Posted on January 5, 2008 – 15:30
I’m afraid I’m lying to you all… this is not a list of my top 10 top 10s of 2007: one of these lists has 19 items on them and one even has 7. I’m sorry. Oh, and some of them don’t even have ’2007′ in the title. I’m a bad person – I know I am – and for that I apologise.
Regardless, below are my top 10 lists of 2007. You know the ones – they proclaim to contain the best 10-or-so of something from the 12 months that have just passed? Come, soak up the nostalgia:
- The Best 19 Movies You Didn’t See in 2007 – Looking for the best independent films of 2007 that didn’t make it big? Well then, this is the list for you. A great list to accompany this is /film‘s ingeniously compiled 25 Definitive Movies of 2007. A ‘glass-is-half-empty’ kinda person? Well how about the 9 Worst Movies of 2007?
- Top 10 Food and Drink Hacks – I love this stuff. While it’s got nothing to do with 2007, it’s got everything to do with making your life just that little bit easier. This is the reason why I once read Lifehacker religiously: reading this list makes me want to resubscribe to their RSS feed. In fact, I will.
- Top 10 Viral Videos of 2007 – Watching these videos you may laugh (Don’t Tase Me vs. MC Hammer), stare in amazement/puzzlement (Daft Hands/Prison Inmates Performing ‘Thriller’), or simply cringe and wonder how it all went so wrong (Miss South Carolina Teen USA). The list could be refined though: where’s Chocolate Rain, Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip and the Finger Painting Turtle-Kid?
- 10 of the Most Interesting and Entertaining Images of 2007 – The top 10 viral images of 2007. That means, that if you have an email address, you’ve undoubtedly seen these 10 times already.
- 7 Things We Should Pretend Never Happened – I knew I was going to agree with most of this list as soon as I read the headline for item number one: Huddled Masses Lining Up for Bullsh!t.
- D!ckheads of the Year – Like Ronseal, this list does exactly what it says on the tin. Erik Prince of Blackwater, College Republicans, Congressional Democrats and – of course – George Bush… all nominated by Rolling Stone for the honour of being ‘D!ckhead of the Year’.
- Top 10 Astronomy Pictures – I’ve never been a huge astronomy fan. Yeah, the Universe is fascinating and full of mystery; but there’s something inherently unknowable about it that – for some reason – distracts me from its splendour. Nonetheless, these images are truly captivating.
- Top 10 Most Pirated Movies and TV Shows of 2007 – Bored and trying to think of something to download and watch? I’m not as that’s illegal, but if I were (hypothetically speaking, of course) I would go here to see what films and TV shows were downloaded the most last year.
- Top 10 New Organisms of 2007 – From the Ashera GD hypo-allergenic cat to super CO2-absorbing trees, it’s been an interesting year in genetic engineering and Wired does the this round-up for us. If genetic engineering isn’t your scientific tipple, why not have a look at their Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2007 instead?
- Best ‘Professional’ Photographs of 2007 – There’s UNICEF’s Photo of the Year, National Geographic News’ Top Ten Photos, and The Press Photographer’s Year Awards (my personal favourite, yet also the one with the worst website). Of course, it’s not just professionals who take captivating photographs, and so PhotoCompetitions.com has the definitive list of amateur and professional photography competition for your perusal.
As a bonus, have the following too:
Posted on January 2, 2008 – 13:27
As 2007 comes to a close, I decided that it was time to have a round-up of the big stories of the year. I like to do this every year as I find that you’ll undoubtedly be surprised: either by a ‘big’ story that somehow managed to pass you by, or just by realising how fast the year has gone. So, how to do this summary of events? After all, a year is a long time in news and news is different everywhere you look!
One of the best barometers of stories that made it big on the Internet is, of course, Digg – the news aggregation service that I do not visit often enough. So, what were the big online stories of 2007? Here they are – in reverse order – according to Digg:
- Stand up for your rights, get arrested – 2007 saw a lot of people arrested for doing, well, nothing in particular. One story that made it big on Digg was a man who was arrested for using $2 bills in BestBuy.
- Net Neutrality – I’m not getting into this now, but here’s a Digg’d picture showing why it’s an important issue.
- The Nintendo Wii – ‘Nuff said.
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force ‘terrorists’ and other Bostonian mishaps – In 2007, Boston definitely put the ‘error’ in ‘terror’: overreacting to so-called ‘hoax’ devices, blowing shit up, and prosecuting innocent people is the name of the game here. Refuse to be terrorised, people!
