I had to replace my cell-phone last week after my trusty SPV C600 died; Orange don’t stock the C600 anymore, so I was given an SPV E650 as a free upgrade – now, I know what you’re thinking, “Dude, it was free, stop complaining!!!!”.

Even though I knew I would have to replace my existing 2gb mini-SD with a micro-SD card; that I’d have yet another power adapter to add to the collection; that my FM transmitter would be rendered useless because the E650 doesn’t have “normal” headphone socket; I was expecting the E650 to be a better user experience than my C600. Sadly, despite the free upgrade, this has not been so; to whit:

I’ve yet to have a day without a crash – that includes recoverable errors (the ones that generate an MS error report) from Comm Manager, Calendar, the messaging applet, and non-recoverable errors (which don’t even respond to the power button, so I have to take the battery out). And on one intensely frustrating day, all of the above within about 2 hours.

If that wasn’t enough, I can’t install the GMail Java client (which worked just fine on my C600) because of a certificate error; Efficasoft’s GPRS monitor installs but doesn’t appear on the Home screen, or monitor GPRS usage (and it worked just fine on my C600).

Wireless almost works – I’ve tried it on two APs; one which is wide-open and one which isn’t,  and the results were the same. I get an IP address, but can’t browse out so the phone resorts to GPRS.

Application installs take forever – seriously; 25 minutes with the rotating Trivial Pursuit pie-icon.

Sliding the keyboard out and then back in hangs the phone.

This thing is so bad it’s practically unusable. There are so many things wrong, that I’m actually beginning to wonder if I’ve got a faulty unit… Am I alone in my growing hatred of this device? If you’re an Orange customer, and you’ve got an E650, I’d love to hear if your experience has been the same as mine; even better, if your experience was the same and you found a way to fix it, I’d especially love to hear from you.

[tags]HTC, Vox, , S710, E650, problems, cellphone, mobile, handset[/tags]

My own Jedi-powers have long been the envy of family and friends, and my mere presence has seemingly breathed life back into all manner of uncooperative hardware. Call it what you like, the Force, an aura, mojo, it’s all the same.

Until last week. First, I hose my my router during a firmware upgrade; then my Xbox 360 refuses to talk to my new router, followed swiftly by my DS Lite and my laptop. Then, my Smartphone refuses to upload new podcasts via ActiveSync – appointments, emails  and contacts; fine. MP3 files? No chance. This morning, the NIC on my desktop PC starts throwing a hissy-fit. Oh, and the cooker-hood in the kitchen – which of course, has a micro processor in it, to warn when the filters need cleaning – flashes an undefined error when I switch it on last night.

I stand and glare at this pile of hardware, willing it to function normally again, but nothing. Is this what it feels like to be a mere “computer user“? I’ve lost my mojo, baby. Major bummer, man. Like, totally.

[tags]life, digital life, computers, mojo, jedi powers[/tags]

This all sounds worryingly familiar, but the first version wasn’t called Web 1.0; it was called “the dotcom bubble”. Back then, an awful lot of money was thrown at companies who ended up delivering nothing but promises and some fancy schwag.

Thankfuly, it looks like the tide might be about to change. This article at The Register describes how Tim Berners-Lee and Eben Moglen are calling for a bit of common-sense and calm to be applied to the “Web 2.0″ hype.

That was the elapsed time between activating an email address on andrewterry.com and receiving this piece of junk:

This week we are creating several new positions in your area, and the experience listed on your resume reflects the type of person we are looking for. You could be missing out on a promising job opportunity, so contact us soon. This position has high earning potential, excellent benefits and opportunity for advancement. You really should look into it.

As a Representative for American Income Life Insurance Company, there is no limit to your earning potential, and you don’t need prior sales experience. We offer an in-field training program as well as flexible hours and full support. Many new representatives earn from $60,000 to $90,000 or more in their first year. This job could give you the high earnings you’ve been looking for.

Start a rewarding job today… with American Income Life Insurance Company. Please
CLICK HERE to find out more about the position we may have available for you. We hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Roger Smith
President And Chief Executive Officer
American Income Life Insurance Company
1200 Wooded Acres Drive
Waco, TX 76710

P.S. You received this E-mail because you responded to our ad or placed your resume on one of the internet job boards. To unsubscribe from future E-mails follow the link below.

I’ve disabled their CLICK HERE link, and I haven’t included the unsubscribe link either – for the simple reason that clicking that almost certainly won’t unsubscribe me. It’ll confirm that the email address is active. So back to the rant – first of all, nothing my resume would match the “skills” that Roger Smith is looking for; Second, I have never seen a recruitment ad for American Income Life Insurance, let alone repsond to one; and third, I wouldn’t place my resume on a US job board because I don’t live there.As with unsolicited junk snail mail, I didn’t ask for it; I don’t want or need it. And yet, it’s wasted my server space, my bandwidth and my time.

When is this shameful practice going to be banned outright? No opt-in schemes – as if anyone would want to opt-in to junk mail; No white-lists – consumers already get enough advertising shoved down their throats; Just make it stop!