planet-nifty.co.uk

As a web developer I often find myself working with multiple servers that show identical websites on different URLs. Typically this is a case of test servers and live servers for particular websites  - but this can get confusing. The website on a test server is pretty much identical to a live server in every way but if you get confused about which server you’re looking at you can make mistakes like changing the config of the live server and looking at the test server for changes. Which is not good.

So I’ve knocked up a little chrome extension that watches which URLs I’m visiting in each tab and shows a little warning icon depending on which URL I’m visiting. It’s hardly a work of art, but it is a neat little introduction to the very basics of creating a google chrome browser extension using page actions and background pages.

So lets take a look at it shall we? (more…)

Well, it happened. After months and months – actually a couple of years. My countdown has hit zero and I’ve reached the end of my invisalign treatment… Or so I thought.

Right now, I’m at the end of my first round of ‘refinements’ and I’m allowed a few more if I want to make further changes. I’m actually pretty happy with the result. Looking back at how my teeth were at the start of this thing, I can definitely see a real improvement.

Am I finished? (more…)

Dear National Lottery,

I just wanted to draw your attention to a little problem I’ve run across as a subscriber to your online services; Over the past week I have received at least three e-mails from yourselves which were identical except for the date. The e-mail reads something like this;

This is a service message to advise you that we expect to see an increasingly high volume of traffic to the National Lottery website in the hours leading up to the close of the EuroMillions draw at 7.30pm tonight.

If it is your intention to purchase a ticket for any draw-based game today, we would recommend that you do so as early as possible in order to avoid any disappointment.

Yours sincerely,

National Lottery Customer Care Team

www.national-lottery.co.uk

Seem familiar? I’m sure you’ve seen it around.

Since I work for an online retailer, I do appreciate the benefits of sending out e-mails to remind customers of your existence and I’m sure a campaign like this is quite profitable.

However, I can’t help but see this as an exploitation of your own terms and conditions. I know that you are bound by UK law regarding customer privacy, which means that, when I tell you I don’t want to receive advertising or marketing e-mails from you, your company or its affiliates, I know you’re not allowed to send any of that stuff to me or pass on my details without my consent. This e-mail however is thinly disguised as a “service message” which, in your own terms constitutes part of the service I am subscribed to and not direct marketing. Your web server is going to be busy, you say? I might not be able to use the service later, you say? So I should get all my gambling done early and avoid the rush, you think? Well, aren’t you considerate for warning me?

My problem is this;

“Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services” – Advertising – Wikipedia

I think your call to action in the above e-mail fits neatly into this definition of advertising, despite being qualified with “If it is your intention to… [blah blah blah]“. I know, the Advertising Standards Agency’s new online remit wouldn’t agree with me on this, but I still feel like my trust in you to not bother me with “come and gamble today” messages has been violated.

If you’re genuinely worried that a run of last minute gambling will bring down your website on these big lottery draw days then I humbly suggest you do something about it rather than waste time and resources on broadcasting about how unprepared you are for the coming onslaught.

I’m sure a company who, last year, banked over £31 million in profits and paid dividends of over £33 million to it’s shareholders – funded by the 70% of UK adults who regularly play National Lottery games - can afford to invest in some more scalable server technology.¹

I know you’re basically a Canadian Teacher’s union pension scheme in disguise nowadays, but come on. Buy some more servers and quit spamming me.

Sincerely Yours

Russ Wilde

¹ Statistics taken from the Camelot Stakeholder Report 2010.

So there I was, procrastinating over a very important job that I have still to finish and I got to wondering about the short codes used for URL shortening services – you know, these ones; http://abc.com/1a4c

So I decided to make on of my own… (more…)

Just a little note to say that we’re currently migrating to some new hosting. There won’t be any down-time – not that it matters I suppose, but if you’re reading this version of this post, you’re talking to the NEW server.