Author: Trefor Davies

Liver of life, father of four, CTO of trefor.net, writer, poet, philosopherontap.com

TaxiCab App to Replace Hailo

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Friday, 4 July, 2014

TaxiCab, an app developed by cabbies for cabbies is to replace Hailo

Riding in a black cab today I noticed that there was a big X in gaffer tape across the Hailo advert. Remembering my recent gushes about Uber (ici et ici ¹) I got into conversation with the driver.

According to the driver Hailo has been around for 3 years or so and was bringing in a lot of business to London Taxi drivers. However 6 weeks ago cab hailing company apparently announced that they would also be including Minicabs (Hailo says Exec cars, taxi driver said they were effectively Minicabs). The Taxi drivers don’t like this and my driver said they had started to drop the service – hence the X over the ad.

Apparently the app isn’t yet available but in the interest of research I Googled it. Apart from Hailo I could only find cab:app which sounds similar because it has been developed by taxi drivers but doesn’t look anything like the app I was shown.

The Hailo move can only be in response to Uber hitting town. Maybe finding an image of the new TaxiCab app is a scoop. Exciting eh! One imagines that competition is good thing.

It must surely be unusual to find a taxi driver who can code although I do recall years ago that a cabbie won the TV quiz programme Mastermind. Today I was in London to visit Telehouse in greenwich – just next to the O2. I did ponder using Uber but the Jubilee line gets you straight there and it just didn’t make sense – transport modes for courses as they say:)

You may well have heard it first on trefor.net – especially if you have been manning the Antartic Survey and have only recently returned because you won tickets for Wimbledon in the ballot – but that is another story.

TaxiCab, by taxi drivers for taxi drivers…

¹ Oui, ohohiho

fun stuff Weekend

Lego Birthday Cake – For a 60-Year-Old

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Thursday, 3 July, 2014

There is something poignant about a 60 year old getting a lego birthday cake.

Kid3 plays the trumpet and each year since he was around 13 he has been asked to blow the last post at Remembrance Day services. There is something hugely poignant about a boy playing the Last Post. The new generation paying their respects to the people who died to make his life possible.

At the other end of the spectrum it seems quite appropriate that a bloke celebrating his 60th birthday does so with a lego birthday cake. As you can see from the featured picture the candles were made of lego.

The lego candles were very artistic. When lit the candle wax ran down the side of white icing on the cake, as if the cake was bleeding bringing further poignancy to the evening.

Didn’t last long. Soon the cake was destroyed, consumed, rendered into oblivion with only the fleetest of memories lingering after what was an entirely adult evening in the West Wend Tap. Quite fortunately, pixel technology has allowed us to hold on to the vision.

I personally rarely get a birthday cake let alone a lego birthday cake. Mrs Davies is trying to get me slimmer. I have to satisfy myself with slices of others’. It would be churlish to turn down a slice of lego birthday cake. Innit? Fortunately as we have four offspring this is a reasonably regular occurrence and as the kids like to do home baking, often making cakes at the spur of a free moment I don’t do too badly. My personal favourite is chocolate with a cream filling but the most important thing is that the cake is light and fluffy.

Pictures below – sign at West End Tap and another sign at a bar at the Students Union at Newcastle University (fwiw). Oh and the birthday boy? Terry Mackown.

Apps Business google travel

Uber London Integrated with Google Maps

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Wednesday, 2 July, 2014

Uber is now very cleverly integrated with Google Maps and appears in the list of options of directions for public transport – Uber London

On a visit to Telehouse in London Docklands I checked out the optimum directions to get there using Google Maps. To my surprise Uber came up as an option. This is very impressive.

It made me think of Uber London as the taxiing equivalent to Tesco: a large organisation with the clout to develop tools that help it sell and make money. Uber is the Tesco, black cabs are the small retail outlets being affected by the new out of town superstore.

What’s more Uber appeared on the list uber-discreetly. I didn’t feel it was being shoved in my face. Indeed I was surprised and delighted to see it there. Google must in anycase have rules about that sort of thing. Can’t have a third party muscling in too robustlyon its act.

Presumably one has to have the Uber App installed which I do. Selecting the Uber option in “directions” takes you to the app. You will recall that I only recently installed Uber whilst in London for the Pissup In A Brewery which helped me out in getting a car from South Bermondsey to Kings Cross Station.

On this latest trip I needed to get from Crawford Street in W1 to Mitre Passage in Greenwich S10. As it happens on this occasion it is just as easy, and certainly a lot cheaper, to get the Jubilee line on the Underground. It involves only a short walk either side although summer on the tube ain’t great.

The Uber option didn’t appear when I used Maps on my Chromebook. This is something that Google might want to consider in their roadmap – the convergence of Android and Chromebook ecosystems.

Uber London – you know it makes sense, or Uber all I’d say Uber London was a winner:)

Engineer engineering food and drink fun stuff peering

Pissup in a Brewery – Photographic Proof of a Great LONAP-Sponsored Evening

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Wednesday, 2 July, 2014

Pictures from the trefor.net Pissup In A Brewery held at the Fourpure brewery in London on Thursday 26th June

The Pissup In A Brewery, twas a good night. Sponsored by LONAP it was mostly LONAP members and guests. The rain held off, the food was universally acclaimed as fantastic, the beer was pure, copious and appreciated by all.

I’ve been to two other Pissup In A Brewery events, or Pissups In A Brewery. The first was with Bethesda RFC to a brewery in Liverpool, Castle Eden I think it may have been although time plays tricks with the memory, especially where a brewery is involved. We declined a tour of the brewery in order to maximise the efficiency of our two hours’ free bar. You can imagine the carnage of a coach load of rugby players let loose in the bar. We stopped in Rhyl for fish and chips on the way home. That’s all I can remember.

