The other day, I noticed the charger for the phone was not on (no light) and it wasn’t charging the handset… Soon it was flat. No big deal as there is also a charger in the base router box I got but all the same I want the second charger unit for downstairs.

Me: Called them up

Them: All our operators are busy, we can call you back in 20-27 minutes…

Me: OK

Them: Phone rang 15 minutes later…

Me: Explained problem.

Him: And you have tried connecting to another power outlet.

Me: Yes, but no luck. The handset is fine, it’s charging in the other base.

Him: OK, Seems the router and phone was sent as part of a bundle, when we send a replacement you may have to send all the older equipment in return, just a minute.

Me: Wait for about 2 minutes

Him: Thanks for waiting, ok, we will send a replacement handset and base charger. When you get these you can return the faulty/old ones in the return package we send along with it.

Me: OK, that’s great, thanks for your help.

Him: Anything else we can help with?

Me: No, that’s all thank you.

How good is it when it works? Thanks iiNet.

Her: You want medium coffee? (Handing me one she just made as I entered)

Me: No, I haven’t ordered anything yet

Her: Oh um… Goes back to serving first person

Her: You want this coffee?

Me: No, I haven’t ordered one yet…

Her: Oh, what you like?

Me: Small latte please.

Her: Rings it up on register, gets distracted by LCD screen listing all the shop orders.

Her: $4.15 thanks…

Me: No, I ordered a small latte

Her: Oh, um, Medium… (Me: No).. Oh, um $3.15

Me: Paid and waited… and waited…

Her: Here is coffee.

Me: Thank you, do you have any sugars?

Her: Um, oh, um.. I put one in.

Me: ok, thanks..

Me: Tasted, burnt tongue.

Me: Waited until it was much cooler.. Um, hello taste..

I would say almost no coffee and no sugar was in it, this is not a decent experience or result.

Me: Can I have the dozen assorted and a latte please?

Him: What?

Me: A dozen of the assorted donuts and a latte please…

Him: You want… (something I couldn’t understand)

Me: Pardon?

Him: Just me select? One of each?

Me: Yeah, sure, a bit of anything…

Him: Three bags selected, assemble a box, start picking…

Me: Not quite one of each in the box, so I ask for a couple of pinks ones.

Him: In the box, in the bag,… Is that all?

Me: Well I still want the latte

Him: Makes a latte

Him: Do you want a discount card?

Me: No thanks

Him: You wanna 50% off card?

Me: No thanks

Him: You wan sugar?

Me: No thanks

At last, why is it so hard to make it easy?

I went into the store, half way in a guy with a clip-board decided he needed to ask if I wanted any help, um, just on my way to the service counter to pay some bills. He nicely showed me toward the service counter that I was aiming for (it’s not a big shop and I didn’t expect to need directions or get lost)…

Her: Can I help you?

Me: Yes, I have a credit here I would like transferred to pay off this other bill please.

Her: Oh, um, excuse me… and she wandered off.

Her: Returning she says, no sorry, you will have to call our customer service to do that.

Me: Um, is this a service counter for the company your asking me to call?

Her: Oh we can’t handle that here.

Me: Why not?

Her: The unfortunate blank stare when you know you have asked a question that’s a bit too tough for them to process.

It could have been so much easier, can they not give me a credit against another bill, it’s not even like they are handing me cash to do that.

And on another level, why did this particular company provide me a credit that I can’t use, now I have to call to get a cheque sent that I have to cash at a bank, if I had a credit why didn’t they just send me a cheque? Why didn’t they let me cash out the credit at one of their service centres when I was there, in person?

Too many questions go unanswered…

OK, all good, so when we returned later and came in we got the glasses and half my tickets back all usual then we went for some munchies.

It seemed to be taking a while for them to server a group of three people in front of me, glad we were early as they seemed to take ages, not to worry, we waited.

Then it was our turn…

Me: Medium coke and a medium popcorn please…

Him: What?

Me: Medium coke and medium popcorn please (slower and louder)…

Him: You can get a bundle, it’s cheaper.

Me: OK, if it’s the same thing then sure…

Him: What size?

