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.
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.
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.
Good Riddance Nokia...
Monday, November 1, 2010
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Facebook change user's privacy settings without permission
When 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.
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!
Please also see this: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editors_corner/article/54381/
--
Peter Heylin, BSc (Hons.), H.Dip, MSc
www.peterheylin.com
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!
Please also see this: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editors_corner/article/54381/
--
Peter Heylin, BSc (Hons.), H.Dip, MSc
www.peterheylin.com
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Barnardos call for protection of children on Facebook
Barnardos 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.
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.
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.
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.
All the best,
Peter
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.
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.
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.
All the best,
Peter
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Worst handsets for radiation named and shamed
Is your phone on the hall of shame list regarding the amount of radiation emitted from it? See here...
Monday, September 7, 2009
Nokia N900
What I like about the Nokia N900:
- It runs Linux software.
- The Mozilla-based technology.
- 32 GB of storage expandable to 48 GB via a microSD card.
- 1 GB of application memory.
- OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceration.
What I do not like about the Nokia N900:
- The €500 price it will retail at.
- The fact that Nokia phones are often poorly built and die within 1 year.
That €500 price would want to be dramatically reduced. Nokia cannot justify premium prices for sub-standard products.
Article that appeared on SiliconRepublic.com
Facebook - 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.
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.
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.
If you do not believe me, see other Internet articles below:
Full 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.
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.
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.
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.
Please see other people's opinions which will backup my claims:
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