Updated: o2 told me to jailbreak my iphone to block a nuisance caller

UPDATE - Nice swift response from the o2 Twitter team who have already spoken to our mate "Fred"

...and then backtracked once I had told them what they were telling me would void my warranty. Full transcript below!

Welcome to O2. Someone will be with you soon.

You're through to Fred.

Ashley: Hi

Fred: Hi I'm Fred. How can I help?

Ashley: I keep getting called by this number 033 3344 0272, I did a google search and it seems like it is some sort of scam

Ashley: is there anyway to block their calls?

Fred: Yes, you can block it. I'd like to inform you that its a handset feature and you can find the steps in your user manual.

Ashley: I am on an iPhone and not aware of that feature

Fred: Let me help you with the steps.

Fred: Make sure the data connection on the iPhone is turned on. This means that regardless of whether the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi, EDGE or 3G network, it must be connected to at least one of these three. If it is not, it will not be able to complete the steps required to download iBlacklist

Fred: Look for the Cydia application on the iPhone and press the icon with your finger. This icon is often kept somewhere close to the first application page because it is needed to download jailbroken applications.

Fred: Wait a few moments until Cydia completely loads. After it loads, locate and click on the "Sections" link on the page. After this is clicked on, a new page will open.

Fred: On the scrollable list on the new page, scroll down until reaching the selection that says "Utilities." Select it by pressing on it. On the next page, scroll down to the letter "i." There you will be able to find the iBlacklist package.

Fred: Select "iBlacklist" and install it. After it has installed, click on the new "iBlacklist" icon on your phone.

Fred: When the application opens, click on "blacklist." Then enter the number(s) you want to block and press "Enter." You no longer will receive calls from the numbers you have blocked.

Ashley: seriously suggesting i jailbreak my iphone?

Fred: Yes, you need to follow the instructions for block a number.

Ashley: but you are aware that voids my warranty?

Fred: No, if you'll download it , your warranty will still remain .

Ashley: but you must jailbreak your iphone to get cydia?

Ashley: and jailbreaking voids your warranty

Fred: Okay, then please don't try these steps and please visit on below link and they'll block that number from backend.

A little bit of history...

- I studied Business Economics at the University of Reading
- I did an internship at a bank in Tokyo
- The office I worked in was known as the morgue
- I then made the decision that this really was not the industry for me

Ping

I watched a live stream of the apple conference last night and was fully expecting, as was the rest of the tech world, the updates to the ipod range and apple tv. What I was not expecting was Ping, Apple's own music social media platform. I have read plenty of reviews and so far, the response has been pretty underwhelming but will pass judgement once I have had the chance to have a play.

In terms of what this means for the other social media platforms such as MySpace, Last.fm and Spotify, it's pretty big. These other services are often used in conjunction with iTunes and Apple have surprised everyone by taking on this market. I use last.fm to track what I am listening to and to also see what my friends are listening to. The ability to do this within iTunes is certainly an interesting proposition and I cannot wait to try it out!

The Wilderness Down Town

Wow.

That was the only thing going through my mind as I watched this sensational new music video by Arcade Fire. You really have to watch it for yourself to truly appreciate how spectacular the whole experience is. I know I sound like I am gushing but it simply has to be watched here.

The video was created in partnership with Google and is part of the Chrome Experiments project. This aims to showcase the latest browser based experiments using open standards such as HTML5, Canvas and SVG.

The user watching the video actually becomes part of the story after entering in their childhood address. Google maps and Street View is then used as part of the story and you can see where you once lived and this evolves through the video as trees grow and birds fly across the screen. The various tools used are explained here.

This video is a fantastic use of new and emerging technology and has created a truly engaging experience for the user. You feel like a part of the video and contribute through your address and then writing a message to the younger you. There are additional features to increase its reach such as sharing your video and sending your postcard "downtown." Explained on the website, this means it could end up as part of the visuals for the next Arcade Fire tour or be sent to another user.

This really is a game changer in terms of music videos and expect to see a lot more like this in the future!

Lady Gaga has more friends than you do...

...well, I would assume that in the real world she is pretty damn lonely but according to Famecount,she now tops the lists for the most followers on Twitter with a staggering 5,720,931 and also the most Facebook fans of any living person with 16,372,106.

Those are some pretty incredible numbers and the Facebook Fan Page in particular will provide some pretty incredible insights into all of her fans. Being able to potentially contact 16 million fans with a simple status update could go viral in an instant!


Photo source: Wikipedia

This blog will finally have some direction!

Obviously this blog has lacked any posts for a long time. I lacked direction and didn't want to simply repost random social media news articles like every other blog out there. I wasn't really sure what I could write about and what I could really give an opinion on. Then i started thinking about all the things I like and how I could combine them to create some kind of meaningful blog. I then had that eureka moment when taking photo's at the Hevy Music festival in Kent a few weeks ago. Why not focus on bands in social media? I love music, I love gigs and I am fascinated by the way that bands become popular so why not look at all things music in the world of social media?