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GPS at 30,000 feet
GPS is a modern miracle. Using SPACESHIPS and RELATIVITY you can locate yourself anywhere on the planet. Fun fact! Your GPS won't work if you're above 18Km or going faster than 500 metres per second....
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Why doesn't Twitter block Tweets properly?
For the sake of my mental health, I've blocked a few people and organisations on Twitter. They can't see what I do, and I can't see them. I'm sure you've done the same to a celebrity or pundit you just...
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Review: The Force Awakens - live in concert
Long time readers will remember that I was lucky enough to see the premiere of The Force Awakens in London. So I was overjoyed to see that TodayTix had discount tickets for TFA live in concert at THE...
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Book Review - The Chemical Detective by Fiona Erskine ★★☆☆☆
Dr Jaq Silver. Skier, scientist, international jet-setter, explosives expert. She blows things up to keep people safe. Working on avalanche control in Slovenia, Jaq stumbles across a problem with a...
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Gadget Review: DophiGo DV-200 WiFi Doorbell
In my ongoing quest to open my house to hackers create the ultimate smarthome, I've added a new toy. A video doorbell! Why? I've got a tall house and can't be bothered walking down several flights of...
View ArticleA selfie with a serial killer
Somewhere, stuffed in a cupboard or undeveloped on an old roll of film, is a photo of me laughing and joking with a murderer. It was one summer, while I was visiting home between university terms, and...
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A year of actually reading books
I set myself an unofficial New Year's Resolution* - to read more books and write a review of each of them. I wanted to read about one new book per week. Well, I fell a little short of that target -...
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A Year In Review
It's my birthday! As is customary, here's my year in review. See 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010. Sadly, I am a poor diarist, so if I've missed off something important to you -...
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New Year's Resolutions
Post-birthday haze, it's time to set out my resolutions for the upcoming year. Get better at empathy I have a theoretical understanding that other people are humans, with their own complex lives and...
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Creating an "Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality" map with...
If you've seen that episode of The West Wing, you'll remember this scene: I'm not a paying member of the OCSE, but I fully support their aims. Because messing around with maps is fun. So, can I build a...
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Can you trust CloudFlare with your personal data?
I'm increasingly concerned with the power that CDNs wield - and CloudFlare in particular. So I decided to delete my CloudFlare account. While they claim to have removed my account, they still seem to...
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Review: Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch ★★★★⯪
The internet isn't the first technology to alter how we communicate, but it is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Linguistically inventive niche online...
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Responsible Disclosure: SVG injection in Three.co.uk
Here's a quick write-up of a minor XSS (Cross Site Scripting) vulnerability on the website of Three.co.uk - one of the UK's mobile providers. A brief recap... Most websites have a search function. If...
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Mixing Hue and Innr Smart Lights
I really wanted to write a rant about how incompatible smart lights are ruining the world. But... errr... Everything just works. Previously on my smarthome adventures, I kitted my house out with LIFX...
View Article"Alexa? Which bins do I need to take out?" - Reverse engineering the Bexley...
A few years ago I wrote an Alexa skill to see what bin day it was. The skill only worked with my local council - Oxford. I've since moved house and wanted to recreate the service for my new council -...
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Gadget Review - Boyue Likebook Ares
I'll be upfront, I mostly got this eReader because it's the only one on the market with a USB-C connection. OK! OK! That's not the main reason. It has pretty good support from the manufacturer and a...
View ArticleHow much should it cost to charge a car?
Back when nuclear power stations were first proposed, we were promised "energy which is too cheap to meter". That is, the cost of electricity would be so low, invoicing for its use would be...
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Why doesn't everything charge via USB?
This isn't entirely a rhetorical question. I'm genuinely interested. A few weeks ago, I bought an electric screwdriver. One of the key selling points, for me, was that it charged via micro-USB. My last...
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"Do you have kids?" - "Thankfully, no."
One of the hardest things to do is shut up someone who is well-meaning. I have a lovely colleague who, almost every time I see him, asks if I have kids. He's not malicious, just forgetful. If I say...
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The 360 Selfie
I'll admit it - I never really got the selfie. I was trapped in the mistake that they were a mere narcissistic folly. I couldn't have been more wrong. The more I travel the world, the more I see a...
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