“Be cool to people. Be nice to as many people as you can. Smile to as many people as you can, and have them smile back at you.” - Joe Rogan
31st July 2020 / Issue #381
giffgaff Happenings
by bluemoonbaz
giffgaff in more shops from 30th July
From 30th July 2020, giffgaff will be trialling giffgaff SIMs in O2 stores. If people are interested in joining giffgaff, they will be helped to come onboard also how to use the community/agents. If someone needs support they’ll still be coming to our members for help here on the community 😉. Click here to find out more.
Phone leasing with giffgaff - a new experiment
After a recent question to our giffgaff pioneer’s about phone leasing, giffgaff have partnered with Raylo who offer new and refurbished iPhones (Android phones are coming soon). If the experiment goes well, it could open up a new way to buy phones on giffgaff. So not only is it cheaper, it’s great for the environment as well. Read about it here.
SIM referral links
You can now have your sim referral link in your posts and your profile card. If you would like to enable this, head over here https://community.giffgaff.com/settings
Voicemail and its menus will be changing Wednesday 5th August 2020
A reminder about the changes in our voicemail service are coming soon, why not take a minute to familiarise yourself with them. You can read the full update here.
giffgaff gives back to LGBTQ+ communities
giffgaff are delighted to bring us new that they have partnered up with Neighbourly supporting LGBTQ+ communities 🙂. To see how this is going to work, and how you can donate, head over here.
Cold calling fraudsters - be aware
giffgaff have been made aware of a “company” cold calling members of the public and offering giffgaff services and phone loans. Please have a look at @t_will’s advice here.
Our weekly roundup from your fellow members’ recent discussion threads
Say Hello!
by kathleen414
Please give a big giffgaff community welcome to our new friend and giffgaffer @joyyoung8080 who joined us this week 🧡. Say hello to our new friend here.
Welcome to giffgaff for another new community friend @engtes 😁. Spread the community love here.
A big hello and community hug to another friend who swells our happy ranks 🧡 @mrtoro who popped on to the community to say ‘hi’ to everyone. Say hello here.
Happy giffgaffiversary!
by ijustcantdoit
Whoooooo 7 years with giffgaff 🧡🎂🧡
@kathleen414 says “Wow I can’t believe it’s been sooo long but it’s been a fab experience and one I hope to carry on with. Our community is amazing, I won’t be moving from you or giffgaff”
12 months since joining
@r29ssy says “I’ve had a great 12 months with giffgaff, should have joined years ago.”
3 years!
@adamskiodp says “Just had an email congratulating me on 3years as a Giffgaffer! So far it’s been a pleasure and have no reason to leave.”
If it’s YOUR giffgaffiversary, please let the team know by sending a private message to @ijustcantdoit.
On This Day In History
by jammydodge
1917 The third Battle of Ypres, otherwise more famously known as the Battle of Passchendaele (WW1) started when the British forces attacked the German lines.
Source: Britannica
1942 Oxfam (The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief) was founded by a group of Quakers, social activists and Oxford university academics.
1990 A total of 1603 runs were scored in exactly 1603 minutes during a test match between England and India at Lords Cricket Ground.
Photo Of The Week
by brulaw
This week’s featured photo is Beautiful view by @tinawilliams0410. Some of the comments on the photo included:
- “Lovely view well done” (mrbergstrom1967)
- “Very beautiful, great memory” (frenchielove)
- “What a lovely photo tina” (yvonnearmstrong)
- “I am jealous. Nice view” (engtes)
- “Oh my goodness it’s gorgeous” (ikkyh56)
- “Now why would anyone want to go abroad when we have this? Beautiful. Holidayed in Torquay and Paignton many years ago. Love Devon - and the weather was always great. No wonder the area is known as the English Riviera” (killian12)
Well, it seems that the weather is being nice to us, and so are all of you who post your terrific photos! Every week, there are so many brilliant images for us all to enjoy. As always, thank you all and please keep clicking and sharing.
Online Data Tips
by toxiic
Hi everyone. This week I thought I’d briefly cover how to request and view the data that Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook have on you. I think this links-in quite well with the recent appearance of the CEO’s of these 4 behemoths in front of a committee in the US recently.
Amazon: You can access a variety of information instantly about your Amazon account without needing to request it here. You can also request your main personal information here (click/tap the ‘Select Data Category’ box then click/tap ‘Request All Data’ or a different option then click/tap ‘Submit Request’.
Apple: Go to privacy.apple.com, click/tap ‘Get a copy of your data’ (or ‘Get Started’), click/tap the boxes of the pieces of data that you’d like to request (or click/tap ‘Select All’), click/tap ‘Continue’, choose the file size, click/tap ‘Complete Request’.
Google: Go to takeout.google.com, select the types of data you want to request using the tick-boxes, click/tap ‘Next Step’, change the options if needed (you probably won’t need to), click/tap Create Export.
Facebook: Go to facebook.com/dyi, (if desired) change certain options such as date range or format, Click/Tap ‘Create File’.
Note: expect there to be a certain amount of time between following the above instructions and requesting your data to actually accessing the data. It should say when you’ll receive the data (sometimes they’ll email you with a link) on the respective website after you submit the request.
Thanks for reading. If you’re interested, check out my content hub on the giffgaff forum here.
Tech Developments
by revilo10
Tech Heads Grilled In US Congress
When you think of the relationship between government and big tech firms like Facebook, Twitter and others, you undoubtedly will most likely think back to the image of a very robotic Mark Zuckerberg sipping gently on a glass of water in front of an ageing Congressional panel. The debate around regulation and intervention in big tech, specifically in the U.S, is an ongoing one. In recent weeks the heads of Facebook, Amazon, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Apple were again put to the test via video call to the House anti-trust committee.
The debate will, of course, be long-running, and very much centred in the States. There are so many different issues that need to be tackled by these big firms, from content moderation to monopolies, the solutions to a deep void of issues that the nature of these companies cause will not come easily.
There are also arguments around the amount of power that tech firms hold, we are all familiar with President Donald Trump’s affinity for Twitter, and you may recall that recently the site blocked and removed a few of his tweets after they were flagged for hateful content. Trump and many on the right of American politics argue that ’big tech is out to get Conservatives. You then have to look at the other end of the spectrum, another incident on Twitter hit the headlines recently when a UK rapper known as Wiley had what some labelled as an anti-Semitic breakdown on the site, and Twitter left his account untouched for a substantial amount of time.
This incredibly problematic split in moderation standards is one of the key reasons why the U.S government is supposedly bringing these firms to account. Among other issues mentioned during these hearings, monopolies and power are recurring themes. Facebook, Amazon and Google (via its parent company Alphabet) own a vast array of brands and companies. There is a constant debate about where the line should be drawn in terms of balances of power in the commercial landscape, and regulations will need to be drawn up to encourage competition and less swallowing up of smaller competitors by these huge companies.
None of us knows where this road ends, and with such a large array of issues to tackle, we could be hearing about things like this for a long time. In short, there is no simple solution to any of it, and we will see where the debates, hearings and regulations take us.
Thanks for reading!
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