Access to the ground is already by contactless proximity card so making the leap to contactless payment is just like Oyster and Barclaycard really.  I criticised that one heavily for lack of ambition which just goes to show the power of fans eh?

I am not currently a season ticket holder at Man City but I do go to many of the home games using my contactless Access Card, where I merely ring up, ask for a ticket and access is authorised.  I turn up for the game and hey presto, my card let’s me in.  I won’t go into the number of times two people have been allocated the same seat but I tolerate this as a “fan”.  If that same access card could be used to buy a beer (for which I tolerate queuing for ages), a pie (ugh!), and my programme this would be great.  I then shuffle my way through to my seat amongst the thronging masses and watch City play out a drab 0-0 draw and go home to kick the cat.

A major energy company in the UK, npower, has a corporate strategy of turning customers into fans – no wonder….  At Man City, I am happy to pay for poor service again and again, and I never ever switch “suppliers”.   Btw, I am an npower customer and sadly I must report that I cannot make a valid comparison since I have never had a service problem with them.

I hear there are similar trials in the US too – I wonder if Man City fancy twinning with the Seattle Seahawks?  They had a service problem at Green Bay in last season’s playoffs – it snowed wildly – home advantage hmphhhh!

The serious point to me is about governance.  Whether IT systems, banking processes, or capital management, there must always be governance, assurance, security surrounding human activity.  That is not say a lack of trust, far from it.  But there needs to be parameters within which people are allowed freedom to act, combined with systems that prevent them straying outside these, when to do so has such serious consequences on the organisation and its environment.

The larger the enterprise, the more this is so.

CIOs have voiced their opinion on topics as diverse as how empowered they feel, whether their role is recognised at board level, and how they are now working on projects with more demonstrable business value.  All good stuff and I recommend you read the article.

However, when it comes to whether the gap has been closed between business and IT, surely the business view is at least equally as important (and some may argue the only view) as the CIO view?  In any case, would CIOs paint a picture of discord and things getting worse?

I am not entirely surprised that 94% of turkeys voted against Xmas either.

In fact Miami were no pushover.  Their opening drive, based almost exclusively on an aggressive running game, put them in a promising position only to run out of steam with a 48 yard field too much to ask in wet and windy conditions.

In my view both quarterbacks had stinkers.  Miami in particular, whose QB was appropriately named “Lemon”, managed to oversee 4 consecutive penalties at one point in the game when the Dolphins were otherwise in control.  Illegal receiver downfield; illegal substitution and (unbelievably) an illegal formation being amongst the crimes.

The Giants played none too well themselves with Eli Manning (QB) seemingly unable to hit the proverbial barn door with any form of stringed instrument.

It teemed with rain most of the match and even up in the second tier, we were getting wet.  So using the conditions as an excuse is plausible, and I am certain this contributed to the score being as close as it was.

When you are leading a team in a competitive situation, you frequently encounter turbulence.  Often it is the same for all sides.  Being successful is not about being brilliant at all times.  Sometimes it’s just about being better than your competitors, making small improvements and focussing on the apparently little things.  All of which reminds me of the old joke about the grizzly bear chasing two hunters.  One stops to put on his running shoes.  The other hunter laughed “you are not going to outrun a bear in those”, to which the first hunter replied “I don’t need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you!”

The Giants were not great but they were better than the Dolphins by a small margin in most areas and this saw them through.

By the way, on a sporting note, as a former linebacker for the Stockport Falcons, I did like the look of No. 52 for Miami, Clam Chowder (or was it Channing Crowder).  Sharp, energetic, aggressive, hard hitting and made a large portion of Miami’s tackles.  Man of the match for me even though I was supporting the Giants.

Do you like words?  Have you got a short attention span?  I’ve got a couple of good sites for you, but don’t blame me if you waste half your day…

http://addictionary.org/ let’s you create new words and humorously define them.

Example?  I added Errordite – (adjective) – Thought to have shown profound knowledge but in the event, proved to be wrong.

