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Author: Jim O Brien/CEO
CEO and expert in transport and Mobile tech. A fan 20 years, mobile consultant, Nokia Mobile expert, Former Nokia/Microsoft VIP,Multiple forum tech supporter with worldwide top ranking,Working in the background on mobile technology, Weekly radio show, Featured on the RTE consumer show, Cavan TV and on TRT WORLD. Award winning Technology reviewer and blogger. Security and logisitcs Professional.
In a move that will help businesses and organisations across Ireland enhance and simplify their communications and collaboration ability, Avaya has appointed Aidan Furlong as its Country General Manger of Ireland. In his new role, Aidan will champion the evolution of new and existing customers and partners to cloud-centric communications and build momentum in the adoption of Avaya solutions as businesses across the island of Ireland increase their digital transformation.
As a previous Channel Manager and Client Director at Avaya Ireland, Aidan has extensive experience in working with the Avaya Partner community to drive growth and mutual success in meeting customer needs.
Speaking for the first time in his new role as Country General Manager of Avaya Ireland, Aidan Furlong said, “I am thrilled to be moving into this position and I look forward to focusing on enterprise and mid-market customers as Avaya transitions to its cloud product portfolio. I anticipate my role to be instrumental in helping to solve customer’s business challenges, together with the extensive Avaya Partner community ecosystem,”
The news follows the announcement of Avaya’s recent Q2 earnings, where the company experienced strong growth across its cloud and SaaS business; with software and services reaching a record 88% of Avaya’s $682 million in revenue, and cloud and subscription revenue increasing to 23% of total revenue. As organisations become more agile in today’s digital and distributed business environment, there will be an increased need for flexible cloud solutions, and Aidan’s appointment will help accelerate the success of Avaya’s global cloud strategy in Ireland.
Aidan concluded, “I am proud to work for a company like Avaya, which has a 150 year heritage in business communications technology and is one of the only vendors with this extensive experience of the complexity of today’s UC communications and contact centre solutions built on open systems.”
Commenting on Aidan’s promotion, UK and Ireland Managing Director Steve Joyner, added: “It has been a period of significant investment and growth for us and Aidan’s promotion demonstrates the depth of his experience and expertise. His work is strategically important to our clients and their digital transformation journeys and directly impacts upon the growth of their businesses. I wish him all the very best of luck in his new role.”
Aidan Furlong has worked for Avaya UK & Ireland for over 9 years and brings 35 years of experience in the ICT market to his new position. He is an MBA qualified senior executive with multinational experience of leading sales, channels, marketing, consulting, services and commercial and client operations teams.
With the introduction of the COVID-19 lockdown seeing nearly all aspects of our lives migrating to our home, our dependence on digital connectivity has never been more prevalent. Thankfully, there has been no shortage of apps that can help us through this strange time – from keeping in contact with family and friends to connecting with colleagues and customers.
New research from Carphone Warehouse used a social media listening tool to discover which apps are helping us to cope with the lockdown. From learning a new hobby, keeping connected or sharing your own lockdown experience on social media, many of us are using apps to keep us going:
Houseparty
A relatively new app that has made a name for itself during lockdown, Houseparty has increased in popularity since social distancing has become the new norm. It allows you to make video calls with friends and family while challenging them to a variety of different games. Recent research has revealed that the app is most popular at 10pm on Wednesdays, proving it to be the go-to for a mid-week gathering.
Zoom
Another video-based app, Zoom is perfect for both professional and social calls. It is used for business meetings and webinars and can accommodate up to 10,000 viewers through its presentation feature. On the social side, it is also great for hosting virtual pub quizzes or birthday parties. You can also jazz up a Monday morning meeting or Friday night drinks with a variety of fun backgrounds.
Headspace
With radical changes to our lifestyles, many of us have had to wave goodbye to well-honed routines – and this can be stressful and mentally draining. Mental health app Headspace focuses on mental wellbeing and relaxation, while providing access to resources such as anxiety-reducing meditation and sleep exercises that help keep users’ mental health in tip top shape.
