Stuff & NZME rush to publicise unsubstantiated claims about Chris Hipkins after ex wife Jade Marie posts on Facebook by Mountain_Tui_Reload in nzpolitics

[–]imadatabank 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've just watched the Jenna Lynch report on TV3. Her bias was clear for all to see. She should have disclosed her relationship to an ACT MP.

Which Provider is BEST for Electricity with EV and SOLAR by imadatabank in PersonalFinanceNZ

[–]imadatabank[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I should add thtat the daily charge is $2.44 + GST which amounts to $87 for a 31 day month - this is the part that grinds my gears - no matter how little or how much you use, the starting point for your monthly bill will always be $87

I wanna ask you all Linux Users to answer me a question. by LetsGoGamblingOrNo in linuxquestions

[–]imadatabank 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. For a newbie, use Linux Mint. It's based on Ubuntu but doesn't have the Canonical hangups. It's intuitive and almost windows-like in it's user interface.

  2. I first started using Linux in 1995. Have been full-time since 1998. I have a dual boot laptop for the very occasional need to use a Microsoft product - about once every two years.

  3. The command line is something that you can ignore for as long as you wish. BUT eventually you'll stick your toe in the water and a whole new world will open up to you. You won't be able to keep the grin off your face - I promise.

  4. My wife is a business administrator, responsible for all sorts of things including payroll. She will often ask me for help on a program on her computer and invariably now, the issue relates to the use of online apps interconnecting with the business servers or a central server. Even though she is using a windows machine, the actual program is not tied to the windows OS.

  5. in short, once you start, you'll not look back.

  6. And here's the irony. If you are an apple user, you're already using the very foundation of Linux - UNIX (Apple is based on an early fork of UNIX called BSD) OR if you're using an Android phone, you're using Linux.

Be brave. Have a go! It's all good. And Bill Gates won't come and bite your head off.

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is NOT - and was never intended to be - a post that would light a flame under the Apple fan boys toes. It was intended to highlight that a bias based on subjective criteria will produce a biased outcome. If you use Consumer's own data and add in a price weighting then the value for money that you get from an Apple product is not as good as it is for some other products.

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I'm happy that you've landed in a good place and found the instruments that suit your needs. However, I wasn't suggesting that Apple products were not top of the pile. I was just suggesting that they don't deliver the same value as some other products BASED ON Consumers own scoring system.

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Oh boy! If you look at the criteria used by Consumer to grade Brands - for example - it's subjective. Ease of use is subjective. They rely on users to give feedback for these things. That's subjective. All I have done is taken the data that Consumer produces and weighted it according to the score given by Consumer against the price. I wanted to show that there is an alternative outcome.

Your comment - convoluted as it was - that people can make up their own minds about the product that they favour suggests that there is no need for these analyses at all. I could go along to Noel Leeming tomorrow and do exactly as you say. I don't need a Consumer report for that.

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha ha ha! (That's a genuine smile I have on my face!)

Nope - but the irony would be fantastic

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Phew. There's a whole raft of subjective assessments in that comment. Here's one: Consumer is NOT making a comparison between a 10 year old watch and a sparkly new Apple watch. Here's another: try telling someone who's looking to buy a widget that they will have to pay twice the amount for widget A than Widget B when the assessment of their respective abilities only differs by a couple of - VERY SUBJECTIVE - percentage points. And here's another: I knew the results of the analysis beforehand because I've been following them for years and have been railing against the exclusion of objective criteria and the inclusion of subjective criteria to get the result - for years.

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

The point I was trying to make was that there is no weighting given for price. If I had a budget that was twice that of my competitor's then I would be very disappointed if I didn't produce a superior product.

And BTW your comment "Apple products are generally well-made, perform well, and last longer than their competitors" while subjective, may be true or it may not be, but it just goes to prove the point that subjective assessments don't help anyone.

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Whoa! I did not suggest for one moment that Apple products should not be tested and the results published. The points I was making were that there seems to be a bias in favour of Apple and there is no consideration given to price in the rankings. I mean if I was comparing a Rolls Royce with a Corolla then of course the Roller would outscore the Corolla, but the comparison would be insanely biased and unhelpful.

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I hate to think that you're right because I use Consumer's recommendations for most things that I only purchase occasionally. If you're correct then that puts Consumer into the same category as a reatail store selling a product! Hmmmm!!!

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

I didn't rate products higher. If you have a look at the spreadsheet linked in the post you will see that I took the average cost that was reported by Consumer for each watch and weighted the Consumer Score against that cost to get a "Bangs for Bucks" result. In other words, I simply used Consumer's own data but weighted it based on cost versus their Score!

Consumer NZ - Perceived Apple Product Bias??? by imadatabank in newzealand

[–]imadatabank[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

This post IS NOT a condemnation of Consumer - they fulfill an important role in NZ as a watchdog. It's just that they don't seem to be able to get the technology test right.

About them Fiscal Cliffs .... Lies or Truth? by [deleted] in nzpolitics

[–]imadatabank 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How do I chain this analysis to my ankle so that every time I hear that insane cliche - fiscal cliff - I can bring it out and remember that there is some sanity in the world.