Pete's Eats

Ok, I’ve had it with Orange for a while I think. Whilst operators in the UK can be pretty bad on the customer service front generally, I’ve yet to encounter one who makes stuff up – until I spoke to Orange recently that is.

Apparently, I signed a new 18 month contract with a 3rd party a while back. Trouble is, they won’t tell me anything about it apart from the date. I assured them I hadn’t (because, I haven’t) but it’s down to me to prove. They have *no* signature for me on any new paperwork agreeing to a new contract obviously, because I didn’t sign any. I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to a 18 month term. And, had I done either of these things I wouldn’t be sat here claiming I didn’t because they would have proof otherwise. But no, it’s all my responsibility to sort out. Well, excuse me for a minute, but, fuck that.

So, I’m using my T-Mobile account for a while. If you know me then you probably have the number (it ends with 67), if not then drop me an email and I’ll send it by return.

Technorati Tags: mobile, orange

So, the Flash on the Beach conference is less than a month away as I write this. I’ve been playing the role of ‘local bitch’ to the organisers (well, it was me who suggested the Brighton thing in the first place so…) and so I’ve seen the in’s and out’s of the conference’s preparation and I can say without any uncertainty that it’s going to be an event to remember. Not since the early days of Flash have we seen such a gathering come together – nor at such an exciting time in the Flash product development in my opinion.

The venue is HUGE and steeped in history. Part of it was the royal stables back in Victorian times and the Dome was the venue of Abba’s famous Eurovision Song Contest victory in 1974 with their song ‘Waterloo’.

Inside the Brighton Dome

On top of that, Brighton is one of the choice places to visit outside of London. We have everything from quirky to designer, budget to exclusive across all things – something (well, many things) to suit everyone.

The conference’s chosen hotel, The Old Ship, is located right on the Brighton seafront and has great views of the two piers from the front and access to the twisty, small-shop infested Old Lanes right behind.

The conference itself has chosen a huge range of speakers from around the globe and as far away as Japan! I know for a fact that the speakers have been chosen based on their public work and achievement – not for any other reason. If you’re a Flash-centric designer or developer then you will have seen almost all of the presenter’s work at some stage or another – well, now you can come meet the people behind the work and maybe find out (or ask!) how it was done. We’ve made sure that speakers and attendees will have many, many opportunities to mix and chat so start your research now

There are some great sponsors on board – with some great announcements to be made too (don’t ask me about them because I know nothing beyond that – really). Some of whom will be providing some great entertainment for both daytime and evening… There is one that I’m particularly excited about – but I’ll have to wait for the official announcements before saying why…

Linked to that is the social network that’s been done by Madgex for FOTB. First done for d.construct (where it was hailed a great success) I’m expecting big things from it!

The schwag is *really* coming together – FOTB will be putting other conferences to shame in this respect – and you’re guaranteed some early xmas presents if you’re coming along! More than that, there will be some very useful stuff going in there too.

Can’t wait!

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Some links:

Itchy Guide to Brighton

Brighton Dome

The Old Ship

Abba’s Eurovision Victory

Madgex

Technorati Tags: conference, Flash, flashonthebeach, fotb06

I signed up for Hotxt just now. Basically, the service allows you to send unlimited texts from your mobile handset via the internet for a weekly fee – not per message. I wanted to add a couple of friends to the service but they ask for name, phone number and email in order to invite them and this concerned me – it’s a lot of information to give away obviously.

Anyway, I added a couple of friends who I knew to be ‘experimental’ in this respect and we’ve been playing with the service since and I have to say it’s really good so far! Basically, it works like a cross between email, text and chat and works pretty well. You can also text ‘out’ with some free credits given to you if you ask (to be ‘paid’ for in the future).

Anyway, pretty good fun so far.

Technorati Tags: hotxt

So I’m sat with the Tivo paused, waiting for Nete to come in with coffee, staring at the opening credits for Torchwood (the new Doctor Who spin-off).

Then it hits me.

Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who…

Am I the last person on earth to work that one out?! Duh… (actually, since posting this I googled it and it does indeed appear that I *am* the last person pretty much…)

Technorati Tags: DoctorWho, torchwood