Me: Um, a medium please…

Him: It’s a large drink and medium popcorn as a bundle…

Me: Ah ok, so that’s cheaper than what I asked for is it?

Him: No response… just an unfortunate stare back at me…

Me: OK, yes, the large coke and the medium popcorn then, as a bundle please…

Him: He gets the popcorn and puts it in front of me.

Him: And what drink with that?

Me: Didn’t that include the coke that I asked for in the bund… Oh, you mean what flavour drink did I want now since we have been discussing cokes for the last 10 minutes…

Me: A coke please.

Him: Gets me a coke.

Him: Anything else with that?

Me: No… (thanks for asking, but did I ask for anything else before?)

Him: Spends another few minutes on the til and makes up a price.

Me: I pay, I get change, I get my own straw and head off…

Not sure if I even got a thank you or come-again, but I really didn’t feel like I had a good experience.

This could have been a lot quicker and easier if this person that worked there, ready to take my order just listened to me and thought about what I wanted instead of pretending to be dumb at each and every point in the transaction.

It could have gone like this;

Him: Hi, what would you like?

Me: A Medium Coke and a Medium popcorn please.

Him: Sure, you can get a large coke and medium popcorn as a bundle and it’s cheaper.

Me: Yes, sounds good, please.

Him: Gets medium popcorn, gets a large coke and hands me a straw…

Him: Anything else?

Me: No thanks.

Him: Calls up price quickly and gives me the right change.

Is that not a bit easier on everybody concerned, including those behind me late for another movie waiting for this process to take place?

Of course customisations are just that, a personal selection of changes that you, the individual might want to make so this list is by no means definitive of what you must have, but commonly, for web surfers, I expect these will be of benefit to you.

X-Marks (Formerly Foxmarks)

This bookmark add-on provides a great array of features for when you bookmark a site. My biggest problem is that I bookmark a site at work and then don’t have that available when I get on my computer at home, this is the solution.

It allows you to submit your bookmarks and even user/form data up to a server to synchronise across multiple machines. You could use it in an organisation to collect group bookmarks or as a personal service like myself, where I like to have my bookmarks on all my computers. Better yet, the new service even allows you to log into their web site and access them from any PC, you don’t need to install the add-on to get your information.

It adds a lot of search and tagging functions to the bookmarks as they are created making them easier to find later and it provide various levels of opt-in and security settings to keep things private.

Download Statusbar

Although this may seem a simple module I find it very useful as it removes the need for a pop-up download manager and extra screens that get in the way.

This add-on puts an easily visible status of any downloads down in the footer of the main screen of your browser showing the download rates and the overall percentage of file remaining.

Don’t underestimate it’s power, it then lets you easily double-click and activate the download or right-click open folder to go straight to the file. There are a few more option and settings this small app allows, but with a simple and default install I make it a requirement on all my setups.

IE View or IE View Lite

I am not going to lie to you, I hate the fact that I need to have this plug-in. I don’t want it, I shouldn’t need it but the people at ye ‘ol Microsoft make it necessary.

Now this is the case both as a web developer and also just as a general web surfer. I use Hotmail (or now Live) and I also have MS Exchange used at work for web based email. You only get the full functionality when your access them with IE so this is the tool to solve those problems. You can set it to activate on sites by name (live.com) or just switch with the click of a mouse when you want to switch over allowing you to test things in both views. It’s handy and it maintains your Firefox tabs while giving you the full IE experience these ‘special’ web sites require.

Google Gears

This may not be for everybody, but if you do use Google services including Gmail then I recommend it.

It provides a link between your browser apps and your desktop, bringing some of the web functionality into an environment within your browser and by doing this it can increase the ability of the program and also it’s performance.

It’s a development and application environment so explaining it as more would be difficult. It has a lot of potential, like improving the performance of Gmail by having much of the functionality run in the host browser locally instead of online, while increasing functionality, like giving Google Calendar the ability to run locally and off-line entirely.

I also use it to improve the performance of Wordpress Administration and a few other sites that use it’s features. Nothing ventured, nothing gained… So if you use Google stuff then get it in your browser.

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension)

There is nothing I hate more than rebuilding a computer, setting it up with all the programs you want (or recently had before a failure) and then only to find that you have to re-customise all the programs you were using.

