Selling them individually on eBay or Amazon sounds like a lot of hard work... That's where Zapper and MusicMagpie come in. Both offer the same basic service:

• Scan the item's barcode with the app.
• The app makes you a cash offer for your book/CD/DVD.
• You send a big box of your stuff to them.
• They send you money.

Let's get one thing out of the way first - you would almost certainly get more money if you were able to sell your stuff directly to customers. But do you really want the hassle of creating listings, answering customer questions, packing and shipping, dealing with returns, etc? No, probably not. So you let these companies make a profit in return for your sanity.

Usability

Both apps are stunningly simple - they've got a good onboarding process and you can complete nearly everything just on your mobile. The only other thing needed is a printer in order to get a label for your boxes.

Zapper on the left, Music Magpie on the right.

That said, there are some clear usability advantages in Zapper.

• Zapper has a much larger scanning window.
• MusicMagpie doesn't tell me the name of the book it has rejected - so I'm not always sure if it's scanned the correct code.
• This is hard to convey in a blog post - but Zapper plays a "happy" sound when it recognises a barcode and can make you an offer. When it can't offer you any money, it plays a "sad" tone. This is so useful when scanning in dozens of books! If you get the happy beep, put it in a box - if not, back on the shelf. MusicMagpie, by contrast, plays the same default beep time and again. It gets really annoying.

Prices

After scanning a few books with MusicMagpie, I decided to see what offers I could get on Zapper.

Some would only get me a quid on one, while the other offered me five times that. On some, there was only a few pence difference.

Zapper on the left, Music Magpie on the right.

Similarly, some books weren't accepted by one, while their rival was happy to take them.

But how does that compare to retail costs? As an example, The Complete Beatles Chronicle sells for about £4.50 + £2.80 postage second-hand on Amazon - or 77p + £2.79 delivery on Alibris.

Depending on how much time you have, you may be able to make more cash selling direct. As a very rough estimate, I reckon I could have at least doubled my money if I'd used multiple sites and if I'd found willing buyers and if I could use bulk postage and if I sold everything.

Delivery

Right, so you've packed up all the books in a cardboard box, you've printed off the labels, now what?

Zapper uses Collect+ - so you can pop round to your local corner shop, hand over the parcels, and they get picked up by a courier.

MusicMagpie has a free courier service - I left the boxes outside my front door and a myHermes delivery driver picked them up.

Both were very convenient and hassle free.

MusicMagpie also offer a drop-off service, but I wasn't able to find it in the app.

Payment

This is what it comes down to. How easy is it to get your cash? Both companies reserve the right to reject any of the goods you send them if they're not of saleable quality. No torn pages, scratches, or cracked boxes. They won't return anything, they'll just recycle it. None of my shipments were rejected - and some of the books were a bit dog-eared, so they seem fairly generous.

MusicMagpie picked the box up on the 6th. They received it on the 9th. On the 10th they paid £48.46 into my back account via BACS electronic transfer. Brilliant!

Zapper was significantly worse. I dropped the boxes off at the pickup point on the 5th. They told me they'd received them on the 10th. On the 15th the goods were assessed. On the 16th they authorised my payment. On the 22nd they posted out a cheque(!) On the 25th I received the cheque. I'm still waiting for the £58.13 to clear.

Seriously - who uses cheques any more? They're wasting money on postage, generating losses from missing deliveries, and probably have an increased customer service level as a result. Worse still, they're wasting my time.

Conclusion

Zapper is, without a doubt, the better app. So much thought has gone into its design. The sounds are delightful, and the process for adding and removing items is easier than MusicMagpie.

While both are fairly easy to use, Zapper definitely has the edge.

Prices are similar across both - there were only a few outliers in price.

But Zapper is really let down with its cheque-only payment options.

Wendy Mallas

@Wendywitwoo

If you're selling stuff, go with @musicMagpie. They're much faster and more efficient than @zappercouk. Not sure I'll ever use them again.

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So, if you can't wait for your cash, use MusicMagpie. The app isn't brilliant, and the prices aren't always the highest, but it is the fastest way to get your money.

If you're not desperate, scan your stuff using both apps and go with the highest price per item.

There's a lot of technology packed in for £19.99.

• Bluetooth 4.1 - compatible with Android and iPhone.
• cVc noise cancellation - for improved call quality.
• A physically tiny 70 mAh battery - good for around 3-6 hours of use. I found it fully charged in around 2 hours.
• Flat cable which feels rubber coated and is sweat-proof.
• All this weighs just 16.5 grams.

So, what's inside this compact box?

A short USB charging lead, basic instruction manual, and a little carrying bag. Here's a closer look at the headphones and accessories.

There are three sizes of ear-buds and in-ear-clips. All stretchy rubber and fairly easy to change over.

The left headphone has a micro-USB socket hidden behind a rubber flap.

The right has the microphone, volume controls (which double as track-skip controls), and at the top an answer button (which doubles as power and pairing).

The right also contains a small multi-colour LED - red for charging and blue for all other functions.

Usability

Bluetooth is always a little tricky to connect - but the Oittm plays instructions through its speakers. Hold down the power button and it'll say "Power on" and then "Pairing" - so you always know what's going on with the unit.

Pairing was automatic with Android - it really is one click connect. Ubuntu was similarly easy to set up (once I upgraded BlueMan).

Holding down the volume keys acts as a track skip, and the "phone" buttons answers and hangs up calls as needed.

The headphones happily pair with as many devices as you have - just remember to switch off your phone's Bluetooth before attempting to connect them to another device.

Sound Quality

Despite what the audiophiles tell you, Bluetooth is perfectly capable of streaming high-fidelity audio. You're probably not going to use the RE-E01 as your reference listening set - but for commuting or exercising, they're just right.

Stereo separation is perfect, and even at high volume there's little evidence of distortion. Bass is decent although not exactly earth shattering, but the adjustable ear buds block most external noise. Once you crank up the volume there is some sound leakage - so be considerate when on public transport.

Voice quality is good. You may need to adjust the angle in your ear to get the best sound - but the noise cancellation works well and filters out background noise with surprising effectiveness.

One downside, on the review sample I was sent, the right earphone would occasionally cut out. This appears to be a random factory defect, and they are shipping me a replacement set. A quick thwack to the side of my head and the sound came back. I was curious as to what was causing the problems - well, there's only one thing for it...

Let's take a look inside!

When I get a new bit of kit, I simply cannot resist cracking it open to see what its guts look like.