The other Pissup In A Brewery was at Batemans’ in AWainfleet. Wainfleet was once a port but the river has long since silted up and it is now a cosy village a few skims of a flat stone from the coast. It was a friend’s birthday and we didn’t find out until the end of the trip that he had paid for the lot of us.After the tour we retired to a pie and a pint on one of the local Batemans pubs. V civilised.

Last Thursday’s Pissup In A Brewery was held at Dan Lowe’s Fourpure brewery in South Bermondsey a stone’s throw from Millwall FC. Nuff said. You will note that the phrase Pissup In A Brewery gets repeated a number of times in the post. This is simply because the phrase to me seems to have become a brand in its own right. I can envisage having lots of pissups in lots of breweries. Reality is we might just repeat it next year, Dan Lowe and sponsorship willing. Like I said, twas a great night.

Thanks to LONAP for the sponsorship, thanks to Fourpure Brewery for having us, thanks to Richard Gibbs Catering for a great barbecue and thanks to all who came and enjoyed themselves and helped makeit such an enjoyable night.

Tags pissup in a brewery

bitcoin Business google

Bitcoin exchange UK – First Bitcoin exchange to get a UK Bank Account

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Tuesday, 1 July, 2014
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bitcoin on google finance,bitcoin exchange uk

Further steps towards the endorsement of Bitcoin as a currency by both USA and UK governments with the opening of a Bitcoin exchange in UK and the Bitcoin Auction in the USA.

Bitcoin exchange UK – City of London based Bitcoin exchange coinfloor.co.uk now has a bank account in the Isle of Man. RBS – UK government owned & connected to the faster payments network (RBS is probably in need of every source of income it can get).

This coincides with yesterday’s US Marshals Service (USMS) auction of 29,000 bitcoins confiscated from Silk Road last year. A number of parties have stated that they took part in the auction but bids as high as $650 were insufficient. The Bitcoin price at the time was around $610. This morning the bitcoin market price is up to around $650 with rumours on Twitter that it could go as high as $900 (don’t buy based on what I’m saying here 🙂 )

The real news is the effective endorsement of Bitcoin as a currency by both the US and UK governments. A Bitcoin exchange in the UK it is of particular interest as hitherto you have had to buy and sell Bitcoins offshore.

The fact that the IOM based offshoot of RBS is involved does point to a tentative first toe dip in the Bitcoin water by UK Gov. Further endorsement comes from the fact that Bitcoin is actively monitored by Google’s Finance ages – see featured pic/screenshot. Today’s GBP is £386 which is up 32% from when I bought my Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is becoming accepted by more and more businesses. I note that today US online electronics outlet Newegg is now taking the currency. I might even consider taking payments for ads on trefor.net in Bitcoin. Watch this space for further news on this.

You might have heard it first on trefor.net:)

Bank account details (not all but I have them):

Account Name: Capital Account

Bank Name: Royal Bank of Scotland
Account Number: ********
Sort Code: 16-58-80
IBAN: ****************
SWIFT / BIC: RBOSIMDX

Tags bitcoin exchange uk

fun stuff Weekend

Relax

events food and drink fun stuff Weekend

trefor.net website launch party – 4pm Friday 4th July

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Sunday, 29 June, 2014
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You are all invited to a free beer on Friday afternoon to celebrate the launch of the new trefor.net website – free beer.

Went to my mate Terry’s 60th birthday surprise bash at the West End Tap last night. It was a genuine surprise and nice to see the look of humility on the lad’s face when he saw how many people had turned out. Left at around 11.30pm – I’m somewhat of a lightweight these days although the fact that it was my fourth night out on the trot didn’t help. Looking forward to a quiet few days before being back in the Smoke on Wednesday.

When we got home there was a party still in full flow in our back garden. Kid3 celebrating his penultimate teen birthday. The noise had died down by the time we got in, fortunately for our relations with the neighbours and especially since I invested in a PA system. I don’t have what was traditionally called a stereo but I do have a PA system.

This morning the damage in the back garden wasn’t too bad. Nothing that a bit of hosing down didn’t sort out.

Life seems to be one long string of parties and bashes (is there a difference?). It’s good job I’ve started to go to the University of Lincoln gym which is only a 5 minute walk from the office. Need the counter effect of the 70 minute workout to offset the damages from the bashes (deliberate choice of words:). Free beer for all…

This coming Wednesday we have the 10th Anniversary of ITSPA party in the big Smoke. A big part of me says we are only here the once so we might as well enjoy ourselves whilst we are at it.

On Friday we are having an impromptu trefor.net drinks and nibbles out on the balcony at the office in Sparkhouse in Lincoln. The weather is going to be great and we will be filling the fridge the day before to make sure that the refreshments are appropriately cooled for our guests.

Everyone is welcome but we will need to know if you plan on coming so call me, message me, send a carrier pigeon, leave a comment etc. The doors will be locked so when you arrive ring my mobile and I’ll send someone from “Security” down to bring you up to the balcony. Alternatively shout up to the balcony at Sparkhouse – we will see you.

The party must finish around 7pm for no other reason that I am then heading over to the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre (LPAC) to watch a Zoe Rahman gig in which Kid3 who plays the jazz trumpet, amongst other instruments, is featuring.

Party is at Room 18, Sparkhouse, Enterprise Lincoln Building, Rope Walk, Lincoln LN6 7DQ. C ya there.

The Tesco Baked Bean expose part II – 44% increase in baked beans pricing

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Saturday, 28 June, 2014
1 Comment on The Tesco Baked Bean expose part II – 44% increase in baked beans pricing

Hot on the heels my first Tesco baked beans pricing expose (6 tins or 4 – best buys) I have more news. Further investigative journalism reveals that the buggers have now dropped the price of a fourpack to two quid whilst upping the six pack from two fifty to three sixty. wossatallaboutwtf?

