The Channel logo

* Posts by madferret

37 posts • joined Thursday 10th September 2009 09:43 GMT

madferret
FAIL

Lateral thinking

I've had the odd email like that occasionally, bounced through to my gmail account from an old dedicated ISP email or an old work email. Gives me the opportunity to change it to a current one, so not so stupid after all.

Good story, but an El Reg FAIL for not thinking...

madferret

Read the previous post

The gullible account holder is giving permission for the money to be transferred. If it is to a valid account the back can't take it back. They can't even talk to the bank they have sent it to because of data protection laws. You would have to contact them and ask them to contact the account holder, etc.

madferret

Same here

Currys and Comet are next door to each other in the local retail park so I usually end up in both, and Currys generally have the better deals nowadays. I can even get Quidco discounts at Currys by ordering online and picking up instore.

Most amazing is when I bought a faulty fan heater last winter, took it back to Currys expecting a fight and got an immediate, no-questions-asked refund. I didn't even have the box!

madferret
FAIL

vs DAB radio?

My Pure Bug radio has lets me select programmes from its internal EPG and record them to an SD card. I can set weekly or daily schedules so I don't miss regular programmes and don't have to mess around with podcasts or iPlayer.

So it's nothing new.

madferret
Thumb Down

ah, but...

Only if you want it to be - the option is off by default

madferret
Boffin

we want our money back

Simples. DVLA charge a fee for every enquiry through their data connection. It's probably only pence, but do it thousands of times (he was a 'big wheel' spotter, remember) and it quickly gets out of hand. So DVLA bill AXA, and AXA want their money back. DVLA have spent their cut on maintaing the systems that provide the data, so nothing to come back from them.

As a droid-type employee he was probably shown how to check registrations but never told the cost, because for authorised use it's built into the general accounting.

madferret
Paris Hilton

insert space here

My favourite 'non-training' issue was an Open University essay instruction that required text to be double-spaced. The discussion boards had more than one student complaining that inserting a space between every character was hard...!

Paris. I'm sure she can do double-spacing.

madferret
WTF?

errrm

Never been to Manchester then?

Talking of oop North, OSM isn't a lot of use where I live as most of the streets are missing from it. (And no, I don't want to wander them with a GPS unit)

madferret
Happy

Because

No, because I was there, standing in the arena! It was very interesting to hear the incidental music with accompanying scenes from the series but no dialogue to get in the way. Very much looking forward to seeing the TV version.

madferret
Unhappy

but...

even sites that display 'permission denied' or 'invalid user name or password' then fall into the trap of allowing you to enter an email address for a password reset, which returns either 'that address doesn't exist' or 'we've sent you an email'. So someone wanting to query valid or invalid accounts still have a means to do it.

madferret

Read carefullye

"Common sense should tell recipients that they have no chance of winning a competition they have never entered"

...and that claim - as in 'Claime your prize' doesn't have an 'e'.

madferret
Grenade

Please adjust your seat rest to the upright position

...oh hang on, you can't because we've just told you to turn off all electronic devices...

madferret
FAIL

Don't believe everything you read in the Daily Fail

Poor journalism from El Reg. A minute's research would have told you that "iconic American TV shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos , Sex and The City" all ended some time ago and aren't scheduled for remakes.

And yes, The Wire was good.

madferret
Thumb Down

Read for comprehension

No, because attempted murder is not murder. If he had *attempted* to steal money, he would have got an even lower sentence, because that is a different offence. Just like if this was the second time he had been convicted he would have got a higher sentence, as the judge said.

madferret
Pint

Who cares?

'nuff said.

madferret
Grenade

Dumb and dumber

"This article referred to www. and the notional xxx. as suffixes. It should have been prefix. This has been corrected."

Great journalism - get readers to spot the mistake then correct it with another mistake! It would never happen on El Reg.

Long live Grauniad, we need a laugh from time to time.

madferret
FAIL

Toast by name...

"Toast allows advertisers to push ads onto your Windows Phone 7 smartphone whether you have an associated app running or not."

Toast. Exactly what any smartphone I have running unsolicited ads will be. I was already seriously thinking Android - but how long before the Chocolate Factory follow suit?

madferret
Coat

I'm confused

There am I thinking I'm a typical El Reg reader, then I discover that I should have know all about Linux distros and not need an article like this. But then I have a MacBook that, errm, just works. With Windows 7 that, errm, works (just) and Ubuntu that, errm, just sits there mostly unused because the "out of the box" solutions of the other OSes, errm, are working.

I don't understand Linux, sorry. I would like to, but all these different flavours and the geekspeak that accompany them are too much for my delicate ears. I want to USE my computer, not spend hours reconfiguring it or working out how to get my MS Office stuff to work *properly* with Open Office or whatever just so I can qualify to use the Penguin icon one day!

madferret
Thumb Down

Not a chance

I'm sure Trucall is very good, but why should *I* fork out 99 quid to stop a few junk calls? My friends would love being told by me how to control their privacy by unblocking their number to call me. Not.

If I call someone and am met by a machine asking me for my name, the phone is hung up, end of.

madferret
Happy

So do it!

Not much stopping you running Windows on an MBP. I have Windows 7 happily chugging away in Space 3 of my MacBook. Through Parallels, all the Windoze icons are there in the Mac dock. So I have the best of both OSes - have you tried installing Mac OSX on your PC?

madferret

ahem

Bolton may be a cotton town, but the steel for the stadium is from Watson Steel in Horwich. Hence the link with the mascots.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/1970386.watson_steel_helping_create_olympic_stadium/

madferret
WTF?

Why?

