London’s Name Advantage
It has just been announced that London has now acquired the .london domain name extension.
If you go through the major cities of the world, it generally would seem to work for many like Paris, Berlin, Rome and New York, but it doesn’t work for cities with longer names like Edinburgh, San Francisco and Copenhagen.
So do the short-named cities like London have an advantage? try typing in the domain name for the mayor of Vladivostok!
Four Direct Debits
This morning on my summary bank statement, the last four entries just say Direct Debit. If I go to the full statement only one is fully annotated and understandable.
I can identify two of the other entries, but the third is almost a complete mystery to me.
As they are Direct Debits, my bank can do a lot better than this, as they must have had the payee to actually pay the direct debit.
So why are these payees not shown in the summary? It wouldn’t cost them any money to say “DD nPower” rather than “Direct Debit”. It even has less characters.
The first bank, that offers a fully annotated money transfer service gets my business!
The Good And The Bad Of A & E
The saga of my hand is hopefully now finished.
But it does illustrate the good and the bad of A & E in the NHS.
The damage happened near to my surgery and the nurse patched it up. She also checked my tetanus and found it was up to date.
But possibly because of my Warfarin, the blood started to seep around the plaster and in the end, when I started dripping blood all over a Victoria line train, I got out at Warren Street station and I went to A & E at University College Hospital. They did a stronger patch but even that fell apart, probably because I type too much and the damage was on the point of the knuckle.
So it was back to the surgery and then on to Boots, where I bought a large traditional plaster to put over the lot, and some white cotton gloves to protect the whole package.
I still have a scab on the back of the hand and now because of the success of the hospital bandage, I wear a wrist support to take the pressure off my wrist and the knuckle.
The treatment, I got was generally good and quick, as who would complain at forty minutes in A & E for a minor injury.
But as I live alone and couldn’t patch it up myself with one good hand, it needed trips to get medical help.
So are we seeing more people going to A & E because so many of us now live alone? And is A & E geared up for it?
But the real problem that A & E has, is the lack of a joined up database with my GP. The nurse at the surgery checked my tetanus status, which I thought was good, but of course, I couldn’t remember the date. The nurse in the hospital asked and I told her it was good. but she had no means of checking.
Incidentally, one thing that saved time in A & E was that I’d been an in-patient at the hospital and I was already registered.
Those who object to a large joined up NHS patient database, are probably the people, who complain loudest at the wait in A & E.
But how much time and effort would it save?
A Message To All Customers Of Currys/Dixons plc
On the 30th of October, I noticed an entry on my credit card statement labelled PRODUCT SUPPORT AG, with a reference of 0844 800 6080. I thought at first, it was some sort of charge, I’d encountered on my trips into Europe for something like wi-fi access. But I was still curious, so on searching the Internet, I found this page on a web site called Odd Box. Here’s the first paragraph.
If you have previously purchased a product from PC World or Currys, you may have signed up toPC WORLD/Currys, WHATEVER HAPPENS. The transaction under your credit or debit card as PRODUCT SUPPORT AG. It’s also marketed as Knowhow from Dixons Retail plc, the parent company of PC World, Currys and Dixons. This is an extended warranty offered for TVs, Laptop, PCs, electronics in general or any other item they sale. The warranty usually goes beyond the standard manufacture warranty to fix or replace items that develop a fault.
Now I never purchase extended warranties on anything, as these days electronics goods are either very reliable or die in the first few days. If it’s the latter, I’m of course protected under my normal retail rights.
I always strongly say I don’t want the extended warranty, so I started to suspect there had been a mistake somewhere.
But on what product and how much had I been charged in error. So to find out these answers, I sent a message to my bank, which is Nationwide.
On my credit card statement, there is an entry that puzzles me. It says Product Support AG and has a reference of 0844 800 6080. On checking the Internet I find it is for something I bought in Dixon/Currys.
I have no idea what it was, as I don’t keep statements. I also always say that I don’t want the insurance or service, so I suspect someone at their end has filled in the computer incorrectly. I never need support for anything in this area, as I once sold a computer company for a nine figure sum, and I was the technical guy behind it. So not only is insurance something I stand myself on anything computing or electrical, but if I don’t know the problem, one of my friends does. So for this reason, I never take the extra insurance. It’s their version of PPI, which I managed to avoid, except in one small case.
So please could you send me details of the transaction, what it was for and how much their practices have cost me? I suspect, it was an error at their end, as I am usually very definite in refusing the support. I shall be posting all of this on my blog and writing to Watchdog and my MP, so your co-operation in this matter is appreciated.
I hoped that this would give an answer to my questions, so I could take the matter further with Dixons.
I didn’t get an answer, I got decisive action.Today, just a couple of working days after my original message to Nationwide, four payments had been refunded to my credit card and it is now obvious from the dates that the product was my Samsung Tab 2. Something, I no longer use, as everything I did on it, I now do on my Samsung Galaxy Mini phone, which you’ll admit is a little bit smaller to take on my travels.
It’s certainly pats on the back all round for Nationwide.
The money refunded incidentally, pays for a good meal for two. Do I have any takers? You can have the Samsung Tab 2, if you want it. It’s got a case too!
One point here, is that I would have spotted this mistake earlier, if the information on credit card statements was more detailed.
Does keeping the statement information deliberately vague, mean it is more likely, that customers, will not spot to what they’ve signed up? Next time, I buy something from Currys/PC World, I’ll use several of those credit cards with the Queen’s head on them.