Disney+
Wondering what to do with all this extra time on your hands? You can binge all your favourite Disney movies and programmes, from princesses to Jedis and everything in between. In fact, the new movie streaming service has proven a threat to streaming giant Netflix, as millions of users have signed up after its launch in the US, Canada, UK and the majority of Europe.
Stand Up!
Working from home is the reality for many of us, and being cooped up at home can make it difficult to find the motivation to keep active. It can be easy to slip into sedentary behaviour, but sitting for too long can come with some serious health risks. Stand Up! is an app that prompts you to stand up and move around every so often so you can stretch and get those muscles moving.
Duolingo
Many people are using self-isolation as an opportunity get a new language under their belt – and Duolingo has been popular for this. It makes learning French, Greek or even High Valyrian easy and fun with games and tests against the clock. Why not fulfil your wanderlust by attempting to grasp the language of a country you’d love to travel to once this is all said and done?
MasterClass
If a language doesn’t interest you, you can get to grips with a new skill instead. MasterClass offers the help of a leading professional in their field so you can come out of lockdown with a new hobby. Whether it’s cooking classes with Gordon Ramsay or tennis lessons with Serena Williams, it’s as close as you can get to a private lesson with these professionals.
In today’s digital landscape, there are a plethora of apps that you can use to help keep you entertained and connected during this time at home.
Jam Audio have several pairs of true wireless on offer at several price point to suit peoples pockets which is nice and in this game in most instances you get what you pay for when it comes to feature set and so on but these do well in the audio department more so than being a fully featured pair of true wireless earbuds which for most will be just right.
The Live free comes in at around 80 euro which is a hard area to find good earbuds as the cost to performance ratio has come down in the earbuds department but as I said they excel in the sound department but lack some features on the control department but having said that it is the common features missing like many others and not a huge caveat overall for the majority of people looking to buy some new earbuds.
These have a small profile yet fit tight and snug giving you some noise isolation but these have no ANC on board but when these are turned up to full volume you wont be hearing anyhting outside anyway as they are quite loud which is my prefrence and probably bad for my ears but that is how I like my earbuds and headphones.
You have an IPX 4 rating so that is welcome and a two year warranty on top of that and the build quality is good, they have a rubber cover on top of the housing and a pleasing clicky button to change tracks and take calls and you have access to siri which I could not get working on my iPhone 11 sometimes, when you turn them on you get the usual jingle from jam products which is nice.
You can use these in mono mode so one side will work with the other on charge which is the left side charging the right will work but not the other way around, On the usual testing here they do a great job on You Tube and Netflix with no lag latency and calls are fine too both ends they do have some bass too and overall perform solid with the usual music attributes so there is not much to complain about here. There is no volume control on these earbuds but like I said it is a common feature left out with many earbuds even ones costing more than these.
The charging case is one of the better ones I have seen in a while that has micro USB charging and a hang tag and also some LED lights on the front to give you a battery status level,the battery life is on par with the claims which is good but not the highest battery life out there however these have a much smaller profie than others so overall a solid performer for the money and worth a look.
A consumer analytics company – passively measured consumer behaviour 24/7 including all their TV viewing (content and ads), online behaviour as well as offline store visits. The analysis on the impact of TV advertising on online platforms was conducted in sectors such as supermarkets, automotive, travel, insurance, financial services, lottery, gambling and online clothing, which represent a cross section of products associated with both impulse and considered purchases.
Overall, the data shows that consumers who clicked on an online ad or visited the advertisers’ website, watched on average 39% more TV ads by that advertiser in the previous week than users who did not click on an ad or visit the website. The study shows that TV’s effect on Facebook clicks was the highest and users who clicked on a FB ad saw 48% more TV adverts of that brand in the previous week than users who did not click on an ad. Users who visited the brands’ websites watched an average of 28% more adverts and users who clicked on a Google ad saw an average of 42% more TV ads. When embarking into the world of paid ads, it is important to source a reputable PPC management company to get the best results for your investment.
