Victoria Container Deposit Scheme, Vic Container Deposit Scheme

Victoria Container Deposit Scheme, Vic Container Deposit Scheme is now live so I've produced a map showing the location of container collection points. Most of the collection points around me are OTC (Over The Counter) collection points. A local milk bar for example. It will be interesting to ask them a few questions such as, how many containers are considerable a reasonable number for OTC returns.

I'm looking forward to trying out one of the automatic vending machines, but unfortunately, they're location too far away.

It's important to keep in mind making a special trip to even your closest collection point may not be viable for dropping off a smaller number of contains. For example, our nearest collection point is a 5km return trip, which is over a dollar of petrol usage at current prices. That's 10 containers before you start getting your money back.

Another thing to note is vending machine don't give you cash, whereas OTC points cash is an option.

I hope others find the map and the above information useful.

Kelvin

Contrary to recent media reports, Queensland is not fining drivers speeding close to speed sign zone changes.

I recently read people in Queensland were now getting fined when speeding very close to the speed signs when the speed limit zone changes. This concerned me as it appeared to be an easy way to increase revenue. Yes, people shouldn't speed. Being a good driver also means obeying the road laws. None of us obey the letter of the law, all the time. I decided to do some research.

After finding a few articles with photos showing the same location, things didn't make sense to me. The road markings did not match where the speed signs were located. The following is the article on Yahoo News, but I think I also saw headline from the Courier Mail.

Aussie driver caught twice by 'sneaky' placement of speed camera on highway (yahoo.com)

It turns out the driver was mistaken (along with many others), who believed the sign in their picture was a speed limit sign. It isn't a speed limit sign. It is an informational sign for a camping area and the road name.

The following video is from my travels and starts just before the sign shown in the speeding fines and then continues on to the speed limit change, about 220m further on. 

Driving Queensland, Agnes Water to Gladstone - Tour #3 - YouTube

People are speeding up before reaching the sign and from the other direction, not slowing down to the speed limit as they reach the sign. This is normal driving behaviour, but it isn't legal behaviour. You have to at or below the signed speed limit for the section of road you are travelling on. If you're approaching a 60km/h sign from a faster section of road, you need to be at or below 60km/h when you reach the sign. If you're approaching a 100km/h sign from a lower speed limit zone, you can't speed up before you reach the speed limit sign. Not what we all do, but something we should be doing.

So in this case the media reports are based on incorrect information, and unfortunately, lack of fact checking.

Kelvin
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Edinburgh, Scotland, High Street to Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh, Scotland, High Street, The Royal Mile

Edinburgh, Scotland, High Street

Edinburgh, Scotland, Victoria Street, Diagon Alley

Edinburgh, Scotland, Grassmarket Market Square

Aldimobile Auto Recharge leaves users open to bill shock.

In February I moved to Aldimobile. Overall it's been a good service, but then recently something unexpected happened.

It was after midnight and I received an SMS, "Hi, Your ALDImobile PAYG credit is fully depleted. Please go online or use your mobile app to recharge."

My first reaction was to go and top up the account.

My next reaction was what the? I'm on Auto Recharge. Shouldn't I be covered?

Turns out at the end of the month the Auto Recharge can take up to a day to be applied. So for hours and up to a day, anything you use is taken out of your PAYG balance. Luckily there was only a $4.88 balance which was cleared out by Aldimobile. Never knew where that 12 cents went, but my guess now is data use during the time Auto Recharge hadn't been applied in the past. A second service also had money taken out.

To me the worst-case scenario is you have a large PAYG balance and you're watching a movie online and your balance is cleared out.

Of course, all of this can be found online, as long as you make the effort to read further than the first screens. ALDImobile also states "No bill shock", but isn't an unexpected and an unknown amount being charged what bill shock is?

I didn't know ALDImobile's Auto Recharge meant you weren't fully covered with your monthly payment. Perhaps others don't know as well, which is why I'm sharing this story.

I don't think ALDImobile's Auto Recharge is good enough and as a result, have moved to another provider so this is not an issue.

Kelvin

Use Bookmarklets to add new features to Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome

Bookmarklets are a very powerful feature available to add to you Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome (plus others) browsers to add new and convenient features.

Bookmarklets - JustLocal.

For example I add features to my browser to check the spelling of a word, the entire web page, and more recently, to speed up YouTube videos.

I share the bookmarklets on the above web page in case they're of interest to others.

Kelvin

VicRoads Bundoora, Practical Driving Test #10 with audio guide

Enjoyed creating the VicRoads Bundoora, Practical Driving Test #10 with audio guide. You'll hear the audio guide providing the turn-by-turn instructions.

Kelvin

Anaconda eBike Ride, Box Hill to Templestowe following Google maps directions

Pleasant ride on the Anaconda ebike from Box Hill to Templestowe.

Kelvin

VicRoads Heatherton Practical Driving Test #8

VicRoads Heatherton, Practical Driving Test #8.

Video includes explanation of www.PracticalDrivingTest.com.au site and includes an animation for the practical driving test route provided by a driver instructor and also a video using the audio guide with myself completing the practical driving test.

Keeping you home phone number (landline without the landline) using CrazyTel.

