People do the silliest things…

Recently a lot of people have been talking about passwords and how they are too simple. What the researchers failed to mention is that it doesn’t matter how secure your password is it will not help.

There was a bit of a buzz on Twitter yesterday about an application called Twifficiency. It allegedly calculates “your twitter efficiency based upon your twitter activity. This includes how many people you follow, how many people follow you, how often you tweet and how many tweets you read.”

I saw the messages in my stream and thought they looked a bit spammy. Then I realised they were just automatically generated when someone took ‘the test’. Most memes and especially ones that stroke the ego. I must confess having worked in digital media for longer than I care to state I rarely go in for these online quizzes or automatic tests and popularity contests anymore. Still a few of my friends did. @greedoe @andyhewittlock @ianjamesdavies I’m looking at you…

Anyway back to the point about passwords. So you can plan a great secure password but people still authorise any old application on social networks without reading the small print. Although it states on the front page of the app that it will auto publish the result after allowing the app to link to your Twitter account most users didn’t read the caveat or didn’t know what it meant and selected ‘OK’. Now Twitter is ablaze with automatically generated scores. It’s almost like the ‘news’ that there is no official facebook dislike button. Is this really news worthy of the BBC and other media outlets?

Yahoo year in review 2008

As mentioned in the top searches from 2008 on google top tens though work well as proven editorial technique alongside top trumps and image galleries.
So it’s no surprise that Yahoo have also created their top ten lists of searches for 2008 – although rather than being a zeitgeist they call it a buzz or year in review 2008.

No surprise either that the results are similar top ten news searches on yahoo in 2008;
1. Hurricanes
2. Caylee and Casey Anthony
3. Election 2008
4. Pakistan
5. Pregnant Man
6. China
7. Iraq
8. Shelley Malil
9. Patrick Swayze
10. Afghanistan

On a slightly more morbid note though they have the top 10 farewells as stated by yahoo

“Everyone’s time comes up sooner or later, and a personality’s passing prompts respect be paid to his or her legacy. Departures that shock the Web world-like that of wildlife expert and…”

1. Heath Ledger
2. Bernie Mac
3. Paul Newman
4. Randy Pausch
5. George Carlin
6. Estelle Getty
7. Tim Russert
8. Brad Renfro
9. Isaac Hayes
10. Boyd Coddington

Head on over to Yahoo Buzz the year in review 2008 for more top tens including the celebrity brat pack, economy, politicians and olympians.

Spidey

Was just checking out Mark’s blog and same he is the Iron Man. So hey it’s a meme and it’s the new year. Turns out I am spidey.

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man
80%
Green Lantern
75%
The Flash
60%
Superman
55%
Supergirl
55%
Catwoman
50%
Wonder Woman
40%
Robin
37%
Iron Man
35%
Batman
25%
Hulk
15%
You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Ten Four

Oh it’s been ages since I had a decent one of these…
Thanks to Spence for livening up my Monday morning!
Here are FOUR things you may not have known about me:

A: Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Club Host at Heaven

2. Bar Manager

3. Licensee in Soho

4. Head of Training

B: Four movies I would watch over & over:

1. The Opposite of Sex

2. Thank you for Smoking

3. Twelve Monkeys

4. The Bourne Identity

C: Four places I’ve lived:

1. Blundellsands

2. Fitzrovia

3. Tilburg

4. Motspur Park

D: Four TV shows I love to watch:

1. Columbo

2. Law & Order (Special Victims Unit)

3. CSI (Any)

4. Oz

E: Four places I’ve been on holiday:

1. Sydney, Australia

2. Christchurch, New Zealand

3. Connecticut, USA

4. Singapore

F: Websites I visit daily: *

1. http://www.aol.co.uk

2. http://www.gmail.com

3. http://www.flickr.com

4. http://my.omniture.com

G: Four of my favorite foods:

1. Cherries

2. Beetroot

3. Bananas

4. Ramen

H: Four places I would rather be now:

1. Sydney

2. Wellington

3. A beach

4. Sydney (did I mention Sydney?)

* I can’t list all the work ones I visit as they are all confidential and/or behind a very good firewall.

friday diversions

1. How many times have you truly been in love?

Twice

2. What was/is so great about the person you love(d) the most?

I have no idea what it was at all but…

3. What qualities should a significant other have?

Genorosity

4. Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

Yeah I think so 🙁

5. If there was one thing you could teach people about love, what would it be?

I’m not qualified to teach that subject I’m afraid.

Photo Friday

This week’s challenge: “Packaging“.

Links:
Friday Five
Photo Friday

friday diversions

1. What do you most want to be remembered for?

I’m not sure I ever want to be that popular that I am rememebered like in a major way. I think my friends will remember me for different reasons. I’ll be content with fond thoughts of being a good friend.

2. What quotation best fits your outlook on life?

If you don’t ask you don’t get.

3. What single achievement are you most proud of in the past year?

I’m tempted to say finishing my kitchen floor (except it’s not quite finished yet so I won’t tempt fate). So in which case it’s going to be becoming financially stable enough to be able to give back to my family.

4. What about the past ten years?

Where do you start with a question as open as this? I’ve achieved a lot over the past ten years. I’ve been places I never thought I would go, I’ve done jobs I never thought I could, I’ve helped friends, made friends, gained confidence, jumped out of planes, climbed bridges, touched pyramids, lived in other countries, literally circled the globe. No one thing sticks out to be honest.

5. If you were asked to give a child a single piece of advice to guide them through life, what would you say?

Always go with your first instinct, you can worry about things but at some point you just need to make a choice and regardless of how much you think about it you can still make a wrong one. So why not just go with instinct in the first place 🙂

Photo Friday

This week’s challenge: “Transportation“.

Links:
Friday Five
Photo Friday