I’ve been with them since my very first phone in 1998, a Bosch 509e. Yep, Bosch used to make phones! In 2005 I spent three months working for them at their North Tyneside call centre while I was in between jobs. But now, after a spate of serious customer service failures, here’s why I’m leaving Orange. …
Companies
Learn to Code (An Intermission): Code.org
The founders of Facebook, Microsoft, Dropbox, Twitter and many more top tech companies have provided their voices and recognisable fizzogs to this latest video from Code.org. Code.org promotes the principle that nobody is born with the ability to code, or play basketball, or drive a racing car: it is a learned skill. The biggest hurdle…
Burton Menswear’s Blatant, Cheeky, Misleading and False Advertising
I was recently shocked and appalled by an instance of blatant, cheeky and hopefully illegal false advertising at Burton Menswear. I walked in their shop and, from a distance, I saw this below. What does that say to you? I know what it says to me! I thought it said “Jeans £10”. Which…
American Airlines’ New Livery
Today, after months of speculation and guesswork, the world finally got to see American Airlines’ new livery. Doing away with the bare-metal, full-length stripes and the “AA” with an eagle in the middle, the new paint scheme will work on the new all-composite aircraft coming out of Boeing and Airbus, which simply don’t allow for…
Christmas Computer Hell 2012
This was going to be a blog about how to build a modern personal computer. In the end it turns out how NOT to build a modern personal computer, complete with hair-pulling frustrations, angry Tweets, companies being awful then being amazingly good, expensive mistakes and a plethora of helpful friends offering excellent advice. Mid-December,…
Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Should be Winning!
Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 (along with Windows Server 2012) represent Microsoft’s bet on the next four years of personal and business computing. Windows 8 is getting a lot of negative press, from everywhere, while Windows Phone 8 is slated to be the final nail in Nokia’s coffin. But is this really indicative of…
Starbucksgate: Mind the GAAP
For the past few weeks the press has been filled to the brim with stories about the “immoral, but not illegal” tax practices of some of the world’s biggest companies. Most focus has been on Starbucks (who managed to pay less than 1% corporation tax on £3bn revenues in the UK) and Amazon (who paid…
What Do You Think of Microsoft’s New Logo? (Updated)
It has been 25 years since the last redesign but here it is, Microsoft’s new logo: What do you think? Microsoft’s New Logo I do believe that companies should refresh themselves every so often. Microsoft’s old logo is a classic and timeless so there must have been something significant to have encouraged them to…