A couple of years ago when I went to Llangollen on Seren I had a phone tracker linked to my blog. Since then the app has been shutdown and I’ve changed my phone. So now I have a different app called Hellotracks. This should display where I am, but only when I’m away on Seren. … Read more »
Category: computers
Seren has IT Onboard
Blogging last year’s Crick trip was a pain. I took an old Galaxy Tab and cheap Chinese keyboard that got more and more dodgy as time went by. In the end I did a few notes using the on-screen keyboard then gave up. This year I need better IT. Apart from the blog I have … Read more »
Getting right the name
My name is Phil Thane, if you want the whole thing it’s Philip Alan Thane. I’m a freelance writer and editor of a small magazine. In the last few weeks I’ve had emails addressed: Dear Editor, Phil Hi Phil Thane Hi phil@pthane.co.uk Dear philthane (my username on some websites) Hi @pthane (Twitter handle) Hi Thane! … Read more »
Marketing, data and forgetting the human
We (or more specifically, my wife) changed our energy supplier yesterday. This morning she got a text message from our former supplier, ‘ We are sorry to lose you…’. She snorted and moved on. It happens all the time, change a supplier, unsubscribe from something and moments later your phone pings with a personalised message. … Read more »
Amber Rudd – 3
Apparently MPs, even cabinet ministers, will/can/do not reply to mere members of the public unless they are constituents, so eventually I made contact with my MP’s office and they contacted the Home Office which replied to my MP whose office sent it to me. This is progress, in my previous constituency my MP replied to … Read more »
Amber Rudd – part 2
No answer to my message to Ms Rudd about internet encryption. It’s possible my email didn’t arrive, and possible it did but her reply got lost in cyberspace. I’ve emailed my MP, Alastair Burt asking him to look into it. We’ll see if he replies. I might have to resort to paper in the snailmail! Read more »
Apologies
Some low-life, or more likely some automated script, hacked my website and scattered so many files around I ran out of disk space and hence people trying to contact me on Oct 16 got a ‘Mailbox full’ message. Sanity has now been restored. For the techies, using Cpanel file manager I got my password changed … Read more »
Message to Amber Rudd
Dear Ms Rudd, A few days ago I read a headline on the Independent “Amber Rudd admits she doesn’t understand WhatsApp technology but intends to ‘combat it’’. (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/whatsapp-imessage-encryption-facebook-apple-amber-rudd-conservative-conference-a7979811.html) Headline writers do tend to over emphasise stories to get readers’ interest, but the story contains a quote from you, apparently uttered at a party conference event, … Read more »
Writing Magazine
When I’m not writing technical features for money (or DIYing the boat) I try to write fiction. I attend a local writing group and a while ago a publisher, Collette Smith, from Writing Magazine joined us. For her it’s research, trying to get inside the heads of her customers, but it set me thinking. Writers … Read more »
Car Hacking – Really?
One of my recent pieces for Diesel Car magazine has been posted on their website. If you worry about hackers interfering with your car read this. Read more »