The best performing sectors were gambling and online clothes, where those who interacted online with brands – were exposed to 68% and 47% respectively – more TV adverts than those who hadn’t. Within these sectors, for brands such as Coral those who clicked on their adverts or visited their website were exposed to a massive 117% more Coral TV adverts than other gamblers. For Jacamo, in the online clothing sector, this figure was 85%.
The Facebook and Google duopoly now account for 60% of all digital advertising expenditure globally or USD $144.6 billion, but their success is clearly being propped by TV advertising who continues to be the most effective medium at brand building and driving online clicks
ViewersLogic’s single-source data shows unequivocally that TV drives online traffic but in recent years online advertising became the tool of choice for marketers because it offered better measurability than TV advertising. ViewersLogic technology can, for the first time, see the whole consumer journey both online and offline and measure accurately how our exposure to TV adverts results in consumers wanting to find out more about a product or a brand by following it through online up to the product purchase. Crucially, its technology can now also measure for the first time, how much brands really spend on generating clicks through online ads by factoring in the impact TV advertising had on generating each online interaction.
For Henry Daglish, the founder of boutique marketing agency Bountiful Cow this new data provides compelling evidence that marketing campaigns need to be more aligned across TV and online to drive sales effectively through advertising. Mr. Daglish said: ‘’Over recent years TV advertising expenditure has shrunk as brands have increasingly shifted their budgets online attracted by better measurability and segmentation but ViewersLogic’s data has now shown us that, if used correctly, TV drives the greatest improvement in online performance. This opened for us a new area of analytics and performance improvement that we are now sharing with our clients’’
Other studies have shown a clear correlation between a decrease in sales and a reduction in TV ad spend, not only TV advertising has an immediate impact on sales but it is also proved that it manages to significantly enhance the impact of digital advertising. Despite compelling evidence, recently released data by Media Audits shows that TV now account for less than a quarter of ad expenditure in the UK compared to online with over 50%, and this is predicted decline even further this year. With the cost of an advertising slot on TV becoming considerable cheaper, its proven effectiveness at brand building and driving online traffic is it time for smart brands to get back on TV?
DATA FINDINGS BY INDUSTRY SECTOR
Gambling •
Gambling was the best performing sector and those who interacted with the brands online saw an average of 68% more ads by the same brand in the previous week than other gamblers who did not visit the site (in this case we compared this just with other gamblers to neutralise other influence). • Coral performed particularly well – users who interacted with the brand online saw an average of 117% more of the brand’s TV ads in the previous week than other gamblers who did not interact with Coral. On the other hand, PaddyPower users saw only 30% more Paddy Power TV ads in the week before interacting with the brand, compared to other gamblers.
Online clothing •
Of the sectors measured online clothing was the second best performing and those who went on to click on a Google or Facebook advert or onto a brand’s website had seen 47% more TV adverts by that brand in the week before the interaction than those who had not (in this case we compared this just with other online clothing shoppers to neutralise other demographic influence (e.g. if online clothes shoppers see more ads than the general population). • Jacamo was particularly successful compared to their competitors and people who interacted with the brand online either through an advert or by visiting their website saw on average 85% more Jacomo ads than other online shoppers.
Financial Services •
Out of all the sectors measured the financial services showed the lowest effect of TV on online behaviour and on average those who interacted with this sector online, saw 19% more ads in the previous week. • The data shows that Totally Money was by far the most successful financial brand in converting its TV audience into clicks and users who interacted with the brand online, saw 69% more Totally Money TV ads in the previous week. • Companies such as Experian, Money Supermarket and uSwitch had a poor cross-media performance and users who interacted with these brands saw only 2% more of their TV ads in the week before the interaction.
