Delicious LiveJournal Links for 10-27-2010

[andrewducker]

• BAA urges simpler "coherent" airport security checks, criticises the US.
  (tags: security security_theatre usa uk airport)
• Virgin Media announces 100 Mbps broadband
  (tags: broadband virgin)
• Russell T Davies talks about the number of regenerations The Doctor can have.
  (tags: DoctorWho)
• It cost Google less than 1% of CPU to switch to SSL
  (tags: performance ssl https)
• To Boldly Blow - on bodily fluids and space flight.
  (tags: space astronauts engineering biology)
• You are not everyone: When people seem dumb, even though they aren't.
  (tags: technology culture ui)
• Secret Button Sequence Bypasses iPhone Security
  (tags: iphone security apple)
• Contraceptive gel with much less side-effects could offer alternative to pill
  (tags: contraception women science hormones)
• Lessons on gay history cut homophobic bullying in north London school. Good Lord, humanising people works!
  (tags: education history homophobia society)

Comments

[pete stevens (from livejournal.com)]

I think you mean fewer side-effects. There are fewer of them, rather than their intensity being reduced. Normally I overlook less/fewer confusion but in this case you're indicating the wrong meaning.

On the everyone being dumb, I once had a case where a staff member was following the instruction of 'change the .gifs to .jpgs' by altering the file extension but leaving the file intact. When I thought about it further I realised that this was obviously the correct way to do it and the fact it didn't work was a bug in Windows - if the file extension indicates the file type you either shouldn't be allowed to change it or it should actually convert the file on changing the extension.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Not getting into english language debate but the contraceptive gel was tested on EIGHTEEN women??? Surely that's a tiny test sample.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I have said the equivalent of that You Are Not Everyone link to you before :-p

That said, a lot of modern tech items and websites are weirdly designed and obviously the designer thinks things are intuitive because they are for them. On my phone, you have to click a button that, if you were familiar with Windows, looks like it changes the language in order to change between predictive text and regular input.

[matgb]

Initial areas where 100Mbps services will be available include Enfield, Chelmsford, Farnborough and Heckmondwike in West Yorkshire.

Heckmondwike? While I'm loving they had to say where it was while assuming everyone would know the others (probably fair), why on earth does Heck get it first?

OTOH, given how close it is, maybe we'll get it soon after. Hope so.

[matgb]

That 'people seem dumb' thing is something I know, but regularly forget. So many people have problems relating to addressbar and similar.

Fx's "awesome bar" with built in search and history auto complete was supposed to help fix it, but it hasn't got very far.

Saw some stats awhileback. Most popular search term on Bing/MSN is "Google", most popular search term on Google is Facebook, YouTube and Facebook Login. Might've been you that linked that actually. Most people want something that 'just works'.

Which is how Apple is gaining market share. And why Linux is likely to never become a desktop choice for normal people.

[zz]

btw, you *are* one of my main sources of news. :>