Darren Straight's Blog

‘I dropped it from a hot air balloon’ and ‘my dog mistook it for his favourite toy and chewed it to bits’ are among the bizarre insurance claims made for lost and damaged iPhones over the last 12 months, it emerged yesterday.

Other unusual claims include ‘I lost it while skydiving’, ‘I dropped it in a blender’ and ‘It fell into the kettle’.

The weird and wonderful claims came to light in a study by gadget insurers www.protectyourbubble.com.

It also emerged one in five iPhone users have made an insurance claim during the past 12 months.

Most common claims include cracked screens, lost or stolen iPhones and iPhones dropped in the toilet or bath.

A spokesman for Protect your bubble said: “With so many people carrying an iPhone with them wherever they go, it’s no surprise that they are being lost or damaged in a host of unusual ways.”

“Most of us know someone who has managed to drop their iPhone in a pint of beer or down the toilet – but these bizarre claims we have uncovered must be one-offs.’’

The study also found 45 per cent of claims have been for accidental damage to iPhones.

One unlucky customer lost his iPhone after leaning over the side of a boat in Cyprus, to see it fall out of the rucksack and plop into the sea.

And one owner reckons he was happily sitting in the local pub, when a friend spilled his pint of beer all over his phone.

Another unlucky male drove sharply round a corner, to witness his beloved iPhone sliding across the dashboard and straight out of his open window.

Other iPhone insurance claims include losing the phone under the wheels of a bus after it flew out of a pocket, and a teenager being forced to hand over his phone to thugs after they threatened him with a machete.

And one coffee shop assistant was busy making an espresso for a customer, only to turn around and find he had walked off with his phone which was sitting on the side.

The spokesman for Protect your bubble added: “The amazing ways people manage to be separated from their iPhone goes to show that you never know what’s around the corner – and it pays to get your iPhone insured.’’

Other more usual claims include losing internet connection, screen freeze, pets knocking the phone off a work surface and the fact the phone doesn’t charge.

TOP 10 MOST BIZARRE IPHONE CLAIMS

1. I dropped it from a hot air balloon
2. I lost it while sky diving
3. It broke when my son used it as a table tennis racket
4. I lost it while building a sand castle for the kids
5. I accidentally buried it in the garden
6. It fell into the kettle
7. I dropped it in a food blender
8. My dog chewed it to pieces
9. Juice from a defrosting piece of meat leaked into it
10. It flew out of the car window

TOP 10 MOST COMMON IPHONE CLAIMS

1. Cracked screen
2. Stolen while texting
3. Couldn’t hear the other person when making a call
4. Leaving phone on the car roof so it falls off when driving
5. Pet knocked the phone off the surface
6. Stolen from handbag
7. Internet connection completely broken
8. iPhone doesn’t charge
9. Dropped in the bath / toilet
10. Screen freezes

Social media has been growing massively in 2010 in the UK. This video was created by Simply Zesty who provide online PR and social media for brands and businesses in the United Kingdom. The research was done by The Oxford Research Agency (TORA) in the UK who are a partner of Simply Zesty.

Brits trust the internet more than friends and colleagues when it comes to handing over personal information, according to a study published today by data storage specialists NetApp.

The research, which polled 3000 adults, revealed that while the average adult freely divulges a string of personal details on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, most would not give friends or colleagues their PIN number.

Despite 86 per cent of adults saying they would never hand over their PIN to someone they know, one in twenty people have their home address visible on a social networking sites.

Similarly, whilst only five per cent of people would let their best mate have access to their PIN number, 50 per cent of respondents have their relationship status visible online. 28 per cent also have their partner’s name visible and 20 per cent have the name of their employer visible online.

Unbelievably nearly two thirds of people also have their date of birth on networking sites which is always a security question when telephoning banks or building societies.

Speaking on the findings Paul Wooding, Head of UK Public Sector for NetApp comments: “It’s ironic that so many people are cautious with friends and family when it comes to security details, yet include really personal data on social networking sites.”

“It’s really alarming that people have so much confidential information like a home address available on their Facebook profile. As soon as you update your profile saying you are off on holiday all your hundreds of friends and now potentially anyone searching on Google, will know your home is empty for the next few weeks.”

The poll also revealed that a blasé seven per cent of people said that the whole point of social networking sites was so people can keep track of you and know what you’re up to.

Although a quarter of people did admit that the amount of information they had freely available on the World Wide Web did sometimes worry them.

But when it comes to our nearest and dearest it’s a different story, with less than half of people trusting their partner with their PIN number for their main cash card.

But it’s not just our friends who we don’t trust – three quarters of people said they do not trust the government with their personal data and more than two thirds also said that they feel that the government acts like Big Brother, and knows far too much about them.

For more than half of Brits (52 per cent) the biggest bone of contention is the government having access to our medical details.

