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The action film star Terry Crews rings the bell to open trade at the New York Stock Exchange Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Nic Fildes City DiaryLast updated August 20 2010 12:01AM

There’s an old saying in technology circles that most technical issues boil down to humanerror.

So it proved during a demonstration of BT’s Ribbit service. The company’s chief scientist, JP Rangaswami, planned to demonstrate Ribbit — which can re-route e-mailsand calls between devices — by dropping a company BlackBerry into a glass of water.

The trick worked well during the rehearsal but during the actual presentation MrRangaswami reached into the wrong pocket and casually dropped his personal mobileinto the glass. In what was described as a “primeval shriek of horror”, the BT eggheadrealised his mistake and squealed: “It’s my iPhone!” — much to the amusement of thosein attendance.

Thinking on his feet, a bemused Mr Rangaswami told the audience: “As you can see,unexpected things happen to your device.”

ays expect the unexpected | The Times http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/article2694574.ece

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His mistake was captured in all its glory and is doing the rounds on YouTube.

Now here’s a man who is excited about Skype’s IPO! Terry Crews, one of the many starsof the new action film The Expendables, flexes his pecs alongside Eighties stars SylvesterStallone and Dolph Lundgren after ringing the bell to open trade at New York Stock Exchange. Starstruck traders whipped out their mobiles to capture the moment, butsome look slightly concerned that Crews may be set to run riot on the floor of the

exchange.

• Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s an accountant. Goodman Masson, a financial servicesrecruitment agency, is set to break the record for bringing together the most peopledressed as Superman. It expects more than 200 Clark Kent types to turn out today toraise money for the Help for Heroes charity.

• Ravi Sinha, the former head of JC Flowers in Europe, is still listed as a director in itsaccounts despite leaving last year amid allegations of misusing funds. Flowers, which ismaking nice with the FSA, cites an admin error. Maybe former FSA chairman Sir Callum

McCarthy, the Flowers chairman, could clear things up.

In the blue cor ner: Sir Geor ge Mathewson

Sir George Mathewson is in the driving seat at Stagecoach after he was named chairman.He has been on the Stagecoach board since 2006 and will replace Bob Speirs in the roleat the start of next year. Sir George, 70, has a track record of working with some of Scotland’s most high-profile businesses, most notably Royal Bank of Scotland. Heengineered the NatWest takeover during his tenure as chief executive before handingover to deputy Sir Fred Goodwin.

 Yet many will remember Sir George as the man who was mugged at one of his own cashmachines when he was chairman of RBS after he fell for the old “you’ve dropped a fivermate” ruse. Let’s hope that no budding bandits are waiting to hijack a Stagecoach bus upin the Highlands while he’s in charge.

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ays expect the unexpected | The Times http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/article2694574.ece

2 20/08/2010 08:19