Two additional bulk billing doctors added.

I've now added two more bulk billing doctors to the Bulk Billing Doctors Melbourne site. The doctors/practices were passed on and confirmed through a contact.

When using the Bulk Billing Doctors Melbourne site keep in mind there are two pages. The main page of the site is suitable for desktop users, and the mobile site, which can be used by mobile users, but is also very handy for desktop users. The mobile site shows the distance to the nearest doctors or practices.

The maps to help find local bulk billing doctors in Melbourne are at https://www.mapz.com.au/bulkbillingdoctorsmelbourne/.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.Mapz.com.au
Making it easier to find local.

TPG mobile dropouts have increased since TPG moved from Optus to Vodafone.

A few of times I've been talking to a person and my mobile has gone silent. No warning. Nothing. The call has just dropped out. The first time I noticed this was a TPG (Vodafone) to TPG (Optus) call.

More recently I was talking to another person and at the 15 minute point the mobile dropped out. Then after another 15 minutes the call dropped out again. The log on the mobile confirmed the call had dropped out twice after 15 minutes. This was a TPG (Vodafone) to Telstra call. For the call to drop out at 15 minutes and not some random interval makes it feel like it is possibly an action on the part of TPG, the service provider.

Perhaps just a coincidence, but I heard two people who's call had just dropped out discussing the issue. Whilst these people had experienced calls dropping out, there was usually some breaking up in the signal first, however in this case the call just went silent.

There is certainly something strange happening with the TPG service at the moment. I don't think it is  just the change to Vodafone as TPG's carrier, since not all the calls used the Vodafone service. At this point all I can share is the number of dropouts occurring (where the call simply cuts out) with the TPG service, appears to have significantly increased since the announcement of the move from Optus to Vodafone as the carrier. Certainly something to watch.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Servicing Doncaster, Eltham, Templestowe and the surrounding area.

Bulk billing doctors Melbourne now added to the Mapz site.

One of the advantages of being a developer, is when I find things that interest me I can often write some code and produce a site. The ideas come to me as a result of products or services I find handy. I then create a web app for example that helps me and by making it available on the internet, hopefully others find it useful as well. The most recent idea is for bulk billing doctors in Melbourne.

I recently dropped into the local doctors and noticed their consultation fee had increased to $75. Isn't it amazing how different the standard fee is now from the Medicare rebate? The doctors are OK, but often there's times when a lower cost option is just as good. One example is when people simply need a medical certificate for work. Sometimes getting a second opinion comes in handy. That's when knowing where the closest bulk billing doctor can come in handy.

Doing a search for bulk billing doctors on the internet will provide many doctors and practices, but the problem is they often don't bulk bill everyone. I also saw the situation of a local practice that started up a few years ago and bulk billed, but then switched to only bulk billing certain clients. That practice is still listed as a bulk billing practice on the internet. There's bulk billing practices who bulk bill everyone. That's their business model. Knowing where they are can often come in handy.

I decided I'd put together the bulk billing doctors/practices that I come across and using the Mapz site/approach. That is I create maps showing where the bulk billing doctors/practices can be found and the mobile map shows the nearest five doctors/practices.

Unfortunately at this time I only know one practice that bulk bills everyone and so the maps will only have one entry. As I find other doctors/practices I also add them to the map. If anyone knows of such a doctor/practice please feel free to let me know.

The site is https://www.mapz.com.au/bulkbillingdoctorsmelbourne/. You can also find a link to the site on the Mapz site at www.Mapz.com.au.

Kelvin Eldridge

www.JustLocal.com.au

Help people to find local businesses.

Microsoft Access 2016 runtime security notice "A potential security concern has been identified".

Installing the new version of the Microsoft Access 2016 runtime on a new Windows 10 64 bit computer up popped the familiar potential security concern message. I'm not quite sure why Microsoft hasn't provided an option to enable users to add the location in the runtime, but until they do, this means having to manually make the required changes..

