BitCoin and other crypto-currencies are gaining popularity at the moment - but I remain firmly convinced that they're too hard for the average person to use. I have, however, watched with interest as an ecosystem grows around them. In particular, I like the way The Pirate Bay (and others) have used QR codes to facilitate easy payments and donations. The QR codes contain only three variables - the payment method (BitCoin), the destination, and a message. As this is a donation there is no…
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Update: A version of this article appears on Sophos's NakedSecurity blog Last year I blogged about how easy it would be to pay for parking via QR code. Now it looks like Islington Council have partnered with Verrus to make this a reality. But is it any good? Well.... nearly. Let's take a look. The Initial Impression The QR code is fairly clear and I was able to scan it without issue underneath street lighting. Sadly, there is no call to action. What does scanning the code do? (My…
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Almost a year ago, I postulated a way to turn the tables on the News International paywall. After playing around for a bit, I discovered that it was easy to block The Times from reading a blog, but I couldn't find an easy way to disable the paywall on receipt of payment. So, I've set up a voluntary paywall. It's in the sidebar - and looks something like this... This was partly a way for me to play with the Google Checkout API - which is surprisingly easy to integrate and works flawlessly …
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