Rdio comes from some serious tech pedigree with its founders being the creators of the Skype service. Emerging in 2010, Rdio has spread across north America, parts of Europe, and now Australia and New Zealand.

So to the big questions and answers.

How much is it?

Rdio is a subscription service that comes in 2 basic flavours. The first being a web only serve at $8.90 per month. For this cashola you get to stream as much music as your ears can handle. The catch? You can onlydo this from the desktop or from a web browser.

The 2nd option is the unlimited web streaming like the first deal but then combined with mobile streaming. The advantage of this choice is the ability to “sync” your music onto your mobile. This means you can effectively copy the music onto your phone, while at home, and then play these tunes when you’re out and about – avoiding the big costs of mobile internet. Although if you’ve got a decent data plan on your smartphone you can then just stream the service through their app. This service should also be available to stream on devices like the Sonos system. For the pleasure of the bells and whistles you’re up for $12.90 per month and this is the plan I’m eating at the moment.

Spotted any issues with Rdio?

As with any tech product there are shortcomings. For Rdio, I’ve found, this revolves around the iPhone app. Despite running the latest iOS revision and the latest Rdio app (free in the iTunes app store) I get an intermittant issue with dropping my synced music. This may or may not be due to the app ensuring that only one person is using your account at the one time but it’s meant that I’ve had to do an automatic resync with WiFi. Not a huge issue and one that’s only happened a couple of times.

The browser version of the service has been flawless for me.

What’s the music catalogue like?

Well you know, being the hipster type, I’ve had some troubles playing some old and new favorites. Try jumping on The Black Keys bandwagon leaves us Aussies listening to the back catalogue – their 2011 album El Camino is a preview only – it’s available on the iTunes store though. On the other hand I found The Paradise Motel’s amazing song, German Girl, with only a few clicks. Pretty impressive.

There are times when the album looks like it’s available for a listen but their are individual tracks set to preview only. Possibly as a result of licensing problems in Australia.

Despite these issues, the catalogue is large enough to please most people. You can easily keep an eye on the latest releases or follow other movers and shakers, like yourself, to see what they’ve uncovered. The social aspect of Rdio is pretty compelling. Their recommendations service is a great way to find some alternatives to Barry Manilow too.

Overall, what do we reckon?

The big question. Is Rdio worth it?

If you love your music I’d say yes. Their catalogue is great, but there are gaps that could become too annoying. If, like me, you spend more than the $12.90 per month on music (considering an album bought elsewhere is $16+) then this is almost a no brainer. You can cancel at any stage if the albums you want continue to be unavailable (Spotify is on the way so we’ll take a peek at their catalogue too). Where’s the problem peoples – with a service like Rdio you can have your whole record collection stored on your tiny mobile phone. Sweet.

Getting the little beastie home and unpacking the well presented black and fluoro-green box had me itching to pound some pavement. That was until I tried to install the software. On plugging the watch in to a spare USB port on the computer I was presented with a folder with a link to click. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth I eventually found the spot on the Nike website that links to the driver software for the watch. This may have been improved since I tried it last or my feeble brain just couldn’t comprehend the steps involved. If that’s the case, Nike please forgive me. I must also say that the USB plug on the watch is hidden behind the clasp of the watch. This is some inspired design work but time may tell if this is the most reliable option.

Once the software was installed and the battery charged from the USB port (neat) I was ready to go. I’d chosen to turn off the shoe-pod functionality as I don’t have a pair of compatible Nike runners but the watch doesn’t mind as a GPS is at the heart of this gadget. An extended pressing of the green button tells me that it’s linking the sensors, whatever that means, and then it goes off searching for satellites. However.

The finding of satellites is a bit of a hit and miss affair for me. On one occasion I’d walked over 1km and it was still searching. As with most gadgets a reset (by holding down the top button and the bottom button until the firmware revision is revealed) fixes the issue – but it does leave you with the feeling of unreliability.

Once underway it’s an easy matter of scrolling through your pace, calories, average pace, distance, and time to see how your run is tracking. A firm tap on the screen can give you a back-light and this can also be set up to mark your laps. Nice. But this I’ve found to be problematic. The manual says that you need to tap the screen quickly but firmly – this doesn’t always work – on the other hand the firmness needed for the tap, in their own words will prevent accidental taps.

Once the torture, I mean run, is over you trundle on back to the computer and plug it back in. A simple interface pops up allowing you to customise some of the features of the watch like inverting the display and enabling laps, intervals, and prompts. At the same time your runs are being uploaded to the Nike servers for display in graphical format with a map of the run. While not quite as comprehensive as Runkeeper‘s offering, the Nike+ site is a simple and colourful affair that will cater for most needs.

