I checked dozens of broken iCalendar invites using this iCal validator and they all had the same problem: "Missing DTSTAMP property".

Here's a typical broken file:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:abcdef-ghij-klmn-opqrs-tuvwxyz
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20260713T093000Z
DTEND:20260713T103000Z
SUMMARY:Your Delivery (Order 123456789)
UID:83c510fa-1be4-48a2-8338-c5a2350ba6e5
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

If you read the specification or follow the flowchart you'll see:

Property Name: DTSTAMP

Conformance: This property MUST be included in the "VEVENT", "VTODO", "VJOURNAL", or "VFREEBUSY" calendar components.

Adding that to the above produces:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:abcdef-ghij-klmn-opqrs-tuvwxyz
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260713T093000Z
DTSTART:20260713T093000Z
DTEND:20260713T103000Z
SUMMARY:Your Delivery (Order 123456789)
UID:83c510fa-1be4-48a2-8338-c5a2350ba6e5
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

You can download them both to see if they work on your Android phone.

• Broken calendar invite
• Working calendar invite

That's all it takes! Add the missing DTSTAMP to broken files and Google Calendar is able to import them.

From my (unscientific) testing, the broken file works on all iOS devices and some Android calendars - but always breaks on Google's Calendar.

Post by @Edent@mastodon.social

View on Mastodon

The iCal specification is reasonably old, but it is fairly simple to understand. Annoyingly, Google's documentation about iCal is frustratingly vague. It says:

This is what an iCalendar file looks like. An iCalendar file can also have more information, but these are the parts that are required.

BEGIN:VCALENDAR

VERSION:2.0

PRODID:< [enter ID information here] >

BEGIN:VEVENT

(event details)

END:VEVENT

END:VCALENDAR

But it never actually describes what those "event details" are!

Is the spec needlessly verbose? Perhaps. Should Google Calendar be a bit more forgiving in what it receives? Probably!

There's no meaningful way to report a bug to Google's product teams. Instead, I've taken to emailing the organisations sending out these broken invites and pleading with them to fix their systems.

Computers, eh?

After several volunteer shifts over the years, I also decided to be utterly selfish and do none this year. Again, rather nice being on the customer side of the bar without worrying that I'd cocked up someone's order.

Similarly, I had thought about doing an art "thing" or building something for the badge. In the end all I did was ask my friend Skylar to set up a shortcode so people could ring 26262 (BNANA) for an audio surprise.

To be clear - you should absolutely propose a talk, pitch an installation, and volunteer. It's a great way of experiencing the festival and giving back. But I was exhausted after a 6,379 Km Interrail journey and, frankly, wanted a change of pace.

Everyone has a different EMF. I mostly went to talks and looked at cool art. Some people were focussed on playing all the games. Some gorgeous people were just there to strut about in their amazing costumes. A few people delighted in showing off all their cool toys. It really is about seven festivals in one. I'm still bemused by some of the things - I've no idea what a challenge coin is, I'm hazy about how the various puzzles work, I didn't know about the cool musicians until it was too late.

Still, I came away physically exhausted and mentally refreshed - so a success!

What Worked

• We took our Walkie Talkies. So much easier to use Push-To-Talk rather than hoping a text was seen. Worked all the way across the field.
• I took lots of Thermal Images - and people seemed to like them!
• Handed out a million stickers for OpenBenches - and met several people who'd used and enjoyed the site.
• I hired an electric van to lug our stuff. It was quick and easy to charge on the way up and back. Much more relaxing to drive than our enormous camper from last time.

What Almost Worked

• We got an inflatable tent so we didn't have to faff too much putting it up. In the end we needed a bit of help (thanks Lucy and Parker). The tent was an excellent size. The blackout stuff kept us reasonably cool and there was good airflow. But, fuck me, sleeping on an airbed in a tent in a heatwave just isn't my scene!
• Similarly, dragging our stuff from the car park to our village was a slog. Damien from Hacky Racers gave our kit a lift using his Ghost Rider go-kart which saved my aching back.
• The queue for the showers was a bit long - our village members sent back regular queue updates. Once I got in, it was pretty decent. Obviously I felt time pressure to clean up quickly, but the water pressure was decent and there was enough space to hang my pants without getting them soaked. Of course, I dropped my t-shirt into a puddle because I'm incompetent!
• It was hard to meet everyone I said I'd see there. I kept getting distracted - sorry if we were due to chat!

What Didn't Work

Some of these are no-one's fault, just circumstances. Others are just not the way I'd have done things.

• One of the food stalls served the worst veggie burger I've ever had. No sauce, no veg, no condiments or pickles. Just a bun tasting of sadness. Bleh. Rest of the food was decent for a festival.
• Given the heat it was unfortunate that the water pressure was so iffy. There was plenty to drink, but it trickled out slowly at times. Other festivals regularly water the paths to prevent so much dust from being kicked up. That might have helped here.
• I'm terrible at remembering people's names - especially if I only met them once a few years ago, or they're dressed as a Furry. As much as I love the EMF badge, I wish it were smaller, lighter, and mandatory for people to wear it in a prominent position. Ideally their forehead.
• There's a general lack of signage at EMF. The webmap was useful - but a few wayfinding posts would have helped me and others.
• It is loud. Some of the music overwhelmed the people who were speaking on stage. I guess it is hard to put soundproofing in a tent 😆

2028?

I'm still on the fence about going next time. Not because of anything the organisers did or didn't do. I just can't stand camping in an actual tent. Small camper vans are frustrating to live out of - even for a long weekend. A big mobile home is a pain in the arse to drive. Perhaps I need a glamping yurt? Or someone to chauffeur me in a tour bus?

In short, wandering in the dark and tripping over guy ropes when I'm desperate for a piss isn't the way I like to spend my time!

I'm also conscious that events like these rely on a steady stream of new blood. Having attended three in person and one remotely, I'm aware that I'm taking up space which could go to someone who would have their mind blown by the delightful madness contained in that field.

Previous years have allowed people to get a guaranteed ticket in exchange for one volunteer shift. This year you needed two shifts. I think that's a great way to diversify the festival and stop it just becoming the same faces over-and-over again.

I know that if I don't go I'll suffer from intense FOMO and will vicariously follow all the social media posts. But I don't know if that will outweigh smelling like a rancid turnip and getting stressed that the queue for the loo will be unbearable.

Let's see what the next two years brings, eh?

Photos

Anyway, here are a few of my favourite photos. Click through to see some more on Mastodon.

@Edent@mastodon.social

Terence Eden

Oh no…
#EMFcamp

---

@Edent@mastodon.social

Terence Eden

Pretty much accurate reflection of my Null Sector experience.
#EMFCamp

---

@Edent@mastodon.social

Terence Eden

I'm stuck in the composting toilets with no paper 😕
Anyone know how I use these?
#EMFCamp

---

@Edent@mastodon.social

Terence Eden

Daleks are friends, not foes!
#EMFcamp

---

@Edent@mastodon.social

Terence Eden

ALL HAIL THE BLOB ™️ It does not hurt when the proboscis descends into the brain matter. Get your blob today!
#EMFcamp

---

@Edent@mastodon.social

Terence Eden

You can use a thermal camera to see how full the #EMFCamp poo tanks are 💩

---

It is wild just how confusing and complex buying a ticket can be. While some cities obviously take a user-centred approach to ticketing, others appear to take a Kafkaesque delight in a bureaucratic maze of zones, apps, and intricate restrictions.

One of the seminal texts in computer systems design is "Don't Make Me Think". Every time a service forces the user into making a decision, it is placing a cognitive burden on them. Computers' jobs are to make things easier for us fleshy meatbags.

There are some intractable problems with navigating unfamiliar spaces (looking at you Kyoto Station!) and a transport authority can't publish signs and make announcements in every conceivable language, but there's one thing they can control - ticketing.

Let me take you through some of the public transport ticket experiences I had - and explain how easy or hard they were to use.

Basel, Switzerland - free

Upon checking in to our hotel I was given a free Basel Card. It entitled me to free public transport across the city.

Zero extra cost. I didn't have to remember to take a physical card with me - the details were emailed as a PDF directly from the hotel on check-in.

I didn't have to show the bus driver when I entered a tram. If a ticket inspector was present, they could have asked to scan it.

This is close to the platonic ideal of "Don't Make Me Think" public transport. I didn't have to work out zones, fares, or timings. I didn't need to interact with people or machines. I didn't worry that I was somehow doing it wrong and was going to get shouted at.

Milano, Italy - contactless

I tapped my credit card on the reader. Whether it was a bus, tram, or metro the process was the same. Tap, wait a few milliseconds, beep. On the metro the gates opened automatically. On the tram, I just sat down after the beep.

The fares have a bit of complexity based on how frequently you travel. If you catch another bus within 90 minutes it only counts as one fare.

I didn't care because the daily price was capped.

Once I'd taken a few journeys it wasn't going to cost me any more. With a fee-free credit card it was simplicity itself.

If I had been on an extremely tight budget, I might have done some thinking - but as the daily cap was less than the price of a cocktail, I didn't bother.

Warsaw - paper ticket validation

I walked up to a touchscreen kiosk, selected the 🇬🇧 flag, and bought a 3 day paper ticket for a few € using contactless. The machine spat out a small paper ticket.

I hopped onto a tram, shoved the ticket in a slot and the machine printed a timestamp on it. Well, in theory. It didn't work the first few times for inscrutable reasons.

From then on, I didn't have to do anything. I jumped on whatever public transport I wanted. Only once did a ticket inspector come round demanding to see everyone's proof of validity.

The ticket was a slightly inconvenient size for my wallet - being much smaller than a credit card - and I think the kiosk should have validated it automatically. But, for general transport purposes, it was great at not forcing me to think.

Tallinn - scan the app

Install an app, choose ticket type, pay, done.

Every time I entered public transport, open the app, click the ticket, wave the resultant QR over a scanner.

Obviously choosing a ticket type is a little thinky. Do I want a single ticket, a day pass, something longer?

I'm not averse to installing an app when necessary. Thankfully, this transit app worked on GrapheneOS. There was an optional registration step which I skipped because I was unlikely to come back any time soon.

Riga - scan the bus

OK, this was just weird!

Much like above, install app, choose ticket, pay.

Despite buying an all-you-can-eat ticket, I still had to register on every bus/tram I got on. That meant hopping on, finding a QR code, opening the app, and trying to scan it while the driver attempted a new land-speed record.

Melbourne - annoying

We wanted to visit a mate in the suburbs of Melbs. For this we needed to buy a plastic card. We then needed to load it up with (I think) multiples of $5. Our return fare was about $7.50. So our actual journey cost something like double what the fare was.

There was no obvious way to get a refund for the credit amount, nor for the cards. So we gave them to a friend to distribute to any other tourists she hosted.

Paris - ridiculous

Fuck Paris. The only way to buy a metro ticket is to download an app. Fair enough. But, after downloading the app it tells you to install another app!

What the actual fuck? A convoluted, messy, and frustrating situation which has resulted in awful reviews for them.

Trains and metro travel require separate tickets at different prices. You can't easily hop from one to another. You need to think carefully about the route you're taking. A more convoluted route may be significantly cheaper because it doesn't involve swapping between services.

Madness!

The ticket readers use your phone's NFC chip to validate. So there's no technical reason why they can't just use contactless payment cards.

To be fair, change is coming… in 2030!

Japan

Last year we took a trip to Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Kyoto. We picked up a physical Suica card (because the digital one only works with iPhone). We topped up the card with cash (which was a bit of a pain). An annoying start - but from then on it was seamless. The same card worked on trains, busses, and trams in all the cities we visited! Brilliant! We didn't need to think at all. Compare that to Germany where every city has its own special app and it was always a pain to remember which one to open.

I understand that Japan's public transport system now accepts foreign contactless cards - which should make things easier for travellers.

So what's best?

In an ideal world, all public transport would be free and plentiful. In our less-than-ideal reality, it seems obvious to me that public transport should above all be simple.

Tourists don't want to grapple with the complexities of zones, split tickets, random charges, and a different app for each city.

Regular travellers don't want yet another piece of plastic tat in their wallets, or to work out in advance what precise combination of journeys they need to take in order to optimise their spending.

One app is fine. Having to install a different app for each city you visit - even within the same country! - is infuriating.

Visitors should not have to think about how, where, when, or why they need to validate their tickets. Nor should anyone need to figure out which modes of transport are inclusive or not.

