Who Can Do Something About Those Blue Boxes? – "Used to be you could argue that Flash, whatever its merits, delivered content to the entire audience you cared about. That’s no longer true, and Adobe’s Flash penetration is shrinking with each iPhone OS device Apple sells."
Penguins, Peaks and Penny-Farthings: Nat Geo Covers 1959-2000 – "The National Geographic Society celebrates its 122nd anniversary on Jan. 27 … Though the early issues had rather drab academic looking covers, by 1959 they were consistently adorned with eye-cathing art and photos."
Verified by Visa bitchslapped by Cambridge researchers – "Secondary credit card security systems for online transactions such as Verified by Visa are all about shifting blame rather then curtailing fraud, Cambridge University security researchers argue." Or put another way: those annoying screens you get when you buy something online are not for your benefit.
Government rubbishes ID card hack report – "This story is rubbish." A not very reassuring response to yesterdays story that it was possible to both clone and change the details on the new ID cards.
UK ID Card Technology Cloned… – "… in 12 minutes." Wonder when the government will get the message that ID cards are a bad idea. Oh, and there's no such thing as unforgeable.
The hidden truth behind drug company profits – "The idea of ring-fencing life-saving medical knowledge so a few people can profit from it is one of the great grotesqueries of our age. We have to tear down this sick system – so the sick can live." Big companies and the patent system effectively kill the poorest and most vulnerable people.
Bodega – Interesting idea: an app store for the Mac. Not run by Apple and hence no crazy review process!
Apple drawing 3.0 line in the sand for iPhone developers – This can only mean that the release is getting pretty close. And, significantly, that the APIs are stabilising — I had to rewrite almost everything I did with the first beta when the latest version of the developer kit came out.
DNA Database Doublecross – "Yet again this government shows its deep contempt for international courts, and demonstrates its profoundly cynical belief that the innocent simply haven't been proved guilty yet."
Jacqui Smith enlists high street help for ID cards scheme – Doesn't using high street shops to make ID cards make it substantially less secure? Wasn't the whole point that ID cards were an unbreakable scheme? This just gets worse and worse.
Photography, opinions and other random ramblings by Stephen Darlington