Having lulled us into thinking that two fifty was the standard pricing for the sixpack they have now stuck it with a whopping forty four percent increase. So you can now either pay fifty pence for a can of beans or sixty! They must think their customers are total morons. It is also intuitive to assume that a bigger pack will be cheaper than the smaller pack. They are taking advantage of that type of thinking.

It must come as no surprise that Tesco profits are in decline if they are messing about with prices like this. It leads to loss of faith and trust in the brand.

That’s all.

Will the real Dee Camfield please step forward

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Saturday, 28 June, 2014
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Sometimes you gotta laugh. Got a friend request on Facebook from Dee Camfield. Who? Dee Camfield?

I took a look. Dee is from Chepstow but studied management at Korea University. An unusual combination I think you will agree. Dee only has two Facebook friends which is a bit of a shame. It can be a lonely life studying management at Korea University whilst living in Chepstow.

Dee is a little confused really. In her profile picture she looks quite lovely but she only recently changed it from the one in the second screenshot. Seems to have had a sex change. A big improvement if you ask me.

There is only one post in her timeline:

처음으로 facebook에 글을 남겨 봅니다. 2월 19일 수요일

For those of you not conversant with the Korean lingo (and I know it does take some time to master) it means “First, try to leave posts on facebook. Wednesday February 19”.

I didn’t accept her (his?) friend request. She’s (he’s?) not my type really. Sorry Dee. Maybe Dee is a real person?! I’d say looks a bit dodgy. I don’t know what made Dee choose me. Perhaps she has a computer that runs a script and is working her way through Facebook. The fact that only two ~~mugs~~ people seem to have accepted the friend request suggests that Dee needs to go back to scam school and do a bit more studying. Fair play.

In the meantime some of us have a jobs list to get on with. It is the weekend you know.

Business travel

Uber duber

Uber duber impressive taxi service in London.

Thursday night in London was the venue of the LONAP sponsored trefor.net Pissup In A Brewery. It was a terrific event and we have a ton of photos but there was nobody in the office on Friday so you’re gonna have to wait till the week to see them. Video also on the way.

The evening drew to a close at around 8.45 (it was an early doors bash) and our train was at 10 pm. Plenty of time to get from South Bermondsey to King’s X. Don’t know if you’ve ever been to South Bermondsey – home of Millwall FC? It’s not exactly on the beaten track. Black cabs struggle with it. In fact if you think you will find a black cab cruising the area on the off chance of picking up a fare you should think again.

Enter uber stage left. On Thursday night the weather had been just right. The barbecue was outside and people were able to comfortably spill out of the brewery to enjoy the midsummer evening. Towards the end of the Pissup it started to drizzle. That was ok. The evening had been a terrific success and a bit of gentle summer rain did not detract from this. The rain did however dampen our enthusiasm about walking to the train station and certainly made the notion of trying to find a taxi quite unattractive.

Fret not dear reader. I had earlier downloaded the Uber app. It was the work of seconds. I whipped out my trusty droid and summoned a car, opting for an executive job seeing as there were three of us and we had paraphenalia in the shape of banners and signs to cart back. Within fifteen minutes a Mercedes had turned up.

I could tell beforehand exactly when the car was going to arrive as the app tracked its progress, I knew the name of the driver and the make and colour of the vehicle. Just before it got to our location I also received a text message letting me know of its imminent arrival. The whole experience was extremely impressive.

The fare, which was automatically covered by the credit card I had preregistered with the Uber system was £25 for the 31 minute journey. On the way out to the Pissup, one of the team, Rob, had hopped in a black cab as he had all the promo stuff to carry. The taxi not only struggled to find the brewery but also cost him £40.

The Black Cabs are currently up in arms about Uber claiming that the service operates illegally. I had no views before Thursday night. However my experience was so good that I have become an instant fan of Uber. Black Cabs have their place in the service mix. They have all indeed undergone a lengthy period of training to pass the “knowledge” so I might be able to live with the higher prices where it suits me – walking out of a pub on a busy central London street or arriving at the rank at a station.

Whether the London Taxi driver community like it or not my experience with Uber was so good, their product is so good, that they are clearly here to stay. If cabbies don’t like it that’s tough I’m afraid. Technology moves on and the world changes, in this case definitely for the better.

PS was chatting with Jahed the driver who said he was happy with the money he got from Uber. His biggest fare was £292 when some kids signed up for an account with a stolen card. He picked them up at 9pm and drove them around central London until 1.30 am. He got paid by Uber but they never got the cash off the card company. Inneresting innit!

Other unbelievably good reads mentioning the word taxi:

Dad’s taxi

Level crossings and the quirks of the taxi fare system

What price a taxi?

Virgin taxi grinds to a halt

competitions fun stuff travel Weekend

World cup football – the movie

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Wednesday, 25 June, 2014
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The football world cup reminds me of the movie “Those magnificent men in their flying machines”. For those far too young to remember the movie was a comedy where pilots of many different nationalities converged on the UK to participate in a flying race to Paris. There were joke teams, dastardly skulduggery that went wrong, love interest and all the typical sterotypes of the British psyche. The good guys won. of course.

Now many nationalities from around the world have flown in to Rio for a competition. There is heroism, pathetic failure and skulduggery, excitement, high tension and disappointment – the English team is going home early. No sign of a love interest sub plot though – the WAGs were banned from convening. That was a waste of time wasn’t it? Perhaps had the wives and girlfriends been allowed to travel the team might have done better.

I happened last night to be watching Uruguay v Italy in a fairly disinterested way until the “alleged”¹ biting incident made me want Italy to win. That was the skulduggery. Oh and there are match fixing allegations.

And all this under the umbrella of an organisation that is itself under suspicion for lack of transparency and dodgy dealings. One has to ask why anyone bothers when you can watch a cricket test match that lasts the full five days and goes down to the penultimate ball for a result. At least with the world cup we haven’t had news of brand police spoiling the party as was the case with the London 2012 Olympics. It must surely cost the sponsors just as much and doesn’t leave people with a bad taste regarding the organising committee.

