Big Brother Update: Refund Offered

Update: From yesterday's post about Alex being thrown off Big Brother, there is an update. Channel 4 announced that 10p of every 35p from the calls made will go to charity, and reminded us that Channel 4 is making no money from Big Brother's phone vote this season. Very admirable. Channel 4 also offer a refund if you go to their website and request it. Now there's the right way to behave in a television premium campaign!

Big Brother throws Alex Off - But Do We Get Refunds?

Last night Big Brother in the UK took the dramatic step of ejecting a housemate for threatening behavior. Alex had been receiving a lot of press as the most unpopular housemate in a long time, with aggressive bullying style interactions with the others and not joining in the games and challenges. Yesterday the Big Brother powers that be decided that enough was enough and removed her without warning.

This dramatic decision has made the housemates happier, especially Mario - who was up for vote this Friday along with Alex. Alex was definitely the favourite to be evicted, however Mario has his haters so you never know. Big Brother has cancelled the eviction vote this Friday and closed the phone lines. This raises the question of what happens to all the people who have already paid to cast their vote by calling the phone lines? They paid money to make something happen, either one way or another, and now that isn't happening - so should they get a refund? Is it even possible for Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother or whoever is running the phone lines to carry out a refund?

One can be sure that the wording of the small print when you vote gives all related parties some protection against refunds. Plus on the positive side this has happened late Wednesday, with the final vote day being Friday, so the number of votes cast is probably not so high as people tend to watch and see what the housemates do leading up to the vote. However in the last few years text and phone voting has come under intense scrutiny in the UK, with most television votes being suspended indefinately and when they are run the presenters are constantly giving warnings such as 'Please do not call yet, the lines are not open and you will be charged' in the lead up to voting windows that only last 15 minutes or less. All of this is designed to prevent people spending ridiculous amounts of money on votes, and then complaining later when they look at their phone bill because they ‘didn't realise you had to pay&rsqo;. Big Brother's voting is somewhat different, as the voting lines are opened as soon as they announce the housemates up for eviction - so we'll have to see what happens as a response to this 'act of god' by the BB producers.

No More Anonymous Cellphones in Bangladesh

For many people around the world off the shelf, Pay as you Go handsets have become the norm. This subset of people can't pass the credit check requirements of a long term contract, yet still want to communicate - or they are global travelers who don't need a long term contract, just a SIM card for their unlocked phone while they spend two weeks abroad to prevent ridiculous roaming bills. Yes, pay as you go is a great invention.

However there is a dark cloud on the Pay as You Go landscape - anonymous pay as you go cellphones used for criminal purposes. When any of us can go in and buy a SIM without identification or a credit check, then that will include the criminal element present in any society. So, unsurprisingly, the Bangladesh regulators decided a while back that anonymous mobile phones were not to be allowed any more - mainly so they could carry out easier police/terrorist/security investigations into phone records. The Bangladesh cellphone operators pushed back for a while, and tried to get their anonymous users to register and pass credit checks, but now the deadline has passed and more than a million customers have been cut off. For the operators this is a huge loss of revenue, but perhaps more importantly I'm sure there are thousands of un-credit worthy people who are not criminals, but they no longer have the means to communicate. As usual, the poorest people in the society end up being punished.

Reduce your Cellphone Bill

A new online service has been launched to help you find a service plan that saves money on your cell bill. BillShrink is only US centric right now, and cellphone focussed, but it's great practice to compare other plans on a regular basis if you can and this service should help. Even if they don't convince you to change your plan, it might give you some fodder to try and convince your cell company to give you a better plan.

Find out Who You Call with Skydeck

A new service is on its way that could change the way you look at your phone bill. Skydeck pulls in your phone bill - mobile or landline - and gives you a pile of useful statistics on who you call the most, what times you call them and how much you love your mother. Well, that last one's true if your mum measures love in how many times you call her. There's also the suggestion you could use it to spy on who your girlfriend is calling... but then affairs are what pay as you go cellphones are for, and they don't have phone bills - duh.

New Research - Cellphones affect your Sleep

A new report has come out that suggests that using your cellphone or mobile device before you go to bed, or leaving it near you on the bedside table, can lead to insomnia, headaches and confusion! The study indicates that for people who are more 'electro-sensitive' the radio waves from the phone can affect the brain as it tries to enter deep sleep. Worrying news indeed, especially as many of us now use our mobile phones as alarm clocks.

Although the report concentrates on the effects of electro-magnetic waves, it doesn't consider the other obvious issue about leaving your phone next to your bed... A drunk mate texting you in the middle of the night as they come out of a club, or worse yet - work calling to tell you you've overslept. So inconsiderate of them.

Another Good Reason to Ditch Your Landline

RMLabs has put together this Google maps mashup that allows you to guess-timate where a landline is located based on its area code and first three digits of the number. I've tried this on a few numbers and it is pretty accurate, so definately one for the stalkers out there.

Of course this trick doesn't work so well if you're using a mobile phone. Your cellphone number may have the same area codes as a landline, but the mechanism by which it is allocated to you has no relation to your actual address. Another win for mobile phones, as if they need any more wins.

BBC Suspends all Phone Competitions

The BBC, Britain's national TV organisation, has suspended all phone in and SMS campaigns associated with its programs after a series of highly visible mistakes. Ofcom, the British TV regulation body, fined the BBC £50,000 after they faked a winner on the popular children's show Blue Peter - and since then all of the BBC's phone related promotions have come under scrutiny.

Pending further guidelines on honesty and conduct being put in place and enforced, all phone related activities are on hold. These new conduct guidelines will be designed to ensure BBC producers keep to the high levels of honesty and transparency expected from the BBC, a company funded by public money. It will be interesting to see how this trickles down across all phone promotions in the UK. There are many channels on satellite & cable TV dedicated to separating people from their money using complex quiz promotions that are almost impossible to win, amongst others.