The Real On-Line Criminals
This article about unfair terms and conditions in agreements with on-line retailers is enlightening.
The companies they name and shame are Microsoft, Netflix and Apple. I never deal with any of these on-line.
I think the only company, I regurlarly give money to over the Internet, that doesn’t have physical presence, is WordPress, where I host this blog. I just give them a few dollars for extra storage and so I can use video. But as Facebook found with Instagram, I would vote with my fingers and move, if they did something I really didn’t like.
The article on the BBC, does give the name of a project that rates the Terms and Conditions of web sites call TOS; DR. It’s here.
ARM Fire Another Shot
My trawl last night picked up this news item about ARM. ARM’s chief marketing officer, Ian Drew, is reported to have said:
Mobile users expect a range of devices at different price points, and for a mid-range mobile experience to include some high end mobile features. With a billion smart phones predicted to ship in 2013, and tablets projected to out-ship notebook PCs, device-makers can now provide quality, high-performance mobile products with the features that matter the most, at a range of price points.
I probably would agree. I for instance don’t use a smart phone, but carry a £10 Nokia phone and a Fuji Coolpix camera. For notes, I carry a small notebook and a couple of pens. So I don’t need a smart phone. I just want something to make and receive calls and text messages. In London, I’m never far from home and there are maps everywhere, so who needs on-line information and maps and the constant terror of e-mail, much of which is spam?
So a mid-range phone might just be the right one for me. But what would be better is a camera, that was wirelessly connected to my phone, so that I could post pictures quickly. If a camera is part of the phone, you inevitably end up with something that is just too big and the sort of device, that is regularly nicked.
I don’t think I’m alone either, in that several of my friends don’t have smart phones.
So have ARM come up with a winner in their new range of processor designed for smaller smart phones and tablets?
I think they have!
Are Google Adverts Sometimes A Waste Of Time?
I buy a lot of things on-line.
Three companies I deal with this way are East Coast Trains, John Lewis and Southern Railway.
As when I want to go to any of these companies web site, I know where to look, surely displaying their embedded adverts in other web sites is a waste of time for me and that advert won’t get me to use their company, as I would anyway.
So they are just preaching to the converted!
Interestingly, I’ve only ever got train company adverts from companies that I use.
So how much of the money paid by companies to Google to promote companies and products is wasted?
Incidentally, I think, I’ve only ever bought one product because of an advert on a web page. I have though thought, that I won’t use that company or product because of their intrusive adverts.
But then i like to think I’m not susceptible to advertising. Or at least in the way that advertisers want me to be!
Don’t Have Your Operation On A Friday
This report on the BBC, about research by Paul Aylin at Imperial College, says that you are more likely to die, if you have your operation towards the end of the week.
Some years ago, my software Daisy, was used to examine the outcomes of surgery in a Regional Health Authority. They found, that the longer a patient was in hospital, the more likely there would be complications.
This data needs a lot more analysis.
I Know How Kevin Phillips Feels
It is being reported that Kevin Phillips penalty kick in the Championship Play-Off Final was worth £120,000,000.
I know to a certain amount how he feels today.
I was part of the team that sold Metier Management Systems to Lockheed for a similar sum in 1985., although with inflation it’s probably worth a lot more today.
As we went about the pre-sales process, we realised we had good methods and software, but everything was rather boring. So I was asked if I could create a version of Artemis with style and charisma. I did nothing else for six weeks, except write software, eat and sleep occasionally, but the result was that we received a lot more money, than we had decided we would accept.
It was the software and business equivalent of Kevin Phillips’s spot kick.
I also have two other characteristics that I share with Kevin. We’re both about the same height of 1.70 metres and we both performed our most important feats at just under forty years of age. He also is a man from North Hertfordshire, whereas I was brought up in that part of London, that used to have a Barnet, Herts postal address.
Spam From H & M With An Italian Unsubscribe
H & M just crossed themselves of my list of shops to use! Not that I actually have done!
I just got spam from them and when I unsubscribed it was all in Italian.
Hopefully, it’s the last I’ll hear from them!
A Daisy Chart
I think it’s about time, that I put a proper Daisy Chart in this blog.
A Daisy Chart
If you’d like to play there is a free shareware version of Daisy available from this page.
The chart shown is a typical Daisy Chart, showing a Date and Time Analysis, where a Date field is mapped by Day of the Week to a set of boxes or nodes in an arc of a circle. A Time field is also mapped by Hour of the Day. (These are two of up to a hundred different mappings or filters in Daisy.)
The data relates to the testing of a new communication program for the Internet. The other groups of nodes relate to Success/Failure, the various Faults and for how long the user was Connected.
Note the histograms on each node, which show how many attempts were made and how many pieces of electronic mail were received.
Each arc of nodes is linked to records, that have the same values. Thus, if you click on the first node of the group Date, you will select all of the records, that take place on a Sunday.
As you examine this chart, look at the values on the histograms and the detail in the nodes and links.
Apologies To My Readers
For some reason, I am now unable to edit the galleries, so the pictures aren’t as I would like.
WordPress seem to have changed the software, so that it is impossible to click on the gallery to add more pictures or edit the existing ones.
I would assume that they’ve put new software up and it’s not compatible with Windows Vista and Chrome.
Buying British Rail Tickets From Outside The UK
I just bought a ticket on Southern Railway. As ever, I will pick up the ticket from an automatic machine, before I travel.
I noticed that it said on the site that the method I chose was the preferred one for UK and Overseas customers.
If this is true and I’ve no reason to doubt it isn’t, then say an Australian booking a ticket in the UK, should do the following.
1. Ascertain the train company, who handle the route he wants to travel. The National Rail Enquiries web site, tells you this, when you check train times.
2. Go to that company’s web site and book your ticket, paying for it with a debit/credit card. Note that the actual company seems to always give the best price and often, you’ll find a special deal. Using an intermediate company is inevitably more expensive and they all seem to be generators of unwanted e-mails to your Inbox.
3. When booking, elect to pick up the ticket, any time before you start your journey. you need to chose a station, but it’s not important as tickets can be picked up at any station with a machine.
4. Make certain, you note the 8-character booking reference, the card you used and the journey you booked.
5. As you can pick up the tickets two hours after booking, probably by the time you arrive in the UK, that limit will have expired, so perhaps it’s a good idea to go and get all your tickets at a quiet time soon after arriving. Even if the company you specifically want doesn’t accept foreign credit cards, it certainly looks that some do.
Two Days Junk Mail From Virgin Media
They may have been inefficient at fixing my phone problems in the past, but they certainly know how to get junk mail through my door.
Two Days Junk Mail From Virgin Media
I’ve also read, that they still haven’t concluded a deal with BT so that their TV customers can get the matches BT has the rights to.
Most of the junk mail was addressed to that person, who doesn’t live here, the Mr. D.E.A.R. Householder.
Anything, marked without my name is instantly put into the green sack for recycling. Perhaps I should hang one outside for the postman!
The Anonymous Widower 