Philip John

  • What part of your privacy does Google StreetView encroach upon?

      Right from the start I’ve been fairly dismissive of privacy concerns over Google StreetView. In my view, Google are just snapping what any general member of the public can see in that place at that time anyway. It’s already “in the public domain”, so to speak. I haven’t had the fortune to come across…

  • The Twitter settings update as a lesson in web usability

    Twitter went a bit potty today over a change made to the services settings. Yesterday, Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, blogged the change saying, “Based on usage patterns and feedback, we’ve learned most people want to see when someone they follow replies to another person they follow… however, receiving one-sided fragments via replies sent to…

  • A step backwards? New service makes it hard to e-mail people

    Usability is all about making things easy to use. That’s common sense though, right? Maybe not. I came across a new service today called Scr.im. It’s (very noble)  aim is to help prevent spammers getting hold of your e-mail address by scraping it off of web sites (such as forums) where you might have reason…

  • But 37signals are just neglecting their customers

    There’s been a bit of a spat between 37signals and Get Satisfaction today, after Mike Stanley took offence at Get Satisfaction’s efforts to get companies to take notice of their customers. I really admire Get Satisfaction for the way it sort of shames companies who don’t provide good customer service. I’ve never experienced 37signals’ customer…

  • The internet will make you accountable for your actions

    I wouldn’t normally advocate reading The Sun, but as much as it pains me to do so I need to make a point. A woman has apparently initiated divorce proceedings against her husband after spotting his car outside another woman’s house, on Google Street View. “Top media laywer Mark Stephens” was quoted saying, “I suspect…

  • Government asks for 2Mbps, Virgin offers 200Mbps

    First, let’s forget those who don’t want broadband for a second and consider only those who have and use broadband services. I’ll keep this short. How can the UK Government possibly think that asking for 2Mbps in it’s preliminary Digital Britain report is anywhere near acceptable? Virgin, theoretically, can achieve 200Mbps with their fibre (aka…

  • Reasons to use Twitter: Real life user experience feedback

    This is the first of (hopefully) many posts highlighting ways in which businesses can use Twitter. I’ll be trying to use examples whereever possible. First: Real-life user experience feedback. Frustration at Google AdSense led @tonypiper to tweet, Adsense has got very confusing recently. A great opportunity for the AdSense team at Google to get instant…

  • Citizen journalism: Friend or foe to traditional media?

    Recently I’ve become involved in a relative new project, The Lichfield Blog. As you may gather from the name it’s a blog, about Lichfield. I’m really proud to be part of something that has such a switched on and engaged little team behind it. It was especially gratifying to watch as the story of a…