Boris Johnson vs. Germany

Nice tackle Boris…

Long time no see…

Well - My Blog appears to be atrophying to beyond the post-per-month status…

Here’s a quick update on my uninteresting life:

- Broken a life-time habit, and bought a Microsoft product - the XBox 360 - very impressive - most impressive part is ‘Live’ - especially the marketplace and the downloadable demos - currently very much enjoying ‘Geometry Wars’ and ‘The Outfit’ multiplayer demo….

- Meanwhile - in PS2-land - Loving ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ and ‘Black’ - both fine examples of farewell salutes to the platform…. Especially ‘Black’ - which has humourous mission objectives and Matrices-esque destructible pillars in large (soldier-filled) rooms.

- Became 30 - sigh…. on the upside - got an HDTV for my birthday - very nice - just need Sky to launch their HD service…

- If by any chance you are reading this because of my software - - - yes, a Universal Binary of ‘More Internet’ is forthcoming - soon…..

Recycling

I’d always wondered how they separate the different material-types in recycling:

Now I know.

This is a Local Search Engine for Local People… etc…

Google Blog AnnouncesGoogle Local for the UK.

Cor Blimey guvnor - where’s the nearest eels, pie and mash in this manor?

Tony Blair - He likes to bend the truth

Tony Blair, Mac Developer!

:( AM HVNG HRT ATTK (not really)

A Pacemaker that sends SMS messages when you’re about to kick the bucket.

Just don’t have a heart attack in a tunnel…

BT Flinches

BT is offering better access & prices to the local-loop in an attempt to head off Ofcom’s threat of using the Enterprise Act to split the telco.

That’s good news.

Meanwhile - in related news, Bulldog still can’t provision my DSL order — five weeks after the order — because they are waiting for BT to open slots in the Bayswater exchange….

Which reminds me - I’ve got a dilemma for my three readers: Easynet haven’t disconnected my DSL yet (as you can see by reading this post) - even though the three month cancellation period has elapsed (and they sent me a three month bill instead of my normal annual bill.)

Do I ask them about it now, and probably lose my DSL, or wait until I get a definite provisioning date from Bulldog?

Knowing my luck - they’ll try and charge me another three months for not telling them, or something…

Downtime

I’m moving DSL provider - so my domains (including this one) will go down for an unspecified duration (from today.)

I had thought that I was rather clever, and got the switch-over day-perfect, but then my new provider sent me an email

So - my server will be down for a couple of weeks, maybe… yuk.

Au Revoir…..

Regent’s Street Madness

I woke-up listening to XFM this morning. The DJ reads out request email from a guy in the queue at the Apple Store in Regent’s Street. She seems confused as to how he was able to email and queue at the same time.

I hopped over to Oxford Circus, took one look at the queue and thought “I’m not queuing that long to get in a shop!” , turned around and went to Maplins on Gt. Portland St. instead. Not as glamourous, but there was no queue, and it was far geekier.

It’s common knowledge that we British love to queue, but it seems the Americans have a strong need to be No.1 in every field: The first three in the queue were all American. One of them goes to every opening - it appears.

I think I’d rather buy the kit in the goodie bags than spend a night sleeping on the street in London in November… Brrrr…

I think I’ll have a proper look another day…

RIP John Peel

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Legendary radio DJ John Peel dies

MP4

What do you call a band that contains four MPs? Why MP4 of course.

“But I don’t even like spam.”

Ah - they joys of spam….

When I ran MovableType the comment spam was rampant - when I installed MTBlacklist (and auto-updated the blacklist) it was a bit better. MT was a bit of a monoculture - most people ran it - so it became a worthwhile target for spammers.

Then I moved to WordPress - and for two months not a single spam. A couple of days ago it started again - and this morning there were three new spam comments. I’ll take that as an indicator of the success of WordPress as a blogging solution.

I’m afraid that I’ve made it so that comments must be authorised by me - and I’m looking at using the WordPress Blacklist.

(Incidentally - Poker seems to be the new Viagra as far as spam goes.)

{Edit - }

I’ve had a go with some plug-ins for WordPress - and comments now will not appear until I have moderated them as OK.

Also - here is the source for a file I just hacked to generated an RSS feed for unmoderated comments - just put it in your WordPress Root (and get rid of the .txt extension)

http://www.diggory.net/grazing/wp-unmoderatedcommentsrss2.php.txt (This is for WP version 1.2)

Customisable Stamps

Customisable Stamps are available from the Royal Mail - Quite cool.

Now you don’t have to be present to bore people with baby photos - you can do it remotely!

hmmm…. How can this be subverted…. I wonder if ordering GoatSe.cx stamps would work?

OFCOM - Annual Plan 2004/5

Interesting reading:

Ofcom’s annual plan 2004/5.

Money

I know it’s very vulgar to talk about money - but I’ve been reading up:

Money, get away.

Get a good job with good pay and you?re okay.

Money, it?s a gas.

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.

New car, caviar, four star daydream,

Think I?ll buy me a football team.

The Chip and Pin advertising campaign to inform the public has begun — “Safety in Numbers.” There are nine months left for mag stripe CCs in UK. They were first introduced here in 1976 (when I was 1 year old!)

The smart cards are a global standard called EMV - they also allow multiple applications - not just a credit card.

Europe and Asia first to go to EMV - 2004 & 2006. Not sure when US gets it.

Card Fraud:

Money, get back.

I?m all right jack keep your hands off of my stack.

Money, it?s a hit.

Don?t give me that do goody good bullshit.

I?m in the high-fidelity first class traveling set

And I think I need a lear jet.

