tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85432134953639638452024-02-18T18:14:38.652-08:00Tech SpotThe thoughts and opinions of Peter Heylin on the subject of Technology.Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-86074239617310851752010-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:002010-11-01T08:38:58.671-07:00Never another Nokia...In my experience, Nokia phones are really poorly made mobile phones. The list of issues are endless. The issues range from sticky keys to buggy, unstable software. The last 3 Nokia mobile phones I have owned and used have all been a complete and utter disaster. If a Nokia phone lasts for at least 1 year, consider yourself lucky as they tend to fall victim to one or several issues that ultimately lead to calls and texts not being sent or received which is the whole point of a mobile phone. <br /><br />Probably the only way Nokia are going to fix these problems is if they strip their mobile phones back to the basics and build once more from the ground up. I do not see this happening as I am sure Nokia will see this as a step backwards. Some times it is necessary to go backwards before you can go forwards. <br /><br />I have been a Nokia user for 10 years and yesterday I made the decision to never again purchase a Nokia phone. I would like to see Nokia re-capture the good quality that they were once known for and until they do, I will be giving their products a wide berth.<br /><br />Good Riddance Nokia...Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-85176353690728860672009-12-10T06:49:00.000-08:002011-08-30T08:34:07.297-07:00Facebook change user's privacy settings without permissionWhen a user first logs into Facebook following the changes to the privacy settings on December 9th, they are greeted with a prompt asking if they wish to share more private information or leave the privacy settings 'unchanged'. I selected to leave my privacy settings 'unchanged' because I had worked hard to lock down my profile to only me and my direct friends ever since my account was badly compromised by a hacker. I have found that despite me opting to leave my privacy settings 'unchanged', Facebook have allowed unregistered users to view my entire friend list. I have looked through the entire account settings section to make this information private once again, but it appears Facebook will not allow this information to be hidden. I have not contacted Facebook about this because I know of the futility of such an exercise. Facebook are extremely poor at communicating with members via email even in urgent circumstances where an unscrupulous individual continually attempts to extort money from the member's friends through gross misrepresentation.
<br />
<br />I think Facebook's actions are once again despicable and disgraceful. Members should have the right to hide their friend list from the non-members. It is quite clear that Facebook deem it appropriate to alter a member's privacy settings without explicit permission. I am saying now that Facebook are wrong to do this. You do not have the right Facebook, stop!
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<br />Please also see this: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editors_corner/article/54381/
<br />--
<br />Peter Heylin, BSc (Hons.), H.Dip, MSc<a href="http://www.peterheylin.ie/"></a>
<br /><a href="http://www.peterheylin.com/">www.peterheylin.com</a>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-31698322920626695242009-10-21T04:11:00.000-07:002009-10-21T04:32:43.496-07:00Barnardos call for protection of children on FacebookBarnardos Chief Executive Fergus Finlay has called on Facebook to provide an identity verification system to combat the use of Facebook by child predators who pretend to be children themselves. I would support such a system. I have spoken before about Facebook's shortcomings regarding security. Unfortunately, Facebook are in denial and do not believe there is a problem with the security of their system. This leads me to believe that Facebook will do nothing to respond to the very real concerns of the children's charity Barnardos. Perhaps if enough people in the world supported a motion as important as this, then maybe, just maybe, Facebook would sit up and take notice.<br /><br />The other issue raised by Barnardos was that Facebook are not registered with the Data Protection Commissioner despite their continued retention of millions of users' (including children) personal data. I would be only too happy if the Data Protection Commissioner had the power to audit Facebook, but unfortunately, Facebook are registered outside of the state and therefore are not required to register with the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland.<br /><br />The only true solution here is to send a message to parents to educate their children as to the safe use of the Internet. We cannot just sit back and shout at Facebook as Fergus Finlay appears to be doing. People must act responsibly when online and encourage children to do the same.<br /><br />Come on people. Let us help ourselves. We do not need to be spoon fed by a US Corporation who could not care less about anyone! If we intend on waiting for Facebook to make their system more secure, we will be left waiting for a long time.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />PeterPeter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-26488563897981705362009-09-15T01:31:00.001-07:002009-09-15T01:31:36.242-07:00Worst handsets for radiation named and shamed<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; ">Is your phone on the hall of shame list regarding the amount of radiation emitted from it? See <a href="http://www.techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=13960">here...