I am a feminist. I believe that men and women should be given equal opportunities and that - as far as possible - we should have a civic society composed of equal numbers of men and women. At least... I think that's how I feel. Most people believe that they are rational and live up to their own ideals. But can we ever really know our own subconscious biases? The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media have released a series of study about gender biases. One of the more interesting…
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Perhaps the most legendary piece of plastic in the hacker community is the humble "Cap'n Crunch" whistle. The free-in-cereal whistle was able to emit a piercing shriek at 2600Hz - the exact tone required to unlock the US phone network. So, because it's all I seem to do these days, I turned my my trusty RepRapPro and decided to see whether it was possible to 3D print a whistle which could produce the same frequency. I found a customisable whistle on Thingiverse and customised it to include…
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I've found (and disclosed) what I think is an interesting little security flaw in Facebook's Two-Factor Authentication usage. First thing's first, this isn't a show-stopping bug. It's more of a curiosity which shows how different providers treat the verification of Two-Factor Authentication. Details If you are a security conscious user, you should have set up Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). Every time you try to log in to Facebook, after providing the correct password, you are send a…
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This is a necropost - resurrected from the now defunct blog of a previous employer. I really loved the idea of geolocated ephemeral content. And I was a little disappointed that the business never saw the potential for it. Maybe I'll find a way to relaunch it in the future. I’ve been attending Mobile Monday London for years. It’s a great (free!) way to meet people in the mobile industry, to learn about new trends, and to demo products. Because I know so many people there, it’s always a bit ne…
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I was wandering round The Henry Moore Foundation last Friday - thanks to the delightful wedding of my good friends Mike and Nikki. Looking at the abstract statues and carvings, I was struck not only by their beauty, but by how easy they would be to reproduce with a 3D printer. Ok - ok! I'm a little obsessed since building a RepRapPro for work - but hear me out. Wikipedia has been collecting high-resolution scans of famous works of art - although not without controversy - and providing them…
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There are many aspects of modern business management which bother me. More than anything though, is the relentless invasion of idiotic myths which seems to pass for "inspirational leadership". I've sat in many classrooms - with many different employers - and I keep seeing the same lies being told to students. HR and training teams seem to incessantly buy into the slick and convincing pre-packaged nonsense of "gurus". I want to make this abundantly clear - there is a difference between facts …
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