• fasas (unregistered) in reply to fasas
    fasas:
    jay:
    Dell Hell:
    I especially (don't) love the "compare features" pages where you can pay $800 (excuse me, $799.83 -- those lower prices really fool people)

    Not your main point, I know, but I often wonder about this. I'm sure we'll seen products priced at "9.99" or "89.95". Presumably the sellers think that if they charged $10.00, people would say, "Oh no, that's too expensive," but at $9.99 they'll say, "Yes, that's a reasonable price". Personally, when I see a price of $9.99, I read that, "ten dollars". But every retailer in the U.S. (I don't know about other countries) apparently "knows" that this works, because they all do it. Is there any evidence that it actually works? Has anyone ever done a study on it? Or is this just one of those ideas that floats around with zero evidence, repeated so often that it becomes common knowledge.

    It would be easy enough to do an experiment. Get two different brands of the same basic product. Put them side by side on the shelf. For one charge $10, for the other charge $9.99. Compare sales of each. Then switch the prices. Do the relative sales change when the prices are switched?

    Has anyone ever done that, or a similar experiment? I'm curious.

    BTW, I once saw a big sign in a store that said, "On sale: $99.95. Regular price: $109.95". My immediate response was: This is obviously a bogus sale. No American retailer charges $109.95 for anything.

    Pretty sure (can't find a reference to cite) it was well researched and really used to work - particularly with bigger figures say buying a car).

    Recently, I've seen 2 differing approaches - one is a store that now doesn't bother with cent amounts other than 50 (so everything is either a round dollar amount or x.50) and another which seems to be keen on : 12,83 and 88 - especially 83 - eg $7.83 - I suspect this is a subtle way of doing the .99 that consumers notice less.....

    I've also noticed supermarkets now vary the last digit of products, but I assumed (given that we no longer have 1c and 2c cash, so cash payments are rounded) that this was to stop people counting items to always guarantee a 2c round-down.

    Sidenote: When the rounding was first implemented, there was at least 1 store that used to round-down regardless. They once advertised kiwi-fruit at 9c each, and my parents had a group of us going through 1 at a time (several times) to save a whopping 80c...... (I'm not sure how much of that was "times were tougher" and how much was just an "on principle")

    if AKISMET will let me.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing http://forum.johnson.cornell.edu/faculty/mthomas/LeftDigitEffect.pdf

    Basically, no matter how much people claim they're unaffected by it, many are

  • o11c (unregistered) in reply to Christian

    Fine, if everyone else is so lazy ...

    PEJPRFkgc3R5bGU9IkNVUlNPUjogdGV4dCIgaWQ9aiRfNWkzcm8gY29udGVudEVk aXRhYmxlPWZhbHNlPjxQIHN0eWxlPSJMSU5FLUhFSUdIVDogbm9ybWFsOyBNQVJH SU46IDBpbiAwaW4gMHB0IlBjbGFzcz

    1Nc29Ob3JtYWw+PFNQQU4gc3R5bGU9IkZP TlQtRkFNSUxZOiAnVGltZXMgTmV3IFJvbWFuJywnc2VyaWYnOyBtc28tYmlkaS1m b250LXdlaWdodDogYm9sZCI+SWYgeW91IGFyZSBub3QgcXVhbGlmaWVkIG9yIGlu

    dGVyZXN0ZWQgaW4gdGhpcyBwb3NpdGlvbiwgcGxlYXNlIGNvbnRpbnVlIHRvIGNo ZWNrIG91ciB3ZWJzaXRlIGZvciBhbGwgb3VyIG9wcG9ydHVuaXRpZXM7PEI+IHdl IHJlY2VpdmUgbmV3IHBvc2l0aW9ucy

    BvbiBhIHJlZ3VsYXIgYmFzaXM8L0I+LjxC Pjw/eG1sOm5hbWVzcGFjZSBwcmVmaXggPSBvIG5zID0gInVybjpzY2hlbWFzLW1p Y3Jvc29mdC1jb206b2ZmaWNlOm9mZmljZSIgLz48bzpwPjwvbzpwPjwvQj48L1NQ QU4+

    PC9QPg0KPFAgc3R5bGU9IkxJTkUtSEVJR0hUOiBub3JtYWw7IE1BUkdJTj0g MGluIDBpbiAwcHQiIGNsYXNzPU1zb05vcm1hbD48Qj48U1BBTiBzdHlsZT0iRk9O VC1GQU1JTFk6ICdUaW1lcyBOZXcgUm