- PirateBay – 2007 was the year where piracy went mainstream. Too many stories to mention.
- Microsoft Surface – Pretty nifty look at the future of personal computing: the end of point-and-click. I first saw this technology being (better) demonstrated in Jeff Han’s 2006 TED talk.
- Paris Hilton – You can’t avoid this woman if you tried… 2007 saw her do ‘time’ in jail and the loss of her inheritance. Oh, and she’s still the most annoying person on the plant.
- Execution of Saddam Hussein – Executed 40 hours before 2007 began, the leaked video of the hanging was undoubtedly the first big online story of 2007.
- iPhone – Love it or loathe it, the iPhone arrived in 2007 to much fanfare. Well, at least it’s getting people thinking about design, right?
- 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 – A vivid depiction of the Streisand effect. This is one story that showed – in no uncertain terms – the power of the Internet as a consumer tool: we don’t want restrictions on our music, our books, our television and (as this story makes abundantly clear) our HD-DVDs. This was the 21st Centuries ‘Digital Revolt’.
We can’t spend all our time online and ‘real world’ news is important too, right? So, here’s another list of the top 10 news stories from around the world, according to Time and The Times Online:
- Pakistan’s Political Crisis – From the pressuring of Musharraf to give up command of the Army to the assassination of Bhutto; Pakistan’s politics hasn’t been out of the news all year.
- US Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis – When the US housing bubble eventually popped it wasn’t just the US that suffered – markets around the world felt the impact as banks reeled in their debts.
- Burma Protests – A bad year for democracy in Burma. As tens of thousands of monks took to the streets to protest against a rise in petrol prices (and thus the price of other staples), the military junta cracked down by raiding monasteries and tackling the peaceful protests head on.
- Goodbye, Harry Potter – At last, it’s over!
- Iraq War - The Iraq war was for oil you say? The only surprising part of this ‘revelation’ is that it came from the man who was head of the US Federal Reserve for 18 years – Alan Greenspan.
- Chinese Toy Recall – Made in China took on a new meaning this year as millions of toys made there and exported to the US were recalled for using lead paint, having loose parts, and burning children. Of course “buying local” is still an alien concept to half the western world and a little mishap over some paint isn’t going to make a difference, is it?
- Virginia Tech Massacre – There was more to this story than just another school shooting. Not only did the gunman mail manifesto-style tapes to the media halfway through his rampage; he was also pronounced by a judge to be mentally ill and in need of hospitalisation – yet still managed to legally buy his arsenal of weapons.
- iPhone – Enough already!
Yes, I know that’s only 8 stories, but it was hard picking another two that had world-wide status: was the Madeleine McCann story known throughout the world? Was the saga of Alan Johnston’s capture and eventual release as big in the US as it was here in the UK? Can the rise and rise of Facebook be classed as ‘real-world news’ (it only went fully public in late 2006)? How about 2007′s ‘Data Chernobyl‘? It’s a tough choice.
Posted on December 21, 2007 – 11:33
I’ve always had a bit of an on-again, off-again relationship with Extras – Ricky Gervais’ post-The Office endeavour. I’ve always felt it a bit hit-and-miss in both character development and comedy. However, I’m now a converted man after watching two episodes last night: Sir Ian McKellan in S02E05 and the Christmas ‘special’ (due for release in the UK on Boxing Day but shown in the US 5 days ago – good idea!).
The Sir Ian episode is a magnificent return to form for Gervais and it repeatedly hits my satire G-spot dead centre with it’s mix of sheer comedy genius and social commentary – but it’s the Christmas episode which really had me appreciate the series.
In it, Gervais’ character (Andy Millman) makes a final speech admonishing reality TV; the producers and networks that produce the shows; and more poignantly the viewers and the ‘celebrities’ involved in them who “hand in their dignity at the door” when they partake in this so-called entertainment.
It’s a great commentary on the current television landscape we often find ourselves watching and the public’s obsession with fame and celebrity. Searching for the quote to share with you, I came across the following which describes the moment perfectly – The New York Times: Going Out, Gervais Picks Bang Over Whimper:
“The Victorian freak show never went away,” Millman rails in a soliloquy that serves as a climax of the “Extras” final episode and a moment of redemption for the character, whose life and friendships have been corrupted by fame. “Now it’s called ‘Big Brother’ or ‘American Idol,’ where in the preliminary rounds we wheel out the bewildered to be sniggered at by multimillionaires.”