There are no screws involved - a spludger or small screwdriver should easily find a purchase in the seam just by the power button.

What do we see?

The "multi-function" LED is, of course, separate LEDs (two at the top, red and blue). The microphone (bottom left) is connected to the main board by wires. Fairly standard push buttons protected with a little foam. But what's the main chip in the middle?

Aha! It is the CSR8635. Good to know that this delivers exactly what's promised on the packaging. You'll see some cheap headphones substitute chips with inferior quality sound.

The CSR8635 provides (PDF)

• Wideband Audio for voice - should make for improved phone call quality.
• MP3, AAC, and SBC codec support - for native audio decoding.
• 96kHz DAC - for improved audio quality
• AVRCP 1.4 - so can be controlled by all Bluetooth capable phones.
• Battery indicator - this is apparently only available in iOS, I couldn't find any way to see it in Android. Oh well!

Let's quickly flip the circuit board over.

Nothing remarkable. The wires are a little on the thin side - they're not intended to for you to fiddle with. The loose circuit appears to be inside the speaker itself. It is trapped behind a little blob of glue in a sealed plastic unit. Judging from the way the sound sometimes cuts out and is brought back with a little pressure applied to the speaker, I suspect a slightly damaged wire or loose contact.

The left ear-bud only contains the battery and charging circuitry.

A neat package. Easy to pull apart and put back together should you feel the need.

Verdict

The Oittm Bluetooth Headphones are £19.99. At that price range you'll find hundreds of headphones on Amazon. The Oittm are ridiculously lightweight - you'll barely know you're wearing them and they can be chucked in your handbag or pocket without taking up significant space.

The flat cable makes for a surprisingly good anti-tangle device. The lurid green colour is distinct without being obnoxious.

The in-ear hooks help keep everything in place. As long as you choose the right size, you can run and jump as much as you like without them dislodging.

One caveat - the pair that I received had a fault which caused the right speaker to occasionally cut out. LOPOO UK offered to replace them extremely quickly. These sorts of intermittent issues are tricky to spot by retailers, so I can't be too harsh on them.

You can buy the Oittm Bluetooth Headphones on Amazon.

This is a non-exhaustive history, mostly drawing from my industry experience and drawers full of old phones!

Firstly (although not chronologically) special mention must go to… The original iPhone! Yup, in Infinite Loop's infinite wisdom, the very first iPhone had a recessed headphone socket which made it incompatible with virtually every headphone on the market. I'm sure there were incredibly compelling technical reasons for this decision, and was in no way influenced by Apple's fanatical desire to sell as many overpriced accessories as possible…

Nokia's POP port

For the longest time, Nokia smart phones used the POP port.

It was a mix of USB data, power, and audio - depending on which phone and cable you had.

Around the time of the N95, Nokia moved to allowing regular headphone jacks and standard USB sockets for data transfer. Power was still (mostly) via their proprietary barrel connector.

Oh, and a special mention to the Nokia N-Gage which had this abomination as its headphone cable.

Sony Ericsson's Connector

Ah, the FastPort. Unloved by all who used it. Fragile and expensive.

By Barbu doru CC BY-SA 3.0

The connector was stackable - meaning you could charge the phone while using the headphone port. Wonder if the new iPhone will look that cool?

Oh, there was also a subtly different variant which I think was incompatible.

BlackBerry's 2.5mm headset

Along with many other manufacturers, RIM's Blackberry used a 2.5mm headphone jack. That was pretty much their standard since the original phone-based Blackberry.

I'm trying to figure out when they switched to the 3.5mm jack. 2007's 8800 still had the 2.5mm jack as did 2009's 8350i

Curiously, 2008's Blackberry Storm had a 3.5mm headphone jack. I worked on the product when I was at Vodafone. I remember the switch of the headphone port causing lots of arguments about whether businesses would be prepared to buy new accessories and car kits. Although, by that time, the world was firmly in the grip of Bluetooth everywhere.

Samsung's many connectors.

As late as 2009, Samsung was pushing its 20-pin connector. This, of course, is not to be confused with Samsung's 18-pin connector.

Nor should you mistake it for their 10-pin connector.

Nor any of their bewildering array of other connectors.

HTC's Android extUSB

The very first Android phones - the HTC Dream and the HTC Magic - originally had no headphone socket!

There was a USB socket on the bottom into which an adapter could be fitted.

Crazily enough, the phone has a proprietary headphone jack, proving once and for all that HTC doesn't like you Endgadget 2009-02-17

The port was called extUSB and was backwards compatible with the then-standard micro-USB port.

This followed the same pattern as HTC's previous Windows Mobile devices. Routing everything through a single port makes a certain kind of sense. Fewer components, more space on the board, less chance of water getting in.

But you run into the problem of needing passthrough cables (as above) or relying on proprietary connectors.

…and so it goes…

Losing the headphone port on a phone isn't the end of the world. Yes, it's another gadget to charge - but fewer wires to break. Audio quality is unaffected. Battery life of your phone may take a small hit, but not too drastically.

Bluetooth headphones are cheap - with basic ones being just over a fiver Of course, you can spend stupid money on branded ones. £200 to you, buddy.

Or, for under a tenner, you can buy a Bluetooth adapter which will work with your existing headphones. See my 2010 review of the Jabra Clipper.

This is all a long-winded process to remove every port from the phone.

• Bluetooth for audio.
• WiFi for data.
• Bluetooth for peripherals.
• Qi for wireless charging.

Can it be done? Easily. Will customers buy it? Ah, that remains to be seen. Personally, I'm looking forward to doing away with a tangled mess of incompatible cables,

If I've missed out your favourite proprietary smartphone audio connector - please do let me know in the comments.

A couple of months ago I was giving a talk in Romania - the organisers had set up a technology expo showing off some great local start-ups.

One which caught my eye was TinTag.

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Tintag is pretty clever. BLE beacon but has built in Qi recharging. Very useful. thetintag.com
#DevTalks pic.x.com/sjizdew274

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I've previously reviewed the Chipolo - which is a similar beacon/tracker. So I thought I'd give this one a go.

At the airport last week, I put the Chipolo on my luggage and was able to detect when it came onto the baggage carousel. I used the buzzer to quickly locate my bag. These BLE beacons work with any modern smartphone and are quickly becoming indispensable.

So, how does TinTag stack up against Chipolo?

Pros

• Blinken Lights!
• No need to create an account.
• Buzzer.
• Waterproof.
• Sturdy.
• Wireless Charging.