For the casual visitor, contactless payment with a daily / weekly cap is the simplest possible charging mechanism. It's cheaper for the cities to not have to build, develop, and support apps.

If you've come across a better public transport ticketing system - please let me know in the comments.

I couldn't find anyone who'd made a QR code with an embedded UPC - so I decided to make one.

If you move your phone close to the code (so it can't see the squares in the corners) it should read the number in the 1D barcode. Zoom out and it'll read the URl in the QR code.

The QR code has a high level of error correction - which allows graphics to be placed within it, as I discussed in 2010.

The UPC has some whitespace padding around its edges - which makes it easier for some scanners to find, although not all scanners seem to accept it.

Is this in any way useful or desirable? I doubt it! I guess most point-of-sale barcode scanners are somewhat regularly updated - so they should all have the ability to scan newer codes. The embedded code destroys some of the error correction, thus making the QR code more fragile. It isn't a good idea.

Still, nice to fiddle about with something, eh?

You may also enjoy:

• A Recursive QR Code.
• Why are QR Codes with capital letters smaller than QR codes with lower-case letters?
• Or see all my posts about QR Codes since 2007!

Here's a trivial example:

<svg height="100" viewBox="0 0 100 100" width="100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
   <circle cx="50" cy="50"  fill="#f00" r="50"/>
</svg>

That code produces this circle:

You could print that out with a kilometre radius and it would still be a perfect circle - unlike a traditional raster image which is just a grid of blocky pixels.

But suppose you wanted to freely share your SVG with others - and ensure that they also freely share it. What sort of "Copyleft" licence would you give it?

Creative Commons

The obvious choice seems to be a Creative Commons Share-Alike licence. SVGs are images. Images are creative works. Creative Commons is suitable for creative works. Job done!

But…

SVGs are not images. The are code which produce images. If we assume that an SVG is software, this entry in the FAQ becomes relevant:

Can I apply a Creative Commons license to software?

We recommend against using Creative Commons licenses for software.

[…]

Unlike software-specific licenses, CC licenses do not contain specific terms about the distribution of source code, which is often important to ensuring the free reuse and modifiability of software.

[…]

Additionally, our licenses are currently not compatible with the major software licenses, so it would be difficult to integrate CC-licensed work with other free software. Existing software licenses were designed specifically for use with software and offer a similar set of rights to the Creative Commons licenses.

At the end of that FAQ, they also say:

While we recommend against using a CC license on software itself, CC licenses may be used for software documentation, as well as for separate artistic elements such as game art or music.

So, that's a perhaps?

GPL

But let us assume that an SVG is a piece of media rather than software. Would it be suitable to use a software licence for it?

The various Gnu Public Licences have this to say:

Can I use the GPL for something other than software?

You can apply the GPL to any kind of work, as long as it is clear what constitutes the “source code” for the work. The GPL defines this as the preferred form of the work for making changes in it.

A photo JPEG might be derived from the RAW image file. In which case, the RAW is suitable for being GPL'd, not the resultant JPEG.

Similarly, the Photoshop file of a complex and multi-layered illustration would suitable, but not the outputted PNG.

An SVG can straddle both worlds. It's possible to build an SVG with layers, groups, and transformations, and then simplify it for output. You could edit the optimised version, but it's hardly the preferred format.

I read the GPL (so you don't have to) and right at the start it says:

The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works.

(Emphasis added.)

But do they mean that?

Licenses for Other Types of Works

[…]

We don't take the position that artistic or entertainment works must be free, but if you want to make one free, we recommend the Free Art License.

But, as delightful as the Free Art License is, the FSF say:

Please don't use it for software or documentation, since it is incompatible with the GNU GPL and with the GNU FDL.

Is an SVG software or not?

I think so.

• It's written in plain text.
• It contains definitions, variables, and instructions.
• It can contain scripting.

That sure looks like software to me!

But, at the same time, the user experiences it as a graphic. An animated GIF, for example, contains a small amount of code-like data to say how long each frame should last for and when to stop running. Is a GIF software? Is the basic circle above software? How much code do you need before something becomes software?

Are SVGs Libraries?

Licences like the LGPL and MPL allow copyleft libraries to be integrated into non-free software.

A proprietary application could treat an SVG as a library by asking the SVG to render the output and then displaying that. A bit of a reach, perhaps?

What about embedded raster graphics?

Just to complicate things, an SVG can also contain raster graphics. That is, it is possible to embed a PNG, JPEG, or any other traditional image within an SVG.

In this case, the embedded image can be Creative Commons licenced because CC BY-SA is compatible with GPLv3.

When someone creates an adaptation of a BY-SA licensed work and includes it in a GPLv3-licensed project, both licenses apply and downstream users must comply with both licenses. However, Section 2(a)(5)(B) of BY-SA 4.0 allows anyone who receives the adapted material downstream to satisfy the conditions of both BY-SA and GPLv3 (i.e. attribution and ShareAlike) in the manner dictated by the GPLv3.

(Emphasis added.)

The barest of SVGs containing only an embedded image probably wouldn't count as software. But what if you started applying programmatic transformations to them? This SVG embeds an image and uses software to rotate it upside down.

<svg version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" width="64" height="64">
  <image x="0" y="0" width="64" height="64"
    transform="rotate(180)"
    href="data:image/png;base64,iVB…" />
</svg>

Is that enough code to count as software?

Wisdom of the Crowds

I conducted a rigorously accurate public survey. Here are the results:

@Edent@mastodon.social

Terence Eden

An SVG is an image.
It is also executable code.

If you wished to make an SVG open, would you choose a Creative Commons licence or an Open Software licence?

---

Obviously CC licence, because…: (62)
62
Duh! It needs an OSI licence, because…: (5)
5
You're both wrong, it should be…: (3)
3
Either is fine.: (35)
35

---

Final Thoughts

Personally, I think SVGs are software. I understand the argument that they're suitable for Creative Commons, but I disagree with it. Even the simplest SVG is distributed in a way that its contents are executed by the computer.

While SVGs may be minified and stripped of comments, they still retain the essence of source code. I suppose you could try to obfuscate them, or package them up in a quasi-binary form, but I maintain the source is still viewable and editable.

If you choose to use a Creative Commons Share-Alike licence, it probably won't cause any harm. But given CC's reluctance to endorse its use on software, it probably makes sense to use a copyleft source-code licence.

I like sharing my location with my pocket friends sometimes. If I'm in a cool bar that they know, perhaps they can recommend a drink. If they live nearby, maybe they want to come for dinner. Not everyone has FourSquare's SwarmApp, so it is handy to automatically share its updates with other people.

Of course, Swarm doesn't cross-post to social media because walled-gardens are the most profitable. This is my attempt to open it back up again.

Here's what they look like on BlueSky and Mastodon:

Checked in to Hamburger Fischmarkt, Große Elbstr. 9 (Fischmarkt), Germany Probably a *bit* early for a breakfast beer. See on Swarm

[image or embed]

— Terence Eden (@edent.tel) 24 May 2026 at 07:45

Post by @Edent@mastodon.social

View on Mastodon

tl;dr

You can get the SwarmToSocial code from my GitLab.

At the moment, developers get 10,000 API calls for free each month. That's probably more than enough for most personal uses.

Documentation

I was pleasantly surprised that FourSquare's CheckIn documentation was fairly easy to use and understand.

Once you've signed up for a developer account you can create an OAuth app. That will generate a Client ID (ABC123), Client Secret (XYZ789), and you supply a Project URL.

Once done you can follow the Authentication documentation. Or just visit:

https://foursquare.com/oauth2/authenticate?
   client_id=ABC123
  &response_type=code
  &redirect_uri=https://example.com/

Sign in with your FourSquare account. It will redirect you to:

https://example.com/?code=456QWE

Use that code to construct the final URl:

https://foursquare.com/oauth2/access_token?
   client_id=ABC123
  &client_secret=XYZ789
  &grant_type=authorization_code
  &redirect_uri=http://example.com/
  &code=456QWE

That will respond with the Access Token:

{
   "access_token":"asdfghjkl123456"
}

Hurrah! Posting a new checkin is relatively simple. POST to this URl with a header of accept: application/json

https://api.foursquare.com/v2/checkins/add?
   v=20260223
  &venueId=13600425
  &shout=This%20is%20a%20test
  &oauth_token=asdfghjkl123456

• v is, rather confusingly, a date. The versioning documentation has more details but, basically, set it to the date you deployed your app.
• venuId you'll need to find yourself (more on that later).
• shout is up to 140 characters (!) of URl encoded text.

That will send back rather a lot of JSON. Here are the important bits:

{
  "meta": {
    "code": 200,
    "requestId": "123456789"
  },
  "response": {
    "checkin": {
      "id": "987654321",
      "createdAt": 1771843820,
      "type": "checkin",
      "visibility": "closeFriends",
      "shout": "This is a test of the API",
      "timeZoneOffset": -300,
      "editableUntil": 1771930220000,
      "user": {
        "id": "56367",
        "firstName": "Terence",
        "lastName": "Eden",
        "relationship": "self",
        "displayName": "Terence Eden"
      },
      "venue": {
        "id": "QWERTYUIOP",
        "name": "My Birthday Party!",
        "contact": {},
        "location": {
          "isFuzzed": true,
          "lat": 39.123456789,
          "lng": -84.987654321,
          "cc": "US",
          "city": "Cincinnati",
          "state": "KY",
          "country": "United States",
          "formattedAddress": [
            "Cincinnati, KY",
            "United States"
          ]
        }
      },
      "checkinShortUrl": "https://swarmapp.com/user/56367/checkin/987654321?s=wRZ7ByNfCW1DNrOIpsRcytPZelE"
    }
  }
}

For my purposes, the shout and checkinShortUrl are the most important. You can view a sample check in:

https://swarmapp.com/user/56367/checkin/699c34b55bad6b7fb1695544?s=LA7jCaAtH-s9CwSpgQrQdHrP5-8

Venue ID

If you're already using a service like Untappd you might be able to get the venue ID from that.

If not, FourSquare provides 100 million points of interest for free - although with questionable data quality.

Alternatively, you can search by location:

curl --request GET \
     --url 'https://places-api.foursquare.com/places/search?ll=51.123%2C0.123&radius=1000&sort=POPULARITY' \
     --header 'X-Places-Api-Version: 2025-06-17' \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer ABC123'

As far as I can see, the Bearer Token only exists on the documentation page. I couldn't find it in my developer console. Weird!

That gets you back:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "fsq_place_id": "4be584ed2457a593ad8cab15",
      "latitude": 51.11783041264215,
      "longitude": 0.11219274871133413,
      "categories": [
        {
          "fsq_category_id": "4bf58dd8d48988d1fa941735",
          "name": "Farmers Market",
          "short_name": "Farmers Market",
          "plural_name": "Farmers Markets",
          "icon": {
            "prefix": "https://ss3.4sqi.net/img/categories_v2/shops/food_farmersmarket_",
            "suffix": ".png"
          }
        }
      ],
      "date_created": "2010-05-08",
      "date_refreshed": "2025-11-01",
      "distance": 970,
      "extended_location": {},
      "link": "/places/4be584ed2457a593ad8cab15",
      "location": {
        "address": "",
        "locality": "Hartfield",
        "region": "East Sussex",
        "postcode": "",
        "admin_region": "England",
        "country": "GB",
        "formatted_address": "Hartfield, East Sussex"
      },
      "name": "Perryhill Farm Shop",
      "placemaker_url": "https://foursquare.com/placemakers/review-place/4be584ed2457a593ad8cab15",
      "related_places": {},
      "social_media": {
        "twitter": ""
      },
      "tel": "",
      "website": "http://www.perryhillorchards.co.uk/index.php?sec=4"
    },
    {
      "fsq_place_id": "8896f77565e54a658585301d",
      "latitude": 51.11649,
      "longitude": 0.13131,
      "categories": [],
      "date_created": "2021-12-06",
      "date_refreshed": "2021-12-06",
      "distance": 909,
      "extended_location": {},
      "link": "/places/8896f77565e54a658585301d",
      "location": {
        "address": "Priory Park, Beech Green Lane",
        "locality": "Withyham",
        "region": "East Sussex",
        "postcode": "TN7 4DB",
        "admin_region": "England",
        "post_town": "Hartfield",
        "country": "GB",
        "formatted_address": "Priory Park, Beech Green Lane, Withyham, East Sussex, TN7 4DB"
      },
      "name": "Spectra Studios",
      "placemaker_url": "https://foursquare.com/placemakers/review-place/8896f77565e54a658585301d",
      "related_places": {},
      "social_media": {},
      "tel": "01892 487149"
    },
  ],
  "context": {
    "geo_bounds": {
      "circle": {
        "center": {
          "latitude": 51.123,
          "longitude": 0.1234
        },
        "radius": 1000
      }
    }
  }
}

You can manually check a place using the Placemaker site: https://foursquare.com/placemakers/review-place/64eca80f0398c97ab52298ec

Getting Existing Checkins

What if you've checked in to a place using the official Swarm app? How do you get your own recent checkin data?

