Geoffrey Multimedia

Nervous about entering credit card details online? I’m sure you do know that many online stores use PayPal. PayPal allows you to link a bank account or credit card to the system. This means that if you don’t actually keep any money on PayPal, the service will (literally) suck money out of your bank account (or credit card) to pay the vendor. There are no fees, but make sure you have a really juicy (and long) PayPal password.

Shopping online can save you a hell of a lot of money. I’ve saved up to 50% on electrical items. The following sites compare prices of products from a whole range of shops and in some cases, there are user-ratings and reviews on each e-shop.

www.shopferret.com.au
www.shopbot.com.au

If you can think of any other good ones, leave a comment and I’ll add it to this list.

Why steal your mobile when Facebook can siphon cash from your bill? I’m so angry.

The reason why I don’t have a mobile phone, home phone, email or address on this site is due to a recent spate of privacy and SMS theft. Recently, I clicked a widget in Facebook and was suddenly sent a slew of SMSs from a dating service. I didn’t think anything of this (just kept deleting them) until I got my phone bill. Each SMS had been charged at $2+. I then had to find my deleted SMSs and figure out how disconnect from the service. A difficult tract of text at the bottom of one SMS explained how to disengage the service. To disengage (from “Australia Data” - don’t bother they’re not on the web) I had to phone a 1300 number. I was told to wait (1300 numbers are charged by the second) - was disconnected a few times and (after half an hour) finally got through and was prompted to enter a series of numbers followed by my mobile phone number. The phone, literally, went blank after I’d put in my number. No “goodbye”, no “you have been disconnected from our service”. But the SMSs stopped coming. As did the slew of fees charged to my phone account.

Lesson: Never enter your mobile number into a web form unless you know exactly where the info is going. In the case of Facebook - they ask for this info straight up and it’s shared with all their “clients”. So be careful with personal info. It’s worth money.

Now on Facebook, I’m a 43 year old woman who lives in Austria. Needless to say - this new “identity” has a different mobile phone number. Hopefully . . . it’s not yours!

• BBC Report on Facebook Identity Theft

Well, as you may or may not know, besides making sites, I also teach at Curtin Uni. But - like many of my naughty students with assignments - I left marking them to the very last minute. I did a good job (imho) but wasn’t comfortable doing with a deadline approaching at a speedy pace. It meant getting up, marking all day and night and then going to bed late. Difficult because I’ve just joined Bootcamp and have to be up at 4:50am every second day. I waited for all the late assignments to come in before I started marking en masse - when I should have already marked the ones that had arrived on time. THAT won’t happen again.

Usability is the study of the ease of use of a product. As you are no doubt aware, some products are easier to use than others. A lot of people like Apple software because they put usability as a high priority. The same goes for a website. They are often designed conservatively so that we know what to expect and where to expect it when we navigate the site. There’s a menu (such as the one on the left) a content area and a header. There’s usually a footer with copyright and terms. If a site communicates its message well - you won’t be left wondering what the hell it’s about. It’s why I’ve written “making websites since 1998″ right after the phrase “multimedia company with a man’s name.”

That latter phrase has scored me over 200 jobs and has actually put bread on my table for many years, so - despite it meaning pretty much nothing at all - I’m reluctant to lose it.

Recently, I had the strange pleasure of marking a whole bunch of uni student website usability assignments. Continue reading »

I just received a whole bunch of programming assignments. I’m only halfway through marking because most of my time has been taken up opening some of them. Huge file sizes, cumbersome files with unknown extension types, PDF documents designed for print houses - not for dowloading off the web! Grrr!

Many students did the work or got an okay mark or passed. Thankfully, a small percentage of the assignments I received wouldn’t even open!

But the best assignments by far were the ones that communicated with me. Very few students wrote about the trials and tribulations of their programming adventures. The ones that did helped me understand their plight by carefully holding my hand all the way.

In this web-based topsy-turvy industry, it’s hard to find good communicators. If you are clear on paper (and in person of course) the floor is yours. Flattery will get you nowhere. Strong, clear communication (starting with small file sizes, labeled and commented work, links and illustrations whenever necessary, students) will get you anywhere.