</a></span>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-63519118151582889402009-09-07T08:40:00.000-07:002009-09-07T08:49:52.536-07:00Nokia N900What I like about the Nokia N900: <div><br /></div><div>- It runs Linux software. </div><div>- The Mozilla-based technology. </div><div>- 32 GB of storage expandable to 48 GB via a microSD card.</div><div>- 1 GB of application memory.</div><div>- OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceration.</div><div><br /></div><div>What I do not like about the Nokia N900:</div><div><br /></div><div>- The €500 price it will retail at. </div><div>- The fact that Nokia phones are often poorly built and die within 1 year.</div><div><br /></div><div>That €500 price would want to be dramatically reduced. Nokia cannot justify premium prices for sub-standard products.</div><div><br /></div><div>Article that appeared on <a href="http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/13721/comms/nokia-unveils-its-first-linux-tablet-device">SiliconRepublic.com</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-12916611010905045142009-09-07T07:58:00.000-07:002009-09-08T03:07:10.579-07:00Facebook - inadequate security...On the 6th of July 2009 my Facebook profile was hacked. The hacker began contacting my friends using Wall posts and chat messages. The hacker, acting under the pretence that it was me, was claiming I had been mugged in London and was asking for money to be sent via Western Union. <div><br /></div><div>The first sign I got that something was wrong was a standard email from Facebook asking that I confirm that I wished to change my contact email address. The address that was being changed to was the hacker's address. I naturally clicked the appropriate link stating that I had not initiated such an action and I was taken to a page where I was able to reset my password and login to my Facebook profile. Once logged in, I saw open chat windows where friends had been contacted and were being asked to send money. I replied to some of these messages stating the profile had been hacked. I was then logged out of my profile by the hacker and I was unable to log back in as the hacker had successfully changed my email address to his/hers.</div><div><br /></div><div>I contacted Facebook to bring this serious matter to their attention. I received no reply. A day later, I contacted Facebook once more and they eventually replied stating that they had received notification that my profile had been compromised and they had removed it for security reasons. I then heard nothing from Facebook for 5 days despite numberous attempts to contact them for an update to this serious breach in security. When I eventually got a reply from Facebook, they claimed that the hacker must have had access to my email account and they asked me to ensure I had control of my email account and change the password associated with my email account. They also asked me to select a new unique password for my Facebook profile. This is my opinion is an unacceptable response to a breach in security. The hacker did not have access to my email account and I never share my password with anyone. Facebook clearly do not know how the hackers and cybercriminals are gaining access to users' profiles. I have noticed that Facebook now only allows users to be logged in from one computer at a time whereas before, if the user did not press logout on a particular computer, they would remain logged in on that computer and on the next computer that they used. This again is not going to prevent the hackers and cybercriminals from accessing users' profiles and locking them out because the hacker can quite quickly and easily change the email address associated with the Facebook account from the user's email address to their own email address. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you do not believe me, see other Internet articles below:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.theblacktechreport.com/index.php/2009/03/03/facebook-once-again-becomes-the-home-of-hackers-and-criminals-be-careful-out-there/">The Black Tech Report</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.misu.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=665:facebook-hackers-alert&catid=3:milive-news&Itemid=73">Mary I Students Union</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.irish-times.org/newspaper/breaking/2009/0515/breaking20.htm">The Irish Times 15th of May 2009 </a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0806/breaking53.htm">The Irish Times 6th of August 2009</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://uk.news.yahoo.com/16/20090906/ttc-woman-loses-4-000-in-facebook-scam-6315470.html">Yahoo News 6th of September 2009</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.chrisfinke.com/2009/08/07/my-bff-selena-gomez/">Chris Finke 7th of August 2009</a></div>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-81112585020182898172009-09-07T07:44:00.000-07:002009-09-11T06:51:33.335-07:00Full Tilt Poker - Ineffiicient cowboys...Full Tilt Poker contacted me on the 19th of August 2009 claiming that a payment made to them on the 9th of June had been disputed by me and the payment had been returned to me as a chargeback. <div><br /></div><div>I have provided clear non-disputable evidence that the payment was made successfully and my bank backed up this evidence. Full Tilt Poker continue to send automated emails repeating exactly the same message. They continue to claim that I owe them money. They obviously believe I am extremely naive and that I will simply pay the money again. They think it is ok to request a double payment. </div><div><br /></div><div>Either Full Tilt Poker staff are extremely stupid and do not know how to check with their bank that payments have been completed successfully or they are operating a scam whereby they knowingly and regularly request double payments from customers. If the latter is the case, they obviously believe their customers are extremely naive. </div><div><br /></div><div>Full Tilt Poker are also extremely slow to deal with any type of query. It takes a minimum of 5 days to receive a reply. Obviously email is too big a challenge for their small brains.