I am painfully aware I haven’t written any blogs or articles for a few months. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly I’ve been busy getting married and skiving off to New Zealand. Secondly I’ve been very busy promoting the new book so the idea of writing more rubbish doesn’t really appeal. Thirdly I’ve been even busier doing my actual job of designing and building websites for our wonderful customers and haven’t had time to write what’s on my mind – not that most of what is on my mind is suitable for print anyway.
Of course I’m not the only one who has been busy. Google and Facebook have continued to busy themselves with their plans for world domination and their vocal antagonists have been equally busy trying to convince everyone that these evil companies are invading our privacy by using internet mind probes to read our thoughts and violate our human rights.
On the subject of privacy, I was forwarded an email today reminding me about changes to privacy laws surrounding website cookies. As wonderful and tasty as this sounds, it’s really rather annoying. Some twat somewhere has decided that all websites are evil and have been built for the sole purpose of spying on us. As a result, we are now supposed to inform users when a cookie is placed on their computer, how it’s placed there, why it’s placed there and whether or not it is going to suck their life-force out of them and kill their families.
So how are we supposed to do this? Well it turns out we need to add privacy notices to all websites or make additions to existing privacy policies explaining this pointless and nonsensical addition just to satisfy some pen-pushing bureaucrat with small genitalia. Or, to put it another way, it looks like I’m going to be doing a lot more writing over the next few months.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
To whom it may concern
I'd like to start this month's blog with a question. This question is for o2 and Apple. It's just a little thing really but I was wondering; is there any chance of my new iPhone ever working? Only I'm beginning to wonder what the point is in having a phone that puts everyone straight to voicemail when they call and keeps crashing.
Seriously, I have missed a number of phone calls – some quite important ones – because people have been directed to the answer phone for no reason. I've been cut off mid conversation literally dozens of times now, which I'm sure is down to this awful new O.S. Apple have introduced. The last software upgrade completely bombed out and resulted in me having to do a complete restore. That was annoying in itself but not half as annoying as iTunes not recognising the restored settings which meant I had to set the phone up from scratch.
Seriously guys, who do you think you are? Microsoft? If I wanted something that crashed every 5 minutes I would stick with my PC. Or hire Lewis Hamilton as my chauffer.
If that wasn't bad enough, I don't have internet access. Ever. I gave up with 3G ages ago because the coverage is rubbish. Recently, however, I haven't had any sort of internet connection whatsoever. It seems worse when I'm in my house. It's as if there is some sort of electronic black hole that is sucking all connectivity out of the universe.
This has become so bad that I have very nearly hurled my phone across the living room several times in a fit of rage. I've only refrained from doing this by reminding myself that I didn't take out the insurance.
I mentioned this last month and I'm quite convinced this is the reason why my phone isn't working. I'm sure I'm being punished for being a tight-arse. So my next question is this: Dear o2, would my phone work properly if I blew £10 per month on something I know I'm never going to use just so your staff can have an extra beer at your Christmas dinner or am I going to have to buy a Samsung Galaxy next year?
Kind Regards
Mr Grumpy Pants
Seriously, I have missed a number of phone calls – some quite important ones – because people have been directed to the answer phone for no reason. I've been cut off mid conversation literally dozens of times now, which I'm sure is down to this awful new O.S. Apple have introduced. The last software upgrade completely bombed out and resulted in me having to do a complete restore. That was annoying in itself but not half as annoying as iTunes not recognising the restored settings which meant I had to set the phone up from scratch.
Seriously guys, who do you think you are? Microsoft? If I wanted something that crashed every 5 minutes I would stick with my PC. Or hire Lewis Hamilton as my chauffer.
If that wasn't bad enough, I don't have internet access. Ever. I gave up with 3G ages ago because the coverage is rubbish. Recently, however, I haven't had any sort of internet connection whatsoever. It seems worse when I'm in my house. It's as if there is some sort of electronic black hole that is sucking all connectivity out of the universe.
This has become so bad that I have very nearly hurled my phone across the living room several times in a fit of rage. I've only refrained from doing this by reminding myself that I didn't take out the insurance.
I mentioned this last month and I'm quite convinced this is the reason why my phone isn't working. I'm sure I'm being punished for being a tight-arse. So my next question is this: Dear o2, would my phone work properly if I blew £10 per month on something I know I'm never going to use just so your staff can have an extra beer at your Christmas dinner or am I going to have to buy a Samsung Galaxy next year?
Kind Regards
Mr Grumpy Pants
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Good news is no news
I haven’t had much to say of late which is surprising given the amount that has been going on in recent weeks. Facebook has once again been pissing off the entire world by changing the layout of users’ profile pages and making it even more illogical than the previous set of changes they annoying introduced last year. Apple’s Steve Jobs sadly passed away and now Blackberry are paying tribute to their rivals by holding a 3 day silence.
How something so monumental could go tits up at Blackberry is beyond me. They do sort of have my sympathy because I know what it’s like when servers explode. Having said that, if I had the resources, budget and technical wizardry of Blackberry, I would have hired a team of experts to ensure that this sort of thing can’t happen.
On an almost related note, my iPhone is irritating me too. I know it's probably more to do with o2 than Apple but my iPhone is now almost utterly useless. I mentioned a while ago that my contract expired and, since then, it hadn’t been working as well. It was slow, the internet connection was rubbish and people kept being put straight to answer phone for no reason.
Having got bored waiting for the iPhone 5 to be released, I went ahead and got an upgrade with an older model (because the phone was free and I’m a cheapskate). Because I had the last phone for over 2 years and never dropped it, lost it or flushed it down the toilet, I decided to forgo the insurance this time (again, because I’m a cheapskate).
Now, whether it’s because I’m now paying the bare minimum for an outdated piece of equipment and o2 are punishing me for being a cheapskate, this new phone is even worse than my last one. The internet connection is spasmodic to say the least, 3G is almost non-existent and people are still being put straight the answer phone. Not only that but it has crashed several times when my beloved fiancée has been talking at me.
So it’s not all bad then.
How something so monumental could go tits up at Blackberry is beyond me. They do sort of have my sympathy because I know what it’s like when servers explode. Having said that, if I had the resources, budget and technical wizardry of Blackberry, I would have hired a team of experts to ensure that this sort of thing can’t happen.
On an almost related note, my iPhone is irritating me too. I know it's probably more to do with o2 than Apple but my iPhone is now almost utterly useless. I mentioned a while ago that my contract expired and, since then, it hadn’t been working as well. It was slow, the internet connection was rubbish and people kept being put straight to answer phone for no reason.
Having got bored waiting for the iPhone 5 to be released, I went ahead and got an upgrade with an older model (because the phone was free and I’m a cheapskate). Because I had the last phone for over 2 years and never dropped it, lost it or flushed it down the toilet, I decided to forgo the insurance this time (again, because I’m a cheapskate).
Now, whether it’s because I’m now paying the bare minimum for an outdated piece of equipment and o2 are punishing me for being a cheapskate, this new phone is even worse than my last one. The internet connection is spasmodic to say the least, 3G is almost non-existent and people are still being put straight the answer phone. Not only that but it has crashed several times when my beloved fiancée has been talking at me.
So it’s not all bad then.
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