Month: October 2023

Cancel Culture

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Update: I discover that even if a company adds the ability to cancel a subscription in-app, there may be limits. I panicked when I saw a charge for 60p from Uber on a card and immediately disputed and froze the card. Looked at the Uber app and checked that I had cancelled the Uber One subscription. But I saw that it said it was due to renew on the 2nd November and there were no methods of cancelling the subscription. Until I clicked the Learn More link underneath and found that they need 48 hours’ notice. Facepalm. This is how they get you. And an update on The Times: I’ve disputed the charge which has now been returned to me. Still absolutely no response from The Times and Sunday Times customer care team via email.

My frustration is growing with companies that don’t provide the option to cancel or modify subscriptions through their websites or apps. This not only wastes my time but also complicates the process unnecessarily. For instance, I’ve been trying multiple times to reach the cancellation department of The Times and Sunday Times without any success. Despite a lack of callback, I wonder if they tried to reach me but were blocked due to a previous unwelcomed call.

Although I scheduled the date for my subscription renewal, the busyness of this week made me forget, resulting in an unexpected charge of £25.99. Currently, as a subscriber of Apple News+, I have access to content from The Times and Sunday Times. Therefore, the need to pay a substantial fee for a separate subscription just doesn’t make sense.

Yet, this issue goes beyond just The Times and Sunday Times. Numerous other services encounter the same problem, notably the telecommunications providers. Previously, Virgin was considerate in alerting me when my contract was ending, but recently, this information is no longer provided. Likewise, Sky’s performance in this aspect is also lacking.

Companies need to streamline the presentation of subscription information, prioritizing the convenience of their customers. This should include the ability to easily cancel or make changes to subscriptions in a way that caters to customer needs, rather than solely focusing on the organization’s interests.

The Thrifty Streamer / Internet Services Shopper

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Given the recent news about Apple’s service fees going up by as much as 40% in some cases, I’ve found a great way to keep prices stable. I’ve chosen a telecommunications provider, like EE in my case, that offers a bundle with Apple One. With this arrangement, I get uninterrupted access to Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV+ for two years without any extra costs. Just keep in mind that I do have to pay for Apple News+ separately since it’s not included in the bundle. But the value I get from the magazine subscription and access to the Times makes it worth it. When it’s time to renew my contract with EE in a year, I expect they’ll still have the Apple One bundle in their SIM only packages, so I plan to stick with them. It’s worth mentioning that other telecom companies also offer similar streaming packages as part of their contracts, even if they only last for six months. This option, even though temporary, is better than not having it at all.

Regarding the video streaming services, many of them are now increasing their prices, including Netflix and Sky. I don’t watch Netflix as much these days. They only release programs that interest me about every six months, and then there’s a drought again for another six months. So, I’ve decided to subscribe for one month every six months, watch what I want, and then cancel the subscription. I currently have Netflix bundled with my Sky package, so I’m not paying the full price. But ultimately, I’m going to cancel my Sky subscription because there are very few things on it that I actually watch. One of the shows I enjoy is Breeders, a great comedy-drama starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard. And maybe I’ll also watch The Gilded Age (similar to Downton Abbey but set in the United States) and House of the Dragon. Most of these shows can be purchased through iTunes, which is cheaper per season than a long-term Sky subscription. For everything else, I’ll just subscribe to Now TV for a month and then cancel again.

Paramount+ and Disney+ are lacking in shows and decent back content to justify the increasing subscription prices. £6.99 or £9.99 might be reasonable, but anything higher would not be worth it. Once I finish watching Loki season 2 and What We Do In the Shadows season 5 on Disney+, I will cancel it until Solar Opposites or another Star Wars TV series is released. Paramount+ currently has the new Fraiser series, but I don’t think that alone can justify a long-term subscription. It’s especially frustrating that Paramount don’t seem to have a clear plan for the Star Trek franchise, as they have exclusively licensed one section of it to Netflix.

Prime Video isn’t too bad, but I feel like there aren’t enough new shows to justify keeping a monthly subscription. Plus, I’ve been spending less on Amazon lately, so the free delivery isn’t as valuable to me anymore. I’ve gotten to the point where I hardly watch proper TV at all these days. I usually watch everything on my MacBook Pro. It reminds me of a time when my ex-wife and I gave our TV to my brother-in-law because we hardly used it and preferred watching a few shows on our laptops. The Sunday Times even picked up on this story, which you can read (partially) below.

It’s important to clarify that the Sunday Times made it seem like we were intentionally avoiding the TV license, but that’s not true at all (and it’s the reason why I will NEVER talk to a journalist again). We weren’t tired of paying the fee – we just weren’t using the TV as much as before, and if we didn’t have to pay the fee, we didn’t. The few things we did watch were through catch-up services. It also didn’t mention that I also bought many DVDs and Blu-Rays, as well as BBC shows on iTunes VoD, which I enjoy.