I've now updated my notes (www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers) where I share the information with clients. The solution is MyAnswers 2504.

The aim of this post is to enable clients to know the solution is now available if required. Usually I apply the fix for clients, but for those clients who wish to fix the issue themselves, I'm happy to provide the solution.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Servicing the Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham area.

TPG 321 voicemail no longer works since moving to Vodafone network.

TPG are currently moving mobile customers to the Vodafone network from the Optus network. This is one of those times when whilst I'd prefer to stick with TPG and the Optus network, there really is no choice if you wish to stick with TPG. The Optus plan in time will be phased out. Time to go with the flow.

Nothing major appears to have happened since transferring to Vodafone, but it is course early days. I still have a 3G handset so I'm not able to test to see if the 4G network is better.

The first minor issue is I started receiving notifications for roughly a week the new SIM had been sent. Nothing arrived. Then I received a new set of notifications the SIM was being sent. This time the SIM did arrive after about a week. The important communication to note was not to activate the new service until the SIM card arrived.

The SIM card arrived on the Thursday which I then activated. Activation wasn't to occur until the Saturday and I was advised in the communication to keep using the old SIM card. Mid Saturday afternoon the old service stopped working. I was prepared as I was carrying around the new SIM card. For around an hour I had a feeling the service wasn't stable, but then things settled down.

One thing that didn't occur to me for a few days, was voicemail had also changed. That makes sense. Voicemail is now on Vodafone and not Optus. However this was never really flagged as something to keep in mind. The first I noticed was when I went to check voicemail by dialling 321 and it didn't work. That's strange I thought. Ah. Voicemail needs to be set up again including the announcement. Any old voicemails that I may have kept would be gone. I didn't know what number to call to get voicemails.

A quick check of the TPG site and I found the new number for accessing voicemail is 121. When first used you need to set up the voicemail.

What I have noticed is I no longer receive messages letting me know I've received voicemail. I thought that was handy on the old service and with the new service it may be easier to miss that someone has left a voicemail. On the other hand, the voicemail icon at the bottom of the iPhone screen now indicates there's voicemail. That icon didn't previously do anything. Whilst it does means I have to go into the telephone app, at least there's a way to see if there's voicemail.

As I said, this isn't a really big deal. It would have been nice to be given a heads up on the voicemail change and the new number to access voicemail, but some things often slip through the cracks with such a large migration.

Hopefully others who are being migrated from Optus to Vodafone by TPG who find this post may find this information useful.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

When visiting shopping centres this article is a reminder that you're being tracked.

Our local Westfield Shopping Centre in Doncaster has free W-Fi and ticketless parking. Both technologies provide a lot of data to companies which can be analysed to find ways to increase your spending.

The following article provides some hints as to why shopping centres (and other areas) are increasing the amount of tracking.

http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/business-it/is-it-really-free-wifi-20151129-glb4p9.html

Batistich was candid about the company's reasons for the rollout.

"We did it, to be blunt, because we wanted a location analytics platform. We wanted to understand what people did in our malls so we could start to acquire a profile so we could send them content that's relevant based on their previous physical behaviour," he said.

Interestingly the article states using Wi-Fi Westfield could generate more than 470 interactions for a single shopper, whatever that may mean.

One question that does come to mind for me is, are they linking your registration to your Wi-Fi?

If this type of tracking concerns you, keep in mind you can park outside the shopping centre, and whilst in the shopping centres, turn off your Wi-Fi. I'd also suggest turning off Bluetooth as that can also be tracked, but so far there's no indication that I've read, that Bluetooth is being tracked. It's seems to be much easier to track Wi-Fi.

For some, possibly most people, tracking won't be an issue. As long people know and can make informed decisions that's really all that matters.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Servicing Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Mac OS X birthday notifications appearing by the dozens.

