Marc Palmer

I hope to be proven wrong, but I fear that the ongoing Co-operative Bank Business Online Banking fiasco is going to degenerate even further.

The co-op bank have published a short video screencast demoing their new system, presumably to make us believe they might actually come up with something usable any time soon. The new system is already overdue, pushed back to Q2 2010 which we are already into.

Why am I whining again about this? Well if you watch the video pay attention to some of the details.

First – you need a code generator device just to LOG IN. Yes that’s right. You need a CUSTOMER ID, and a USER ID (hey I’m a small business, there’s only me!), and a generated passcode from those crappy machines that need your card and PIN entry. This mechanisms is supposed to make you more secure – but the way Co-op use it on their personal banking is a complete nightmare. You can’t even transfer a few quid to one of your own accounts, pay a bill (already set up) or amend an existing standing order without having to grab a registered debit card AND the code generator device. It makes the entire process extremely slow and awkward. What about people who work on the move? This is not user friendly at all. Using it to log in is a nightmare.

Second – notice how the transaction display in the video is a complete usability cock up. It shows 3-4 lines of balances without scrolling, despite there being much more screen space. It has a horizontal scroll bar all the time, because there are too many columns shown. Even with this, there’s not enough space given to the name of the account and it wraps after only a few characters. All this can be fixed quite easily but the point is it betrays a complete lack of understanding of usability.

On the plus side, I do notice from the navigation menus shown that there appears to be an ability to search for transactions, although you’ll forgive me if I don’t hold out much hope for the actual implementation of this being any good.

There’s however no mention of an international payments option, which presumably – and rather insanely in 2010 – still requires a FAX sent to their offices, on “headed notepaper” to be acceptable. I know, I had to do this last week. It is so antiquated and so foolish. FAX is inherently insecure, and you could easily fax all your bank details to the wrong person if you get the number wrong. Add to that the hilarious false assumption that “headed notepaper” is of any valid use in judging authenticity at all. They don’t know what my headed notepaper looks like. In fact I don’t have any. I sent it with a default template from iWork. And yet if it doesn’t look like “headed notepaper” they won’t accept it.

Laughable. Wake up banks! We don’t user typewriters, telex or fax any more, even if you do in your antiquated businesses.

From http://www.mcclatchydc.com/cartoons/gallery/80178-a80399-t3.html

I was thinking about nuclear generation and it occurred to me that the NIMBYism of people towards wind farms is nothing to that of the NIMBYism that would occur if there were plans for nuclear power stations on the same site

I appreciate the reasons for people like George Monbiot (for whom I have huge respect) and other prominent greens declaring that nuclear may be our only realistic option (or part) at the moment to make massive CO2 cuts.

On a pragmatic level I agree, but emotionally I cannot, like many others I am sure. Nuclear power stations obviously will not be located so near to people, but my point is that actually even those in favour of nuclear power wouldn’t want to be living near to one – no matter what the safety record is relative to other power industries.

Would you really be happy for one to be placed near to your family’s house? For the benefit of the world?

I have to say, that I would answer “no” to this – and I think the vast majority of people will.

So is the only reason nuclear might be acceptable to the masses, the fact that it will be located far away from them? That would be a realisation of deep-seated (and I would say natural) distrust of a technology that can (if rarely) have such dire consequences.

So to accept siting of these power stations “over there somewhere”, is to say “I think its risky but as long as it might be a problem elsewhere I don’t mind”.

I don’t understand why Governments do not appear to be legislating for fuel efficiency displays, alerts and advice systems in cars. These are very cheap measures that would surely make a huge difference to all vehicle drivers, in terms of their fuel costs as well as environmental impact. It could also help combat speeding.

For example, I think all cars should be forced to:

• Show the user current MPG at ALL times, something that cannot be hidden or deactivated. It must also cope with more than 99.99 MPG – an extremely irritating limitation of both the Toyotas I have owned.
• Show the user current average MPG at ALL times.
• Add a red/yellow/green indicator lamp next to the current MPG and average MPG, so the driver is constantly aware of how they are driving. People who don’t study their MPG are often unaware of what is a good or bad figure for their particular vehicle.
• For manual transmissions, add a simple indicator suggesting a more appropriate gear if the efficiency is currently poor – eg “Try changing down to 4th”.

It can be very hard to drive economically even if you watch a standard MPG counter as so much depends on the temperature of the engine and incline of the road. Some reasonably simple logic and sensors could make the car educate people.

Something like this could easily become as ubiquitous as peoples’ reliance on navigation tools like Tom-Tom systems. A retro-fit kit would probably pay for itself within a year in fuel savings alone – so making them mandatory could be a real boon. Of course whether a retrofit is possible on older cars is another matter.

I had a wonderful easter break with my family, mainly consisting of being outside in the generous gardens we are lucky to have – weeding and planting to create a new and interesting garden from the overgrown mess that was left by the previous owners.

I find I can get very passionate about creating a woodland garden. I love woodlands and trying to plant the correct plants to thrive in the deep and partial shade whilst also producing some form of crop or wildlife benefit is really important to me. The book Plants for A Future is invaluable for this – as soon as you start thinking that every space can be filled with a productive plant, you have a completely different view.

I’ve been programming commercially for about 16 years now, and I have to say that if I could make a living being outside and working with nature and plants I’d happily drop it all tomorrow. There are parts of programming/consulting I absolutely love – creating new architectures, UI analysis and design, solving real business problems for clients.

However there is the insidious addictive quality of computers that has kept me in front of a screen for what is probably 5 or so years of that last 16 years since I’ve been programming. That much of my time sitting down typing. Its really ridiculous when you think about it. Think of the self-sufficient permaculture woodland I could have created in that time.

That is surely awful, and I think if I could engage myself in other constructive co-operative activities outside and the mental challenges those can produce, I would not look back to computers for occupation!

I do find it easier and easier to unplug these days, and my happiness has increased tremendously. At weekends I rarely touch my iPhone or laptop any more, and I barely use email now.

We all need to reconnect with the people and land around us.