But again there’s a dammit moment, or two in this case. The first is the recent failure of the data to upload. This isn’t really an issue as it normally works on the second attempt. The other issue has almost been a deal-breaker for me and it seems to be getting worse. Maybe it’s an issue with Nike not paying Google’s bill for the mapping or it’s just a failure of the product. In any case the map is no longer showing up under my run. I still get a lot of data out of my run but the map showing my track and elevation is not being uploaded. According to Nike, this is a known problem that “they are working around the clock to fix”. But the fact that there is no ability, unlike Runkeeper, to resend the runs to the server at a later date means that this data is lost.

So would I recommend this product?

At this point I’d have to say buyer beware. The problematic uploading is the biggest issue with this otherwise brilliant product. Keep an eye on this site or other forums to see if Nike can get to the bottom of the issue. On the other hand the perpetually out of stock note might be telling a bit of a tale.

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Pros: Fantastically easy to use package. Rechargeable. Shoe-pod compatible to let you track your runs when the GPS can’t see the sky. Did I say it’s dead simple to use.

Cons: Iffy uploading with constant misplacing of the maps. Dammit.

Future features that we’d love: Easy exporting of the data (it’s just GPX peoples) to other fitness suites like Runkeeper (yes, you can use EagerFeet but we’d love to see Nike getting behind the consumer and the users own data). Grabbing weight from devices like the Withings scales.

Put simply, I’ve been suffering at the hands (or ears, as the case may be) of gradually deteriorating call quality since I signed up with my previous carrier, who shall remain nameless. Suffice to say, ‘Yes’, they’re fond of using animals in their TV advertisements…

So after much to-ing and fro-ing, we decided enough was enough, it’s time to change carriers. The inevitable wrangling over contract exit fees ensued, and of course, like so many others, we ended up knocking on the doors of our local regulator, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. Seemingly the posturing was enough, because our exit fees were reduced to a token charge to pay out the phones, and we were happy with that.

We’ve since migrated to a carrier widely reputed to have far superior signal coverage and I must admit, I did so with some trepidation. Not wanting to swap rubbish for garbage, I was understandably nervous about making the transition.

Has anything changed, I hear you ask? Well. All I can say is, I wish I’d done it sooner. Call quality has improved, people no longer sound like they’re talking on an old UHF radio with a flat battery. Signal quality has improved, I now average 3/5 bars whereas before it was 1-2/5. Data speeds have improved out of sight, previously I would be lucky to get a HSDPA connection, now I’m unlucky if I don’t.

Essentially, I’m now being provided with the service I thought I was paying for previously.

What’s the message here? Don’t put up with rubbish call quality, don’t put up with poor coverage, don’t put up with poor data access. If you’re paying a good price and getting a rubbish product, then seriously consider changing carriers. You should be able to negotiate with your current carrier to get out of your contracts without too much financial pain, if any, depending on the circumstances. If they don’t show you any love, then just escalate it.

Choose your mobile carriers with care, people!

Aikenthum

Psychotic blogger in the wild

So here I sit. Savouring the last of my double full fat Swiss cheese, triple ham, French’s classic yellow mustard, on wholemeal. Thinking and musing. You know, I think to myself, I was a real dick. My endless agitation over the poor Telstra coverage at home and our in-store embarrassment ended in almost hysterical fervor and, to be honest, ended with me achieving just slightly more than hypertension and disharmony at home. Yep, I was a dick.

So here I henceforth agree to disagree with the mighty T and apologise to the poor complaints officer for my ridiculously demanding email – yeah the one before the apology email. I’ll also endeavor to channel more happiness into the blog in an attempt to right the listing towards mania. We’ll call it a new year’s resolution.

So for those who’ve been following my rambling passage towards capitulation – where did we end up?

In a nutshell we received an email from the Customer Resolution Coordinator that began, chillingly, with the statement “Further to our recent conversation”.

Things didn’t warm up from there either.

What followed were phrases like “I confirm”, “Telstra does not provide coverage prediction”, “you will need to sign a release agreement…service will not be guaranteed…sign this…before handset will be issued”, and there were dot points too. Boy did I upset the apple-cart.

In the end we’ll have to say thanks for the good-will credit and make sure the boss has my home phone number.

Sure we have questions left unanswered and some importantly logical issues outstanding, but hey, I’m moving on to my happy place. If the other members of the household have problems then I’ll leave it to them to deal with it in a more civilised and adult manner.

So Telstra, cheers for your patience. Cheers for at least listening. Have a great year.