A lot of people including ourselves use mobiles for all their calls so no longer need the landline, except in our case we wanted to keep the landline number. A couple of years ago I got rid of the landline and had the home phone number ported to Vodafone since we had a Vodafone mobile service. To find out more about this service search for Vodafone mobile landline. It's actually worked quite well and costs $5 a month.

More recently I've wanted to move the landline number away from Vodafone because I'm moving away from Vodafone. With a bit of searching, I found a company called CrazyTel, where you can port your landline number to them and have any calls forwarded to voicemail and then for the recording to be automatically forward to an email address. I don't want to use the landline, but I do want to catch any calls from people who may not know our mobile numbers. I don't want or need to make calls out. I don't want to set up an answering machine at home and get annoying calls day and night from scammers. So, to have all calls go to voicemail and the recording forwarded to email suits me perfectly.

The good thing about CrazyTel is it only costs $1 a month to have CrazyTel host your landline number and forward voicemail to your email. 

So how did it go?

Well to be truthful, as an IT person with considerable experience, I couldn't get it to work at first. However today when I went back to finish the set up everything worked. Go figure.

I ported the landline number from Vodafone to CrazyTel on the 18th of January 2023. I received notification from CrazyTel on the 27th of January the port had been completed.

At this point I tried to set up the voicemail for my landline number, but I couldn't complete a field. Not sure why. However today (the 1st of February) I logged back on the CrazyTel website. My landline number was there, the voicemail had been set up. All I then did was to go into my number and selected Voicemail as the Type of Forwarding my email as the Forwarding Destination.

I completed a couple of test calls. The voice quality isn't great, but it will do. The options a person hears when recording a message is confusing at first. You get a message to record your message and then options to listen to, save or redo the message. It's actually not bad once you realise if you've made a mistake in the message, you can redo the message. Once saved you get two options. You're told to end by pressing the pound key. Confusing as the # key is called the hash key, number symbol or pound symbol. Also, the sound quality isn't the best so it can be hard to make out what key is mentioned, but you can listen to the options again. Quality is average but it's good enough for my needs.

Now that everything is set up and working, at this point I'm quite happy. I have my landline number still and it only costs $1 a month. CrazyTel even give you a $2 credit when you sign up so there's no risk and you effectively get two months free. Keep in mind this is using your existing number. If you want a new number that's an extra $1 per month.

If you're comfortable with technology then you should be able to nut through the process, otherwise it could be a bit overwhelming.

Hopefully by sharing my experience it will help others in the same situation.

Kelvin

Update: 01/02/2023
Left a message from a mobile using Aldi's mobile service and the voice quality was excellent. The poor-quality call was from a Vodafone service. In other words, the call quality on the CrazyTel service may not be due to CrazyTel's service, but outside their control.

Practical Driving Test VicRoads Frankston

Practical Driving Test VicRoads Frankston is the seventh practical driving test route video.

Kelvin

Google's Gmail does not receive emails containing just images or links.

A significant issue with Google's Gmail is when people send emails from outside of Gmail that only contains an image/picture or a link, the recipient using Gmail does not receive the email. The person sending the email does not receive any notification the email failed. The sender doesn't know the person doesn't receive the email and the Gmail user never knows something has been sent to them.

For example, whilst on holidays recently I sent a picture of the Big Pineapple to two friends. One using Gmail and one using a different domain.

The person with Gmail did not receive the picture but the person using a non-Gmail email account had no issues receiving the email. At no time did I know the Gmail user was not receiving the emails with just a picture.

Recently I've tried to share a YouTube video using the share link feature in YouTube. I send using a non-Gmail service and Gmail users do not receive the email. Again, no notification of failure and no idea the Gmail user hasn't received the email.

In summary, if you're sending a link or picture as the only content in an email, and you're sending the email not using Gmail, a Gmail user is unlikely to receive the email.

To avoid this issue, I select the Share option and then send using my Gmail account to other Gmail users. This works for both pictures and links.

I should add the issue with not receiving emails with a link or a picture when using Gmail may also happen if there's other text in the email. For example, today I forwarded an email that had two pictures and the message I had previously sent to another Gmail user who did receive the email. The forward email only had my signature plus the content of the previous email plus the two attachments. When I forwarded the email from my sent items to a second person the Gmail user failed to receive the email. I sent the two pictures in an email using Gmail and the Gmail user received the email. In other words, it can be quite hard to know when something will or won't work with Gmail if you're sending from a non-Gmail account.

If you're not using Gmail and you're sending emails to a Gmail user, and the email contains links or images, there's a high possibility the Gmail user will not receive your email and you won't know.

Kelvin

Update: 28/01/2024
If I recall correctly, to solve this problem I needed to update my mail server records at the hosting company as Google now requires greater authentication.

Fake retailer scam websites now a thing. Here's an example for Dotti.

I was recently talking to a customer service representative for a large Australian retailer and they were telling me people would call asking for a refund after being scammed by a fake retailer. I decided to see if this was happening to other retailers and here's an example for Dotti.

Online shoppers urged to avoid ‘Dotti’ retailer scam which uses fake websites | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

If you're buying online make sure you're buying from a legitimate retailer's site. It's so easy for scammers to build duplicate fake sites.

Kelvin

Driving Coburg to Diamond Creek