Posts by Was Steve
39 posts • joined Wednesday 24th June 2009 10:13 GMT
Posted in Virgin extends network with Orange
Utterly utterly painful
Argh! I guessed this would be coming but it was a bit of surprise when it did. The text from Virgin came a week *after* my phone started roaming onto l'Orange. And the worst thing? I've got a *$%kin' Android phone, and as it keeps roaming on to Orange it keeps complaining that it can't get data!
Utter utter failure!
Posted in Whitehall fraud pilots save £12m
The really sad thing is...
that I used to work at a company that demonstrated some anti-fraud stuff in the early days of "joined up government". And it actually worked. And the boys from the cabinet office were impressed.
Right until they found out the size of our company and the amount of money we wanted. Apprently we were too small, and not charging anywhere near enough money (bearing in mind we already thought of this, so thought of another, bigger number, and then added a suitably ridiculous multiplier.)
Posted in Dixons warns it's getting worse
We don't need no titles...
or warranties.
By contrast I went in to the Manchester Central Clearance shed and managed to get a well spec'd Dell Inspiron for a penny under a half ton, the lad who dealt with me rattled through the obligatory extras questions (Anti virus? Office? Bag? Warranty?) barely waiting for me to say no. If I need any white goods for the house, and it's still there, I'll probably be going back. :)
Don't forget to tip fopr good service
Which effectively pushes the price of a gross up to €10. You're not going home with much change from a €50 note, and you aren't spending much of the next day vertical either... :D
For the right causes deep pockets...
And keeping Cowell executing another christmas number one sounds like one of them to me :)
Silences are not the same
My missus is a musician, and is into this kind of thing. On being told about 4:33 originally I asked the question. The point of 4:33 is the context of the performance, and each time it's performed it is utterly different. She then said the magic words: background noise.
Here's a thought....
How about turning it off when you want some piece and quiet?
What's that, you're too insecure without your Mobile Life Support to validate your existence? Oh well....
Very familiar...
I read this and thought hmmm... And then I got to the bit about DongleMouse. First the original version I saw: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jun/05/free-world-cup-bets-bookmakers And now DongleMouse's comment: http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/5830766
Posted in Brits blow millions on over-priced ink
Sometimes there is a reason...
If you're printing photos on your photo printer then OEM cartiridges and paper is the best way to go, the colours output will be more correct, and will last longer, as the manufacturers will (should) have gone to all the trouble of matching the drivers, ink and paper.
Of course if you're just printing black and white docs then there's no reason to use the OEM stuff...
I'm happy to pay for a high quality service
(And I know someone will come along and call me a paytard, bet...) Why aren't the mobile companies innovating? I'd be happy to pay a decent price (and I mean more than £5-£10 a month) for a fast, high quality broadband service (mobile and/or fixed) without restrictions.
The problem is that the telco's seem to be beholden to the marketeers who only measure against getting stuff out for the lowest price poissible.
Remember kids, you get what you pay for.
Posted in Everything Everywhere starts staff cull
How about...
Being on the Org Chart when you really don't want to be?
My ex-employer is in the process of getting rid of "everybody who does any work" (direct quote from a director) and out-sourcing everything to India at the sametime. They're finding it remarkably difficult to find takers for the places that are available on the new org chart! :D
Posted in Kensington revamps laptop lock
Funny...
the enourmo firm I used to work for made it a disciplinary issue if you had your laptop on the desk without a hair grip friendly kensington time waster. However if you lost it in the course of an evenings drinking, and remembered to fololow the correct procedure the next day you could get away with it, and get a new machine to boot!
The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.
You shallow, shallow person you...
The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.
Additionally there are significant parts of the network that aren't electrified, so while a good plan, it's just not feasible I suspect. :(
Posted in Project Canvas becomes YouView
eltiT
The ability to watch iPlayer/ITVPlayer/4oD on TV without having to setup more crufty bits of software, and take the wife through a Masters in Software Engineering...
Posted in Save us from our users
The absurdity is...
... many IT admins demand a complex password that is changed often. My previous employer has this policy, and because of the problems it created they also had a self-help password reset. That let you circumvent all the rules... :)
Failing that...
I'm sure there's plenty of *ahem* premium internet sites willing to fill your imagination gap...
(If there isn't let me know, and one can be cobbled together for a suitable fee! :)
Shockingly unrealistic
I took part in the survey that gathered the data, total ball ache, but at least I came out with £30 worth of Amazon vouchers. However, what really shocked me was Ofcom/Gfk's utterly unrealistic idea of how people use computers and the internet. "Using the internet" is seen as a discreet task that is distinct from "Using a computer". Worse apparently Ofcom/Gfk think that most people actually think "I know, I'll just randomly browse YouTube/Vimeo/etc for the next x minutes!" and have structured the questions around this accordingly.
Also if you filled the survey in accurately it took more like 20-30 minutes to do, rather than the 5-10 promised, which leaves you with an interesting dilemma: do you record the time taken to fill in the survey...
