In case anyone doubts the UK and US are two nations divided by a common language, here’s what my mum phoned me to ask today when booking online a hotel in Las Vegas.
“Marts, between the boxes for first name and last name there’s a little box with ‘M’ and ‘I’ above. What does that mean?”
“Middle initial, mum.”
“And then at the end, there’s a box with ‘Sr’ and ‘Jr’. As we’re over 62, shouldn’t we put ‘Senior’ in case there’s a discount?”
Pause.
“No, mum.”
Oh, and the telco angle? Shouldn’t there be an API for the web site to collect this stuff from their ISP, with due permission etc.?
Anyhow, I wonder how many US websites find thousands of people come from the ‘state or region’ of Londonshire?
Posted by Martin Geddes at 06:13 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telepocalypse.net/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/mgeddes/MT/mt-tb.cgi/916.
easy enough mate - stay in bloody England - heh, heh!
Posted by: at April 22, 2008 07:36 PMThere is an API already created - hcards and other microformats.
The google toolbar also used to have a rudimentary equivalent - it would attempt to fill in forms based on the data you gave it including credit card numbers IIRC. (I don't know if google toolbar still does this).
This is an area crying out for a solution, but I'm not sure that the telco is the best provider. the website is not asking for autheticated data - you are just proposing that it provide a service such as the above. It doesn't matter to the website who is registered to the IP address - I could be booking a trip for someone else, or on someone else's connection.
I can see hosted hcard services being an added feature to telcos, but even then they will simply be the default provider among many. Perhaps not a bad position to be in, but by no means game-changing.
Posted by: at April 26, 2008 12:43 AMMicrosoft CardSpace or an Open source Identity protocol like OpenID will eventually eliminate the need for web forms...
You'll just drop and drag your virtual ID card onto the web page login to or form to fill, indicate which data you want to share with the provider (ie hotel) and click submit... you'll never enter a form again....
--JB
Posted by: at April 29, 2008 02:24 AMAny solution that requires my mother to do more than keep breathing is a non-starter, I'm afraid.
Posted by: at April 29, 2008 09:50 PM