markwilson.it

Category: Waffle and randomness

  • Why I will be remastering my childrens’ DVDs

    There’s been much discussion of the UK’s archaic copyright laws as I’ve questioned the need for DRM and written about ripping DVDs and converting between multimedia formats. I’ve also criticised the BBC for it’s substandard iPlayer service (even if it does now stream content it still doesn’t allow offline playback on all platforms and, when it does, the DRM on the offline content is overly-restrictive). Well, here’s another example of DRM madness brought to me by the BBC – this time it’s a menu system on a legally purchased DVD.

    My children don’t watch a lot of television, but there is one programme, In The Night Garden…, that is almost guaranteed to attract my three-year-old’s attention for a full 30 minutes (believe me, that is an achievement) and also provides a fair amount of delight for my one-year-old (I have to confess that I enjoy it too). It’s a very gentle programme, perfect for a spot of post-lunchtime relaxation, or for winding down before stories and bed. So, there we were, trying to calm down an overtired and slightly poorly little boy who was desperate to see Igglepiggle in the Night Garden and who doesn’t understand the idea of a TV schedule, when we decided that the DVD we had bought the boys for Christmas would be better used right away (and at least give us the chance to prepare a meal for the little people before a sleep).

    On went the TV and the DVD player, in went the disc, I pressed the play button and was greeted with 2 and a quarter minutes of loud, high energy trailers for other childrens’ programming from the BBC. I tried to skip the trailers and to go straight to the menu but all attempts were greeted with a message that said “operation currently prohibited by the disc”. Now I can understand making me watch the legal notices, but forcing me to watch the trailers (on a DVD intended for children) is wrong. So I will be ripping the programmes from that DVD and re-recording them to disc without the menus, trailers, or anything else. In effect, BBC Worldwide is forcing me to break the copyright on a DVD that I have legally purchased – just to avoid the advertising.

    I would complain to BBC Worldwide, but they only publish a postal address (no e-mail) for contact, so I can’t be bothered. And writing to Points of View won’t help either! In the meantime, I’ll leave my complaint on the Internet for any other prospective childrens’ DVD purchasers to consider…

  • The great iPhone insurance swindle

    A few days ago, I wrote about my purchase of the latest consumer gadget – the Apple iPhone.

    Unlike many others, I didn’t queue and the transaction was smooth but I was concerned that I was mis-sold insurance for the device. The conversation went something like this (I didn’t record the exact words at the time – but I wish I had):

    O2 sales representative – let’s call her Emma (because, according to my sales receipt, that was her name): “Would you like any insurance for your iPhone? It’s only £7.50 a month and covers you for theft, accidental loss or damage not covered by the warranty but it’s only available at the time of purchase – not afterwards – so you would need to take it out now.”

    Me: “No thanks – I know I’d be committed to the contract but even so that that’s a lot of money over 18 months. I’ll take the risk of another £269 to replace the iPhone.”

    Emma: “Are you sure, because it wouldn’t be £269 – it’s more like £600 for a new iPhone from O2?”

    Me: “How can that be – the handset isn’t subsidised, so I should only need to pay for a new handset at the normal retail price?”

    Emma: “We don’t make the rules… that’s Apple.”

    I subsequently agreed to buy the insurance, after checking that I could cancel at any time.

    Yesterday, I asked about insurance in a Carphone Warehouse store and was given a similar response. I also asked in an Apple Store and was told that they thought it was just the cost of a new iPhone but that I’d need to check with O2.

    Hmm… I smell a rat here. Especially when the O2 website says that:

    “[…]insurance must be purchased within 28 days of activating your iPhone account with O2.”

    So, not at the time of purchase then.

    If got even worse when I read a PC Pro article about iPhone first impressions, from which I quote:

    [in respect of] “O2 pushing £7.50/month insurance, to cover the situation that in the case of a lost iPhone, O2 will require the unlucky punter to buy a new phone and undertake a second contract”

    […]

    We checked with O2 this morning and, unbelievably, this is true. If you lose your iPhone without insurance, then you will have to splash out on a new handset, and take out a new contract, paying two monthly tariffs at once. Now that is a costly mistake.

    UPDATE

    O2 has changed tack this morning, and is now claiming that customers won’t have to pay for two contracts at once, but they will have to source an iPhone on their own.

    Now, the exact wording in the terms of service (under “Ending the agreement”) is:

    “8.3 If this Agreement is ended during the Minimum Period, you may be required to pay us the monthly subscription charges up to the end of that Minimum Period. This does not apply if you end the Agreement for the reasons in paragraph 8.4 or if you purchase a new iPhone from us, but in this case you agree that a new Minimum Period will apply.

