All I want to do is TopUp!
Posted by Peter | Filed under Websites
After having been a Vodafone pay-as-you-go mobile phone customer for about 6 years, I’m finally changing to a contract deal with O2.
However, it will be a few days before my contract gets setup, so I needed to add some calling/texting credit one last time to my Vodafone mobile. I decided to do it online using my debit card… but to no avail. Here’s what you have to do in order to TopUp online:
- Register an account on the website
- Confirm your mobile phone number via security code
- Register your credit/debit card details with the site
- Select a 4 digit security code to represent your card
- Enter the 4 digit security code again and the last 4 digits of your card
- … What’s next? Who knows? I didn’t get this far…
The first 2 points are absolutely fine and to be expected. But the remainder of the process is ridiculous. All I want to do is use my debit card to make a one-off payment… I do NOT want my card details permanently stored on their server. I appreciate their attempt at security too… but remembering off the top of your head which cards you have and have not registered with them, and which security code you picked, is going too far.
Maybe that system works for some people… but it’s a nuisance. It would be much simpler just to let me enter all my card details in full, every time I want to TopUp online. Sure, it might not enable all the “text to TopUp” features which automatically charge your card/account… BUT I WOULDN’T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN ANYWAY!
Call me old-fashioned, but my debit card details are mine to look after. If some people want to have theirs stored online for convenience, then fine… but do not force the rest of us to do it too.
Ragdoll Cannon: Remake
Posted by Peter | Filed under Games
Ragdoll-simulation-based games seem pretty popular just now, and here’s a remake of a not-very-old game… “Ragdoll Cannon“. Simple but engaging concept: you have to get a ragdoll to touch a target, by blasting ragdolls out of a cannon. Parts of the environment move and respond to impacts with appropriate physics, and it can be good fun for a quick diversion.
The interface is very straightforward: you fire the cannon in a particular direction by clicking the mouse somewhere in the level, and the further away from the cannon you click, the more powerful the shot. The graphics are simple but nice, and the audio in general is pretty decent. Unfortunately, it’s a bit short, with only 25 levels. Great fun though, and definitely worth a try.
Confusing Petrol Pumps
Posted by Peter | Filed under Interface and Usability
I ran into an infuriating problem while attempting to fill my car with petrol at a Morrisons supermarket recently. The petrol pumps all looked fairly normal, except for the addition of a device below the petrol and price gauge. I had seen the kind of device before, from a distance — it was designed to let you pay directly at the pump if you have an appropriate card (I think it will take most credit/debit cards), rather than having to stand in line at the kiosk to pay.
Google Docs
Posted by Peter | Filed under Software, Websites
Over the past number of years, I have found myself steadily moving more and more of my day-to-day computing activity online… in keeping with much of the computing world, I suppose. However, I had not really moved into the realm of online document editing until recently, largely because I had no need.
I started using Google Docs when I was collaborating on a paper to be submitted to a journal, and was immediately impressed by how simple yet powerful a tool it is. It is now becoming almost indispensable to me, as it allows me to create and edit documents from nearly anywhere I go, without needing to download software or synchronize copies. I can keep things private, or ’share’ documents with specific people to whom I want to give read and/or write access, or open them up to the world. It’s certainly no replacement for fully-fledged office software when it comes to final drafts for print or such, but it’s amazing at what it does, and it is reliable. (Regular automatic saves, and document revision history… how can I live without it?)
That’s just the word processor. I have looked over-the-shoulder of somebody using the spreadsheet, and was astounded by how slick it all is. The integration with form-based input for users is amazing too.
I am also turning to Google Calendar more now, which I have found to be very useful in many ways for organising my (hectic) schedule. Alongside other useful stuff I use regularly, including GMail and GoogleCode, and of course, the inimitable Google Search Engine (with all its handy tricks), I really am a big fan of this .com giant, founded by some crazy/genius blokes who couldn’t spell googol properly.