The next big issue for respondents was data records on salaries, which 20 per cent objected to being held by the powers that be. One in twenty British adults were also sensitive about the government holding information on the amount of benefits we receive.

These issues were reflected in the concern around the security of government data shown by the poll. 78 per cent of those polled advised that incidents of public sector workers losing laptops containing personal data on members of the public worried them, with medical information and then salary information being the items they are most worried about being leaked.

A spokesman for NetApp added: “The risks of the government data being leaked or lost is minimal to the risks of security lapses on social networking sites. People need to look after themselves and really think about the information they make visible.”

“Technology today means that organisations are well equipped to be able to store and manage data effectively. The fear is perhaps heightened because of high profile cases of data breaches but in reality many of us are sharing very personal and sometimes sensitive information with the whole world without giving it much thought.”

INFORMATION PEOPLE DIVULGE ON NETWORKING SITES
 
Full name: 92 per cent
Hometown: 62 per cent
Date of Birth: 59 per cent
Relationship status: 49 per cent
Secondary school: 40 per cent
Marital status: 33 per cent
University/College: 30 per cent
Partners name: 28 per cent
Employer: 20 per cent
Job title: 18 per cent
Parental status: 17 per cent
Primary school: 16 per cent
Children’s names: 9 per cent
Full address: 5 per cent

Although one in ten men (9 per cent) admits to working on holiday, the vast majority of Britons (92 per cent) believe that taking a laptop on vacation would not cause arguments with their partner or family. This is a chief finding of a nationwide survey unveiled today into Britons’ use of technology on holiday.

The online study of more than 2,200 members of the Great British public carried out by YouGov and Softwareload.co.uk, Deutsche Telekom’s online download portal for software applications, also found that whenever possible 13 per cent of Britons take their laptops on holiday with them. 16 per cent of men take their laptop away on holiday compared to just a tenth (10 per cent) of women. Just four per cent of women said they do a little work on holiday when they take their laptop with them on holiday. But technology hasn’t completely taken over; only five per cent of Britons say they would choose using recreational software on the laptop – such as educational software – while on holiday over reading a good book.

“While holiday is often a time to leave work behind and maybe even switch off the mobile, technology can enhance our holiday time with useful travel guides, language learning and translation apps available for laptops and mobiles,” said Dirk Lebzien, Head of Softwareload. “Our research shows that people are comfortable with their partner bringing their laptop computer on holiday with them, and thankfully few people are choosing work when on vacation.”

Softwareload’s study also found that a large number (39 per cent) of those surveyed are ‘embarrassed’ that they can’t speak the local language on holiday. Women (42 per cent) are slightly more likely than men (37 per cent) to feel embarrassed from just using English. 18-24 year-olds (43 per cent) and 25-34 year-olds (45 per cent) are more likely to feel embarrassed about not speaking the local language than any other group.

27 per cent of 18-24 year-olds said they would find translation software and offline maps stored on their mobile phone useful when on holiday, a higher percentage than any other group. Currently, although 31 per cent of UK holiday makers are aware that travel apps and dictionaries are available on mobile devices, only six per cent of Brits regularly use them, Softwareload found.

The Social Network is an upcoming 2010 drama film directed by David Fincher about the founding of Facebook, I saw the trailer for it yesterday at the Cinemas and it reminded me a little of The Pirates of Silicon Valley Movie (1999), a film about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Anyhow The Social Network film features an ensemble cast which consists of Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Rashida Jones, Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, Malese Jow, and Joseph Mazzello.

The film was written by Aaron Sorkin and adapted from Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. The film is distributed by Columbia Pictures and is set for an October 1, 2010 release. None of the Facebook staff, including founder Mark Zuckerberg, will be involved with the project. One of the co-founders, Eduardo Saverin, was a consultant for Mezrich’s book.

Here’s a trailer for The Social Network Movie:

And here’s a trailer from The Pirates of Silicon Valley Movie:

This is what happens when BP spills coffee.

As part of the official 50th anniversary of the Anne Frank House, LBi Lost Boys and Anne Frank House have developed a 3D version of the house at Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam where Anne and her family lived in hiding for two years during the Second World War. The Secret Annex Online is part of the new Anne Frank website, and allows visitors to explore the front of the house and the secret annex as it was then, and hear stories that explain in greater depth what happened there.

The museum in Amsterdam is not furnished as the secret annex was cleared of its contents after those in hiding were arrested. After the war, it was Otto Frank’s wish that the rooms should  remain empty. The online hiding place allows visitors to see and learn more about various objects not on view. The virtual rooms were furnished using reference photographs that were taken in 1999 when the front part of the house and the secret annex were temporarily re-furnished.

The microsite is full of richly descriptive video clips, telling the story of Anne Frank through diary excerpts and archived witness reports. The English voice-overs are by Tamsin Greig and Ellie Kendrick, both of whom were involved in the 2009 BBC series “The Diary of Anne Frank”. Atmospheric music was kindly provided by Mark Isham, the American Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer perhaps best known for his work on ‘Crash’ and ‘A River Runs Through It’.

