COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Big Kev]

My Talktalk Fibre65 bill has gone up to £32.15 a month but that does include unlimited 'anytime' calls and £1 for an 'answerphone' service. I can't get a mobile phone signal indoors so need the landline.

[Tizer]

This doesn't look good for NHS switching over to digital communications with the public - and this million cohort will have more need for health services than the rest of us. We're going backwards instead of forwards...
`One million cancel broadband as living costs rise' LINK

[Stanley]

I saw that report also Peter. Once again I question the convenient number of 1 million but accept that it is happening.
Kev, that's what I am paying without the free calls! Should I be ringing them up?

[Big Kev]

Kev, that's what I am paying without the free calls! Should I be ringing them up?

I've just had the contract renewal email through from Talktalk this morning. My £32.15, for Fibre65 broadband and unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles, will be £28 from the end of June when my current 2 year contract expires. There are exclusions to the 'free' calls, charges to 0845, 087, 09 and 118 numbers: The Access Charge will be 12.5p per minute, with the duration rounded up to the nearest minute. The service charge element of the call is rated to the nearest second.
Always worth getting in touch with them especially if your current contract is due to expire soon.

[Tripps]

Thanks all for the responses, and figures for comparison. It looks like the deal is not as good as I first thought, and I will lose the 'free call' landline call facility, (changes to pay as you go) I will gain a much higher download speed (300 Mbs instead of about 40 Mbs) but in reality I doubt I will notice any meaningful difference.

The clincher is that it effectively ties me in for the next four years. That's a long time at my age, and a lot can happen - 5G, low orbit satellites.

I think I'll pass. . . .

[Stanley]

Moved from Good TV.
David, I totally agree. I saw an advertisement on the TV that said that if AI does the repetitive jobs it gives more time to plan health and safety. I don't quite follow the logic of that but the important thing is that someone is promoting AI.
I've heard it all before in connection with fears of automation and computerisation in the 1950s. The consequence of that was the loss of the thousands of low skilled jobs that gave the less gifted in the community the chance to hold down a job, bring in a wage and gain some dignity. As automation and computer control became more efficient it eroded skills in the industries that could use it. AI is universal in its application so all jobs are at risk including those of the people who are introducing the new technology. AI can do a CEO's job or run a government department. It could certainly replace politicians.
I foresee more than interesting times David. We are watching the start of a revolution and like climate change there are tipping points. I think we have passed a very important one, the making available of the technology to the public.
Then I ask myself who got the benefits from automation and computerisation? For a possible answer, look at what happened to senior management wages and bonuses, share options etc. Than look at dividends to shareholders. Installing the new technology meant that jobs could go and wages did not need to be paid, only the development cots and installation charges which were a capital expense and could be placed against tax. AI will not be as expensive but will give even greater savings on the wage bill.
Pandora's Box springs to mind......

[plaques]

In chess we have already seen that computers are better than humans. The old chess programmes would hold thousands of previous games and select the one best for the playing position. New programmes actually learn and play out all permutations. Compare this with complex marketing or political decisions where one computer is trying to outplay another. Will these programmes have any human factors which will limit any extreme actions?
Very worrying.

[Big Kev]

Fact or fiction?

By the time SkyNet became self-aware it had spread into millions of computer servers all across the planet. Ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms, everywhere. It was software, in cyberspace. There was no system core. It could not be shut down. The attack began at 6:18 P.M. just as he said it would. Judgment Day. The day the human race was nearly destroyed by the weapons they built to protect themselves. I should have realized our destiny was never to stop Judgment Day; it was merely to survive it. Together. The Terminator knew. He tried to tell us, but I didn’t want to hear it. Maybe the future has been written. I don’t know. All I know is what the Terminator taught me. Never stop fighting. And I never will. The battle has just begun.

[PanBiker]

Unfortunately Kev it is looking like the fiction from not very long ago is becoming fact. Every time I see a comment or news report on AI I cannot help but think about Skynet.

[Big Kev]

Unfortunately Kev it is looking like the fiction from not very long ago is becoming fact. Every time I see a comment or news report on AI I cannot help but think about Skynet.

I thought the same Ian.

[Big Kev]

Kev, that's what I am paying without the free calls! Should I be ringing them up?

I've just had the contract renewal email through from Talktalk this morning. My £32.15, for Fibre65 broadband and unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles, will be £28 from the end of June when my current 2 year contract expires. There are exclusions to the 'free' calls, charges to 0845, 087, 09 and 118 numbers: The Access Charge will be 12.5p per minute, with the duration rounded up to the nearest minute. The service charge element of the call is rated to the nearest second.
Always worth getting in touch with them especially if your current contract is due to expire soon.

Got the confirmation notification in my inbox

20230520_175300.jpg

[Big Kev]

My actual upload and download speeds exceed the estimated

Screenshot_20230520-203012_Chrome.jpg

[Stanley]

[Tripps]

I discovered accidently last night that Plusnet are closing down their mobile phone operation. They have said nothing to me as yet. That's unfortunate as my main phone is with them. Their marketing over the last few years was based on Yorkshire attitudes "When we say that'll do we mean that'll more than do" All very disappointing.

[Big Kev]

I discovered accidently last night that Plusnet are closing down their mobile phone operation. They have said nothing to me as yet. That's unfortunate as my main phone is with them. Their marketing over the last few years was based on Yorkshire attitudes "When we say that'll do we mean that'll more than do" All very disappointing.

EE look to be taking them over, Plusnet use the EE network as a carrier. They have notifications on their website https://www.plus.net/mobile

[Tripps]

They're actually part of BT - which I'd forgotten - and have offered to transfer me to EE on a similar deal but a bit more expensive. Up to £8 pcm from £6.86. That's no big deal and I'll probably go for it. However I might transfer it to my reserve phone which is with Lebara for £4.90 per month. Seems EE are the result of a merger between what was once Orange and T-mobile.

[Big Kev]

Seems EE are the result of a merger between what was once Orange and T-mobile.

They are indeed, I was once a T-mobile customer many moons ago.

[Stanley]

My pay as you go mobile is with EE. I can't remember how that happened. I seem to remember it was as a result of a take over.
On another computing matter. I have always shut off the power to my computer at the mains when I finish using it. I forgot to do it a few days ago and found that leaving it connected to power, even though shut down, meant the clock still got power and when I logged in I wasn't in the start up mode. I have left is powered up since but would like a battery if that's possible....

[Stanley]

Kev, somehow I have lost that little toggle app you gave us. How can I install it again on Ubuntu? Pretty please.....

[Big Kev]

Kev, somehow I have lost that little toggle app you gave us. How can I install it again on Ubuntu? Pretty please.....

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefo ... ange-case/

[Big Kev]

I have left is powered up since but would like a battery if that's possible....

I will, potentially, be in Barlick on Monday. I'll try and remember to bring one with me

[Stanley]

Thanks Kev....

[Big Kev]

Sorted the problem of wifi access in the back garden at Chez Kev (mobile signal is non existent here and the main router is at the front of the house). Eldest offspring had an old Asus router he no longer uses. A couple of changes in the settings (switched it from router to access point), gave it a static IP and then connected it to the 4 port switch upstairs in my office. It now sits on the window cill giving a wifi signal outside. Very useful for alfresco working

[Tizer]

Full marks for innovation, Kev, well done!

[Stanley]

That sort of original thinking on computer matters would be beyond me, I simply haven't got enough knowledge or experience.