    8.4 You may end this Agreement by giving us written notice if:

    (a) we break this Agreement in any material way and we do not correct the situation within 7 days of receipt of your written request;

    (b) we go into liquidation or a Receiver is appointed over our assets; or

    (c) we increase charges for calls, messages or data that form part of your inclusive allowance or your Line Rental Charges, or change this Agreement to your significant disadvantage, in accordance with paragraph 9.2 of the General Terms, provided you give us a minimum of 30 days’ written notice (and provided you notify us within one month of our telling you about the changes). This does not apply where the increase or change relates solely to Additional Services in which case you may cancel, or stop using, that Additional Service.”

    [Emphasis added by the author for clarity]

    I’m no lawyer (so please don’t interpret anything written here as legal advice) but that sounds like I can just buy a new iPhone (from O2) and connect it to the account whereby a new 18 month contract will start but, crucially, there is no mention of the price of the replacement.

    After spending much of the day responding on the Apple discussion forums (and not having received a response to my online query via the O2 website), I called O2’s customer service department on 08705860860. After a 20 minute discussion, I got confirmation that:

    1. A replacement handset would be available at the current recommended retail price of the iPhone.
    2. The original contract would be ended if a new iPhone was purchased; however a new 18 month contract period would commence.

    The exact text of the response I received from O2 was:

    “Hello Mark,

    As per our discussion today. If you were to purchase a replacement handset you would pay the Recommended Retail Price for the replacement (as of the 13/11/07 it is £269, this price is subject to change). However, please be assure that you will only have to pay the same price as any new customer and would not be required to pay a premium due to the lose [sic].

    The only concession you would need to make is that your contract would have to start again from the time of purchasing the replacement please see terms and conditions (relevant section follows).

    “8.3 If this Agreement is ended during the Minimum Period, you may be required to pay us the monthly subscription charges up to the end of that Minimum Period. This does not apply if you end the Agreement for the reasons in paragraph 8.4 or if you purchase a new iPhone from us, but in this case you agree that a new Minimum Period will apply.”

    […]

    Kind regards and enjoy your I-phone [sic],

    [Name removed to protect the O2 employee’s privacy]
    O2 Customer Service.”

    That sounds perfectly fair to me, so why are the iPhone retailers pushing insurance on people who probably don’t need it? Sure, £269 is a lot to stump up if you lose your phone but it’s a big difference from the £600 that I was quoted for a new handset and £135 is not a small amount for insurance that I probably don’t need (chances are my household contents insurance covers me – albeit with a large excess). It seems to me that O2 are preying on consumers’ insecurities (and Carphone Warehouse seem to be even worse, based on the contents of an Apple forum thread).

    I’m surprised that Apple would risk their strong brand dealing with companies that operate in this manner (I guess that’s what happens when you deal with the Devil – i.e. pretty much any telecommunications company) but I’m now seeking confirmation that my insurance has been cancelled without charge (I believe that UK law gives me 14 days to cool off from any insurance policy and I’ve yet to receive any written details of the cover) as well as a goodwill credit on my O2 account to cover me for the worry and inconvenience that this has caused. I’ll post an update if there’s any significant news on this…

  • Programmer’s Bladder

    I saw this on Hacking Hat (an interesting blog written by Steve Knight – an old mate from Uni’ who I haven’t seen in years) and it seemed to ring true somehow (even though I’m not a programmer):

    Main Entry: pro·gram·mers blad·der
    Pronunciation: \ˈprō-ˌgra-mərs ˈbla-dər\
    Function: noun phrase
    Etymology: Birmingham, Richard Pinchin
    Date: circa 1994

    1 : A condition that requires the victim to sit at their terminal for extended periods. The condition denies the victim their normal bodily functions until: that [f***ing] thing compiles, or more caffeine is required.

  • Reflecting on Byte Night 2007

    Byte Night
    NCH

    A few weeks ago I posted a blog entry about my involvement in Byte Night 2007 – the UK IT industry’s annual sleep out in support of young people who are coping with life after care or facing homelessness. I’ve just got home from my night sleeping rough in London and as I’ve been really amazed by the generosity of some people, including those of you who don’t know me personally but who added a donation as a way of supporting this site, I thought I’d post an update.

    So was it all worth it? Yes.

    On a financial level, I’ve raised £1062.26 for NCH, the children’s charity – thank you to everyone who contributed to this fantastic total. Combined with the rest of Team Fujitsu that’s £7266.19 and I understand the total raised by all participants was around the £280,000 mark [update: £304,389 as at 12 October 2007].

