I was lucky enough to win tickets for a Barenaked Ladies gig at the O2 Academy in Leeds last Friday.
As I glanced around I noticed the amount of people taking photos and video with their mobile phones and it suddenly occurred to me just how much my iPhone and satnav had been used in the entire process of getting and being there.
First, was winning the tickets themselves. I was using the twitter client for the iPhone when Absolute Radio tweeted the competition question to win a pair of tickets. I tweeted back the correct answer in under a couple of minutes and I was a winner.
Then there was the SatNav with it managing to get us around the traffic on the A1 as we headed North and also directing us to the nearest car park to the venue. The result was we could leave home with very little continguency time as we did not need to use the paper map, drive blindly into traffic jams and get lost in central Leeds. Then I used Google Maps on my iPhone to get a walking route from the car park to the venue.
Once inside I was taking photos, HD video on the phone and posting some of the photos straight to Facebook.
It is only just over ten years ago, when I would be at home beating my computer keyboard around the walls because my 28k dial up modem had failed for the umpteenth time to connect to Compuserve or Daemon. Now we have broadband speed and processor power in our pockets, an always on community. They say the next billion of the world's population to be connected to the internet will be via mobile devices first.
I wonder where we will be in another ten years?
GiffGaff
Monday, 20 September 2010
Thursday, 9 September 2010
The Extreme Action Spider
He's been hanging on for the past two weeks, three floors up on the office window, and his web has withstood the recent wind and rain.
I bloody hate spiders though!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I bloody hate spiders though!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
iPhones, Baths and Rainwater
Back in 2008 I brought my first iPhone. I waited for the 3g as I didn't want to go back a step to GPRS/EDGE data speeds.
The phone survived a 4 foot drop onto a kitchen floor very early on. The case was damaged and after 15 months I finally lost the volume and mute buttons, resorting to using a paper clip to push what remained of the switches inside the case.
I persevered with it determined to make limp on out of contract, enjoying a reduced 1 month sim only contract until the iPhone 4 was released.
With a month to go until iPhone 4 launch day I had a night out in Brighton. I booked into a seafront hotel and got a free upgrade to a suite with a jacuzzi bath.
8 pints later I got back to the hotel room and decided to relax before bed with a bath and to read the newspaper on the iPhone. At 3am I awoke freezing cold, wet, still laying in the bath. The iPhone was laying at the bottom and was completely dead.
Luckily I had insurance and a trip to the Carphone Warehouse was needed. They confirmed the water damage in store. You could see the film of water between the glass and the screen. I was told that they can confirm most phones as water damaged and replace it immediately in store, but as it was an iPhone it had to be sent off to their main repair centre who then may pass it to Apple.
Three weeks later, the phone had been from the store, to the CPW repair centre, to Apple repair centre, each of them confirming water damage. Then Apple repair send a new handset to CPW repair centre, CPW repair centre then 'test' the new handset and finally pass it back to the store for collection.
In the meantime my insurance gave me a cover phone. It was a mid nineties Nokia which had lovely rubber buttons and you could only call, text and play snake on it. Absolute torture after having an iPhone for 18 months.
I finally had my hands on the replacement handset five days before iPhone4 launch day. I was disappointed that I had got another 3G after the guy in store told me it would most likely be a 3GS replacement, but still.
On iphone4 launch day I half decided to queue and attempt to get one. In Swindon (where I was working that week) at 8:40 am the Orange store had a queue of 4, Phones4u I think could not have any left as there was no queue, Carphone Warehouse a queue of 20 and o2 store must have been 200 minimum. My choice of network 3 were not offering it on launch day. I decided to wait a couple of weeks.
Then the 'grip of death' reports started to come out. To the point I decided to wait for longer and still enjoy the £15 a month sim only tariff I was enjoying on my old but now unlocked handset.
All was well until 2 weeks ago when I was putting up a tent in appalling rain. Knowing that iPhones do not like water very much I took it out of my soaked trouser pocket and placed it inside the tent for safety whilst I continued to put it up. However the rain continued and went straight through the inner tent before I had a chance to pull the waterproof outer over the top.
Inside there was a pool of water and floating inside it was the replacement iPhone!!! The screen was flickering and despite getting the hairdryer on it five minutes later the poor thing died. I sent it on its way with the best expletive hymn I could muster. The B, F and C words were used.
So. I write this on my new iPhone 4 on a new contract. The iPhone 3G is going through the three week process as before, but be damned if I was going to use that bloody emergency Nokia again!!
But now I know just how sensitive iPhones are to water expect me to be posting from a Blackberry next week.