Lottery •
Online clickers on Facebook/Google ads and visitors to the lottery companies’ websites had watched 35% more TV adverts than those who did not, in the week before the interaction took place. • The Postcode Lottery adverts performed better than its competitors and people who clicked through online on Facebook/Google ads and visited the company’s website, saw 55% more Postcode Lottery TV ads.
Supermarkets •
Consumers that clicked through supermarket ads online saw 35% more TV ads in the previous week than users who did not click. • In this sector, Iceland had by far the most successful cross-media campaign, and overall, users who visited the brand’s site or app were exposed to 39% more Iceland TV ads in the previous week. Users who clicked on an Iceland ad on Google or Facebook were exposed to 64% more TV ads in the week before clicking. • Waitrose was the worst performer in this sector and users who clicked on its online ads were exposed to only 12% more Waitrose TV adverts in the week before clicking.
Automotive •
People who interacted with car brands online saw 24% more TV ads than users who did not interact with these brands. • People who clicked on a Ford or Vauxhall ad online saw 18% more TV ads in the week before clicking than other users. Nissan’s cross-media campaign was more effective and people who interacted with the brand online saw 45% more Nissan TV ads in the previous week. • For Vauxhall, users who clicked on a Google ad saw only 3% more TV adverts in the previous week, suggesting that their TV campaign wasn’t particularly successful in driving people to search for the brand.
Travel •
Because the travel industry has been severely affected over the last three months, ViewersLogic did the analysis until the end of February and saw that users who interacted with travel brands were exposed, on average, to 25% more TV ads in the week before, than those who did not interact with these brands. • Jet2 had the best performing TV campaign in this sector and those who interacted with the brand online had watched 45% more Jet2 TV ads. Their TV campaign has a specifically good effect on their FB advertising where people who clicked on a FB ad, were exposed to 77% more Jet2 TV adverts than other users. • Perhaps surprisingly, one the biggest travel brands internationally Booking.com, had a poor cross-media campaign and users who interacted with the brand saw only 7% more TV ads of this brand, compared to other users.
Insurance •
In this sector, those who interacted with insurance brands online had watched 26% more TV ads. • LV Insurance was especially successful in converting their TV audience into online activity and users who interacted with the brand online, saw 49% more LV TV ads in the week before. They did particularly well on Facebook where users who clicked on an LV FB ad were exposed to 115% more TV ads.
Most successful brands by online platform • Brands own website o Bet365 – +185%
• Facebook ads o Jacamo – 131%
• Google ads o Ladbrokes – +244%
• Overall Most successful cross-media campaign o Coral – +117%
In collaboration with Microsoft in Ireland and in Brussels, UCD has established the Microsoft-UCD Digital Policy Programme at UCD with the goal of building digital policy capability amongst the public and private sector in Ireland and across the wider European Union.
In today’s rapidly-evolving digital world, it can be a challenge for legislators and policy makers to keep abreast of the pace of change and its potential impact. This programme is designed to support those in government with the skills and knowledge necessary to amend existing legislation and plan for new legislation that will protect society and provide a relevant framework in which organisations can operate.
The features of the programme will fill a short term need while also building a sustainable pipeline of skills for long-term impact. It will build on existing expertise and curriculum already offered at UCD, while also recruiting leading academics to develop and oversee its success.
Under the direction of Programme Director, Professor Kalpana Shankar, the programme aims to fulfil this demand for digital policy knowledge and skills in the policy ecosystem. The Digital Policy Programme, which will welcome its first intake of students in September, includes the establishment of new educational programmes, including a Certificate course and a Masters in Digital Policy as well as the opening of the UCD Centre for Digital Policy under the leadership of Professor Eugenia Siapera. Elizabeth Farries has been appointed Assistant Professor for the programme and there are plans to appoint a Microsoft Newman Fellow in Digital Policy in September.