</div><div><br /></div><div>Please see other people's opinions which will backup my claims:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://pokerforums.fulltiltpoker.com/online-poker-play2865.html&highlight=">Forum Link 1</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://pokerforums.fulltiltpoker.com/viewtopic.php?t=35635">Forum Link 2</a></div><div><br /></div>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-83770965842531115452009-08-20T05:53:00.001-07:002009-08-20T06:02:22.156-07:00CentMail - Good or bad?Yahoo have released <a href="http://centmail.net/faq">CentMail </a>whereby people spend a cent to send an email. By using CentMail, the user's email then includes a signature containing a special key. An example of using CentMail might be to donate $5 to a charity of your choice in exchange for 500 tokens (I presume this allows users to send 500 emails).<br /><br />The aim is to eradicate spam from in-boxes worldwide. Yahoo do not make money from CentMail as all proceeds go to charity.<br /><br />In my opinion, this would only work if all users of email the world over used CentMail and all spammers said "no" to CentMail to avoid the cost. If this was the situation, all users could then add 1 filter to their email accounts that said, "if the CentMail signature is not present, then the email is junk". Filtering out spam would become a lot easier.<br /><br />Unfortunately, I do not see enough people embracing the idea of donating to charity to purchase 'virtual' postage stamps. CentMail may therefore never successfully take off.<br /><br />If anyone else has any thoughts, your comments are always welcome.<br /><br />Thanks and take care,<br /><br /><br />--<br />Peter Heylin, BSc (Hons.), H.Dip, MSc<br /><br /><a href="http://www.peterheylin.ie/">www.peterheylin.ie</a><br /><a href="http://www.peterheylin.com/">www.peterheylin.com</a>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-78978473533403853902009-08-14T08:48:00.001-07:002009-08-14T08:49:20.937-07:00Microsoft Outlook Crashed in a catastrophic fashion...<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrlI6jlW9uzZoeJ_vYjTrtmA9M7MISKOI469f7Bo55RzmEN1LqcFOh_nI4P8QqQH6lQWvtX52FW-dIJvKg5Jp1L-vRR07bc_TKD-yPib7ozkZgXF6sWxTRPLPY0QbBF3YhK3tBn4HFyM/s1600-h/catastrophic+failure-715168.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrlI6jlW9uzZoeJ_vYjTrtmA9M7MISKOI469f7Bo55RzmEN1LqcFOh_nI4P8QqQH6lQWvtX52FW-dIJvKg5Jp1L-vRR07bc_TKD-yPib7ozkZgXF6sWxTRPLPY0QbBF3YhK3tBn4HFyM/s320/catastrophic+failure-715168.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369846922598483746" border="0" /></a></p><br />--<br />Peter Heylin, BSc (Hons.), H.Dip, MSc<br /><a href="mailto:peter@peterheylin.com"></a><br /><a href="http://www.peterheylin.ie/">www.peterheylin.ie</a><br /><a href="http://www.peterheylin.com/">www.peterheylin.com</a>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-70536332861050891972009-08-06T05:58:00.000-07:002009-08-06T06:02:16.975-07:00Nigerian 419 scam<p>Beware of the Nigerian 419 scam. Paul Hearns from TechCentral.ie discusses what the scammer will attempt to do in order to extort money.</p><p><a href="http://www.techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=13778">TechCentral.ie Article</a><br /></p>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-60195957323791146572009-08-05T06:31:00.000-07:002009-08-05T06:30:19.404-07:00U.S. Marines ban Facebook, MySpace, Twitter | Zero Day | ZDNet.com<div class=Section1> <p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I can fully understand this ban by the US Marines. The security of Facebook leaves a lot to be desired. It is extremely easy for hackers to access users’ profiles and request money from people under false pretences. Facebook are aware of this problem, yet they have so far failed to provide any meaningful solution other than resetting the user’s password. If the hacker wished to gain access again, it would not be a problem. A password is not going to stop them, no matter how strong it is. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I know first hand of Facebook’s incompetence. When a profile is hacked, Facebook fail to react until after the 2<sup>nd</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup> report by the user. During this time, the fraudster is continuing in their attempt to extort money from other people. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>The hacker is capable of very quickly accessing a user’s profile and changing the email address and password associated with the account. This effectively locks the user out of their account. Due to the length of time it takes Facebook to stop the hacker, the hacker has time to contact all of the user’s contacts to request money no matter how many contacts there are. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>U.S. Marines ban Facebook, MySpace, Twitter</span></font> <font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3907">http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3907</a></span></font> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-52705061778578413182009-07-20T07:24:00.000-07:002009-07-20T07:38:31.145-07:00Where to buy computer equipment...I frequently buy computer equipment and when I do I always use the same list of websites. I have listed them below:<br /><br />www.computerbits.ie<br /><br />They are based in Sligo in the north-west of Ireland. The service is friendly and quick. The prices are not overly expensive and items are dispatched quickly. My last order was placed on a Tuesday afternoon and I received the delivery of the item by Thursday afternoon. <br /><br />www.komplett.ie<br /><br />They have offices in various countries including an office in Dublin, Ireland. They have reputation for low prices. Their after-sales service and support is very good. They have very helpful staff. Delivery is also quick.<br /><br />www.7dayshop.com<br /><br />They are based in the UK and they sell low priced memory and disks. Delivery is quick.<br /><br />www.ebay.ie<br /><br />The popular on-line market place which allows people to snatch a bargain. Sellers I have used are extremely helpful and efficient. <br /><br />I hope the above helps you to choose the right supplier when looking to buy computer equipment. <br /><br />Go n'eirí an bothar leat,<br /><br />PeterPeter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-32482903666851842692009-07-20T06:03:00.001-07:002009-07-20T06:17:10.547-07:00Embracing Open Source software...I recently installed Ubuntu 9 on an IBM Thinkpad (P3, 256 MB RAM) and it ran extremely smoothly. I increased the RAM to 1 GB and now the laptop is flying. <br /><br />This same laptop had Windows XP Pro SP2 installed before I converted it to Linux. It was quite slow at running Windows XP. <br /><br />Using Ubuntu 9 provides users with identical functionality as Windows, but without the extortionate cost! Everything installed on the IBM Thinkpad is open source software. I use Mozilla Firefox, GIMP, OpenOffice.org, Evolution Mail, Pidgin Internet Messenger, NetBeans IDE and many more. <br /><br />Pidgin Internet Messenger allows the user to remain logged into multiple IM providers at once such as Google Talk, Y! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM etc. <br /><br />OpenOffice.org provides includes all the same functionality as Microsoft Office including the ability to export documents as *.PDF files. <br /><br />I believe there are security benefits to open source applications also. A recent example is the release of Firefox 3.5.1 to patch a security flaw. This was quickly spotted and fixed as developers worldwide seek to improve Firefox whereas Internet Explorer can only be patch by Microsoft personnel. It is the same story for OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office regarding patching of security flaws. <br /><br />Embrace open source! It's a true recession-buster!! <br /><br />Take care,<br /><br />PeterPeter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-55541915411142122552009-04-14T15:41:00.000-07:002009-04-14T15:53:08.863-07:00Nokia - Quality DeteriorationI have spoken before about a lapse in the quality of Nokia products. It is clear that this is more than a simple lapse in the quality of these products. It is a serious deterioration in the level of quality. <br /><br />I recently owned the Nokia 6070 mobile phone. After 1 year of use, the keys began sticking. This made using the phone practically impossible. This is NOT an isolated incident. I know 3 other people who also owned the Nokia 6070 and again after only 1 year, everyone experienced the same problem. <br /><br />All people (myself included) were forced to purchase a new mobile phone. I feel that for the price of mobile phones, they should last longer than 1 year. The older models lasted for many years (for example, the 3210). <br /><br />Is this a scam by Nokia to ensure people are forced to frequently spend money replacing inferior products?<br />Is the quality of Nokia's products simply deteriorating at a rapid rate?<br /><br />Only Nokia know the truth, but will they ever share this with 'valued' customers?Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-44585515849516756192008-12-24T06:44:00.000-08:002008-12-24T06:46:32.796-08:00Support Wikipedia - The greatest collection of the World's knowledge<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:-webkit-monospace;font-size:13px;"> </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-family:-webkit-monospace;font-size:13px;"><br /></span></div><br /><br /><a href="http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/en"><img border="0" alt="Wikipedia Affiliate Button" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1a/2008_fundraiser_banner_button-en.png" /></a>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-13190845683768915362008-08-03T08:23:00.000-07:002008-08-05T16:31:31.528-07:00Search the web...I recently came across the latest search engine on the Internet. Cuil (www.cuil.com) which claims to have the largest index of web pages of any of the other search engines. They should examine the facts before making untrue statements such as these.<br /><br />I have found some examples where Yahoo and Google display pages in their search results, but Cuil does not have these pages anywhere in their results.<br /><br />Some of these examples are as follows:<br /><br />Type: magnum marquee hire Results should include: www.magnummarqueehire.ie<br />Type: peter heylin Results should include: www.peterheylin.com and www.bebo.com/pheylin<br /><br />One good point about Cuil is the layout of the search results page is neat and easy to read. It is a very different layout to Google and Yahoo.Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-17357436928114608552007-08-30T16:23:00.000-07:002007-08-30T16:52:50.827-07:00Are Repairtech any good?In case anyone is unsure who Repairtech are, they are a computer repair company that are unable to correctly repair computers. Their registered business name is A1 Technologies, and let me tell you, there is nothing A1 about them.<br /><br />I sent a Dell laptop to them for repair. The problem was that the laptop could no longer charge the battery. The battery could be charged if inserted into another Dell laptop indicating that it was not the battery. The same charger was also used indicating that it was not the charger. This Dell laptop was out of warranty and Dell quoted approximately €1,000 (euro) for the repair with the majority of this cost covering the labour. Repairtech quoted €100 for the repair. I thought it sounded like a good deal until the technician returned the laptop to me in a worse condition than when he had collected it! The laptop was able to charge the battery once again, but he had created a user account that had replaced the existing user profile and this could not be restored. The hard drive then became corrupted. These problems could easily have been avoided if the technician had possessed the necessary skills to correctly repair the computer.<br /><br />I will certainly look more carefully in future when choosing a computer repair company and I would highly recommend that people avoid Repairtech aka A1 Technologies unless they don't particularly like their computer.<br /><br />When I could not access the user profile, the technician mentioned they had a tool that could recover it but that it would cost another couple of hundred euro. I wasn't prepared to pay this as it was quite clear the technician had been the cause of the problems that now existed on the computer. It may have been a money making scam by Repairtech to fix one problem and deliberately cause another or it may have been purely down to incompetence on the part of the technician.<br /><br />If you hear Repairtech advertising on the radio that they can repair your computer, forget you ever heard the advertisement. They cannot repair your computer. I feel that the Repairtech technicians are about as experienced in computers as the many 'technical' support teams that are in operation today. These 'technical' support teams as everyone knows are largely, if not completely, outsourced. They include people who have never seen a computer and have been provided with extremely poor training. I know this for a fact, I worked briefly for one particular company that had taken on another companys technical support. I am technical myself, but some of my colleagues struggled with the most basic of computer tasks. These people were supposed to be the experts and they demonstrated no prior knowledge or experience with computers. The training lasted approximately two weeks and comprised of some poorly presented PowerPoint slideshows and basic multiple choice open book tests.<br /><br />The similarities between my techno-phobe colleagues and the Repairtech technician were uncanny!<br /><br />Please avoid Repairtech / A1 Technologies for your own sake and for the sake of your computer. There are better options available. Repairtech are a waste of time and money.<br /><br />Be cautious when choosing a computer repair company.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />PeterPeter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543213495363963845.post-11981968188462262392007-07-11T14:40:00.001-07:002007-07-11T14:40:37.653-07:00Nokia - Quality Lapse?<p>I'm not sure if people have noticed, but I sure have. Nokia, one of the leading manufacturers of mobile phones in the world have displayed a serious lapse in the quality of their products. I don't believe anyone could disagree with the points that I have raised below.</p> <p>Firstly, Nokia once manufactured standard chargers that worked with any phone in the Nokia range. This, in my opinion, was a clear advantage over competitors such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola who manufactured a different charger for every phone that they manufactured. Now Nokia have decided that it is wrong to make standard products. <br/> </p> <p>- I strongly disagree with Nokia's philosophy against standard products.</p> <p>Secondly, there is a clear fault with the new chargers that Nokia have manufactured. I have noticed this fault on more than one charger. I never came across this fault on Nokia's original chargers. The fault exists with the charger that is supplied with the phone. This fault makes it extremely difficult to charge the phone. The customer is forced then to purchase a replacement charger, which does work. <br/> </p> <p>This almost seems like a scam by a large heartless corporation by providing a faulty piece of equipment with the phone and forcing the customer to spend more money in purchasing a replacement. <br/> </p> <p>If this is true, it is despictable behaviour.</p> <p>I will welcome any comments that people may have on the above. I am particularly interested in hearing from people who have experienced the above to share their thoughts and opinions about Nokia and their new found philosophy.</p> <p>Take care,</p> <p>Peter<br/> </p> <p> </p> <p><br/> </p> <p><br/> </p> <br/> <p style="text-align: right; font-size: 8px">Blogged with <a href="http://www.flock.com/blogged-with-flock" title="Flock" target="_new">Flock</a></p>Peter Heylinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567797133625056333noreply@blogger.com0