As I've mentioned, I'm off to Africa. I was wondering what the rates are going to be for roaming. I could get a local SIM - but as I'm only there for a few days, it seems a bit pointless - no one will have the number & I'll lose any credit at the end of the trip. So, how do the various roaming SIMs stack up against my Vodafone SIM? TruPhone's list of prices is very simple Country Make a…
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I spend yesterday wandering around London and, as is my wont, spotted some QR codes which I think may interest readers of this blog. Tracey Emin The Hayward Gallery are having a Tracey Emin retrospective. At the start of the exhibition is this rather odd QR code. Why odd? Three main reasons. It leads directly to a 14MB MP3 file. The code is really quite small considering it's a…
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An online acquaintance of mine, Becky Hogge, has released a book! Barefoot Into Cyberspace tells the story of the "hacker scene" over the tumultuous last few years. Yesterday, Becky released a transcript of her interview with Julian Assange - in it he discusses the News of the World hacking, amongst other things. A fascinating interview which helps set the scene for Becky's book. I've only…
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Summary Twitter's way of linking URLs is broken. It's annoying to users, and a pain in the arse to developers. This quick post talks about the problem and offers a solution. I've raised a bug with Twitter and I hope you'll star it as important to you. (more…) …
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Well, it's official. In a month I'll be flying down to Cape Town, South Africa. Then on to Johannesburg. Then up to Nairobi. Then west to Lagos. Four cities, three countries, two weeks, one massive continent. Africa. I'm flying down with InMobi, my employers (this blog post is personal and doesn't reflect company policy etc). We'll be visiting all the local mobile developers and researchers…
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This is a necropost - resurrected from the now defunct blog of a previous employer. Last night, InMobi attended cdi’s Apps For Good in London. What a wonderful event! Teams of school-children presenting their ideas for apps that could change their world. But this wasn’t just kids showing off drawings of theoretical apps, the Apps For Good course that runs in these schools get participants thi…
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Google Plus has a serious flaw. It's summed up in this question: Why are you following me? I know who I want to share my "I hate my job" posts, and "Oh, my cat is so cute" pictures - but I talk about a wide range of things, not all of which you'll be interested in. At the moment, I've got nearly 150 people following me - and I don't know which circle to put them in! So I asked a simple…
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Yes, yes, yes, the title is linkbait - but it's not inaccurate. Let me explain.... I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Linux user. All my machines run some variant of Linux, usually Ubuntu. So, when a new client asked me to to use Windows XP I nearly quit on the spot! But, after a week of using the ageing OS, it strikes me there are a number of things that XP does better than Ubuntu. I was able to…
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I spotted this poster today, encouraging people to search for the Twitter hashtag "#Transformers". Wouldn't it make sense to use a QR code as well? That way people could quickly scan, and be taken straight to the discussion, rather than have to fire up Twitter and do a manual search. As it happens, it's slightly tricky to make a QR code which searches for a Twitter hashtag. There are two…
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I've written before about Dabr, the Twitter client I code for. Dabr helps people around the world and is used by some of Twitter's most influential users. Today, I am pleased to announce that Chinese artist, political prisoner, and sower of porcelain sunflower seed, Ai Weiwei uses dabr! On last night's Newsnight, as part of a package on Ai Weiwei's release, they showed him using Twitter. …
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What happens to your social media profile when you change jobs? Recently, the BBC's Laura Kunessberg announced she was heading off to ITV. Laura Kuenssberg@ITVLauraKAs you've discovered I will become @ITVLauraK in September! Thanks for all the lovely tweets - Back in Westminster tomorrow❤️ 2💬 86🔁 013:31 - Wed 22 June 2011 Which got me wondering. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentWhy doesn't @b…
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Four months ago, I wrote to Waterstones about an error in an eBook I purchased from them. I've finally received a reply... Dear Terence, Some time ago you contacted us regarding the following eBook title, "One of Our Thursdays is Missing (eBook): Thursday Next Series, Book 6" (ISBN: 9781444713039). We have had our eBook supplier investigate the content issue of this eBook title in conjunction…
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