Again, there is documentation on getting user checkins.

curl --request GET \
     --url 'https://api.foursquare.com/v2/users/self/checkins?v=20260223&limit=2&offset=0&oauth_token=asdfghjkl123456' \
     --header 'accept: application/json'

Where it says oauth_token it actually means the access_token.

The JSON that is returned is a bit verbose, so I've simplified it here:

{
  "meta": {
    "code": 200,
    "requestId": "699c6505b488565a31e315e3"
  },
  "response": {
    "checkins": {
      "count": 2344,
      "items": [
        {
          "id": "699c34b55bad6b7fb1695544",
          "createdAt": 1771844789,
          "type": "checkin",
          "visibility": "closeFriends",
          "entities": [],
          "shout": "Testing the API using an Untappd FourSquare ID.",
          "timeZoneOffset": 0,
          "editableUntil": 1771931189000,
          "venue": {
            "id": "64eca80f0398c97ab52298ec",
            "name": "Abbey Wood Fossil Pit",
            "contact": {},
            "location": {
              "lat": 51.487514,
              "lng": 0.13048041,
              "postalCode": "SE2 0AX",
              "cc": "GB",
              "country": "United Kingdom",
              "formattedAddress": [
                "SE2 0AX"
              ]
            },
            "createdAt": 1693231119
          },
        },

Annoyingly, there's no checkinShortUrl which means it can't easily be shared.

For that, you'll need to use the get-checkin-details API:

curl --request GET \
     --url 'https://api.foursquare.com/v2/checkins/699c34b55bad6b7fb1695544?v=20250202&oauth_token=asdfghjkl123456' \
     --header 'accept: application/json'

Which will return this (truncated for brevity):

{
  "meta": {
    "code": 200,
    "requestId": "699c67de5f5c0a0e8ab234db"
  },
  "response": {
    "checkin": {
      "id": "699c34b55bad6b7fb1695544",
      "createdAt": 1771844789,
      "type": "checkin",
      "shout": "Testing the API using an Untappd FourSquare ID.",
      "timeZoneOffset": 0,
      "checkinShortUrl": "https://swarmapp.com/user/56367/checkin/699c34b55bad6b7fb1695544?s=LA7jCaAtH-s9CwSpgQrQdHrP5-8",

Photos

If there's a photo with the checkin, it will be return in the JSON like this:

{
  "response": {
    "checkin": {
      "photos": {
        "count": 1,
        "items": [
          {
            "id": "699f3a9f96799c05c0f16c9c",
            "createdAt": 1772042911,
            "prefix": "https://fastly.4sqi.net/img/general/",
            "suffix": "/56367_5VYox4Y-hs66wURVsYc1NLgOokfwBfcWhtKQrOlMdD8.jpg",
            "width": 1008,
            "height": 1344,

The URl for the image is prefix width x height suffix - in this case https://fastly.4sqi.net/img/general/1008x1344/56367_5VYox4Y-hs66wURVsYc1NLgOokfwBfcWhtKQrOlMdD8.jpg

You can adjust the width and height if you want a thumbnail or some other resolution.

If there's no photo, the count will be 0.

Putting it all together

Every 15 minutes, the SwarmToSocial code does the following:

1. Get the most recent checkin.
2. Read a local file to get the previously seen checkin ID.
3. If the checkin ID hasn't been seen before:
   1. Get the checkin details.
   2. Get the photo if it exists
   3. Post the checkin (plus photo) to Mastodon & BlueSky.
   4. Save the checkin ID to a file.

Enjoy!

I've had this idea stuck in my head for a while, so I decided to make it.

This is "Scan Slowly And See".

The code is made by cloning some of the banana's spots. Do let me know if the QR code works for you 🍌

Mark-Anthony Turnage's "Three Screaming Popes" was a chaotic cacophony. Wild, bizarre, inventive, and seemingly driven by excess. A fascinating performance, although not one I'll put on in the background. Turnage himself took to the stage to bask in the applause.

Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 1. Reading the story behind the composition made the performance by soloist Alina Ibragimova even more terrifying than it might have otherwise been. The sounds emanating from her violin were somewhere between a tantrum and flirtatious coquette. Stunning to see her tear up the stage.

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Outstanding. Hearing a 100 piece orchestra power through the score was exhilarating. It is such a vivid piece. There's no other way to describe it - each movement is distinct and full of character. One of those rare pieces where you can feel the music worming its way into your brain.

You can listen to the concert on BBC Radio 3.

Pre- and Post-Show

I've written before about The art of the Pre-Show and Post-Show. Venues and shows have multiple ways to make an event special for an audience.

This concert did some things really well. For a start - the programme was free! I wish the West End was a bit more like Broadway with a free "Playbill" at every show. Even better, the programme was actually useful! Some nice blurbs about the performers and the pieces.

I particularly liked this little snippet:

How wonderful! It's always someone's first time at an orchestral concert. More programmes should have these little comfort notes.

Other than that, there wasn't much. There was no interaction between the conductor and audience, which felt a little odd. The programme had a QR code to a 31(!) point questionnaire. I'm not sure how many people would be bothered to complete that.

Royal Festival Hall is a delight - plenty of space, multiple bars, lots of seating areas, and a larger number of spacious & clean toilets. An excellent venue.

People told me that it was impossible to be veggie in Japan. That was nonsense. I wouldn't say it was easy, but it was possible with a little bit of planning.

First, the good news! I found loads of fully veggie restaurants in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and Hiroshima. If you and your travelling companions are happy to be veggie all the time, you'll be fine.

All the larger convenience stores had some veggie options. Usually cut vegetables, or potato crisps, or egg-salad sandwiches. Some of them had tofu sushi and the like.

You aren't going to be able to wander into any random restaurant and get a veggie feast (although you'll probably find edamame everywhere!) but you can find omni-places which do decent veggie-friendly fare. Even street-food markets usually had at least one suitable offering. I had flame-grilled bamboo, tornado potatoes, local cakes, and a few other tasty treats as we strolled along. Google Translate goes a long way if you want to make certain.

Now the bad news. How much plausible deniability do you want in your life? Almost nothing in supermarkets or restaurants has the ⓥ symbol or similar on it. In Europe you'll find it everywhere, here you'll have to point your phone at the menu and trust the AI to translate correctly.

Bonito (fish-flakes) is everywhere. It is added as flavouring much like the West adds salt and sugar. It often goes unlabelled. Even at a restaurant specialising in tofu, I was served a little dish of bonito - thankfully on the side. It's up to you how much you care about this. I took the pragmatic decision that if there weren't great big lumps of flesh in my food then I was going to let it slide.

I ordered the special Vegan Ramen in one place. It was made with a different soup base to the meaty one (as confirmed by my omniwife) but it did also have a boiled egg in it!

As I've mentioned before, there are no Vegan Morality Police. You can be as flexible as you like with your diet and you won't be sent to hell. Which is lucky, because you might need a fair bit of flexibility in Japan!

There are various campaigns in Japan to raise awareness of veggie issues - including better labelling of food. But, for now, you may have to go with the flow.

A few apps make things easier:

• Google Translate is good - but not flawless.
• Payke is a shopping app with a built in barcode scanner. Zap something in a shop and it will probably tell you the ingredients in English. The app - like many in Japan - isn't attuned to Western ideas of usability, but it mostly works.
• HappyCow is essential. It lists veggie restaurants and omni restaurants with a decent selection of suitable food.
• Google Maps was adequate - but check the results carefully.
• Tabelog lists every restaurant in Japan and has lots of reviews from locals - I couldn't find an easy way to show only veggie-friendly places though.

There are no shortage of decent veggie places. Some are Izakaya bars with touch-screen menus mostly translated into English. Others are fine-dining with a set multi-course tasting menu. You'll find veggie versions of all the classic Japanese dishes - or burger & chips if that's what you want.

And here's some tips that I picked up along the way:

• There are lots of Italian restaurants in Japan. You can usually find a few veggie dishes in those.
• Similarly, Indian restaurants always have an aloo-gobi or similar if you fancy a curry.
• Hotel breakfasts are usually well-labelled. All the ones I went to explicitly said if food had meat or fish in it. If all else fails, a bowl of rice and pickles will fill you up!
• The chain "Mos Burger" has a couple of plant-based "green" burgers on its menus. They were pretty good!
• Lots of the veg-only places we went to were full of tourists. You may not get the "authentic local" experience if you stick to just those sorts of restaurants.
• Have a few beers or a couple of glasses of Sake if you think you accidentally ate something you'd rather not have.

Here are a few photos and reviews of some of the places I enjoyed - you can read more on my HappyCow profile.

A Vegan Walks Into A Steak Restaurant...

One of the best vegan meals I had in Japan was at - of all places - a Halal Kobe Beef restaurant! They specialise in eye-wateringly expensive cuts of meat. But they also had a vegan set menu which was exquisite.

A perfect vegan miso, with a sesame salad, followed by tofu and vegetables grilled in front of me. A half-dozen mock-meat gyoza with various dipping sauces. Then garlic rice which blew my nose away.

Located in the very touristy Dotonbori district, it was quiet at lunch but I recommending booking in advance. A spectacular meal with a very friendly chef.

Ramen

There is a chain of ramen restaurants called Ramen Kiou. Like lots of fast-ish food places in Japan, you order using a touch-screen at the table. This chain has a helpful screen describing their vegan policy:

There were several veggie options and, as it is an open kitchen, you can watch the chefs work.

What's better than one vegan gyoza?

Eleven vegan gyoza!

The aptly-named Vegan Gyoza restaurant in Tokyo served us up a selection of their steamed bundles of happiness. Each was a distinct flavour and each was a unique colour. Splendid!

So Good We Went There Twice

I don't usually revisit restaurants while on holiday - but Nezu Noya was so good we made an exception!

Hidden inside a health-food store, it's a small restaurant so you may need to wait if you haven't booked.

The chopstick holders were delightful seashells. I assume even the most ardent vegan wouldn't consider that problematic 😄

Too Much Tofu

We wandered around the bamboo forests north of Kyoto and were suddenly overtaken by an all-consuming need to eat tofu. We found ourselves at Yudofu Sagano - they are a restaurant set in beautiful gardens, with several cosy rooms inside. We sat on the floor (!) while we were served a ten-course tofu lunch.

Here's a small selection of what we had.

There was a simmering pot of tofu in the centre, and then a plethora of of other styles. In all honesty, it was too much - but in an excellent way! Each dish was explained to us, which allowed me to avoid the fish-flakes (served on the side).

Beer and Grub

An Izakaya is a sort of bar which which does food. Again, you tap on an onscreen menu or scan a QR code to order. Then food and drink appears at your table.

We found a Vegan Izakaya in Kyoto which had space for us - which was lucky as it was pretty full.

They had a KFC-style coating on their mushrooms which was excellent - and a decent range of beer.

Naramachi Vegan Nabi ならまちヴィーガン菜美

No trip to Japan is complete without visiting Nara, and no visit to Nara is complete without visiting Vegan Nabi!

This is a cat themed restaurant. There are no cats wandering around. Gorgeously decorated with lots of cat-based artwork and jewellery to buy. The food is outstanding. Fresh and obviously made with love.

The green blob by the soy sauce is not wasabi - it is super strength yuzu pickle.

And more...

If you're vegetarian or vegan, you can find plenty of options in major cities. We had no trouble eating at veggie-friendly restaurants in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, and Hiroshima. You may need to be a little flexible about what you consider veggie - but should be able to enjoy a delicious range of food.

D'yer remember the eighties? The eighties, eh? Remember 'em? With the Acorn Archimedes an' that? What were we like? Remember them mags what y'got? The computer mags? Wirral the source code? Remember typin' it all in be hand? If yer semicolon were outta place y'd gerra syntax error! And you try telling that to the young people of today, will they believe yer?

