The gaff banner by: @brulaw
"It's always so reassuring to have The gaff to catch up on big news and great announcements that I tend to miss" -
the_islander
15th June 2018/Issue #270
giffgaff Happenings
by bluemoonbaz
[Winners Announced] Payback Charity vote June 2018
We have our winners 🙂 . Thank you all for voting over the last couple of weeks, we've had a brilliant amount of participation and we have two clear standouts at the top of the table for the charity donation. The two charities that will receive member Payback this time around are:
Macmillan Cancer Support
Children with Cancer UK
Now all you need to do is choose to give your Payback to charity. If you want to support these brilliant causes, all you need to do is head to your Payback page and make your selection. We match every donation that you make, so if you choose charities, you can double your contribution.
Say hello to more data on our £5 & £7.50 goodybags and other important goodybag changes
In February, giffgaff added unlimited minutes and in March we added +1 GB extra data for when you run out. But the community wanted more changes and giffgaff have listened to us 😉 and have made these 7 changes:
£5 goodybag: The amount of data will increase five-fold, moving from 100 MB to 500 MB
£7.50 goodybag: The amount of data will double, moving from 1 GB to 2 GB
£15 goodybag: The amount of data will increase from 6 GB to 8 GB
£18 goodybag: This will be retired from the list of available goodybags
£20 goodybag: This will change from Always On data to 20 GB.
NEW: There will be a new, improved Always On goodybag for £25, giving you 20 GB of data at full speed and a reduced data speed of 384kbps from 8am to Midnight.
£5 gigabag: The 500 MB data-only gigabag will be retired, as the new £5 goodybag is replacing it.
When do the changes happen? 11 July. From this date, when your next goodybag starts, you’ll simply start to enjoy the new data allowance (if your goodybag is one of the ones that is changing). Our terms and conditions can be found here for the full details.
Reminder: dates for Payback earned between December 2017 and May 2018
June:
Monday 11th - Early credit selection is paid.
Tuesday 12th - JustGiving pages set up.
Sunday 17th - Payback selection is closed as of 11:59pm. You will no longer be able to change your mind on how you get your Payback.
Monday 18th - All remaining Payback to be paid.
July:
Tuesday 3rd - If you have a query about your Payback payment, you can now raise a case to the agents.
Three important notes:
Making sure you are eligible for Payback: You should be an active member (eg you have an active SIM prior to the end of the Payback period, or have used the giffgaff money site).
How many points have you earned? You can head to the My Payback section of the website to find out.
Points removal due to abuse. The purpose of Payback is to reward members for helping other members in the Community and for helping giffgaff grow. As per the T&Cs, giffgaff will determine the activity which qualifies for collection of points and reserve the right to remove some/ all points. For full terms please see our T&Cs.
For all the fine details, have a look at the announcement thread here.
Welcome to the June 2018 Creative Writing Challenge!
This month's theme is Transport. Everyone is welcome to submit an entry in comments thread to make any comments.
Lab Highlights
by as7861
Special Mentions
sana_j19 has been spotted on the lab commenting on an idea. Nice One!
leigh2180 has been spotted on the lab commenting on an idea. Nice One!
freedmaniac has been spotted on the lab commenting on an idea. Nice One!
Changes / Idea Updates
Antispam/post flooding on Labs. @bertiebat came up with the idea to introduce post flooding feature. It is now being looked by giffgaff
Missions to be tailored for people who have already transferred or have their first number on giffgaff by @cassandrasousa. It is now being looked into by giffgaff.
New / Old / Amazing Ideas (written by @ijustcantdoit)
Do you know who knows you are on giffgaff by @timwilliams25. An interesting idea from Tim, would this help the members?
Allow us to spend payback on giffgaff merchandise by @mighty_cast. I think the members would like this facility.
Exclude redirected/'not for us' ideas from 'Hot Ideas' by @sloz. Great idea, this one!
Say Hello!
by kathleen414
Welcome @spiritquest onboard, say hello over here.
Our newcomer @deen147 is waiting for you here.
Give @spienkowa a warm giffgaff welcome here.
Photo Of The Week
by brulaw
This week's featured photo is Butterfly by @sillygilly21. Some of the comments were "Nice photo of a male orange tip butterfly" (4128334), "Really lovely" (frenchielove), "Well caught!" (jeanlk), "Lovely shot" (usamakhokar), "Lovely" (kazkat1), "That's a fab picture, thanks for sharing" (anth006) & "Great photo" (oliverspooner).
Click here to see the original post. Thanks to all you giffgaffers... Great pictures as usual.
Tech Developments
by revilo10
OnePlus 6 - Hit The Market Running
You may recall that a while ago I reported on the up and coming phone manufacturer, OnePlus. Well, last month it released it's flagship phone, the 6, which completely took the market by storm.
The small Chinese firm, headed by Pete Lau, has been working away on it's technologies like no other manufacturer. It completely changed how the world saw the Chinese phone market, from cheap plastic flip phones, to new-age, groundbreaking technology that rivals established competitors.
Recently, the company's CEO spoke to Business Insider and revealed that the OnePlus 6 had achieved an outstanding one million unit sales during it's first month on the market. If OnePlus keeps up this consistency, it is likely to become a largely influential competitor on the world stage. The firm is already deemed by many as a hardy competitor to the likes of Apple.
High-Tech Highlights
by jammydodge
VAR at the World Cup: What is the technology being used in Russia and how does it work?
The World Cup will put the greatest footballing nations on Earth to the test. But there is another trial happening, perhaps just as important and even more controversial: that of VAR, or the video assistant referee. The technology is being used at the World Cup for the first ever time, and has the potential to fundamentally change games.
How does it work?
There are 13 officials who can be chosen as the video assistant referee. They will all sit in a special hub in Moscow – no matter where the game is happening – and they will do so wearing their full kit, as if they were ready to jump onto the pitch at any time. one will be chosen for each game, and they will have a team of three assistants. In there, they will receive a stream from inside the stadium, which is made up of the view from a whole host of cameras – including slow motion ones – which the referees can flick between.
The VAR will watch the whole of each game. If they see something wrong, they can flag it to the referee; if the referee thinks something is wrong, he can get in touch with the VAR. Either way, the VAR is only advisory. Any decision ultimately rests with the referee, even if he has advised the opposite way by the VAR.
What can be referred to the video referee?
Fifa might have allowed the technology into the World Cup. But they have severely limited the kinds of decisions it can actually be used for. In total, there are four different sorts of incident that can be reviewed:
Goals. The system can be used to check if a goal actually went in, in the obvious way. But it can also adjudicate on the lead-up to the goal, not just the ball passing into the net – if an infringement would have stopped the goal being rewarded, then VAR can stop it being awarded.
Penalties. This can go either way, being used to check whether a penalty should have been awarded and wasn't, but also reversing the decision if a foul is given in the penalty box.
Red cards. If the referee has decided a foul has been committed, then VAR can be used to decide whether a red card should be awarded.
Mistaken identity. Probably the most vague but also important parts of VAR's responsibility, this will allow the additional referees to spot if the wrong player has been disciplined. If they are, the referee will be corrected. That should stop situations like the mix-up between Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that saw the wrong player sent off during a match in 2014.
Thanks for reading
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