Cons

• Cost is €29 / £22 + shipping. That's €5 more than the Chipolo. Although you do get the charging pad and USB cable.
• Lanyard hole is a little small.
• 4 month battery life which requires an overnight charge.
• Yet another app to install!
• No open source API that I could find.

Verdict

I think I prefer the TinTag to the Chipolo.

Yes, the TinTag is slightly larger - but it is sturdier and recharges using the same pad I use for my phone. Flashing LEDs are nice, and you don't need to register on the website to get all the functionality.

The app isn't brilliant - and I suspect BLE tracker support will eventually be built in to Android - but it does the job.

It's too big for a wallet or phone - but the perfect size for luggage, handbags, coats, and larger pets.

The TinTag is available to buy now.

I check Facebook Messages when I want. If it's urgent, there are many better ways to contact me than Messenger.

Until recently, all was well in the world. I happily used Facebook's mobile web site. Then this happened.

That, frankly, is bullshit. Why do I need an app to display messages? Are Facebook's coders so incompetent that they can't make mobile chat work?

No.

There is a mobile web version of messenger. And I'm going to show you how to get to it!

I use the FaceSlim app for Android. Literally, all it does is open an isolated web browser which loads the Facebook mobile site. No battery drain, no invasive permissions, just good ol' HTML.

In response to Facebook's hostility towards its own users, the FaceSlim developer added an option to load the mobile version of messenger from within the browser.

So there you have it. If you want the mobile web version of Facebook Messenger, use the FaceSlim app for Android. And if you need to contact me urgently, use Signal!

That's where London-based startup Vallie comes in. On-demand car parking in London for £5/hour - with a maximum charge of £25 per day.

Here's how it works:

• Use the Vallie app (Android or iPhone) to say where you want to drop the car off.
• The app tracks your location. As you approach the area, Vallie dispatches someone to pick up your car.
• Both you and the parker receive a password from the app, which you use to confirm your identity.
• Your car is whisked away by an insured driver to a secure car park.
• When you want the car back, use the app to say where you want your car to be dropped off.
• You get told how long it will be before your car is with you - and you can follow its progress in the app.
  

Nice and simple! Payment is handled in-app. They offer free electric car charging - so I received my i3 back with a full battery. They also offer paid-for extras like car cleaning and servicing should you need them.

The service is easy to use and really does take the hassle out of London parking. The price is also fantastic. A full day of Central London parking can easily cost £40 - £50, so Vallie certainly wins on that front.

The only downside is that they cover a limited area of London.

I'd like to see a bit of coverage south of the river - but as they're starting up, I don't feel too inclined to grumble!

Oh, one other nice touch, they left a Vallie branded air-freshener hanging around my rear-view mirror 😃

Until we all get autonomous cars and jet-packs, Vallie is a great way to park in Central London.

You can use the code "terence-1010" for £10 credit on your first park.

For years I was a devotee of the Microsoft 4000 Keyboard. It's a big old beast - and that's its main drawback; it's just too large to carry around. It could also do with an integrated USB hub if it's going to take up one of my precious laptop ports.

So I moved to Microsoft's wireless model - the Sculpt Desktop. It's a delightful bit of kit. Just about small enough for me to carry around. Only two real drawbacks - it takes AAA batteries rather than being rechargeable, and it doesn't use Bluetooth.

Yup, it requires a proprietary dongle from Microsoft which is hideously insecure. Oh, and if you lose the tiny dongle, you need to buy an entirely new keyboard!

It's also too fragile for a normal laptop bag...

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

My Tweets may make less sense than usual today... pic.x.com/2gvopjpr10

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One of the keys got knocked off in my bag.

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Replying to @edentTried to transplant the mechanism from the "Insert" key to my broken "L". Didn't work 😢
Any help @MicrosoftUK? pic.x.com/6olzxm7iwa

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*sigh*

Last week, an unexpected present dropped through my letterbox. Some kindly anonymous soul bought me a gift from my Amazon wishlist - a brand new Goldtouch Go!2 Mobile Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard.

OMG!

It's an ergonomic, adjustable, Bluetooth keyboard. (Geeky lanyard via Jenny Wren Creates.)

Watch it fold!

The Good

• Bluetooth. Works perfectly with Linux and Android alike. No dongle needed. Uses a random passcode to pair.
• Has a Mac mode for those people who like their @ key in the wrong place.
• Micro-USB rechargable. Battery life seems good - and it takes the same charging cable as all my other kit.
• Ubuntu shows the battery level remaining as part of the power menu.
• The right size to rest on top of a MacBook Pro *without* interfering with the in-built keyboard.
• Adjustable. Good range of vertical and horizontal movement.
• Extra function keys work in Linux (Calculator, Home, Volume, etc)
• Excellent range of "extra" keys - Print Screen, Home, End, etc.
• Solid feel. Even when typing away with the keyboard raised, there's very little flex in it.
• Pairs with Ubuntu before the login screen - so you can type in your password using the keyboard.
• UK spec - so has the £ and € keys where you'd expect them.
• Rubber grips on the bottom - keyboard doesn't shift even when you're hammering it.
• It folds away to protect the keys!

The Bad

I'm going to be really nitpicky here.

• No backlit keys. Understandable on a battery powered device - but I think I would be prepared to lose on battery life (or take a larger device) to make typing in the dark easier.
• Bit of a faff to set up and put away. Much like a Brompton bike - you have to remember which bits to pull at in which order. You have to lift the lever to release the hinge mechanism. Pull the Unlock switch if you want to fold or unfold the keyboard. Flick the power switch. I think the pairing and power buttons could be on the other side - but that's a personal preference.
• I could stand to have a little more horizontal movement.
• I'm sure the joining cable is tough - but it looks a little exposed and fragile.
• Slightly odd key placement. Print screen is easy to hit accidentally. Just as with any new keyboard, it takes a little time to learn.
• No wrist rest. So extended periods of typing may be a little uncomfortable.
• Caps Lock light is a little dim. Yeah... I'm stretching here!

Honestly, there's not a lot to criticise here. The keys have a decent level of travel, it's quiet, easy to configure, and looks awesome!

The Ugly

I think it is a gorgeous bit of kit. Once you've learned how to type on it and what position works best for you, it feels great to type on. The only fly in the ointment? The price.

Brace yourselves.

£170!

Youch! That's the cost of a cheap laptop or tablet.

I'm conflicted here. I'm hugely grateful to the anonymous patron who bought this for me - I had been vacillating as to whether to get it - but I can't help wondering if it provides value for money.

