Blogs

For the time being I'm blogging at www.slightlyrightofcentre.com. Maybe I'll come back here one day, but for now it's just a historical archive of my postings.

@JamesFirth

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The Guardian Data Blog today asked a guess-how-many-sweets-in-the-jar-esque question: how many Time Capsules did Apple sell in a 5-month window in 2008?

They did it with tanks in the war, apparently!

The background to this bizarre competition is a limited recall of Time Capsules - the recall providing both a range of serial numbers and a time-frame during which units bearing these serial numbers were manufactured.

Many thanks to Alyson, Stuart and the staff at Anderson's restaurant in Farnham for accommodating a substantial turnout at last night's #noshup.

It can't be easy serving 20 people simultaneously with excellent freshly-prepared food whilst keeping the wine and drinks flowing!

This blog post is really intended for BCS members deciding how to vote in the upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting on a vote of no-confidence in the Trustee Board and Chief Executive.

It's a personal viewpoint, and it's written against a backdrop of my personal dissatisfaction with the BCS. After several years, I'm left wondering what it really offers me as a professional member.

Hi! I'm a monkey who knows a bit about SQL and every now and then I intend to post a few tips on this blog.

Rolling windows and visitors since midnight

Do you ever use a rolling 24 hour window to monitor live hit statistics on your website? It can give an good snapshot as to how popular your site(s) currently are, but can also leave a sinking feeling if the count drops throughout the day.

... nor infringement or illegal access!

There's an absurd idea gaining traction that the internet is somehow solely responsible for the public's expectation that things, media, and online news in particular, should be free.

And that this expectation is fatally flawed.

Following the hugely successful #DigitalCurry/ #Twandoori superbly organised by @k4thybrown I'm somewhat nervous as the baton passes to me...

The #Twandoori at the Bengal Lounge was really well attended, and I'm hoping I can do this one justice by getting an equally sizeable and fun crowd.

Please note due to illness this is now cancelled

If you're free in London this Thursday afternoon (27th May) pop in for a coffee with myself and Alexander Hanff ( @alexanderhanff ) of Privacy International for an impromptu social media cafe privacy special.

Alexander set up NoDPI.org to campaign against use of data profiling equipment within ISPs, primarily for targeted advertising purposes. He's now with Privacy International as a communications specialist.

Who knows what the online news market will look like in 5 years time? Everyone's betting on free prevailing, but News Corp, the owner of The Times, has some serious clout in terms of finance and influence.

It's highly likely that The Times will lose the majority of its online audience to other sources, but news organisations have for years bemoaned the lack of brand loyalty on the internet, so this won't be seen as a huge problem; should the big paywall experiment fail, readers will probably drift back to The Times.

I've been browsing a several websites established to help voters make informed choices based on parliamentary candidates' views.

Many sites use email to canvas candidates on questions ranging from "do you support homoeopathy to "should open source software be used in government."

My first thought about this was great, get the voters engaged in politics. Help people make an informed decision on who will represent them in parliament for the next 4-5 years.

I got a letter from the government the other day, well not quite, it was from Thames Valley Police and it was several years ago, but I've got Chuck D's opening line from the Public Enemy classic Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos echoing round my head this morning.

The letter in question advised me I was the owner of a car which had been spotted on CCTV doing something foolish and almost certainly contrary to at least one quoted section of the Road Traffic Act.

The Digital Economy Act 2010 was described in the Lords yesterday by the Earl of Erroll as a "dream for lawyers." The inference that this is bad legislation, poorly worded, the impact of which would not be clear until large sections had been decided in court.

I hope I'm not going to be the one paying to defend myself in a case that could last for years!

This horrendous act must be repealed at the earliest opportunity, but realistically this is unlikely.

The Conservatives voted with Labour to guarantee the Digital Economy Act safe and speedy passage despite raising concerns.

Dear Mr Hunt,

By not voting against the Digital Economy Bill you have just lost my vote.

It really is that simple. As an internet expert, a creator, a recognised patent-holding contributor to the digital age, a businessman and one who respects intellectual property; I have watched you and your party collude to allow the passage of a bill which you yourself acknowledged as flawed.

How can any elected representative tasked with upholding our democratic processes act in such a way?

The election looms and MPs jump en-masse into social media.

My wife, an established journalist and Telegraph's online Special Projects Editor thinks I've missed a trick - I should have approached MPs several months ago to offer media training.

Some MPs and candidates don't even have a website. I know it would be naive to believe that the election will be won or lost on Facebook and Twitter, but ignore the internet at your peril!

Music pirates, bootleggers and gangs flogging knock-off luxury goods impact the bottom line of legitimate companies. They affect the economy through lost tax revenues and may also pose health and safety risks through substandard products.

But there's a darker concern amongst some in the IT industry - that their actions could indirectly threaten democracy.

I was somewhat relieved when the European Court of Justice ruled today that Google was not guilty in a case brought by Louis Vuitton brand owner LMVH.

I feel slightly uneasy about bringing a much-loved ageing family member into a politically motivated post but her situation sums up why Labour's landline tax is absurd and unfair.

My grandmother is 94 in May, and she's registered as completely blind. She's never accessed the internet and I can't imagine a scenario whereby she ever will.

One of the few bits of technology she uses is her telephone. In fact I'd say being housebound through blindness and rheumatoid arthritis she's utterly dependent on her landline.

According to Techdirt, The Times' online offering is now blocking news aggregators. There's also a widespread belief that The Times will soon start charging for some or all of its online news.

As an aside, I utterly fail to see how both these statements can be true. If I'm about to set up a paywall, surely I want my links splattered across the major aggregators to drive traffic once I start asking people to cough up?

Welcome to our new blog. Our intention is to write about software in general, but I'm starting with a topical thought prompted by the current "raging" debate (raging, in some quarters at least) on copyright and digital rights.

Could we be creating a situation where photographers could be forced to take their own pictures off their own sites? And what actually constitutes "original" content?

Not wanting to roam over-trodden paths I'll just briefly state that there's a transnational push to re-assert the traditional copyright ownership model across the internet.