This morning I noticed something strange on my MacBook Air. A birthday notification for one of my contacts for tomorrow. Their birthday isn't tomorrow. Also since I don't store birthday information in my contacts it didn't make sense. I then received another, and then another.

On closer examination I noticed a considerable number of contacts have the birth date 30 November 1999 and I certainly didn't enter this date into the contacts.

What I suspect has happened is I've entered contacts into my iPhone, at one point synchronised the contacts with iCloud and then the contacts have been picked up from iCloud by the MacBook Air. I've not directly entered the contacts. into the MacBook Air. I use other software for recording my contacts, but I do enter contacts into my iPhone.

It looks like instead of Apple not entering values into unpopulated fields, they've made an incorrect decision to populate the date fields with a default value.

As you can see from the above record which is for my own business in the contact list. From recollection I would have only included the entry o make the email address easily available. Certainly birthday and anniversary dates do not apply.

To fix the issue the only way I've found so far, is to visit each contact and remove the birthday and anniversary fields.

As a person who has done software development in the past, it always interests me to see these quirks where someone hasn't perhaps thought things through as well as they could have. These entires were entered back on an old iPhone 3GS, so perhaps this issue only affects people who have contacts entered many years ago.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Telstra mobile Wi-Fi - Sorry, Pre-Paid activation is currently unavailable

Over the years Telstra activations have often not gone as expected. Sometimes it may have been my fault, sometimes it may have been Telstra's. OK, mostly Telstra but no harm sharing the blame.

Since many people purchase Telstra mobile Wi-Fi devices, I thought I'd share this experience in case it helps others. The device in question was the Telstra Elite Mobile W-Fi. Unpacked, set up, and ready to go, I went to activate. At the end of completing the form and hitting submit, I received the following message.

At this point you get that sinking feeling. It's around an hour's drive to the nearest Telstra shop and since it's in the mid evening, the support line was closed. It was Friday and I wanted to use the device over the weekend whilst away. Ah well. These things happen.

Then I thought, there was a question about additional services for the plan. There was only one option and since there were no additional services with the plan, I thought not selecting the option was logical. I decided to redo the activation and the second time selected the option. This time the activation worked. It really didn't make sense to provide a single option, when if required, could have just as easily been set as preselected.

The lesson here is, if the activation doesn't work, then don't hesitate to start the process again.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Servicing Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham and the surrounding area.

The Block auction results 2015 - South Yarra

For a little fun, the following are The Block auction results for 2015 as the auctions take place. Press Reload on your browser if you're watching this page to get the latest information.

1. Caro and Kingi
Level: 2
Reserve: $1,330,000
Result: $1,735,000
Profit: $405,000

2. Suzi and Vonni
Apartment: 3
Reserve: $1,480,000
Result: $1,829,000
Profit: $349,000

3. Dean and Shay
Level: Penthouse
Reserve: $1,645,000
Result: $2,300,000
Profit: $655,000

4. Whitney and Andrew
Reserve: $1,400,000
Result: $1,790,000
Profit: $390,000

5. Luke and Ebony
Reserve: $1,560,000
Result: $2,200,000
Profit $640,000

The winners of this year's The Block (the Blocktagon) are Dean and Shay.

I hope everyone reading this post has enjoyed watching the auction unfold. It was good to see Luke and Ebony do well. Congratulations to Dean and Shay, the winners and all contestants. Great results all round.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Free TV online - Keyword added to JustLocal search facility

Some years ago I signed up to Optus cable and found watching free-to-air TV via the cable service worked well. Watching free-to-air TV over a paid service doesn't really make sense, but sometimes having the ability to simply watch free-to-air streamed over the internet does make sense.

At last the ability to watch free-to-air TV over the internet is becoming a reality. Channel 7 has now gone live with three channels. with Channel 9 expected to go live in 2016. Hopefully Channel 10 will follow.

Those using the Search Australia facility available on JustLocal may already know you can access catch-TV using the keywords TV 7, TV 9, TV 10 and SBS TV. As the new live streaming services come online I'll add keywords for those services.

