bits of benn

is it just me or has the standard of the Silicon newsletters gone down hill over the last… year? Latest is here:

Is there life on Mars? Is there a starman waiting in the sky?

These are the questions and David Bowie-related conundrums that have perplexed humankind ever since it looked up and spotted those twinkly little lights in the sky (before all the light pollution, that is).

But now everyone’s favour alien hunters the Seti Institute reckon we may have been looking in the wrong place all along.

Read More →

Recently I’ve received SMS alerts from the AA and MBNA which require me to call their number to complete an action (either take out proposal or certify card activity). The really stupid thing is that they instruct you to call a phone number, e.g.  08000157398. My issue is that immediately you are told that “calls to this number are not free from a mobile phone, please redial removing the first 0” - and get charged.

Well why fucking text a number to my mobile that I cannot call? why not actually send me the mobile version of the number? Stoopid marketing by people who have not even tested their own service! 

Neil you can add me now  :)