Playing now on a TV screen near you – Football World Cup – The Movie.

Essential office furniture – the drinks fridge

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Tuesday, 24 June, 2014
1 Comment on Essential office furniture – the drinks fridge

We have a new item of essential furniture in our office: the Husky Stella Artois Refrigerator otherwise known as the drinks fridge.

A drinks fridge is something I have wanted for years. It began when I once visited Sir Terry Matthews’ office in Canada. This multi-billionnaire owner of Mitel had his own drinks fridge in his office. I thought to myself if Terry can have one then it must be right.

Unfortunately I’ve always worked for a business with a professional outlook on life and that being so felt that a fridge in the office would look somewhat out of kilter.

This is no longer the case. trefor,net has attitude, no constraints, no concerns over corporate image to hold back free thinking and initiative creation. trefor.net now has a fridge. All it currently contains is a jug of filtered water and what’s left of a pint of milk. However the plan is to fill it with suitable other liquids for the ongoing and ad hoc refreshment of the staff.

Once when I visited a Cisco facility at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina I noticed that their kitchen had floor to ceiling fridges filled with drinks. Well our needs aren’t quite that extensive but I will show a picture of a suitably filled fridge at the nearest opportunity. Not this week mind you as I am out of the office after today.

For future reference though if anyone is in Lincoln on Friday afternoon from say 4pm onwards they should feel free to swing by Room 18 at Sparkhouse and join us in some cool refreshment. Ease into the weekend. Feel the lurve…

The Mexican mask & a pith helmet from San Diego Zoo

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Tuesday, 24 June, 2014
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You don’t need a great idea to stick a blog post up. A picture is prompt enough. This mask was on the wall of a Mexican restaurant near our hotel in Orlando for the Genband Perspectivres14 conference.

I have been to Mehico, just the once. In a previous life I used to go each July to the Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference in the US of A. It was a brilliant annual event although not particularly publicised for obvious reasons. NSREC used to travel around the country to popular holiday spots, often because some places in the USA were cheap in July due to it being low season.

One year we went to San Diego, which never has a low season. Lots of stories including our Chief Scientist at the time missing his flight connection in Chicago because he had been sat at the wrong gate. Arrived hours after us, tired and needing a drink. The rest of us were about ready to hit the hay. There was a piano bar at the hotel called Kelly’s Irish Bar where every night towards the end of the evening we would finish up. The Chief Scientist, John Kerr was a dab hand at the jazz piano¹ and he would sit in during the pianist’s breaks.

We always had Wednesday afternoons off as I recall and we decided to hire a car and nip over the border to Tijuana. It was only afterwards we found out that the perceived wisdom was to not take a hire car over the border. Arriving at Tijuana we drove around trying to find the centre of town. Turns out there wasn’t one.

All we got was a bit of a car park and a few shops. I bought about $40 worth of local currency “just in case”. We had no reason to hang around the centre of Tijuana as there was absolutely nothing there. Driving to the coast we passed large shanty town on the hillsides. A real eye opener to a small town boy from Lincoln.

The Pacific coast, when we got there was quite picturesque and had a large number of bars sticking out on stilts over the the clifftop. We had decided before hand not to trust any food in Mehico but beer was ok and in we trooped to one of the bars. Unfortunately the bar tender whipped out some of the hottest salsa any of us had ever tasted together with some very authentic corn tortilla chips fresh out of the fryer. Didn’t manage to spend half the currency and was saddled with it for years afterwards. May still have it in a drawer upstairs.

The after effects of the chips and salsa were felt for days afterwards:)

On our last day we visited the world famous San Diego Zoo. It’s fame was well deserved. The gorrila enclosure was particularly impressive and prompted me to mention that all we lacked were pith helmets. Well knock me down with a thirty pound sledge hammer if we didn’t turn a corner to find a stand selling pith helmets. I had to buy one of course. Still have it. Must have worn it, oo at least twice in the intervening 20 years. Fancy dress parties.

Pictures below for you delight and delectation.

Other fabulastic travel reads include:

Hawaiian shirts and alligators
Kennedy Space Centre
Ronnie Scotts & The Haywood Sisters

¹ He was also a Jehova’s Witness, a poker player and drank like a fish which is a somewhat unusual combination I’d say.

travel Weekend

Nautical themed fountain at Lincoln Brayford Pool

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Monday, 23 June, 2014
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Don’t ask me why I think this fountain has a nautical theme. Just feels as if it does. Not sure I’ve even seen water flowing in it but hey… Council cutbacks perhaps. It’s on the waterfront at Lincoln’s Brayford Pool. Next to Wagamama.

travel Weekend

Dad’s taxi

All those years ago when I went to university I had to be able to carry everything myself. I caught the ferry to Liverpool from Douglas in the Isle of Man, walked to James Street underground station, tube to Rock Ferry, change to catch train to Chester and change again for the Holyhead train stopping at Bangor. I remember that on the first occasion I also had to change at Llandudno Junction. It was a bit of a trek and that first time I did it I had a rucksack filled with LPs on my back,a guitar, a record player and a suitcase.

Arriving at Bangor train station it was fortunate that there was a minibus taking people to their halls of residences. Phew. At Neuadd John Morris Jones I seemed to be the only person who had made his own way there. Everyone else had turned up in a Volvo estate with ma and pa. I can tell you it made me feel quite superior.

Nowadays it is a different generation of Davies’ going to University. Kid2 has just finished her second year at Durham. I went to pick her up in the Jeep. It’s a good job the car is a big one. With five seats flat in the back two rows we still filled the boot. Took us an hour the two of us to load up. I’m not complaining. It’s what dads are there for. Girls have different needs to boys don’t they? Eh?

