So I get a message on Facebook earlier today, pointing me to some dodgy gaming forum, with a post from ‘CraigGrannell’ stating.

I’m new. from retro gamer magazine. how are you guys doing?

The only thing is, I didn’t write this (which should be obvious on the basis that I have some command of the English language, but my doppelgänger has still to learn about capital letters).

This rather begs the question, why on earth would anyone pretend to be me? I mean, I like writing for Retro Gamer and all, but I can’t imagine there’s much cachet in that, nor in being a slightly greying freelance hack from Hampshire.

Anyway, I’m suitably creeped out by this, so I thought I’d share.

Update: For having the audacity to alert the forum’s administrators about this problem, I have now been banned from it. Nice.

Wired reports:

The Obama administration has urged a federal appeals court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects’ vehicles to track their every move.

The argument is that Americans should expect no privacy while in public, and so officers should be able to shoot darts with GPS tracking on to vehicles to track them. As despicable as I find the idea that you’ve no right to privacy when in public, what happens when the targeted, CLEARLY EVIL CRIM, who is presumed guilty from the off, returns home, where there is still an expectation of privacy (until the administration figures out how to do away with that trifling annoyance)? Presumably, the US government has developed magic darts, which drop off a vehicle when it returns to private property! Yes, that must be it!

Reuters reports on NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker saying it won’t offer 99-cent TV-show rentals on iTunes, mirroring Warner.

Zucker:

We do not think 99 cents is the right price point for our content. … We thought it would devalue our content.

Yes, I’m sure that’s your real concern, Zucker. It’s nothing to do with thinking that you’ll get the same amount of sales at the $1.99 price-point, which is frankly a bit of a rip-off, or that you’d ideally like to keep people buying overpriced DVDs rather than move to digital rentals. However, the likelihood is studios will gross more with low-priced rentals, and consumers will see such shows as good value for money, not ‘devalued’. (Again, see WoSBlog’s investigation into Pac-Man for iOS pricing for the reality of what happens when high-profile meets high-value in iTunes.)

I sincerely hope those who have signed up for 99-cent rentals—Fox, ABC, Disney Channel and BBC America—start making money hand over fist, at the expense of NBC and Warner. And, believe me, it pains me to say “I hope Fox makes even more money than it does now,” but something needs to give studios a reality check regarding TV rental pricing.

Android 2.2, Froyo is slowly being rolled out, but ‘Gingerbread’, scheduled for a Q4 launch, will OBLITERATE Apple and iOS, according to half the tech industry. This is because, in their heads, Steve Jobs has decided to jack in his role as a visionary and become a gardener. Consequently, while he will remain as Apple CEO, the company will not move forward from this point on, allowing even Nokia to eventually speed past.

Alternatively, tech industry hacks, bear in mind that Apple develops stuff too. I’m sure Gingerbread will better Froyo, but I’m equally sure iOS 4.3 or 5.x will better iOS 4.2 (coming in November) and iOS 4.1. Making comparisons about something that doesn’t even exist in the wild versus something released this month—especially in such a fast-moving industry—is stupid, so stop doing it.

Stop the presses!

Qluso is an online app that allows news editors to screw over freelance journalists, paying them as little as possible, and making them BEG for ‘work’, while laughing like a fucking nutcase.

(The above isn’t entirely accurate regarding what it says on the website, but it’s pretty on the ball when it comes to what’s going to happen.)

Hat tip: Adam Banks

Update: Qluso’s Lyra McKee responds:

As a former freelance journalist myself, I worked with my team to devise a product that could help freelance journalists get paid the best price and get paid on the same day. We love newspapers and journalists: Qluso was built to help them, not screw them over. I have seen firsthand the problems freelance journalists face in their day-to-day work and I can understand why you would be sceptical given current industry conditions, but Qluso was designed to eradicate these problems and to improve the working experience of freelance journalists.