizon in the US). So who do you call if you have a query? Apparently customers have been faced with the much hated ping ponging of responsibilities – never a winner with the frustrated emptor.

What has made the news is the bad news about customer service and packaging. Is the g-phone doomed to relative failure (compared to the success of the iPhone) simply for the bad choices of the Google marketing team? No big complaints have been registered in the reviewing media with regard to the actual software and hardware (there are early issues such as reception in some US areas – but to be fair iPhone had these too). Will we have to wait a little longer before getting the final verdict in the iPhone vs gPhone wars?
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Finally, for those who have been asking, my review of the Sony Ebook reader will have to wait a little longer as the delivery service takes its time with the package from Germany. It should be here any day soon though.

Ospedale F.C.

Manninger – Grygera – Cannavaro – Chiellini – Grosso – Salihamidzic – Melo- de Ceglie – Caceres – Diego – Del Piero

Escludendo ulteriori danni fisici (scongiuri dovuti) da qui a mercoledi, la squadra più scudettata d’Italia si trova in una situazione pù che disastrosa. Prima di dare tutta la colpa a Ferrara o al primo giocatore che fa sbagli inutili qui bisogna rivedere il progetto oggettivamente. Troppi (ma davvero troppi) infortuni. Non si puo creare schemi con metà dell’organico fuori uso. Salviamo il posto in Champions e poi si vedrà.

De Ceglie in mezzo al centrocampo, Caceres ala destra e Del Piero unica punta? A questo passo la cosa più interessante da vedere mercoledi contro un Napoli in forma sarà proprio la panchina della Juve. Mi sa che ci sarà Bettega come sostituto.

Infortuni/Non utilizzabili:
Buffon
Camoranesi
Marchisio
Sissoko (CAN)
Amauri
Trezeguet
Tiago (in partenza)
Marrone
Giovinco
Iaquinta
Poulsen

e scusateci se è poco.

Defrost

It’s hard to get back to the routine after the long Christmas break. It gets harder if the various -itises put in a bit of their own to accompany the flu invasion at this period of the year. So it’s not because J’accuse has been paralyzed by the sheet of snow just like most of Europe. Neither is it because of the lack of bloggable items. It’s just simply a general inability to drag myself to the computer and blog after this extended (and much needed) period of relative inactivity. Patience. It’s a virtue – and expect some virtuoso blogposts in the coming days.

Yes. It’s still snowing.

(photo: Parc de Merl. View from study. 8.30am)

It dawned on him…

We didn’t even get enough  time to digest the grappa and wish our readers a very prosperous recession-dodging new year that Inhobbkom-J gives us a charming regurgitation of baseless rhetoric on the second day of the new year (and decade – as he seems to be so prone to point out). Latching on to a change in decade in the hope to keep the “tidal wave” (more like squeak) of a revolution of change running is already pathetic as it is. That the attempt itself is couched in fruitless bla-bla and yada-yada only goes to show that we begin this new year (or decade) with much the same meagre prospects for real politics and real direction in leadership. It’s the 50-50-99 rule for us: there’s a fifty-fifty chance that one of the PLPN parties will be in power come next election and whoever it is has a 99% potential to screw the whole thing up.

A new decade has started. The time is now to plan for a better future and what we want Malta and Gozo to be-come. Great opportunities lie before us and there is a chance for everyone to play one’s part. We must welcome new ideas. We must listen to what people are saying. And we should open our doors to everyone who wants to make a contribution to the Labour Party, our new movement, your Malta and Gozo, as it will be in the coming decade. Labour has a record of solid achievement in Malta and Gozo. But it has been out of government for too long. The party at the core of the movement we are building must ensure it is proactive and answers the concerns of the voters of today. We will explain in no uncertain terms a plan that puts our vision into practice, that will be a win for all those who love this country and crave for a change in direction away from mediocrity, a vision that puts our children’s education and our environment at the heart of all we  do.

– Inhobbkom Joseph Muscat (A new decade has dawned)

– Times of Malta, 2nd Day of the 1st Month of the First Year of the Second Decade of the twenty-first century

There’s more where that came from. Frankly I got sick after the first two paragraphs. I also picked out this sentence further down since the “uproot ourselves” part struck me as rather prosaic: “Exciting times lie ahead. We can uproot ourselves from the deep malaise of our current government and build a society of enterprise, fairness and equality.”

I’m off to uproot myself away from the pc and watch some ESPN Classic football. Happy New Year folks, looks like there will be much more fodder for the columns of J’accuse for months to come.