Philip John

  • I don’t want broadband, leave me alone!

    There is a lot of buzz at the moment about broadband in Britain, mainly thanks to the Digital Britain report. I’m a firm believer in technology as a driver of innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation so I definitely see that as a good thing. That said, I have a feeling it might be mis-directed. See,…

  • Is Google deliberately pricing itself out of payment processing?

    I was one of many who were shocked yesterday when Google announced the changes in Checkout processing fees. They’ve also announced that AdWords spend will no londer fund free processing of transactions. In fact, it turns out the new fees are almost identical to PayPal’s fees. Plenty of sellers have been complaining about the move…

  • The Guardian should know better

    I like the Guardian, probably because it’s so tech savvy, but I was dissapointed reading Simon Hoggart’s column (via The Lichfield Blog) having a bit of a moan about Michael Fabricant MP’s use of Twitter. Hoggart takes the typical response to seeing Twitter; “I don’t understand it, therefore it’s just full of toilet trip talk…

  • The tablet that knows you’ve swallowed it

    When my Dad – a sufferer of Pick’s Disease – was still living at home, there was always concern about whether he was remembering to take the many tablets he was prescribed. There were many times where he’d be trying to figure out which day it was and therefore which partition he should open on…

  • Does nationalism matter?

      I was walking past Lichfield police station today, watching their grubby Union Jack flapping around in the wind and I wondered why the Lichfield District Council building just down the road didn’t also have a Union Jack proudly waving around. In fact, why don’t all Government buildings have a Union Jack? I’m kind of…

  • Microsoft, Yahoo Deal Would Strengthen Google

    I’m getting might pissed off with all this talk about some “deal” between Microsoft and Yahoo now. I don’t see how Microsoft forking out $15 billion for Yahoo’s search business would have any impact on Google‘s share. Sure, on paper, Yahoo’s share would drop to 0% and Microsoft would jump from 8.5% to 29%, but…

  • IE8: Saviour of the Semantic Web, or Usability Nightmare?

    I’ve been pushing web standards for years, so the news that Microsoft‘s Internet Explorer 8 will support W3C guidelines by default is very welcome from where I’m sitting. There is one problem, though. They’ve announced that sites including CNN, Facebook and MySpace won’t work correctly. Users of the browser will have to choose to view…

  • LinkedIn Squatting: Claim a Company for Your Own!

    According to LinkedIn, I am now the proud owner of a company. How so? Because I told them I was. Why did they believe me? Because they didn’t bother to check. I gave them an e-mail address that in no way resembling the company’s web address and in return they let me create and play…