    9tYW4nLCdzZXJpZiciPjxvOnA+Jm5ic3A7 PC9vOnA+PC9TUEFOPjwvQj48L1A+DQo8UCBzdHlsZT0iTElORS1IRUlHSFQ6IG5v cm1hbDsgTUFSR0lOOiAwaW4gMGluIDBwdCIgY2xhc3M9TXNvTm9ybWFsPjxCPjxT

    UEFOIHN0eWxlPSJGT05ULUZBTUlMWTogJ1RpbWVzIE5ldyBSb21hbicsJ3Nlcmlm JyI+VG8gdmlldyBhbGwgb3VyIG9wZW4gcG9zaXRpb25zIHBsZWFzZSB2aXNpdDo8 bzpwPjwvbzpwPjwvU1BBTj48L0I+

    PC9QPg0KPFAgc3R5bGU9IkxJTkUtSEVJR0hU OiBub3JtYWw7IE1BUkdJTjogMGluIDBpbiAwcHQiIGNsYXNzPU1zb05vcm1hbD48 QiBzdHlsZT0ibXNvLWJpZGktZm9udC13ZWlnaHQ6IG5vcm1hbCI+PFNQQU4gc3R5

    bGU9IkZPTlQtRkFNSUxZOiAnVGltZXMgTmV3IFJvbWFuJywnc2VyaWYnOyBDT0xP UjogcmVkIj48QSBocmVmPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm5ldHJlY3J1aXQubmV0L2NnaS9D bG9ha1Rya3lucGw/

    X3NpdGVHdWlkPXNwYXJ0bmVyJl9zbWhpZD0yMDE0NjYxNDMw MTA1Jl9pc2E9UmVjcnVpdGVyJl9pc2FJRD0xNTUxNDgzNzUmb2VtSUQ9QUlSUyZf cmVkaXJlbmNvZGVkPWh0dHAlM0ElMk==

    (== added because the message in the image is truncated)

  • spaceman (unregistered)

    well clearly time dilation is affecting that rocket footage. If it were filmed from on the rocket it would have taken mere second...

  • JimFin (unregistered) in reply to faoileag
    faoileag:
    Steven Mocking:
    Hold up GMail, you mean that Base64 encoding is actually Finnish?
    Well, GMail is a Google product and Google is extremely clever - of course it does not think that Base64 is Finnish!

    But I'm sure that deep in that Base64 encoded bit of HTML/XML (I didn't decode more than the first few bytes) there is some string literal that actually represents a finnish word. Like "on". Or "koko". Or "tavallisesti".

    I scanned the text and, being a native Finnish, I could not find any distinctively Finnish words.

    I suspect that Google has deduced the language based on theoretical word length and some profound heuristics. Some languages can have words of theoretically unlimited length, and of those, Finnish was deemed the best candidate just because we Finnish people are somewhat crazy.

    Eg. kolmivaihevaihtovirtakilowattituntimittari is a common device found in several Finnish homes and buildings, and training program for person who has extensively specialized in installing them could be kolmivaihevaihtovirtakilowattituntimittariasentajakoulutusohjelma and representative the program could be kolmivaihevaihtovirtakilowattituntimittariasentajakoulutusohjelmavastaava and so on ad absurdum.

  • Kasper (unregistered) in reply to JimFin
    JimFin:
    and representative the program could be kolmivaihevaihtovirtakilowattituntimittariasentajakoulutusohjelmavastaava
    This is awesome. I plugged that word into Google translate. It automatically detected that it was Finish, but was still unable to translate the word. How useful is it for Google translate to identify the language of a text, if it is not able to translate a single word of the text?
  • suomalainen (unregistered)

    It's not Finnish - there are not enough vovels.

  • Spewin Coffee (unregistered)

    "Not sure how big your lap is but I certainly wouldn't want this 'laptop'."

    Actually, this is just a component to be used in your next lapdancing robot project.

    Oh my how your i3 turns me on!

  • Marko (unregistered) in reply to Kasper
    It automatically detected that it was Finish, but was still unable to translate the word.

