I’m An Airline, Fly Me

This an email from a bona fide airline:  Dear Sir/Madam, Please be informed that your transaction with [international carrier] has been confirmed. Due to fraud prevention procedure against Credit Card transaction, we would like to validate your recent transaction with [international carrier] by filling information below : Passenger(s) name : Route :Date of Travel :Cardholder … Read more

BBC: The Rise of Disappearables

The transcript of my BBC World Service piece on wearables. Reuters original story here.  Forget ‘wearables’, and even ‘hearables’, if you’ve ever heard of them. The next big thing in mobile devices: ‘disappearables’. Unless it really messes up, Apple is going to do for wearables with the Watch what is has done with the iPod … Read more

The Facebook Experiment: Some Collated Views

A few pieces in the Facebook Experiment. I’m still mulling my view.  Paul Bernal: The Facebook Experiment: the ‘why’ questions…:  Perhaps Facebook will look a little bad for a little while – but the potential financial benefit from the new stream of advertising revenue, the ability to squeeze more money from a market that looks increasingly … Read more

True Video Lies

This is a longer version of a piece I recorded for the BBC World Service. The other day my wife lost her phone out shopping. We narrowed it down to either the supermarket or the taxi. So we took her shopping receipt to the supermarket and asked to see their CCTV to confirm she still … Read more

Carrier IQ’s Opt-Out Data Collection Patent

ZDNet writes here about an Carrier IQ patent that outlines keylogging and ability to target individual devices . Which is interesting. But Carrier IQ owns a dozen patents, including this one, which to me is much more interesting. This patent indicates what Carrier IQ software could do—not what it does—but it is revealing nonetheless: A … Read more