PS No 'grip of death' experienced so far!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The phone survived a 4 foot drop onto a kitchen floor very early on. The case was damaged and after 15 months I finally lost the volume and mute buttons, resorting to using a paper clip to push what remained of the switches inside the case.
I persevered with it determined to make limp on out of contract, enjoying a reduced 1 month sim only contract until the iPhone 4 was released.
With a month to go until iPhone 4 launch day I had a night out in Brighton. I booked into a seafront hotel and got a free upgrade to a suite with a jacuzzi bath.
8 pints later I got back to the hotel room and decided to relax before bed with a bath and to read the newspaper on the iPhone. At 3am I awoke freezing cold, wet, still laying in the bath. The iPhone was laying at the bottom and was completely dead.
Luckily I had insurance and a trip to the Carphone Warehouse was needed. They confirmed the water damage in store. You could see the film of water between the glass and the screen. I was told that they can confirm most phones as water damaged and replace it immediately in store, but as it was an iPhone it had to be sent off to their main repair centre who then may pass it to Apple.
Three weeks later, the phone had been from the store, to the CPW repair centre, to Apple repair centre, each of them confirming water damage. Then Apple repair send a new handset to CPW repair centre, CPW repair centre then 'test' the new handset and finally pass it back to the store for collection.
In the meantime my insurance gave me a cover phone. It was a mid nineties Nokia which had lovely rubber buttons and you could only call, text and play snake on it. Absolute torture after having an iPhone for 18 months.
I finally had my hands on the replacement handset five days before iPhone4 launch day. I was disappointed that I had got another 3G after the guy in store told me it would most likely be a 3GS replacement, but still.
On iphone4 launch day I half decided to queue and attempt to get one. In Swindon (where I was working that week) at 8:40 am the Orange store had a queue of 4, Phones4u I think could not have any left as there was no queue, Carphone Warehouse a queue of 20 and o2 store must have been 200 minimum. My choice of network 3 were not offering it on launch day. I decided to wait a couple of weeks.
Then the 'grip of death' reports started to come out. To the point I decided to wait for longer and still enjoy the £15 a month sim only tariff I was enjoying on my old but now unlocked handset.
All was well until 2 weeks ago when I was putting up a tent in appalling rain. Knowing that iPhones do not like water very much I took it out of my soaked trouser pocket and placed it inside the tent for safety whilst I continued to put it up. However the rain continued and went straight through the inner tent before I had a chance to pull the waterproof outer over the top.
Inside there was a pool of water and floating inside it was the replacement iPhone!!! The screen was flickering and despite getting the hairdryer on it five minutes later the poor thing died. I sent it on its way with the best expletive hymn I could muster. The B, F and C words were used.
So. I write this on my new iPhone 4 on a new contract. The iPhone 3G is going through the three week process as before, but be damned if I was going to use that bloody emergency Nokia again!!
But now I know just how sensitive iPhones are to water expect me to be posting from a Blackberry next week.
PS No 'grip of death' experienced so far!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:High St,Malmesbury,United Kingdom
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
The Apostrophe Rap
Let's sort out the apostrophe use once and for all. God knows what they are teaching the kids in school these days.
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Mr Toad comes to stay!
When I was camping in Malmesbury last week, I packed up and found I had a visitor. Hello Mr Toad! (I think I have my toads and frogs round the right way..answers on a postcard if not).
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Kev Dickson
Check out Kev Dickson's website to review his albums and song writing. Hopefully on BBC Radio Wiltshire this evening.
Http://kevdickson.wordpress.com
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Http://kevdickson.wordpress.com
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Regent St,Swindon,United Kingdom
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
The New Apple Friend Bar
Following on from the Genius Bar is the new Apple Friend Bar. Book your session now!
New Apple Friend Bar Gives Customers Someone To Talk At About Mac Products
New Apple Friend Bar Gives Customers Someone To Talk At About Mac Products
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Working for free in the supermarkets
A pretty obvious one to go for but I'll moan about it anyway based on too many recent experiences.
I always viewed people who use self scan checkouts at the supermarkets as having a sandwich short of a picnic. Supermarkets sell it to you as having a choice to beat the queue for your benefit. If only, it's to reduce staff costs and maximize profit. We all know it but if it's there and helps us get out the shop quicker...
I however am a stubborn bastard!
My take on it is, if a tin of fruit retails at 50 pence then that includes the cost of the goods plus the mark up.
Contained in the mark up is the costs of getting the goods to me, and the cost of a checkout person scanning it, the rest is profit for the store.