Just thought you’d appreciate the pics of all the stuff. I thought I’ve leave enough room to just see out through the rear view mirror but it didn’t work out like that. The last photo is of the pile of rubbish in the back alley outside the house. Most of the properties in the street will have been rented out to students. Nothing changes.

The contents of the Jeep filling up our front room.

Note the token carton of milk.

Kid2 is off abroad now for her year out. In one sense it makes no difference whether she is in Durham or anywhere else in the world. Facebook and Google Hangouts keeps us in touch. I dropped her off at East Midlands Airport this morning. No hanging about! She will be back in three weeks for a flying visit and then off again to start work proper in Toledo. Don’t mind telling you I’m proud of her.

One other final note. During the week she accidentally spilt water on her Chromebook. It is now kaput. £200 later the new one was up and running in seconds. You know it makes sense…

End User scams

Another Microsoft scam call – supportpconline

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Monday, 23 June, 2014
No Comments on Another Microsoft scam call – supportpconline

Quite excited to receive another Microsoft “we need to check out yourPC” scam call. It’s been nearly a year since speedytechies called. This lot were called supportpconline. Their attentive advisor Alex gave me their url to check out http://www.supportpconline.com/index_microsoft.php but it wouldn’t resolve to that – I could only access their index page.

I note that in order to find out who the owner is I need to visit privacyprotect.org. I’m not that bothered. Recording of phone call :

I bombed out after about 10 mins. He got a bit frustrated that I was using a Chromebook and not a Windows7 PC. I said who on earth would want to use a Windows7 PC. It gets scammers trying to take control of it:).

Took a spin round their website. It has a wonderful table showing the services they offer (doesn’t mention the extortion of cash¹ by pretending they are fixing something bit). Love the way that “silver” is lower than “standard” and that economy is the best service level. Clearly a bit of reverse psychology going on there. “Our best service is our cheapest”, presumably:). They have inbound lines for the UK, Australia and the USA which presumably must be their main target scam markets. Sweden gets a fax number. Bit odd innit!

Note the Vista upgrade service, only available to Exclusive and Economy subscribers. I’d be a bit pissed off if I’d paid for the Premium service (or higher) only to find it didn’t include Vista upgrades. Having said that if I was stupid enough to have a Vista based PC then I’d deserve anything I had coming. That’s their niche – the exploitation of the technically unwary.

In the interest of research I took a look to see if they had a Twitter account. They don’t seem to. Don’t they realise that they need a social media presence in modern online business world. Huh!

Ok that’s enough for now. Stay tuned for more scam phone call posts s they happen…

More “hard to believe how good these posts are but it’s true”:

Gone phishing
Another accursed PPI text
Please call 08445718136

¹ It is only fair to add that at no point in this call was there an attempt to extort cash as we didn’t get that far in our relationship. However it had all the hallmarks of such a call. Should supportpconline get in touch with convincing evidence that they aren’t scammers then I will wholeheartedly apologise. It could of course have been someone misrepresenting themselves as supportpconline.

fun stuff Weekend

Carholme Golf Club 36 Hole Comp honours board.

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Sunday, 22 June, 2014
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36 hole competition honours board ay carholme golf club in lincoln

Played Carholme Golf Club yesterday. Used to be a member but not been back for perhaps 25 years or more. Check out 1985 on the honours board for the 36 hole medal comp. Ahem.

Beautiful sunny day. Played crap but a good time was had with good company with a very refreshing lager shandy in the clubhouse after the game.

When I first moved to Lincoln I lived near Carholme Golf Club. Didn’t have a car in those days so I kept my clubs in a locker and used to walk there.

End User google mobile apps travel

Travel times to Oxford and mobile phone car kits

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Friday, 20 June, 2014
3 Comments on Travel times to Oxford and mobile phone car kits

As previously mentioned am picking up kid1 from Oxford today and transplanting him to Laandan, innit. Just checked on travel times with google maps to see when I need to set off. Intended to go to the gym before hitting the road. Unfortunately I haven’t got time to go to the gym. Google tells me the trip will take 2 hours 37 minutes to do the 132 miles and I will also want to stop for a spot of lunch, a cheeky KFC maybe (only for convenience when travelling of course).

That means I should have headed to the gym a good half an hour ago. Ah well.

In looking at google maps I wondered how long it would take to walk. That would make up for not going to the gym. 40 hours but only 121 miles. It’s a more direct route and avoids motorways obvs. Not practical as I need to be in Oxford by 2pm and the whole point of the journey is that I need the car to carry all kid1’s stuff. Taking public transport is also not an option as it would take 3 hours 42 mins and as per the walking option we wouldn’t have the car to carry his stuff in our onward direction.

For completeness I thought you’d like to know that were I to cycle it should take 12 hours 3 minutes to do the 141 miles. Don’t ask why they tell cyclists to take a longer route than the pedestrians. Maybe the latter uses pedestrian precincts for part of the trip. Would make sense as one could probably buy a sandwich and a bottle of water from a shop from the pedestrian precinct. The getting there by plane option is greyed out, presumably because google realises that Lincoln only has RAF airfields and no commercial airport.

It does somewhat come as a surprise that google hasn’t recommended any hotels for an overnight stay on both the pedestrian and cycling maps. Surely they don’t think I’d be able to walk for 40 hours without an overnight stay. It would be a miracle if I could walk that distance full stop, without getting into training for it. Same applies for the cycling – one’s bum would get particularly sore I’d imagine.

So the car is it and it is nearly time for me to hit the road. Before I go I’d like to relate a telephone conversation with Kevin Murphy of BT (he of running the Olympics project for BT fame and who now runs voice for that company). I was at the garage getting my car boot hydraulics fixed so that the boot would stay up without my having to use a broom handle to prop it up – v handy when moving a kid from Oxford to Laandan. I was on my mobile in the garage ~~canteen~~ room with table and chair and the darn phone got cut off three times. It as only after the third time and I was looking out of the window when I saw Dave the mechanic gesturing. Whenever he moved the car the bloomin hands free system took over the phone audio and I lost the conversation.