The solution for Firefox is FEBE, it does regular scheduled backups of your Firefox environment, including your extensions and add-ons into re-installable files. You can synchronise Firefox environments over multiple computers by installing the backups on other systems, at home and work or for colleagues and staff or after a catastrophe to get your browser back to how you had it quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

Well that is the Five Features for Firefox and should set you up to enjoy the program a little more. Each of these listed above has a link to the site that provides a ‘download’ button. When clicked in Firefox will start the install of the .xpi application, then normally under the tools menu your can select it or attend to it’s settings.

Taking this a step further, I have some extra functions that I can not leave the home without, for web development they are a necessary inclusion in the toolkit but for general network related things that you might be doing with your site, your blog or work files, you find them handy too.

FireFTP

Puts the ‘F’ into FTP, File Transfer Protocol was one of the first ways the Internet moved files and it’s still used today to put files into web sites, upload attachments to emails and various other file moving requirements on the net.

This does it for you in a nice GUI way, within your browser. I am always using it to upload wordpress installations to the host, set permissions on files, change configurations in text files and so much more.

Firebug

All the wonderful code behind a web page can be checked and viewed and tested using Firebug. It splits your web page into parts that show you the code and style sheet information  you need to see to ensure your web pages are working properly, or where they are going wrong when not.

Web pages are getting all the more complicated to present, and if you writing a blog like this one to building templates and content management systems, this tool is a must.

Ubiquity

This is a strange one to explain, and even more so to get the most from. It’s a scripting platform that resides in the browser and acts on key commands rather than a gui interface.

The best feature I use of this is the ability to send web page content in an email.

The scenario: you see a great web page (Dilbert of course) and you want to pass it to a friend, you could;

1. Paste the link in the email – boring…
2. Save the picture as a file on your desktop, then insert it as an attachment in your work email – risky and too much work.
3. You select the image on the web page and ‘email selection to myfriend@…’ and click send. – easy!

It’s all context sensitive and text based, and you can add to or create more scripts for the system if your into that kind of thing. CTRL-SPACE brings up the window and as your typing commands it presents answers and results.

(select content) and Map these…, email to… wiki search…, twitter, digg, tinyurl shortcuts (and more) make it easy to move web page content into functional systems directly.

DropBox

Now this is more than an add-in, it’s a full program that runs on Windows, Mac or Linux but it’s well worth it. The program synchronises a folder and the files contained in it with your account on their host site.

For up to 2Gb it’s free and it’s been running like a charm for me for some months. The first benefit of course is that you have a backup folder, whatever is in your dropbox folder is also copied into your account in their cloud (internet) site so if your hard drive fails, you have a copy there.

The other benefit is that you can install the same program on your home pc as well as at work and on a linux based eepc, whatever, and you have a shared folder space all synchronised.

Put a doc into your dropbox and it will be on your pc at home ready for you to continue working on, even on your laptop on the train journey home, open, update and save and the new version is updated on your other machines.

You can pay for more space, and I may consider it soon as it’s really becoming a necessary place for me to use (and abuse) but aside from the above obvious examples use there a few more tricks this has been used for…

• It also provides a public folder space, you can share files through a URL for people to get files from your account. Put pictures, programs whatever you create and share, put a link on your web site with almost no limits to size and frequency they get downloaded and hosted for free.
• Use the FEBE program above and set your backup folder to save inside your dropbox folder, that way when FEBE does a backup of your Firefox configuration, it’s automatically copied to the cloud and you can’t loose it.
• I can’t run torrent downloaders at work, but I can search and get .torrent files, so a trick I have seen used is to save a torrent (at work) in a dropbox/torrent folder and at home your PC has a torrent program running looking at the mirrored dropbox/torrent folder for updates, as soon as your torrent is uploaded to your home machine it will start downloading the file over the peer-to-peer network. Tricky.

OK, that last one might be stretching it for you…

The above are all free and available extensions and programs at the time of writing, I hope you enjoy them as much as I rely on them daily for work and normal working on the net.

