The Weekly Round-Up: 13.01.06

It's been a week of déjà vu at Silicon Towers and there are parts of the Round-Up this week which touch common ground with last week's instalment. More of which, later.

But stick with us because fortunately there have also been some fresh developments - such as the announcement from denim giant Levi Strauss, which this week told the world it is making 'iPod compatible jeans' with the intention of cashing in on the popularity of the must-have MP3 player.

Is it just the Round-Up or are standard-issue jeans, with pockets or (heaven help us) belt loops, not already iPod compatible? In the same way that a shoe is 'foot compatible' and a wallet 'cash compatible'?

Either way, prepare yourself for lots of "Is that an iPod in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" gags.

And cue lots of "No, it's definitely an iPod" responses from anybody critical of individuals milking such predictable jokes.

(Though in expectation of confusion along those lines, this may not be good for sales of the iPod nano and the mini - neither of which are terms men would like to have connected with the contents of their trousers... or 'pants' if you join us today from the US.)

However, such confusion may indeed become a problem. The jeans, expected in stores this autumn, are going to come with an array of features including, according to reports, a pocket with a docking cradle, a retractable headphone unit and 'a joystick remote control' (seriously, do they want their customers to be arrested?).

(Speaking also as somebody who regularly puts jeans in the washing machine containing wallets, bank notes, keys and all manner of items in the pockets, this sounds like a very expensive mistake waiting to happen for the Round-Up unless it coincides with the launch of a waterproof, shock-proof iPod.)

However, if this development really can't be halted, can the Round-Up be the first to suggest some marketing opportunities…

Anybody who intends to fill their iPod with music taken off CDs should buy the 'ripped' jeans. But if they're thinking of loading it up with some Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, James and The Stone Roses can the Round-Up suggest they opt for the 'Baggy' jeans.

And if they're going to fill it with Heavy Metal can we suggest that... well.... just that they don't.

And from heavy metal to heavy petting... The Round-Up has learned this week that more and more people are finding romance in the work place. And while you might be forgiven for thinking the vast disparity between the numbers of men and women working in IT would make it an unlikely breeding ground for love... or even lust (not counting feelings towards women displayed on posters or websites), you'd be wrong.

Chantal Gaultier, an occupational psychologist at Westminster University, spoke to a number of IT workers who had become embroiled in relationships with their co-workers.

And the general pattern was interesting. During a fling, affair or relationship, productivity takes no kind of hit. Possibly the staff even become more diligent so as not to raise suspicion. And the chance of bumping into their beau probably gives them reason to turn up and even work longer hours.

But when the relationship goes pear-shaped it's a very different picture.

Productivity? They've heard of it! Attendance? Whatever!

But the reason why staff are perceived to be less productive around the place following a split is not always quite so clear cut. In the case of one IT recruitment consultant, who started seeing her married boss, she found herself transferred, against her will, to another office when the relationship ended, according to a report in the Independent.

It's no wonder she was less productive... she wasn't there any more! Though that comparison isn't quite as stark as another respondent who said she was sacked when she split up with her boss.

So, 'out of work' equals 'less productive'. Who would have thunk it!?

Next week: 'Dead people slack off more... '

Moving on, do you remember the Round-Up mentioning some déjà vu earlier?

Well, moving on, do you remember the Round-Up mentioning some déjà vu earlier?

OK, cheap gag, but there's been more than a little of Groundhog Day about the place this past seven days. Having last week complained about the number of emails we've been getting from wannabe web millionaires asking us to promote their own 'million dollar homepage', we've predictably been absolutely inundated.

So, we pretty much asked for that.

Every day it's the same. "I know there are other people copying Alex Tew's idea... but this has a twist/ mine is different/ I think you'll find mine more interesting... "

It doesn't; it isn't; we don't.

Latest estimates suggest there are more than a thousand of these copycat sites live on the internet now and while they shamelessly attempt to ape the original, the founder of this movement, Tew himself, has hardly been sitting idle on his million dollar backside.

There have been major developments with the original Million Dollar Homepage.

Tew, of course was the hard-up student who launched the page with a view to selling its million pixels to advertisers at $1 each in order to pay for his education. Viral marketing and sheer dumb luck meant the whole thing snowballed and just five months later, or so, Tew is nearing his endgame.

But there's a twist.

Realising there was scope to squeeze even more money out of the site, Tew exploited the incredible clamour for pixels on his page by putting the few remaining pixels on eBay for one final hurrah. They were no longer $1 each. The auction for the final block of pixels closed this week for more than $38,000.

Ka-ching! Ring it up!

The Round-Up doesn't actually object to Tew squeezing the pips of his page until they squeak - that's just good old-fashioned capitalism - but the whole thing is tainted by a number of issues.

The most obvious is the fact Tew has now dropped out of university - or at least 'deferred his degree' (perhaps they'll see him again when the money runs out).

