Hamarana

Found via Matt, a new search engine called Cuil. Its fast, and it presents information quite differently. There’s a safe search option (defaults to ON) and I really like it. I hve already added it to my Firefox search engine group and will probably make it the default if it keeps performing as well as it has tonight.

Take a look.

I have just ordered out for some Chinese food. I have given my order and address to a gentleman whose English could only be described as completely incomprehensible. I repeated the order several times, eventually resorting to using numbers, at his request, but even then, its doubtful whether he actually got it… “50″ became “15″ (NO, I cried… FIVE – ZERO, FIFTY!)… I have no idea what food I will get… or even if it will arrive… I had to spell the name of my street and even though theres a K in it, he still seemed to think it was a Q. And when I asked how long it would be before it arrived, he said “bye” and hung up.

What the HELL do these restaurants think they are doing? If you’re going to serve a primarily English population, FFS, learn English!! And DON’T get a customer service job until you can speak and understand it correctly.

[end rant]

[edit: 10 mins later]

The delivery guy just called because he could not understand the address that had been written down. at least now he knows where he has to be. Lord knows what I will get in my order…

Damn, I am in such a quandary. iPhone 2.0 gives me access to the Apple appstore but the new firmware is so lagged and buggy that I am unsure of whether I really want to keep it.

The only thing that prevents an immediate downgrade is the complexity of the task and the time it will take. And the fact that I actually like some of the new apps. Like this WordPress app which makes a blog post easy.

Decisions, decisions!

Anyone who knows me, knows I am inclined to be a bit of an Apple apologist… I tend to like most products Apple produce and am not slow to say so. I am about to make another exception, as I did previously, with dotMac.

MobileMe is the new product which Apple touts as being the best thing, really, since sliced bread. Its an online storage, email, and syncing solution. You can also have a website there, and your own photo gallery. All in all it looks like a fairly decent product. But… gone are older features from dotMac: iCards -> gone. Groups -> gone (though they might return, not sure about that)… I am also NOT that keen on having *any* userID at me.com. It seems weird. The best feature is the price vs storage (20G is expensive anywhere, so getting it for $119AU per year seemed like a good deal… until you find that data transfer is restricted to 200mb… what???? – errr… see the edit below!)

So I tried it for this past weekend, played with it when I could get into the site (lots of teething problems) and found it to be visually very attractive, but functionally lacking. So, as I did with dotmac, I have cancelled my account. I’ll use other options to run my website (looks like the blog stays!) and will seek photo hosting elsewhere…

[Edit] Geoff has pointed out to me that 200 GIGABYTES is the transfer, not 200 MB. What on earth was I thinking!!

At this stage, we know that Telstra, Vodafone and Optus are going to be selling the iPhone from July 11. Optus sent an email to those of us who registered interest on their site, and provided links to the suggested pricing structure. It looks pretty good initially until you start considering what you are really getting. Call costs don’t seem to differ vastly from standard optus plans, but there are much larger data allowances. Then, you look at the T&C, and you find the following clause:

The ‘yes’ iPhone Cap Plans also includes a specified amount of included data value per month to access services on Optus iZoo, as well as browsing the Internet from your mobile, depending upon which rate plan you choose. If you exceed your plan’s included monthly data allowance, excess usage charges will be charged at $0.35 per MB or part thereof. Any unused data allowance cannot be rolled over. Your data allowance does not include services such as Voice calls, Voice Mail, International SMS, premium and Third Party SMS, Optus iZoo and Third Party content and applications, 1300, 1900 and VPN data usage. If you are able to access such services, your use of such services will be charged at prevailing rates.

The first bolded section seems to suggest you can do whatever you want with it. The second bolded section is basically saying “dont bother trying to do Skype or other VoIP” and in fact dont bother doing anything outside Optus Zoo. IF you do, you are going to be hit with a massive charge.. 35c per Mb or part thereof. The potential here for Optus to make a killing and send people broke in very short order, is huge.

Since Optus Zoo is probably one of the most useless sites I have ever had the misfortune to access (alongside Vodafone Live and Virgin’s in-house effort) this is not really a massive inducement for me to switch from my current Telstra prepaid and Browseplus pack, with which, at least, I can do whatever I want.

So, basically, until or unless the apparent conflict is resolved, I will not be getting a 3G iPhone from Optus. I’ll make do with what I have already. I’ll also be recommending to friends not to get it either at this stage.