'Non-commercial use only'? Oopsie. You can't get much more commercial than a huge digital billboard over Piccadilly
- Reference: 1587716105
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/24/bork_piccadilly/
- Source link:
2012 was a good time, although we probably didn't appreciate it back then. If we'd known what was coming down the pipe, we might have tried to enjoy it a bit more.
Not enjoying 2012, however, is this giant screen located in London's Piccadilly Circus. Noted for its brightly lit dislays urging punters to part with cash, the area is a magnet for tourists and festooned with souvenir shops.
Today's (or rather 2012's) bork, snapped by Register reader and former digital signage engineer Ben on his trusty BlackBerry, is not the iconic sign curving around the intersection, but one that can be found a few short steps down from Piccadilly, on the corner of Coventry Street and Haymarket.
It looks to be perched atop Coventry House, a building that features an Angus Steakhouse at street level and a selection of apartments above. If you have around £800k burning a hole in your pocket, you could probably acquire a tiny one-bedroom flat beneath the site of the bork.
Of course, at the time this pic was taken, a flat in Coventry House could be snapped up for nearer £500k, [1]according to Mouseprice .
As for the bork itself, a familiar classic-themed dialog is obscuring a good portion of advertising for electronics giant LG. The news is that despite featuring in an eye-wateringly expensive part of London, whoever is running the software behind the scenes was unable to find the cash behind the back of the sofa to pay for TeamViewer.
"NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY" shines bright and proud over the grey streets of London.
"I used to enjoy taking photos of other companies' failures," Ben told us, "and sending [them] to my colleagues in the office to make ourselves feel better about our own."
Almost a mission statement for Bork!Bork!Bork! right there, Ben.
Seen some signage doing something silly? Be like Ben and take a snapshot to share with all at Vulture Central. ®
Sponsored: [2]How To Accelerate Brilliant Digital Experiences With Low-Code
[1] https://www.mouseprice.com/house-prices/35+haymarket,+london?SortBy=2
[2] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8552/how-to-accelerate-brilliant-digital-experiences-with-low-code?td=wptl1936
Aliens Ate My Buick - Loved that album! Total madness.
(super annoying pedantry warning) La Scala is an opera house in Milan, Scala is a nightclub near Kings Cross.
That would explain why I was the only one there in top hat and tails
"I used to enjoy taking photos of other companies' failures," Ben told us, "and sending [them] to my colleagues in the office to make ourselves feel better about our own."
Now there's someone who's honest with themselves! I'm sure we've all felt that little glow as we hear of competitor's tales of woe :)
I think a smug, if guilty (in secret) schadenfreude is something we have all indulged in
That was a good spot!
Free for non-commercial use?
You see this all the time, nobody wants to pay for things these days which has driven companies to making money by capturing your data and selling that instead. All the users complaining about this are busy making money by using "free for non-commercial use" - I'm not complaining, it's just the way that we have driven technology.
Re: Free for non-commercial use?
Teamviewer have an odd pricing model. It's either free for non-commercial use, or it costs an arm and a leg for even minimal commercial use. Starting price is £30+ per month, which if you're a small business, who may only need it once or twice a month, is a lot, and seriously encourages dishonesty. If they had a 'Light-use' option of say £20-30 p.a. I think they might get a few more people giving them money.
Went to watch Thomas Dolby at a packed La Scala in London back in 2006 - the set was very hi-tech with a big screen showing, amongst other things, a mirror of the sequencer screen (Cubase IIRC). The gig was just a few minutes in when a "Your 30 day trial has expired" pop-up appeared over the screen.