The last few weeks and months have demonstrated in a very real way, the transformative impact of technology. Digital solutions have been at the heart of the healthcare and societal response that we have seen – not just in Ireland and Europe but across the globe. The technology led response, driven by innovation and the creative thinking of public servants, has been done at a pace not previously imagined. The reality is that the policy environment and legislation are not, by their nature, as responsive. In addition to the need to create a policy environment that caters for a digital future, it is likely that there will need to be amendments to policy to reflect the rapid change that has already happened. This Digital Policy Programme will help equip those in decision making positions with the skills and capabilities that they need to help inform this important work.
Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland said: “Microsoft is proud to have worked with industry partners, the public sector and leading academics to help inform the development of a programme that will build digital expertise into existing policy making frameworks. This much needed and timely programme will help to advance capabilities amongst Irish and EU policy makers on legislative and policy matters that arise in the context of digital technologies. Irish policy makers have the potential to take the lead in Europe on the evolution of laws and policies that remain relevant in a digital world while also fostering innovation and building trust. The Microsoft team here in Ireland and in Europe are delighted to partner with UCD in the development and delivery of this new academic programme.”
Professor Kalpana Shankar, Professor in UCD School of Information and Communication Studies said: “This MSc in Digital Policy is the first of its kind in Ireland. It is designed to offer graduates the opportunity to learn more about some of the core policy issues that are arising with the prevalence of digital and data technology in all dimensions of life. The course will build on the rich offerings in the School of Information and Communication Studies as well as the wider College of Social Sciences and Law through taught modules, independent projects, and interactions with policymakers and evaluators in the public and private sectors.”
For details on the Microsoft-UCD Digital Policy Programme log on here.
As the Corona curves are slowly but surely starting to flatten, the focus is gradually shifting towards the next challenge: relaunching the economy. Whilst national governments and international institutions across Europe and the world are announcing unprecedented crisis measures, it remains to be seen if these will be enough, and especially, whether the aid can be deployed quickly enough to save those in need today. Therefore, decisive action needs to be taken today rather than tomorrow.
Already, Loyaltek is in talks for well over a million cards in several countries including Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal, the first few municipalities having already confirmed they will be adopting the solution.
With a view to this, European FinTech pioneers and veterans Loyaltek and Paynovate are teaming up in a unique proposal to political leaders, with the aim of offering citizens much needed and rapid financial support by means of the Unity Card. As innovative as it is useful, this debit card can be limited for use in a certain geographical area (e.g. one municipality) as well as a certain types of predetermined shops or businesses, in this case those that have been forced to close during the current crisis: hotels, restaurants, bars, hairdressers, DIY-stores, clothes stores… As such, it is the perfect instrument to stimulate the local economy and prevent the money disappearing to foreign e-commerce websites, being sent to family abroad, or saved.
“Whether it’s to support merchants who have had to close their business or to help a mother feed her children: our leaders, from municipal to national level, are looking for ways to mitigate the effects of the lockdown and prepare for a return to normal life and economic recovery,” explains Robert Masse, founder and CEO of Loyaltek and expert in the field of card payments. “But time is running out, and the question arises as to how to allocate these various resources as quickly and efficiently as possible, while at the same time avoiding any risks of fraud and ensuring that public money serves its intended purpose, to the extent of creating a win-win situation and benefiting society as a whole.”
The Unity Card can be loaded and reloaded with any desired amount of money and works just like a regular debit card on payment terminals. The validity period can be adapted in function of the needs and intended support. Users can check the remaining value thanks to a QR code on the back, while an extranet allows the issuing authority to monitor, analyse, manage and even adjust the way its cards are being used, all in real-time. And thus, once again in this crisis, it’s new technologies that are offering relief in a situation which at first seemed insoluble.
