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"When I said stuffed I didn't mean to get him stuffed!"
Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan
Coca-Cola is It - Just Watching You
We are reaching a point now where you will not be able to stop companies having free reign to monitor and cajole people into doing things enterprises want. The legislation to prevent this will just be too complex to effectively use. Individual rights will be trodden underfoot in the rush for higher company profits as oligopolies rule the world.
These big companies are snapping up smaller rivals at their whim. They have massive amounts of money to spare. Australia is a favored testing ground for such enterprises due to its small population and established markets
. Companies can easily check out something new and see how it will work in larger economies.
Coca-Cola is putting facial recognition software on fridges in Australia so it can watch the behavior of customers and how they react to adds on the refrigerator. Sales have increased by 12 per cent over standard fridges. This is great for building up your waistline and for Coca-Cola.
When you go to get a fizzy drink in future you will enjoy a targeted entertainment program which is really just a colorful add just for you. If it is a hot day expect shows of people frolicking on sunny, sandy beaches quaffing coke.
It must be noted that targeted ads are commonplace today. What do you think Google does with all the data? Facebook is sending ads just for you right now. All the spyware and trojans are just ways of collecting information.
There could be hurdles though - what if governments legislation to make facial recognition an opt in service? Oh, by the way, turn off that location finder on your mobile phone. It is not there to help you! Soon Coca-Cola will be putting drink machines only in hot areas of buildings. Heat and higher sales go together.
Technology by Ty Buchanan
Nexus 7 Review - Poor, Do Not Buy!
You have to be careful buying new tech products. There is a belief out there that a new version is always better than the old one. This is not always the case. Take for instance the new Nexus 7. A lot has been written about this with some rave reviews.
I don't know what some of these reviewers are on, but they certainly are not seeing things clearly - some bias is there. The widely held view that buying the latest Nexus 7 is the road to Nirvana is wrong. If you have another Android device with the same login you will not get an automatic restore. It just does not work because Google picks up the two Android devices. A trip into the Play Store will be necessary. Click on the icon in the top left and "My Apps" will be shown. You have to click "All" to see the apps you have paid for.
Re-installing each one in turn is the requirement and don't think all your data is automatically backed up. You discover that you should have backed up the data for each app separately before you dumped the perfectly good older version. A thing that you will regret.
The only virtue of the new Nexus 7 is that it is thinner. That sums it up. Despite having stereo speakers one at each end it does not cut the mustard. What a stupid idea having stereo on such a small device! Sound quality is very poor indeed. It really is disgraceful. If you plug it into a hi-fi you have to turn the volume up to number 22. This compares with 10 using the old version of Nexus 7.
Another odd thing is the hi-fi volume can be turned to maximum and it doesn't get louder - it gets more distorted. The old Nexus had beautiful base and full hi-fi volume could not be set as it was too loud. There is just a pinging "sort of" base with the new one. It is an odd sound. You cannot enjoy listening to music, podcasts only I would say. Even then there is only treble, no base at all from the two speakers. There was some base on the older version playing on its own.
A mystery to me is that all the BBC apps have disappeared from the Play Store. Has Google had a falling out with them or something. This sudden parting seems strange.
Don't be reckless and buy the new Nexus 7. It is a waste of money. No wonder the price has fallen. Many customers would return it if they kept the receipt. Oh, how I miss my old Nexus that unfortunately was dropped and became stuck in the "ON" position. Google picked that up and would not do an automatic install. Buying online may be easy, but it is risky. I should have gone to a store and taken it for a test drive. You do learn something every day.
Technology by Ty Buchanan
Cashless Society Not Here Yet
We hear from many sources that the cashless society will be here "next week". Apart from Singapore which is very close to its taxation office getting everything legislation permits, other countries are a long way from it. Australians still have cash in their pockets purely because shops are not investing in appropriate technology.
A test was done with "equipment" provided by Westpac. The bank app had Mastercard debit and Visa credit cards linked to it. At the first coffee shop the fast pay worked via the Mastercard. The second payment using the linked Visa showed only $1 for a $24.95 bill. Linked Mastercard solved the problem.
Another payment made at the next shop worked with Visa. Shop owners and assistants for the most part had not experienced immediate payment yet and certainly did not have the new technology.
Westpac will go ahead and launch its payment app whether shops are ready or not. Terminals will be set up across the country. It does not look good for Westpac: test users said the sticker on the phone was too big and caused errors with no-contact payments. The same problem occurred with the Commonwealth bank's trial last year.
The banks say they only need two years to perfect the system. This seems overly optimistic. Debit card contactless payments have been a success. For banks to rely on similar credit card payments is risky for them because they will pay for the mistakes.
Apple is staying out of the race and allowing Android to adopt no-contact payments. This may be a wise decision based on prevailing inconsistencies. PayPal is already launching its quick payments system as it does not want to be left behind.
When cashless societies finally come to fruition it may improve the efficiency and speed of purchases, but one thing you can be sure of: there will be no way of hiding transactions. Governments will legislate to get their hands on bank information that is now confidential and everyone will pay every bit of tax they owe, even millionaires.
Society by Ty Buchanan
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