- The Perpetual, Invisible Window Into Your Gmail Inbox – Waxy.org
Andy Baio writing about the dangers of authorising apps to look in your Gmail. I am pretty careful about this stuff and I don't really *use* my gmail (it's a dump address that I've got more or less just so I can access Google's other services), and I *still* had a bunch of apps authorised to use it that I looked at and had only the haziest recollection of ever authorising, so I've cleared them out. The odds are that none of them are malicious, of course, but it's only going to take one service to get bought out by someone less ethical than it's founders for things to start going wrong. It's not just gmail, of course – we're all getting very used to authorising one website to see what we're doing on another one, and is should be part of anyone's personal security practice to review which websites can see what where on a semi-regular basis, just like you should all be changing your passwords regularly, and using a password manager. You are all doing that, aren't you? - Start 2012 By Taking 2 Minutes to Clean Your Apps Permissions
I likned to this only a couple of weeks ago, but it’s very useful in light of the above, so I’m re-linking it. A list of popular web apps, with links that will let you manage what other web apps have permissions to use them, so that you can easily make sure that nothing has permissions it shouldn’t.
Links for Thursday February 9th 2012
- Fountain | A markup language for screenwriting.
Markdown like syntax design for screenplays.
Links for Tuesday February 7th 2012
- Learn HTML & CSS – a book that teaches you in a nicer way
If anyone I know is looking to learn HTML and CSS, or even just improve a shaky grasp of it, then I really can't recommend this beautiful book enough. Too many build your own website books are both too technical, and too hideous. This book is starts from absolute first principles, and is a joy to look at. I don't need it, and I'm still thinking of buying it, that's how nice it is.
Links for Monday February 6th 2012
- The ‘Eggs In One Basket’ Index – SplatF
Dan Frommer take a look at major tech firms, and what percentage of their revenue is generated from for their largest revenue source. I was saying the other day that I would be happy to pay google a lot for their services, in exchange for an advertising-and-tracking free experience. I look at this chart, and I realise that it might even make (some) sense for Google to offer that option, just from a diversification-of-revenue point of view. I don't expect they will, and I'm sure there are big hurdles in their way that would stop it, but still, there's an awful lot of eggs in the advertising basket, there. - Britons give more to donkey sanctuary than abuse charities | Money | The Guardian
This statistic is four years old, but I bet it's still true. People always look at me funny when I occasionally express my serious disgust with people who given to animal charities. I'm familiar with the walk-and-chew-gum theory, and indeed, use it myself when arguing for things like funding for the space programme, but that's an apples-and-oranges comparison – tech progress vs. abuse – while this is directly a "which abuse is worse" like-for-like comparison, at least to me. And many people appear to prefer to spend the money that they have available to spend on animals, instead of people. Because it really matter when someone shoves a cat in a bin, but much less when someone shoves their fist in someone else's face. - Who the hell do Camden Council think they are?
Unfuckingreal. Local council decide that what residents really want, when hanging out in communal gardens of their flats, is a) to be on camera, and b) to have that camera tell them in the disembodied voice of authority to move on, or their photos will be "sent for processing". This photo of them, in their own garden.
Links for Friday February 3rd 2012
- What will happen with the NHS bill, in 5 tweets.
By the time this posts, you'll probably already have seen this. If you live in the UK, and haven't see this already, go and look, because this is the future of your healthcare we're talking about. - Avería – The Average Font
This is actually a really really beautiful font. Lovely work.
Links for Monday January 30th 2012
- Pirate Bay Hosts Physical Objects – And Is Accused Of Infringing Games Workshop Copyright?
Mr Bradshaw, sometimes seen around this parish, did sterling work in predicating exactly this event a few years ago. Nice to see him proved right, and so swiftly, too. - Why Twitter’s new policy is helpful for free-speech advocates | technosociology
Are you one of the people going on about how Twitter's new censorship policy is the beginning of the end, and a disaster, and how Twitter should be ashamed for caving like they have? No? Good. If you are, then read this, and shut up. There new policy was quite clearly a model for how to handle this sort of shit, and the on-line wailing completely bewildered me. I was going to write about it, but someone smarter than me has already done so.
Links for Thursday January 26th 2012 through Friday January 27th 2012
- If 2012’s Oscar-nominated movie posters told the truth – Movie Feature – TheShiznit.co.uk
Yes, very much so. - Three kinds of things…
Good advice from C.S.Lewis.
Links for Thursday January 26th 2012
- Your Mobile Phone Number is not Safe with your Mobile Operator
Interesting post about mobile-phone-number privacy. I can already think of a dozen way I could abuse this knowledge.
Links for Wednesday January 25th 2012
- Bootstrap, from Twitter
Really want to check this out proper like, and maybe build something using it. I've kept on promising myself a custom-designer blog for years, but have never gotten around to it. Maybe now's the time. - Google tracks consumers’ online activities across products, and users can’t opt out – The Washington Post
I was able to opt out of using Facebook when I didn't like their privacy settings. I welcome any suggestions on how to avoid using Google products. At this point, I'm just consoling myself with the thought that the company will probably be dead (or at least, much reduced) within the next 10-15 years, and I'm just hoping they don't damage our norms around privacy too much along the way.
ACTA
Anyone here not know what it is, and why you should be writing to your elected representatives to make sure it doesn’t wind up being enshrined in law wherever you are?
Short version: it’s like SOPA, but affecting everywhere, not just the US, and with less oversight, and more draconian.
If you contacted anyone about SOPA, or just wanted to and couldn’t, you should also be contacting them about ACTA, because it’s much, much scarier.
Read more about it here, and then contact your representative here, if you’re in the UK.