“In a spirit of social commitment, our R&D teams wanted to make themselves useful against the horrors of the Corona virus. Ultimately, it’s the pragmatism and the potential of this solution which convinced us to set up the necessary partnerships to deploy it throughout Europe,” concludes Robert Masse. “The name, which of course stands for solidarity, came naturally, and we have decided to offer the first 5,000 cards to each of the municipalities that want to work with it, given that they’re the ones closest to the situation on the ground. Implementation costs are kept to a minimum and amount to a fraction of the usual costs of similar ‘traditional’ measures. Moreover, we do not take any margin on the transactions. Two years ago, we already delivered 12.000 cards to the World Food Program for humanitarian aid.”
The solution proposed has proven its worth before in Germany at the time of the migration crisis, when Loyaltek distributed tens of thousands of cards to local authorities to manage the allowances of Syrian refugees, allowing them to provide in their most basic needs by purchasing from local merchants.
The appearance of the Unity Card can be personalised if necessary. It is distributed either directly to the beneficiaries or by group transmission to the competent authority, which can then further distribute it. The payments made by citizens with the card are managed together with the rest of the merchants’ payment traffic, while cardholder support is ensured by Loyaltek or the ‘customer’ himself, i.e. the issuing authority.
As people and governments around the world rethink city life and the daily commute, today Belgian start-up Cowboy unveils its third generation electric bike. With a vision to transform urban mobility, the Cowboy 3 is designed for commuters all across Europe to ride fast and free toward the city of the future.
The Cowboy 3 model is engineered with several significant new hardware features including a single-gear automatic transmission to create the smoothest, simplest mode of transport on the streets today. With an obsessive attention to detail, including the removable battery built right into the frame, Cowboy continues to hold a distinct performance advantage in the market. Cowboy 3 uses the latest in design, smart technology, manufacturing excellence and is available for order now via cowboy.com at an RRP of €2.290 / £1.990. The first orders will be delivered at the end of July.
Cowboy also announces a major update to its app with features most desired by its rider community: auto-unlock, theft alert, crash detection, and air quality mapping now available for new and existing customers. These uniquely Cowboy features stack alongside a brand-new service offering: Cowboy Mobile Service. Rolling out in cities throughout the summer, any rider will be able to book a repair online and a local specialist will come to them to fix their bike, free of charge.
Bike Update Highlights
All-new:
Carbon belt transmission
No oily chain and no maintenance required for up to 30,000 kilometres.
Lower gear ratio
Ensures a faster start and easier ride when climbing uphill.
Custom mudguards
Fits the bike like a glove (available at an RRP of 89€ / 79£ inc VAT ).
Puncture-resistant tires
Has a flexible grip and a puncture protection layer in the tires.
Comfortable ride
Increased comfort with an increased tire surface along the rims.
Three colourways
Now available in Absolute Black, Anthracite Grey, Mineral Grey to suit the rider’s preference.
Cowboy 3 users will of course make the most of existing features like the aforementioned removable battery and a lightweight bike weighing only 16.9 kg.
App Update Highlights
The new Cowboy is connected to an app like its predecessors. In addition to the existing Cowboy app features (Find My Bike, Navigation, Live Dashboard, Siri Voice Control),four new features will complete the digital experience and transform the way one rides and navigates through cities:
Auto-unlock
The bike knows its rider. The app automatically senses when you’re nearby. Simply move the bike, and it will unlock so you can keep your phone in your pocket and be ready to ride in an instant.
Theft detection
Your bike should move with you and only you. The owner gets notified as soon as someone tries to move or attempt to snag their bike.
Crash detection
The road is rough out there. So if a rider is ever in an accident, a sensor detects the fall so we can check in to make sure they’re alright. If the rider doesn’t answer, their emergency contact is alerted right away.
Air quality
Be aware of the pollution level around you and let the app show you the healthiest way through the city.
Cowboy Mobile Service Highlights
The now introduced Cowboy Mobile Service program is a network of repair specialists who come to our customers wherever and whenever they need a repair—free of charge when under our 2-year warranty. This program, now active in 24 cities and expanding throughout the summer, was inspired by our Test Ride program—a 67-city network of Cowboy experts who meet a prospective customer with the bike to try it before purchasing.