There is nothing like this on the market. No cheap Alibaba clones, no fast followers - this is unique.

It is the best damned ergonomic Bluetooth keyboard - if only by the virtue of being the only one!

If you take your hands' health seriously, and can't stand laptop keyboards, I highly recommend it. Goldtouch have made a great product and my fingers thank them.

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Warning! I'll be on @BBCRadio4's You And Yours shortly.
Please tune your wirelesses accordingly. pic.x.com/6f3zsiwuin

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Several people had contacted the show to say that they had missed calls from the number "08454290015" or "08439800142" - despite not answering the call, nor dialling it themselves, they'd been charged significant sums of money for receiving the call.

In once case, a couple had been charged over £300 for a twelve-hour call!

I did some digging on this. While it is hard to gather solid evidence without access to billing systems, I think I can see what is happening. Sadly, at the moment, there is no way to prevent this scam.

Firstly, I went to the regulator. According to Ofcom's data, the telephone number range is allocated to Red Telecom Solutions Ltd. They're a reseller of telco services - in this case, I think they are blameless. They've just rented the number to the scammers - and it would take a court order or Ofcom investigation to get those details.

Normally, dialling an 0845 number from a mobile is expensive, but answering it shouldn't cost anything.

Based on other complaints I've seen, it looks like people are being stung by a "reverse charges scam". On a normal reverse / collect call, the person answering the phone is asked to press a number on their keypad to accept the charges. In this case, customers are played a message like "You've won an iPad! Press 2 to find out more!" they're then played a longer message while the reverse charges rack up.

Finally, in the case of the couple who supposedly made a 12 hour call (without noticing and without the phone's battery dying) - the only explanation I can come up with is that someone has submitted mistaken or fraudulent call records to the mobile operators.

I spoke to the You and Yours team about this on Monday (17 minutes in):

As I was in the BBC Oxford studios for the interview, the local radio team asked if I could pop on the Nick Piercey afternoon show - where I said more-or-less the same thing.

How To Prevent This

Sadly, as a consumer, there's not much you can do to prevent this sort of scam. It is up to mobile phone companies and the regulator to crack down on it.

That said, here are my top-tips to reduce the likelihood of falling prey to these sorts of scams.

• Don't answer phone calls from numbers you don't recognise. That's not always practical, I grant you.
• If you do answer a call and it asks you to press a number on your keypad, just hang up.
• Don't dial back missed calls unless you recognise the number.
• Use the PhonePayPlus Number Checker to see how much the call will cost you.
• Register your mobile with the Telephone Preference Service. This will prevent reputable companies from phoning you with marketing drivel. Doesn't stop the disreputable ones though.
• Run anti-virus on your phone to make sure that you don't have any malicious apps on there which could dial phone numbers without your knowledge.
• Use an ad-blocker. Some adverts can trick your phone into dialling premium rate numbers. Typically they require the user to manually hit the dial button, so such scams aren't too successful.
• If you're really worried, consider switching to a pre-pay / PAYG service. You won't be able to lose more money than you currently have in your account.
• You can see if your phone has been set to divert calls to a premium rate number. Most phones will have a menu in the dialer for this. If you can't find it, dial *#21# to see if you have diverts set up.
• It is possible to check whether your voicemail has been redirected to a premium rate number. Again, check your phone's menus or dial *#61# and *#62# and *#67#. Check with your mobile operator to make sure the details are correct.
• Finally, always check your bills! If there's something suspicious on there, contact your operator straight away. If they refuse to help, complain to Ofcom.

At the moment, most UK operators won't place a cap on how much of a bill you can rack up. My personal opinion is that needs to change. A cap exists for roaming charges and stolen phones, so it is technically feasible.

In the mean time, stay sceptical and keep checking your bills!

The Chipolo is a multi-purpose Bluetooth Low Energy tag. It's like a high-tech version of one of those things which you attach to your keyring which will beep when whistled at.

As the box says, it will work up to 60 meters away. It'll beep when you lose it, and it can make your phone beep if someone moves it out of range - handy if someone is stealing your wallet. What's not mentioned on the box is the fact that it has a temperature sensor. No, I've no idea why either.

The contents of the box are sparse, but functional. Two batteries, a keyring, and a basic instruction leaflet.

Let's take a look at how it is set up and used.

The Chipolo Android app gets poor reviews, but the Chipolo team are very responsive and working hard on improving it. I found that the app crashed a couple of times and didn't seem particularly intuitive. It performs its basic tasks well enough - showing me how far away the beacon was and making it beep when triggered.

Cost

The base cost of the Chipolo is €25 each - plus €9 shipping! That feels like quite a hefty price - especially considering that generic BLE finder tags cost around €10 delivered on AliExpress.

If you buy a 9 pack, the Chipolos work out at €22.22 each. A reasonable discount, but they're not a cheap.

Update! You can get 20% off the price using my referral link.

Open Source

There are a couple of 3rd party Open Source packages, one for NODE-Red and an older one for NodeJS.

The only Open Source provided by Chipolo themselves seems to be for translating their website.

Final Thoughts

The Chipolo is quite a cool device. If you're constantly losing your keys or wallet, I can see how useful it could be. They also suggest that the tracker could be attacked to a pet's collar. But given how fragile the device is, the lack of range, and the fact it is not waterproof, it's hard to see it as a practical choice.

For the price, I'd have expected a much more robust device. It does feel like it will fall apart quite easily.

There are some rather "forced" features. I doubt anyone is going to shake the Chipolo to take a selfie - but it does show that it could work as a motion sensor alarm. I also struggle to see the use of the temperature sensor.

Theoretically, if you lose your Chipolo then other users' phones can sense it and automagically tell you where it is. Frankly that's going to rely on a critical mass of users which just isn't here yet.

It works and, providing the 6 months battery life prediction is accurate, should be a useful addition to my growing stash of gadgets.

You can buy branded Chipolo smart tags direct from the manufacturer.

You can get 20% off the price using my referral link

Many year ago, when I was very young and you were even younger, I saw an advert in the back pages of some cheap comic.

The implication was clear - SEE GIRLS NAKED! The reality was somewhat more prosaic.

But technology marches on. Today, you can buy a smartphone with a thermographic camera. Point it at whoever you like and uncover them.

A glance is all it takes. He's lying. She's pregnant. That woman has a fever. That guy's sexually arroused. She's disgusted, he's afraid, she's sad. On and on it goes. Private lives, public property.

