I don’t mention my job here much, mostly because the majority of the work that I do deals with confidential information about students and applicants. But today, for a change, I spent some time invigilating a group practical assessment for some of the science students, and the majority of students had brought their laptops with them (it’s ‘open book’, so they can use textbooks and the internet).
Whilst making sure that none of the students were cheating, it was also a chance to see what laptops and web browsers they were using.
Most students had normal sized laptops, but around a quarter had the smaller netbooks. The vast majority were running Windows Vista or 7. Three or four (around 5%) were Macs. There were also a couple of iPads, plus various students using the internet on their smartphones.
As for web browsers, Internet Explorer stuck out as the most popular, though at least everyone was using version 7 or later. Interestingly, Google Chrome was the second most popular, with a surprisingly high number – probably 15-20% of people. Remember, these students were studying science, but not computer science. Firefox was in third place, and I saw one Opera user too. Almost everyone had multiple tabs open; some had 5 or 6.
If this is a typical sample, then it may be that I’m underestimating how popular Google Chrome has become. It’s still quite new on the scene but its growth has been huge.
(Usual disclaimer: this does not necessarily represent the views of my employer, this data was not gathered using scientific methods etc.)
Serco is, according to Guardian journalist Jane Martinson, “the biggest company you’ve never heard of“. Though the chances are that you’ve come across their services several times before, maybe without even knowing.
If you’ve ever been on the Docklands Light Railway, or most of the commuter trains in northern England, you’ve been on a train run by Serco. Together with Abellio, owned by the Dutch government, they operate Northern Rail and Merseyrail as a joint venture. Prefer to drive? Then you may have been caught by a Serco speed camera, or seen a message on a matrix display operated by Serco.
You may find that your local hospital’s facilities are managed by Serco, or that your local education authority (which looks after schools) is run by them – this was the case in Bradford until recently. And if you’ve been really naughty, you may have spent time in a Serco prison or young offender’s institute. Or you may have had to wear a Serco electronic tag as part of a curfew order.
Wikipedia has a big list of Serco’s operations, which include some businesses outside the UK. But many of the services that Serco provides are ones formerly provided by the state and civil servants.
In July 2013, The Guardian published another article about Serco and the in-roads that it is making to the NHS. In particular, there are some worrying allegations that the company is failing in its duties and yet still being rewarded bonuses for good performance.
Google has recently enabled two-factor authentication for all users with a Google Account. This means that, when you log in, you provide two pieces of secret information, rather than just a password (which would be ‘one-factor’ authentication). This second piece is a 6-digit code that is generated randomly every 30 seconds from another device.
This improves security by ensuring that, even when a third party knows your password, they still cannot log into your account without the 6-digit code (although see below). Think of it like a PIN number – a thief could steal your credit card but wouldn’t be able to get money out of an ATM without knowing the PIN number.
Some banks have started using two-factor authentication for their online banking services – as well as your username and password, you are asked to enter a code generated by a small electronic device on your keyring. Blizzard Entertainment offers a similar device for World of Warcraft and Starcraft II players, as well as a free iPhone app that does the same thing.
So Google isn’t the first to offer this – it’s actually reasonably well tried and tested. To activate it, log into your account and click the ‘Using 2-step verification’ link. Google will then walk you through setting up your account for two-factor authentication.
There are a variety of options for the second factor. There are apps for the iPhone and Android phones, but you can also receive a code by text message to a mobile phone number that you provide during the initial setup. You’ll also be asked to provide a backup system in case you lose your phone; in my case, Google will phone my work number and a computer will read a number to me.
I mentioned there’s a caveat. Two-factor authentication works great on Google’s various web sites, but falls down if you access Google services through other apps, such as IMAP for Gmail, or CalDAV for Google Calendar, which aren’t really designed with two-factor authentication in mind. As soon as you enable two-factor authentication, any attempts to access data over these protocols will see your login fail.
Thankfully, there’s a way around it, in the form of application-specific passwords. Essentially, for each method of connecting to your Google Account, you can create a separate password. Each password can then be revoked if you find someone using it without your permission, and once generated, passwords cannot be viewed again. Furthermore, the passwords can’t be used to get into your account on the Google web site (they would need your main password and verification code), so it wouldn’t be possible for a hacker to change your main password, or deactivate the two-factor system. It’s not a perfect solution, though.
I’ve turned on two-factor authentication because I have a lot of important personal data in my Google Account – all my contacts, my calendars and hosting details for this site – and wouldn’t want anyone obtaining unauthorised access. The workarounds for CalDAV and IMAP are a bit of a pain, but I feel it’s worth it for the piece of mind.
Whilst we’re on the subject of Google Account security, if you use Firefox I’d recommend installing the HTTPS Everywhere addon, which forces the use of SSL/TLS on most parts of Google. I would, however, suggest disabling the ‘Google APIs’ option in its preferences as this may break some other web sites. Still, it will help to prevent your Google Account data being caught be man-in-the-middle attacks.
Seeing how I haven’t posted for a while, I’m going to try to post something about Foursquare each week on a Thursday as a way of encouraging me to actually write something. This week’s post is going to be an introductory one, about why I participate in Foursquare and what I feel sets it apart from its rivals.
I started using Foursquare almost as soon as I bought my iPhone, and, predictably, my first check-in was where I work. In fact, most of my check-ins are either work, or one of the two stations I pass through on my commute, due to the fact that I work full-time five days a week. But some more interesting ones appear at weekends or special events.
Obviously I wouldn’t bother participating in Foursquare if there was no reward for it. I’ve managed to get 17 mayorships (it was 18 earlier this week but I’ve been ousted from a local pub), and 15 badges, which isn’t bad but could be better. It’s certainly fun to get badges and compare with friends.
As yet, I haven’t unlocked any special deals (apart from the Super Bowl one at the weekend, which I didn’t take up as I don’t really have any interest in American Football); unfortunately there aren’t many UK companies taking advantage of Foursquare in that way as yet. Locally, there’s only Wetherspoons and Dominos Pizza. Hopefully that will improve; right now I’m the mayor of a couple of sandwich shops and some tangible rewards would be nice.
My participation in Foursquare goes beyond being a simple player, however: I’ve also been helping to find duplicate or incorrect venues and get them fixed or merged. I’ll mention more about this next week. Foursquare for me is fun, although a bit limited as only a few of my friends also play it. Plus, the US-orientated nature of most of the brands mean that some of the rewards are out of my reach, which is a shame. Still, I enjoy it.
