I’ve just had an argument on the phone with an O2 customer service agent. After some confusion I now needed to change the password on my account, this couldn’t be done without knowing the answer to my secret answer. CORRECTION the secret answer and the question which relates to that answer, I needed to know both pieces of information to alter a password. SO, instead of needing to remember the memorable one word answer, I now need to remember the sentence that goes before that answer, ‘Yes that’s correct Mr Mayne’.

I then spent a few minutes asking him questions;

Is it my mothers maiden name? - ‘No’

Is it the town in which I was born? –‘No’

Is it my favourite colour? –‘No’

Is it my first pet? –‘Maybe’

Ok finally I was getting somewhere, good job these questions have became ubiquitous in changing passwords or I would have been stuck still arguing my case! At the end of the conversation he said don’t say your new password out loud because the call is recorded, I then reminded him that we had spoken every other piece of information O2 holds about me, from my username, mobile number, date of birth, address, secret answer, secret question and make of phone which is more than enough to alter my password again in the future. 

I just shake my head with disbelief.

- Kyle

Just an observation. 

- Kyle

Ok, you shop online right? How long would you reasonably wait for an item to be delivered from a well known supermarket, 3 to 14 days sounds quite rational. How about one month? That would be pushing it right, well you haven’t heard nothing yet.

Right lets set the scene, I need a present, a present for my father. Now I always find buying gifts for him difficult, normally he is blunt and specifically states what he wants. Together with that present, I always like to buy him a few extra gifts, nothing really expensive just little surprises for him to open. I had decided to buy him a collection of Elvis Movies, nothing spectacular in terms of world cinema, but he likes them. After shopping around, I had selected the right box set and found the best retailer. I had decided to go with Tesco online, on the basis of their cheapness (yeah I’m a student you know) and I already have an account. OK – everything was going fine, but after 7 days, still no DVDs. I then received an email saying your item was out of stock and they were waiting for a delivery. I didn’t mind, the occasion was still a few weeks away so there wasn’t really any rush.

OK I’ll come clean, the occasion was Christmas 2007, I placed my order on Tuesday 6th November 2007. After the 20th notice came that my order was delayed (auto generated), I knew my order would not arrive (they came every few days). I ended up buying him something else in its place, but I became intrigued in how long my order would run unnoticed. It ended on the 16th July 2008, that’s 253  days (I think) since I placed the order. Here is a copy of the email I got;

Dear Mr Mayne,

Re: Your Tesco Jersey order placed on Tuesday 06 November 2007 (order no. 15406589)

We are sorry to inform you that we have not been able to obtain an item in your order. Don’t worry, we won’t charge you for this item, but this may affect some of the promotions in your order.

Your new order summary is shown at the foot of this email.

The item that we were unable to obtain is: 1 x Angela Lansbury Elvis Jukebox Movie Collection 

Cancelled on Wednesday 16 July 2008  We apologise that we have been unable to fulfil every item in your order on this occasion, but hope that you will return to shop with Tesco Jersey in the future.

Kind regards, Tesco.com

I must admit, this is quite disappointing. To think a company of Tesco’s caliber doesn’t have the appropriate computerised checks in place, to stop this error occurring. I’m also disappointed in the email above, which I find quite careless since I have been waiting such a long time. Is this the real face, of Britains largest supermarket?

I was trying to keep it going for 1 year, shame it ended when it did!

Come on, this must be some kind of record!

- Kyle

It now seems Capital One credit card is taking customisation to the next level. It now allows customers to brand their plastic pal with their favourite image from Flickr.

For some reason I’d like to see somebody place a pornographic image on the front of their card, just imagine how uncomfortable that would be in Marks & Sparks.

-Kyle

I must admit I consistently buy the Daily Mirror on a day to day basis!!. HA I’ll stick with my boring yet evermore cleverly written (although at times I do wonder) Guardian, thank you very much. Although, at 80p a go away from university you could send me some coupons for that ?

Even the title on the envelope ‘More To Say Less To Pay’ makes me cringe.

Oh look what happened, I slipped …

Never mind!

-Kyle

Anyway here is a short fabulous clip, let me fill you in the on the details, Larry wants to skip jury duty; this is the best excuse ever…

-Kyle

Well it isn’t that bold but here goes…

The mouse and keyboard will be dead in 10-15 years, its successor will be touch desktops and touch laptops.

So put those input devices down and get ready to flex your fingers, I wouldn’t be surprised either to a lot of touch gestures too. **Cough** like ones your currently seeing on one of those ;

Change things, you bet your life it will!

Many more thoughts on this, too many to write down this late of night !

-Kyle

Although I never had a problem with battery life, my current remaining time stands at 6 hours 35 minutes. Lets hope Microsoft don’t muck anything up !!

-Kyle

Fed up with Facebook? Fear not. There is a new website in town perfect for whiling away those long hours. Better still, you can brush up on your vocabulary while helping to feed the world’s poor. Or so Freerice.com promises.

There’s no reason why sites like this shouldn’t work, although you can’t stop and think that corporate bureaucratic’s are just skimming their share of the profits before its getting to the people on the ground.

Maybe that’s just the evil in me right ?

P.S I find their parent site poverty.com to be a little disturbing with its hunger deaths per hour counter. What’s the deal with the map displaying the faces of the dead, how do they even have photographs of these people. *Cough* do you mind if I take your photo so we can display your photo on our site when you die ???

I hope they really are doing good !

(story via the Guardian)

-Kyle

Guess the start - …….. @live.co.uk ?

-Kyle