Sometimes, big web sites do things that seem so odd, you're convinced it must be your fault. I've spent some time looking at all the options on a friend's YouTube account, trying to work out what they've done - and I can't see a setting that would account for the odd behaviour.

If you've ever uploaded video to YouTube, you've probably also received email notifications, telling you when people have subscribed to your videos, or left a comment. And given the predominantly English speaking nature of the net, you probably received those messages in English. In fact, you'd expect to, wouldn't you? After all, if YouTube knows you used that language when you uploaded your videos, and didn't switch to another one, it would seem reasonable to send you notifications that way too.

So, when you suddenly receive messages, that say something like "ItalianUser ha aggiunto un commento su VideoName"  or "L'utente di YouTube ItalianUser si è appena iscritto ai tuoi video" you look through the options, and think "have I switched language somehow?"

And, the answer appears to be no.

My friend's also received similar messages in Dutch too; while it's doubtless educational, surely this is a massive oversight in the design of the system? Does everyone on YouTube really receive notifications in the language of the user who caused the triggering event, rather than in their own language? And if so, how on earth did that one slip through the net?

And if it's just my friend, can anyone shed light on how to make the messages arrive in English once more?

Posted by Nigel Whitfield on May 4, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Most of us hate being held in support phone queues, only to eventually get through to someone who just has to go through a standard script to try and help you. Virgin Media is no worse than any in this respect, but recently I discovered a great way of bypassing this (as long as your Virgin internet connection's still working!) 

Posted by Kelvyn Taylor on March 5, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

We reported on T-Mobile's cute little 3G router on the Test Bed earlier. Now 3 has followed suit with the Huwaei D100 wireless router.

Costing £69.99 for a one-off purchase, this little box gives 802.11g Wifi access to your 3G USB dongle (only 3-branded dongles are supported). It's available in black or white, and includes a single wired Ethernet port.

Posted by Kelvyn Taylor on October 23, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Domain name and hosting provider 1&1 was quick to fire out threats from debt collectors to both myself and a friend recently.

Like any tech-heads, we've both got hosting packages and domain names bought from several companies including 34SP, CWSHosting, UK2, Low cost names and more. Most companies send out emails notifying you that a domain name is up for renewal and that if you don't act immediately then you'll lose the domain name.

In my experience (and my friend who suffered the same fate), 1&1 is different because I didn't get a notice email (or phone call) saying my domain was up for renewal. Instead the company just renewed it and, once they realised my debit card had expired, billed me via post afterwards.

Before I'd rung them and said I'd only wanted the domain name for the first year and I wouldn't pay for the second, 1&1 hired debt collectors who sent me an additional bill.

After some pleading with 1&1 customer support, who claimed I'd signed a rolling contract, it pulled its debt collectors off me but only after I'd paid for the renewal of my domain name.

It seems, in my opinion, a rather rash way to do business. But the market is extremely competitive and I'll show my discontent with my wallet and buy domains elsewhere from now on.

Posted by Emil Larsen on July 23, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Mobile operators like Vodafone will bundle ADSL broadband, a femtocell router and two mobile phones by the end of the year, speculates femtocell-maker Thomson.

Sound interesting? Perhaps not at face value but femtocell routers, like Thomson’s new TG870, do so much more than just telephony and mobile broadband.

Femtocells are little 3G mobile phone masks and the premise is they will sit side-by-side with Wifi routers in the home, giving your mobile phone excellent coverage indoors. If you make a phone call through it, the call gets routed through your ADSL to the mobile phone operator’s “femtocell aggregator” which is plugged into the tradition phone network.

Posted by Emil Larsen on March 7, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A hacking war has broken out between Swedish and Turkish hackers after several newspapers in Sweden published a caricature of the prophet Muhammed. Around five thousand websites have been affected, including those of Linköping Cathedral and Gothenburg Council, according to the English-language Swedish newspaper The Local.

Swedish hackers are reported to have retaliated by breaking into Turkish forums and posting pornographic images of Muhammad and Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish state.