I am not affiliated with any of the programs or authors above (but I am willing to accept donations) however I am happy to provide my recommendations to programs that are useful and work well like those listed.

Need I say more?

Windows Update: Install new Windows Update software: To check for updates, you must first install an update for Windows Update. Your automatic updating settings will not change. To install the update, Windows Update will automatically close and re-open.

Pity the button wasn’t labeled ‘Install Update’

I have been reading about this new browser for the last couple of days, and most of the development was delivered in a 35 page story in comic form detailing all the ideas and processes that lead to the new program. It interested me and I couldn’t wait for the release today.

Then I got to my desk, one more check… Wow, the page is now there and the program is ready for download. So that’s exactly what I preceded to do and my first are impressions are as follows…

From Firefox the downloader starts fairly quickly and the installation begins…

The old browser then needs to be closed to import all the settings…

And then, even on my slow old machine, within a couple of minutes it runs…

At this point I can already see this is an application that runs quickly, like a new clean toy without all the bloat-ware, it is clean and polished. So now it’s running, lets go surfing

I have a few regular sites I check, like a newspaper each morning, so lets go through them and see how they present.

Slashdot is my first web site I visit. I was worried for a second, after clicking the bookmark nothing happened for a moment and then things started moving. The page began to load and things popped up, ah it worked.

I saw an interesting status area at the bottom, not a permanent status bar, but an information area that’s less obstructing. Nice move

An article about Mozilla’s POV on Chrome appears, I might be one of the first to download and review this application, and I am sure I wont be the last. Scrolling down the page is very nice, as I said before I have a slow machine at work and I can see page update delays on things like this, this is a very nice app and seems so far to be very well optimised.

Engaget, great all loaded well and this is a heavy CSS site, very quick.

BoingBoing… WOW! That is the quickest I have ever had that load and display, this browser is a treat.

Digg, again very fast and clean.

All the sites that I normally go to are working very well and no sign of delays or screen rendering problems at all.

Lets dig(g) deeper and try some other web features. Our Australian news paper sites and the more dynamic places distribute flash and video streaming and are big circulation items so to give these a go. All work and look fine and again, all running and displaying fast.

I am like a kid in a candy store, looking at everything yet not sure what to pick next.

Ah, my first pause, going to a video link presented me with a pop-up blocker,

I can close it but it gives me little other information. Clicking on the bar area itself though then brings up the pop-out in a window attached to the bar itself, very nice (except it was off the bottom of my screen and I had to drag it up). Then, while writing this blog, the video started and displayed, again perfectly.

I am determined to find a fault, something that breaks my new browser, it has to happen…

As detailed in many articles before, the biggest difference in this browser is the top area presenting the tabs and URL entry. It’s all upside-down from previous ways, but it makes much more sense, the application is a multi-doc program with the tabs the top-most part of breaking up the web pages. Below and within this is the URL areas and technically within this is separate processing of the page content, java and embedded application.

Strangely, the bookmarks area is within and below the tabs and url window. Given the philosophy of the tabs and the way they are in the system, i would have expected the bookmarks to be above this, yet they are within it, strange.

Each of these pages and content and processes are ’sand-boxed’ to keep them separate and independent. It makes for greater reliability and security as well as being managed into the system better as tabs and pages are removed and added.

At this stage I have done nothing but install the application and try some web sites, sure I have flash, acrobat and media players already installed on my system but I have yet to do any customisation or worry about plug-ins etc.

Configuration Options;

The tabs for the config window include, ‘Basics’, ‘Minor Tweaks’ and ‘Under the Hood’ but all present very basic arrangement of settings and controls that most people will be able to understand if they need to change them.

Also under the configuration icon is a history section showing a list of pages recently visited and easily managed.

There were some other features mentioned in the preceding documentation about sectioning of tabs/windows to be more secure and separate from normal defaults, so it doesn’t record history and the like, I am yet to find how to activate this.

The one last area I want to cover is the URL entry bar, this has been changed from the standards implemented before and it should provide me with ways to easily find urls and historical pages/sites.

By typing in ’slash’ a list of about 7 items appear, urls or sites that I have visited including of course, slashdot.org, but also I see that this list is updating dynamically from the web to include wikipedia entries and the like. I think this will be a useful tool as it learns your habits and filters results based on your actual needs.