    Mark Wilson sleeping rough at Byte Night 2007On a personal level, I found it all rather humbling. I want to stress that I can never truly understand what it’s like to be homeless. I’m back home now with my family and tonight I will sleep in my own bed but it’s good to remember those who are less fortunate and to do something to help. Some people inferred that Byte Night is just a “jolly”, a chance to network, and I will admit that it was great fun to attend a charity reception last night hosted by Jenny Agutter (who joined in the sleepover, as she has on several previous occasions); to have a weather forecast from Siân Lloyd (luckily, it was dry, with some cloud cover, and hence well above freezing); to watch Trinny Woodall judge the Byte Night nightcaps that had been customised by celebrities including Dame Ellen MacArthur and Sandi Toksvig. As I walked along the South Bank and through Westminster in the early hours this morning, I saw those who were genuinely homeless and realised how vulnerable I felt. I cannot imagine what it is like to be in their situation, every day and night, let alone as a child. Even though I was taking part in an organised sleepover with over 250 like-minded people the point is not really about being truly “on the streets” – it’s about raising awareness of this important issue and funds for NCH to help vulnerable children and young people.

    So what’s this got to do with a technology blog? Not a lot, except that the Byte Night participants all work in the UK IT sector and several IT companies (sadly not the one that I work for) added their support the event, whether that was by providing a fleece to keep me warm (thank you Dell), groundsheets/survival bags and umbrellas (thank you Harvey Nash), or hosting the reception (thank you Ernst and Young).

    That’s (almost) all I have to say on this – technology-focussed blogging will resume shortly – but before I sign off, it’s not too late to help me reach the elusive £2000 personal target – my fundraising site will remain in place at http://www.justgiving.com/markwilson-bytenight07/ until 6 December 2007 – and, if you want to know a little more of what it’s all about, watch the video below.

  • Recipe for (a few minutes of) peace and quiet on a Saturday morning…

    Picture the situation… it’s early in the morning, you’re in a hotel room en route to a holiday destination, were travelling until late at night, had a bad night’s sleep and your 3 year-old son wakes up his 1 year-old brother, in the process forcing the whole family to start their day.

    Here’s a recipe that I recommend:

    1. MaplinTake one iPod with Video, loaded with Thomas the Tank Engine (or other suitable Childrens’ TV) MP4s, one Apple iPod AV cable and a phono to SCART adapter from Maplin.
    2. Plug the iPod into the hotel room TV using the cable (and adapter, if necessary), turn on the television and select the AV channel.
    3. Play selected MP4s from the iPod to the children whilst consuming a suitable caffeinated beverage in an attempt to regain some sense of normality.
    4. Start your day in a slightly better mood.

    I knew there was a reason I’d spent so much time getting my iPod working with the TV a week or so back! I believe that my wife’s exact word was “inspired”.

    (Just before someone calls the social services, I should point out that my children get lots of one on one attention and babysitting by TV is only used in extreme circumstances!)

  • Is this the latest method of boosting profits at bigcompany.com?

    I’m starting to wonder if I’ve uncovered their latest method of boosting profits for a large UK-based retailer with an international presence. As much as I dislike the company in question, I’m familiar with their product range and they considerably less expensive than where I would prefer to shop. Every couple of weeks I place an order with bigcompany.com* and it feels like every time I have to ask for something to be refunded (not counting the normal substitutions, which they always deal with at the point of delivery). At this point I’m faced with calling them (at my cost, admittedly local rate, but last time I tried, I was placed on hold for 22 minutes before I gave up because the call had cost more than the mistake was worth) or e-mailing (and, confusingly, the order confirmation comes from customer.services@bigcompany.com but the online customer service desk is at online@bigcompany.co.uk!).

    We’re not talking large sums here – typically between 1 and 3.5% of the guide price for my order but if extrapolated over many customers (who may or may not notice the error) the figures could potentially become quite large.

    Order date Order value (guide price) Value of error Potential increase in bigcompany.com’s revenue (if I hadn’t spotted the mistake)
    3 July 2007 £116.14 £1.94 (meat which went off before it’s use-by date, despite being refrigerated from the point of delivery onwards) 1.67%
    17 July 2007 £215.22 £6.41 (mistakes with substitutions and multiple charges) 2.97%
    14 August 2007 £180.46 £1.85 (missing bag of potatoes) 1.03%
    29 August 2007 £113.98 £3.99 (missing box of breakfast cereal) 3.5%

    To be fair to bigcompany.com, they always respond with an apology and a refund but at what point does a series of mistakes (which I may or may not have noticed) become a pattern? And when does a pattern of mistakes become accepted business practice?

