Over the last few years I’ve written a few times about how I’ve been building planets. A planet is a web site which aggregates web feeds on a particular topic and republishes them as a combined web site (almost certainly with a combined web feed as well). One of my earliest planets was Planet Balham… Continue reading Local Planets
Twitter Supports OAuth
I’ve been seeing various announcements and trials over the last few weeks, but it seems that the wait is over and Twitter finally officially supports OAuth. This means that there is no longer any reason for third party web sites to store your Twitter password if they want to interact with Twitter on your behalf.… Continue reading Twitter Supports OAuth
Overcomplicating Matters
It is, of course, a truism that the larger and more complex a project is, the less likely it is to come in on budget, on spec or in time. When the project in question involves IT, the chances of any of the original targets being met approach zero. This is why one of the… Continue reading Overcomplicating Matters
Simpler Facebook URLs
Love it or loathe it, Facebook is the biggest social network on the planet right now. Of course it will be overtaken by something else at some (unspecified) point in the future. But currently if someone wants to link with me on a social network then the chances are that it will be Facebook. The… Continue reading Simpler Facebook URLs
Petition Approved
The petition I mentioned yesterday has been approved and is now on the Number 10 petitions site. Please consider signing it. And please forward the address to as many people as you can. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/DoYourRealJob/
Freedom is in Peril
But, bizarrely, it’s in peril from the British government. You can buy the poster from these people.
Wasting Prime Ministerial Time
I’ve submitted a petition to the government’s petition site. Here’s what it says. We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop leading tributes to pointless celebrities and to spend more time running the country Since when was it part of the Prime Minister’s job to lead the country in public displays of grief for… Continue reading Wasting Prime Ministerial Time
Internet Genealogy
In 1992 I started tracing my family history. The two main tools for amateur genealogists (at least until they get back to about 1840) are the indexes of registrations of births, deaths and marriages and the returns from the census which has been taken every ten years since 1841 (there are earlier censuses, but they… Continue reading Internet Genealogy
Watching the Watchmen
I saw Watchmen yesterday. I was pretty nervous as Watchmen is one of my favourite graphic novels and the film had a lot to live up to. I’m happy to report that the film was great. I recommend you go and see it. From this point on, I’m going to assume that you know the… Continue reading Watching the Watchmen
Twitter Password Insecurity
Twitter has been under attack over the last day or so. Ben Metcalfe has the details. It seems likely that someone gained access to the database of one of the Twitter services that stores passwords in plain text. Twitter’s OAuth support can’t arrive soon enough. I hate to say this – but I told you… Continue reading Twitter Password Insecurity