Posts Tagged ‘News’
The Scottish are best at finding excuses for not paying rent
May 14th, 2013 • 11 Comments
A survey in Scotland has revealed some fabulous excuses from tenants who don’t fancy paying their rent.
The Letting Protection Service Scotland questioned landlords across the country and the excuse voted best was: “I have a phobia about touching my cheque book” followed by “my father died”, especially when it had been used more than once.
Director of the organisation Kevin Firth said: “There are certainly some entertaining answers there. But at the end of the day they are all just excuses and excuses don’t wash.”
“The same can be said about deposit protection. There’ll be no excuses for Scottish landlords and letting agents after May 15. All deposits need to be protected by that date.”
Let us not forget though, landlords are all dreadful, dreadful arseholes. Anyway, here’s the top 10 weird excuses, as voted by Scottish landlords:
1. I have a phobia about touching my cheque book.
2. My father died – for the third time.
3. A dog ate my rent money.
4. My pet died and I have to pay the funeral costs.
5. I need the cash for my Rangers season ticket.
6. It’s Christmas and I’ve had to buy presents.
7. I had to pay a bank tax.
8. I spent the money at the bookies.
9. I’m saving for a holiday.
10. The money fell out of my pocket.
Iron Maiden beer banned in Sweden
May 14th, 2013 • 4 Comments
The Swedish have decided to stop selling Iron Maiden’s ‘Trooper’ beer because they’ve got some concerns about the label on the bottle.
As you can see, the ale features their mascot Eddie the Head with the Trooper typeface aping the Iron Maiden logo. Basically, it looks just like their 1983 single of the same name, and has a big Union Jack (one must always Union JACK, because it winds-up jumpy patriots who say ‘Union Flag’) draped in it.
According to Swedish publication Aftonbladet, government-owned chain of booze shop Systembolaget, think that the design contravenes Sweden’s alcohol laws.
Systembolaget’s Therese Elmgren said: “There has been a discussion about the label. The alcohol law stipulates how it can look. We therefore don’t yet know when it can be launched.”
However, no-one is quite sure what law is being contravened, so we’ll just assume that our Swedish cousins are a bit jumpy about a beer that features a zombie charging at you with a broken flagpole.
Speaking previously about the beer, which you can only buy in Robinson’s pubs and this year’s Download festival, Bruce Dickinson said: “I’m a lifelong fan of traditional English ale, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when we were asked to create our own beer. I have to say that I was very nervous: Robinsons are the only people I have had to audition for in 30 years. Their magic has been to create the alchemical wedding of flavour and texture that is Trooper. I love it.”
BT to enter the mobile market, again.
May 14th, 2013 • 2 Comments
As predicted, BT will be making moves to get back into the mobile market for the first time in yonks, since it spun-off from O2.
Chief executive Ian Livingston says that BT planned to use the 4G spectrum it won to offer a mobile network to existing customers alongside their broadband, television and landline offers.
Of course, BT already have something of a partnership with Vodafone, providing 3G, but after the telecoms company teamed-up with O2, it was obvious they were making inroads to come back into the mobile market.
Livingston added that this partnership would provide mobile coverage outside the home, as well as a new Home Hub to improve 4G inside the home, creating a “very cheap 4G network.”
“We can confirm that we’re exploring various options given the excellent spectrum we have and that we plan to build on our strength in WiFi,” said a BT spokesperson.
Are EE selling customers’ personal data?
May 13th, 2013 • 2 Comments
EE has been accused of selling customers’ personal data on to an analytics firm, who are themselves, looking to sell them on to the Met Police so they can track people. This is, of course, ALLEGED and any lawyers should be pointed in the direction of The Sunday Times who we’re copying this article from.
A report reckons that the data passed on to Ipsos MORI included gender and age information, as well as users’ postcodes and information calls made (to whom and when) as well as web and app use details. The result is that paying parties would be able to track a user to within 100 metres.
Ipsos MORI denied that they’re selling personal data, saying the info is “anonymised” and contains groups of people no smaller than 50 and that they didn’t have access to names, addresses, postcode or phone numbers.
Ipsos MORI claimed to have “the ability to access EE’s entire database and thus to analyse the behaviour of groups of people in real-time”.
Ben Page, CEO of Ipsos MORI, said: “We can search its entire database – but do not hold it. [For example] we wouldn’t be looking at what they [customers] do on their phones all the time. Rather, we might ask EE for aggregate data on websites visited by people in shopping centres, for example – and it would then provide only the anonymised and aggregate day to answer that specific search.”
“So we can look for subscribers that meet specific criteria to answer specific questions, but we’re not routinely looking at all subscribers.”
Asked about claims that Ipsos MORI is offering more data than that to potential customers such as the Met Police, the EE spokesman said such data is “completely separate”, adding: ”what Ipsos can do for other clients is beyond what they can get from us.”
Welcome to the dark arts of data.
Samsung are making some pretty bold claims. They reckon that we’ll be able to download entire films to their phone or tablet in less than a second thanks to fifth-gen mobile broadband (or 5G if you prefer).
In a statement, the company said: “5G will be capable of providing a ubiquitous Gbps (gigabit per second) experience to subscribers anywhere and offers data transmission speeds of up to several tens of Gbps per base station.”
“The implementation of a high-speed 5G cellular network requires a broad band of frequencies, much like an increased water flow requires a wider pipe. While it was a recognized option, it has been long believed that the millimeter-wave bands had limitations in transmitting data over long distances due to its unfavorable propagation characteristics.”
“However, Samsung’s new adaptive array transceiver technology has proved itself as a successful solution. It transmits data in the millimeter-wave band at a frequency of 28 GHz at a speed of up to 1.056 Gbps to a distance of up to 2 kilometers.”
“Samsung plans to accelerate the research and development of 5G mobile communications technologies, including adaptive array transceiver at the millimeter-wave bands, to commercialize those technologies by 2020.”
In short: Torrents will be incredible by the time we get to 2020.
Lose your lunch as Richard Branson fannies about dressed as a stewardess
May 13th, 2013 • 10 CommentsWacky ol’ Sir Richard Branson is being all zany again, desperate to show us all he’s not like other multi-millionaires by acting just like every other wacky multi-millionaire.
So what’s he up to? Well, he pissing about dressed up as one of his air stewardesses.
Branson appeared dressed up like a bearded lady after he lost a bet which he made with Tony Fernandes. When Branson was the owner of Virgin Racing Formula One team, he bet racing boss Tony Fernandes that Virgin would finish ahead of his team in the 2010 Constructors’ Championship.
And so, in an image you’ll never unsee, Branson can be seen with his skirt on, full make-up, stockings and shaved legs, saying: “I went to extreme lengths to avoid being here, but knew that one day I had to get it over with.
If you’re a sicko and want to see more, Digital Spy have a load of photographs of it.
British drivers see fuel prices rocketing AGAIN
May 10th, 2013 • 2 Comments
Are you someone planning on driving around the continent this year? Good news. It’ll be really, really expensive.
The price of diesel and unleaded fuel for UK buyers has risen in most European countries compared to last summer, according to a survey by Post Office Travel Money.
This hike has been sharpest in the places that British travellers are most likely to visit, so if you’re getting stung at home, you’ll be getting stung on holiday too. Over in Spain, the price of petrol has shot up by 7.4% in a mere 12 months, while in France, the price has gone up by 4.7%.
Of 17 European countries surveyed, only Croatia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Denmark had cheaper petrol for UK drivers in April 2013 compared to April 2012. If you want a bargain, you’ll have to go to Andorra or Luxembourg. PARTY!
Another reason it’ll be mondo-expensive is that sterling has slumped in value against Euro currencies. So, the price of fuel has gone up AND the exchange rate will give you even less. Diesel has risen in most countries too.
Andrew Brown, of Post Office Travel Money, said: “The disparity between what motorists pay for diesel and for unleaded petrol in Europe is in marked contrast to the UK, where diesel has long been more expensive. This was just one of the anomalies we picked up in this year’s survey, another being a difference of up 48p a litre in fuel costs across the eurozone.”
“It may not make sense for holidaymakers to plan big detours just to save a few pounds, but the higher price of motoring on the Continent this year means they should plan their routes carefully before setting out so they keep costs down.”
Morrisons need a word with Tesco over Price Promise claims
May 10th, 2013 • 1 Comment
Morrisons is in talks with Tesco over comparisons made in its Price Promise promotion because they think a third of the comparisons Tesco made were unfair.
Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips said it will complain to the Advertising Standards Authority if talks break down, but for now, no formal complaint has been made. Sainsbury’s have already made one such complaint over the price comparison campaign.
Philips said: “We are in discussions with Tesco over it. We find it challenging when one third of the basket is not successfully compared. We are not sure that that’s the right message to be out there.”
A few weeks ago, Morrisons customer director Crawford Davidson said: “Tesco’s Price Promise provides a false assurance that it will compensate customers when Morrisons is cheaper, which it mostly is.”
This is a pressing concern for Morrisons as it was revealed a 1.8% fall in first quarter like-for-like sales. Morrisons will also be teaming up with Ocado to bring an online delivery service too, but if Tesco keep misleading customers (allegedly, allegedly), they they’ll get nowhere fast.
It was more fun writing about the horse meat scandal.
What do you make of the £17-per-month iPhone deal?
May 10th, 2013 • 9 Comments
Carphone Warehouse are pushing what they claim to be the cheapest iPhone deal around. For £17 a month, you get an iPhone 4 8GB for two years. You’ll be able to choose between Three or O2 networks. That is indeed pretty cheap and maybe a great deal for newbies to the smartphone world.
If you go for Three, then you’ll get 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 250MB of data, while with O2, the same deal gets you 500MB of data, 300 minutes and unlimited texts.
Carphone Warehouse COO Graham Stapleton said: “Many of our customers want the opportunity to own the iconic Apple handset but at a tariff that works for them. Even though smartphones are mainstream, there are still thousands of customers who are upgrading from a feature phone to a smartphone, and this deal is perfect for them.”
However, there’s no getting away from the fact that anyone signing up to this deal will have a four-year-old handset and be stuck with it for 2 years.
Is that worth it?
Government announces plan for new law on dodgy apps
May 9th, 2013 • 4 Comments
There’s going to be a new law against faulty apps, say our beloved government. The Queen, not up to much these days, outlined her principles of a new Consumer Rights Bill in a speech delivered to parliament which allows you to claim compensation for faulty apps, music and movies purchased online.
For gamers, this means that, should you buy a game that keeps crashing or freezing, you’ll be able to get your money back or a replacement.
Same goes for films and music.
Jo Swinson, the consumer minister, said: “Stronger consumer protection and clearer consumer rights will help create a fairer and stronger marketplace.”
“We are fully aware that this area of law over the years has become unnecessarily complicated and too confusing, with many people not sure where to turn if they have a problem.”
A cinema in Wales is doling out free life insurance to those piss-scared of watching horror flick Evil Dead. The strapline of the film is: ”The most terrifying film you will ever experience”.
They all say that though, don’t they?
Jamie Hughes, deputy manager of the Gwyn Hall cinema in Neath, said: “Because of [the tagline] we are offering all our customers a free Scare Care policy.”
What you’ll get is a golden insurance certificate which will put toward the costs of a funeral if you die while watching it.
“We will pay their funeral costs – up to the value of their cinema ticket,” Hughes explained. “Obviously it’s a bit of fun, [but it's also] some added value because they would not get this in any other cinema.”
Pauper’s graves for all!
Download MP3s from Spotify via hooky app?
May 9th, 2013 • 3 Comments
Google and Spotify aren’t happy with a Chrome extension called Downloadify, which has allowed users to swipe MP3 copies of the songs they stream over Spotify’s web player.
“Simple Chrome Extension to Download all Spotify Songs,”says the Downloadify description. “Spotify made a great html5 player for their service…But they forgot their encription [sic]…Hey, I don’t like encription but love spotify, just pay them for their magnificent content and I am sure they fix it soon.”
Google have given the boot to the extension, which isn’t surprising as the Web Store agreement says that Google won’t ”engage in any activity with the Web Store, including the development or publication of Products or other materials, that…infringes on the intellectual property rights of others [or] enables the unauthorized download of streaming content or media.”
Of course, those in the know will be able to still access the app, Web Store or not. Spotify are looking into the matter, but it is bad timing for them as they’re currently in the middle of renewing their licensing agreements with the major record labels.
Spotify are trying to get better financial terms from the labels, but with this oversight, their bargaining chips may be fewer than first expected.
Happy app tells you when you’re unhappy
May 8th, 2013 • 1 CommentSometimes our brains tell us we’re OK, when in actual fact we’ve been sitting in our houses for three weeks, crying softly into a mug of cold Cup-A-Soup.
But now we’ll be able to tell when we’re deeply depressed, or just in a terrible frame of mind, thanks to researchers at Cambridge University, who are developing a mood-tracking app that does more than give you a sad face emoticon and tell you to do more exercise.
EmotionSense gathers information about where you are and what you’re doing, as well as how you’re feeling. The app spends about a week collecting data, including the times you use it, the places you go and how many texts, emails and calls you make. It then compares that information to the moods that you input, forming a more complete picture of your life.
‘People may say that they are feeling happy but they may have stopped communicating with friends, for example,’ said senior researcher Dr Neal Lathia.’This is all about building a bridge between the two sources of data.’
So if you’re phoning the Panda House Chinese takeaway every night, logging into Foxy Bingo and trawling around Uniformdating.com, then you’ll soon be able to gauge when you need to start a new course of antidepressants. Clever, eh?
Unauthorised apps cost parents £30m
May 8th, 2013 • 1 Comment
Stupid children buying unauthorised apps on their parents smartphones and tablets are costing hardworking adults around £30m, according to a study.
The survey found sprogs were increasing parents’ bills by around £34 a month. Do some maths and you end up at £30m being wasted by snotty little berks poking buttons they shouldn’t be with their horrible little fingers.
Apparently, eight-year-olds are running up the highest bills, adding an average of £59.59, while over a third of kids aged four and under have made purchases without permission.
Of course, the real idiots here are the one in five parents who give their children their passwords, and the quarter of parents who don’t even have a security password. One in ten kids are allowed to use smartphones etc, completely unsupervised.
The Windows Phone UK-commissioned study said unauthorised purchases had an estimated cost of £30,883,157 in total, with Brett Siddons saying: “Our research reveals parents are worried about the impact of app and in-app purchases on their bills and we understand the stress this can cause. With technology becoming more and more intuitive, it’s important that parents can trust in the technology they use and feel as safe as possible when handing over their smartphone and tablet devices to their children.”
According to the survey, children spend an average of three hours and 21 minutes per week playing games and using apps.
