A late friend gave me lots of laughs when he referred to another gay couple who in the 90s rose from their slumbers and both sat at their respective desktop computers to read the electric newspapers. While I may have laughed, it wasn't too much later I was doing the same. Eventually the newspaper forced me to pay for access, and it is now about AU$1 a day for The Age but I also have access to The Sydney Morning Herald, the digital Brisbane Times and WAtoday (Western Australia Today). That's fine, and I am happy to pay this.
But, what I am not happy about is horribly intrusive advertising, not on the desktop version, but on the shortcut web link I have on my phone. As you are quickly scrolling through a story, advertising pops up and you can't smoothly scroll past it. I keep trying to scroll and end up at the end of the story and I have to backtrack. I've long has the app on my phone but for some reason I can't remember my link to the online newspaper worked better. It doesn't now. I went to try the app again and while my email address showed, it was shown that I was not a subscriber. There was nothing I could do to login. As seems to be happening more often now, I deleted the app with my information and reinstalled it, and I was able to log in normally. So, I will see if this works better for than the overly intrusive advertising on the normal website available on phones.
I won't even mention the battle I've had with the road toll company Linkt over the hoops I've had to jump, as I cancelled Ray's account and made my new one. I only did so because the electronic tag in the car to deduct toll money had stopped working. I stupidly mentioned that Ray had died and I was now the account holder. No you aren't, was the reply. He is dead. You need to set up a new account. Stop!!! I said I won't mention it.
Things on the home front were fine until, "Andrewww, the cooking exhaust fan is not working".
Lordy, Phyllis recently asked me rather cheekily what I do with the board they pay me. I told him it is not his business. They both think I am rich. Compared them, I suppose I am, but it really costs to live in the 'privileged' western world.
Bah, just two months ago I bought new LED lamps for the range hood. I will take them out and maybe they can be reused down the track.
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I do detest those annoyingly intrusive ads that pop up when reading through an online news article. A friend sent us a "Family and Friends" link to The Times online via his subscription but, although I do find it very interesting, those ads really p!ss me off.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are just too intrusive JayCee. I didn't mind when you could smoothly keep scrolling without the scroll being stopped.
DeleteAt least in the paper version you can quickly flip past the ads. And goodness there are a lot of them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can get the cooking exhaust fan sorted quickly. I loathe lingering cooking smells.
EC, yes, much easier to ignore. There certainly will be smells. I bought a new one and it should be fitted next week.
DeleteI can't bear all those pop up adverts and I refuse to pay for an advert free newspaper.
ReplyDeleteFun60, it is extra annoying when you pay and still have suffer the ads.
DeleteI like free papers available at the posh cafes in inner east Melbourne
ReplyDeleteRoentare, I was forced to read Monday's Herald Sun, today, Tuesday.
DeleteOh, those obnoxious pop-up ads are all over the news on my phone. They make the old- fashioned television commercial seem demure by comparison,
ReplyDeleteYes, Kirk. Our tv ad breaks can be 3-4 mins, so you can go and do something useful in that time.
DeleteWe had strip lighting put in when we renovated. The chef, not me loves it .
ReplyDeleteAs for the Age , it used to be fabulous I miss the journalists who often generated their news stories from strange places. We still subscribe and if you download the print version you can see its main advertiser is Harvey Norman, in fact it obviously relies on HN to carry the load .
Probably to your disgust Andrew, we also subscribe to The Australian. I am of the view that you form your own opinions from a range of sources . One that costs nothing is New Lines which has a focus on all that is not just to a western view of the world . It is particularly interesting
Joni Mitchell’s ‘I can see both sides now’ can be applied to so many situations.
As for young people and cost of maintaining a household ♥️
There are some good writers there still, but they have little time to check for typos, grammar or to polish their stories. There aren't proofreaders anymore. In the 80s and early 90s I used to buy The Australian on Saturdays for the literature supplement and the general paper had some excellent writers, even if I disagreed with them.
DeleteThe Age was always the choice of teachers, academics and the Labour half of politics. The Sun and Herald were for football fans and Conservatives.
ReplyDeleteHels, while its editorial policies tend to be more pro Labor and green, I consider its reporting is very neutral. Yes, you could tell The Sun and Herald readers as their lips moved as they read.
DeleteYou could tell the boys they are contibuting to the electricity you all use, they'd be happy with that. I remember soon after I moved in here the light on the exhaust fan stopped working. I informed housing and thought they'd send someone to replace the bulb/globe. They didn't. They sent someone to replace the entire exhaust fan! I've since learned to replace the burnt out light myself.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the idea of reading newspapers online, because really all I do is skim headlines and then do the puzzle pages. You can't do the puzzle pages online.
River, that's amazing about the range hood. It could well have been the most economical long term decision.
ReplyDeleteYou can do puzzles at newspapers now, which has only been a recent thing. I've never looked at them.
I do the NYT puzzles first thing every morning. Just to see that my brain is working! But my paid subscription to the Guardian has adverts through it. Could be when I stopped paying what I thought was an exorbitant amount for my sub and chose a cheaper version.
ReplyDeleteThelma, I donate $100 a year to The Guardian. That gives me reasonable access. I can't say I've noticed Guardian ads, but they could well be there.
DeleteWe have The Times online, which I read, but Barry likes to read The Washington Post, and the New York Times. He's a reader - I'm a skimmer.
ReplyDeleteJB, and you would pay for both, I am sure. I used to be a reader, now I am more of a skimmer.
DeletePasswords, emails and accounts, always a problem, well mostly when opening/closing account. That's not bad a dollar to be able to read those newspapers. Funny how times change, always newspaper after breakfast on the table for some, now the phone or tablet.
ReplyDeleteShame about the exhaust fan, they do only last so long pity it didn't wait till after you bought the globes.
Margaret, it was newspapers on the breakfast table for me if I was not already at work. I would take papers with me and read them when I could.
DeleteIt is a pity about the exhaust fan. It's a small electric switch problem but it is nearly as cheap to buy a new one.
Some news sites are unreadable.
ReplyDeleteThey are TP, and it will change.
DeleteOur newspaper has all these links to very dubious advertisers...the ones that advise to invest in gold and silver because the US is going to collapse and that is the only 'safe' investment. Or the bogus weight loss cures. Or the cures for tinitis. Or breathless announcements of 'What THEY don't want you to know...'
ReplyDeleteOurs haven't gone that far Debby...yet. I've certainly seen on YT those 'What they don't want you to know...'. I get annoyed at the high end cars being advertised towards me, you know $100,000 cars.
DeletePS. I also like the texture in your tile. Ours are just smooth, but that looks very cool.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've always liked the texture. It can make them still look shiny even if they aren't, and they probably aren't in the photo.
DeleteUsually if you subscribe to a news site (and pay) they exempt you from some of the more obnoxious advertising. I wonder if you're logged in properly?
ReplyDeleteSteve, yes I am logged in and I don't get logged out, unlike The Guardian at times.
DeleteGood to check in with you. Andrew! I hope no more repairs are needed for a while. Aloha
ReplyDeleteSo do I Cloudia, thanks.
DeleteMy husband is good at finding ways to avoid pop-up adds. :) Meanwhile, we retirees are blessed with just enough finances to keep replacing/repairing constant broken appliances. It's been a strange few years that way. lol Be well!
ReplyDeleteDarla, at some pop ups are used by some legitimate websites. I worry about killing them. They aren't a problem on my desktop as I have a killer for them that seems to know legitimate and non legit.
DeleteYes, things do break down and they aren't meant to last very long.