Tomorrow, the technology will be baked into your Google Glass (shut up - I still love mine), then into your smart contact lenses.

It only takes a few algorithms to correct for sex, weight, and age - then a little bit of augmented-reality magic - to overlay the emotional and physical state of every person you meet.

What does that do to society? Do we accept it and become radically honest? Do we wear a tin-foil niqab to hide our thermal emissions?

It's a little way off, so we've got some time to think about how we'll react.

In the meantime, here's a small open-source package which will measure anyone's heart rate based on a video feed.

Why not point it at your TV the next time your favourite politician is on?

Be seeing you.

I notice that Moo are now selling NFC enabled business cards. As regular readers know, I'm not a great fan of NFC - mostly because it's so expensive. The NFC cards are £1.20 each - the regular cards cost just 26p each!

What if we change the idea of what a business card is? Why do I need to hand over a physical bit of dead tree in order to exchange contact information? That's dumb.

Last week I was at the Over The Air hackference. While there, I was lucky enough to grab a few "Physical Web" beacons from Ilario Gressi of Google.

Is there some way to turn them into a high-tech business card?

Yes. Yes there is.

What Is An iBeacon?

There are a lot of misconceptions around iBeacons. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a version of Bluetooth which is specifically designed to be efficient at broadcasting small amounts of data.

An iBeacon simply transmits an ID number via BLE. That's it. When your phone hears the broadcast, it looks up the ID and does something with it. The typical use case is that it alerts your Coffee Shop's app as to which branch you are in.

Google's Physical Web project does something much more interesting with iBeacon technology. Rather than just broadcasting an ID, it (ab)uses the Advertising Packets to broadcast a URl!

How It Works

I carry around a Physical Web beacon on my keyring. I've programmed it with the URl of my .tel website. It spends all day broadcasting that message via BLE.

If you have Android's Physical Web app, or iOS Chrome - your phone should display a persistent notification showing all the nearby beacons.

Or, you can open up the app and see a list of nearby beacons.

One click (either in notification or app) and it takes you directly to a website with my digital business card.

Fantastic!

Issues

The Physical Web specification is still evolving - and this BLE Business Card idea isn't without problems.

• Beacons are expensive. Around £20 each - or US$50 for 3. More expensive than NFC, but you keep the beacon rather than hand them out.
• URl length is limited to 144 bits. That's really short. I've suggested using a 7-bit alphabet, but it seems that the preferred solution is to use a URl shortener.
• Web addresses only. You can't directly embed an email address, phone number, or BitCoin link - just web.
• Limited hardware support. Just like NFC - you need a phone with the right chips in it. And you need an app. (*mutters darkly about how QR codes only need a camera lens. And an app...*)
• Battery life. BLE beacons should last 2 - 5 years on a single coin cell. NFC has no battery - it is powered by the phone - so should last forever. Similarly, QR Codes will last ask long as their ink sticks to paper.
• Size. A Physical Web beacon isn't small. Not as big a business card holder, true, but not quite small enough for a key-ring.
• Business cards, for all their faults, provide a physical memento of an interaction. A ritualised exchange takes place which, culturally, may carry more semantic weight than merely scanning the æther for nearby signals.
• Finally, I'm pretty cool being the only person in the room with a BLE Business Card - but what's it like when everyone has one? At the conference we set up loads of Physical Web beacons at once - and the app quickly became full of every beacon in a 75m radius:
  
  Theoretically, the app will sort by whichever signal is the strongest - which should mean that if I'm standing next to you, your app will pick my card first. But no guarantees.

So, not perfect - but certainly a neat way to broadcast your identity to nearby people. With BLE making its way into more and more devices, it's certainly possible that it will overtake NFC as the primary way to discover and exchange data.

I encourage you to contribute to the Physical Web spec and apps, as well as to EddyStone which is part of the underlying technology. You can buy Physical Web beacons or, if you're feeling adventurous, build your own BLE beacons.

As the refugee crisis in Europe grows, there are those who wish to exploit human misery and suffering for their own ends. They are usually backed up by the hoard of useful idiots who will spew hatred for their fellow man at the drop of a hat. One particularly spiteful meme is that displaced persons are obviously not poor because they all have "expensive smartphones."

These are not expensive phones! The original photo by Peter Nicholls/Reuters is titled "Afghans used a generator-powered charging station this month at a camp in Calais, France." and appears in an excellent New York Times article about how mobile phones are an essential lifeline.

I work in the mobile industry. Let's take a look at all those phones, and see just how expensive they are.

This is the Nokia 100. It's literally designed to be the cheapest phone on the planet. You can pick one up for £16 brand new.

These appear to be Samsung E1200. They are free. No joke, pop into a UK phone store and you can get one free if you buy a £20 top up.

I'm pretty sure this is the Asha 220. Designed for the developing market, Amazon will ship you one next day for around £30.

It's rare to see an Android phone with the back button on the right. No physical home button means it isn't a Samsung. No branding, so unlikely to be Sony. I think it's a Micromax or similar no-brand Chinese handset. Generally these handsets are under £100 - but it's hard to say.

The back of this looks like the Samsung S4 Mini. That was £230 when launched, now available for around £145. No idea about the phone underneath it.

Physical button and smallish form factor, I'm going to say Samsung S3 Mini. £180 when first released, under £90 now.

Based on the orange colour and top charging port, I thought this might be the ZTE Firefox phone, but a closer look at the buttons at the bottom makes me think it's an Android. Back button is on the right, which either makes it very old, or a no-brand phone. Based on the top charger and bight colour, my guess is that this is the NIU Niutek 3.5D2. A dual-SIM phone you can buy for around $40 in the US.

Based on the front facing camera, the white phone is probably the Galaxy Trend. Originally £140 - now yours for ninety quid. The black phone could be anything.

Generic pink powerbank. You can buy these for £4. Not a typo. Under a fiver.

Mobile phones are ridiculously cheap. Even the top end phones listed above can be found for under £75 in any second-hand phone shop.

With a phone, you can call or text home to let people know you're safe. You can buy a cheap SIM card in any country and be contactable by your lawyer and by aid agencies, register to look for work, find housing, meet up with friends, email loved ones, update Facebook, and generally take part in modern society.

Download an app and you're halfway to learning a new language. Find free WiFi and communicate around the world for nothing.

If I was down to the clothes I wore and the phone in my pocket, I'd sell my shirt before cutting myself off from modern communications!

The next time someone tries to tell you that a refugee can't be that destitute because they have a smartphone - gently remind them how cheap modern technology is and how essential phones are to modern life. Then tell them to shut the hell up.

