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Bitcoins?

April 14, 2013 in All posts

Wondering what the fuss is about? Confused with the recent media furore about what is ACTUALLY going on?

Yeah, you and most of the world. Take a look at this awesome Youtube vid – it explains the concept better than I ever could:

If you need more info, check out this Bitcoin advice site

Aromo ‘Bounce’ coffee review

April 5, 2013 in All posts, review

I was asked to review ‘Bounce‘ coffee, a strength-5 espresso ground little number.

Now, the problem I have is that I’m no coffee connoisseur – in fact, I’m somewhat of a philistine: I don’t have it black, and I tend to put sugar in it. This, therefore, somewhat precludes me from the “I’m getting whiffs of Hollyhocks!” review-writing brigade. That said, I DO brew it properly in a cafetiere, so perhaps I’m halfway there.

Aromo ‘Bounce’

Anyway, as a colleague rightly pointed out, 80% of the coffee-drinking population are likely to be in this “Just give me caffeine” camp too. So here goes nothing!

This is really rather good coffee. Whilst I couldn’t point out a specific aroma, it does make my drawer at work smell of lovely, fresh-ground coffee. I think this is helped somewhat by the ziplock-style bag that helps keep it fresh.

It tastes good – not too bitter, and no weird lingering after-taste.

I’ll be honest: what I look for in a coffee is a good caffeine hit, and this stuff is strength 5 – so pretty near the top of the scale. And I can confirm, it does the job. In fact, it does it better than some comedy “Wake The Fuck Up” coffee that another colleague brought back from the USA.

Overall, I’d recommend this coffee. Go buy it.

I’m running the Brutal 10km for the charity CLIMB

March 10, 2013 in All posts

Our son, Sam, has MCADD (a rare inherited metabolic disorder). It can be fatal if left undetected. Sam was very ill when he was a few days old, and if it weren’t for the newborn screening program, things could’ve been worse.

I will be running the Brutal 10km race for CLIMB – a charity who provide support to families with kids with similar disorders – on 27th April.

Please, if you can spare any money, it’d be awesome if you could donate to the cause. Please visit the link below, or simply text MCAD50 £5 to 70070 to donate a fiver (or any amount you can spare). Thank you.

Justgiving page: http://www.justgiving.com/GeorgeRosier-1
The run: http://brutalrun.co.uk

NEXT.co.uk – appalling user experience on checkout

March 9, 2013 in All posts, review

I recently decided to buy some half-decent trousers for work, and popped into a NEXT outlet to find something suitable. They didn’t have my size, so I ordered it online. I wish I’d not bothered.

Firstly, I navigated the site and found my trousers. I got as far as creating my account, and then spotted the ‘enter a promo code’ field. This is essentially an invitation to go & find a promo code…so I tried.

Click to enlarge

I found one on http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/next.co.uk for “Order By 10pm for Next Day Home Delivery at Next” … clicked on it, got sent back to the site, and carried on creating my account.

Go to the checkout stage, and then experienced my first “wtf?” moment. Just read the box headline, and then the options on the right:

Click to enlarge

So, having come into the site via a ‘Free Sunday delivery’ vouchercode, am I getting free Sunday delivery? Or am I getting Monday delivery? Am I paying? I have NO idea.

Then, I click the green ‘Complete order’ button:

Click to enlarge

The next ‘WTF’ moment:

Click to enlarge

Yay, I’m getting free jeans because I’ve not been asked to pay!

Oh. Wait. I’ve just been signed up for a credit account with no warning. I call the 0844 helpline (see that number below?), and am first told they can’t help me & am transferred to another dept…and THEN am told that I was given the option of clicking ‘Pay now’…and that since I didn’t click that, I was signed up for a credit account.

The final “WTF?!” moments?

Account Summary | My Account

I’ve apparently ordered 2 pairs (it’s showing £64 instead of just £32);

Account Summary | Order Tracking …yet I apparently have no orders.

I implore anyone at Next who reads this to help me believe this is a one-off. Unfortunately, I doubt anything you say will convince me, because my wife had this exact same issue around 6 months ago. She even warned me before buying from the site…but me being me, I thought “How bad can it be? And I work in the industry, so should be able to plot my way through this successfully…”

WRONG.

Review: SD iPad Mini case

February 25, 2013 in All posts, review

We’ve been lucky enough to get hold of an iPad Mini – and therefore it’s case-review-time again! This time, we’re looking at the SD Multi-Angle Auto Wake / Sleep Slim iPad Mini Case. Phew…bit of a mouthful. Let’s see what it has to offer

First impressions

This case appears very well finished: great quality leather, and quality stitching. I’ve been a fan of Otterbox stuff, and this manufacturer is well up there in terms of quality.