    Of course, this post is based almost entirely upon speculation (together with my customer experience) and I’m sure that such a reputable retailer would not seriously consider defrauding its customers but I don’t imagine there are many online businesses that could sustain such a poor inventory/delivery/billing effort.

    * Name changed to protect the potentially innocent. Despite the preceding paragraph, I don’t fancy being sued for libel and the retailer in question’s resources to pay for legal representation are almost infinitely more than mine, so I’m avoiding using their name here; however bigcompany.com is a pseudonym for the online business of an extremely profitable company.

  • Byte Night 2007

    Byte Night
    NCH

    For one night on 5 October 2007, I’ll be giving up my warm duvet and comfortable house as part of Byte Night 2007 – the IT industry’s annual sleep out in support of young people who are coping with life after care or facing homelessness.

    I’ll be joining around 250 IT professionals and senior executives sleeping out next to London’s City Hall and Tower Bridge to raise money and highlight the problem of youth homelessness.

    Given that we live in one of the world’s richest nations, I find the following statistics to be pretty shocking:

    • An estimated 77,000 children and young people aged under 18 run away overnight each year in the UK.
    • There are an estimated 32,000 homeless 16-21 year-olds in Britain.
    • A third of young homeless people have tried to commit suicide.
    • Each year, 10,000 young people are physically hurt or sexually assaulted whilst sleeping rough.
    • Most runaways are aged 13-15 but a quarter are under 11.

    By joining in on Byte Night, I can help to make a difference – with your support.

    The cold, rough, night in London will all be worthwhile if I succeed in raising £2,000 for NCH, the children’s charity. Since its inception in 1998, Byte Night has raised over £1.5m for NCH youth homeless projects.

    Please sponsor me by visiting my online fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/markwilson-bytenight07. You can pay by credit or debit card, and the money will go directly to NCH, the children’s charity. Where supporters are UK taxpayers, the charity will automatically receive 28% extra in Gift Aid, which makes Justgiving the most efficient way of sponsoring me.

    (Normal technology-focused blogging will resume shortly but I wanted to highlight this important issue – in any case, as Byte Night is exclusively for IT professionals, I think that falls within my technology remit!)

  • Two stories of great customer service

    It’s not often that I receive excellent customer service (a subject on which Guy Kawasaki has written a very interesting post) and when I do, I’ll shout about it. Today I got great service from not just one but two technology companies.

    I’ve been thinking about buying an iPod with Video for a while now and a few months back, I had the opportunity to win one as an incentive for passing the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Live Communications Server 2005 exam. Although I was offered an 30GB iPod, I’d really like to fit my entire iTunes library on the device, so I asked for the 80GB model instead (offering to pay the difference). For various practical reasons that wasn’t going to work out, so I waited until it was given to me and tried to exchange it at an Apple Store. They couldn’t exchange it for me, but they did check the serial number and told me that it was sold by Amazon. Meanwhile I bought a protective case from Apple and was very impressed that there was no queuing up to pay – the store assistants could complete the sales process on the shop floor and e-mail me a receipt.

    Next, I contacted Amazon, to see what they could do to help. In addition to e-mail contact service, Amazon (UK) has a facility on their website whereby they will call you back and you can talk to a real person and their customer service staff (in Ireland – note that they have not outsourced customer service to companies on another continent where English is not a primary language) were really helpful. It seems that I can return a gift to Amazon (within 30 days) and they will pay the postage and issue a credit on my account. The theory is that I can return the 30GB iPod and buy an 80GB model using the credit and some more money of my own. All I need to do now is to get hold of the original order number and I can complete the Returns Support Centre wizard on the Amazon website.

    Of course, now I’ve finally got my hands on an iPod with Video, Apple is bound to announce a 6G touchscreen iPod with a large flash-based hard disk… oh well, c’est la vie.

  • Do IT qualifications really matter?

    A few days back, I received an e-mail from a young man in Pakistan who had found my website on the Internet and wanted some advice. This is what he had to say (edited for grammar and spelling):

    “I have a Bachelors degree in Computer Sciences and am studying for MCSE certification.

    […]

    My question to you as a newbie in the networking field is are certifications necessary to jump and fly high in this field and even if it’s true then do I have to stick to Microsoft or can I do a mixture of Cisco and Microsoft certifications. Lots of “thinktanks” here in Pakistan say that a person with MCSE, CCNA AND CCNP certifications is a much needed guy for IT companies.

    I am sooooooooooooooo confused as to where I should move.”

