I'm a self-confessed technophile. I love technology: most of the time. Sometimes, of course, technology and I have a falling out. We almost always kiss and make up though. Which is what happened last week. Ever since I arrived back in New Zealand my iPhone had refused to connect to the internet via the mobile 3G network. I have had to use a wifi connection. I only noticed the problem when I went to Dannevirke and had to use the mobile network because most places I've been before then have had wifi. Various phone calls and visits to NZ Telecom produced no results nor did a trawl of the internet. Then one day when I had an hour or so 'spare' I decided to take the bull by the horns and sort the problem. I suddenly remembered that I had a 'special' number for NZ Telecom that I'd been given once before when I had a difficult problem. It was in my contacts under NZ Telecom and labelled "Complex Problems". I rang the number. Immediate reply: no waiting in queues nor long multi-option menus to go through. I explained the problem and was given an instant solution. A young lady made an old man very happy. I'm so easily pleased these days.
On a completely different matter why is it that drug companies supply tablets in packaging that is so difficult to open? One of my tablets comes in a comparatively easy to open blister pack (as opening blister packs goes that is). The latest packaging I have been supplied with it in is almost impossible to open without scissors or a razor-sharp hard set of finger-nails. W H Y ?!?!
Returning to computers and phones and so on I admit to enjoying exploring new aspects of the operating systems of my Apple Macbook and finding and using new apps for my computer and my phone. Having grown up with computers since I bought my first Amstrad PC1512 in 1985 which was the first Amstrad introduced I'm fairly au fait with their operation despite their increasing complexity. It's quite a thought that the first Sputnik that went into space (and many subsequent to that) had less computing power than the average non-smart phone has today. The Amstrad had no memory to speak of and the programme software was loaded from one floppy disk and the programme data was stored on another. Ah those were the days. Long gone thank heaven.
For those who are interested in smart phones but who find the technology daunting New Zealand Telecom does a wonderful set of short videos on it's catchy website Techinasec. It's worth a look.
Returning to computers and phones and so on I admit to enjoying exploring new aspects of the operating systems of my Apple Macbook and finding and using new apps for my computer and my phone. Having grown up with computers since I bought my first Amstrad PC1512 in 1985 which was the first Amstrad introduced I'm fairly au fait with their operation despite their increasing complexity. It's quite a thought that the first Sputnik that went into space (and many subsequent to that) had less computing power than the average non-smart phone has today. The Amstrad had no memory to speak of and the programme software was loaded from one floppy disk and the programme data was stored on another. Ah those were the days. Long gone thank heaven. For those who are interested in smart phones but who find the technology daunting New Zealand Telecom does a wonderful set of short videos on it's catchy website Techinasec. It's worth a look.
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Technology keeps you rhead in the game. keep at it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Red. It does and I really enjoy it too.
DeleteI'm glad you sorted your phone problem out so easily. My new (generic) migraine meds are bloomin' hard to open too. And it's a real pain (ha) when you've got an aura and can't even see for the lights.Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThose clips are quite nice and easy to understand. The earnest young man reminded me of Tin Tin. All he needs is orange hair. And Snowy. And to have a black outline around him... etc.
Katherine I can see where you are coming from about Tin Tin although it was never a series of books/cartoons that I followed.
DeleteStrange, though, that the young lady listed under "Complex Problems" in your phone was able to provide an instant solution while none of her less "complex" colleagues could. Have you posted the solution to your problem somewhere in a tech-help-forum?
ReplyDeleteKnowing how complex and complicated most of today's IT systems and networks are, I think it comes close to a miracle that so much of it actually DOES work most of the time. For instance, one of my current tasks at work is writing an admins' manual for the system of automatic document processing. So many different systems from different companies have to play nicely together to ensure an incoming document (no matter whether is comes in by email, fax, snail mail, or any other way) finds its way into the digital archive of the company AND is retrievable.
I think the problem I had with the phone was a fairly unusual one Meike. She had heard of it but none of her 'ordinary' colleagues had: they simply went through all the stages on the Telecom website which I'd already done. I couldn't find it mentioned on any of the forums either. I might try and remedy that. Your point is, of course, a very good one: it is amazing that so much works with so few glitches. I'm glad I don't have to write manuals any more!
DeleteI hope you are pushing and not peeling or visa versa.
ReplyDeleteI purchased a new pair of scissors. I had the very devil of a job opening them.
Adrian, have you ever tried getting inside the packaging of an electric toothbrush?
DeleteI think I've been doing it correctly Adrian and if I was just doing one pill each morning then doubtless I'd have time over my cuppa and toast or cereal to achieve the objective during breakfast but I'd rather be doing the crossword. The irritation is that I have lots of pills and fill the pill boxes once every four weeks and each time I do it's a blister-pack marathon opening nightmare.
DeleteActually Frances I've never had the urge to get inside an electric toothbrush package: I'm far to large (or it's far too small).
I know all too well about those hard-to-open blister packs for tablets these days. Is it a safety measure or is it for freshness? They shouldn't be that hard to open.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got your phone up and running like it should.
Thanks Virginia. I think it's just so that a firm of packaging consultants can design something new and make money. There might be nothing wrong with that if they could just be better at their job. When the perfect package had been invented, though, they'd all be out of a job. So they invent imperfect packaging. How's that for a theory?
DeleteThe building society I worked for in my first IT job in 1985 ran their whole business on 2x 500Mb removable hard drives ~ as heavy as bricks when we had to change them over. The discs were as big as banquet platters.
ReplyDeleteGood having a secret number for technical help on the phone.
Ah those were the days Carol. When I 'learned' (as a post grad subsid) subject to program in Cobol and Fortran I'd never actually been very near a computer. They were locked away and occupied whole floors of buildings. PS: As I had difficulties with the concept of binary arithmetic I decided never to make a career in that field!
DeleteYes, gone are the days when you need to understand binary arithmetic to make a career in IT. But thank you, I might introduce a bit of it for my students next year, for old time sake. My boss makes fun of me being around since the old days.
DeleteI remember clipping cards for the computer and it definitely filled a room! Will the rate of progress continue I wonder....
DeleteThe special phone number sounds like magic :) About the tablet packaging, I can only agree, and have the same question (and no magic phone number to call for the answer).
ReplyDeleteIt's a number I shall make sure I don't lose Monica. I think any of us who use tablets wish for a better solution.
DeleteAs a technophobe, I can't enter into that discussion, but pills in packets....they are packaged like that so that it takes so long to open them that any would-be suicide gives up long before he has extracted enough to do the job. Either that, or he loses the will to live. But then presumably he's already done that.
ReplyDeleteFrances you always have the capacity to make me smile (and, in your books, cry too) but as a technophobe you are missing out on such a rich and fertile aspect of life. The problem is that if you did develop such an interest you'd have no time to write your novels which you need to be able to do to pay someone else to sort your technical problems.
DeleteI had to laugh about your adventures with the blister packs, GB. I feel exactly the same way. I dare not even get on a 747 without taking Dramamine first. However, the blister packs are impossible to open without scissors. So there I sat, having gone through airport security, reading the directions for how to open the new (to me) package, thinking, "Now where am I going to get a scissors? I just went through airport security!" I did finally gnaw off a corner and get the damn pill out, but it wasn't easy. Oh well, just another thing sent to try us! Have a great day! xoxox
ReplyDeleteIt has come to something, Carol, when one has to end up gnawing open the packaging to get at the drugs.
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