The detail

The case holds the iPad Mini in well: all the corners are protected – and the buttons are all exposed properly, meaning you can use the it without issue. Sounds obvious, right? Plenty of these things don’t quite align right…

The stand works well, and the clasp/cover – although manual (i.e no magnet) – is perfectly tight. It auto-sleeps, too, so if you close it, the iPad sleeps.

This case is just shy of £20, and is amongst the cheapest on the market for this device. The quality of it is great, though, so don’t let the comparatively low cost put you off.

Conclusion

I use this case every day. It’s excellent value for money. Definitely recommended

Sponsored review disclaimer

This item was supplied by MobileFun. MobileFun specialise in cases and accessories for mobile devices, such as iPad Mini cases.

I’m in training for a 10k

February 24, 2013 in All posts

Moda In Pelle – really bad practice

January 30, 2013 in All posts

Moda In Pelle, the women’s shoe retailer, has made a few faux pas. See if you can spot them. I’ll help you.

#1: Card details

So, here we are at the critical stage of entering card details. So why isn’t it behind HTTPS? Even if the details are sent securely behind the scenes, this lack of visible HTTPS is disturbing.

#2: Storage

In addition to the above, where are we being informed that this card is stored for later? Oh, what you didn’t know it was being stored? Yeah. It is.

#3: My account

Here’s your account. I’d like to delete my stored card, since I was unhappy about the non-secure / non-HTTPS transmission method. Oh wait, I can’t.

In fact, I can’t easily see where to edit any of my details at all…it’s because the edit text is the same colour & weight as the rest of the content.

#4: Contradiction

The site states:

We will keep your information secure by taking appropriate technical and organisational measures against its unauthorised or unlawful processing and against its accidental loss, destruction or damage.
You have a statutory right to see a copy of the information we hold about you on payment of a fee, which is currently Â£10.

I have zero confidence in that first statement based on the above points…and the erroneous character next to the £ sign is ‘verbatim’ (another sign that perpetuates my dwindling confidence in this site).

Lastly:

We will disclose your information to enforcement authorities if asked to do so, or to a third party in the context of actual or threatened legal proceedings.

So you’ll turn over any / all my information to ‘a third party’ if they threaten legal action?!

Please, someone contact me and prove me wrong.

Top 10 eBay tips

January 20, 2013 in All posts

I’ve used eBay for nearly 10 years. I’ve had great experiences 99% of the time…and the other 1%, well, here’s my top tips to avoid that irritating 1%:

Take note of when your listings will end. Try to avoid your auctions ending at any of the following times:
- Rush hour (7:45am – 9am and 5:30pm – 6:45pm) – people won’t be at their computers/laptops, either commuting or getting kids/dinner ready
- Friday or Saturday nights after 7pm – people like to party. Don’t let them forget about your precious auction by being out on the razz
- Sunday nights after 10pm – people go to bed early for work.
Take really good quality pictures – pay the extra for the large picture gallery option. Take lots of them too. Not only does this make your listing look good, but it also ensures you’re completely covered if someone disputes what is on sale.
Don’t bother with subheadings on your listing – they’re not worth it and are a waste of 35p
Do your research – watch a few similar/identical items before you list your own. Get a feel for how much they should go for.
Reserve or not to reserve? Putting a reserve on your item is sometimes a bit of a faff for a buyer. They’re bidding on something and they’ve no idea when it’ll go over the reserve price. Manage their expectations by simply starting the bidding at the lowest price you’ll reasonably accept (based on your comprehensive research carried out in step #4 above)
Always, ALWAYS, use the eBay messaging function – don’t be tempted to swap email addresses with eBayers. Always use the built-in messaging service: if you should ever have to go down the dispute resolution, eBay can see ALL the messages that’ve been sent. Oh, and on that note, be polite at ALL times. It’ll only work in your favour if eBay ever need to review your messages.
Always try and use Paypal – it’s an eBay company, so if things do go south, you’re covered.
Be honest – if you’re selling something that’s a bit worn out, be honest and say so. It covers you in case of a buyer dispute.
If possible, don’t give your personal contact number – you might need to arrange collection with a buyer (or a buyer’s courier). If possible, give them a different contact number – like your work number. In the unlikely event of things going sour, they can’t prank call your personal mobile.
Remember the eBay fees – once your transaction’s done and everyone’s happy, just don’t forget that eBay will take a cut of that final auction value a month later. Leave some money in there to prevent against a nasty surprise

Some of this sounds overwhelmingly negative; bear in mind this is the small minority of my experience. Generally, I love eBay.