For those of you born this century, it might be hard to believe but - yes - the way we distributed source code back in the day was on paper. Computer magazines would be full of news, reviews, letters (like the comments section of a website), classified ads (like eBay), and code listings - like this:

YORE COMPU​TER 🕹

@yorecomputer

1986:

Your Sinclair Magazine Issue 09, page 50

archive.org/stream/your-si… pic.x.com/b3jgdn12kk

---

That's how I learned to code. Laboriously type in a few hundred lines of dense code, check it furiously for mistakes, get frustrated at a syntax error on line 115, scream "eureka!" when I got it running, and then investigated its inner workings.

A few months ago, Internet funster Matt Round announced that he was bringing back type-in mags. But, this time, for the web!

Would that work? In an era of vibe-coding, templates, and batteries-included frameworks, who on Earth would buy a magazine like this?

Well - you, I hope. Because it is now on sale and features a project written by me!

For a very reasonable £7.99, you get ten different games, projects, and demos to type in. That's a mere 79p per website! Cheaper than a C64 cassette I reckon.

The artwork by HappyToast is lush, the layout is gorgeous, and the programs are fun. Some of them you'll understand straight away, others you won't quite get until the very last character.

Could you cheat by scanning it, running OCR over the code, and then running it? Sure. But you can also hire someone to kiss your partner if you can't be bothered to put the effort in. Where's the fun in that?

Here's a sneak preview of mine:

I'd love your feedback on my project and I'd be delighted if you turned it into something awesome.

Copy-typing code - especially Max Goodhart's incredible "Quine" project - is a meditative and unusual experience. I propped up the magazine on my laptop and was delighted that I only made five typos the first time through.

Is this really how we lived? Yes! Is this something we should go back to? Well, that's a harder question to answer.

I hope you enjoy playing with what I and others have created. I bet you'll learn something new. Please remix mine and show it to your friends. If you haven't got a friend, one of the projects is a primitive Markov chain - so you can build your own digital pal.

You can buy DOCTYPE magazine now. It will make the perfect Christmas gift for all the nerds in your life.

But how does it perform? Plug the HDMI into your TV and its USB-A end into a suitable power source (my TV had one nearby).

After a few seconds, my TV displayed this splash-screen.

The QR code appears to be vestigial. It tells you the Wi-Fi details of the device, but the USB-C dongle is pre-paired. I plugged the dongle into my Linux laptop and, a few moments late:

Success! It works pretty damn well! The resolution was 1920x1080, stereo sound was clearly separated and was in sync, video quality was reasonably smooth.

There's a pass-through USB-C charging port on the side of the dongle. It will only do 40W - so you don't get ultra-fast charging, but it should be more than sufficient for your average laptop.

It claims a range of 30 metres. My house isn't that big. Once I was about 5m away, video and audio started getting stuttery. A message popped up on screen suggesting changing Wi-Fi channels. For basic presenting, it was absolutely fine while at the other side of the house.

Linux Compatibility

This worked instantly with Linux. Somewhat uninventively, it does not present as a USB-C device! You'll see nothing in lsusb - instead, it shows up as a screen:

As it is just another monitor, you can either extend your desktop to it or mirror your main screen.

Similarly, it presents as a generic audio device:

You can route stereo audio to it.

Android Compatibility

Android's DP Alt Mode support is still a bit shaky. Nevertheless, this Benfei dongle worked! The screen was auto-detected and I was able to play audio without any problems.

Screen mirroring worked - so I could view my apps on the big screen.

Note that if your screen isn't 16:9, you'll get black bars to maintain the aspect ratio. I think that's an Android limitation.

It is hard to take a photo of a TV and have it look good - but, please rest assured, the colours looked exactly as expected.

Playing video and audio worked fine.

Technical Background

The QR code it presents gives an SSID and a (base64 encoded?) password. It says it is a softap which makes me think this is ESP8266 powered. It also seems to advertise KOM.to - whose products come from EZCast.

The HDMI dongle presented both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networks - both with hidden SSIDs. Given the power draw of a typical USB-A port, they weren't overly powerful, but got the job done. There's no way to update firmware on it that I can see.

Downsides

These are some minor quibbles.

The dongle only has an LED on one side. It will work either way up, but you won't see the status light if you plug it in upside down.

While video quality is excellent, it is limited to 30fps. It will take a 60fps signal, but there's only so much data you can squeeze over a wireless connection.

The USB-C dongle gets warm during use. Nothing too hot - but it was surprising to me just how quickly it heated up. There are plenty of grilles on the casing to let the heat out.

The USB-A cable is a bit less than 1 metre. That's fine if your screen has a socket - but you might need an extension if not.

None of these are show-stoppers. Just something to be aware of.

Verdict

For slideshow presentations, this is excellent. No faffing around or software to install - just proper plug and play.

For watching videos, it is good enough. Perfect for streaming your laptop or phone to a hotel TV.

The Benfei Wireless USB C to HDMI kit retails at around £56. I think that's fairly reasonable for a bit of kit like this. It comes with its own hard-shell carry-case to protect it. It is light enough to throw in your bag as a "just in case" item. If you're regularly presenting on other people's monitors, you'll know what a pain it can be to get right - this simplifies everything. USB-C means no looking for adapters on your side, and every monitor seems to come with a USB-A socket for power.

Thanks to Benfei for the review unit.

There's an excellent article in The Stage about the growth and pain-points of immersive shows (free registration required to read).

One thing that most creators agree on is that while the word immersive remains the most accurate umbrella term, it is largely functionally meaningless. The sense is that it will have to do as there is not currently a better one. “The word ‘immersive’is one that we have to continue to own,” says Matt Costain of Secret Cinema. “Because I think the fad of calling everything immersive will pass, but it’s a broad church. I went to an immersive art exhibition and what are they supposed to call it? They have as much right to it as I have.”

The idea of an "immersive" performance is somewhat nebulous. Sitting passively in a theatre is not immersive - but what about a self-guided tour of an art gallery? You can make the case for pantomime being immersive (oh no you can't!) - but it isn't in the same league as Phantom Peak.

In an article about the immersive Elvis show, Amanda Parker succinctly describes what audience expects:

The whole point of immersive theatre is the blurring of boundaries.

Live performance is expensive. A single ticket to a 90 minute show can cost more than an entire year of Netflix. A drink before the show and an ice-cream in the interval is the same cost as a month of Disney+! Audiences want blurred boundaries, but they also want value for money. I don't think it takes much money or effort for any show to become more immersive.

Here's my 6-point guide to making any theatrical experience more immersive and more entertaining for the audience.

Pre-Pre-Show

Even before booking, there's a chance for a show to be immersive. Most shows have trailers on YouTube - but are the characters on social media? Where are the opportunities to learn about the costume designer's vision (outside a one-paragraph entry in an expensive programme)?

Once booked, there are some brilliant opportunities for pre-pre show immersion. Emails shouldn't be the usual hectoring affair of reminding people to be on time; they should build a sense of excitement. What makes the paying customer feel like they're going on an adventure?

If I remember correctly, when schools booked group tickets for the 1990s run of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", they were sent colouring-in packs or some activity worksheets (it was a long time ago and my memory is hazy). What can a theatre do to make its paying customers excited about making the trip outside to sit in an unfamiliar building?

Pre-Show

This is probably the easiest one to get right, and the one which most shows fail at. Decorate the venue. That's it. It is that simple. It costs next to nothing to put up posters on the walls, or fun little Easter-Eggs on the back of toilet doors, or to have a themed cocktail menu. The Stranger Things show does this brilliantly - there are lots of little clues dotted around the show in the form of newspaper clippings and yearbook pages.

Shows like Just For One Day had "selfie pods". Big posters which let audience members take cool looking selfies with the stars of the show. The guest gets a fun memento, the show gets free advertising.

You can go further and have the cast play with the audience. When I saw "Cats" in New York, some of the actors were roaming the stalls - fighting, stealing licks of ice-creams, miaowing at each other. It was brilliant to watch and got the audience in the mood.

More recently, The Play That Goes Wrong has the on-stage crew setting up the stage while the audience enters. It's pre-show which rewards early attendance - it gets people rushing back to the bar to drag their friends in. It feels improvised and rewards returning guests.

You can spend time in the KitKat Club before the start of Cabaret. A seedy underbelly with bored dancers and sweaty patrons. A brilliant way immerse the audience before the show. (Although not everyone agrees.)

Operation Mincemeat has an online pub-quiz for audience members. Sit and chat about what you think the answers are, try to get on the leaderboard, see if it motivates you to learn more about the real history of the operation.

A bunch of theatres offer "Touch Tours" for visually impaired visitors. They get to come on stage and feel the set, have it described to them, so that they can get more immersed in the performance without constantly trying to guess the layout of the set. The stage magicians Penn and Teller invite members of the audience onto the stage before the performance so they can check for hidden wires and other trickery. That's probably not possible for every show - but can be sympathetically integrated into some.

Show

I'll defer this to the director! It's up to them whether they want to make use of the audience! I've been to operas where the lead performer appeared at the back of the stalls singing to his love on stage. Confetti falls into the auditorium with regular abundance.

It doesn't suit every show, of course, but there are a dozen little tweaks which can remind the audience that this is a high-quality experience worth paying for. That this is something they simply can't get by watching TV.

The Interval

The interval isn't just a chance to go for a piss and an over-priced drink. It's an opportunity to reflect on what you've seen, discuss what you think will happen, and stretch your legs.

All of the pre-show decoration is available to browse again - but is there anything else to do?

At a performance of Misalliance, a character hides himself in a portable Turkish bath at the end of Act 1. Throughout the interval, the audience were encouraged to follow the character on social media. He sent messages about his predicament and replied to people who interacted with him.

During the interval of a schools' performance of La bohème, the curtain was raised so that we could see the hard work which went into changing all the sets around. Is that suitable for every show? Probably not. Does it interfere with the fire curtain? Maybe. Was it a fascinating look literally behind the scenes? Absolutely!

Although I hated Murder Trial Tonight, it used the interval to encourage audience members to discuss the case laid before them. It's high-risk to get a reserved British audience to talk to strangers, but it can pay dividends.

Post-Show

The audience have risen to their feet in applause. Perhaps the lead actor (the one from that TV show you like) gives a short, heartfelt speech thanking everyone for coming out and encouraging them to tell their friends about the show.

What next?

Musicals often go with an encore where they specifically encourage the audience to take photos and sing along. Hey! You're part of the show! You'll probably never watch that video again, but you'll get the joy of communal singing and will feel like you're contributing.

As we left Just For One Day, we were handed commemorative leaflets which turned out to be discount vouchers. A little memento and a way to get repeat custom!

At the end of Accidental Death of an Anarchist, the audience were encourage to learn more about various historical and modern cases of police corruption by scanning QR codes projected onto the set.

Walking out of The Storeroom, we found ourselves in a lovely cocktail bar with an amazing view. Of course we paid for a fancy drink while discussing the evening's entertainment. Most West End theatres shove you out into the cold night air as though you're a guest who has overstayed their welcome.

Stage door autographs have been a thing since time immemorial. Probably a bit annoying for the actors, but a huge part of building a post-show buzz for some people. There are shows which have a paid meet-and-greet option (which feels a little icky to me).

I've been to plenty of shows which have a Q&A with the cast and director afterwards. Again, not something which can be done every night, but a brilliant opportunity to reward people for coming.

Even Shakespeare used to end his plays with a jig.

The point is, a show can do some aftercare. A little something to keep the audience happy and engaged.

Post-Post-Show

The audience has gone home. Is that the end of the experience? Sending out a survey email or asking them to share their memories on social media is a pretty cheap (and lazy) option for a show. It doesn't do much for the audience though.

What about competitions? Can a show encourage the audience to enter a prize draw. Why not offer an upgraded seat at a discount for your next visit - as a little thank you for being a customer?

It beggars belief that most shows don't offer a "come back and bring a friend" offer.

After every roller-coaster ride, the theme park attempts to sell you a photo of you and your friends screaming. What's the equivalent for a theatrical show?

This doesn't have to be a full-on marketing assault. Just a little nudge to make the audience feel special and like they'd want to repeat the experience.

Is all this really necessary?

No.

If you think people are happy to spend £150 to sit in conditions worse than the nastiest budget airline, and that they're delighted to be screamed at by over-officious security guards, then you don't need to do any of this. Leave the theatre decorated in its faded glory with faded photos of faded stars. Over-charge for the drinks, pad the programme with adverts, and hope the audience don't reflect on whether they enjoyed the experience.

