Interesting start of the afternoon. Twitter has been hit by an XSS exploit which makes use of Javascript mouseover function in a browser, so that every time people browsed over a tweet, it opened a screen, sent an RT which propagated the vulnerability. The purpose was spam, the browser would Read more
Should we be worried about social media? While this is sort of an exaggeration, the speed of information it describes is real. A girl in London rick-rolls a Japanese guy using Chatroulette, and as revenge he uploads her video on YouTube. What happens next? Mob (a near-future science fiction story) Read more
I have been following with interest the suggestion by some Twitter users that they should start following strangers to diversify their Twitter feeds. First Joel Johnson at Gizmodo and Jonah Lerner in the Frontal Cortex commented that following random strangers was a very rewarding activity. I was truly interested by Read more
During this year’s GikII, I presented a paper exploring some legal issues about augmented reality. We may be in the threshold of a revolution in the way we interact with mobile devices, with geolocation technology becoming more sophisticated, location-aware devices and services are increasingly relevant. The rise of Gowalla, FourSquare Read more
(via Ernesto Priego) Just finished reading a delightful post by Mary Churchill entitled “Why Do Academics Write?” Highly recommended if you are an academic or interested in academia generally. While the article tells the story of academic writing from an American tenure perspective, it still resonates this side of the Read more
As usual, Randall Munroe at xkcd gives us a terrific insight in the latest privacy developments: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. xkcd is a work of unadulterated genius.
I have been feeling quite smug in the last few days. That is, more smug than usual, a certain kind of cultivated perennial smugness is required if you are an academic, but I digress. My disproportionate sense of self-satisfaction comes from the fact that I quit Facebook one year ago. Read more
The British general election has finally produced a result after a relatively short period of negotiation and politicking. There is now a coalition in place between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats brought about by a hung parliament (note to non-British readers, yes, they call it that!). This general election was Read more