So if we assume even a modest 2-3p built in cost for checkout staff, if I use self scan then I would expect to have that 2-3p deducted. Otherwise I provided willingly greater profit for the store.
So for me to self scan one of two things need to happen:-
1. An automatic discount of x % of the final shop total.
2. For the self scan machine to time how long I have used the till and pay me a reasonable hourly rate pro rata once I have checked out. Why should I work for Tescbury's for free?
But now this 'option' has started to be forced upon me and everytime I go in to buy a few items I have to explain the above thoughts to another member of staff who comes up to me wishing to help. It's not their fault it's the managers so I always treat the ones at the coal face with respect when I explain my objections.
Recent episodes:
Sainsbury's Swindon
5 normal tills at the market end only 1 manned
4 self scan, 1 member of staff wandering about.
1 very long queue for the only manned till.
This happens every day.
I always have the self scan wanderer come up to me to joyfully show me how to save time by 'playing shop',
I say, had they opened all the manned tills I would not be in a queue that would then need me to 'save time' and provide them bigger profits.
I always explain, pay me, discount the shop, or open more tills before asking me to work as a checkout operator for free.
You can tell the throttling of the manned tills is deliberate to condition customers to help Sainsbury's eliminate staff costs.
I have the same at Tesco's. Their machines don't recognise their own recycling bags so you get invalid items in the bagging area. Daft sods! I once saw a customer told by a supervisor he had to use them due having a few items!!
B&Q have taken the brave move in most stores in my area by only having one manned till and providing 8-10 shiny self scan machines. 'Come over to these tills to save queuing' they say. I
never had to queue before you removed the manned tills!! FFS!!
After 7pm (IIRC) I have noticed there is no choice in my local store, no manned till in the evening. That's when I go to customer services and ask to pay. When I am directed to self scan I explain I am illiterate and need help to read the screen. They then check it out for me.
Stand up all resist this change, it's not good for anyone. But if there are 10 manned tills all with queues with just one lonely self scan in the corner I think we can all be forgiven for using it as a genuine emergency.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I always viewed people who use self scan checkouts at the supermarkets as having a sandwich short of a picnic. Supermarkets sell it to you as having a choice to beat the queue for your benefit. If only, it's to reduce staff costs and maximize profit. We all know it but if it's there and helps us get out the shop quicker...
I however am a stubborn bastard!
My take on it is, if a tin of fruit retails at 50 pence then that includes the cost of the goods plus the mark up.
Contained in the mark up is the costs of getting the goods to me, and the cost of a checkout person scanning it, the rest is profit for the store.
So if we assume even a modest 2-3p built in cost for checkout staff, if I use self scan then I would expect to have that 2-3p deducted. Otherwise I provided willingly greater profit for the store.
So for me to self scan one of two things need to happen:-
1. An automatic discount of x % of the final shop total.
2. For the self scan machine to time how long I have used the till and pay me a reasonable hourly rate pro rata once I have checked out. Why should I work for Tescbury's for free?
But now this 'option' has started to be forced upon me and everytime I go in to buy a few items I have to explain the above thoughts to another member of staff who comes up to me wishing to help. It's not their fault it's the managers so I always treat the ones at the coal face with respect when I explain my objections.
Recent episodes:
Sainsbury's Swindon
5 normal tills at the market end only 1 manned
4 self scan, 1 member of staff wandering about.
1 very long queue for the only manned till.
This happens every day.
I always have the self scan wanderer come up to me to joyfully show me how to save time by 'playing shop',
I say, had they opened all the manned tills I would not be in a queue that would then need me to 'save time' and provide them bigger profits.
I always explain, pay me, discount the shop, or open more tills before asking me to work as a checkout operator for free.
You can tell the throttling of the manned tills is deliberate to condition customers to help Sainsbury's eliminate staff costs.
I have the same at Tesco's. Their machines don't recognise their own recycling bags so you get invalid items in the bagging area. Daft sods! I once saw a customer told by a supervisor he had to use them due having a few items!!
B&Q have taken the brave move in most stores in my area by only having one manned till and providing 8-10 shiny self scan machines. 'Come over to these tills to save queuing' they say. I
never had to queue before you removed the manned tills!! FFS!!
After 7pm (IIRC) I have noticed there is no choice in my local store, no manned till in the evening. That's when I go to customer services and ask to pay. When I am directed to self scan I explain I am illiterate and need help to read the screen. They then check it out for me.
Stand up all resist this change, it's not good for anyone. But if there are 10 manned tills all with queues with just one lonely self scan in the corner I think we can all be forgiven for using it as a genuine emergency.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:B4014,Malmesbury,United Kingdom
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