I'm not saying every show needs to be Secret Cinema's Grease, but a little effort goes a long way.

Premium Netflix costs £19 per month. Find me a single ticket at the back of the gods which costs less than that! Even the last-minute seat filler shows I go to have trouble getting down to that level. Live performance cannot compete on cost-per minute. Instead, theatre has to play to its strengths.

• Live actors are there!
• It's a communal experience!
• Something unique happens every performance!
• The building is interesting!
• You can't distract yourself with your phone!
• You can show your appreciation directly!
• It's part of a night out!
• The audience is an integral part of the experience!

All theatre is immersive because you are there - with actual people in front of you. Theatre needs to capitalise on the fact that it is different to being sat at home watching the telly. And that means putting a little effort into treating the audience like valued guests rather than treating them like cattle.

Proton have release a swish new authenticator app for Android, iOS, Mac, Linux and Windows. Sadly, their open source repository doesn't allow for bug reports so I'm blogging in public instead.

The good news is, the majority of tests pass. It accepts a wide range of acceptable codes and refuses to store most broken ones. There are a few niggles though. None of these are severe security issues, but they probably ought to be fixed.

Very long codes

The maximum number of digits which can be generated by the standard TOTP algorithm is 10. Proton happily scans codes containing 1 - 9 digits, but complains about 10 digit codes. So this fails:

otpauth://totp/issuer%3Aaccount%20name?secret=QWERTYUIOP&digits=10&issuer=issuer&algorithm=SHA1&period=30

The TOTP RFC says:

Basically, the output of the HMAC-SHA-1 calculation is truncated to obtain user-friendly values

1.2. Background

But doesn't say how far to truncate.

There's nothing I can see in the spec that prevents an implementer using all 10.

Risk: The user may not be able to store a valid code.

Recommendation: Allow 10 digit codes.

Invalid Secrets

Here we get to yet another deficiency in the TOTP specification. How is a secret defined?

Google says the secret is:

an arbitrary key value encoded in Base32 according to RFC 3548. The padding specified in RFC 3548 section 2.2 is not required and should be omitted.

Whereas Apple says it is:

An arbitrary key value encoded in Base32. Secrets should be at least 160 bits.

Either way, the Base32 alphabet contains only uppercase letters and a few numbers. What happens if we give it a secret like QWERT!£$%^)*(YUIOP?

Proton Authenticator just accepts it. It stores the full secret but I'm not sure how it generates the code based on it.

Risk: The code may be generated incorrectly.

Recommendation: Warn the user that the secret may be invalid and that a correct 2FA code cannot be guaranteed.

Issuer Mismatch

In this example, the first issuer is example.com but the second issuer is microsoft.com

otpauth://totp/example.com%3Aaccount%20name?secret=QWERTYUIOP&digits=6&issuer=microsoft.com&algorithm=SHA1&period=30

What should the TOTP reader do with this? Proton chooses microsoft.com.

This is something which, again, is inconsistent between major providers.

Google says this parameter is:

Strongly Recommended The issuer parameter is a string value indicating the provider or service this account is associated with, URL-encoded according to RFC 3986. If the issuer parameter is absent, issuer information may be taken from the issuer prefix of the label. If both issuer parameter and issuer label prefix are present, they should be equal.

Apple merely says:

The domain of the site or app. The password manager uses this field to suggest credentials when setting up a new code generator.

Yubico equivocates with

The issuer parameter is recommended, but it can be absent. Also, the issuer parameter and issuer string in label should be equal.

Risk: The code may be displayed with the wrong issuer.

Recommendation: Warn the user that there are multiple issuers. Let them choose which one is correct.

Dealing With Defaults

What should a TOTP app do if there is missing information? Proton does the following:

• If the code has no number set for digits, it defaults to 6
• If the code has no time set for period, it defaults to 30
• If the code has no algorithm, it defaults to SHA1

Risk: Low. The user normally has to confirm with the issuer that the the TOTP code has been correctly stored.

Recommendation: Let the user know that the code has missing data and may not be correct.

Odd Labels

The label allows you to have multiple codes for the same service. For example Big Bank:Personal Account and Big Bank:Family Savings. The Google spec is slightly confusing:

The issuer prefix and account name should be separated by a literal or url-encoded colon, and optional spaces may precede the account name. Neither issuer nor account name may themselves contain a colon.

What happens if there are spaces before the account name?

otpauth://totp/Spaces:%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20test%40example.com?secret=QWERTYUIOP&digits=6&issuer=&algorithm=SHA1&period=30

Proton strips the spaces (probably wise) but also removes the issuer.

Risk: The user will not know which account the code is for.

Recommendation: Keep the issuer.

Timeline

These aren't particularly high severity bugs, nevertheless I like to give organisations a bit of time to respond.

• 2025-07-31 - Discovered.
• 2025-08-01 - Disclosed via a web form.
• 2025-08-31 - Automatically published.

Next Steps

• If you're a user, please contribute tests or give feedback.
• If you're a developer, please check your app conforms to the specification.
• If you're from a security company - wanna help me write up a proper RFC so this doesn't cause issues in the future?

Modern smartwatches are tiny and they do a lot. As a consequence, their battery life is generally poor. The industry's attempts to fix this are either to replace the charging standard every year hoping to find something magical, or to lock you in to a walled-garden on proprietary nonsense.

I want to recharge my watch while I'm riding the bus. That means plugging one end of a USB-C cable into the seat and the other into my wrist. That's how I recharge my phone, eReader, laptop, headphones, toothbrush, and a hundred other gadgets. Why should a watch be any different?

So I bought the only smartwatch I could find with a USB-C port. The Colmi P80 - on offer at £16. It bills itself as "The world's first type-c smart watch".

To be clear, I wasn't expecting this to be a good smartwatch. Anything you buy from AliExpress for the cost of a couple of pints is bound to be a bit crap. What I wanted to know is whether USB-C charging of watches is viable.

What I discovered is that, yes, USB-C charging works even on a relatively small watch. Oh, and that this is a surprisingly decent bit of kit - especially given its price. Let's dive in!

Video Walkthrough

If you'd rather watch and listen than read a blog post, please enjoy this shonky video:

What Works?

It tells the time accurately!

You can set it up without using the app (more on that later). It Bluetooth paired to my phone without a problem - and without PIN entry. I could make and receive calls from the watch - and the voice quality was adequate.

Tilting the watch up made the display come on! I wasn't expecting that, to be honest.

The jog-dial button works. Good for scrolling and clicking.

Swiping on the screen to navigate works with pretty good accuracy.

Vibration notifications were strong enough to be noticeable.

There were a bunch of simple games and apps on there - including 2048 - which all ran fine.

The built in torch (!) was bright and useful.

And, yes, it charged via USB-C!

Charging Speed and Battery Life

It claims a 0-100 in 90 minutes which seemed broadly accurate.

It came with a short USB-C to C lead which was charge-only, no data. I plugged it until fully charged, then wore it continuously. After 24 hours of use, even with all my fiddling, that battery was at 80%.

After four days, it still had 40% left - I'd been using it for exercise, sleep tracking, a couple of phone calls, and using the torch at night. After 5 days, I finally got the "low battery" warning when I hit 20%. I reckon, with moderate usage, you'd squeeze a week out of it. Sticking the brightness up, keeping the screen on longer, and playing music through its tiny speaker are also going to drag the battery life down.

My USB-C Power Meter said it charged at 5V .16A, that's around 0.8W. Slow, but it only has a small 280mAh battery. Bluetooth Low Energy is, unsurprisingly, pretty energy efficient! Heart monitoring and motion detection is also a low-power activity. There's no power-guzzling GPS or cellular connection - so the power requirements are pretty modest.

The rubber flap keeps the port safe, although does feel a little flimsy. If you have a chunky cable, it might interfere with the cover a little.

Update after 2 weeks of use: Over about 9 days, the battery went from 100% to 20% - that was using it for a few exercise sessions, getting notifications, and continual heart-rate monitoring. Once the battery got bellow 20%, it wouldn't let me start new exercise monitoring or other activities. So you should easily be able to get a week of useful use out of this.

Power Delivery

This does not work with PD chargers. If you plug this in to the same power-brick as your laptop, it will not charge. Based on the three that I tried, PD chargers will not negotiate down to 1W levels.

If you have a charging adapter with multiple outputs, the regular USB-C ones will charge this just fine. All the USB-A to C chargers worked fine.

Heart Monitoring

Much like my friend Neil and his smartring from the same manufacturer, I've not benchmarked the accuracy of the heart-rate monitoring. When I exercise, it goes up. When I relax, it goes down.

It pegged my resting heart rate at about 65BPM, which in line with other devices. While walking on my treadmill, it went up to 100.

My SpO₂ was measured as 99% which, again, was as expected. I held my breath for as long as possible and it dropped to 95%.

Within the app, you can set a "Heart Rate Warning" and various other detection settings.

Sleep Monitoring

I wore it at night. There's a "sleep mode" setting which stops the screen coming on, but you have to dive into a sub-menu to turn it on.

The watch showed this reasonably accurate screen:

The data are also sent to the app:

What's Annoying?

Given that this is a £16 watch, it hasn't exactly been "Designed by Apple in California". There are limitations and weird little niggles but, surprisingly, not too many.

First up, the brains of the watch is the JL7012 - which is a deliberately underpowered chip. It can do Bluetooth comms and drives the screen reasonably well. You're not going to be flinging billions of pixels around in 3D. The animation of all the interactions is a little jerky - obviously not 60FPS but just slow enough to be slightly annoying.

You can't tap the screen to turn it on; you have to click the side button or rotate your wrist. The raise to wake works, but takes a second or two to register. Weirdly, the scroll wheel works in most UI elements, but it doesn't for changing dates and times - so it is a bit of a slog to manually scroll through them on screen.

There no online manual available. All the other Colmi products have a manual available. Similarly, there's no firmware updates listed - although the app does claim to be able to update the firmware.

The USB-C port is for charging only - you can't get data off it via cable. You cannot use the watch while charging - once plugged in it will show a few messages about keeping the device clean. If you set it to use "nightstand" mode, plugging in will show the time and battery level - but you can't interact with any of the functions.

Directions - no maps, GPS, or even a basic compass. You cannot add any apps to this - what you get is what you get.

Connectivity - Bluetooth only. No WiFi and no cellular. This can't make emergency calls unless you're connected to Bluetooth.

Multiple alarms can be set - but you can't choose their ringtone.

You can add some "favourites" to the main screen, swipe across to get them. Sadly the options are pretty limited. For example, you can't put alarms or the calculator there. For those, you've got to dive into the main menu.

The screen brightness is manually controlled - no clever adaptive technology here. It can go bright enough to see in the blazing sunshine, although the dimmest setting is still a bit bright for night use.

There's no NFC - so you can't use this to pay for things. You can't even use it as an NFC business card - although you can send it QR codes to display, which is a handy alternative.

All that might sound bad but please remember that this is a sub £20 watch; it isn't competing with something costing ten times as much. The fact that it does all these things at all is pretty impressive!

Some of the functionality isn't available unless you pair it with the supplied app.

App

It is a given that all hardware apps are fundamentally a bit rubbish. The Colmi Fit app is basically fine. It isn't very polished but does everything it needs to do. You can get away without using the app completely for most things.

If you want updated weather, stocks, or prayer times - you'll need it to be paired to the app. Annoyingly, things like world clock also need a connection to be set up. Similarly, things like menstrual tracking need a connection (although, please note the privacy implications).

Annoyingly, despite it being basic Bluetooth functionality, music controls don't work without the app nor does the ability to show contact information.

Notifications other than calls also require the app. You'll need to give it permission to read all your notifications, but you can set it only to forward ones from specific apps. I didn't bother to set that up.

There are several built-in watch faces which can be changed by rolling the knob. Only one of the built-in faces is customisable:

What surprised me was just how many watch faces were available to download:

Sadly, I don't think it is possible to add your own designs, and none of them let you fiddle with what's displayed.

Many of the settings - like how long the screen should stay on for - are only available in the app. Even thought the app can get your location, you have to manually tell it what city you're in for an accurate weather forecast.