If you can, please set up a monthly donation to Oxfam, or a charity of your choice, in order to help people survive.

I've been using Android - Google's mobile OS - it since before it was launched. I now love and loath it in equal measure.

Consider the simple act of sharing a piece of content. A fairly common activity which the OS should be able to handle in a standard manner. Yet Google's own apps each have a radically different way of completing this basic task.

Let's take a look at the latest versions of Play, Maps, YouTube, Chrome, Google+, and Docs - all running on Lollipop.

1. Google Play, has the normal Share Icon.
2. Google Maps hides the option in a menu.
3. YouTube has two share buttons, neither of which look like the one in Play.
   
4. Chrome hides the option in a dropdown (weird how it floats over the menu button, unlike Maps).
5. Google+ takes us back to the regular share icon (with no text label).
6. Google Docs uses a floating bottom menu (what?!) with a yet another icon and a "Send file" text label.

That's at least 6 different ways to share content in Google's official Android apps. There may be more, but those are the only ones installed on my phone.

Ok, so we've decided to share some content in a standard Google app. What does the share menu look like?

1. Play has a simple list of sharing destinations at the bottom.
2. Maps has a big grid of sharing destinations.
3. YouTube has a different grid with even larger icons - three of which are set off from the rest with no explanation. Oh, and a "Copy URL" button in the top right.
   
4. Chrome has a pop-up over the centre of the screen - the icons are yet another different size.
5. Google+ only lets you share with other G+ users. Bless!
6. Finally, Drive takes us back to the bottom menu style.

Bonus points to anyone who can figure out the order of the sharing options. It's neither alphabetical nor usage based.

I can't keep up with this. I'm trying, I really am, but every time I try to share something I just don't know what I'm going to be faced with. And, even when I can figure out where the share button is hidden - there's no easy way to find the app to which I want to share.

sigh

There have been many attempts to standardise a sharing icon - but none of them have succeeded.

Google does not define a sharing icon in its Material Design guide. Its teams seem free to pick and choose any one they like - or ignore it all together.

This mishmash approach to Android has been festering for years. Three years ago, I was blogging about Google's constantly shifting menu button - something they've nearly fixed!

Remember, these aren't independent developers re-inventing the wheel. These are flagship apps produced by one company. It's clear there's no-one at Google responsible for consistency or user-experience across their services.

Android is a runaway success - that's clear - and fiddling round the edges is unlikely to dramatically change its trajectory.

And yet... These little irritations begin to grate until they build up into an overwhelming torrent of confusion - just as they did for Symbian and BlackBerry. As it gets more complicated to perform everyday tasks on Android, people will look for a device which values simplicity and consistency. Google desperately needs to avoid sharing the same fate as those moribund platforms.

Here's the email being sent to subscribers - followed by some commentary on what this means and whether it's a good idea for you to opt-out.

Let's ignore them mispelling my name - and concentrate on the technical details. From September, you'll be able to connect to any domestic Virgin Media SuperHub in the country. You'll be able to surf the web from your phone & tablet as though you were on your home connection. All without slowing down the owner's download speeds.

So, a quick Q&A.

Will this slow down my broadband?

No. Virgin's top speed is 152Mb down/12Mb up. However, I've spotted them trialling a 322Mbps service which seems to work quite well.

What I suspect they'll be doing is adding additional download and upload channels which can only be used by other customers.

Given their woefully inadequate upload speeds, it would be nice if they upped the owner's speeds as well.

However, if you like in an area with particularly congested WiFi, it is likely that extra users will interfere with your connectivity.

Depending on how many devices try to connect, it could knock some of your devices off your network.

Will visitors get on my LAN and access my computers?

Not if they've done this correctly. Virgin already offers a "Guest Mode" WiFi option which routes all traffic onto a different subnet.

Hopefully, they're sensible enough to do the same for strangers sharing your connection.

If someone breaks the law using my connection - am I responsible?

Possibly. However, one would hope that Virgin issues a separate IP address to sharers.

Virgin should also know the details of everyone who connects via your WiFi. If someone does something naughty - it hopefully won't come back to bite you.

Will this crash my SuperHub?

Probably. I was on the SuperHub 2AC trial earlier this year. While the hardware is much improved, there are still dozens of reported software bugs which still haven't been fixed. Adding this extra functionality is unlikely to help matters.

Will this cost me more money?

Yes. Your router will be working harder, transmitting more data, and flashing its lights a little faster. That will increase your electricity consumption?

When Comcast started deploying this functionality across their US Internet customers, some people estimated an additional cost of up to $20 per year!

In reality, unless you live in an extremely popular area and have people constantly using your WiFi, the cost is likely to be below £10 per year.

Can I Opt-Out?

Yes. This is the (somewhat) sneaky part. You are opted-in by default. If you do nothing, the service will automatically go live.

To opt-out, visit virginmedia.com/myvirginmedia

How do I log in to someone else's WiFi

It looks like you'll need to use a dedicated app. Virgin's current app gets fairly bad reviews - so let's hope they improve it before launch!

An app means that you'll only be able to log on with a phone or tablet - it's unlikely to work on a laptop.

Is this a good deal?

You get free WiFi. In return, you are paying with...

• Your location data. Virgin know where you go and when you go there. Every time you log in to a WiFi hotspot, they learn a little more about you.
• Your device data. Virgin will know what phone and tablet you have. All the better to target you with adverts.
• Your electricity. The power bill is unlikely to cost you much - although it is a non-zero sum.
• Your bandwidth. Virgin could choose to raise your upload and download speed. Instead they're giving them away to other users.
• Your privacy. People walking by your home will know who your ISP is. That's also true if you haven't changed your default WiFi network name - but for security conscious folk, it's not sensible information to broadcast.
• Your security. Virgin and Netgear (the SuperHub manufacturer) have a chequered history when it comes to securing their WiFi routers. Will sharers be able to access your network? When you access a shared network, will the owner be able to see what you are doing?

Overall...

I'm not convinced. We'll need to see just how well they implement this. But they can't escape the fact that a typical indoor router simply doesn't have a huge range - usually 50 metres. Domestic routers, by their nature, are usually installed in residential areas.

Just how often do you need WiFi when walking past a row of houses? How comfortable do you feel lingering outside someone's home when you want to check your email?

I'll give it a go - perhaps with more hotspots in town centres, fantastic app, and rock solid security, it will be a useful addition to my connectivity options.

