The balance of life

Today morning Olga got a call from insurance, saying that there is a pending check for us.  I, for one, have totally forgotten about that.  Obviously, it’s always nice to get some unexpected money in.  On the way to the insurance company, Olga got stopped by the police, who reminded me of something else that I have totally forgotten.  Road tax and MOT haven’t been paid for this year.  The fine should work as a reminder.  Hopefully the check from insurance is for more money than the fine…

Update:  Apparently, missing road tax and MOT is not a fine land.  We’ll have to go to court.

Day in brief – 2011-09-15

  • @mashable 70+ Essential Resources? Really? Not even just tips? It's easier than that: 1. Invest in good content. 2. Give it time. #
  • @savvides Competition is healthy :) #
  • Shared: Intel, Google Team To Optimize Android For Smartphones http://t.co/hn1lN0J5 #
  • Shared: Original Twitter homepage http://t.co/sZGBaSeA #
  • Shared: Living In The Cloud Era http://t.co/wy1778oV #
  • @stepanov Indeed! :) #
  • Molly Mallone's Irish Pub people know how to celebrate and get drunk. I got a "Happy Easter!" SMS from them today. :) #
  • It's beem awhile but now I am back. (@ The Ship Inn) http://t.co/J4EZ30MH #

On global food crisis

Some of these food-related historical anecdotes are fascinating:

The G8 met in Hokkaido, Japan, in July 2008 to address the global food crisis. Over an eighteen-course meal—including truffles, caviar, conger eel, Kyoto beef, and champagne—prepared by sixty chefs, the world leaders came to a consensus: “We are deeply concerned that the steep rise in global food prices coupled with availability problems in a number of developing countries is threatening global food security.”

Via Kottke.org.

Hellenic Bank updates interface, adds mobile banking

A couple of weeks ago Hellenic Bank clients received a notification through their bank mail that the web interface is about to be updated.  The update was schedule for September 3rd, but I guess it didn’t go as smooth as expected.  For the last two weeks the web banking was slow, unstable, and unavailable at times.  Today I finally managed to login and experience the new interface.  Here are the before and after screenshots for you to compare.

The new interface is far from perfect, but it is a vast improvement over the old one.   I’ve also noticed a banner advertising the mobile banking.  That sounded totally like a dream.  It’s hard to believe that Hellenic Bank even knows what a mobile banking is, let alone is capable of implementing one. I immediately decided to check it out – after all it was as simple as navigating to a mobile version of the website.  I tried to log into it, but was constantly thrown into a blank white page.  Not very surprising, but I am willing to give them time.  Given that there web site is still shaky, I doubt they have time to look at the mobile version of it as well.