The first is LIVE 7, which provides access to the three channels from Channel 7. That is 7, 7 Two and 7 Mate.

LIVE 9 has been set up to access the new site for channel 9, but this isn't expected to go live until 2016.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
www.AdvancedSearch.com.au/SearchAustralia

ALDI Medion 4.5" Smartphone P4502 (MD 98942) can't see TP-LINK access point, but can see other access points.

As I was testing the Aldi Medion 4.5" Smartphone P4502, I noticed the smartphone could not see all the available access points. I decided to investigate.

The result of what I found is available in the MyAnswers solution 2501 (www.onlineconnections.com.au/myanswers/). For some people it may be wise to give the Aldi Medion 4.5" Smartphone P4502 a miss as it may be a problem for them.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Convert kilojoules to Calories calculator

When dieting we have the strange situation where the energy stated on packets is in kilojoules, but often talk is about Calorie counting. Google when you search often presents calculators, but in this case I find their calculator confusing.

To make it easy for others I wrote a simple calculator which converts from kilojoules to Calories. You can find the calculator at www.convertkilojoulestocalories.com.au.

I hope you find it useful.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Message - Unfortunately, this PC is unable to run Windows 10. VirtualBox Graphics Adaptor

I was running Windows 7 on the MacBook Air using VirtualBox. There's some restrictions, but a technical oriented person I work around those issues. I decided to update to Windows 10 and received this message.

After a some trial and effort I now have Windows 10 installed on the MacBook Air. I'll provide the approach in a MyAnswers solutions shortly (www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers) which will be available to clients.

I'd suggest at this stage to stick with Windows 7 until VirtualBox produces a stable version 5 as I've noticed a number of issues where the screen freezes or isn't handled properly.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.

Update: 15 Oct 2015
I'd suggest giving the update a miss at this stage. Virtualbox freezes very frequently (even as often as every few minutes sometimes) resulting in the need to quit and restart Windows. I consider this quite poor on Oracle's part. I'll update this post once I believe Virtualbox running Windows 10 on a Mac is again reasonably stable.

Update:11 February 2016
It's been a number of months now and running Windows 10 using VirtualBox on the MacBook Air is still not stable. Fortunately my Windows use on the Mac can be limited, and for the short periods quitting VirtualBox and restarting Windows 10 provides sufficient time between freezes for me to get what needs to be done.

Update: 11 March 2016
Applied the latest update 5.0.16r105871. Windows 10 automatic updates also applied. Windows 10 still freezes. Perhaps since I'm using a Mac to run VirtualBox this doesn't have the same number of users and thus not as high a priority. It really does seem strange VirtualBox is performing so badly.

Update: 1 May 2016
Applied the latest update 5.0.20 and still freezes. I decided time to investigate as I didn't feel a problem like this would last this long. Through trial and error I found the issue appears to be related to the settings. Once the settings were changed Windows 10 on VirtualBox so far hasn't frozen.

iTunes error message - Unable to connect to iTunes purchases.

I've noticed all day today error messages on the MacBook Air relating to communication errors with iTunes. I wasn't initially able to check the account, but then it worked.

Given Apple have just released iOS 9 I suspect there's quite a load on their servers and the intermittent message may be caused by that load.

In this case it's a good idea to simply wait a few days and when the initial rush for iOS 9 is over, things should go back to normal.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Servicing Doncaster, Templestowe and the Eltham area. 

The Energy Cost Calculator has now moved back to the JustLocal site.

For a while the Energy Cost Calculator which is a web app I wrote, has lived under its own domain. I've decided to cull domains that aren't paying for themselves and as a result the Energy Cost Calculator now lives on the JustLocal site.

You can find the Energy Cost Calculator at www.JustLocal.com.au/clients/energy-cost/.