Having launched the site, declaring very publicly that he was doing so in order to pay for his education, it seems a little shameful that he has now 'deferred' his degree in order to pursue other avenues and take stock of the offers which have come in.

(If nothing else, does he not realise just how much attention he'd get on campus with $1m in his pocket? The man would never sleep! And $1m buys a lot of snakebite and black.)

Writing on his blog, Tew explained he quite reasonably never expected things to explode in the way they have.

"I thought, if I aim high and only get a small percentage of that figure, that would still help me out a great deal. I never expected the site to reach the level of success it has done, not to mention the positive 'side effect' of all the additional opportunities that have arisen as a result."

Whoever would have thought money and fame could change a person? (OK, all of us.)

And to be fair to Tew, he appears to be handling it very well.

His blog boasts that this week alone he has done a photo shoot with Getty Images and an interview with his new best friends Richard and Judy.

Tew explained for those outside the UK: "Richard and Judy are effectively known as the king and queen of daytime television here and are famous for their relaxed, friendly style of presenting."

Really? The Round-Up thought they were famous because she accidentally exposed herself on live TV and he was arrested and charged with shoplifting bottles of wine from Tesco in the mid-90s.

But what does the Round-Up know? (Other than the important legal detail that Madeley was found completely innocent and acquitted of all charges, dear lawyers.)

Still, it's refreshing to see that Tew has not distanced himself so far from his student lifestyle that he no longer builds his days around Richard and Judy and daytime television.

And also on the déjà vu theme, there was a nagging sense of familiarity about at least one story we saw elsewhere on the interweb this week.

Do you remember that Apple story the Round-Up mentioned last week? Sure you do; the one about a pricing blunder on the company's site? You may have read it...

A journalist at a rival company certainly did, because he copied it almost word-for-word.

On 4 January we wrote the following: "...customers shopping for a great bargain in the January sales thought they had found just that when they saw an Olympus digital camera advertised for £98.70 on Apple's online Education store."

The next day this appeared elsewhere: "Customers shopping for a bargain in the January sales thought they had found a cracking deal when they saw an Olympus digital camera... advertised for £98.70 on Apple's online Education store."

Good use of the word "cracking" - very Wallace & Gromit - and it definitely brought something original to the paragraph, which otherwise would have been almost exactly as we'd written it.

And the examples certainly didn't end there. You could go looking to find who it was but we've been assured the article has been removed following some discussions between the 'powers that be'. And as such we've agreed to spare their blushes (they know who they are... and, let's admit it, we know they're reading this if their current track record is anything to go by.)

But we don't mention this to score points. We mention it because, believe it or not, we work hard to produce original content for the people who really matter, our readers, and not to give other journalists on other publications an easy ride.

Hopefully you appreciate our efforts.

(We know somebody does. To the lady who wrote in last week asking about the Round-Up's marital status; I'm afraid you'll just have to keep on wondering, though your kind words were appreciated. Any indecent proposals, kind words or criticism - less so - is welcomed at editorial@silicon.com.)

And finally, still on the subject of Apple (who we promise to give the week off next week), the company has been involved in some legal wrangling over its attempts to sue a German company for using the word 'spod'.

'Spod' of course is a word synonymous with 'geek' culture and used to be something of a playground insult saved for anybody with thick specs and a technical bent. Whether its meaning is the same in German, we frankly don't know or care, so preposterous is this legal action, but a German tech company has been running a download service called Spodradio.

And now Apple, in its infinite (ahem) wisdom has decided the use of the word 'pod' between the 'S' and the 'radio' in 'Spodradio' is a breach of copyright - despite the derivation of 'spod' predating the iPod by decades.

Understandably such a spurious case (which Apple is surely set to lose, if the great Gods of common sense are watching), has many right-minded individuals up in arms.

"What next...?" asked one silicon.com reader. "Will Apple sue anyone who calls an item anything, as they have a claim to using 'groups of letters to describe things'? It wouldn't surprise me."

Another reader, Andy Neale, wrote: "So Apple are claiming to have exclusive use to the word 'Pod' are they. Woe betide any Supermarkets or greengrocers selling 'Peas in the Pod' then... And George Lucas must be eagerly awaiting his lawsuit for the use of the phrase 'Podracers' in Star Wars Episode One."

Reader 'Phil' also suggested that perhaps Gwyneth Paltrow might now be on the receiving end of a similar lawsuit for naming her daughter 'Apple'.

Though... actually the Round-Up does agree with that one. Not because it breaches anybody's copyright but simply because it should be a criminal offence to give kids such names.

Until next week, the Round-Up will take its leave of you for seven more days. But until then, if your children are sitting any mock exams this January, for their A-levels or GCSEs, tell them to concentrate on their own work and remind them that copying others is cheating.

Which we mention apropos of nothing. It's just some sound advice to bear in mind.

• Exposed: Dodgy domains spam message boards

• BT and Virgin get together for UK's first mobile TV service

• US spammer faces two years in jail

• Dell "open" to using AMD chips

• HP faces legal action over murdered worker