This prompted a response from the TVLA (for Loki fans, no, not the TVA):


Regarding the BBC, it seems that their financial situation is quite dire these days, and this is reflected in the quality of their content. If they were to cancel Top Gear, they would lose a significant source of revenue. As for Doctor Who, they are now partnering with Disney+ and the production company behind it is currently owned by Sony. Thus, in my opinion, the BBC license fee is becoming increasingly worthless with each passing year. It no longer brings the same level of high-quality shows that it used to. Even BBC radio seems to be on a downward spiral.

Certainly, nowadays I do indeed pay for a TV license and I am happy that the BBC took the opportunity to connect it with BBC iPlayer. However, we should seriously consider whether a TV license is still worth it in a world full of streaming services. Channel 4 produces some remarkable programs that are funded by advertisements – and for just £3.99/month, you have the option to reduce those ads. I appreciate that. Why can’t the BBC follow suit? In fact, many streaming services are already doing just that. They offer a more affordable subscription with ads, or you can opt for an ad-free experience with higher quality streaming. Not everyone wants or utilizes 4K/8K TVs with Dolby Atmos. So why should we pay more?

iPhone 15 Pro Max: Finally worthy of the Pro name…

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Particularly if you use your phone as a video camera.

I’ve replaced every camera I’ve owned over the years with an iPhone because they’re getting good enough now for most situations.

When I got my first film camera, it was a 110 film-based point and click system. They were long and quite thin and used 110-type film cartridges which were far easier to insert and remove than traditional 35mm film cameras. It Just Worked(tm). I never really moved up to 35mm cameras as I found them too fiddly. And when I got my first DSLR camera many years ago, I found it a pain carrying everything and having to change lenses. When I did upgrade from the 110 systems, I moved to APS film which was just as easy to use.

The very first digital camera I owned (around 1998/1999) was a Sony Cybershot DSC-S70 and it was chunky thing. It only took 3 megapixel photos, but the results were surprisingly good. A few examples from around 2000 to 2001:


When I was married, we bought a second-hand Canon Powershot G5 which was a truly great all-rounder. It was practically impossible to take bad photos with it. Some sample shots from Cambodia:


This was eventually replaced with a Sony DSC-S930, which despite being a budget camera, took some really rather wonderful shots when we were in Kenya…


The last two proper cameras were the Sony RX100m3 and the RX100m5. I like the Sony brand, and have tried to stick with it for as much as I can – I have a PS5, a Sony Bravia TV, earphones, headphones, etc. Sony and Apple – you can’t go too far wrong 🙂

RX100m3 (Vancouver, Canada and Oregon, USA):


RX100m5 (Iceland):


With the iPhones, the sensors keep getting larger every year, and improvements with Smart HDR and other computational photography features mean that taking photos (and video) with the iPhone – something that I always cary with me – is a no-brainer. But I’ll admit that I still miss the Sonys and the Powershot G5.

This year, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max feature updated Smart HDR and better low-light photography. The Po Max now has 5x optical zoom. And with the release of iOS 17, the 48-megapixel main camera combines images from the other lenses to form a new 24-megapixel default. But images from the telephoto and ultrawide – both remain 12Mp sensors for now – will still come out as 12Mp.

iPhone 15 Pro Max:


With the replacement of the Lightning port with USB-C, it is now possible to record video in Apple ProRes 4K 60fps to an external device. Watching sample footage from the phone, even with the limitations of the lenses and sensor, the iPhone Pro range is now a legitimately a genuinely powerful video recording tool. USB-C and the USB 3.1 protocol makes it 20 times faster to transfer any local files on the iPhone to a desktop computer. So we NOW have a phone that’s worth of the Pro moniker. But it be more “Pro-er” if it offered Thunderbolt 4 or USB-4 speeds. Maybe next year or the year after?

But speaking of speeds – the Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 modem in the iPhone 15 range provides a significant 5G and Wi-Fi boost. On my home WI-Fi 6 network, I am now able to go beyond 1Gbs on my iPhone 15 Pro Max whereas the iPhone 14 Pro Max would only go up as a high of 935Mbs. During my tests at a Premier Inn, I got significantly higher 4G/5G performance from subsequent visits, and they’re not got the best reception either.

Next year I hope that Apple manages to upgrade the telephoto and ultrawide sensors to 48Mp too – providing 24Mp images across all three lenses. Some more work on reducing lens flare too would be nice – I’ve seen fewer flares with the 15 Pro Max, but it hasn’t gone entirely based on what I’ve seen of others photos/footage.

It’s ironic that a camera manufacturer (Red) who tried to join the mobile revolution by producing a smartphone that tied into the Red camera system failed in their attempt, but Apple (which doesn’t make any professional camera equipment) is able to outdo them in every way.

Smartphones continue to amaze me in what they can do. Even incremental, evolutionary updates can bring small amounts of joy and improve the overall experience. But the real progress here, I think, is with iOS which in it’s 17th release, has made massive improvements to not just the iPhone 15 range, but previous generation iPhones too.