While visiting the USA, I came across a delightfully bizarre TV show - Doomsday Preppers. For those who don't know, this pseudo-documentary follows the lives of certain... eccentric... families who believe that the end of civilization is coming and they better get busy preparing for that eventuality. Whereas you and I might keep a bit of spare cash hidden away, along with some out-of-date cans…
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I have discovered another security flaw in Samsung Android phones. It is possible to completely disable the lock screen and get access to any app - even when the phone is "securely" locked with a pattern, PIN, password, or face detection. Unlike another recently released flaw, this doesn't rely quite so heavily on ultra-precise timing. Video. Of course, if you are unable to download a…
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Surrey County Council have sent every household in the county a booklet explaining how our council tax is being spent. Within it is a highly political comment from Kevin Hurley, the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner. He presents a pie chart showing how the police force spend its money. Take a look at it and ask yourself this question: what percentage is spent on "Employees". …
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Way back in 2010, I got a pair of video recording sunglasses. I've been occasionally using them to "lifelog" what I'm doing. With the advent of Google's Project Glass, I thought it would be interesting to wear them to a fairly techy event - Not At SXSW London - to see what the reaction would be. Here are my findings. Caveats These are not Google Glasses. These are £15 DVR Sunglasses. They …
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It's been four years since I got a .tel domain. Way back then, I wasn't that keen on the idea - I thought the implementation was iffy and the design pretty naff. Since then, the site has got easier to use and now looks a lot better - especially on mobile. When http://edent.tel/ came up for renewal last year, I decided to add Google Analytics to it so I could see if it was useful. So, at the …
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My new commute involves a lot of driving, which means I've started listening to podcasts again. One of my favourite mobile related podcasts is The Voicemail - it's a quick half hour chat between two mobile industry experts; Stefan Constantinescu and James Whatley. Stefan has been travelling for the last few weeks, so James has been co-hosting with guests. I've never recorded a podcast before,…
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A little post as an aide-mémoire. I've found a lovely set of SVG playing cards. The only problem is each image is displayed within a page. This means the relatively small cards have an enormous white margin. Within Inkscape (the vector image editor for Linux) it's possible to crop the margins by going to: "File → Document Properties → Resize Page To Content → Resize page to Drawing or Select…
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After 10 years of sitting around dodging all forms of physical activity, I've finally unlocked an achievement in a real life sport! It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I am not a particularly sporty person. Actually, that's an understatement; I loath sport. Somehow my mind has used this psychological flaw to traduce any form of exercise. Getting sweaty is not for me. But,…
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Here's a rather nifty security flaw I discovered on Samsung's Android 4.1.2. It allows you - in limited circumstances - to run apps and dial numbers even when the device is locked. Video: This attack works against Pattern Lock, PIN, Password, and Face Unlock. There is no way to secure your phone against your home screen being accessed. Notes HOWTO Lock the device with a "secure"…
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I haven't been to an unconference in ages - so it was nice to get back into the swing of things with LibraryCamp. It was a delight to spend time with a collection of committed professionals doing amazing things with books. As requested, I recorded all the sessions I could. Here are my notes, and the audio from each session I attended. I've based some of the information from the excellent…
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I've recently learned of the "Pottermore Affiliate" scheme. You may have already started seeing banners around the web directing you to visit Pottermore - the official Harry Potter shop - where you can buy eBooks and audiobooks. Click on one of the banners and the site owner will get a 4% commission on anything you buy. That works out to be £1.55 if you buy the complete collection of ebooks …
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The latest version of the Chrome Browser for Android has introduced a curious rendering bug. When scrolling, I notice that the font hinting seems to break down. This makes the text very "juddery". It looks like the fonts shrink and grow and they scroll. This is very disorienting when reading. In this example I've noticed that once I've stopped scrolled the page, the fonts are hinted…
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