There were a few things I couldn't get working. The "AI Voice Assistant" is, I assume, just streaming audio back to your phone. As I don't have an assistant app, it didn't do anything. I'm not a Muslim, so I can't tell if the prayer times are accurate. The stress monitoring is a bit opaque - I don't know what precisely it measures. I don't have a menstrual cycle for it to track. I didn't investigate the SOS settings either:

Oh, and you can also tell it to remind you to drink water.

Finally, the app will show a notification showing your goals.

The app works well even if you deny it all the permissions it asks for but, obviously, some bits won't work unless they have access to your phone book, location, gallery, etc. You can always uninstall the app once done setting it up.

Exercise Mode

There are a bunch of different exercise modes on the watch - I'm not sporty enough to tell you what the difference is between all of them.

The app has some basic fitness stuff and will track your jogging locations.

Buried in the watch menu are your historic stats, but you'll need the app to export them.

Step detection is, like most watches, based on arm-swinging. So it wasn't terribly accurate when I was on my standing desk treadmill, but was acceptably accurate when going outside. It showed roughly the same amount of steps as the Pixel Watch 3.

You have to manually activate exercise mode if you want to quickly look up your heart-rate, steps, times, etc.

Instruction Manual

The leaflet in the box is the standard multi-lingual affair. Here's a quick scan of the English version. That'll show you some of what this watch is capable of.

Other Interesting Features

I got the cheapest strap possible - but it looks like it uses standard fittings if you want something more luxurious.

The 240x296 screen is bright and colourful - a basic screen protector is included in the box.

There's a built in LED which acts as a torch - which is only useful if you wear it on the left wrist.

The "Flappy Bird" clone is a bit crap, but 2048 and space invaders are reasonable time-wasters.

There's a camera shutter app if you want to use it as a remote control.

It claims to be IP67 waterproof, but warns not to immerse it in water or use it in steamy environments. It seemed to be splash resistant, but I didn't take it swimming or showering.

Security

There is none. There's no password lock on the screen and there's no Bluetooth PIN.

To be fair, there's nothing much you can do with the watch if you stole it. OK, you could make some phone calls if you were within range and get people's contact details. But there's no payment information stored. A thief might get your exercise and menstrual data, but it isn't a treasure trove of information.

Once it is paired to your device, it doesn't advertise itself via Bluetooth. If it is disconnected, it only broadcasts its availability when the screen is on. There's no pairing PIN.

OEM

The manufacturer appears to be Mo Young - they make the watch and the app.

They have some detail about the watch platform but not much.

Open Source and GadgetBridge

The device uses the MOYOUNG-V2 protocol. I was able to pair it with GadgetBridge by pretending it was a Colmi V79. Most of the functionality worked - I was able to see heart rate, steps, change some settings etc. I've requested GadgetBridge support which should make it possible to get notifications etc.

Update! GadgetBridge can now send notifications!The notifications can be read and deleted, they can't be replied to.

There are a few open source apps to create new watch faces and then upload watch faces to the device. But I wasn't able to get them working.

Disassembly

Update! There's a discussion on opening the device

smallsolar

@smallsolar@techhub.social

Like many people inspired by @Edent @blog I got a #colmiP80 but I'm not a watch person so for science I opened it up.

https://git.solarcene.community/smallsolar/Colmi_P80_Smart_Watch/src/branch/main/images

So - its not meant to be opened up, the back plate is glued in place, I heated it for a little while but then realised that its likely got a lipo sitting behind it so in the end just resorted to brute prying open. While initially I was able to partially open the lid any more and the small ribbon cables started to tear.

The good news is despite the heart beat sensor, the roller wheel and some other sensor now being fully detached the device does still turn on (sort of).

What I can see though are some interesting IC (well one) and also lots of nice test pads.

I can also see as predicted that the usb-c port is just 5v and GND.

In a bit I'll solder in the test points and see what I can find...

If you are interested there are some discussions on my IRC server (88.202.151.14 port 6668)

2025-08-22, 08:50 0 boosts 1 favorites

There are also some great photos of inside the watch.

What's Next?

My last smartwatch was the fairly crappy eInk Watchy which recharged with micro-USB, I only used it for a few weeks before getting bored of it. The last time I seriously tried to use a smart watch was a decade ago and I hated it.

Perhaps I'm just not a watch person? This is a cheap and useful way to get started. After a few days of use, I'm beginning to get used to it. It'll be more useful once I configure the notifications I get, I suspect.

Should I Buy One?

That's up to you, champ. I'm not your real dad and I'm not trying to take his place. But I'm here for you if you need me.

Anyway, as discussed in a previous post, this little device shows that it is possible to make a smartwatch that uses USB-C. It isn't the most powerful or customisable watch. It can't compete with a £200+ Apple or Android watch - but it is surprisingly capable.

😱 I Can't Use On This Day 😭

Seriously, What’s Going On?! 🔍
I’ve been trying to use the On This Day feature, but it’s just not working for me! 😩
Every time I input my details, it says I have no posts for today, even though I know I’ve posted stuff! 🧐

Here’s My Setup: ⚙️

• Python 3.x 🐍
• Access token fully generated (I triple-checked!) 🔑
• Attempted on multiple instances but still nothing! 😩😩

Could It Be a Bug? 🤔

I’m really starting to doubt my posting history! 😳
Is it supposed to show only specific types of posts?
I’ve made some pretty epic posts before! 💥💬

Documentation Confusion 📚

The README says to register for an access token but doesn’t clarify if it factors into this feature! 🤔❓
Did I miss something REALLY important?!
Help me figure this out, please!!! 😱

Feature Suggestion 💭

If this is broken, can we at least have a debug mode to log what’s happening! 😬
I need to know if it’s truly my fault or the code’s! 🔍🛠
Thanks for looking into this TRAGIC situation!!! 😭💔

P.S. My friends ARE posting on this day and their instances work!! 😤
I feel so left out!! 😟

Let’s get this sorted ASAP! ⚡

OK, that's a lot of Emoji - too much even for me! But if one of my users needs help, I'm there for them! As the feature works for me, I decided I'd ask for the output of the app. Maybe there'd be a clue in the minimal debugging output it had.

I clicked on the link to the Codeberg repository and was hit be a 404! What? I clicked on the link to the user "simpleseaport2" but that was also broken.

"Seriously, What’s Going On?! 🔍"

It looks like Codeberg has been hit by a wave of spam bug reports. I read through the bug report again, slightly more awake, and saw just how content free it was. Yes, it is superficially well structured, the Emoji are a bit over-the-top but not the worst I've seen, and the emotional manipulation is quite insidious.

A few weeks later, I got a bug report to a different repo. This one was also deleted before I could reply to it, see if you can spot that it is AI generated:

I've been trying to use the Threads tool to visualize some conversations but I'm running into a serious problem, and it's really frustrating!

When I input the URL for a post with a substantial number of replies, the script seems to hang indefinitely. I've waited more than 15 minutes on a couple of occasions, and nothing seems to happen. This is not what I expected, especially since the README mentions large conversations may take a long time, but doesn’t specify any limits or give guidance on what users should do if it doesn’t respond at all!

It's unclear what's actually happening here. Is the script failing silently? Is it the API timing out? Why isn’t there any sort of progress notification built into the tool? It feels like a complete dead end.

Can you please add some kind of error handling or logging feature to the Threads script? It would be helpful if it could at least inform the user when a timeout occurs or if the API response is simply taking too long. Additionally, could you clarify the maximum number of replies that can be handled? It’s really inconvenient to have no idea if the script is still processing or if it’s just broken.

Thanks for addressing this. I hope to see improvements soon.

• The emotional manipulation starts in the first line - telling me how frustrated the user is.
• It turns the blame on me for providing poor guidance.
• Then the criticism of the tool.
• Next, a request that I do work.
• Finally some more emotional baggage for me to carry.

I'm not alone in getting these - other people have also received similar spam

To be fair to Codeberg, they are under attack and are trying to stop these specious complaints reaching maintainers.

Post by @Codeberg@social.anoxinon.de

View on Mastodon

But, still, search the socials and you'll find a stream of frustrated developers.

Woke this morning to my first ever AI generated spam issue on a repo. Got it via email. When I went to check it out at Codeberg, it had already been moderated. Wonder how many others were affected. I immediately knew it was AI spam due to the overuse of emojis…🎉

[image or embed]

— Jeff Sikes (@bsky.box464.social) 24 April 2025 at 15:07

What's Going On⁉️

I can only think of a few possibilities - none of them particularly positive.

• Attacking the viability of CodeBerg - make users abandon it for a different platform.
• Attacking the attention of developers - make them unwilling to give attention where it is actually needed.
• Attacking the integrity of users - make them less likely to receive help because they are mistaken for AI.
• Maybe it is just a bored kid or an unethical researcher. Trying to find the limits of what a maintainer will recognise as spam?

Either way, AI bug reports like this are about as welcome as a haemorrhage in a jacuzzi.

I'm the sort of hip fashionista who only wears free conference t-shirts.

GDS

@GDSTeam

We support open source. And we’ve got the t-shirts to prove it (thanks @github @digitalocean). GDS took part in #Hacktoberfest this year, contributing to open source projects as part of a global community hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com pic.x.com/AkM09LGono

---

Sadly, after several years of constant catwalk modelling, my beloved Hacktoberfest shirts are full of holes. I couldn't find any for sale on eBay or Vinted - so I decided to make my own.

Note: DigitalOcean's Brand Guidelines say that you shouldn't create physical merchandise or sell any products featuring the logo. Well, I'm not selling these nor, do I think, they are merchandise. Hacktoberfest aren't using these to incentivise anyone any more. They're just cool t-shirts.

The Logos

There are lots of photos of the t-shirts but it is surprisingly hard to find the original assets.

Low Resolution

Kotis - a design agency - did the Hacktoberfest swag from 2015-2020. They have a brand portfolio with the t-shirt icons. Sadly, all a bit low resolution for printing, but good for getting accurate background colours for the material.

• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015

Similarly, there are a few low resolution promo shots of the t-shirts or their logos:

• 2022 (back of t-shirt)
• 2021 (t-shirt)
• 2016 (more accurate colours)
• 2015 (logo)
• 2014 (logo)

AI upscaling looked typically rubbish.

Higher Resolution Bitmaps

Some designers have their logo designs on Dribbble. Not very high resolution, but good enough for stickers.

• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016

Archived Logos

The official Hacktoberfest website had some logos embedded on it:

• 2022 (SVG logo)
• 2019 (SVG)
• 2018 (PNG with transparent background)
• 2017 (SVG)

Best of the bunch

These are the best available logos. The SVGs are suitable for printing at any size, the PNGs may be harder.

• 2022 (SVG logo)
• 2020 (SVG)
• 2019 (SVG)
• 2018 (WebP 1155x898)
• 2017 (SVG embedded in page)
• 2016 (SVG)

Missing

The following are missing 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022 (comic). There are photos of the shirts, and some low-resolution artwork available, all of which are too low quality to be printed. If you know how to get high-resolution images of them - please leave a comment!

2021

There are some elements out there. For example:

• This Behance profile of Hacktoberfest 2021
• The official logo
• The logo with the t-shirt colour scheme
• The brand guidelines for more accurate colour reproduction.

2014

There's not much available about the first t-shirt. There's a version of the logo used and some photos but that's about it.

Photos of T-Shirts

If you want to compare the logos to the originals, and see what colour fabric they used, there are lots of photo online:

• Reddit collection
• History of Hacktoberfest

End Result

If I can't find the missing logos, I'll create my own design for my own personal use. Something like this:

If you have a source for vectors of the missing logos, please drop me a comment.

Jukebox musicals usually stick to a single-artist (Mamma Mia, & Juliet, Tommy). As a result, they all start to sound a bit samey after a few numbers. Shows like Return To The Forbidden planet shoe-horn in songs from a dozen artists without much regard to plot, tone, or pacing.

Just For One Day goes down a different route. Rather than just recreate the famous Live Aid concert with a procession of soundalikes, it attempts to tell the story behind the concert. In doing so, it chops dozens of songs into thousands of pieces and lets the snippets segue seamlessly into the prose. It entwines the songs into each other beautifully. A supremely talented cast backed with a superb live band - it is guaranteed to have you screaming and cheering.

The central plot device is a little silly - a mother who went to the concert is chiding her teenage daughter about political activism. It is a bit mawkish and gets the show off to a stage-schooly start. Similarly, the daughter's righteous indignation fuels her interrogation of Saint Geldof which, again, becomes a bit preachy.