Have you tried using the MacBook trackpad? Does everything a trackpoint can and more besides.

madferret
Thumb Up

Not news

and with Argos, you don't pay until you get to the shop! But how is this news? Argos have done it for ages, Boots and M&S have introduced it in the last 12 months. It's a good idea, as it costs the companies less - they have to send delivery vehicles to shops anyway - and you're not having to collect all those "sorry you weren't in" delivery cards.

madferret
WTF?

What happened to the merger?

Why are they offering BT Openzone wifi when they 'own' T-Mobile hotspots?

madferret

I think I know what I'm doing?

Agree with you all the way, though when I was in Southern California for a few months last year and needed various tech bits I found Fry's disappointing in terms of range compared to what I remembered from a previous visit. In the end the (nearer) Best Buy store was my usual port of call - buy the kit that's 'on offer' and refuse all the extras and you're sorted.

I also didn't have a problem with their customer service. They refunded me a defective MP3 player no questions asked, even though I had been using it for a couple of weeks and had lost some of the packaging.

Posted in HTC HD mini
madferret
Paris Hilton

Who needs Windows 7?

@ Citizen Kaned, I don't understand your criticisms of the TD2. I've got one and my ear has never activated anything. Maybe it's not big enough? Contacts are one click of the soft key labelled, errm, Contacts.

But personally if I was going to get another Windows Phone I would stick to 6.5 - yes, it has the crappy icons but if M$ are going down the Jobsworth road of locking-in apps then forget it.

HTC have done a decent job of improving a poor native interface, but I will probably look very seriously at Android next time.

Paris because she has big... ears.

madferret
Thumb Up

Yes he can

It was the sort of thing Obama did, though not on the iPhone. It's a very different culture over in the US though, where DP laws are less strict. Obama's data gathering was very efficient: everything was co-ordinated through their Chicago center, using the VoteBuilder software.

Local campaigning generally involved volunteers using their own time to call random people from a call list, the results then being logged according to voting preference, etc. I think Americans are generally more geared up to receive that kind of 'marketing' call, especially at election time.

madferret
FAIL

Thank you for your reservation

Why is anyone giving Argos their card details? Order online, collect in-store, then the only place your card is seen is at the store till. No CVVs, just chip and PIN.

Oh, and selecting plain text emails also helps. No chance of hidden codes in the HTML.

Fail, to everyone caught out. But mainly to the (hopefully now unemployed) payment app coders.

madferret
WTF?

Southern bias...

@AC: "This is not the year to buy Freeview HD TVs:

1) It'll be the end of 2011 before Freeview HD will cover most of the UK population"

I doubt many people would buy one of these sets and carry it around with them. So if you live in a Freeview HD enabled region - like most of NW England - your first argument doesn't apply.

You've missed the obvious objection though: the price.

madferret
Thumb Up

You can have 10GB...

The standard WnW limit is 1GB, but there is a 'Plus' option that includes WiFi hotspots and phone modem use, with 3GB allowance. There was also a 'Max' option that allows VOIP and an allowance of 10GB.

My contract is on the original WnW with a whopping 40MB (sic) a month allowance, but I persuaded T-Mo to give me the Plus add-on for £5 a month extra. I hope they don't force the new tariffs on existing customers as I'm happy with what I have, thank u very much.

madferret
Pirate

8 quid fee

"If you route your BT fixed line calls through your ISP/elsewhere as I do, then be aware they will charge you 8 quid a month for NOT making any billable calls across the BT network."

@g e: I think BT only apply the charge if you have agreed to have the free 1571 and caller-id packages, then fail to make any calls through their network. It's not dependent on the calls package you have.

I've got their basic line rental (aka Inclusive Weekend Calls) and asked them to switch off 1571 and caller-id. On direct debit, I pay £11.54 a month and route most calls through 18185.

BT, like most telcos, have tariff and discount packages with all kinds of obscure conditions that aren't easy to get out of.

madferret
FAIL

Upgrade bargain?

Offering RC users the upgrade path isn't so unreasonable - I'm sure one of the original intentions of M$ was to give people the chance to try-then-buy through their pre-release program. That's what I did, so I now have a full retail copy of W7, bought for less than the current upgrade price.

So, no, paying for an 'upgrade' from 7RC isn't quite the bargain it appears.

madferret
Pint

Arsenal v Man United...

@AC, "Why else pilot this system in London..."

Errm, because Arsenal were playing?

And it wasn't just London. Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin also had the trial.

madferret

OSM

@Benanov: I live in a fairly large city and OSM coverage round here is highly patchy. I know it relies on people providing the data, but short of walking every street myself it isn't looking good.

Don't think I'll bother now I can buy CoPilot for 25 quid.

madferret

Amazon

Just checked my order status and it says

Delivery estimate: 26 Oct 2009 - 28 Oct 2009

Dispatch estimate: 21 Oct 2009

Been using the Enterprise trial edition for a while so not that bothered about the wait. If it's working, etc.

madferret
Stop

But...

Ok, so the evil guys get into my online banking account. But to transfer money out of the account they need a PINsentry card reader (easy to obtain - I have about 10 from different banks!) and my Chip and PIN card to generate the authorisation code - not so easy to obtain. Or am I missing something here?

madferret
Grenade

Tinny

I don't see why the Nano needs an external speaker. You can hear the sound output from the cr*p Apple earphones perfectly well from what seems to be several miles away... Replace one tinny irritation with another I s'pose. That's progress.

Forums

Forgotten password

Opinion

euros_channel_money

Tim Worstall

Time to take a sniff at the coffee, perhaps
joe_tucci_emc_channel

Chris Mellor

Will they have to drag him back like last time?
chain_relationship_channel

Features

cloud_accounting
Playing the SLA long game
channel_teaser_money_top
cloud computing Fight
Applications must work for the cloud to float
Paul Cormier, Red Hat
How a Unix killer crawled from the dot-com bust