The Energy Cost Calculator is a great too to help you save money on electricity. You can enter the wattage of an appliance, the number of hours a day you use the appliance, and using your current electricity supplier's rate, you can determine how much an appliance is costing you. This calculator has helped me reduce my energy usage to around half, which is quite a saving each year.

The second part of the calculator enables you to determine the payback period of replacing an older less energy efficient device with a new more efficient device. It isn't always obvious whether or not you'll save money by simply throwing out an older appliance and replacing it with a new appliance. Remember you have to buy the new appliance and sometimes that will cost much more than the energy used. In those cases it's best to wait until the appliance reaches its end-of-life and then replace it. A good example of how you can save money is an old TV and set-top box I was using. I worked out by buying a new LCD TV the TV would pay for itself over six years. It makes sense to then dispose of the old TV/set-top box and purchase the more efficient, and I have to say better spec'd TV.

An example of when it isn't worthwhile to replace an old appliance with a new one is when it is rarely used. For example we have a couple of lights which are rarely used, and then only for a few minutes at a time. For example in an storage area. The old light doesn't use much energy since it is rarely used. The new low energy light would never pay for itself in that situation.

The Energy Cost Calculator has enabled me to put a cost against each appliance and in doing so has enabled me to be better informed. Being better informed allows me to make better financial decisions with the use and purchase of appliances. I hope others find the calculator as useful as I have.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.

Alert: Bunnings Giftcard/OralB Testpanel - You have received a giftcard/Wanted: Oral B Tests

This morning I received a number of Bunnings GiftCard and OralB Testpanel emails. The emails were sent to email addresses harvested from the internet, some of which aren't visible but embedded in code.

The emails are certainly scams and you should delete them.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.

Alert: Google Adwords: Ads soon stopping - Money almost depleted.

I received this message this morning and thought is this a scam, or is it a legitimate message.

Here's the situation. I haven't used Google Adwords for advertising since 2013. All the campaigns were paused. The only advertising I did was as part of my testing and I didn't find Google Adwords worked for me. I spent more than the work I received. All campaigns were paused.

This morning I received this message and when I went into Google Adwords, there was a campaign that was running. I paused the campaign and again made sure all campaigns were paused.

I then checked my statement and I can see there's been no activity since the period 1/8/2013-31/8/2013 and there was closing balance of $0.00 Yet today there's activity.

This really doesn't make sense and is a concern. I'm always concerned there's a possibility of an error on Google's part and charges could be incurred. I've now deleted all campaigns and removed the expired credit card details. I still prefer to have access to the tools in Google Adwords as I find them useful, but if I find an issue, it will probably be best to delete the account. The real concern is I've seen others rack up quite substantial bills unexpectedly in other online services. That makes me wary of any online service where you provide a mechanism for them to receive payment.

If you get messages from Google Adwords you should check your account and make sure everything is as you expect it to be.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

As a small business, can you handle the comments you'll receive from the public on online forums?

The internet provides many open online forums and over time, the forums I've participated in and the sites where comments are enabled, I've noticed one thing. The comments can become quite vitriolic much more frequently than I see in our normal interactions in society. Just visit any media site and start reading the comments. The comments will generally start out fine but before long they will often become quite vitriolic.

In 2003-2006 in the open source forums I participated in, I noticed it was only a matter of time before people would leave as they end up being attacked by another. It just seems to be the way of open forums online.

The problem is as businesses we're now encouraged to be very public on social media and that creates an exposure that most of us may find hard to handle. Recently I decided to disable comments across all my public sites. Most comments are spam, the next group tend to be negative people having a go at you, and rarely, there's valuable feedback that can help others.

I found the following on the The Registrar site and thought it was worth sharing. In particular the final comment, "That's why you never read the comments, Ellen. Take it from us.".

As a business it is important to know whether or not you can handle the vitriol you'll receive from the general public on public online forums. Most people are decent, but there are a few who seem far more active on open forums that are quite vitriolic and can impact you or your business quite a bit. You need to think carefully whether or not such activity will benefit or harm your business.