Found it, the ‘New Page’ function includes an ‘Incognito’ window.

This makes a quick browsing to banking sites and other places, particularly on a shared computer a must have.

The other feature is a new ‘home’ page which presents a browsing history on loading the application. Now that I have done some surfing, the ‘home page’ is now presented as a quick access site mapper,

So that’s it for now, a quick view of the newest browser on the block, Google Chrome.

Speed: 10 | Reliability: 10 | Functionality: 10

The Connex group who has the primary contract for running metropolitan railways services here in Melbourne, after months of discussing options on how to ferry more passengers, after amending their timetables to help just a little, who back-stepped on rejecting bicycles on trains, who haven’t yet delivered on their promise to remove seats and call commuters land sardines, have now come up with a brilliant plan to make rail commuting a wondrous thing…

They are going to change the seat covers.

Yes, bright new seat covers to some 43,000 seats are going to make the conditions better. No more sitting on torn seats, or ones with holes, they will now be comfortable, at least to those who can actually get a seat, we still have many more standing-sardine commuters yet to satisfy. Perhaps some new floor coverings for those on their feet?

These new covers are the latest technology in hard wearing materials, they will last longer, better, stronger and faster, we hope. Really? Has there been some materials manufacturing revolution in the last 5 years that I wasn’t aware of? Is it really possible to make cloth covered foam better now than at the turn of the 21st century?

Will somebody actually do something to improve public transport in Melbourne?

Something, somebody, anything… No new services, no new carriages, no extended services, no new ticketing system. All of these things have been discussed and considered and even truckloads of money spent on developing and investigating and yet… Nothing.

Speaking of passenger comfort, what is with these bus drivers and how smooth they drive?

I have been using them for a while now, going to the city for work every day, the regular commute. It is not the sardine can that the train system has become or the nightmare of the tram network but it does have it’s issues and when you see it and use it every day it’s easy to start to find fault. This is what I do and I don’t mind saying so when it gets to me. This blog is my way of getting irritations of my chest even if nobody reads it.

Are all bus drivers bad drivers? Can they not understand that bouncing your foot up and down on the gas peddle like your peddling the thing along is harsh for the bus, bad for the fuel economy and an all round pain for the passengers? I sit on the hard seat trying to enjoy the ride (reminds me, we could do with some new seat covers) while the bus lurches from the stop, new passengers still walking to seats are flung down the isle toward the rear and then when up to speed, not the road speed limit, just some arbitrary speed the driver decides, pulls the foot off, then plants it again, then off, and on, then on one big final time before hitting the brakes, pulling up short, then pushing forward again, 3 feet past the waiting passengers to a stop, almost with a screech. Pchshshsh… Passengers get on and then are flung down the isle.

It’s painful, my back hurts trying to hold myself in the seat, people are flung all over the place, it is not very customer friendly.

It must be bad for the fuel bill to, using that accelerator like a water pistol, squirting diesel into that straining motor again and again. The drive train stretching from push to pull, grunting the bus forward and back.

And then there are the traffic lights, pulling up behind a few cars at a red light and stopping. Then for no visible reason launching forward all of 6 inches and stopping again, closer to the stationary car in front of us, and again, another 3 inches. Then the lights go green, there is a pause, but the bus goes anyway and then in a realisation the car hasn’t moved yet, slams on the brakes, as the car takes off with the traffic and the bus is there, stationary for another moment before taking off again. What a waste of effort.

There is no feedback system, it doesn’t matter if a driver screws up, if the busses are late, if they continue to miss their stops or just not arrive at all. If they are bad drivers or are abusive it doesn’t matter because the companies above them don’t care. Seriously, they don’t want to know, they don’t want to listen and god forbid, if they actually knew enough about reality to do something constructive for their clients, the p-a-s-s-e-n-g-e-r-s.

Their business is to maintains their rolling stock, employ the number of people required to drive them and above all else, negotiate contracts with the government to own the situation. Nothing more.

They don’t provide a service to the public, never have and never will and they don’t care what happens because they are not accountable.

What a fucken liberty!