Struggling to think up a random werd (sic)?  Try http://www.fourteenminutes.com/fun/words/ which is a random word generator.

Hours of harmless fun for the litterati (noun - people who consider themselves to be men of letters but actually are rubbish, like me) amongst you.

Comparing Microsoft’s strategy to the maturation of a fine wine is one thing.  Doing so in the same sentence as referring to their Windows and Office product range as “cash cows” that are “withering on the vine” is a mixed metaphor too far, Sam!

If you don’t already read Jeff Nolan you should.  His recent posts on “Bubble 2.0 got me smiling.  Bubble 2.0?  Try Bubble 144.0, (I am trying not to be gross).

Technology is not new – it has been around since man.  Investing is not new either.  As long as there has been a means of trading intangible “promises” such as stocks and futures (and in my country this goes back to at least the 16th century but apparently there is some evidence of commodities futures trading in China 6,000 years ago), there has been the prospect of a decent bubble, driven by human greed, and a propensity to follow the pack.

Jeff points out that Web 2.0 stocks are blissfully insulated from most of the current de-stabilisers in the economy (US sub-prime lending, US housing prices, global oil prices, the “end” of private equity leveraged buyouts, rising interest rates etc).   But all these factors affect investor confidence and as soon as the markets’ herd mentality decides that a bubble is about to burst then burst it will.

Of course, what we learnt from Bubble 143.0 was that is was not the end of tech.  It was merely a shake-out where the strong survived (and thrived) and the www.snakeoil.com salesmen perished.

The other thing we learnt is that the bubble lasted years longer than most market commentators forecast, including perhaps most famously, Alan Greenspan in 1995.  As I recall the bubble seemed to last forever.  Stock values of companies with little more than a domain name were valued in the millions, and the old economy was “dying”.

I don’t plan to call the end of the current rise in stocks, and in particular, tech stocks.  I do have one friend who always points to a judder before a fall, and the main markets are certainly juddering right now.  Whether they crash, steady, or continue the current bull run remains to be seen, but as far as tech stocks are concerned, I reckon there has been too much money invested in Web 2.0 and a shake-out is inevitable.  But this does not mean that this will necessarily happen any time soon.

Furthermore, will the “old tech economy” see a resurgence?  I mean, there are still shops on my high street.

I’m off to sleep now on my new pillow 2.0 (memory foam) purchased from a high street store named IKEA.

The three in one “OnePulse”card:

1.  Chip and PIN card – your regular debit card
2.  Contactless payment card (but only in participating retailers and only in London)
3.  Oyster card (contactless travelcard for the London Underground)

Barclaycard call this “the future of payments in London” which really falls short in ambition for me.

Why can’t I import all that functionality (and more) onto my mobile phone so I don’t need a card at all?  That sounds like the future of global payments.

However, despite this derisory post, I must admit that I will be applying for one, as it does look like the best we’ve got in the UK right now, and at least it means my Oyster Card can go in the bin.  That is, unless Barclaycard have read this and terminate me as a customer!

Soooo much classier than Tiny URL – yeah?

Here is the URL it computed for my wine blog.  I’ll have to go, this has really tickled me….

http://www.hugeurl.com/?YjljMjkzNzJiNjg2NDNhOTA2ZmM3Y2FmNjFj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R2JITmhSazVzWWtad2VGVnRNVWRWTWtwV1ZtcGFXbFpXY0hKWlZXUkdaVWRP
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bTA1VWsxWFVucFdNV2h2V1ZaS1JsTnRPVlZXTTFKNlZHdGFWbVZYVWtoa1Iy
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V2JrSkhWR3hhVDJGWFJYZGpSV3hYWVd0dmQxbHFSbEpsUm1SellVWlNhVkp1
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b1YxWXphR2hhUkVaYVpVWmtkVlZ0ZUZOWFJrcFpWa1phWVZsV1RrZFdiazVX
WW1zMVYxWnRlR0ZXYkZKV1ZXNUtVVlZVTURrPQ==

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

We can create you a new database on a new server and also keep the other database in order to evaluate this.

