Posts by scottyman 16 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jul 2011
The thing that kills me here is that due to metadata retention requirements, when you close your account - these companies keep your information on file.
I've since found out that Telstra still have my personal information after closing my account with them over 6 years ago.
There are better ways to store this kind of data, especially since it's only used for ID checking when you initially open an account and are credit-checked.
The two interviews I strongly recall for this reason are in no particular order - after being advised to dress smart for an interview at a broadcast tech manufacturer in the UK ... we get most of the way through the interview before the interviewer whips out an email from a developer upstairs and asks if I can solve a half written SQL query, then point to what’s wrong with a block of Java code - it was for a senior broadcast engineering role - and I just wasn’t expecting it.
I mustered all my confidence and gave a wrong answer - with the caveat that I wasn’t expecting the question; I did definitely know the answer and I’d definitely be able to do better next time they asked... the interviewer’s honest response was ‘oh - we don’t know the answer - we just wanted to see what you’d do and if you would be a good fit’
I ended up working there for 12 years and having a great time.
By contrast - interviewing for a major player in the bug tracker and wiki world - I was called in for an immediate interview a week after fairly major eye surgery - and they wouldn’t take ‘can we reschedule’ for an answer.
The interviewer was seriously pissed off when I told her I couldn’t see the whiteboard where they were administering the test described above - and I was asked to solve it anyway.
Suffice to say I’m still bitter about it - and even though I asked to reinterview, never had a response back.
I'm currently in an Optus area, so the new update for me is 'nbn is committed to completing the rollout by 2020. We expect to have more information about availability in your area soon.'
I'm less than 2km from the exchange at Chatswood, one of the more populous areas of Sydney, but no NBN for us.
Nothing anywhere near as dramatic (or as long) but was on my way down to visit a customer with a demo artist and marketing exec - we were flying to NZ from the UK the long way around, and with about 4 hours left in the flight, we noticed we had taken a bit of a dog leg towards Fiji - we were grounded for about 5 hours until the airports in NZ reopened - and given the opportunity to offload in Fiji to enjoy the weekend, or carry onto midwinter in NZ. As we had received shipping notification that our kit had been successfully loaded onto a cargo plane in HK - we elected to carry on to NZ (under protest of course)
Turns out that within minutes of boarding the flight to NZ, a minor correction came through on the shipping notification - that was the kit we needed for the demo had in fact, been OFFLOADED in HK, where it would remain for another 5 days.
I regularly take it away on business trips if I'm away for a long enough to justify checked-in luggage
It's infinitely superior to hotel room coffee regardless of whether it's french press or filtered
I had to do a bit of a balancing act in Toronto last week, as my crappy hotel didn't even have a kettle, only a one-cup filter machine and paper cups which was a bit naff.
It's really a case of finding a good source of coffee, and getting a couple of day's supply ground when you get where you're going.
The only thing I'm going to add to my travel kit, is a stainless steel or enamelled mug to have in my bag
Like Netflix. Telecom (now Spark) has announced it's launching it's own content and streaming arm, which I completely get, as partnering with Netflix might raise the ire of Sky (in Australia, read this as Foxtel/Big Content)
Telstra would be ideally positioned to partner with someone like Netflix, had they not already sold their soul to big content - but I figure ultimately the long term vision should be to harmonise the delivery of content across multiple platforms. Big Content in Aus really need to pull their socks up, and their heads out of their collective arses.
Either provide us with legitimate options, or try to deal with the underlying issues - there's no benefit to anyone to criminalise these activities, especially since it's been so widely adopted.
I don't really have a problem with any of it - as long as VAT is being paid and recognised, where is the issue?
This aspect is already covered in European tax law, and I agree totally with some of the earlier comments about a corporation's duties to it's shareholders to maximise the profits.
There isn't a moral argument either, this is invented bollocks - to whom is the corporation's moral obligation? UK.gov? I don't think so. Once again it's to it's shareholders.
Well - all things considered, 3 hours and much swearing later - restore completed successfully.
What really worries me is that the first restore bombed out without an error (and didn't allow any apps to launch) 2nd restore failed, but I could run up apps and check email (but music wouldn't sync) 3rd restore failed, but couldn't launch apps - but did have music! 4th restore succeeded, music is all there - and some apps don't work (but those same apps did work after the 2nd restore)
At least when other OS's decide to crap out, they do it in style, and tell you what you did to piss them off!
^Steve is looking down at us and laughing with glee ;)
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