OpenTech 2013

Yesterday was the (almost) annual OpenTech conference. For various reasons, the conference didn’t happen last year, so it was good to see it back this year. OpenTech is the conference where I most wish I could clone myself. There are three streams of talks and in pretty much every slot there are talks I’d like… Continue reading OpenTech 2013

MPs’ Web Sites

When I set up Planet Westminster in 2006 I thought it would be a relatively simple project to maintain. Over the years, more and more MPs would start blogs. Every couple of months I’d add the new ones and everything would be great. It hasn’t worked out like that at all. MPs’ web sites have… Continue reading MPs’ Web Sites

Gullible

Did you know that the word “gullible” doesn’t actually appear in the OED? A lot of people I know spend a lot of time poking holes in tabloid stories. It’s fun hobby for all the family. The tabloids are so bad at checking facts that it’s usually easy to find the basic flaws in things… Continue reading Gullible

Modern Perl for Non-Perl Programmers

Normally I keep my Perl posts over on my Perl blog. But although this post is about Perl, the regular readers of my Perl blog aren’t really the target audience. That’s because I’m running a training course that is aimed at programmers who don’t use Perl. If you’re a programmer who is interested in learning… Continue reading Modern Perl for Non-Perl Programmers

Internet Security Rule One

Internet security rule one is “do not share your password with anyone”. There should be no exceptions to this rule. If anyone asks you to share your password with them, your answer should always be no. Sometimes people say “oh well, it’s only a password for [some unimportant web site] – what harm could it… Continue reading Internet Security Rule One

Did Twitter Censor #GodIsNotGreat?

[Executive summary: Betteridge’s Law (probably) applies] The Twitter furore over the #GodIsNotGreat hash tag has pretty much died down now, but there’s one branch of the debate that is still getting comments and retweets. Here’s an example from johnwilander. #GodIsNotGreat pulled from trends because christians protest. But #ReasonsToBeatYourGirlfriend was allowed. Stay classy, @Twitter. As I… Continue reading Did Twitter Censor #GodIsNotGreat?

LoveFilm and Silverlight

Yesterday, LoveFilm announced that they are changing the technology which powers their film streaming service. From early in January the existing Flash-based system will be replaced by one which uses Microsoft’s Silverlight technology. This is extremely disappointing for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there’s the immediate technological fallout. Silverlight doesn’t run on as many platforms… Continue reading LoveFilm and Silverlight

You Try To Do A Nice Thing

Long-time readers will know that I’m involved with the nms project. This is a project which writes simple software that people can use on their web sites if they want guestbooks, forms that get emailed to them and all that very Web 1.0 stuff. It’s a nice thing that we’ve done. We’ve created something and… Continue reading You Try To Do A Nice Thing