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Latest Posts:

  • Some notes on Viaziz.com

    Meet Viaziz. Or rather, http://www.viaziz.com/adtracking/39. How did I get there? Here’s a nice advert that appeared on my Facebook page today. Save money on a Canon camera at www.saveonproducts.net. Click it and, rather than the website listed, you’ll land on the Viaziz page above. Looks interesting. You can’t buy the camera, of course, but you…

  • Stop WordPress Registration Spam

    Since I’m thinking about all things WordPress, I’ve updated my Custom Captcha for WordPress into a proper plugin called Stop Registration Spam. The idea is the same as before: to prevent automated registrations, and the spam that comes with them, by posing a question that will be simple for your visitors to answer, but impossible…

  • How to: Read Flickr API JSON via jQuery

    I always prefer to read API data in XML, but there are times when that becomes problematic – especially due to cross domain access policies. If you’re working on a single app it’s possible to solve that by proxying the XML with a local PHP script, but if you’re working with the browser only –…

  • Block WordPress Registration Spam with a Custom Captcha

    The WordPress platform is a great way to run a blog or website, but it is under constant attack from spammers. Even if you prevent anonymous commenting, require user registration and implement the WP-reCAPTCHA plugin, you might find yourself – as I did – receiving dozens of automated, spammy registrations per day. However they’re getting…

  • Lies, Damned Lies, and Daily Mail Headlines

    Every so often I receive an email from the Press Complaints Commission with a list of its latest adjudications. As a tech journalist it’s not as useful as the ASA’s list*, but it is interesting reading nonetheless. And last week, while scrolling back, I came across a really remarkable bit of work. Witness this headline…

  • Zombie News: ‘Facebook Causes Divorce’ just will not die

    Pic: The Telegraph covers the original press release Back in March 2011 I wrote about a sudden flood of news articles claiming that Facebook was being cited in 20% of US divorce cases. After doing a little digging it transpired that the whole thing had sprung from the continual re-hashing, muddling and alteration of a…

  • Japan on a budget, 1: Planes, Trains and Hotels

    I’ve now been learning Japanese for about three years – long enough to get a decent grip on everyday verbs, adjectives and nouns, and to start wrestling with kanji (80ish, so far). But there’s only so far you can get by speaking for 90 minutes per week in classes. So, I hatched a plan: to…

  • Japan on a budget, 2: Tokyo

    (This is part of a guide to travelling Honshu on a moderate budget and in limited time. Click here for the whole series). Arriving International flights arrive at Narita, outside Tokyo. It’s worth claiming your Japan Rail Pass in the large JR office here (follow signs to the trains, and it’s before the ticket gates)…

  • Japan on a budget, 3: Kyoto

    (This is part of a guide to travelling Honshu on a moderate budget and in limited time. Click here for the whole series). I arrived in Kyoto on my second day, via Shinkansen from Tokyo. You arrive at the huge JR Kyoto station, from which you can link to the local JR lines, the private…