Twitter is just too Damn easy. You can post what you’re doing and BAM it’s out there (it even updates my Facebook status, how lazy is that?), but where’s the narrative? It’s great to let people know what you are doing at that exact moment in time, and it only takes a few seconds to do, but you can’t get much back story in to it, you can’t let people know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Hence the need for a blog.

Anyway, I digress (something else you can’t do on Twitter with any success), having been playing with WordPress for a while now I thought a nice, simple way to post to it might be useful. I already have a mobile admin plugin installed, but for that I have to visit the site and login, adding a couple of extra steps to what should be a simple process. WordPress for Android makes all that nice and simple.

If you’re still reading this then well done. 99% of people I know, and let’s face it that’s likely to be the only people reading this, probably won’t have gotten past the first paragraph. Congrats.

Having installed WP4A I haven’t really played with it that much, that is until they did an update and it started crashing. I checked out the forums and after a little poking about it seems that a couple of people were having the same problem, although for them it would seem some non-alpha-numerical characters in their passwords may have been the issue. It seemed like my crash was caused by a similar problem, however it turned out to be unhandled apostraphies in the titles of posts that had been commented on that was causing the crash.

Having discovered that, a further problem with the special >> that WordPress uses in trackbacks and pingbacks that caused a further crash. I removed the offending comments and editing the post titles all worked fine.

After posting my findings on the forum a new version has been posted that has now fixed all the issues I had. All that in less than a week. Result.

If you care, these issues only seem to affect users running Android 1.5 and if Orange had released the 2.1 update already for my Hero then this would probably never have come to light. So there you go.

This is probably one of my longer posts, and all done on a touchscreen keyboard. Joy.

The original plan was to end my contract and get the new shiny with a new contract, but that wouldn’t be until at least august next year, but as I’ve only had 3 phones in the last 10 years I thought it was about time. And besides I’m not tied in to an expensive contract for the next 18 months. Job’s a good’en.

Reported it to Orange on their 7726 number, but it probably won’t stop these bastards. As long as a few people reply then they make their money. Gits.

What a steaming pile of shit Orange software really is…

They then asked if it was a contract phone. “Didn’t Orange give you that information?” I enquired…

Apparently not, they just get the number. Not a very well targeted campaign then.

“And how long have you got left on your contract?”

I’ve got no idea, but when I said I thought it was already over the minimum and just an ongoing subscription she said she’d call again another time.

Very odd.

ORANGE CUSTOMER: YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR A COMPLETELY FREE PHONE. 1ST COME 1ST SERVED. CALL FREE ON 0800 0838440

Yeah, Bollocks.

FREE entry into our £250 weekly comp just send the word ENTER to 87011 NOW. 18+ T&C www.textcomp.com cust care 0871 240 5020.

Their website has no way to unsubscribe from their shitty service other than sending a text to their premium rate number (It’s just a standard rate according to Orange).

Still kinda pissed off, and a nice man gave me the number for OfCom (0845 4563000) who I shall be ringing in the morning. If you got to this site by searching for these bastards in Google/Yahoo, etc I sugest you do too. It’s only if enough people complain that something’s going to be done.

At this point, I’d like to point out that the cretins at TEXTCOMP have ALREADY broken the law. My mobile is registered with the TPS and has been for a very long time.

A quick WhoIs from Network Solutions shows not only are they a shit company, but the scamming bastards are based… can you guess…

Yes, INDIA!

Tanla Solutions Ltd.

Plot 11, Type A

Filmnagar, Jubilee Hills

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500034

IN

So not only are our jobs going over there, but now they’re exporting bloody SPAM!

They do also have a London office…

MLS Business Centre

Winchester House

259 ? 269 Old Marylebourne Road

London NW1 5RA

Tel: +44 (0)870 4450015

Fax: +44 (0)207 1704251

Now I’ve just tried ringing these bastards, and no answer. Fair enough, it is 21:30, but I’m thinking of taping a few black sheets of card together and sending them some faxes. You can play along at home too.

Simply take 2 peices of black card (anything dark will do) and tape them together vertically. Place it into the fax and send to your target (0207 1704251 – Go on, you know you want to).

Once the fax has started to send and the bottom of the paper has emerged from the fax, simply tape it to the top of the other sheet. You now have an infinite loop of black paper being faxed to your victim. Leave on for as long as you like and really piss some people off with unsolicited faxes. See how they like it. I call it a Fax-Bomb. Wastes all their paper as it all gets printed on, all for the cost of a local call. Hell do it from work if you have the facilities.