Do you think this is a good deal? Let me know in the comments.

Nestled at the bottom of the annoucement is this curious specification.

That seems... low. Doesn't it? I did a quick tally of all the devices my wife and I have which use WiFi.

1. My phone
2. Wife's phone
3. My ebook
4. Wife's ebook
5. My laptop
6. Wife's laptop
7. My work laptop
8. PS4
9. Xbox 360
10. Wii U
11. 3DS
12. Media Player
13. Onkyo Amplifier
14. Smart TV
15. Original Xbox
16. Home server
17. Lifx Lightbulb (only the one so far!)
18. IP Security camera (internal)
19. IP Security camera (pointing the other way)
20. IP Security camera (external)
21. IP Security camera (PTZ)
22. IP Security camera (internal upstairs)
23. Roomba!
24. Raspberry Pi environmental monitoring station
25. WeMo plug socket
26. WeWo IR Blaster
27. Solar panels
28. nCube IoT Hub
29. Car dashcam
30. Google Glass (meh, someone has to keep the dream alive!)

That doesn't include all the odd phones I trial, nor the couple of Raspberry Pi's I fiddle with.

Admittedly, we're a fairly high-tech couple - and being child-free means there's more money for gadgets - but I don't think we're that unusual. Over the next few years, I'd expect us to get more WiFi lightbulbs, and plug sockets, and probably doorbells, washing machines, thermostats, and an Internet fridge.

We're a two person family. A typical UK family is likely to have 4 people. So that's double the amount of phones and laptops, more TVs, probably more handheld consoles, baby monitors, pet trackers, and and neural implants.

128 devices looks like an achievable limit for a modern family home.

For those of you young enough not to get the reference in the title, computer companies have a habit of self-limiting their technology.

I would hope that OnHub will receive updates to make it useful past the year 2020. Given Google's record with Android updates, I suspect we'll all just have to buy a new router. Plus ça change!

Eventually, the battery failed. It would report being fully charged, but only run for a few minutes before switching off. Recalibrating and resetting the battery statistics failed to improve the situation.

So, time to buy a replacement Nexus 6 battery. Cost under £15 and delivered on the slow boat from China.

I followed this excellent tutorial from iFixit. Here are my notes.

• Buy proper tools. You'll need a T3 Torx head. That's quite an uncommon size, so I picked up this torx set which also contains a set of tweezers.
• Melt the glue gently. Most of the glue had already perished on mine, but for the elusive splodges you'll want to gently apply heat. I used a hot water bottle filled with boiling water. I rested the phone on top of it for a few minutes and then gently peeled it apart.
• These are delicate electronics. Be very careful. Don't tug.
• Once you've undone all 22 T3 screws, the phablet opens into two pieces.
  
• As you can see, the old battery was wrecked
  
  Although, to be fair, some of that disfigurement is caused by prying off the glue. Remember to recycle your old battery safely.
• When replacing the battery, you have to consider whether you want to glue things down again. If you don't, there's a slight risk that some of the precise connections could shift and you'll have to disassemble everything to realign them. I cheated an used a small piece of sticky tape to keep the Qi in place.
• You don't need to use the Qi inductive coil - although it also contains the NFC antenna as well. If you break it, you can buy a replacement fairly cheaply. The quad connector which wraps around the battery is for Qi charging. The long straight cable is for the NFC.
• I didn't screw everything back together until I was sure it had worked. I put in the four screws for stability and then tested both the USB and Qi charging. I also tested the NFC using a basic app.
• Success!
  
• The battery came partly charged - I reset the battery statistics just to make sure it was working. Once fully charged, I'm going to use it until it is completely empty.

There you have it! For around £25 including tools, I've got a brand new battery - and a little ego boost knowing I can do basic repairs to complex electronics.

It culminated with barrage of complaints and an interview on BBC Radio 4.

A few months on, it's time to see what my complaining has achieved. First up, a pretty good response from the Direct Marketing Commission.

May I thank you for raising your concerns about the supply of your mobile data which led to your receipt of an unwanted text message from Paddy Power.

The DMC has looked into this matter and we have liaised with each of the members involved in the supply chain leading to your receipt of the unwanted text. Our investigation has highlighted specific areas where we could see a concern around direct marketing practice which led to your receipt of the SMS message. Whilst you may have opted-in to have your data shared, the companies involved relied on a tolerance that is not in place today, to retain and use data long after consent was given. Additionally, a sub-contractor made errors when placing names onto the marketing list which meant you were not suppressed from further marketing.

GoldSixty7 (DataTrada) was responsible for the suppression of your data. They supplied your data to Datatonomy and received your data from DBS Data. They have confirmed that you were not suppressed as you should have been, and apologise to you for the error. We have reminded the company of their obligation under the rules of the DMA Code which asks that members operate and maintain a suppression system. Whilst they did have a system in place, an error meant that the feed of data which contained your record was not updated. The data in question was used only once and the error has been rectified but it should not have happened.

DBS Data had sourced your data from USM Digital in 2012. This we understood to have been ‘opted-in’ in 2007. We were concerned about the consents people have given to the use of their data and how long data is held and we questioned the due diligence undertaken by DBS Data. Changes to guidance in late 2013 had encouraged DBS to review their policies and procedures in relation to compliance and consents, and part of this was a review of opt-in and consent statements and ensuring that consents remained current and compliant. Additionally, DBS have further reviewed their due diligence and made other changes since the case was made known. We have reminded DBS of their obligations under the Code to ensure that data is properly sourced, permissioned and cleaned; that any personal data collected should be adequate, relevant and not excessive for the purpose for which it has been collected; and that they accept that in the context of the DMA Code that they are normally responsible for any action (including the content of commercial communications) taken on their behalf by their staff, sales agents, agencies, one-to-one marketing suppliers and others.

The issue with data journeys is a recurring one. We have flagged this with the DMA who are looking strategically at the safeguards that might be possible after data and general or very limited consent for its use is given, when it is checked or cleansed and when and how it can be shared with or sold to others for marketing purposes.

May I thank you again for your efforts to highlight a problem in the industry.

Ok, so they didn't rain down fire from above - but it looks like they did a thorough job of investigating. Hopefully it will have put the fear into the responsible companies.

Next up, the Advertising Standards Authority.

I’m sorry to tell you that we are unable to deal with your complaint directly on this occasion because text messages from Paddy Power are sent from their Head Office which is based and registered in Ireland. Our Codes can only be applied to advertisers based in the UK or using a UK platform to advertise; unfortunately, advertisers who are based abroad are under no obligation to act in accordance with the UK Codes of Advertising that we administer.