Big business is such a complex beast of many heads and separate brains. One head speaks to the public, selling wares and providing the Ryan Gosling-esque white toothed grin of confidance. Another is the elusive, complex and often brilliant mastermind, finding solutions and planning new creations. They don’t often speak to each other and this often shows. So continues the drama with Telstra that began months ago.

So there we were last Sunday, heading off to Telstra to put to rest the dramas that have been dogging us for months. We’d received an email from their complaints team that was faintly scented with frustration but came quickly to the point stating that Telstra would replace our phones, we’d receive a goodwill credit or if this was not good enough they’d cancel our contracts. Interestingly the cancellation fees were less than was stated previously by about $200 – but I digress. This was supposed to be the final solution.

On entering the first store we started to feel dread as the staff member had trouble following the months worth of history and then the clincher – he could not find any trail of the final promises that had been made. He went on to say that because the Telstra branded store we were standing in wasn’t owned by Telstra we’d be better served heading over to a Telstra owned store. They advised that these other stores were better placed to deal with issues like ours – so we ambled over to a Telstra owned store which  looked remarkably like the one we’d just left.

The second store ended in a predictable carbon copy farce as well. They couldn’t make heads or tails of our story, couldn’t find the details of the latest offer from Telstra complaints and after some arguing among themselves as to what was a blue-tick phone or not  we were left confused and really embarrassed. Yet again, after multiple visits to stores, we left angry.

So what’s the issue here?

Like I said, big businesses like Telstra have so many departments, arms, groups, sub-groups, franchises and tech support teams that the consumer is left bewildered, confused, and ultimately willing to give it all up out of sheer frustration. You’d really be hard pressed to prove that this isn’t a deliberate ploy to ward off the irritating customers.

According to their own staff, Telstra owned stores and franchised stores follow different rules. One type can offer discounts, the other just wants simple sales without the problem solving. For anyone, other than the simple walk-in purchaser, this makes a Telstra store visit a treacherous affair and a visit that has potential PR disaster written all over it.

The internal and external communications at Telstra, a communications provider, is also another pitfall the customer must navigate. My last three visits to a Telstra store ended with us feeling embarrassed because the problems we were explaining to the staff appeared as a story of fiction. The staff could’t verify any of the details with their customer database in-store and interestingly none of the staff took the time to even offer to ring complaints on our behalf. As far as external email correspondence goes, replying to emails ends in a dead end. Telstra’s apparently randomised emails addresses, like F1105133@team.telstra.com, appear to be disposable to prevent spam and the like but you are then forced into calling via phone which is a time wasting game.

So now, due to my erratic work life, I’m stuck again. It’s nearly impossible for me to contact the complaints department by phone and as I’d said to them before email is my preferred method of communication. I tried emailing them back as a reply to the email they’d sent me but it’s like dropping a stone down a big black hole – you just don’t know where it’s headed. Could this be another time wasting ploy designed to frustrate the consumer into simply disappearing?

Anyway, in the end I sent my own resolution to Telstra. It was sent to F1105133@team.telstra.com which was where their final resolution had come from. I sure hope they find it otherwise I’m happy to forward it to any email address they nominate.

We’ll keep you posted on how this all turns out.

Cheers.

I’d said that we’d moved from another carrier to Telstra to fix the issues that we’d had with poor coverage – but alas the issues have continued – only this time we’re paying a premium for it. At this point I may be acting like a dog with a bone but the solutions offered have been both less than appealing as well as seriously insulting.

We’ve been told to either cancel our services for the grand sum of $965 dollars or buy new blue tick (rural) mobiles. The latter option comes with the caveat of “this should fix your issues”. Now we hardly live in suburbia and the choice of mobile replacements is hardly electrifying.

In a nutshell Telstra wants us to gamble with our money to fix the premium service we pay for, but at the end of the day we signed up with the phones we have and they were happy to take our “premium” priced dollars.

So now I’ve done a little speed test to show what we’re paying for:

Not too snappy hey! Anyhoo, I wait with baited breath for a solution to our issues.

Well as it turns out, at least according to the Sea Shepherd captain when interviewed on The Project and in this The Age article, the Japanese government is handing over $28.5 million dollars to support the Japanese whaling fleet. This money had been slated to be spent on the recovery efforts post Japan’s March natural disasters.

Some Japanese non-government organisations have condemned the move but the extra security the whalers need, due to conflicts with Sea Shepherd, has overridden their cries. I’m almost certain the majority of the Japanese people would also be upset by this move on their behalf.

So what can be done?

What could you do?

