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TheSlipperySlope
Over the past weekI have been
watchingFakeon BBC daytimetelevision
and have cometo the conclusionthat
internet shoppingis a very slipperyslope.
Amazon,Ebay, Gumtree and the
rest of that ilk seemto be determined
to let their sellersadvertiseand sell
anythingas long as it makesthema
profit. Over the last five days fake Brake
Shoes,Car Tyres, CarbonMonoxide
detectors,Razors,Children’s Clothes,
Children’s Toys, Children’s NightLights,
Sweets,Foodand LEDs have beenfound
to be fake.All theseare a seriousdanger
to you and your family.
You nameit and someDodgy
ChineseManufacturer will makeit for a
price and ship it to the UK so an internet
entrepreneuror OrganisedCrimegang
can sell it for just a few poundsor pence
belowthe retail price.A bargain,with
your life at stake.Thesefakesall come
with all the relevantsafetymarks.These
safetymarksmeanabsolutelynothing
and the seller’s don’t give a S##t as long
as he makesa profit.
This lot makeDel Boy look like a saint.It’s no goodAmazon,Ebay,
Gumtree, and the rest of thesesites
saying‘howcan we policeall of the
itemssold?’Theyare makingsucha
profit a few poundsto checkup on
theseregularsellersshouldnot break
theirbankaccount.As long as this
tradein fakescontinuesthe less the
publicwill trustthesesites the public
will stay awayfrom theseand the
reputablecompanieswho are not out
to defraudus. Thenit’s backto the
HighStreet for all of us as the online
sellerswill not be trusted.One famous
HighSreet store sold real fur from the
RacoonDog as fake becausereal fur
is cheaperthanfake fur, if they can be
trickedwhatchancedo we have?
It’s up to the governmentto stop
this tradein fakesand protectthe
peopleof this countryfrom the fakers
Chineseor otherwise.The last thingI
wantis somefrugalmotoristrunning
into the backof me withdodgy
brakesand tyres whichhe bought
from the internet.DavidShawAdBlocking
I take your pointaboutadblockingand I will stop
blockingads in Yahoo just as soonas Yahoo stops
sending“Sponsored” AutomaticMail - SpAM,for
short,to everyone of my mail folders,including
Spamand Trash, everytime I log into my email.
Fortunately, I’ve discovered a blockerwhichfiltersit
out, althoughI only have it enabledin Firefox,and
not in IE whichI sometimesuse. I don’t knowif it’s
due to the filter, but Yahoo takeslongerto load than
it’s takento completethe ChilcotEnquiry.
From the feedbackon the hard-to-locateYahoo
FeedbackPage,I get the impressionthat usersdon’t
objectto side ads. It’s the sponsored Spamthat is
the last straw. Yahoo’s response,whenthey deignto
offer one, is “Pay up or put up with it.” WhatYahoo
don’t seemto realise is that mostof us aren’t going
to read thesemessages,so their advertisingpotential
is low, if not zero.
Free websitesneedadvertisersto fund them.
Advertisersneedsite usersto sell to. I thinkit’s called
symbiosis.Advertiserswantto maximisethe potential
audiencefor their ads. Alienatingthat audienceto
the extentthat they eitheruse adblockersor move
awayaltogetheris not in the advertisers’interests,
and that’s not in the site’s interest. Is it, Yahoo?DaveWilliamsAppInventor 2
I alwayslook forward to my copy of Micro Mart
arrivingthroughthe door, and nevermore so than
whenthe seriesof App Inventortutorialsappeared.
As someonein their 70’s who’s only experienceof
programmingwas self taught,firstlyin Motorola
6800 machinecode,then Assemblerlanguageand
subsequentlyin GW BASICsomeyearsago, this was
alwaysgoingto be an interestingchallengefor me.
With BASICI learned how to use one instruction,
then anotherand eventuallyuse themto forma
usefulprogram.
Afterthe first 4 or 5 partsI beganto thinkthat
the only thingI was learning,was how to fit jigsaw
piecestogether. The purposeof each piecewas
not alwaysobvious.The Ai2 seriesof tutorialswere
fully workingprogramsor Appsfrom the word go,
one per issue,and at first I felt I was no wiserwhen
it cameto knowinghow to beginto writeone
myself.As I progressedI beganto realise I was slowly
learning how to put togetherroutinesthat could
be used or modifiedand built upon.As the author
said, you needto thinkof waysyou can developthe
blocksyou had so far constructed.I think,like most
programminglanguages,the best way to learn is to
makea mistake,and then try to find out why it went
wrong. It makesyou stop and thinkaboutwhateach
step is tryingto achieve.
I’ve got somegreat little Appson my phonenow,
and somehave beenpersonalisedor modifiedto suit
my own requirements.I’m sorryto see the seriesend,
perhapssomemore in the future?FredBurnett