I switched off bluetooth, rang Kevin back again and finished the discussion. Kevin is coming to do the Keynote speech at ITSPA’s forthcoming 10th Anniversary celebrations on July 3rd. Check it out here. If you are in the VoIP game you should be there.

That’s it. Gotta go to Oxford. Ciao.

Other fairly interesting google maps posts:

Jet tries to land in Russell Square
Google location incorrect since moving home

End User security

Lock screen strategy – show your home phone number

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Friday, 20 June, 2014
No Comments on Lock screen strategy – show your home phone number

Showing your home phone number on your lock screen could avoid a lot of problems if the phone is lost.

I’ve always had “Tref’s phone” as text on the lock screen on my phone. Once when the phone was accidentally left on the bar at the cricket club it was returned to me immediately. V handy.

The other day I was chatting to someone whose kid had somehow left their phone on a bus. Must have fallen out of his pocket. Wasn’t certain it wasn’t stolen but it was certainly gone. They reported the loss at a police station and were able to track that phone but not in sufficient real time to catch up with whoever had whipped it.

At the police station they could see the phone moving alongside the Brayford pool (see yesterday’s pic of swans). They rang the phone but it immediately disappeared off the screen. Clearly it must have been thrown in the water.

Now the moral of this tale is all about the lock screen. Had the kid had his home phone number on the lock screen there is a chance the problem would not have arisen. The “finder” could have rung the home number. Maybe even collected a reward. As it is the phone was permanently lost. A locked phone is no use to anyone. Why steal it?

I can see a scenario or two where this might not work. If a girl had her home phone number on her phone and someone picked it up off the table in a night club for example. The chances are she is probably quite choosy about who she shares that number with.

I’ve changed my lock screen to include my home number. Makes a lorra sense to me.

That could be it for today. Moving kid1 from Oxford to London. That’s Lincoln – Oxford – London – Lincoln. Will have some downtime in Oxford between 4pm and 7pm whilst he finishes a split shift – if anyone is around for a cuppa. Phamily foto below outside his London office.

End User fun stuff

Testing testing 1 2 1 2 – pixels from around a University @unilincoln

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Thursday, 19 June, 2014
No Comments on Testing testing 1 2 1 2 – pixels from around a University @unilincoln

Ya get out of the office and what do you see? Well out front there are swans swimming lazily along on the water. The red brick building is the library. My office is to the left where that sticky out yellow bit is but on the other side.

The library as seen from the back and just outside my office looks like this. Nice reflection in the glass. The site was a part of the old railway sidings near the now defunct St Marks Station in Lincoln. Not many students in there now that term is coming to an end (yay, school’s out, for summer).

So this afternoon I walked to the gym. The route takes me past a pond of some sort. Watery stuff anyway. I saw this lifebuoy and was prompted to take a pic. I do that kind of thing.

Going or some reason I cast my pixels on the other side and found no lifebuoy. Hope the students haven’t nicked it. That would be irresponsible. In my day it was estate agents signs. I make no judgement. I merely observe.

Next to the non lifebuoy I found a post that I found interesting enough to photograph. Andy Davidson would approve I’m sure although he would have done a better job of it. Note the football floating in the water behind the post. Oops or oh dear. You choose.

Next up is a view of the water. The floating football can be clearly seen, fwiw. Lots of algal growth on said water. No idea if there are any fish in there. Doubt it.

And finally, my Lords, Laidees and gennelmun a view of a cherry picker outside the Gym. Looks like they are changing a light bulb. That’s the downside of having lots of street lights (Street Lights, there ain’t no place I can’t see – Crusaders Lincoln Uni remix version).

This has been a test post to check out the photo sizing feature in WordPress. It works. Thanks Rob. More on photos in a couple of weeks time.

Other pixel filled university related posts worth a skeet:

A view of Lincoln University from the office

That’s all I could find.

food and drink Weekend

Spot the difference – a bowl of breakfast cereal with fruit @jeffpulver might approve, maybe

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Thursday, 19 June, 2014
No Comments on Spot the difference – a bowl of breakfast cereal with fruit @jeffpulver might approve, maybe

Sometimes the simple things in life are the best. A couple of Weetabix, fresh raspberries, chuck in a handful of blueberries and chop up a banana and off you go.

But hey, wait a minute. There is no milk. You can’t have Weetabix without milk. I realise some do but they are not the norm (and I refrain from further exploring that thread). No problemo. You want milk? Here is milk. Semi skimmed. Yum.

This post has been brought to you by a slightly annoyed Trefor Davies who today went swimming, came home and ate the breakfast as illustrated, walked to work and has just come back from the gym having forgotten to bring his shorts! Last weekend I went to the gym and forgot to take my trainers! Where will it all end. What will Anthony say?!

Other truly scrumptious food related posts:

How to cook the perfect baked bean
Best pancake toppings
Important announcement on a Sunday morning

competitions Engineer food and drink fun stuff

Pissup In A Brewery free tickets competition No 3 – corny football sayings

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Thursday, 19 June, 2014
2 Comments on Pissup In A Brewery free tickets competition No 3 – corny football sayings

Yeehaw. Another day another competition to win tickets to the Pissup In A Brewery. Today is a big world cup football day for England so I thought that we’d keep it simple. Hit me with a corny or funny football related saying or quote. Best ones will get tix. eg it was a game of two halves, really pleased for Chalky, thought Nobby did well to get his head to that one etc. Can’t reuse these ones obvs – I’m sure you can do better. Read about other unbelievable but true competitions: What is my favourite beer? Win free VIP tickets to a Pissup

fun stuff

A game of two halves, a bit of extra time and the hopes of a nation – England v Uruguay

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Thursday, 19 June, 2014
2 Comments on A game of two halves, a bit of extra time and the hopes of a nation – England v Uruguay

England v Uruguay – trefor.net reports in the build up to the latest most important match for England.