I also notice that with my new television, which was bought from John Lewis, that they threw in an extra warranty for free!
A Hassle And Courier-Free On-Line Purchase
I’ve had various issues with couriers in the past, like this episode.
So on Saturday night, when at 23:00 or so, I decided I needed some new trousers, I ordered them on line from Marks and Spencer and said that I’d like to pick them up sometime today, in their shop at the Angel. I chose the Angel store, as usually I pass through the area, at least once a day, often when I go to the Waitrose a few doors away or Chapel Market.
The original e-mail from Marks, said that the trousers would be in store after midday, but this morning I got an e-mail saying that they had been delivered to the store at 09:30.
I picked them up just after lunch.
Forty years ago, this small store, had been our local Marks and Spencer when we lived in the Barbican and most Saturdays we’d push the children up the hill to the Angel to do our weekend shopping.
Times have certainly changed. Picking those trousers up from Marks and Spencer was certainly less handle and there was nothing couriers could do to to throw spanners in the works.
Intel Raises The White Flag
This article about Intel and its fight with ARM could be the most significant story about the rise of the Cambridge upstart for the next few months. This is the opening paragraph.
Unable to break through with its own mobile Atom chipset, it seems that Intel finally raised the white flag and has decided to begin manufacturing 64-bit ARM chips of its own.
The article, then goes on to speculate about future relationships between ARM, Intel and Apple. It finishes with this statement.
Intel’s potential ability to make high quality 64-bit ARM CPU’s may be enough to entice Apple into taking the plunge, and perhaps even get an exclusivity agreement in the meantime.
That would be an alliance!
I’ve Given In
I said in this post, that a Sky Satellite dish is so yesterday.
However, as I have received a letter from BT on the subject of broadband, I decided that the best solution would be to get a dish to get reasonable sports on my television.
The letter from BT is a classic, and it is only thanks to my MP that I got a reply.
Here’s one section.
I’ve been in touch with our supplier, Openreach to ask about Mr. Miller’s situation. Unfortunately, he’s currently unable to get fibre broadband as his phone line is routed directly from the exchange to his premises.
Openreach have confirmed that the Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology which they have deployed needs a fibre-enabled street cabinet to supply the service. But because Mr. Miller is located very close to the exchange and is fed directly from it, i.e. not via a street cabinet, this unfortunately means that he can’t have the fibre product at present.
So the solution to my fibre broadband problem, is to move further from the telephone exchange.
I am a qualified electrical engineer and do understand the technology, the problem and the solutions. So I can’t help but find their statement mildly amusing.
But I suppose to actually be honest about the problem, as BT has been in the end, after a kicking from my MP, would only chase customers away to other broadband suppliers, who of course because of my local loop problem, can’t actually deliver the product that everybody wants.
In my view, there should be an on-line database that everyone can access, that shows the phone and broadband standard and quality, that is available at every house or business premises in the country. After all, you might find the ideal building for your new offices and it would be prudent to confirm the status of the phones and broadband before you made an offer.
But why stop at phones and broadband, as it would be much better if all the other services were listed as well.
We Need More Openness Everywhere
This story from the BBC is a big dose of common sense from MPs. Here’s the jist.
Councils in England should publish annual parking-charge accounts if they want to prove they are not being used as a “cash cow”, MPs have said.
I think we need much better access to all government data.
Here’s a few ideas.
If you run a company, as I’ve done several times, you have to publish a set of simple accounts, including things like cash flows and a profit and loss statement.
Why shouldn’t the government publish such a brief set of accounts, which the man on the Dalston Omnibus could understand?
But of course they don’t!
Some years ago, I tried to find the data to do create some simple accounts for UK plc. The data is there, but it is in several different places and despite help from a BBC financial journalist, I thought I had better things to do, than dig holes in treacle.
I would also like to see an anonymised database of those who are in prison. A man like me would be described as male, 60-70 in reasonable health, who was a non-smoker living in North London.
It would allow those, who make wild statements about prisons to be challenged and hopefully, it would lead to better justice and penal policies.
I must admit, that it has got a lot better in recent years with the growth of the Internet, but too often, data that would help us to have better lives is hidden from view.
The NHS is one of the worst for hiding data. There has been a lot of discussion about A & E units in recent years. Surely, a database should be available on the Internet, of all visits to this department. Again, it would be anonymised.
It would then be easy to find out for instance, how many drunks turned up at various hospitals demanding treatment.
The trouble is, that a national database in this area of the NHS, would show how A & E departments should change to get fit for the twenty-first century. Some would be obvious candidates for closure, whereas others would need to be expanded with special units.
As Charles Babbage said
Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.
Give everybody the data, so that we can all finish the job!
You don’t make a good omelette without breaking a few eggs.
y
Is Facebook Beyond The Pale?
The news that Facebook is to allow violent videos and pictures to be uploaded, as reported here.
But they still have a ban on nudity!
They are a disgrace, but there is no way you can legislate them along a rightful path.
We must educate everybody, so that violence of all forms becomes just a bad memory.
Carluccio’s Do A Gluten-Free Crostini
This week, Carluccio’s have a gluten-free crostini on the special menu.
Carluccio’s Do A Gluten-Free Crostini
It is all about garlic, mushrooms and rocket.
It made a nice change as a starter.
Incidentally, the Carluccio’s in Islington now has wi-fi. And like the system in Manchester Piccadilly, it is easy to connect to it.
The Anonymous Widower 