Not exactly marketing brilliance

Posted 30 Sep 2008

Signs | 10 Comments 

Over the summer, I enjoyed a short holiday on the Isle of Wight. Whilst driving from one corner of the lovely island, to another scenic corner, I stopped at a traffic light. Glancing out the driver’s side window, I encountered the following sign:

And I thought to myself:

“No s***?!”

“Have a sale on selected items inside the shop? That’s brilliant!”

“Who would have ever thought about putting selected items on sale? What a stroke of genius to post such a witty, clever sign? Truly this is going to pull the carpet right out from underneath the competition.”

Arrested like clockwork

Posted 29 Sep 2008

Signs | 4 Comments 

A small watch and clock repair shop in Chicago had two signs posted in its front window. I don’t think it is unreasonable of the shopkeepers to warn that they call the police, but I thought it an odd juxtaposition of the two signs.

Their similar size and language has me wondering …

Do they buy your watch, then call the cops, as if some sort of watch-dealing sting operation?

Are you taking your chances just walking in? They might buy your watch, they might call the police, depending on the mood of the proprietor …

Apple’s new iPod: iLook

Posted 26 Sep 2008

Daily Life, Design, News | 5 Comments 

As a company, Apple listen to their customers and innovate. That’s what they do. So, you’ll not be surprised to learn that Apple has already responded to the recent economic upheaval by releasing a brand new product: the iLook.

Apple’s newest, and perhaps most market-savvy innovation is aimed specifically at those suffering financial stringency as a result of inflation. At $9.99 (or £9.99 in the UK), this latest addition to the iPod family is a real bargain.

The new iLook looks just like a real iPod to passers-by. No, it doesn’t play any music or movies – in fact, it doesn’t play anything at all. That’s the beauty of it. The new iLook enables us to keep up our reputation for being hip and cool, without having to splash out the cash. With the new iLook, we can bee-bop down the street, head rockin’ to the beat, occasionally pulling out our iLook to pretend to skip over a song or adjust the volume.

Check your local Apple iStore for further details and product launch dates.

Strange activity on Twitter

Posted 25 Sep 2008

Daily Life, The Little Things | 8 Comments 

New Twitter users soon find that even before they post too many tweets, they are being “followed” by some dodgy characters they’ve never met or heard of. By clicking on one that I thought looked like a spam account, I saw this message from Twitter:

(In case you can’t read the text in the screenshot, we’ve reprinted it here: This account is currently suspended and is being investigated due to strange activity. If this is your account, or for more information about why an account may be suspended, see Suspended Accounts.)

So, I guess we can consider this as a warning to you Twitter users … if you engage in “strange activities” you’re liable to have your account suspended.

By the way, you can follow chickenmonkeydog on Twitter (cmdonline) … but do try to keep your weirdness to a minimum, lest the Twitter police hunt you down and suspend you.

Complete formular

Posted 24 Sep 2008

Daily Life, Language | 9 Comments 

As a US citizen I am required by US law to file income tax returns every year, regardless of where I call home. And, because I live in the UK, I am allowed to submit my returns later than the standard date as I automatically get an ‘overseas extension.’

Mid-September is about the time I would expect to be getting a refund from the government on my taxes. With all this talk of the US government giving $700 billion more to people who already have lost billions, I was eager to get my money before that bill gets through Congress.

So, you can imagine my glee when I saw an email from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) come waltzing into my inbox:

Then I read it again. Formular?! Is that like ‘strategery’. Hmmm … unless George W. was personally responsible for writing and editing this email, it’s gotta be a scam.