Where was I… Oh yes…

I wonder what they’ll have to say to an slightly irked ‘customer’. Maybe I’ll wait till after I speak to them before I bomb the bastards.

Had your mobile 10+ mths? Update to the latest Orange camera/video phones for £FREE. Save £££s with Double mins & text. Text YES for a callback or no to opt out

No mention of it in Google or Grumbletext but it looks like I’m going to be getting a lot more of this kinda shit from now on. Somebody, somewhere has my number and is selling it. Now I deliberately (un)tick the little boxes as appropriate to avoid this crap. My number is even registered with the TPS, although under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2004 it is unlawful to send an unsolicited sales and marketing text message anyway!

What more can you do?

I must point out, this it NOT the id they gave me, I took this from someone elses complaint I found Google.

Visiting the link gives you a whole load of crap. I’ve thinned out all the markup, and you’re left with:

Ringtones
Grab your FREE tone – Choose now!

Featured Tones!
Crazy Frog – AxleF
Akon – Lonely
Amerie – 1 Thing
Star Wars Theme
Tony Christie ft. Peter Kay – (Is This The Way To) Amarillo

or check out….
UK Top Ten
R’n'B
Dance Chart
Kickin’ Tones
thousands more tones

>Search
> Home
> Help
> T&Cs
> FAQs

powered by TMS
To opt-out of these offers send ‘stop’ to 84242

Now after checking with Orange (an nice lady called Sue on 150) this is a £3 per message service, which I sure as hell didn’t subscribe to. Also, she can’t check to see if I’ve been charged for this crap until my next bill, although she will put a note on my account to refund it if I’m charged. Also, I need to opt-out otherwise I would continue recieving this crap and be charged for it.

A quick txt to 82424 with ‘Stop’ later and I recieve a reply saying:

You are now permanently removed from our marketing services. You have not been charged for any message from us, and you will receive no more messages at all.

Yeah, right. Like I’m gonna believe that, considdering I never subscribed in the first place. Wankers.

Their T&Cs does offer some information though…

Thank your for requesting help from our WAP site, we hope you to provide you with the best possible service

text ‘stop’ to 84242 to recieve no more marketing messages or write to The Music Solution Ltd, PO BOX 52705, London, EC1Y 0WY

Terms & Conditions
1. You must be 16+ and have the permission of the bill payer to subscribe to the service.
2. You agree to receive occasional promotional messages in the future
3. This is a subscription service. After your free ringtone, unless you opt-out, you will be entitled to a ringtone every week from the Ringtone Club charged at 300p plus your normal SMS/WAP charges
4. To unsubscribe at any time text STOP to 84242
5. Customer Service: help@tms.co.uk or 02074908191
6. Check your phone for compatibility

Again, this was all done through my browser, not through my phone, and the link was using that other guy’s id… Sorry bud, hope it doesn’t track your ID and link you in again.

Time to start spamming their email… see how they like it. Also you might want to flame Andrew Robinson (see SamSpade) and ask him who the hell he thinks he is.

******* UPDATE 06/05 *******

Interesting reply from TMS…

>Alex,

Thank you for your note, and my apologies for us sending you a wap push marketing message. I perfectly understand that you had no interest in receiving the message and it is not our intention to send marketing material to those who have not actively opted to receive such messages.

In common with many other content providers, we occasionally purchase opt-in marketing lists from data management companies, registered with the Data Association who specialise in providing such services.

We only send messages to people who have specifically opted in to receive marketing messages from a previous service. In your case, this doesn’t sound like something you either intended to do, or believed you did. If you give me your mobile number, I will be able to trace the source and let you know which company is offering your mobile number for marketing purposes. They will then, of course, be able to identify the reason for your inclusion on their marketing list and remove you from their records according to your wishes, just as we will be pleased to do.

If you pass me your mobile number I will make sure that you will be removed from our service and records, and I again apologise from TMS for this intrusion and inconvenience.

Alternatively, if you just text stop to 84242, you will automatically be removed from all our marketing.

Best regards,

David

————————
David Warburton | CEO
The Music Solution Ltd | 3 Nightingale House | 5 Garrett Street | London| EC1Y 0TT | United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)20 7490 8191 | F: +44 (0)20 7336 7191

So, I’ve asked him to let me know where he got my number, I certaintly don’t remember ticking any boxes asking for this kinda stuff.

Will update this page as and when…