Posted in Nothing succeeds like XSS
Unverified by Visa
Interestingly I can't get "verified" by Visa or Mastercards 3D "secure" to work when I have NoScript installed. I end up having to swap to a less secure setup...
Otherwise I love NoScript, and constantly amazed at the amount of scripting crud that web-sites think they should execute on my machine...
Transparency is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.
At least they're being transparent. I can't actually find out what my unlimited data limit is on Virgin
What leadership election?
The problem with the carping about Brown not being elected, and with the so-called Prime Ministerial debates is that we don't actually elect the prime minister. We elect our own local representative, who then has (somewhat) free choice to back whom-ever they choose as PM.
N.B. I'm neither a proponent or oponent of this system.
Posted in Orange claims Xperia X10 exclusive
Titles are sooooo last year...
T-Mo have it too... http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/phones/pay-monthly/sony-ericsson/x10/overview/
Tup'pence ha'penny
I agree with other posters about the upload speeds (faster would be better, please!), but it's not vital. I do however wish I didn't need to reset my modem every other night, because it's lost the signal. *Again*. (I'm on 20mbit, btw.)
Posted in Huawei E5 Wi-Fi/3G modem
Me2!
I also use one with an iPod Touch and generally find it to be very good. The only issue I've had is when the signal occasionally drops out, although the unit re-aquires the signal, it doesn't seem to join it to the Wi-Fi. A quick re-start resolves that though.
Posted in T-Mobile to revamp tariffs
Chinese take-away?
I don't remember ever being gouged at any Chinese take-away... Extreme fail t-mo...
Clearly we're all happy
Don't know how this report happened then: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6932548.ece
Posted in Windows 7's dirty secrets revealed
Always been the way with Microsoft
Another repository of the nasty work arounds deployed by Microsoft is The Old New Thing: http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/.
Posted in Orange touts free tweets
@Number6
TMo have only just started playing ball with Farcebook, I wouldn't have thought Twitter will be that far away, especially in the context of the Orabile merger.
Posted in 3 to start shaping traffic on Monday
Happy to pay for a differentiated experience when it arrives!
Just bought a MiFi for use with an iPod Touch, only had it a couple of days, but so far so very good. And if they want to differentiate the service then that's fine, but I do reserve the right to unlock and flash my little box and put someone elses SIM in if there offer is better.
And before anyone starts banging on about irradiated testicles, don't. It live in my back pack, so is nicely warming my kidneys and liver. :)
@SynnerCal: I'm sure I've read somewhere that the three skype stuff is actually a voice call to/from a gateway, so doesn't impact data. And IM will be very little data anyway, probably bytes rather than kilobytes. Unless you're somekind of champion texter?!
MSDN 4 teh w!n
Heh, doanloaded it from MSDN a while ago. No ten attempts limit on there, and download manager restarts! :D
Posted in T-Mobile's G2 denied the update Touch
SIM free or iPhone
I bought a SIM free phone this summer, and will never go back to operator subsidised, operator broken *h*te again. I may go for t'iPhone at some point because Apple at least seem to have the right idea - "Back off bucko - this is *our* phone, not yours"
Posted in Fon community embraces GSM
BT deal very useful
If your own broadband goes titsup.
Of course it assumes you're already a member... :)
Having said that there are about four or five accessible FON spots from my living room.
Almost unthinkingly...
I nearly demanded pictures, links, etc... But I'm not sure...
Posted in Mac OS X Snow Leopard First Look
Clever Snow Leopard
Decided to take the plunge and put a new fat and fast hard drive in my Macbook and put Snow Leopard on there. And it works a treat! The best bit so far was on pairing my Nokia n79. Snow Leopard recognised it for a smart phone from Nokia, and offered to set it up as a modem, a quick google for the APN details (on the handset) and it was set up and working. Which is a good job as my internet has decided tonight is the night to take a bath!
@nichomach: No, you're not...
I reckon the failure in the "Customer Experience Process" will have been something like, oh I don't know, being able to install a VoIP client, or tethering it to a laptop without informing O2 central.
(Cynic? Moi? Never! ;)
Would Tories really bin the carriers?
Another excellent article Lewis, please keep up the good work! :)
I would question whether it would be at all likely for the Tories to scrap the carriers. Whilst it's true that they don't have ties to Scottish ship-building towns, it would be very short sighted of them (And I'm not saying that they can't be) to inflame the unions and the scots and by stopping the programme. The other thing is that the carriers will allow government of whatever colour to project british power overseas, something the Tories especially love.
Posted in Lords cut Irish travel from e-Borders
Airport dependent?
I would guess that it depends on the facilities available at the airport. I know that at Manchester there are special lanes for those arriving from the Republic and Channel Islands, but that the same lanes don't seem to exist at Liverpool.
@AC - 09:31
I *think* it's Big Brother from a film version of 1984, I'm not sure. Obviously to protect El Reg from having to change it to the current Home Secretary, as Gordo Brown seems to be changing ministers like undercrackers at the mo'... ;)
