
I'm confused.
Are these prices that the social networks/ad agencies have put on personal data, or values that consumers have put on their own data?
The first set would have some meaning, the second set would be hot air.
1555 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Apr 2010
the nice thing about Android is that I can "fiddlarse about" if I so choose, but it's not a requirement (unless you have a shitty handset - but even then, it's just a case of finding out how to remove all the shit that Samsung have preloaded it with).
Much like CarphoneWarehouse, they were OK if you knew what you wanted
Me: "Can I have [handset] on [contract]?"
Them: "No, but you could look on our website."
Never got any pressure off of the salespeople in either CarphoneWarehouse or Phones4U. Stark contrast to the greasy little shits in the network shops (with the exception of the nice boy in one of the O2 stores), who all seemed to want to a) get me to upgrade to 4G, or b) convince me that a crappy handset was a good reason to stay with their network.
but I'm less a fan of reduced consumer choice.
It was always clear that the networks resented their existence - the man in the Three shop advised me not to go to Phones4U, as they "wouldn't have tested all of their handsets on our network". Granted, the chap at Phones4U couldn't get me a deal that suited, but he was a lot less pushy than any sales drone from the network-owned shops, and didn't try to blind me with bullshit.
There's no such thing as bad publicity.
I'm sure that, out of all the affected individuals, some are genuinely upset about their private photos getting out, but you'd think that, on the whole, people who make their living from their image, and who are constantly snapped by the press, would take some measures to ensure they could keep the genuinely private private.
It did occur to me that what I wrote does sound a little like I'm shilling for the banking industry. I'm not though* - I don't even have a contactless payment card, I just like the idea of them, as I've very much gotten out of the habit of keeping cash about my person (I'd quite happily carry a chequebook, if cheques were still a viable payment method, in preference to cash).
With regards to the havoc that could be wrought by the "Russian mafiosi," that's the reason that I prefer to use my credit, rather than my debit card (particularly online) - as pointed out above, stolen debit card details give them access to all my money, stolen credit card details give them access to someone else's money (I've had my credit card details stolen a couple of times, and never been out of pocket as a consequence, and have enjoyed the protection that using my credit card gave me when a hotel billed me for a room I hadn't used).
You still carry cash? How quaint...
Seriously, though, credit/debit cards are incredibly convenient, whereas cash is messy and easily lost. Contactless payment schemes may be riddled with security holes, but the simplicity at POS is undeniable, and attractive to both consumers and retailers.
...at a lizard lady doing something improbable with her oxygen supply? How do you cope with the frequently killed immortal, who travels around in an extra-dimensional, time-hopping police box from the 1960s? Doctor Who isn't exactly "hard" sci-fi.
Until we all learn to stop viewing homosexuality as a deviant behaviour, any incidence of such behaviour in any TV show is probably going to seem jarring and shoe-horned in*. The Kirk/Uhura kiss probably felt like that to many viewers, way back when, but I doubt anyone would bat an eyelid, now.
*I honestly don't care if the writers included it solely to piss-off the moral outrage brigade - if it helps demystify homosexuality among Who's intended audience, it served a useful purpose (it prompted a brief discussion between my young son and I, about same-sex marriage - of course, he thinks that kissing is icky, regardless of the participants' genders).
So, anyone who uses media streaming is a pirate? I'm ripping all my DVDs to a load of reclaimed hard drives in an old tower case, and using Raspbmc to play them on my TV - should I cower in fear at the thought of the police beating down my door and hauling me up before the beak? My long history of VHS useage would surely count against me.
On a serious note, I did intend to use the Pi for the kids to learn programming on, but it's just too damn handy as a cheap, versatile, media player (and I get to reclaim shelf space from the DVDs, too)!
Mate of mine bought this, and we played it a couple of times, but swiftly got bored of watching our skateboarder fall off, or hacky-sacker drop his sack, and returned to playing Gauntlet.
Sports games peaked with Daley Thompson on the Speccy (was that Hyper Sports?), and went downhill from there (if you couldn't win by hammering the life out of the keyboard/waggling the joystick until it broke, what was the point?) - until Speedball II arrived on the Mega Drive, of course.
1) the ASA decision was wrong (the advert wasn't misleading, as it stated that x% of the emergency services used Vodafone's services, not that x% of emergency services employees used Vodaphone's services in their personal time)
and
2) the ASA decision was irrelevant, as this advert has been and gone.
Are they paid to remind us that Vodaphone still exist, or something?