Code-sharing site GitHub automatically sends email notifications to users. If you've commented on an issue, you'll get an email each time there's an update. That's pretty handy. It also allows users to reply by email. The reply is then automatically posted in the issue thread. Also handy. But a little dangerous. Lots of people have email signatures which contain personal details. When these…
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A mysterious woman, with a non-London accent and blonde hair, reached out her hand. She asked me a simple, yet terrifying, question - "Do you want to come on an adventure?" Sadly, Hadley Beeman does not have a TARDIS (Well, as far as any of us can tell...). What she does have is an interesting new job for me. Take a deep breath, because it's a heck of a long title: Senior Technology Advisor…
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Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses. Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner. Oh, but this is a cracking r…
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There's a new bug bounty provider in town! The Belgian company Intigriti. This is a quick write-up of how I found a trivial bug in their own system. The EU has announced that it is providing funding for bug bounties on critical open source projects. They've split the programme between HackerOne and Intigriti. I signed up to Intigriti, and instantly received a confirmation email. Can you…
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I was in need of a new laptop, so I bought a cheap ChromeBook - mostly because Amazon could deliver it the same day. Sadly, the trackpad was broken. Before I sent it back, I thought I'd try using a mouse with it. That's when I discovered that accessibility is very much a second thought for all the young and healthy people Google employ. I have RSI and use a vertical mouse. After decades of…
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Nina does not have a drinking problem. She likes a drink, sure. But what 17-year-old doesn’t? Nina’s mum isn’t so sure. But she’s busy with her new husband and five year old Katie. And Nina’s almost an adult after all. And if Nina sometimes wakes up with little memory of what happened the night before, then her friends are all too happy to fill in the blanks. Nina’s drunken exploits are the stuf…
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I love cosplay. Or, rather, I love the utter joy which leads people to dress up like their favourite characters. This is the story of how I won 2nd prize in a beauty contest for dressing up. It seems to me, there are three ways to find success with cosplay: Be pretty and coat yourself with colourful latex. Spend a lot of time, money, and effort on building/buying an incredible costume. Cheat! …
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Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty - we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess…
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Imagine the scenario. You're trying out some cool new Twitter app. It asks you to sign in via OAuth as per usual. You look through the permissions - phew - it doesn't want to access your Direct Messages. You authorise it - whereupon it promptly leaks to the world all your sexts, inappropriate jokes, and dank memes. Tragic! What's going on? Many years ago the official Twitter API keys were…
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Brand new podcasting from The Two LJs - being TV presenter LJ Rich and artist Leila Johnston. It's a happy mix of tech and snark. Rather than two dull blokes chattering away about which iPhone is fastest, it's two women discussing the week's tech news. And occasionally breaking into song. Take a listen It is a delightful twist on the usual podcast fare. Genuinely joyous, and…
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Glasgow City Council has released a treasure-trove of open data. Nearly one-hundred datasets ranging from Live Traffic Information - to historic climate data. A fantastic boon for researches and open government enthusiasts. But there's a sting in the tail. The majority of the datasets are under the Open Government Licence (OGL). That's basically Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0). …
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A few years ago, I wrote about Google's secret screenshot API - a slightly cumbersome way to take website screenshots for free. There's another service which you may find simpler to use - mShots from WordPress. Here's how it works: Take any website link: https://twitter.com/JennyVass/status/1067855777040338944 URL Encode it: …
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