The usefulness of the internet in everyday life part 1

The Problem
Heard a very catchy tune on Radio 2 in the car on the way to a client. Sang along. Listened carefully to who the artist was at the end. Got to client but by then, of course, my memory had failed me.

The Solution
Visit Google. Type in 5 words from the song plus the word "lyrics" and up comes the answer.

So that was nice. A CD for my Chiristmas list.

(Not so) Fastpay

I have just successfully signed up and moved money around with Nat West's FastPay. It seems like a good service in that it appears to work OK. But the sign up procedure is almost too painful for words.

You have to give them your credit card number for charging against, which you would expect. However they then charge the card with a number of pennies from 1 to 99. You then have to login and type in that number which proves the card is yours (well, to be more precise it at least proves you have access to the statements).

This might sound very secure - but having to wait for your statement to pop through the post does not blend very cutely with the first part of their name (Fastpay?) And yes, I know some people have access to their statement quicker than that on line or on telephone banking - but not everyone does.

Maybe this approach could be limited to those Fastpayers who want to transfer vast wads of cash - say over £100. It certainly seemed overkill for what I wanted to transfer...a measly fiver.

Random Thoughts About This Blog's Name

Clearly, I don't yet know what this blog will eventually be all about. So I chose a name for it that reflects some very basic "givens" -

• I'm a bloke
• I live in a leafy Berkshire town
• I'm not quite sure what this is going to be about

It happened that the initials were close enough to rtfm¹ to be worth noting and so I added those as well.

So now you know.

1: Read the Flipping Manual

Hmmmm, what does blogging feel like then?

It's nearing the end of 2004 and even though I've been wired up to the net since 1996 this is my first ever blog post.

I have a lot of catching up to do.

Lots of people seem to enjoy it. So let's see if I do.