Category: Internet
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“We’ve Updated Our Privacy Policy”
Occassionally you get an email with the subject line above. It’ll be from some digital service provider that you use. The company has made some changes, and is letting you know. I got one of these yesterday. The essence of it was: “We’re making some changes for [REASONS] and we’re just writing to let you…
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GIFs
I really don’t like GIFs. Nobody even seems to know how to pronounce the word. Or rather, I don’t like the way they’re used most of the time. They’re incredibly lazy, and just seem to take out of context “hilarious” emotions or actions. I think my real problem is they scream “look at me!” When…
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Failing to Optimise This Site
Over the past few days, Google has been pushing users to try running its Test My Site With Google service. In particular, it’s trying to help sites see how mobile friendly they are. I dutifully entered the details of this site, and waited for the report. I host this site quite cheaply, so wasn’t expecting…
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The Amazon Echo – A British Perspective
NB. I’ve included some detail about how to connect Alexa to a BT Homehub, as it definitely seems to be causing an issue to many users who get Error: 7:3:0:0:1. Hopefully this page will help a little. Amazon has been somewhat tardy in bringing the Echo to the UK. It launched in the US in…
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Backup Storage Solutions and Costs
More than a year ago, I wrote about some experiences I’d had with backup storage and thoughts about “off-site” back-ups. It prompted a couple of responses on the blog, and a few more on social media. Not the most exciting of subjects, but an important one, as I still believe that in this age of…
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Euro 2016 – Staying on TV
As Euro 2016 kicks off in France tonight, my inbox has become flooded with nonsense PR stories. My email address has recently been sold to a number of PR agencies and I get a wide variety of emails asking me if I’m interested in writing about things I’m not interested in writing about. I silently…
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An Open Letter to Facebook
Dear Facebook, I just want you to be super clear that I am not installing your messaging app on my phone. Ever. I’m a moderate user of your service. I’ve got a fair few “friends” on the service, and I’m a member of a few groups. Occasionally I use your messaging functionality. But I use…
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YouTube v Radio
I'm expecting a strong response from @matt @adambowie @DavidLloydRADIO and @Radiocentre https://t.co/xkiklRp7my — Phil Riley (@rileyorionradio) April 29, 2016 Since Phil Riley, Chairman of Orion Media, suggested it, I thought I’d have a look at what’s happening here. YouTube has just published a strong blogpost penned by Christophe Muller, Head of YouTube International Music Partnerships,…
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Telling the Truth About Ages
Back in 2012, James Cridland wrote a very good piece he called Truth in Numbers, which examined how Facebook marketed itself. He showed that while the Office of National Statistics showed there to be 7,482,000 16-24 year olds in the UK, Facebook was somehow selling access to 9,155,804 16-24 year olds. I was curious to…
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Blocked on Twitter by a Celebrity
Remarkably, I’ve been on Twitter since 2006 – so getting on for ten years. And in that time I’ve always tried to be cordial. I don’t get involved in slanging matches, or go looking for idiots to retweet exclaiming my “shock and anger” that there are in fact, fools with internet access. That’s not to…
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A Comment-Free 2016
There’s no two ways about it. Comments are broken. By that I mean, commenting systems on nearly any site that drives a large amount of traffic. There are too many trolls and people with little or nothing to add. There is way too much noise, and little to no signal. I used to enjoy comments.…
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Amazon Prime Music – Filling A Hole
Back over the summer, Amazon launched its Prime Music offering in the UK. Anybody who pays Amazon £79 a year, for it’s free next day delivery service, and video streaming service, now also has access to more than a million tracks and hundreds of playlists to stream via the web, Fire TV or a mobile…