But that's the nature of Live Aid. It is preachy. And for all the arguments about whether it was the right thing to do - at least it did something. The show doesn't gloss over some the problems - and problem personalities - behind the production. Nor does it shy away from the reality of the limits of the help provided. Albeit backed by joyous music.

I felt that it pulls its punches a little bit. Rather than showing any footage from the Ethiopian famine, it recycles a speech Geldof gave a few years ago.

Nevertheless, it is a powerful and moving spectacle.

Oh, and there's a rap battle between Bob Geldof and Mrs Thatcher.

Tickets start at £20. The music is so loud, and the staging so expressive, that you'll get a decent view from the cheap seats.

Far better than the average jukebox musical.

Pre-show and Post-show

As regular readers of my theatre reviews know, I'm obsessed with how theatres treat their patrons.

Bag searches were conducted quickly, and they were happy to let me bring in a small plastic bottle of water. The Shaftesbury has spacious corridors and bars. There are plenty of toilets which - in a shocking departure from West End tradition - are well maintained.

There's a little bit of set dressing inside the theatre to allow the audience to take selfies with famous backdrops. That's cute - but it might have been nice if they'd added a few more, or even put up original posters, press clippings, etc.

As we exited the theatre we were handed a commemorative ticket! What a swell idea! I thought it contained a QR code to donate to the Band Aid Charitable Trust or find out more about their projects. Instead it's a coupon for £20 off your next visit. That feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

The best thing about QR codes is that they're free. It doesn't cost any money to generate one. They're an open standard with no middle-men. Users can go direct to your site!

Except… Some people want to insert themselves into your conversation. Sometimes it is for malicious reasons, sometimes it is greed for user data, and sometimes it is just incompetence.

Let's take this example - a health centre wants people to register. Scan the QR and get started. Fab!

Photo shamelessly stolen from a LinkedIn contact.

But what happens when you scan the QR code? Rather than taking you directly to an authoritative and trusted NHS.UK domain name, it sends you through https://register-with-gp.ht1.uk/.

Who on earth are HT1.UK?

According to their website, they're an automation company who are "on a mission to make the NHS the most advanced healthcare system in the world."

Good for them. But what information are they collecting about users who traverse through their QR codes? If you take a look at their privacy policy you won't find anything specific. Never mind, let's email their friendly privacy team. What's their email address?

Of course, emailing that gets you back this error:

Emoji! How fun!!

So I emailed the new address to see what information they were collecting. Their response wasn't particularly informative.

because Healthtech-1 is a processor of information and the GP practice is the data controller any requests about how your data is handled should be made to the GP practice who can inform you of the information you requested.

…

I can confirm that there is no information stored about users who scan the QR codes and no cookies placed.

But, of course, users have no way of verifying what this company is storing about them. There's simply no reason to use an untrusted 3rd party like this to provide either a QR code or an intermediary website.

Why this is a problem

Trust is everything. People are constantly being scammed. One of the great things that GOV.UK did was to say "This here is our trusted brand. If you don't see GOV.UK in the URl bar - don't trust it!"

The NHS should be doing the same. Every hospital, surgery, and clinic should have an NHS.UK domain name. When a user sees a link to a healthcare service which doesn't go through NHS.UK, they should feel suspicious and not click on it.

There is no way as a regular user to know that HT1.UK is a trusted domain. What about HT1.biz? HT2.UK? NHS.info.ly? What happens if HT1 go bust or have their domain name hijacked?

The NHS must stop the proliferation of these 3rd party domain names. They need to reinforce users' understanding that NHS.UK is the only trusted domain name for official NHS services.

I'm sure HT1.UK aren't doing anything nefarious with the data of people who visit their QR codes. I'm sure they're not inserting tracking cookies or selling my data. But I shouldn't have to be sure. All users should be pointed directly to an NHS.UK domain without having to risk whether their details are going via a dodgy site.

Here endeth the rant.

Here's a quick video and then a walk-through of its features.

You can also view SmartDisplayer's official video.

The Badge

It is a single block of plastic. There are no seams, screws, or rough edges. The ePaper appear right on the surface of the badge, there's no recessing or anything to indicate that this is a high-tech gadget. It uses their "cold lamination" technology which creates an impeccable matt finish.

The display area is 56.4mm x 84.6mm - which is pretty close to the size of a standard credit card - for a resolution of 180PPI.

The eInk

This uses E-Ink Spectra 6 technology. With only 6 colours to play about with there's a lot of dithering needed to make a picture look presentable. Those 6 colours are:

• #000 Black
• #F00 Red
• #0F0 Green
• #00F Blue
• #FF0 Yellow
• #FFF White

I used a standard Monitor Calibration Image, dithered it using the supplied software, and flashed it to the card. I then scanned in the card so you can see exactly how faithful the image reproduction is.

On the left, the eInk. On the right, the original image.

That's pretty bloody good!

Using Bruce Lindbloom's RGB Reference image is also a good way to test a range of colours.

Not bad for red, green, blue, yellow, white, black, eh?

It's hard to find a good test-card with a variety of skin-tones (there's a creepy Getty one with naked women), so I used the Murideo Portrait Reference Photograph. The original:

On eInk:

And here's another one:

The Card Writer

For Linux nerds, the USB writer showed up as: 1fc9:0102 NXP Semiconductors IT-102MU Reader.

There's almost no information about it other than a brief discussion on an OpenBSD mailing list, and a mention on the CCID database. Apparently it will work as on ChromeOS. It makes a hideous beeping sound when the card is inserted.

Once the card is inserted, two LEDs light up.

The green one quickly vanishes, but the blue one pulses until the card is removed from the reader.

Bus 005 Device 084: ID 1fc9:0102 NXP Semiconductors IT-102MU Reader
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x1fc9 NXP Semiconductors
  idProduct          0x0102 
  bcdDevice            1.12
  iManufacturer           1 InfoThink
  iProduct                2 IT-102MU Reader
  iSerial                 3 1.00
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength       0x005d
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass        11 Chip/SmartCard
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      ChipCard Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                54
        bDescriptorType        33
        bcdCCID              1.10  (Warning: Only accurate for version 1.0)
        nMaxSlotIndex           0
        bVoltageSupport         7  5.0V 3.0V 1.8V 
        dwProtocols             3  T=0 T=1
        dwDefaultClock       3685
        dwMaxiumumClock     14320
        bNumClockSupported      0
        dwDataRate           9909 bps
        dwMaxDataRate      848000 bps
        bNumDataRatesSupp.      0
        dwMaxIFSD             254
        dwSyncProtocols  00000000 
        dwMechanical     00000000 
        dwFeatures       000404BE
          Auto configuration based on ATR
          Auto activation on insert
          Auto voltage selection
          Auto clock change
          Auto baud rate change
          Auto PPS made by CCID
          Auto IFSD exchange
          Short and extended APDU level exchange
        dwMaxCCIDMsgLen       271
        bClassGetResponse    echo
        bClassEnvelope       echo
        wlcdLayout           none
        bPINSupport             0 
        bMaxCCIDBusySlots       1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               4

The Software

It is Windows-only software, and it is bare-bones. You can load an image, select if you want it dithered or not, and then download it to the badge. That's it. No image editing; it just resizes everything to 400x600. There's no badge design software or QR generator. And, to be honest, I think that's fine. You're better off designing your badges in dedicated software.

Unsurprisingly, the app wouldn't run under WINE in Linux. I used Oracle's VirtualBox. Note, the included software requires you to install Microsoft's .Net Windows Desktop Runtime 6 and the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Version.

VirtualBox initially refused to see the USB peripheral. I had to unplug the reader, create a USB filter using 1fc9:0102, start the VM, and only then plug in the USB reader. Then it worked. Bit of a faff!

Pricing

I've got good news and bad news!

First, the bad. SmartDisplayer Technology Co are B2B sellers. They'll sell you a single badge for US$70 + shipping. If you're buying more than a thousand, the price drops to $65. The NFC reader is $120.

In terms of badge pricing, I think that's pretty fair. If you want to buy a demokit of just the screen, that'll cost you US$99 direct from eInk. So $70 full assembled is a bargain.

The good news? They'll shortly be bringing out a USB-C badge which doesn't require the NFC reader. The badge itself will be slightly smaller (and a little thicker). That should make it easier to update the badge on the fly - but possibly not as convenient if you're programming hundreds of them.

If you're buying in bulk, they will also do custom printing on the badge, and can replace the plastic with wood.

For more information, or to place an order, contact SmartDisplayer.

Verdict

If you want a fun lanyard which is easy to change, and can reproduce a decent range of colours, this is excellent. Ideally it would be easy to flash with a phone, but the supplied software is adequate.

The USB writer is a little bit clunky, but it holds the badge in place while data and power are transmitted.

I'm astonished by just how flat this badge is. SmartDisplayer cold-lamination process is incredible. The image is on the badge, not under it.

It looks stunning - a real premium product and the price reflects that.

As a personal gadget, I think it is great. But for other uses, I'm not so sure. Are you really going to be handing out $65 lanyards to all of your event attendees? Perhaps at a very expensive conference! But even then, you might want to take a deposit.

Anyone with a suitable reader can reflash a badge; there's no way to lock these. So they're not ideal for security.

If you attend lots of conferences, and are perpetually annoyed by ugly conference badges which misspell your name or don't have a personal QR code, these are a great (albeit pricey) gadget.

Thanks to SmartDisplayer for the review unit. Next time you see me at an event - please snap a photo of my badge!

This is perfect for academics wishing to preserve Tweets, journalists wanting to download evidence, or simply embedding content without leaking user data back to Twitter.

tl;dr

You can get the full JSON code of any Tweet by using this API:

https://cdn.syndication.twimg.com/tweet-result?id=123456789&token=01010101010

Add any valid Twitter id, and choose a random number for your token. Done.

Background

Twitter has an "embed" functionality. Websites can import a full copy of a Tweet, including its media and metadata. Twitter's documentation is a little lacklustre but here's a brief explanation of how it works.

Embed Code

Using HTML like this:

<iframe
   src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=719484841172054016"
   width=512
   height=768></iframe>

Produces an embeddable which looks like this:

API Call

With a bit of sniffing of the traffic, it's possible to see that the iframe eventually calls a URl like this:

https://cdn.syndication.twimg.com/tweet-result?id=719484841172054016&token=123

Visit that and you'll see the JSON code of a Tweet.

Options

• id= this is the numeric ID of the Tweet.
• token= this is the API token. It can be set to a random number. It isn't checked.
• There's an optional lang= which takes BCP47 language codes. For example lang=en or lang=zh. However, they don't seem to make any difference to the output.

Output

Here's the JSON of the above Tweet. As you can see, it includes metadata on the number of replies, favourites, and retweets. There are entities, fully expanded links, and media in a variety of formats. There's also information on whether the post has been edited, if the user is stupid enough to pay for a blue-tick, and the language of the message.

