Ads: they seem to be everywhere! Ad banners, popups, interstitials. They are never ending; a huge part of the web’s great commerce. However, these ads may be taking more from you then you realize.
Google, eBay and many millions of other sites use ads that spy on us: they find out what we are looking at, where we live, and a whole lot more. Google scans emails sent and received in Gmail, eBay uses are account information.
But what gives them the right? We haven’t asked for those ads, and we haven’t agreed with them, that prying on us and invading our privacy is ok.
A new ad site that has sprung up is Phorm. It already has agreements with BT,Virgin and other UK ISPs, that allows it to look at your live browsing history, and serve appropriate ads. The service isn’t yet live, but will be shortly. In my opinion, this is a direct invasion of our privacy. What gives Phorm the right?
Internet Advertising is now a valuable commodity, with many sites providing free services in return for the ads. Examples are Facebook and Spotify. While it’s great that we can get these free services, it is not ok with me, that these ads are spying on me. I should complain; if only I knew who to…?
I’ve written about Blyk a few times over the past year, since taking up the service. Basically, if you’re not familiar, Blyk is an ad-supported mobile network, which provides £15 free credit each month. See my other Blyk posts here.
Recently, Blyk changed to this £15 credit, from the previous offer of 217 texts and 43 minutes free each month. The new deal is actually a loss of around £10! Also, Blyk increased prices: 15p/min up to 24p/min! (They did reduce texts from 10p to 8p).
Next, Blyk started charging £10 for replacement sim cards if they are lost or stolen. Something that other UK networks don’t do. Also, they stopped the Text Balance enquiry service, and have also stopped issuing invites to the service!
It asks the question, is Blyk financially secure at all? Yes, we are in recession, but these steps are those of a company in dire straights. Hope Blyk will weather this storm that they seem to be in; Blyk is a good service, offering excellent value. I’ll be watching in the next few months.
Cheap holidays. Maybe something of the past, with the credit crunch setting in, and increased petrol prices and taxes. Well, Global Holiday is a new website which offers over 20 million bargain holidays, to Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and other long haul destinations.
These types of “All-Inclusive” holidays are incredibly popular at the moment, as families can easily budget the cost of the trip, which is very important in the current economic climate.
So fancy a holiday to Spain? Soak up the sun, dance the flamenco and swim in the peasant med? Through Global Holiday, you can book a complete holiday package from only £139! Or how about visiting Florida? At Global Holiday, you can see all about the area, its attractions and even watch video tours of Orlando!
Global Holiday also has an informational travel blog, with info about the travel industry and the latest deals available. Learn the insider secrets from the blog!
Global Holiday is definitely a website worth checking out if you want a great holiday on a budget. We all need a holiday from time-to-time, in order to relax from our normal busy lifestyles. An All-Inclusive package is a great choice for any family!
Pushing Daisies; one of ITV’s most popular American Imports. Despite its complete wackiness, it is one of my favorite TV shows. I love the way the stories unfold, the language they use and the twists and turns of each weeks plot. Now however, the show has ended; ABC has put it on the shelf, mid season.
13 episodes have been made, only 10 of which have actually been shown. Apparently, episode 13 won’t provide a narrative ending to the show. Will Ned and Chuck ever be able to touch??
Perhaps the show will return in the future; who knows, even ITV may commission it. I certainly hope so! My friday evening will be that little bit emptier without Pushing Daisies.
PayPal offers “a safe way to pay”, being owned by eBay, and offering millions of users Internet payment facilities. It is the most popular service of its type, and all eBay auctions accept PayPal: it’s compulsory!
I recently sold an unwanted Christmas Gift on eBay; it quickly sold for £30.00, which I was quite happy with. eBay charged me 50p for the listing, (I’m quite happy to pay for this). As per the eBay rule, I accepted PayPal on my listing, and promptly got paid. When I checked my account, I found out that actually, PayPal had charged me another £1.25 in “Charges”. What for?
I had already paid eBay, (the owner of PayPal), the required fees, and now they were effectively charging me again! I make hundreds of fund transfers form my bank account each year, and never get charged a penny. Why should PayPal do any different? It’s not like they even provide good customer service: they are useless!
PayPal should have the sense to stop charging its customers, who don’t have a choice on whether they use the service or not. eBay seem to have a powerful position here: and quite frankly I don’t like it. I will have to think whether I use eBay for sales again: it’s not even the cost so much, but the principle.
So the government is going to pump 75bn in new cash into the economy, in a bid to stop the recession. They call this “quantitive easing”. However, to me, this seems like it will just ruin our economy further.
The British Sterling was one of the world’s strongest currencies. Now, with this development, that will surely fall, and if we are not careful, we could quite easily enter hyper-inflation like Zimbabwe.
In addition, the Bank of England has now lowered interest rates to history’s lowest: 0.5%. This is the sixth time rates have been cut since October. If it hasn’t worked before, why are they still trying?
In my opinion, printing more money is not much of a solution. We should try and weather the recession. If this new money printing idea does cause the economy to go caput, then Gordon Brown will be shot for it.
