Ok, not really.. We just added a search field to the interface using a Greasemonkey script.
Get it here (clicking here will ask you to install the script directly)
For help on installing Greasemonkey scripts read my previous post.
Seriously, WTF?
What you see above you on the left is a feature listing for the “Dolphin” set of tariffs from Orange. On the right is the “detail” of those tariffs. Do you see the problem?
I want:
- unlimited mobile internet
- unlimited anytime, any network texts
- 600 anytime, any network minutes
Is that £30 or £35?
Not to mention that the tagline at the top reads “..weekend..” texts. Gah!? (Oh, and the typo on the left-hand £25 too, “unlimited anytime text”, not “texts”, oh no). And why do they repeat themselves directly under the same copy?
I lack any confidence in these people. And I haven’t even touched on bloody “fair use” clauses.
Now I suspect that the confusion may be because I’m an existing customer, I’m logged in, and it’s showing me the relevant content. That’s no excuse for contradictions. I also suspect that these prices may reflect different contract lengths. However, there is no mention of that. Plus I already have a contract, and do not need to extend it to change my tariff.
Send them (and all the others (and all the banks)) to the School of WTF, and get them to make sense. This reinforces my theory that most businesses make their money by confusing the customer or taking advantage of ignorance or stupidity. This is why we don’t like you. Are you listening?
QRFlickr demo from Josh Russell on Vimeo.
Some time last year Dave and I got really into QR Codes.
(install the QRFlickr greasemonkey script I talk about in this post and demo in the above movie. Read on to find out what QR Codes are and how it works)
For those that don’t know, a QR Code is essentially a 2 dimensional barcode, in that it stores it’s data in two directions on a grid instead of in one direction as lines. (see the example at the bottom of this post)
Using various tools to create these codes (on a RESTful URL) it’s possible to embed or encode many types of information, such as plain alphanumeric text, phone numbers or whole vcards, or urls. You can also denote a protocol for the information to help the device reading the code to know what to do with it, i.e. http://, smsto:, tel: etc..
For example, encoding “tel:+44207000000″ will produce a QR Code that when scanned by a mobile will ask the user if they would like to call that phone number. Lots of possibilities! Yes, the things you’re thinking right now are possible ;)
(Brian and I went further with this and have started to create a wiki that documents all the different scenarios and protocols and tests them to understand how best to use QR Codes in the everyday application. More on that at a later date!)
So I then decided to see what else could be done. Others have done lots of examples, and I’m in no way suggesting that this is groundbreaking, but this is an example that interests me greatly, and also shows very simply the power of this technology.
Not being a coder I spent some time trawling the internet for some javascript help, I was about to write my first Greasemonkey script, so needed some basic help. I wanted to be able to find a particular element in an html page, in this case an image, and identify it’s URL. This URL is then turned into a QR Code and displayed conveniently on the page. So that while a user (with the Greasemonkey script installed) was viewing a Flickr photo page they could easily then visit the image URL on their mobile phone, and possibly choose to save it.
So here’s what it looks like:
- Original photo by cgandolfo, thanks!
Interesting? Yes. This is *the* simplest and quickest way I’ve ever seen to transfer data from one device to another, without and sort of direct connection between the two (Bluetooth, USB) or without any network or contact details (email address, fileserver). The user doesn’t even need to know the URL, type it in, or send it to themselves. Within seconds the photo just appears on the phone.
So if you want to do this, go install Greasemonkey for FireFox and then click on the QRFlickr script from the link below to install:
Enjoy :)
Brighton. What can I say.. You’re never more than 5 minutes away from another geek or “web professional” like-minded folk. All it takes is a twitter about coffee and a vague mention of a location, and the geeks will find themselves drawn towards you. So where do we go?
These are a few of the places I’ve been frequenting recently, and some classics that will always be the default starting point if I’m lacking inspiration..
Where do you go to get out of the office or meet your geeks?
