The Anonymous Widower

Do I Need A Smart Phone?

I’ve recently bought a Samsung Tab 2 7.  This is the seven inch screen or the small one.

I can keep it in my pocket and use it to send e-mails and surf the Internet. I checked my Zopa and bank details on Saturday and even entered a small post to this blog.

I’ve only a wi-fi version, which proved excellent on the train on Saturday.  But then we are seeing more and more free wi-fi hotspots in pubs and cafes everywhere.

So quite frankly, I’ll stick to my Nokia 6310i for phone calls and text messages.

Who needs a smart phone?

January 7, 2013 Posted by | Computing | , , , | 7 Comments

Why Has Google News Got Worse?

When I want details on something, say like Dalston Junction station, I will use Google to search for it. Then for any news, there used to be a simple button, which repeated the search on just the news.

That seems to have disappeared and now in most cases I have to open up Google News and start the search again. I supose, it’s an improvement setup by some idiot just out of nappies.

I also find that it always wants me to sign in to my GMail account to store my alerts there.  But I prefer them on my standard e-mail, which has nothing to do with GMail.

I suppose they are annoying me, so I use my GMail account, which can then be processed to send me all sorts of spam for products I don’t want.

As they don’t pay enough tax in the UK, I think I might look for another search engine, that does pay the proper rate.

January 2, 2013 Posted by | Computing, News | , , , | Leave a comment

The Dyslexic Spammer

I’ve just had two copies of this simple spam message.

Do you need  a laon

As it was headed Dear Sir/Madam and both copies were sent to the same male e-mail address, he or she is pretty stupid as well.

December 31, 2012 Posted by | Computing | , , | Leave a comment

Ministry Of Justice Deals It Out to Claims Firms.

This article on the BBC web site, says that the Ministry of Justice has shut down 209 rogue claims firms in the last six months.

This is good news.  But I wonder how many people have been involved in more than one firm.

I also would love to see a database published of all those involved. It would be an interesting analysis.

December 31, 2012 Posted by | Computing, News | , , , | Leave a comment

I Didn’t Get On The iBus

I let this bus go when I got to the stop.

I Didn't Get On The iBus

I Didn’t Get On The iBus

I don’t like it’s up front advertising especially for Apple products, but I was talking to a guy with an adorable ten week old baby in his arms. Anyway with 38 buses, you only have to wait a minute or so for another one. And when it did turn up, it was a New Bus for London. These are now saying that they accept credit cards.

Credit Cards On The Buses

Credit Cards On The Buses

Who needs a car, when personal transport is so frequent. It did seem to me though, that with all that advertising the iBus was rather slower than the new bus I was on.

The Slow iBus

The Slow iBus

I’m always reminded of the joke about how you make an Apple computer go faster.  You drop it from a taller building.

The New Buses for London seem to be faster over a distance than the standard ones.  I think partly it’s due to the hybrid drive, which gives good acceleration, but also as passengers seem to get on and off a lot quicker.

December 28, 2012 Posted by | Computing, Transport/Travel | , , , , | 1 Comment

They Don’t Even Stop On Christmas Day

I’ve just had one of those silly job offer messages from a Chinese company called BMT Chemicals.

Our company BMTChemicals CC requires international payment receiving agents. If you are interested in this position please write back with your Full name, Address and Phone number for more information. 

I can only guess what will happen if I replied. It certainly wouldn’t be beneficial to me.

December 25, 2012 Posted by | Computing, World | , , , | Leave a comment

A Good Reason To Avoid Facebook

I do anyway, but their tax position, seems to be in line with Starbucks, Amazon and Google according to this report.

In fact, it’s rapidly getting to the point, where using a large company reduces tax revenues.  Although, it does seem that American companies are the best at finding ways of avoiding paying tax. Or should that be worst?

If you think  I’m being sanctimonious here, I once paid a tax bill of £3,500,000. If you don’t believe me, I have the cheque on the wall to prove it.  I could have avoided the tax bill, by going to live in Monaco or somewhere equally boring for a few years.  But then this country has so many good things, that I’d miss.

December 23, 2012 Posted by | Business, Computing, Finance & Investment, News | , , | Leave a comment

How To Unfollow This Blog

I’ve put this post in the blog, as someone wanted to unsubscribe. Or unfollow in WordPress terminology.

Firstly, if you subscribed to the blog, you are the only one who can unsubscribe, as that is one of the rules WordPress sets down. I can’t do it.

They do offer advice on how to unsubscribe in their forums.

Go here.

I’ve found the simplest way to unsubscribe is to login to WordPress and open any post in the blog from which you want to unsubscribe.

You should see a toolbar with the name of the blog followed by Following at the top of the web page. If you put your mouse over Following it should change to Unfollow.  Just click Unfollow to unsubscribe from the blog.

Let me know if you have any problems and feel free to comment here.

December 22, 2012 Posted by | Computing | , | Leave a comment

Whose Photos Are They Anyway?

This story, where Instagram is seeking the right to sell users’ photos to advertisers,  is beyond belief.

On this blog, if you want to use one of my photos, provided I get a request and a copyright notice, I will generally say yes. In fact, I have done several times.

I have a feeling, if they bring in this policy, Instagram are on a one-way trip to bankruptcy

December 18, 2012 Posted by | Computing | , | Leave a comment

Gary McKinnon Case Is Dropped

This is reported on the BBC.

All I can say, is this is about time too!

December 14, 2012 Posted by | Computing, News | , | Leave a comment