Stefan B Grinneby, head of the Swedish IT Incident Centre (SITIC), has asked local hackers to exercise restraint to prevent an escalation.

Inevitably security firms are using the battle as a dire warning for companies to beef up their protection. Geoff Sweeney, chief technology officer of Tier-3 said companies can learn a lot from the methodology of the hackers, and claimed "more advanced" measures like behavioural analysis offered better protection because it provided a safety net against unknown as well as known threats.

Posted by Clive Akass on October 26, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google has just added a new feature to Google Earth that adds a YouTube video layer. YouTube users simply need to provide location information for their videos and permit embedding. This will then let Google Earth users see a clickable tag for the videos appear in the correct geographical location. the video runs in an embedded window within Google Earth.

The new layer will automatically appear in the 'Featured Content' section of Google Earth the next time you open the application.

Posted by Kelvyn Taylor on October 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (4)

So, the good news is that Wimax services will start to rollout in Britain. The bad news is that we don’t know exactly when (though we can assume it will be a matter of months) nor how much they will cost.

The people from Freedom4, formerly known as Pipex Wireless, haven’t yet worked these things out themselves, judging from yesterday’s launch press conference.

The uncertainty starts with the company’s licence to use its precious spectrum. Cliff Mason, manager of Ofcom’s mobile and broadband wireless policy team, pointed out that the terms were agreed 13 years ago when the technological climate was very different from today.

Posted by Clive Akass on October 5, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Newnet has announced its 24Mb broadband package will be debut in Portsmouth next month.

Of course, unless you're transferring a hell of a lot of data the actual usefulness of anything above 8Mb is questionable. What's more interesting is the 1Mb upload speed - allowing devices such as home network cameras to provide smooth video feeds etc.

If you're confused why the folk in Portsmouth are getting special treatment, Newnet is giving priority to areas where it has the most customers - which makes sense.

Sign up for a year, and the cheapest package is just £11.49/month - however this really is just a headline grabbing rate.

You can buy pre-paid additional gigabytes if you think you might go over the cap (and surely anyone requiring a 24Mb service would do so in a day or two) at a cost of 70p for 1GB. However, these come in 10GB blocks, so you'll have to splash out at least £7.

If you go over the cap without having pre-paid for extra gigabytes you'll be charged £1.30 per GB in 3GB blocks - so that's £3.90 each time you go over the cap.

Still, the Home M 24 rate seems good value at £18.49/month with a 12GB cap.

Posted by Will Stapley on July 24, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eqo mobile is offering a slightly different way for mobile phone uses to call abroad cheaply.

It first launched its VoIP service in 2006 but it's been refined and changed and now works on all java enabled mobile phones.

To use the service you make a national phone call. In the UK's case it's an 0208-London number but this is, of course, different for different countries. The recipient of the phone call also (but unknowingly) calls an exchange in his/her country.

This all sounds complicated, but the magic bit is that it's easy as pie because it's all done in software.

Eqo's software negotiates between the caller and the recipient so that there are no numbers involved and it works like a normal mobile phone conversation would do.

The magic bit is Eqo's software that looks like instant messaging software, with a contacts list you can call. It'll also let you speak to your msn messenger and aim contacts too.

Eqo mobile won't charge you for Eqo – Eqo calls, but it does charge you for calls from an Eqo enabled phone to a non Eqo mobile phone or landline. Users are also billed for national telephone charges by their mobile phone operator separately.

The problems with this service are obvious though; it's not for landline phones, it won't work for national calls and an Eqo-enabled mobile phone must pay national rate telephone charges even if they are the recipient of a conversation.

Paying to receive a call is never popular with anyone and is likely to confuse people.

Windows Mobile support will come in the next two months and Eqo is looking to expand to 40 support countries. Every county needs to be specifically enabled with a VoIP-analogue converter before it can be used for Eqo calls.

Posted by Emil Larsen on July 3, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)