Month: March 2011

Categories
Misdirected Emails Spam teh internets

Dear Matt Armstrongs Of The World

I know I got there first with the best Gmail address for our name, but just because you’re jealous it doesn’t mean you have to give out my email address to people and pretend it’s yours…

So no, “The Cast of Disneyland Paris”, I don’t think I can give you feedback on my recent visit there, given that I haven’t left Australia for over a year.

I also won’t be reviewing my recent stay at the Hilton Taba Resort Nelson Village in Egypt (although what I thought I was doing there casually taking my resort holiday in the middle of a revolution is a mystery to me–I guess at least one of the other Matts is actually a dick…)

It gets worse. Apparently I am also in the real estate business, profiting from people’s misery by selling foreclosed properties in Indiana. But I won’t be showing you around this one. Maybe you’d be better off contacting the Matt Armstrong who’s listed on the site instead of emailing me. Just a thought.

And Matt, if you’re going to sign up to a restaurant loyalty program, you might want to include your own email address. Although having said that, since their emails have an “edit profile” link at the bottom, I was able to log in and see the address and phone number of my property in Baton Rouge, LA. Perhaps I’ll turn up one day and move in.

Actually, perhaps I should consider some kind of identity fraud on people with the same name as me. Shouldn’t be too difficult, because apparently they are all idiots.

Categories
Australia teh internets

Crikey! OzBargain Wants To Give Away My Email Address…

So I was signing up for an account at consumer-discounts-website OzBargain, when I happened to notice something a bit odd in the terms and conditions I was agreeing to…

Terms and Conditions of Use

Account Inactivity

After a period of inactivity, OzBargain reserves the right to disable or terminate a user’s account. If an account has been deactivated for inactivity, the email address associated with that account may be given to another user without notice to you or such other party.

I’m sorry, what? If I don’t use my account for a bit you are going to re-assign my email address to someone else? My email address? Have you checked with Google on that? ‘Cause I don’t think they’d let you give away my Gmail address to someone else…

Or did you just copy your terms and conditions from someone else without checking whether it made any sense in the context of your website…?

Categories
teh internets

Mobile Friendly

Once again Randall is on the money here.

Attn: developers of mobile websites. If I follow a link from Google (or, say, an obfuscated short url from someone’s Twitter post) to a specific page on your website, by all means sniff my user agent string and give me a mobile-friendly layout because I’m on an iPhone, if that’s your thing, but don’t dump me on the homepage of your mobile website.

Here’s an example: had to look something up on the website of aussie supermarket chain woolies, but it’s basically impossible to browse any content on their main website on an iPhone. Direct links in from Google dump you at i.woolworths.com.au. So you hit that “visit the normal website” link down the bottom and get the homepage of their main site. Oh and there’s the link to that thing you were looking for…. So you tap the link and… oh you’re on an iPhone? Yep back to i.woolworths.com.au for you. Brilliant.

Categories
teh internets

IMDb’s Version

Ah. Free movies.

When we lived in London there were so many free movie screening tickets available if you knew where on the internet to look, that we pretty much saw one every week. Sadly they’re somewhat thinner on the ground over here in Melbourne, but there’s still the odd one every now and again. Tonight it was Barney’s Version, a bittersweet tale of the “fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky”, played by the always excellent Paul Giamatti.

I mention this only because, when I turned to the internet to check something, I was highly amused by the IMDb’s page on the film.

Just look at that cast list:

List of minor characters from the film Barney's Version

They’ve really summarised the most important people in the film there, haven’t they: “Productions Executive #1”, “Judge at Rome Wedding”, and who could forget the pivotal role that “O’Malley Director #1” plays in the story.

At least they did remember to include Mr Giamatti in the cast list, even if they forgot to list Dustin Hoffman and Rosamund Pike (who just played really minor characters like, um, his father and the love of his life…)

But nevermind, the cast list did actually answer the question that sent me to the internets in the first place: there in third place was the answer to my question. Yes that guy who appeared for a split second playing a Mountie in the rubbish TV show that Barney produces was indeed Paul Gross, him off of 90s Canadian Mountie-themed drama Due South…