Perhaps, as the government of Japan has excess cash, we could boycott products made by Japanese manufacturers. In this way the Japanese government would not be able to claim taxes on the profits these brands will be making. Surely if enough people boycott products exiting Japan then we could make up the $28.5 million. Perhaps you could donate the equivalent GST to the mob over at Sea Shepherd. Don’t buy that $400 camera – buy a Samsung and donate $40 to Sea Shepherd.

Done.

Japan must realise there are consequences for supporting the destruction of harmless mammals.

Tell us what you think. Got any other ideas?

It all began some time ago with a house move. A move on to a hill. Our then mobile phone provider, we’ll call them 4 to maintain their anonymity, appeared to offer little or no coverage at our suburban home. Undaunted we fought them in the trenches and open fields until the spectre of the telecommunications ombudsman smote them. When the smoke had cleared we found that we’d been released to continue our mobile journey across to our savior. The bringer of coverage. The charger of premium prices. But that was okay with us, for coverage is what we desired. End dramatic monologue.

Bright eyed and filled with the joy of new SIM  cards we headed home. But 4 was to have the last laugh. Poor coverage continued at home.

I’d say it’s now been nearly 2 months of communication with Telstra. Twitter, email, in-store and on the phone. From what I’ve gathered we’ve been given a $20 credit for our troubles so far. The poor customer service representative, we’ll call her Roxy, has been patient and a delight to speak to, but is obviously working within a very restrictive set of rules that has led only to a stalemate and frustration.

So as it stands our options are:

• Pay Telstra $965 to exit our contracts (2 x BYO mobiles, homephone, Cable internet).
• Put up with poor coverage and pay the premium Telstra prices for the privilege.
• Buy 2 new “rural” or “Blue tick” phones to see if that will fix the problem.

Fired?

For the cherubs out there who’ve never heard of one Kyle Dalton Sandilands, he’s an Australian radio personality renowned for his outspoken and often abrasive comments about other public figures. The latest Kyle offensive was aimed at a female journalist and involved him saying that he would hunt her down. This followed comments, on air, about her weight and her cleavage. Ordinarily Kyle’s comments either boost his ratings or end with mild scoffs at his naughtiness. Not this time. This time he’s reeling after a shot to the kidneys by Twitter, the populist assassin.

With hundreds of millions of users worldwide, Twitter is evolving into a creature more efficient than government ombudsmen when it comes to holding businesses liable for their actions. The Kyle saga to date, as reported in traditional media, has mentioned little of the media watchdog’s views of his conduct – despite some some online sources pointing out breaches of broadcasting guidelines. Instead a remarkable thing is happening – the public are turning to social media, using hash tags like #vilekyle, to express their thoughts on companies that sponsor or support Kyle’s broadcasts.

Companies including Holden, Telstra, Vodafone, Medibank, Fantastic Furniture and Blackmores are reacting swiftly to audience concerns and are severing ties with Kyle. Wisely they’re confirming their divorces through social media like Twitter. It’s interesting to note that a lot of the sponsors, pulling the pin, have customer bases skewed largely towards females. Obviously the influence of social media is being noticed by media buyers, and Kyle is now a poisoned chalice. They’ll now be looking for the brew that is true.

So now the story rolls on. Kyle could potentially fall on his sword and take the newly dubbed Jackie the Enabler with him. It would really gladden the soul of media commentator Jeff Jarvis to know that the people have spoken and taken back the metaphorical occupy wall street tag. In this case #vilekyle will stick and the obscene media spends that these companies had been directing towards one man could now power the vast audience of bloggers, tweeters and other grass roots media. Viva La Revolucion.

If this sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. With the massive increase in our “in home” entertainment temptations we’re now being bombarded by reasons to stay home and blow out that BMI.

That’s why I fell in love with an online blog featuring, in her own words, a young professional who loves food, wine, wildlife and her dog Simba.

Mai Lin talks about her worldly travels in her blog, logically titled,  Mai Lin Talks. She tells us, often in lovable grammar shattering prose*, about her jet setting to all corners of the globe. She slathers her pieces with great photography of places and exotic foods and leaves her readers inspired to expand their own horizons.

So do yourself a favour. Read this blog regularly. Get inspired. Save your hard earned. Travel as far as you can and try those foods that scare you (like the Kopi Luwak).

Nice.

P.S Mai Lin just popped up in The Age newspaper today. Go Mai!

P.P.S If you found this post by searching “How to be a travel writer” or “How to be a food writer”, this is how you should start – with passion, gumption and a get out there attitude. Cheers.

* Before you say anything, my grammar has been universally researched and rated as laughable.