To spread the story of Anne Frank through social media channels, there is also a Facebook application. Selected quotes from Anne’s diary can be posted to your profile weekly or monthly, spreading her words of inspiration.

The Secret Annex Online is Web Pick of the Week on Commarts, and was Site of the Day on FWA (Favourite Website Awards). More info can be found via the press release on RealWire.

According to QuitFacebookDay.com, a website set up by Matthew Milan and Joseph Dee, today is the big day that you should commit to quiting Facebook due to it’s data privacy concerns.

However currently only 26080 people are committed Facebook quitters of the over 400 million plus users of Facebook, that’s only around 0.00652% of facebook users! WOW not a lot – but I guess everything has to start somewhere.

But the question today is – Will you be Quitting Facebook Today?

Why are we quitting?
For us it comes down to two things: fair choices and best intentions. In our view, Facebook doesn’t do a good job in either department. Facebook gives you choices about how to manage your data, but they aren’t fair choices, and while the onus is on the individual to manage these choices, Facebook makes it damn difficult for the average user to understand or manage this. We also don’t think Facebook has much respect for you or your data, especially in the context of the future.

For a lot of people, quitting Facebook revolves around privacy. This is a legitimate concern, but we also think the privacy issue is just the symptom of a larger set of issues. The cumulative effects of what Facebook does now will not play out well in the future, and we care deeply about the future of the web as an open, safe and human place. We just can’t see Facebook’s current direction being aligned with any positive future for the web, so we’re leaving.

What should I know?
Quitting Facebookisn’t easy. Facebook is engaging, enjoyable and quite frankly, addictive. Quitting something like Facebook is like quitting smoking. It’s hard to stay on the wagon long enough to actually change your habits. Having peer support helps, but the way to quit Facebook is not to start a group on Facebook about leaving Facebook.

Part of quitting is understanding the nature of the problem, and there have been a number of recent articles and posts that do a much better job than us at articulating what’s wrongwith Facebook. We encourage you to read them and form your own opinions. Moving on will be easier to do when you have made a clear and conscious choiceabout why you’d prefer your online life to be Facebook-free.

What are my options?
There are alternatives to Facebook. Understanding what is best for you will depend a lot on what you need out of your social graph on a daily basis. For some, a combination of services like email, Twitter and Flickr might work. For others, a Ning group or a specialized social site like Akohamight be an option. If the entire population of Brazil can use Orkut, we think that there’s hope for you to find a new home on the web. Wired, ReadWriteWeb and others have recently called for an open alternative to Facebook, and we’re personally excited about the potential of the Diaspora project. At the moment, there aren’t a lot of great options for direct replacement, but know that you’re not alone. When there’s a market need, it’s not long before better options appear. In our minds, the best thing to do is to contribute to that need – and that’s what Quit Facebook Day is about.

Who set this up?
@mmilan and @josephdee. Putting that for disclosure, but we want the focus on the real issue: Should you leave Facebook

I was playing Call Of Duty Modern Welfare 2 today and all of a sudden my Rank Level shot up from Rank Level 28 to Rank Level 70 Commander! :-O

On seeing this I was pretty angered to say the least! However lucky enough I was able to recover my original Level, well one level back from the orginal anyhow, I managed to recover my stats back to Level 27! What happened to me is that Call of Duty placed me in a Hacked Server Lobby which hacked my Level to Level 70, unbelievable I know but it does happen: here and here and man more here

I managed to restore my level by doing the following:

1. First of all ensure you do not have CODMW2 open and running.
2. Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2″
3. Right click on the “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare\players” folder and choose “Properties” then select the “Previous Versions” tab.
4. Find the folder version just before the hack occurred.
5. Copy it to a secure location such as your desktop.
6. Delete the “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2\players” folder or rename it “players_hacked” for example.
7. Copy the restored “players” folder to “C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2\”

1. Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\”
2. Right click on the “C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber” folder and choose “Properties” then select the “Previous Versions” tab.
3. Find the folder version just before the hack occurred.
4. Copy it to a secure location such as your desktop.
5. Delete the “C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber” folder or rename it “randomnumber_hacked” for example.
6. Copy the restored “randomnumber” folder to “C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber”
7. It’s worth noting that the C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber” folder is all your userdata from all your steam games so you could browse into this folder and just restore C:\Program Files\Steam\userdata\randomnumber\10190″ which is the specific folder for COD 6.

A new concept in online flight search officially takes off in the UK today with the launch of Fly.com.

• Fly.com is the only flight comparison site to have a ‘why me?’ function, which shows consumers what features each airline includes (e.g. free drinks, Wi-Fi, leather chairs, interactive TV etc.)
• Users can sort results by what’s important to them; price, airline, stops, airports or traveller class.
• The site provides a unique and easy to use slide navigation to fine tune itinerary.