Trial by Twitter?

November 29, 2012 in All posts

The recent Lord McAlpine furore has once again stirred up the question of Twitter, and how potentially slanderous/libelous Tweets are dealt with.

I’m going to open with this statement, and work from here:

“Twitter is the digital equivalent of a pub: open to the public. You can sit with friends, colleagues – or even people you don’t know – and talk about whatever you want. You can get really drunk and shout whatever you want. One shouldn’t report on something overheard in the pub as a fact (or indeed a source). Likewise, no-one should be arrested for something said on Twitter.”

It’s important to understand & agree whether Tweets are libelous or slanderous. Libel is for printed words (or permanent publications) – slander is spoken. So what do Tweets fall under?

I personally think it’s reasonable to assume that, since computer data can be used in a court of law as evidence for any number of offences, Tweets should be considered permanent publications. So on that basis, they could be libelous.

So, a user could in theory be sued for libel, and that is something I’m actually ok with in principle. But what about where a user cannot be identified, or has used false registration details? Should they:

a) Be hunted down via a court injunction?
b) Be ignored, and the company hosting the service (in this case Twitter Inc) be sued?

The practicalities of a) are fairly restrictive. You’d need a court order to Twitter to ensure they divulge the IP address of the offending user. You’d then need a court order to ensure the ISP responsible for that IP address turned over the user’s details. This would all take a long time, a lot of money, and a lot of effort. Is it truly worth burdening the law system with this for something someone said in the digital equivalent of the pub?

So, you go for option b). You sue Twitter because someone said something silly on their service. Except they explicitly state in their Terms of Service that:

“TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE TWITTER ENTITIES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, …RESULTING FROM …(ii) ANY CONDUCT OR CONTENT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF OTHER USERS OR THIRD PARTIES”

…so they’re covered, legally.

Final thought

By all means use Twitter as a route to enquiry – perhaps to lead you to actually talk to someone about something they said – but taking action based on (or citing as a source) something said on Twitter is ridiculous.

The art of deception: Slim Tone Plus, Derma Juvenate and others

October 23, 2012 in All posts

I recently had the misfortune to come across a couple of wildly-deceptive sites, and want to share my experiences of them with you. Someone close to me was scammed by one of these (Slimtoneplus.com) and I only stumbled across the others (Dermajuvenate) by accident…but when I did, I noticed striking similarities.

The background

Slimtoneplus sells ‘Raspberry Ketone’ slimming pills, which are in themselves a complete con. No scientific evidence proves these work – end of story. It’s exactly the same story for DermaJuvenate and the others: they sell a cream that has zero scientific base for its bold claims of ‘younger looking skin’.

The user completes a webform promising a free trial, and – invariably – inadvertently signs themselves up to a subscription. A subscription that costs upwards of £90 per month (in some cases over £120 per month) – for a bottle of something that doesn’t actually work.

It’s a classic deception scam that involves the use of pretty pictures and virtually hidden terms & conditions to ensure that the user isn’t aware of what they’re signing up for.

The sites

I’ve quickly screengrabbed some of the sites in question. Take a look at the below and note the similarities in layout:

They all use similar techniques. Some are dark patterns - usability tricks that deceive and obscure – and some are very usable – but the real clincher comes with the use of a combination of dark and usable patterns:

Imagery choice: pictures of people – faces especially, and those that are looking at you in particular – draw the human eye. So much so that people tend to ignore other content around those images (like small print, for example). Lots of usability studies have been done on the use of imagery and the effect on eye-tracking

Note the giant pupils, too…
Roundels: if done correctly, these can encourage a feeling of ‘exclusivity’
Huge arrows: a very usable pattern – they clearly point out the next step – usually the ‘Buy’ button
Clear delineation: all the information is split into easily-readable chunks

So far, so interesting…but there’s nothing illegal about using pretty pictures and arrows. So onto the detail.

Crouching tiger, hidden T&Cs

I’ve already alluded to the fact that these sites use imagery to divert attention away from terms and conditions, small print and the like. Here’s some examples:

Unverified trustmarks

Usually trustmarks are ‘active’, in that you have to subscribe to them in some form – and clicking on them will open a page that confirms that the website is indeed trustworthy. None of these sites have legitimate trustmarks.

Fake discount mechanisms

Most of these sites will allow you to enter a promo code to get free shipping. Problem is, regardless of what you enter in the box, it’ll work. Congratulations!