“At £424.6 million in 2002, plastic card fraud losses are still increasing ? although not as dramatically as in previous years. Our multilayered fraud prevention initiatives, coupled with the work of a new police card fraud unit, are starting to disrupt the illegal activities of organised criminal gangs. ” – APACS Card Fraud Facts 2003 “About £1 million-worth of fraud is committed on cards every day in the UK - a crime every eight seconds. Chip and PIN will help tackle 60% of this fraud.” – APACS Annual Report 2003

APACS thinks that post Chip and Pin organised crime will move from skimming, towards id theft e.g. bin raiding & masquerading. CardHolder Not Present (CNP) transactions (i.e. Phone & Internet) will still be vulnerable to fraud, much as they are today.

There appears to be progress there too:

AVS/CSC — (cardholder Address Verification System and Card Security Code checking system) - Ever had trouble shipping internet-bought products to an address other than your own? That’s AVS. CSC is the three digit Security Number on the signature strip of Credit Cards that some sites ask you to enter. Hopefully many more sites will require this in the near future.

The roll-out of Verified by Visa and MasterCard’s SecureCode to combat Internet-based CNP fraud.

Token-based authentication - “An initial UK specification for the use of chip and PIN cards in handheld readers was issued at the end of 2002, giving members the option of using dynamic, two-factor authentication for customers when banking or paying online. Token-based authentication would provide customers with a similar experience to that at cash machines and in retail outlets. Whilst benefiting from the investment being made in chip and PIN, it would be significantly stronger than authentication based on password and user identity. In 2003 interest in token-based authentication increased significantly within the UK and abroad. APACS has been working closely with MasterCard, Visa and a number of associations overseas to encourage the development of a common global specification.” – APACS Annual Report 2003

This could mean Smart Card readers attached to PC’s with software that allowed you to authorise payment via Chip & Pin.

Other Interesting info about Money:

Money, it?s a crime.

Share it fairly but don?t take a slice of my pie.

Money, so they say

Is the root of all evil today.

But if you ask for a raise it?s no surprise that they?re

Giving none away.

Over half of all cash acquired by individuals (in the UK) is obtained from cash machines. In 2003 an estimated £144 billion was paid out in 2.4 billion transactions, 5% more than in 2002.

The rate of growth rose during the year and may reflect benefit recipients shifting to the use of cash machines once their benefits are paid by Direct Payment rather than obtaining cash at the post office. Direct Payment will give a further boost to this trend in 2004 and 2005 and, in the longer term, the demographic pattern of preferences will be a steady driver of growth - younger customers are more likely to use a cash machine than older customers.

In 2012 it is projected that cash machines will pay out over £190 billion in today?s money in 3.1 billion transactions.

personal cheque use has been falling every year since 1990. In that year each adult wrote over 60 cheques on average; by 2002 this had fallen to 30 cheques on average.

Around 3% of all card payments were made over the Internet last year. This is expected to grow to one in ten by 2012.

Over one Internet user in three banks on-line. Users of Internet banking are increasingly transacting on-line, moving money or altering payment arrangements.

Two in three adults regularly use cash machines, taking out over £80 each week on average. The cash machine habit is strongest with younger adults. Over 90% of 25 to 34 year olds with access to cash machines get cash from them on a regular basis. Cashback with debit cards, however, remains very much a niche source of cash. Around 8 million debit cardholders use it, primarily as a way of topping up their cash. Nine in ten cashback users also regularly draw cash from cash machines. The growing popularity of cash machines has been driven by their increasing availability. Since the mid 1990s banks have been installing cash machines at non-branch sites and the last two years have seen an explosion of convenience machines owned by non-bank independent ATM deployers at sites such as corner stores. At the end of 2002 over half of the UK?s 40,825 cash machines were at non-branch locations.

links:

http://www.apacs.org.uk/
http://www.emvco.com/

Biblio:

http://www.apacs.org.uk/downloads/Annual%20Review%202003.pdf
http://www.cardwatch.org.uk/pdf_files/cardfraudfacts2003.pdf
http://www.smartcard.co.uk/resources/tutorials/sct-itsc.pdf

Une Grande Pression S’il Vous Plaît

I’m back from a Week’s Skiing in Meribel. Absolutely fantastic - loads of snow fell and a really nice sunny day at the end. I hadn’t skied for about five years and it was really nice to get back on to the slopes. I can’t believe how good the GSM coverage is in the Alps these days - *everyone* had a phone on the slopes and people where texting/MMS’ing from chairlifts. Excellent for safety and not getting separated, but unimaginable ten years ago.

I would have blogged out there but roaming GPRS is still trop cher:

- (That’s £1.46 for 300k!)

Why Chip and PIN can’t come fast enough…

from: A Slashdot Article.

“A chap at work was recently the victim of an ATM card skimmer which took his card details, cloned them and allowed the fraudster to take 550 pounds out of his account. Having tried to explain how the fraudsters can hide a camera and card reader around the ATM, he decided it would be easier to show one of them after a few drinks down the pub. He was a little surprised to find that the machine he chose had a card reader and camera in place. These were removed and analysed, we believe we have reclaimed about 800 pounds worth of kit.”

Pics here

Yikes! Shouldn’t they have left it in place and informed the police though?

Stop…. Carry On!

Disastrous news:

Mark and Lard are leaving Radio 1. They’ve been dropping occasional hints in their show about it for the last few months.

I can’t stand Sarah Cox (who comes after M & L’s slot), so this could spell the end of daytime listening to Radio 1 for me.

I don’t suppose I’m really target audience any more though - being almost 30 (yikes!)

Luckily R1’s weekend and evening output is still good (with the exception of the “Gap-Toothed Gypsy”, Dave Pearce).

an end of an Era…