Counterfeit Monster Cables on Trade Me

Monster produces high-end audio cable. In the HDMI range even their basic cables run to hundreds of dollars, so I was taken aback to see the top of the range Monster M2000 for sale on Trade Me at $50.

A bit of digging turned up Monster Cable’s Counterfeit Site.

Here's one of the cables for sale by PGX on Trade Me (who seems to be making a business of this):

And here's a sample of the fake goods from Monster:

Looks identical (except the recycling logo). A look at Monster’s black list of sites caught selling counterfeit cable reveals Trade Me in the listing.

I reported this to Trade Me who replied that ‘appropriate action’ has been taken, though the listing remains along with 15 others.

Update: after more prodding Trade Me has removed all 15 listings from heng12, pgx, and smithjim.

Philosophical Problems with Facebook

Facebook is a useful site: it’s easy to connect with friends and family and keep abreast of their lives. It’s an easy place to make a home page. But it could be so much more, and I can’t get past some of their deep-seated issues. I haven’t quit but I have curtailed my usage (though I was only logging in every few days anyway).

There’s room for improvement on the site experience itself but the main issues to me are more cultural:

You don’t control your account and support is almost non-existent: if something goes wrong with your account or it’s automatically disabled in error it may be impossible to resolve. One day you may have lost everything…

The Internet is built around the idea of sharing information and linking from one site to the next, yet Facebook is designed to be your one-stop site, and only minimal Facebook information is available outside of Facebook without registering and logging in.

Many many privacy issues, e.g. Criticism of Facebook

The CEO is one of the most arrogant men I’ve ever seen. But what can you expect from someone whose business card read ‘I’m CEO… Bitch’.