Fresh Plastic

Crop circles spell out unsettling message for those flying into Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport

If you've flown into Amsterdam's Schiphol airport recently, you may have seen something a little forebodding as you came into land. Marketing bods, on behalf of HBO, have spelt out 'What if your pilot disappeared?' in a crop "circle" in giant letters in a field close to the airport. Why? Glad you asked, it's to advertise new series 'The Leftovers' from Damon Lindelof, apparently. For those who don't know who that is, he created plane-crash drama 'Lost'.

And here's a video of how they made it...

 

O2 Refresh refund: Everyone hates waiting

Currently O2, the UK offshoot of Spanish telco Telefonica, are running a TV spot about how everyone hates waiting. I agree. Waiting sucks. Since the 8th of April (21 days ago) I've been waiting for a refund from said company. That's when they took £246.76 from my bank account in error, leaving me overdrawn to the tune of £59.97.

That's the reality of their O2 Refresh plan even when you follow their rules, to the letter, in ending a contract early, supposedly penalty free (as long as you've paid off the handset costs - which I did).

 

Unfortunately my bank, Halifax, were less than helpful, so I gave up trying to get an 'immediate' refund - or a refund at all - through the Direct Debit Guarantee. Confusion over the amount wrongfully taken has also complicated matters.

I'm at a stage now where I'm wondering if standing outside my local O2 store, telling prospective customers about my experiences, will speed matters up. At this point I really have nothing more to lose.

Internet's a gift from God? So says Pope!

Apparently God gave mankind the gift that is the Internet. At least that's what God's representative on Earth, one Pope Benedict the 16th Francis, reckons. Although it would seem viral marketing tricks on the likes of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are nothing but the work of the devil. He might actually be right there...

In other Pope-related, (kinda) tech news, 'Angry Birds' have attacked peace doves released by children at a ceremony the Pope attended.

I found both articles using...

Busting Loose: Only true love will open this Japanese bra

Nippon scien-tits invent brassiere that busts open only in the presence of a woman's true love.

 

3 reasons why you should NEVER click on linkbait headlines

1. A puppy dies every time you click on one
2. Yes, really!
3. It upsets the Internet Gods. Greatly

So as not to completely waste your time - which is what linkbaiting ultimitely does - here's some 20th Century headlines rewritten to get more clicks. Enjoy!

How to get followers by favouriting. Only douches need apply

Tweets I make on my @FreshPlastic Twitter account regulary get favourited by random people (many of whom are clearly bots) who usually aren't following me - or many other people for that matter.

But why?

The reasoning is very simple.

• People like to appear popular and influential
• Many people will follow someone who favourites, or retweets, their tweets
• Retweeting clogs up a spammers timeline, but favourites are "invisible"
• Bulk following and unfollowing to get followers is a tried and tested way to massage one's numbers but is likely to get you blocked by users or banned by Twitter. Favouriting, on the other hand, isn't.

I wish we could go back to 2008, a time when none of this shit happened or mattered. But, alas we can't. Oh, and here's an example of a non-spambot follow-gaming douchebag - who inspired me to write this post after he favourited this tweet of mine.

Sky Go's direct-to-your-skull train window marketing campaign (video)

If you happen to rest your weary head on a train window in Germany, don't be surprised if you start hearing voices in your head. Voices that other passengers won't hear unless they too are resting their heads.

So, I'm not going mad?

I can't say for sure as I don't know your full medical history, but the voices on the train - at least - are nothing more than Sky Deutschland trying to sell you Sky Go.

 

As for how it's done, it's a thing called bone  conduction - which, according to Wikipedia, is the conduction of sound to the inner ear through the bones of the skull. A technology that's been around for quite some time, in the shape of hearing aids and lollipops.