    There's nothing magical about compound words like that. English has them, too, but chooses to embed whitespace between the parts.

    kolmi- = three- vaihe = phase vaihto = alternating virta = current kilo- = kilo- watti = watt tunti = hour mittari = gauge asentaja = installer koulutus = training ohjelma = program vastaava = person in charge

  • (cs) in reply to Marko

    Hah! You can do the same in Dutch:

    Rioolwaterzuiveringsinstallatiebedrijfsmanagersassistent

    (=Manager assistant of a sewage treatment installation company)

  • Neil (unregistered)

    I always thought that German was the canonical language for ridiculously long constructed words, such as Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, or if you include specifically constructed words, there's always Vierwaldstätterseedampfshiffsfahrtsgeselschaftskapitänsmützensternlein which apparently appeared in a novel.

  • Steven Mocking (unregistered)

    I am the OP of that screen shot and there is actually a very ironic epilogue to this submission: I interviewed with Google a few days later and had a Finnish interviewer who asked me about language detection. :-)

    Also, to satisfy your curiosity, here's the full text of the email when run through base64 -d -i | lynx -dump (somewhat edited to protect the innocent):

       Hello,


   We are contacting you about a new job opportunity in $CITY for an SE
   doing Technical Support, Software Configuration Management and Sys
   Admin.  You primary responsibility will be Application Support and
   Server Set-up.


   If you are not qualified or interested in this position, please
   continue to check our website for all our opportunities; we receive new
   positions on a regular basis.


   To view all our open positions please visit:

   [1]http://some.url


   NOTE:  Due to client policy, US Citizens and Green Card Holders ONLY
   may apply (F1, EAD and H1B Visas are not accepted with this client). We
   do have other clients where we may place you, so please do not hesitate
   to check our website for all our opportunities.

References

   1. http://some.other.url

    And the raw output of base64 -d -i:

    <BODY style="CURSOR: text" id=j$_DAVQ4 contentEditable=false>
    Hello,
    

     
    

    We are contacting you about a new job opportunity in $CITY for an SE doing Technical Support, Software Configuration Management and Sys Admin.  You primary responsibility will be Application Support and Server Set-up.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
    

    <o:p> </o:p>
    

    If you are not qualified or interested in this position, please continue to check our website for all our opportunities; we receive new positions on a regular basis.<o:p></o:p>
    

    <o:p> </o:p>
    

    To view all our open positions please visit:<o:p></o:p>
    

    <FONT color=#0000ff>http://some.url</FONT><o:p></o:p>
    

    <o:p> </o:p>
    

    NOTE:  Due to client policy, US Citizens and Green Card Holders ONLY may apply (F1, EAD and H1B Visas are not accepted with this client). We do have other clients where we may place you, so please do not hesitate to check our website for all our opportunities.<o:p></o:p>
    

    <o:p> </o%
</pre>   

    Does that resemble Finnish in any way?
  • (cs) in reply to Steven Mocking
    ..snip..

    Does that resemble Finnish in any way?

    ... Microsoft Office HTML Finnish that is :)

  • jay (unregistered) in reply to Marko
    Marko:
    It automatically detected that it was Finish, but was still unable to translate the word.

    There's nothing magical about compound words like that. English has them, too, but chooses to embed whitespace between the parts.

    kolmi- = three- vaihe = phase vaihto = alternating virta = current kilo- = kilo- watti = watt tunti = hour mittari = gauge asentaja = installer koulutus = training ohjelma = program vastaava = person in charge

    It occurs to me that languages like this must be murder on word-processing software that tries to word-wrap and fully justify text without hyphenating.

  • jay (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    12/31/1899, actually. TRWTF is that in the past 40 years, not a single person has apparently ever thought that maybe - fucking MAYBE - we should stop using stupid-ass dates for magic numbers.

    Because really, anyone who thinks we're NOT going to still be using Access in 9000 years has never worked with an Enterprise.

    I'm pretty sure that I am not going to be using Access in 9000 years.

  • jay (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    12/31/1899, actually. TRWTF is that in the past 40 years, not a single person has apparently ever thought that maybe - fucking MAYBE - we should stop using stupid-ass dates for magic numbers.

    I'm presently working with a system where we send credit card purchases through a clearing house. And the system used by the clearing house for testing use magic dollar amounts to trigger error conditions. There are hundreds of these magic dollar amounts for all sorts of different error conditions. So if you are trying to test something that has nothing to do with error conditions, and the transaction fails, now you have to figure out whether it failed because of an error in your code, or whether you just happenned to pick items for the order that totalled one of the magic dollar amounts.

  • akTed (unregistered)

    That software hasn't been updated since the turn of the century...the 20th Century!

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