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

————————–

By the way, I intend to publish this conversation on one of my blogs in due course.

————————–

This is really shoddy.
I really think you ought to be much more visible with your service levels and uptime/downtime.
I really don’t know whether to move to another database since I cannot evaluate whether my service will improve, stay the same or deteriorate.
Instead of offering me another database to test, please can you afford me a recommendation as to what to do make my sites more reliable?
I’ll give up asking for the stats on downtime because you clearly are not interested in being open and honest.

————————–

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

The server has not been down, but we are investigating the speed of the server.

As previously mentioned we can create you an alternative database if required.

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

————————–

Am I talking to a robot here? Why won’t you answer my question?

————————–

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

We can create you a database on an alternative for you to test please confirm.

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

————————–

If you are saying that there has been problems on my existing server and moving will imporve my uptime then that is worth considering, but I don’t want to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.

I am not sure why you can’t just tell me when and why the server has been down and whether the service problems will continue or not? I have asked several times in this thread and never received an answer.

————————–

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

We can create you a database on an alternative mysql server if required.

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

————————–

Hi
I am still having problems and getting complaints from my readership that my two sites are down from time to time and fairly frequently.
They are always down at the same time which points to a service issue.
Where can I find details of your service levels and downtime?

————————–

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

We’ve uploaded a test script that works correctly and is able to connect to the database.

http://www.workforceinabox.com/sln-mysql-connect.php

We would recommend that you have correctly configured your MySQL connection as all appears to be working correctly.

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

————————–

Mysql Username: XXXXX
Mysql Password: XXXXX
Mysql Hostname: mysql10.streamline.net

Service is very intermittent at the moment.

Thanks

————————–

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

Can you confirm the MySQL server, database name and password that you are currently trying to connect to?

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

————————–

The site is down currently and so is www.alastairbathgate.com. Please can you let me know if there is a technical problem? Thanks

————————–

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

We are not aware off any issues occuring over the last day or so, we will moniter the situation, please get back to us with any further issues.

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

————————–

Thanks. At the time I wrote the note the website’s were functioning but they had been down (intermittently) between about 12:0pm BST and 17:00 BST on 17 April.
I was really asking if there HAD BEEN a problem as this seems to happen every now and again which is inconvenient.
The site is using Wordpress software which reported the message that my database server mysql10.streamline.net was down.
Can you check historically whether there was a problem, please? Then next time it happens I know where the problem is.
Alternatively is there a way I can check your service live?

————————–

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

We are not currently aware of any problems with your server. We have alerted our engineers, who will monitor the situation and if a problem is identified will look to rectify this.

Please advise if you do continue to experience problems.

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

————————–

Thanks. At the time I wrote the note the website’s were functioning but they had been down (intermittently) between about 12:0pm BST and 17:00 BST on 17 April.
I was really asking if there HAD BEEN a problem as this seems to happen every now and again which is inconvenient.
The site is using Wordpress software which reported the message that my database server mysql10.streamline.net was down.
Can you check historically whether there was a problem, please? Then next time it happens I know where the problem is.
Alternatively is there a way I can check your service live?

————————–

Hi Alastair Bathgate,

Thanks for your query.

Looking at your website there appears to be a website there and everything is fully active. If you are still having problems accessing it, or there is a problem with the web site currently displaying please provide more details including any errors you are recieving.

Kind Regards,
Support Department
Streamline.Net – The home of good value web hosting

Have you seen our new support centre? You can visit it at: http://www.streamlinesupport.net

————————–

workforceinabox.com is not registered by us (but might be a transfer).
workforceinabox.com is on our hosting system.
——–

My two sites www.workforceinabox.com and www.alastairbathgate.com have both been down for most of this afternoon with a reported problem on the database server at mysql10.streamline.net.
Can you advise if there has been a problem?
Thanks