I know one group I participate in, since there's such a large number of vocal vitriolic people, it actually makes me feel like the whole group consists of such people and I'd be hesitant to use any of the services from the group. One section of the group tarnishes the whole group. So even if you're a decent person, being part of such groups can affect your reputation and ability to gain business.

When participating in public online forums make sure you know the benefits and the costs to your business from your participation.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Alert: Referral spam sites 4webmasters.org, webmonitizer.net, dailyrank.net, sitevaluation.org, success-seo.com

On the 22nd of June I wrote a post about the referral spam sites I was seeing in the stats. Referral spam is when you look at your stats and notice traffic coming from sites but there's really not actual visitor traffic coming from the sites. The sites have specifically targeted your site so you see their site and visit them. Being curious many people will check out the site they're seeing in their stats. They're using the stats to advertise their sites.

The sites in my stats today showing some traffic are: 4webmasters.org, webmonitizer.net, dailyrank.net, sitevaluation.org, success-seo.com.

If you see sites in your stats you're not sure of, keep in mind they may simply be spamming you. If sites are spamming you then I always suggest not using their services. Do you really want to give business to businesses using less honourable techniques to promote their businesses?

Sometimes curiosity will get to you. Not much you can do about that. Just be aware of why they are appearing in your stats.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Alasdair Wilkins lost 45 kg in weight by walking.

The headline to a story I read was "How Alasdair Wilkins lost 45kg just by walking".

www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fitness/how-alasdair-wilkins-lost-45kg-just-by-walking/story-fnlsuulf-1227434091460

The problem with this type of article is it is very misleading to people and then people wonder why they can't lose weight.

Here's the problem. This article emphasises walking only and quotes "Basically, I just went to the gym and I walked. On a treadmill, uphill, at a brisk pace, for about an hour every day — and I do mean every day". It is only down further in the article there's a one line sentence "Alasdair wrote that he didn’t adjust his diet — just ate smaller portions." He didn't adjust his diet. Yes he did. He dieted as well. That is what eating smaller portions is.

Let's look at the maths behind what Alasdair Wilkins did. Alasdair initially weighed 285 pounds (129.5 kg). He walked for one hour per day for a year. That's 365 hours or 21,900 minutes. The Energy Exercise Calculator (www.justlocal.com.au/clients/dieting/exercise.php) enables us to calculate how much energy we use for particular exercises given a weight and the time taken. However since Alasdair's weight changes over time so does the energy used. To help us estimate we'll use his average weight for the period which is 129.5 kg less half of 45 kg giving us 107 kg. We now enter 107 kg, a time of 21,900 minutes, select fast walking (7 km/h) and that gives us energy usage of  768.895 kJ. If we divide this by 33,000 (the energy equivalent of 1 kg of fat) we get an expected weight loss of around 23 kg.

That's roughly half the weight that Alasdair lost. How was the remaining weight lost? It was those smaller portions. Half of the weight loss was from exercise and half from dieting, even though Alasdair didn't think he was dieting.

If Alasdair had simply continued to eat at his usual level, which was more than his body needed, there's a good chance he may not have lost any weight at all. Only when his energy intake comes below what his body requires would we expect to see a reduction in weight. At roughly 2,000 kJs per day for fast walking, it is very easy to counter the exercise with food or drinks.

Alasdair's story is a great story and I think it is inspiring. It shows if you increase your exercise and reduce your energy intake you can achieve a massive result. Keep in mind Alasdair did this seven days a week. You can't expect the same result doing it just 2 or 3 days a week.

I've tested losing weight by dieting alone (this worked very well), exercise alone (this didn't work), so my next test will be to diet and exercise using an approach similar to Alasdair's by doing one hour of walking per day, along with a 2,000 kJ reduction in energy intake. I'll share the results on my site www.WeightLossMaths.com.au. I provide links to all my weight-loss calculators on that page as well as on JustLocal.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au