Month: July 2010
iTunes store hack must be bigger than Apple told us
Apple is worried that the iTunes hack could be bigger than they first thought according to the FT.com. The iPhone maker claimed that only about 400 accounts had been affected but it looks like it could be several thousand - at least. Victims of the iTunes hack were surprised to be getting bills from iTunes…
How are people using the iPad?
The honeymoon period is over. The novelty value has worn off. We've all played enough Scrabble to sink a ship (how much Scrabble is that?). Now it's time for the iPad to sink or swim. Key to the longterm success of the iPad is how people are actually using it. Is it filling that niche…
Hampster Dance and the Top Five Retro Memes.. what's your favourite
Back when no-one really knew what memes meant and we didn't need flash or even captions to keep us entertained for hours, the hampster dance was like one of the best things on the internet. The page was just several rows of hamsters and some other rodents (as animated GIFs) dancing to the dubious sounds…
How Three-Legged Dogs Help Robo-Design
Whether you think of them as victims, strong survivors or youtube gold, you probably haven't thought that three-legged dogs would be useful models for robo-design. But a German research scientist, Martin Gross from the University of Jena, has realised he could learn some interesting things about locomotion from how three-legged dogs move. Research on how…
The scratch map: pretty atlas lets you scratch off where you've travelled
You can get maps of all sorts, but this cute pin-up wall map is interactive - in a lo-fi way. Made for the intrepid traveller it lets you scratch off the gold surface to reveal more detail (like those old scratch cards, remember?). The idea is that when you've travelled somewhere you head back home…
The danger of using mobile maps abroad: why GPS is free but downloading maps isn't
While the electronic maps function on mobile phones is one of their big selling points, they can be expensive beasts to run abroad. Some testing by Garmin on an HTC phone on an O2 pay as you go contract showed that using mobile navigation on the 185 mile Calais to Paris trip cost £24 to…
Foursquare loyalty schemes pay off, check-ins increase and users get free truffles..
Foursquare's loyalty scheme deals seem to be working out pretty well. The network published a blog post last night about how shops and merchants are using Foursquare to reward their regular customers. It tends to be quirky one-offs that are doing well, but we can imagine the well-oiled reward scheme being picked up by more…
Looking for the next big idea in tech? Ask your seven-year-old..
Thoughtful stateside tech blog ReadWriteWeb have just published a round-up of some visionary ideas from the world of tech. But they weren't polling entrepreneurs or CEOs, they were asking kids. Some as young as seven. These guys are the next generation of consumers so it's not unreasonable to do a little customer research on what…
Yes people put drunk pictures on Facebook & what of it? Why the media needs to grow up..
Is it really that bad having a picture of yourself drunk on Facebook? I'm rarely particularly troubled by guilt over this in my personal life, but by god, this question comes up again and again in the media. It's all "SHOCK HORROR A Person Has Some Drinks at the Weekend, Here's Proof. OMG". Can I…
Twitter problems continue, and World Cup match tonight could take it all down
The problems Twitter has been having since 29th June are continuing and the world cup match tonight could take the site down further. All Twitter clients are suffering from the API failure which has led to searches not turning up results, users losing @replies, the main Twitter stream failing to update, and attempts to tweet…