Adrien Roose, CEO of Cowboy said: “The success of our previous model has been tremendous across all of Europe. It’s been great to create an electric bike that really speaks to the modern commuter as they set to change the way they experience urban movement. We always knew that people would start to look at alternative ways to commute over the next few years, however with cities’ increased investment in bike infrastructure, we are thrilled to offer a perfect blend of convenience, technology and comfort.”
Technical specifications of the Cowboy 3 electric bike:
Weight
16.9 kg total weight, including battery
Frame material
Aluminium
Rider height
One M/L frame size, optimized for riders between 170-195 cm tall
Tires
Cowboy custom tires, puncture resistant tires with a flexible grip and a puncture protection layer at a width of 42mm
Brakes
Tektro hydraulic disc brakes
Front lights
Integrated LED front light can be turned on/off via the app
Rear lights
Integrated LED rear light intensifies when decelerating and/or braking
Warranty
2 years
Range
up to 70 km autonomy
Battery
2.4 kg removable battery. 360 Wh and 10.0 Ah
Mobile app
iOS and Android. Secure, digital-key lock/unlock via personal app
Colours
Absolute Black, Anthracite Grey, Mineral Grey
Belt
Gates carbon belt, gear ratio 63/22 (2.86), offering a 30k km lifetime
Charger
100 W charger with a charging time of 3.5 hours
Motor
Custom-designed 30 Nm / 250 W motor, integrated into the rear wheel
Virgin Mobile is bringing back one of their most popular offers. Both existing Virgin Media customers and new customers can sign up now to get Unlimited Mobile for €5 for 5 months. The offer launches today, June 4th, and runs until July 29th so act quick to snap up this great deal. This new offer includes Unlimited 4G data, calls and texts and our customer-friendly 30 day contracts.
Anne O’Flynn, Head of Commercial Product at Virgin Media said: “Our ‘545’ offer was one of our most popular ever so we decided to bring it back and give everyone the chance to sign up who hasn’t already and get Unlimited Mobile for just €5 for 5 months.
It’s important to us to give customers the best value possible and, with the return of our ‘545’ deal, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do with a saving of €100 over the course of 12 months if you sign up now.”
This new ‘€5 for 5 Months’ Unlimited Mobile offer launches June 4th 2020 and runs until July 29th 2020. The price of the plan will return to just €25 a month thereafter.
The temporary change to Virgin Mobile’s plans to make them unlimited will run until June 30th, 2020. All domestic data use, Irish landline, mobile and non-geographic calls, texts to Irish mobiles are unlimited with no Fair Usage Policy (FUP) for all Virgin Mobile customers until June 30th 2020. Any out of bundle international, premium and non-EU Roaming calls and texts will be charged at the standard rates for your plan. Virgin Mobile’s EU Roaming Data Fair Usage Policy is not affected by this change.
Last November I was the tatget of an elaborate paypal scam which Paypal had to investigate due to the numerous emails I got within the space of a few days which was dealth with eventually by the company, Now there is another one to keep an eye out for only this time comes in Dutch via email claiming there is unpaid fees to be paid and will limit my account Dutch would be a language not used often in phishing scams.
Once again this is a replica page that is trying to get your details and should be avoided and reported to Paypal straight away at spoof@paypal.com. Again these scams are not new but they change tack and can still catch people out so beware. On the opening text you see
Account Service heeft u een betaalverzoek gestuurd
translates to – Account Service has sent you a payment request.
After a review your account has been limited due to unpaid fees, please pay this invoice to cover your unpaid fees and remove this restriction permanently.
It claims I owe them 6.75 USD and then gives you a link to pay it and as mentioned looks genuine as seen above, Of course it is just out to get easy money in small doses but if you fall for it you have just handed over all your login information which is what they aim to do.. Remember to report the mail by forwarding it to spoof@paypal.com. We will see what they have to say about this one..