England v Uruguay – a game of two halves, report on two halves for an audience of two halves – I suspect that a big chunk of the readership of this blog are not the least bit interested in football. I’m not particularly interested meself. Although you do occasionally get an exciting match this is quite rare and games are often quite tedious with very few goals to liven up the proceedings. This is usually the case when it comes to FA Cup Finals where both sides are more desperate to not lose than to win and also England games where the team rarely gels and offers a cardboard display of football.

Tonight then is the big one. It’s not big in the same way that the World Cup Final is big. It’s big in the sense that once more England need to win to have a hope of proceeding to the next stage of the tourney. The problem is that Uruguay are in the same boat so they aren’t going to just roll over and say “oh okay then”. If this was a run of the mill international you would probably bet on Uruguay to win. As it happens this game is a little akin to the FA Cup where there may well be a favourite but actually anything can happen.

Mind you I don’t feel the same sense of excitement in the air that existed during the last world cup where the whole country seemed implausibly optimistic about progression “at least through to the semis and then who knows…”. I will watch the game as the kids and my wife will be sat in front of the TV with the latter getting particularly emulsional.

I envisage several posts match interview texts being prepared:

The win: I was really pleased for the lads. It was a game of two halves and we went in to the dressing room at half time knowing we had a job to do. Some of the senior players had their say and we went out for the second half determined to do our best for the fans. I thought that Nobby was outstanding in defence and Jacko’s goal was superb. He could easily have had two or three more. Davo was his brilliant self and some of his passes really made the differences from the left wing. The real hero for me though was Bert in goal. How he managed to keep that Carlos/Louis/Juan/Miguel/Josef/Pablo/Emile/Rodgigo ¹ goal out in the last minute of added time I will never know. We now have go back to our hotel, relax a bit and prepare for the next match.

The loss: Gutted…disappointed…things just didn’t work for us out there tonight… nngggg … guurrrgghh … Dobbo …

The press is going to have a field day whatever the result. A win will mean lots of further excitement on the first 20 pages of the tabloids. Page 3 will have a girl wearing nothing but a pair of England football shorts and waving two flags of St George. A loss will have calls to sack the manager, demands for an independent high level investigation into why the team is so crap and never gets anywhere on the big stage together with loud mutterings that the Premier League might well be the best in the world but there aren’t enough English players playing in it.

Ah well. The game could go either way. The most important thing is to make sure that the fridge has enough beer in it to last the whole match.

Who loves ya baby?

¹ take yer pick

Tags fifa

Cloud social networking

Facebook is down – something went wrong

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Thursday, 19 June, 2014
No Comments on Facebook is down – something went wrong

Something went wrong with Facebook. Facebook is down. I just got that message. Looking at Twitter it seems widespread.

Is this news? In one sense it doesn’t matter in the least. Facebook is not mission critical to anyone. If you are a business you surely don’t rely on Facebook, do you? Ok so a few photos may not get posted, a pal might need to wait a bit to see your message etc etc etc. Who cares?

In another sense it matters a lot. We have other parts of our lives that are becoming increasingly dependent on the cloud. Facebook is in the cloud. If the cloud stops working we have a problem, Houston.

trefor.net exists only in the cloud (parties and networking events aside – you can’t drink the cloud). It’s normally a great existence. All our important files are there, our finances are run on a cloud service, our comms, everything. So if the cloud has a problem it can be everyone’s problem.

Now this is a fairly simplistic way of putting it. Facebook is already back on line. It was only unavailable for a few minutes. We don’t know why it was down. Connectivity to a datacentre? Virtualisation problems? Looking at it everything seem to be there. Phew.

As long as the data is not lost it doesn’t matter. We can live with cloud problems as long as they don’t lose everything. That’s when you begin to have real problems.

I started this post thinking I’d come up with some profound statements regarding the need for reliability with apocalyptic visions for when things go wrong. Apocalypse is not now. My wifi still works. I have time left on my Chromebook battery. I think I’ll move on:)

End User spam

Junk mail register

The trefor.net junk mail register – start at the bottom of the post for the whole history

7th July Virgin Media

5th July – Policy expert (aaargh more insurance – you guys are the lowest of the low)

Update – latest junk is from Legal and General on 21st June.

Whilst spam is pretty minimal now I notice I’m still getting lots of junk mail through the letter box. Virgin Media are big culprits but there are many others. I’ve decided it would be interesting to keep a log of who is sending me stuff. You never know where it is going to go.

This post is the beginning of this log. Yesterday (only noticed this am) had mail from Halifax Insurance and Castle Cover, both for home insurance. Our existing cover must be coming up for renewal. The annoying thing is that some b%$£”rd must be selling this information to these insurance companies. I’m sure it should all be opt in.

A this post evolves something may come out of it. Maybe a letter to the Information Commissioners Office. Ve shall see. I realise that people have to make a living but in my mind people that send me stuff I haven’t asked for are the lowest of the low and I wouldn’t dream of buying from them. They must be thick skinned and presumably must have a business case for spending the money.

I’ve begun to send their contents back in the reply paid envelope if they have included one. None of this morning’s batch did but I did notice that they all have an “if undelivered please return to” note on the back of the envelope. I’ll be taking more care about opening this stuff so that I can send it back. If only I had confidence that this feedback loop worked but I doubt it.

Ciao. Hasta la vista baby.

food and drink

The Definitive Beetroot Sandwich

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Tuesday, 17 June, 2014
2 Comments on The Definitive Beetroot Sandwich

The definitive beetroot sandwich. This post was originally published on philosopherontap and is reproduced here by kind permission of my sister Sue, though I haven’t actually asked her (I’m sure it will be ok).

