Fiumicino keeps winning awards

Congratulations to the airport of Fiumicino for winning “the COVID-19 5-Star Airport Rating” from Skytrax. A great example of creating well-organized, world-class, high quality spaces in Italy.

But it’s not only organized, rapid testing that Skytrax noted in its review of FCO. The airport scored points for having easy-to-read signage in multiple languages, strict enforcement of mask wearing, visibly present cleaning staff and efficiency thanks to the consolidation of all incoming and outgoing flights to a single terminal for easier tracking.

Why Alitalia sucks

While talking about airports, on the other end of the spectrum we have Alitalia – a failed Italian company that is only kept alive artificially for several reasons I still don’t understand. Their handling of reimbursements for COVID-19 related cancellations has been underwhelming. Besides the fact that I have a personal beef with them for not reimbursing cancelled tickets and even money without providing tickets (I guess due to some problems with their website), they seem not only to be later in the game than other companies, but also reimbursed way less so far:

Reimbursements 2020 (so far):
Lufthansa: 2,5 billion (Euros)
Emirates: 1,4 billion (Dollars)
Alitalia: 123 million (Euros)

Why Poste Italiane sucks

Speaking of bad apples and subpar customer service: Poste Italiane. I always suspected that the postman (or woman) didn’t bother to ring the bell at my place, even if I was expecting a “raccomandata” (basically a tracked / registered mail) on a certain day, now there is proof. Typically I would simply find a notice stating that they passed by and nobody was at home. After all this “trick” to save time had a system and was not coincidence. The fine of 5 million dollars by the Authorities probably won’t hurt as much, but it certainly is a slap in their face.

Why I’m leaving BancoPoste

Personally I try to avoid any of their services, including the BancoPoste, whenever it’s possible. After being fed up paying ridiculous commissions for everything, I have switched to N26, an online bank that offers a free account! It won’t be the right choice for everyone, but it’s a great online bank that covers most basic needs (If you use this referral link you and I will get 5€ if you choose to switch).

N26 is completely online, it’s free. It’s app only, fast, modern. You can pay with your phone, but they will also send you a Debit Card. They also have paid options if you need more features. And you will get an Italian IBAN with every account.

So far, it’s been a relief to use it. Send or receive money for free. Fast. Instant feedback on your smartphone or Apple Watch. Love it (so far).

Back in June I wrote a post called “The government places its bets on the Immuni app. Will Italians trust it?“.

Looks like we got the answer now: No (via Repubblica.it)

How can we fix social media? Here’s an interesting article by Chris Walts:

The issue that needs to be addressed isn’t freedom of speech that’s we’ve had for decades, it’s freedom of reach.

As Aza Raskin explains, “We are guaranteed the right to freedom of speech. We are not guaranteed the right to freedom of reach. We need amplification liability for internet platforms.”

To fix “social media” I propose we run a test for a month or so: Let’s just get rid of all the like, dislike and follower count buttons from all social media platforms, remove most micro categories for ad targeting, show more random posts and even posts that would be considered contrary to your own believe bubble on everybody’s news feed and drastically limit the amount of posts, image and video uploads to just one per week. Require a minimum of 150 words per post.

Also, news organisations will not be allowed to report tweets as “news”.

Unless it’s some quality show such as “Fear Factor” or “Jersey Shore”. In that case reading tweets out loud is encouraged.

Then, check how quickly all the attention seekers, bored teens, bot farms and impulsive keyboard warriors will quietly disappear.

Do you sometimes wish you could block those ads on your computer? Video ads on Youtube and Facebook, banner ads on news websites or popup ads trying to fight for your attention. Not only are they very annoying, they also tend to drain your laptop batteries faster when you’re surfing the web.

The other day I had to turn off my ad blocking plugins for a project and forgot to turn them back on. Instantly I was bombarded by ads everywhere. Youtube video ads. Facebook ads.

All my regular websites suddenly were clustered with banners everywhere. I had gotten so used not seeing ads that I was shocked by how much garbage is out there now.

The best tools to block ads on your computer

Luckily we can do something about it. Here’s a list of a few tools that will help you block ads on your computer:

AdBlock This useful software blocks ads on most popular browser, including on mobile. It also blocks the Youtube video ads succesfully.

AdBlockPlus Unrelated to AdBlock, but does basically the same thing. Also very good, if some ads don’t get blocked with AdBlock you might want to try with AdBlockPlus.

Ghostery This tool blocks entire scripts running on website. The goal is to avoid those scripts from tracking you, which also includes ads. So if you’re looking for extra navigation speed and privacy on the internet, this tool will bring you a step closer to that goal.

These are the one’s I’ve used personally at one point or another, so I can recommend them. Tom’s Guide has a great list of other tools I have never used and that might do the job for you.

Be aware that some companies like Facebook are investing an enormous amount of money and resources to make sure that their ads are delivered to you; after all, this is where they make their money with. However, many ad blockers are quick to react and release updated filter lists, allowing you to block as many ads as possible.

I hope you found this article useful, if you’re not sure how to use an adblocker, here’s a video I made sometime last year:

Elliot Fuchs:

A person doesn’t need to have gone to medical school to understand the difference between influencing blood flow vs. oxygen flow with pressure to the throat. But there are other ways to learn this, and practicing jiu-jitsu is one of them.