However, you may be interested to know that we have an agreement with a European-wide (and beyond) alliance of advertising regulators, EASA, and will therefore refer the matter to our counterparts in Ireland for consideration.

Ah, national regulators always seem to have a problem with international businesses! Well, let's see what the ASA Ireland have to say...

The function of the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland is to ensure that advertisers comply with the requirements of the Code of Standards for Advertising, Promotional and Direct Marketing in Ireland and to investigate complaints concerning advertisements that may be considered to be in breach of the Code.

We have reviewed your complaint referred to us by the ASA in the UK. The Code applies to advertisements carried in the media (e.g. press, radio, television, cinema, brochures, direct mail, etc.) and to promotions and promotional material. Our Code does not cover data protection issues. These issues are covered by the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland. The Data Protection Commissioner has responsibility for enforcing legislation which deals with unsolicited marketing. If you wish we can refer your complaint to them directly ...

Ok... being passed from pillar to post here. Nevertheless, I've asked them to refer the complain to the DPC in Ireland.

In the meantime, let's see what the UK's Information Commissioners Office has to say...

I fully appreciate your concern regarding this, especially that you are still receiving the spam after two years.

The emails that you are receiving are covered by regulation 22 of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003(PECR). In regulation 22 of PECR, an organisation cannot transmit, or instigate the transmission of, unsolicited marketing material by electronic mail to an individual subscriber unless they have previously notified them, the sender, that they consent, for the time being, to receiving such communications.

The data protection act 1998(DPA) gives rights to individuals. One of the rights is that an individual can request an organisation to stop using their details for direct marketing, this is covered by section 11 of the DPA. This is known as a section 11 notice. To exercise this right an individual needs to write to an organisation to advise under the DPA they wish for their personal data not to be used for direct marketing. We expect that in normal circumstances electronic communications should stop within 28 days of receiving the notice. If, after a reasonable time, the email do not stop, you are able to enforce your right via a Court of Law, on your own behalf. You can also ask this office to look into the matter.

If an individual wishes to report a concern to the Information Commissioners Office(ICO), the individual must bring the concern to the ICO within 3 months of receiving the final response from the organisation the concern is about.

For us to consider a concern we would need a completed report a concern form, a copy of your letter to the organisation, and their response, (if they have responded), and a copy of any other supporting evidence in relation to the issues you have raised.

sigh OK, time to fill in yet another form!

I hope you appreciate all this hard work, dear reader - I do these things so you don't have to ?

Here's a quick run-down of its features.

HTML5

A fairly miserable score of 268 out of 555 points on http://html5test.com/ The screen is 1280*480 with good visibility. It's slow to scroll and, even with the touchpad controller, a pain to navigate.

User Agent

It reports as this unholy mess. Chrome 15 on Windows XP. Helpful! Oh, the IP address is in Germany because - I presume - that's where BMW's proxy is. Connectivity is provided by Vodafone's 3G network.

Security

The browser kept popping up with this certificate error. I'm not sure if it's the proxy, or the browser which is causing the failure to validate certificates.

Options

There is an options menu. Cookies are blocked by default, there's a flash player! Flash! In the car! I ticked the "sound" option and visited an HTML5 sound test page. MP3 is supported. Impressively, so are Ogg and WebM!

Video

Some HTML5 video is supported - although playback is a bit jerky. Audio support is variable.

So, let's try out YouTube - the biggest video site on the planet!

Well, that's underwhelming. I wonder what is up with the Flash player on this thing.

A quick (slow) visit to Adobe shows us part of the problem -

An ancient Flash version. Which means you can expect to see a lot of things like:

Tabs

One thing that surprised me was the ability to have multiple tabs. Considering how slow the browser is, it's useful to load up a site in one, then read another tab while waiting for it to load.

Open too many tabs (3 in this case) and you get this somewhat confusing error message.

There's no obvious way to close a tab...

You can always go into your history to see what you were reading before the browser flamed out.

Headers and Proxy

A fairly sparse set of headers are sent by the UA.

The proxy is by M-Way Solutions. I'm not sure if it's the proxy, or Vodafone, but there is some severe picture compression going on:

Rendering

For regular web pages, the rendering is competent - if slow. Here's my blog:

CSS rounded corner and webfonts all work.

But there is a glaring omission. The Unicode support from the browser is atrocious. Want to view Emoji? This is what you'll see -

☹

Overall

This is a shitty browser. It's slow - and that's not the fault of the 3G network - rendering takes forever, scrolling is awkward, mouse pointer precision is poor, and has limited support for modern web technologies. Along with the frequent SSL certificate warnings, the UA is probably vulnerable to modern attacks.

If you want to pay £95 per year to browse the web while sat in a motorway service station, I suggest you buy a cheap Android tablet and a PAYG SIM. Browsing will be a lot less frustrating, and you won't have to put up with seeing this error message constantly.

But, apart from that, the i3 is a great car!

That doesn't stop all manner of spammers from adding me to their "circles" - which, in turn, causes an obnoxious little notification bubble.

Ok, so if you have to have a G+ account (for YouTube, location services, or other reasons) - here's how you can make it totally private! No one will be able to add you, send you spammy links, or otherwise annoy you.

You need to visit the "Audience Settings" page - https://plus.google.com/u/0/settings/audience

You can then set a "custom audience" - usually you would use this to restrict your account to people from a specific geographic location, or within a specific age range. In this case, we're going to choose a custom audience of "No-one".

Check the box and hit save. Now, when people try to visit your Google+ profile - they'll see this "restricted" message.

You can visit my G+ Profile if you want to see this working.

NB - content you've previously posted publicly may still be visible.

Dear Google - you "sunsetted" Reader, Latitude, Code, and Glass - it's now time to do the decent thing and put G+ out of its misery.

Where once a dozen-or-so booths greedily gobbled up the loose change of passers-by - there now is a scar.

What's the next thing which will be torn out of the landscape?

Petrol stations are likely to remain - even if just as places to rapidly charge electric vehicles.

Perhaps bus stops vanish as we use crowd-sharing mass-transit efficiently moves us around?

Litter-hunting robots which crawl the streets removing our need for rubbish bins.

Do we need safety barriers and pedestrian crossings? Surely driverless cars will be smart enough not to break the first law of robotics?

Should street-lighting be replaced with personal drones, discreetly following you and gently illuminating your path home?

The future will be strange.