Ordinarily this kind of flagrant plagiarism is frowned upon by the SEO powers that be at Google but the original post is so good that to alter it would be an insult to the artistic integrity of its author. The post is therefore reproduced unaltered except for this preamble and for the featured image which didn’t appear in the original.

The subject of the image itself is a somewhat grubby jar of Waitrose pickled beetroot as opposed to an actual beetroot sandwich. That is because I don’t like beetroot sandwiches (soz) and therefore to make one just for the photograph would have been a waste of good food. I will eat beetroot as a side item in a salad, preferably a baby beet.

Not sure I approve of the salt btw but if that’s what the recipe calls for…

Read on:

Ingredients
1 Large, crusty, unsliced white loaf
Butter
1 Jar pickled baby beets
Salt to taste

Equipment
1 x side plate (or larger depending on the size of your bread) for presentation
1 x bread knife
1 x knife, fork, teaspoon

Using your bread knife, take your large unsliced loaf and cut two thick doorstop slices. If your bread is of the variety which tapers at each end (eg. a Bloomer), make sure you have two slices of the same size. Butter your bread liberally across the whole face of the slice.

Next, open your jar of Baby Pickled Beets. Note – it must be baby beetroot as the bigger variety can sometimes be too crunchy which detracts from the overall quality of the result. Using your teaspoon, select your baby beet, removing it from the jar to the plate. Take your knife and fork and cut the beetroot into generous, chunky slices. Arrange on the buttered bread. Apply seasoning as appropriate. Place finished sandwich on the same plate that you used to cut the beetroot as this will give you the opportunity to soak up all that extra vinegary, beetrooty, loveliness. Serve with large mug of steaming black filter coffee.

Variations
Some schools of thought state that the beetroot slicing should be on a separate plate. They are wrong. Others dictate that pre-sliced beetroot be used, and sometimes even the crinkle cut variety. I can understand this approach as it does take a step out of the process, and avoids dying ones fingers purple, but it does mean you cannot express your individuality in the chunkiness of your beetroot slices.

Warning
Loading your sandwich with too many beetroot chunks can result in mid-bite overflow. If you’re going to do this, make sure you’re wearing appropriate protective clothing.

Other eminently digestable sandwich reads include:

The fish finger sandwich
The perfect bacon sandwich
Rook’s off
Ice cream sandwich

food and drink

The fish finger sandwich

Before: a bed of Hovis sliced granary bread liberally spread with butter and with a moderate squeeze of Heinz tomato ketchup.

With: that same bed of Hovis but now with three Young’s haddock fish fingers grilled and laid from top to bottom across the right hand slice.

A gourmet sandwich. After hitting the gym at lunchtime you get home ravenous but need to head out quickly to watch Kid4 play cricket. Time is short. A fish finger sandwich is perfect for the job.

No instructions are needed. The construction of the sandwich is intuitive. Timeless. The choice of bread is personal but that bread should not be toasted. The fish fingers need to squash into the softness of the fresh bread. Tonight I had a glass of water to accompany the sandwich but milk would probably have been a better choice.

Note plain white plate on a black marbled effect worktop background. Either it is important or it isn’t. Your choice. You’re a big boy¹ now. The knife visible to the right of the photograph is leaning on the edge of the plate and had to be removed in between shots whilst the plate was taken to the grill for the application of the fish fingers.

Other truly historic sandwich reads include:

The perfect bacon sandwich
Rook’s off
Ice cream sandwich

¹ or girl, depending on which one you are (obvs)

competitions food and drink fun stuff peering

Win more Pissup In A Brewery tickets – competition # 2 – what is my favourite beer?

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Tuesday, 17 June, 2014
2 Comments on Win more Pissup In A Brewery tickets – competition # 2 – what is my favourite beer?

Okeydokey here goes competition number 2. Seeing as this is a Pissup In A Brewery we are talking about what is my favourite beer? There are clues to be found around trefor.net but I’m not going to help you any more than that.

Answers by noon tomorrow as after that I have to go to a speed reduction seminar that starts at 1pm – 36 in a 30. Fair cop guv. Slap the cuffs on.

If you missed competition number one here it is but it is now closed. Note 19 LinkedIn shares fair play. LinkedIn members have their priorities set right.

events food and drink fun stuff

Win free VIP tickets to Pissup In A Brewery

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Monday, 16 June, 2014
5 Comments on Win free VIP tickets to Pissup In A Brewery

Every day this week you can win a free VIP ticket worth £120 to the world famous trefor.net Pissup In A Brewery. trefor.net is known for its Christmas bash. Well now we have a summer bash and it is genuinely a Pissup In A Brewery.

The venue is the new Fourpure Brewery, one of the industry’s rising stars, where you can sample a wide range of real ales and lagers as brewed by one of London’s youngest and most exciting brewers, Dan Lowe.

Details of the event are here.

To win your free ticket you need to complete the following sentence “I like beer because…”. I might give out more than one prize if we get some good answers.

Deadline is sometime tomorrow morning at which point we will have a new competition.

Bad Stuff food and drink

6 tins or 4? – baked bean best buys

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Monday, 16 June, 2014
3 Comments on 6 tins or 4? – baked bean best buys

Roll up roll up get yer 4 pack of Heinz baked beans ‘ere. Only £2.50.

No wait. Roll up roll up get yer 6 pack of Heinz baked beans ‘ere. Only £2.50.

Really annoys me this. Supermarkets are full of sharp practice like this. I could be charitable and say that they might just be trying to shift some six packs of beans but it just doesn’t feel right. Why bother putting the 4 packs on sale at all when the 6 pack offer was running.You see similar examples all over the shop where they make it very difficult to decide what is a good deal or not.

Note also how they have labelled one as a price per Kg and one as per 100g. They have even got it wrong there. If I was paying £1.01 per 100g that would be an expensive tin of baked beans.

It’s beans on toast with bacon for supper tonight btw. I bought a sixpack.