If you’re wondering, stochastic blue-sky research is the marvellous term coined by New Scientist’s Feedback column for idly surfing on company time (see the 25th February issue). ( Here are some of the fruits of my idle surfing over the past few days while I really should have been doing other things... )

I thought this report was interesting: half of all “malfunctioning” products are in full working order, it’s just that the poor bloody customers can’t figure out how to operate the devices. Even worse for them, companies frequently dismiss them as ‘nuisance calls.’ It was a nice touch that the study being reported involved giving managers products ( Read more... )