Tweet With Image

{
    "__typename": "Tweet",
    "lang": "en",
    "favorite_count": 4,
    "possibly_sensitive": false,
    "created_at": "2016-04-11T11:18:48.000Z",
    "display_text_range": [
        0,
        120
    ],
    "entities": {
        "hashtags": [],
        "urls": [],
        "user_mentions": [
            {
                "id_str": "23937508",
                "indices": [
                    20,
                    30
                ],
                "name": "BBC Radio 4",
                "screen_name": "BBCRadio4"
            }
        ],
        "symbols": [],
        "media": [
            {
                "display_url": "pic.x.com/6F3ZSiWuIn",
                "expanded_url": "https://x.com/edent/status/719484841172054016/photo/1",
                "indices": [
                    97,
                    120
                ],
                "url": "https://t.co/6F3ZSiWuIn"
            }
        ]
    },
    "id_str": "719484841172054016",
    "text": "Warning! I'll be on @BBCRadio4's You And Yours shortly.\nPlease tune your wirelesses accordingly. https://t.co/6F3ZSiWuIn",
    "user": {
        "id_str": "14054507",
        "name": "Terence Eden is on Mastodon",
        "profile_image_url_https": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1623225628530016260/SW0HsKjP_normal.jpg",
        "screen_name": "edent",
        "verified": false,
        "is_blue_verified": false,
        "profile_image_shape": "Circle"
    },
    "edit_control": {
        "edit_tweet_ids": [
            "719484841172054016"
        ],
        "editable_until_msecs": "1460375328174",
        "is_edit_eligible": true,
        "edits_remaining": "5"
    },
    "mediaDetails": [
        {
            "display_url": "pic.x.com/6F3ZSiWuIn",
            "expanded_url": "https://x.com/edent/status/719484841172054016/photo/1",
            "ext_media_availability": {
                "status": "Available"
            },
            "indices": [
                97,
                120
            ],
            "media_url_https": "https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CfwfpnJWwAEXwe3.jpg",
            "original_info": {
                "height": 1280,
                "width": 960,
                "focus_rects": []
            },
            "sizes": {
                "large": {
                    "h": 1280,
                    "resize": "fit",
                    "w": 960
                },
                "medium": {
                    "h": 1200,
                    "resize": "fit",
                    "w": 900
                },
                "small": {
                    "h": 680,
                    "resize": "fit",
                    "w": 510
                },
                "thumb": {
                    "h": 150,
                    "resize": "crop",
                    "w": 150
                }
            },
            "type": "photo",
            "url": "https://t.co/6F3ZSiWuIn"
        }
    ],
    "photos": [
        {
            "backgroundColor": {
                "red": 204,
                "green": 214,
                "blue": 221
            },
            "cropCandidates": [],
            "expandedUrl": "https://x.com/edent/status/719484841172054016/photo/1",
            "url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CfwfpnJWwAEXwe3.jpg",
            "width": 960,
            "height": 1280
        }
    ],
    "conversation_count": 1,
    "news_action_type": "conversation",
    "isEdited": false,
    "isStaleEdit": false
}

Replies

Here's a more complicated example. This Tweet is in reply to another Tweet - so both messages are included:

{
    "__typename": "Tweet",
    "in_reply_to_screen_name": "edent",
    "in_reply_to_status_id_str": "1095653997644574720",
    "in_reply_to_user_id_str": "14054507",
    "lang": "en",
    "favorite_count": 0,
    "created_at": "2019-02-13T12:22:59.000Z",
    "display_text_range": [
        7,
        252
    ],
    "entities": {
        "hashtags": [],
        "urls": [],
        "user_mentions": [
            {
                "id_str": "14054507",
                "indices": [
                    0,
                    6
                ],
                "name": "Terence Eden is on Mastodon",
                "screen_name": "edent"
            }
        ],
        "symbols": []
    },
    "id_str": "1095659600420966400",
    "text": "@edent I can definitely see how this would get in the way of making your day a productive one. Do you find this happens often? If it does, I'd be happy to chat to you about a reliable alternative with us during your lunch break! ☕ PM me for a chat! ^JH",
    "user": {
        "id_str": "20139563",
        "name": "Sky",
        "profile_image_url_https": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1674689671006240769/OpfisqRG_normal.jpg",
        "screen_name": "SkyUK",
        "verified": false,
        "verified_type": "Business",
        "is_blue_verified": false,
        "profile_image_shape": "Square"
    },
    "edit_control": {
        "edit_tweet_ids": [
            "1095659600420966400"
        ],
        "editable_until_msecs": "1550062379768",
        "is_edit_eligible": true,
        "edits_remaining": "5"
    },
    "conversation_count": 2,
    "news_action_type": "conversation",
    "parent": {
        "lang": "en",
        "reply_count": 2,
        "retweet_count": 1,
        "favorite_count": 1,
        "possibly_sensitive": false,
        "created_at": "2019-02-13T12:00:43.000Z",
        "display_text_range": [
            0,
            112
        ],
        "entities": {
            "hashtags": [],
            "urls": [],
            "user_mentions": [
                {
                    "id_str": "17872077",
                    "indices": [
                        33,
                        45
                    ],
                    "name": "Virgin Media ❤️",
                    "screen_name": "virginmedia"
                }
            ],
            "symbols": [],
            "media": [
                {
                    "display_url": "pic.x.com/mje6nh38CZ",
                    "expanded_url": "https://x.com/edent/status/1095653997644574720/photo/1",
                    "indices": [
                        113,
                        136
                    ],
                    "url": "https://t.co/mje6nh38CZ"
                }
            ]
        },
        "id_str": "1095653997644574720",
        "text": "Working from home is tricky when @virginmedia goes down so hard even its status page falls over.\nTime for lunch. https://t.co/mje6nh38CZ",
        "user": {
            "id_str": "14054507",
            "name": "Terence Eden is on Mastodon",
            "profile_image_url_https": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1623225628530016260/SW0HsKjP_normal.jpg",
            "screen_name": "edent",
            "verified": false,
            "is_blue_verified": false,
            "profile_image_shape": "Circle"
        },
        "edit_control": {
            "edit_tweet_ids": [
                "1095653997644574720"
            ],
            "editable_until_msecs": "1550061043962",
            "is_edit_eligible": true,
            "edits_remaining": "5"
        },
        "mediaDetails": [
            {
                "display_url": "pic.x.com/mje6nh38CZ",
                "expanded_url": "https://x.com/edent/status/1095653997644574720/photo/1",
                "ext_alt_text": "Oops! something's broken! ",
                "ext_media_availability": {
                    "status": "Available"
                },
                "indices": [
                    113,
                    136
                ],
                "media_url_https": "https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DzSLf6sWsAAGWWH.jpg",
                "original_info": {
                    "height": 797,
                    "width": 1080,
                    "focus_rects": [
                        {
                            "x": 0,
                            "y": 192,
                            "w": 1080,
                            "h": 605
                        },
                        {
                            "x": 142,
                            "y": 0,
                            "w": 797,
                            "h": 797
                        },
                        {
                            "x": 191,
                            "y": 0,
                            "w": 699,
                            "h": 797
                        },
                        {
                            "x": 341,
                            "y": 0,
                            "w": 399,
                            "h": 797
                        },
                        {
                            "x": 0,
                            "y": 0,
                            "w": 1080,
                            "h": 797
                        }
                    ]
                },
                "sizes": {
                    "large": {
                        "h": 797,
                        "resize": "fit",
                        "w": 1080
                    },
                    "medium": {
                        "h": 797,
                        "resize": "fit",
                        "w": 1080
                    },
                    "small": {
                        "h": 502,
                        "resize": "fit",
                        "w": 680
                    },
                    "thumb": {
                        "h": 150,
                        "resize": "crop",
                        "w": 150
                    }
                },
                "type": "photo",
                "url": "https://t.co/mje6nh38CZ"
            }
        ],
        "photos": [
            {
                "accessibilityLabel": "Oops! something's broken! ",
                "backgroundColor": {
                    "red": 204,
                    "green": 214,
                    "blue": 221
                },
                "cropCandidates": [
                    {
                        "x": 0,
                        "y": 192,
                        "w": 1080,
                        "h": 605
                    },
                    {
                        "x": 142,
                        "y": 0,
                        "w": 797,
                        "h": 797
                    },
                    {
                        "x": 191,
                        "y": 0,
                        "w": 699,
                        "h": 797
                    },
                    {
                        "x": 341,
                        "y": 0,
                        "w": 399,
                        "h": 797
                    },
                    {
                        "x": 0,
                        "y": 0,
                        "w": 1080,
                        "h": 797
                    }
                ],
                "expandedUrl": "https://x.com/edent/status/1095653997644574720/photo/1",
                "url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DzSLf6sWsAAGWWH.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 797
            }
        ],
        "isEdited": false,
        "isStaleEdit": false
    },
    "isEdited": false,
    "isStaleEdit": false
}

Quote Tweets

Here's an example where I have quoted a Tweet:

{
    "__typename": "Tweet",
    "lang": "en",
    "favorite_count": 9,
    "possibly_sensitive": false,
    "created_at": "2022-08-19T13:36:44.000Z",
    "display_text_range": [
        0,
        182
    ],
    "entities": {
        "hashtags": [],
        "urls": [
            {
                "display_url": "gu.com",
                "expanded_url": "http://gu.com",
                "indices": [
                    17,
                    40
                ],
                "url": "https://t.co/Skj7FB7Tyt"
            }
        ],
        "user_mentions": [],
        "symbols": []
    },
    "id_str": "1560621791470448642",
    "text": "Whoever buys the https://t.co/Skj7FB7Tyt domain will effectively get to rewrite history.\nThey can redirect links like these - and change the nature of the content being commented on.",
    "user": {
        "id_str": "14054507",
        "name": "Terence Eden is on Mastodon",
        "profile_image_url_https": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1623225628530016260/SW0HsKjP_normal.jpg",
        "screen_name": "edent",
        "verified": false,
        "is_blue_verified": false,
        "profile_image_shape": "Circle"
    },
    "edit_control": {
        "edit_tweet_ids": [
            "1560621791470448642"
        ],
        "editable_until_msecs": "1660918004000",
        "is_edit_eligible": true,
        "edits_remaining": "5"
    },
    "conversation_count": 4,
    "news_action_type": "conversation",
    "quoted_tweet": {
        "lang": "en",
        "reply_count": 131,
        "retweet_count": 1337,
        "favorite_count": 2789,
        "possibly_sensitive": false,
        "created_at": "2018-11-27T15:56:19.000Z",
        "display_text_range": [
            0,
            279
        ],
        "entities": {
            "hashtags": [],
            "urls": [
                {
                    "display_url": "gu.com/p/axa7k/stw",
                    "expanded_url": "https://gu.com/p/axa7k/stw",
                    "indices": [
                        256,
                        279
                    ],
                    "url": "https://t.co/UulPL1CtcK"
                }
            ],
            "user_mentions": [],
            "symbols": []
        },
        "id_str": "1067447032363794432",
        "text": "The Steele Dossier asserted Russian hacking of the DNC was \"conducted with the full knowledge & support of Trump & senior members of his campaign.” Trump's war against the FBI & efforts to obstruct make sense if he thought they could prove it. https://t.co/UulPL1CtcK",
        "user": {
            "id_str": "548384458",
            "name": "Joyce Alene",
            "profile_image_url_https": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/952257848301498371/5s24RH-g_normal.jpg",
            "screen_name": "JoyceWhiteVance",
            "verified": false,
            "is_blue_verified": true,
            "profile_image_shape": "Circle"
        },
        "edit_control": {
            "edit_tweet_ids": [
                "1067447032363794432"
            ],
            "editable_until_msecs": "1543335979379",
            "is_edit_eligible": true,
            "edits_remaining": "5"
        },
        "isEdited": false,
        "isStaleEdit": false
    },
    "isEdited": false,
    "isStaleEdit": false
}

Downloading Media

Videos are also available to download, with no restrictions, in a variety of resolutions:

   "mediaDetails": [
        {
            "type": "video",
            "url": "https://t.co/Qw1IFom7Fh",
            "video_info": {
                "aspect_ratio": [
                    3,
                    4
                ],
                "duration_millis": 13578,
                "variants": [
                    {
                        "content_type": "application/x-mpegURL",
                        "url": "https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1432767873504718850/pu/pl/DiIKFNNZLWbLmECm.m3u8?tag=12"
                    },
                    {
                        "bitrate": 632000,
                        "content_type": "video/mp4",
                        "url": "https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1432767873504718850/pu/vid/320x426/oq2p-t0RJEEKuDD6.mp4?tag=12"
                    },
                    {
                        "bitrate": 950000,
                        "content_type": "video/mp4",
                        "url": "https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1432767873504718850/pu/vid/480x640/3X8ZsBmXmmaaakmM.mp4?tag=12"
                    },
                    {
                        "bitrate": 2176000,
                        "content_type": "video/mp4",
                        "url": "https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1432767873504718850/pu/vid/720x960/sS9cLdGn93eUmvKC.mp4?tag=12"
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ],

Other Examples

• Multiple Images
• Polls
• Deleted Message
• Summary Cards

Limitations

There are a few small limitations with this approach.

• It doesn't capture replies
  • If the Tweet is in reply to something, it will capture the parent.
  • If the Tweet quotes something, it will capture the quoted Tweet.
• The counts for replies, retweets, and favourites may not be accurate
  • Older messages seem worse for this, but that's a natural part of digital decay.
• Reduced metadata
  • The official API used to tell you which device was used to post the message, user's timezone, and other bits of useful information.
• You need to know the ID of the Tweet
  • There's no way to automatically grab every Tweet by a user, or from a search.
• Sometimes the API stops responding
  • Change the token to another random number.
• Occasionally replies and quotes won't be included
  • Calling the API again often recovers the data.

Python Code

If you're technically inclined, I've written some Python code to automate turning the JSON into HTML.

Have Fun

Remember, the owner of Twitter no longer believes in IP law. So I guess you can go nuts and download all of Twitter's data and use it for any purpose?