To the networks, he says: “You can’t wash your hands of this. You can’t keep going, ‘Oh, it’s exploitation, but it’s what the public wants.’ No.”
To the audience watching at home, he says: “Shame on you. And shame on me. I’m the worst of all. Cause I’m one of these people that goes, ‘I’m an entertainer, it’s in my blood.’ Yeah, it’s in my blood because a real job’s too hard.”
Posted on November 27, 2007 – 09:02
So, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) decide to send the National Audit Office (NAO) the details of 25 million people on a couple of “password-protected” discs which then go missing during transit via a third-party courier. Fair enough, no bad feelings. [Story]
These details include the names, addresses, bank details and national insurance numbers for all members of the 7.25 million households that have a child under the age of 16. That’s just under half of the population – pretty impressive really.
Moral of the story? Don’t trust a man with eyebrows like this (Alistair Darling, right). No, seriously – don’t.
So without further ado I present you with my latest compilation: ten more UK data loss incidents from recent history, courtesy of The Register:
- 400 passport details and addresses lost by HMRC (2007)
- All 11 Million customers of the Nationwide Building Society had their “confidential customer data” lost (2007)
- 15,000 names, addresses, DoBs, national insurance numbers and pension details of policy holders from Standard Life lost by HMRC (2007)
- 26,000 Marks and Spencer staff members’ salary details, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance and phone numbers lost (2007)
- 500 Eden Project staff had their (undisclosed) data lost by Moorepay (2007)
- An undisclosed number of confidential medical records were discovered on hard drives sold on eBay (patients from Dudley NHS Trust) (2007)
- 11,000 children treated or born in a Nottingham Hospital had their records lost (2007)
- 15,000 Met Police Officers had their payroll and pension data lost by LogicaCMG (2006)
- “70 Top Secret Files” from the Ministry of Defence were found on a laptop at a landfill site. These included terrorism contingency plans for MoD bases (2005)
- 1,354 government computers (594 by MoD) “stolen or mislaid”. Unknown/undisclosed data (1997 – 2002)
Many of the above have one thing in common: when many of them were first announced, the question of whether or not the data was appropriately encrypted was usually avoided – typically cited as being a security risk if the issue were even discussed.
I have two problems with this: one, whoever has the data already knows if it is encrypted or not; two, if it is encrypted, telling us that it’s encrypted doesn’t suddenly make it easy for the criminals to break into the data. If it’s encrypted, it’s encrypted. That’s all there is to it and therefore your data is safe. This leads me to one conclusion: it’s not encrypted. (See also: “UK’s Privacy Chernobyl” – Bruce Schneier’s recent post.)
As a side note, has anyone else noticed how the comic Steve Martin (above, left) looks strangely similar to Alistair Darling? Are they related? If so, all is forgiven: give us a joke.
Posted on November 6, 2007 – 11:48
A few months ago I found the ‘Does What Happen in the Facebook Stay in the Facebook?‘ video on the front page of Digg. Yeah, it’s mostly sensationalist scare tactics about how Facebook is supposedly involved with some big CIA-based ECHELON / Carnivore-esque conspiracy, but a couple of things that the video points out are really worthy of note. Specifically the wording of their publicly available Terms of Use and ‘privacy’ policy:
By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant [...] to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof [...]
In all honestly I expected nothing less, but actually reading it and taking the time to understand the implications of uploading your material makes me want to never upload a photo again, lest a Virgin Mobile incident (or worse) happens to me or someone I know. Especially when they class ‘User Content’ as:
Photos, profiles, messages, notes, text, information, music, video, advertisements, listings, and other content that you upload, publish or display [...]
And even more so when you read this:
Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service.
How depressing? But in all honestly I’m not going to change my ways – if you upload anything anywhere, expect it to be seen by anyone and be used for any purpose. To finish, have some choice quotes from Digg when the aforementioned video was posted there:
- I like looking at drunken half naked girls on a daily basis. Long live Facebook.
- What is this, six degrees from Kevin Bacon?
- Big Brother is watching you poke.
- If you look at all those dotted lines and trace that pattern on to a piece of Reynold’s Wrap it is the secret directions to make a tin foil cap, which will protect you from imaginary things that do not exist!
- If you don’t want someone to know something about you…. don’t post it on THE INTERNET.
- HOLY CRAP CONSPIRACY.
- OH MY GOD THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO KILL US ALL
- OH NO THEY KNOW I LIKE A MOVIE!!!!