    The reason I’m blogging about this is because he raised some interesting points. I too have a bachelors degree in Computer Studies and I don’t consider that it’s been of any practical use to me in my work. The process of leaving home and going to university helped me progress from home life to becoming an independent young man (actually, it was a Polytechnic when I started my course – reflecting the vocational nature of its tuition – but don’t get me started about how all the Technical Colleges and Polytechnics have become “Universities” and what a bad idea that is) and it set me up with some valuable first-hand experience about managing personal finances (i.e. debt… and that was 13 years ago – I feel really sorry for today’s young graduates who have no access to grants and have to pay tuition fees too).

    My degree was simply a means to join the career ladder at a certain level. Please don’t misunderstand me – I’m sure that has opened some doors that might otherwise have been closed (or would at least have been harder to force my way through) but it was by no means essential to reaching the position that I have today (perhaps I should have aimed higher?) and I have not used any of the Computer Studies skills that I learnt along the way so I could have studied anything (given the amount of writing I do today – perhaps I should have studied English, or journalism? Who knows – back then I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life!).

    IT certifications are similar. I hold a variety of IT certifications but none of that matters if I don’t have experience to back up the qualifications. Sometimes you have to admit your shortcomings too – I didn’t feel comfortable being flown in to one potential customer as an expert earlier this week because I haven’t done anything practical with the associated technology for a long time now. The customer would have seen through me and that would have damaged both mine and my employer’s credibility.

    I learnt a few days back that a colleague, whose advice and experience I hold in very high regard, holds no IT certifications. Equally I have friends and colleagues who left school at 16 or 18 and that’s not prevented them from reaching the the same (or a higher) position within the company as myself.

    I understand that the UK government has a target for 50% of all school leavers should go to university (Why? Do 50% of all jobs require a degree? How about 50% or more of all school leavers going on to some form of further or higher education – whether that be vocational or academic). When I meet new graduates I recognise how wet behind the ears I was when I started out all those years ago. Which nicely illustrates my point – that it doesn’t matter how highly qualified you are – what really counts is experience, even if the company does still insist that you have the letters after your name before you can get through the door.

  • Security – Why the banks just don’t get IT

    A few weeks back, I read a column in the IT trade press about my bank’s botched attempt to upgrade their website security and I realised that it’s not just me who thinks banks have got it all wrong…

    You see, the banks are caught in a dilemma between providing convenient access for their customers and keeping it secure. That sounds reasonable enough until you consider that most casual Internet users are not too hot on security and so the banks have to dumb it down a bit.

    Frankly, it amazes me that information like my mother’s maiden name, my date of birth, and the town where I was born are used for “security” – they are all publicly available details and if someone wanted to spoof my identity it would be pretty easy to get hold of them all!

    But my bank is not alone in overdressing their (rather basic) security – one of their competitors recently “made some enhancements to [their] login process, ensuring [my] money is even safer”, resulting in what I can only describe as an unmitigated user experience nightmare.

    First I have to remember a customer number (which can at least be stored in a cookie – not advisable on a shared-user PC) and, bizarrely, my last name (in case the customer number doesn’t uniquely identify me?). After supplying those details correctly, I’m presented with a screen similar to the one shown below:

    Screenshot of ING Direct login screen

    So what’s wrong with that? Well, for starters, I haven’t a clue what the last three digits of my oldest open account are so that anti-phishing question doesn’t work. Then, to avoid keystroke loggers, I have to click on the key pad buttons to enter the PIN and memorable date. That would be fair enough except that they are not in a logical order and they move around at every attempt to log in. This is more like an IQ test than a security screen (although the bank describes it as “simple”)!

    I could continue with the anecdotal user experience disasters but I think I’ve probably got my point across by now. Paradoxically, the answer is quite simple and in daily use by many commercial organisations. Whilst banks are sticking with single factor (something you know) login credentials for their customers, companies often use multiple factor authentication for secure remote access by employees. I have a login ID and a token which generates a seemingly random (actually highly mathematical) 6 digit number that I combine with a PIN to access my company network. It’s easy and all it needs is knowledge of the website URL, my login ID and PIN (things that I know), together with physical access to my security token (something I have). For me, those things are easy to remember but for someone else to guess – practically impossible.

    I suspect the reason that the banks have stuck with their security theatre is down to cost. So, would someone please remind me, how many billions did the UK high-street banks make in profit last year? And how much money is lost in identity theft every day? A few pounds for a token doesn’t seem too expensive to me. Failing that, why not make card readers a condition of access to online banking and use the Chip and PIN system with our bank cards?

    [This post originally appeared on the Seriosoft blog, under the pseudonym Mark James.]