Archive

Archive for October, 2006

Doorbell sounds

October 31st, 2006 No comments

I’m sure everyone can remember going into DIY shops as a child and causing mayhem by pressing all the buttons on the doorbell demonstration stand. Well you can now relive your childhood at this webpage.

Categories: Misc Tags: ,

homoeopathy gets undue recognition from MHRA

October 26th, 2006 1 comment

I suffer from hay fever, and have done so from being a young child.

20 years ago, I decided to try a homoeopathic remedy instead of the usual antihistamines. I don’t remember the name, but it was a small white tablet which dissolved very quickly on the tongue.

Very soon after, I started to wheeze when exposed to pollen, something I had never experienced with hayfever before, so I stopped taking the tablets immediately. The wheezing however didn’t stop, and since then, whenever I get hayfever symptoms, the wheezing accompanies it.

It is with dismay, therefore that I read that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has effectively given credence to homoeopathic remedies by introducing rules to allow them to specify the ailments for which they can be used.

Categories: Misc Tags: , ,

Keep Moving Traffic Website

October 16th, 2006 No comments

keepmoving16octThe people who brought you Metcheck have come up with a traffic website: keepmoving.co.uk.

It looks a very exciting venture, but I think they need to iron out a few bugs:

Today there is a major incident on the M6 Southbound with the motorway closed. Now while keepmoving have a column on the left of their page showing this, and the graph on the right shows that the M6 is far and away the most requested information on their phone line, the motorway specific data in the centre shows no problems. Click here for a larger screenshot.

Categories: Uncategorized Tags: ,

Dot Matrix Wallet

October 10th, 2006 No comments

Just got to have one of these…

Dot Matrix Wallet

UPDATE: Now available from Firebox

Categories: Misc Tags:

Excellent Dominoes/Pool Trick Shot

October 7th, 2006 No comments

Check this video out:

/>

Categories: Misc Tags:

Freeserve number change

October 3rd, 2006 No comments

FreeserveMy mother-in-law has always been with Freeserve on Dial-up and does not use the internet enough to warrant paying for broadband. When Dixons sold Freeserve to Wanadoo in France (part of France Telecom), she was none the wiser, except that she didn’t understand why her homepage had changed to wanadoo.co.uk.

Now that France Telecom have decided to merge the brand names under the Orange brand, her homepage has changed again, still with no explanation. Since her homepage is still actually set to www.freeserve.co.uk, this redirects to www.orange.co.uk. Surely, it doesn’t take much for Orange to spot the redirections and display a banner explaining the change.

Now the really crap part: She started getting a message saying she had to change the number her computer dialled. The POP server also started refusing connections, refering her to the same page. Not exactly much warning nor much explanation to someone who just wants to check her emails and log in to her bank.

The automatic ‘download new number’ option does not work, even when logged in as administrator, but then again that’s Windoze for you.

Previously, she had dialled 0845 079 6699 (1p/min weekday eve), but the new number is 0844 058 7000 (2p/min).

There is no valid reason for doubling the price, especially as most people won’t realise this.

According to the FAQ on the changes:

Why is the number changing?
We’re asking you to change to this new number as the old one is out of date and will soon be closing.

What utter Bollocks! If you need to change it, change it to another 0845 number. The real answer is that Orange don’t like dial up customers and have therefore chosen to fleece them.

When did you tell me about this change?
We emailed you about 30 days ago explaining what the number change was and what you’d need to do.

No you did not! My mother-in-law received no such email.

So basically, no warning, no valid reason for the change in price. Shame on you Orange.

Wrongly charged for postage

October 2nd, 2006 No comments

Further to my post on Royal Mail’s new charges, my wife took a letter to the post office, but despite it being an A5 envelope, which fit through the slot on Royal Mail’s new postage guide and weighed less than 100g, (thus qualifying as a small letter) she was charged 44p (large letter rate) not 32p.

It would seem the post office doesn’t even understand the new rules.

Categories: Misc Tags: