Google Cookies
Posted: Tue 17 July, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Geeky, Thoughts 1 Comment »So Google are now supposedly all heroic for saying that they’ll set their cookies to delete after two years (my emphasis) instead of the current setting, where they will expire in 2039.
I’m sorry, but two years is still bollocks. Along the way they also say that two year expiry entails not visiting any Google website in that time.
Now, I use cookies on a lot of sites – they’re a standard thing, after all. But with any site I work on, they’re usually set to delete in 30 or 60 days. Yes, of course if a user re-visits the site then the cookie gets re-set, but still with the 30 or 60 day expiry. If a user hasn’t visited the site in that time, then the cookie deletes, and if they re-visit after that, then they might have to re-set a preference or two.
I don’t understand why a company like Google can’t set their cookie to expire after something sensible, like 90 – or even 180 – days. If someone hasn’t come back in three (or six) months, then the cookie expires. More than fair.
Why on earth would you want a cookie to hang around for two years?
Repair and Replace
Posted: Wed 27 June, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Geeky 1 Comment »Last weekend turned out to be a bit more expensive than expected.
During that time, we managed to (finally) sort out the room that is going to be the office for a while. (’til all else is done, then we get to upgrade/fit-out the garage into an office and workroom, which’ll probably end up being around this time next year) Walls painted, gloss paintwork done (and then walked in by the fucking cat) and floor tiles cleaned. Bookshelves, desk, and computer all installed.
And it was while we were putting the computer stuff back in that I discovered the expense bits. The wireless network card’s aerial was a) bent, and b) snapped off when I touched it. Oh bugger. And the receiver dongle for the cordless mouse was bent 90°, and (on testing) utterly buggered.
The wireless card wasn’t too bad to replace – £25, and job done. Installed fine, and not even the need to hunt down whatever the hell the password is for the wireless network. Disturbingly simple.
As for the mouse, I’ve replaced it with another cordless one, but this time not a rechargeable one. Supposedly two AA batteries will keep it going for six months, although I’ll believe that when I see it. I ended up ordering it on Monday from Amazon on express delivery (Yeah, I know, ‘sucker’) and it arrived yesterday. So could be worse.
In the meantime, well, a combination of using the laptop for most things, and a sad (and very geeky) level of knowledge when it comes to keyboard shortcuts in Windows made everything usable. Although when I say ‘usable’ I mean “I can do it on occasion, but if I had to do this all the time, I’d soon be swearing like a sailor”.
Features and Functionality
Posted: Fri 22 June, 2007 Filed under: Geeky, Getting Organised, Thoughts 1 Comment »When I wrote about upgrading/changing my phone, Gordon commented that he’d rather put up with repeated crashes rather than a phone operating system that’s just broken and overly-complicated. Then again, that’s his fault for buying a Samsung. *grin*
When I got the XDA, I had some specific reasons for getting it. (As well as the geeky “it’s got a slide-out keyboard!” factor, of course) At the time, the laptop I had was old, slow, and didn’t have built-in wireless access. It made sense to have another device that could get emails etc., and – more importantly – open attachments from clients in MS Word, Excel and the like. In addition, the ability to use the XDA in order to write emails on the move without getting Texter’s Thumb along the way was – at the time – a massive advantage. Add in the ability to link to a wireless network, and it was a winner. I could tolerate the constant silent crashes, because the additional functionality of the phone was important to me.
Since then, I’ve upgraded the laptop (and the PC, but that’s another thing) to one that has built-in wireless. And at that point, a lot of my main requirements for the XDA disappeared. I no longer needed it if I was out-and-about, because the laptop connected up, and meant that any client documents etc. could be viewed far more easily than they could on the XDA. And when I started using the XDA just for phone calls and text messages, the constant silent crashes rapidly became a hindrance, and then a pain in the arse.
Now, with the K800i, I can’t read attached documents. I don’t have Wi-Fi access on the phone. I can’t use SSH and PuTTY to connect to a website, or a server, and do some work via the phone. (And yes, geek that I am, I have done that on several occasions with the XDA) But – and this is the important bit – I don’t need to. I’ve got the laptop for that. OK, it’s not as svelte and tiny as the XDA (Ha, not that that’s a revelation) but it does the work I need it to.
The K800i makes calls, takes calls, and sends and receives text messages. It takes photos – admittedly, fairly impressive 3.2Mp ones – not that I use the camera on a phone that much anyway. I can still send and receive email on it if I want to, and it’s got a whole bundle of other functions and features that I may or may not use as time goes on. What it doesn’t do is crash. (So far, anyway) I don’t have to worry that using the camera is going to make it lock up and need a full reboot. I don’t have to worry about whether it’s keeled over silently when I’m expecting a call or a message.
It’s “just” a phone.
And that’s exactly what I wanted.
Address Migration
Posted: Thu 21 June, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Geeky, Getting Organised, Technology, Thoughts 1 Comment »One of the things that always infuriates me when I get a new phone is the sheer hassle that’s always present when it comes to moving the address book (and/or contacts) from one to the other. For some reason it’s just never as simple as it could/should be.
Of course, there’s the ‘classic’ option, of saving all the contacts onto the SIM card instead of on the phone. But if you actually use the contacts and address book, then you need them to be on the phone – the SIM just holds ‘name &number’ data. So if you have a contact called (for example) Tom, and he has a home phone, work phone, mobile, and email, that’s four records on the SIM. On the phone, it’s one record – which is, of course, how it should be.
But I’m yet to find a phone that has a simple “Send all the contacts from this phone to another one” – whether that’s by Messaging, Bluetooth, IR, or anything else. Even (or, perhaps, particularly) Windows Mobile can’t manage this task – it can send your contacts one at a time, so why can’t it do all of them in one big bundle of data?
In fairness to Windows Mobile®, it does synchronise with MS Office on a PC. Fortunately, so does my new phone. So I could connect the XDA to the PC, synch all the contacts off the phone into MS Outlook , disconnect the XDA, connect the K800i (which, of course, also has a completely different cable) and synch the contacts out of Outlook onto the K800i. But all the same, what a faff.
Is it really that difficult to handle phone contact transfers?
I know (before Gordon says it) that this is one of those events where user-centred design would work really nicely. I don’t care how the phone transfers the address book – I want it to Just Work™, without being a nightmare faff of cables, or one-by-one data transfers. Just one simple ‘Move my address book to another phone’ option – or perhaps even a first-use option (i.e. one where the process is part of the initial phone set-up) that simply says “Copy the address book from your old phone?” – and if you choose it, you get to choose whether the data transfer is done by IR, Bluetooth, WiFi, or something else. (Bluetooth is the ideal candidate, of course, with WiFi a close second).
Is that too much to ask?