Some gaps in the system

Just woken up from the redeye back from Connecting Up in Melbourne #CU11. Serious props to the CU team for a great event.

But some interesting gaps showed up in the IT landscape that we promote so heavily in just that time.

• My internet access was included in the room tariff, ✓✓
  It was wireless which was also available throughout the complex, ✓✓
  On day one I had a problem finding the splash page to login to the network, X
  On day three the connection became very unreliable, not working at first, then (at the moment the tech support guy arrived worked fine - of course) working fine !!!
  The tech guy took nearly an hour to arrive X
  Then the reception staff tried to help X (don't let your reception people suggest actions, it just wastes time)
  The business centre manager arrived with her own laptop and an ethernet cable to sort it out✓
  We discovered that the WiFi was allowing login to the access point but not giving network access - three hours after I complained X
  She took me down to the business centre and helped me set up there ✓
• I needed to get a mobile phone number from Skype history but, because I couldn't login to Skype I couldn't open the history (Skype needs an offline mode) XX
  The BC manager let me login to Skype on their machine but because the history is on MY machine it didn't help me find the phone number (Skype REALLY needs an offline mode) XX
• Thursday night a group of us went out to a restaurant and there was much excitement using Foursquare to get ratings - ✓ for having fun but x for trying to reduce risk too far
  GPS restaurant app on iPhone helped us find 2 Japanese restaurants; both closed XX but a ✓ for pushing us back onto our own resources.
• Turns out I have a new fangled passport with a chip that lets me use the fast immigration queue - ✓ for moving with the times but x for obliging me to use face matching technology that, presumably keeps the records for an indeterminate amount of time to be used for whatever unknowable purpose (Must check that)
  Having sped through administrative processing I then spent twice as much time in the baggage hall because baggage handling is still stuck in the late 20th century and takes exactly as long as it ever did. XX (I'd bet we would put up with a line at immigration to find our bags ready for us, every time, on the other side)
• Light relief provided by waiting at the baggage carousel looking idly at a flash advert for Sony TV and noticing with approval that it included the URL to their TV site www.Sony.com.nz.  Go on, click the link. XXXXX
  BTW, why doesn't the link just say /tv so I can go to their TV page? but if you want that you need     http://www.sony.co.nz/productcategory/tvp-lcd-tv X

The big problem with these things is that its not the BIG things that gets our goat, like, "why can't we solve world hunger and find universal peace?" Its the little things that finally drive us up the wall. Things like;

• A slight angle on the USB slots of my laptop that means I can't just poull them out in line with the plane of the keyboard, I have to get exactly the right angle or it wont move
• ethernet plugs that connect beautifully but wont let go without major surgery
• warnings and error messages that don't bloody well tell me what is wrong

Actually, lets see your listOK, your turn, what tech niggles frost your weenie?

 

She let me login to Skype on their machine but because the history is on MY machine it didn't help me find the phone number (Skype REALLY needs an offline mode) XX

Comments

[Ben Teoh]

Hey Earl, sounds like a lot of #firstworldproblems there :)
[EM] Yeah, fair point./

Sorry to hear that the wifi wasn't great during the workshop, I was impressed that it handled the load over the main two days of #CU11.
[EM] Hell no, the conference was fine, should have made it clear that it was the in-room service that fell over on Friday/

I agree though on your last point, how often do we get frustrated at the small things?

It was really good meeting you at #CU11 and I trust you made some valuable connections here in Australia.
[EM] I did thanks, and it was a pleasure to meet the rest of the CU team, having only run into Simon in NZ.

It was great to have you over here.

All the best!