Police officers in the U.S. are engaging in these maneuvers and not only have they not gone to medical school, they aren’t being trained in jiu-jitsu, either. Utilizing dangerous submissions is always risky for a street fighter, but it’s far more fatal if the combatants don’t understand what they are doing as they execute the tactics. Thus, both officers and communities they serve would be better equipped if police training included a basic level of martial arts-based competence.

It’s not a bad idea. Teaching cops Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) won’t prevent racist assholes from being racist assholes. But it might actually save many lives and can be a great tool that prevents cops from pulling a gun in the first place – combined with additional de-escalation and thorough psychological training.

First, having a basic understanding of BJJ will allow cops to de-escalate many situations without the need to pull a gun in the first place.

Having a basic understanding of BJJ and therefore how to control the other person will allow cops to keep a cool head (and refrain from using a gun), because they can be confident that – should the situation escalate – they will be able to handle it with martial arts. Especially if their partner participated in BJJ training as well.

Positive side effect: BJJ doesn’t require any punches or kicks, so there is less of a chance of hurting the opponent unnecessarily.

Second, once you know how to apply a choke properly, there will be no more fatal chokes applied “by mistake”. We choke each other continuously during our training sessions at Gracie Barra Rome and nobody dies.

People who know me are aware of the fact that I don’t like waiting around in queues. At all. I find that most of the time queuing up is useless, unpredictable, unproductive and it never makes me a happier person.

From requesting certificates, to renewing my public transport card, checking for the next bus, up to investing money online (affiliate link) – if it’s possible online, I will do it online.

And should I ever need to queue up because there really is no other option, then I try to make an appointment online beforehand, whether it’s because I have to send a package, go see a doctor, get something at the city hall and if that isn’t an option either – sometimes some platforms monitor wait times, allowing some sort of predictability about how much time will be wasted that day.

So here on day I read that the government announced “IO” (wish currently is in public Beta), an app promising to transfer all the Italian bureaucracy into the digital sphere, at your service around the clock, just a tap away. This sounds exactly like the kind of app I would like!

One app to rule them all. I like the concept.

Honestly, I didn’t expect much but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway.

Installation:

Installing the app is easy. You can download it on the App Store if you use iOS, or on the Play Store if you use Android. The app itself is free and the installation process is pretty straightforward. Tap on “Get” (iOS) or “Install” (Android), insert your password or identify via Touch ID or Face ID. The app will then quickly download to your smartphone.

Authentication

Since you will receive official communications from the public administration, the developers of IO had to make sure that they can guarantee that you really are who you say you are.

There are two ways you can log into the app. Either with a SPID (Public System of Digital Identity) or via CIE3.0 (Electronic ID), which basically are credentials that you have to activate once through a “trusted provider”. Currently the trusted providers are:

• Aruba
• InfoCert
• intesa
• Namirial
• Poste
• Sielte
• SpidItalia
• TIM

Some providers allow you to verify your identity for free, by uploading your documentation (ID or passport) and some other information – in some cases this only takes a few minutes.

Getting the SPID

Personally I went for the PosteID, since I already had a simple account there. So all I had to do was to request the SPID via my existing account. However somehow the process didn’t finish as planned resulting in me being locked out from my original account – and then the SPID didn’t work either for about half an hour, which was confusing and frustrating.

Long story short, it took about an hour to get the SPID running, so I suppose there is some sort of approval process going on behind the scenes.

Since it’s also possible that the culprit was my browser cache, I won’t  blame it on the Poste this time (however, I have plenty of other complaints concerning other areas of their services – maybe for another day).

Logging in

The time had come for my first login. The app user interface is simple and clean, although it feels more like an Android app than an iOS app. There is currently no web version available:

From their website:

You can choose between four sections, including “messages”, “payments”, “services” and “profile”.

The “messages” section contains official documents sent to you by the public administration. However, for now you will only see emails sent by the dev team of IO, welcoming you to the app and giving you some ideas about how to use it.

The “payments” section allows you to add payment methods and if you have to pay a bill, then you can scan payments via a QR code or enter them manually. All transactions will be stored here.

In the “services” section you can choose available services that are available on a National level, or you can choose those for your city (in my case that’s Rome).

In the profile section you have your “codice fiscale” card available in digital form. It is similar to how you can add tickets or credit cards to Apple’s Wallet. That means if you need to scan the barcode of your codice fiscale card, you could also use this app for it (e.g. when scanning your card at the INPS).

So what can I actually do with this app?

In my case, selecting Rome, I can only choose between two options:

Sportello Unico per l’Edilizia and Sportello Unico per le Attività Produttive. Both services that are currently of no use for me as a citizen in Rome.

On a National level, the only service there is from ACI (Automobile Club d’Italia), so if you don’t have a car and don’t need to pay your “bollo”, or request a certificate of ownership, this will be useless to you as well.

And that’s it. Just crickets.

Conclusion

While I kind of like the minimalist style of the app, really at this stage it is completely and utterly useless for me.

It would be a dream if I could simply request any certificate, change my residency or pay any bills directly through this app. Or, heaven forbid, monitor the status of my procedures and requests to check if they have already been processed. That would be crazy efficient!

Unfortunately all this will depend on whether or not the various institutions will adopt the app and use the well documented API’s to offer their services through the app.

And since until now the very same institutions haven’t even managed to provide their most fundamental services on their own websites, in all honesty, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Until that day comes, the next time I’ll have to visit the public administration I will do the contrary of what John Lennon sang.

I try not to imagine all the people, because in case I didn’t make myself clear yet: I really, really don’t like queues.