Quick Quotes Call
0161 702 0301

Free Prize Draw


Welcome to our February newsletter. In this issue your chance to win £100 worth of M & S vouchers. Amazon Alexa orders cat food, the police officer that takes the biscuit, Googles self driving car pulled over by the cops and when are the Easter holidays this year.


Free Prize Draw to Win £100 of M & S Vouchers

 

Free Prize Draw &100 M & S Vouchers.

We would like to keep your informed on information that is important and relevant to you however to do this we would like to you to update your preferences. You can manage your preferences at the top of this page. 

 

The law is changing soon on how companies can communicate with you, in the past companies were allowed to opt you in to mailing lists and you would have to unsubscribe if you didn't want to receive further marketing emails from them.

  

From the 25th May 2018 you have to opt in to receive emails from them. 

 

As a thank you from us for updating your preferences we will enter you into a free prize draw for &100 worth of shopping vouchers.



When is Easter 2018, Good Friday and Easter Monday?

 
  
 

When is Easter 2018, Good Friday and Easter Monday?

The Easter weekend celebrations bring a four-day break, but it can be confusing to know when the holiday falls.

 

With Christmas a distant memory and Valentine's Day done and dusted, Easter is the next big event on the family calendar.

 

If you plan your days off work carefully around bank holidays then you could benefit from longer holidays.

Easter is one of the times you can do just that, by tagging your holidays onto the Easter weekend.

But when is it this year? Here's all you need to know for Easter 2018.

The next bank holiday is Easter where we have a four-day weekend thanks to Good Friday and Easter Monday.

 

So the Easter weekend is as follows...

Good Friday, March 30

Saturday, March 31

Easter Sunday, April 1

Easter Monday: April 2



Amazon cleared after Alexa ad 'triggers cat food order'

 

Amazon has been cleared by the advertising watchdog after a television ad for its Echo Dot smart speaker activated a viewer's device and placed an order for cat food.

The commercial, which aired on 5 October, showcased people using the device in various situations and included a man saying, "Alexa, re-order Purina cat food," to which the virtual assistant replied: "I've found Purina cat food - would you like to buy it?"

Although Amazon has said such ads are "marked" to prevent them from triggering responses from devices in homes, the complainant's device had gone ahead and placed the order.

The owner was able to cancel it, but complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the advert was "socially irresponsible".

Alexa has become part of households across the UK
Image:Alexa has become part of households across the UK

However, Amazon has said that even if they had not cancelled the order themselves, it would not have been processed without the customer "confirming" the order.

"To shop with Alexa, customers must ask Alexa to order a product and then confirm the purchase with a 'yes' response to purchase via voice," said a spokesman for the retail giant.

"If you asked Alexa to order something on accident, simply say 'no' when asked to confirm."

 

Owners of any Alexa devices can also use the accompanying app to turn off voice purchasing or set up a code to authorise any orders.

The ASA said it was satisfied Amazon had done enough to protect owners of the devices from any accidental shopping via its adverts.

Cat
Image:It is not known whether the complainant even has a cat

"In this instance, the complainant had cancelled the order themselves, but we understood that had they not done so, the order would nonetheless have been cancelled automatically," it said.

"Therefore we understood that it would not be possible for a purchase to be made without the account owner's knowledge, even in instances where technology, intended to stop ads interacting with devices, had not been effective.

 

"We concluded that the ad was not socially irresponsible and did not breach the code."

 



Police Officer accused of taking the biscuits.

 

A police officer has appeared at a disciplinary hearing after he was accused of taking a colleague's tin of biscuits and lying about it.

 

 

PC Thomas Hooper, a Metropolitan Police Constable attached to the Kingston unit, is said to have taken a two-tier tin of biscuits from a communal area, and then given a false account, on 7 May, 2016.

But the officer claims he intended to share the sweet treat, and offered to replace them.

Charles Apthrop, representing the Met Police at the tribunal, said the matter related to whether or not he had breached professional standards.

Mr Apthrop said: "The appropriate authority's perspective is that it is not the value of what was taken, it is what was done.

"It shows clear evidence of misappropriation of property. The officer was aware it belonged to someone else and the officer has taken it."

He added that by taking the biscuits, PC Hooper showed a "fundamental lack of integrity".

Panel chairman Naheed Asjad asked then inspector Sarah Blake: "You have a sergeant and an inspector and a box of biscuits that have gone missing and the only thing you can come up with is to refer the matter to DPS (Directorate of Professional Standards)?"

She said that "the option of going to the DPS was because of the gravity of the incident".



Google's self-driving car pulled over by cops for driving too slow

 
 
   

Google's driverless car is pulled over by police for driving too SLOW: Vehicle is stopped for travelling 10mph under the limit

 
  • The driverless car was pulled over in Mountain View, Silicon Valley 
  • A local officer said he noticed traffic backing up behind the car 
  • Vehicles are capped at 25mph but it was driving in a 35mph zone
  • Google posted a photo of the incident with the caption: 'Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often'

 

Google has had its knuckled rapped this week by a traffic officer in California.

One of its driverless cars was pulled over in Mountain View, Silicon Valley for driving more than 10mph (16km/h) below the street's speed limit. 

In a blog on Google+, the firm posted a photo of the motorcycle cop pulling the self-driving car over and giving the driver a caution.

 

 

 

 

The caption on the Google+ post said: 'Driving too slowly? Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often.'

The police also issued a statement which said: 'As the officer approached the slow moving car he realised it was a Google Autonomous Vehicle.

 




Categories

Cookies Notice

Please review our Cookie and Privacy policy. Continued use of this website implies acceptance of this policy.

I Agree