Twitter and Passwords

Over the last year or so, Twitter has become one of the most successful social networking sites on the web. One mark of its success is the rich ecosystem of other sites which feed off it. The best example is probably the Twitter search engine which started as a separate web site but was so… Continue reading Twitter and Passwords

Changing Your Story

One of the things I despise most about parts of the British press is the way they assume that their readership has the memory of a goldfish. This means that they are free to make outrageous claims on the flimsiest of evidence on one day and then take the story in a completely different direction… Continue reading Changing Your Story

Technology Failure

Alexanders the estate agents currently have a banner on their web site which proudly proclaims their use of “State Of The Art Technology & Integrated Computer Systems”. The effect of this boast is somewhat lessened by the fact that their site claims that today’s date is “November 18 108”. They also have a “rental property… Continue reading Technology Failure

Combining Google Accounts

Somehow over the last few years I have acquired two Google accounts. One of them is associated with my Gmail email address and the other is associated with my dave.org.uk address. Recently I heard that the G1 phone ties itself to a single Google account when you activate it, so if I’n going to get… Continue reading Combining Google Accounts

“Selling” Photos

A couple of days ago I received through the post a copy of Diplomat Magazine – a magazine which is sent free to all foreign embassy staff in the UK. It took me a minute or so to remember why they would send a copy to me. This issue contains an article about the London… Continue reading “Selling” Photos

Happy Elections

Four years ago I drew a comparison between the US Presidential Election result and the 1992 British General Election. This year the comparison seems even more apt. The footage we saw of the celebrations in Chicago and elsewhere in the US as Obama was confirmed as the winner brought back memories of how we all… Continue reading Happy Elections

Phone Company Web Sites

My current mobile phone contract has finished so I’m looking around for a new phone. This means that I’ve spent some time over the last few days looking at phone company web sites. And it seems that although they might be selling cutting edge technology, phone companies still get their web sites built by the… Continue reading Phone Company Web Sites

Non-Magic Bus

Last June, writer Ariane Sherine wrote an article on Comment is Free complaining about the amount of religious advertising on the side of London buses. As part of the research for the article she calculated that it would take about 4,500 atheists donating £5 each to get together enough money to have an atheist advertising… Continue reading Non-Magic Bus

42 Days is Dead

It’s a strange world when you have to rely on the House of Lords to throw out ridiculous legislation from a Labour government. But that’s exactly what happened yesterday as the Lords voted against the government’s proposals for 42-day detention of suspected terrorists. Pretty much everyone in the country now agrees that the proposals were… Continue reading 42 Days is Dead

Technology Hates Me

About ten days ago, I took delivery of a new toy – a Dell XPS M1330 laptop. I spent last weekend happily repartitioning and installing Fedora Linux and I was planning to write an entry this weekend about how well I was getting on with it. Except, I’m not. It’s stopped working. I did some… Continue reading Technology Hates Me