What a difference a 0 makes Or, why it's really important to dial the correct phone number. Or, alternatively, how to have people willingly hand over personal details to scammers. Nuances of the UK phone system Two thing conspire to make this possible in the UK; Overdialling The UK phone
I'd like an Invoice please (Avis) As someone who reasonably regularly has to claim expenses for business travel it never ceases to amaze me quite how inept some companies (for whom people like me make up a large percentage of their business) are at the simplest of things. I regularly
moving Estate Agents - a follow up... One of the professions many love to hate, estate agents. I recently posted my rant/review of a few estate agents when selling in Glasgow for a move north to the Highlands. The right choice? After inviting four agencies to quote (three of which
rants How not to do APIs The company involved here will remain anonymous, as they offer a good (and relatively unique) service and I don't want to damage any relationship with them, nor discourage others from using them just for this reason! Additionally, their support has been excellent. I hope
lx Eurobeat: Moldova! I have provided voting for numerous (almost 20 now!) productions of Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision and am pleased to announce that one again I am providing the voting for the new professional production of Eurobeat (and the visuals are looking better than ever!) And the
automower Husqvarna Automower Challenge - Communication For a bit of background on this see my first post on this. But, in summary, I am a participant in the automower challenge. Automower Connect The larger Automowers (430X, 450X) support a smartphone app called "Automower Connect" which allow you to
The Wrong Lizard So, in a tumultuous week in UK politics our Prime Minister resigned after losing a referendum he didn't want to hold in the first place which was basically the result of trying to appease some internal party squabbling. Now, when an MP resigns, we
security Phishing at LLoyds Today I received a phishing eMail, nothing unusual there... I get loads of them, but this is a little more convincing than most for one reason, it contained my postal address (ok, one from many years ago, but nonetheless it proves that it was
telecoms Reverse Lookup ("CNAM") in the UK For many years the USA has had a 'CNAM' service (or Caller ID Name), allowing telecoms operators to show the name of the caller rather than a number. There are obvious advantages to this, having "BT" show when they phone rather than
automower Husqvarna Automower Challenge - Navigation For a bit of background on this see my first post on this. But, in summary, I am a participant in the automower challenge. GPS Assisted Navigation The Automower Connect app shows a map view under the "Geofence" tab that shows where
Brexit So, the decision has been made and the British public has voted (somewhat underwhelmingly) to leave the EU by 48% Remain, to 52% leave. What does that remind me of... "In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way&
husqvarna Husqvarna Automower Challenge - 1 week on For a bit of background on this see my first post on this. But, in summary, I am a participant in the automower challenge. A week away I've been away for the last week, with Little Shop of Horrors and Audrey II (who the
highland life Estate Agents... Probably second only to used car salesmen in the list of professions I can't really abide dealing with on a regular basis. I've never reviewed an Estate Agent, nor really had the need to compare them, so I present my own experiences below in
husqvarna Husqvarna Automower Challenge - Day 1 For a bit of background on this see my first post on this. But, in summary, I am a participant in the automower challenge. Day 1 It's here! Many of the other participants have posted 'unboxing' videos or reviews. Mine was professionally installed by
husqvarna Husqvarna Automower Challenge - Day 0 I'm not a gardener, nor do I pretend to be, but I do like cool technology and when I saw the Husqvarna Automower® I was intrigued. When they accepted me
telecoms Nuisance calls, no drama. Have you received a call from a number starting 020 7946? I have, and it took me by surprise, because these numbers can never exist. A little background; I am, and have been for many years, very actively engaged in trying to prevent misuse
security Security Theatre, Brussels and Beyond. Somewhat shocked by Brussels today... and, especially since I know people there just now, my thoughts are with all those caught up in it :( Although, as I've intimated to a few close friends for many years but not been stupid enough to put on
accidental domain squatting Being a developer = buying domains for personal projects, never having time to use them and then suddenly you're one year further :') — Caroline Vermeir (@hellosayscaro) March 15, 2016 The above was posted on Twitter today, and I could immediately relate to
net2 Paxton Net2, meet Slack. December 2017 : As of recent versions of net2, the way SMS messages are sent has been changed, which breaks this hack, an update will follow. The advice below may still help you with other hard-coded SMS solutions. This is my (somwhat hacky) attempt to
blog A Ghost of my former blog? So, having recently decided to restart a blog (or collection of random rants) the obvious first question is what software to use. This is my fourth incarnation of a blog, having started with b2, then a custom thing and finally finding my way -
Historic Posts One of the things that put me off using Medium (other than the lack of ownership of the content) is that you can't set a historic date for a post. The reason for this being I had always intended to re-post some of my
flying the lighter side Considering another path to the skies — microlights. Yet again, this should probably have been written in 2010 (much like my first article) but this blog didn’t exist at the
blog Here we go again... ? I last maintained a regular blog (well, collection of rants and other miscellaneous nonsense) from 2004-2009, it was actually reasonably well received and a few people stole content from it (I guess imitation is the highest form of flattery?) Anyway, a lot has changed,
security Social Engineering Amazon Most people will know I like Amazon (the collection of boxes it's affectionately nicknamed Amazon mountain) so I was shocked to discover how lax their security was, as a result of them trying to be helpful! It seems someone has found that Amazon can
flying Self-Help Exits on KLM This article was originally posted elsewhere in Late 2015 I recently had cause to complain to KLM about something which, to me, was a safety concern. My concerns were completely ignored by KLM, despite parroting the usual line about safety being their top priority,
