For some reason I’m having a conversation about the evolution of podcasting in Zhasper’s blog.
I look like David Trimble
Apparently I look like David Trimble (pictured right), the Northern Ireland politician and joint winner of the 1998 Nobel Peace prize. Well, 67% like him anyway, according to face recognition website MyHeritage.com.
Here’s the deal. You give them your photo, they match it against their database of celebrities and pick the closest. And in return, they get to test their face recognition software — and along the way build up a database of over a million faces (so far) matched to names and email addresses and family connections. Neat eh?
A not a single privacy concern, not one. Because their privacy policy includes the magic words saying that they’re firmly committed to protecting your privacy. So it must be true.
I also look 61% like actor Anthony Hopkins, 56% like American poet Ezra Pound, and 55% like actors Annette Bening (should I frock up now?) and Hugh Grant (should he frock up now?).
And 53% like Boris Karloff, which doesn’t thrill me at all.
Easter Requires Permission
I’ll post the explanation of this photograph at the end of Easter. Meanwhile, just think about the implications.
The Long Tail of Small Business
Whenever we see “business” depicted on the news, we see images of office buildings, factories, coal mines… And yet of the 3 million active registered businesses in Australia, fully 72 percent don’t have any employees.
The median business is actually a single man or woman — likely to be a sole trader because sole traders are the most common form of businesses (39%), followed by proprietary limited companies (26%).
Clash of Taste leads to Detention
My friend Richard will disagree, but if phone salesman Harraj Mann was singing along to The Clash’s London Calling then I think he deserves to be hauled off and questioned.
“Safety is paramount and we respond to concerns from members of the public in the way they would expect us to,” said a Durham Police spokeswoman. Too right.
Police Security Blunder reveals Journalists’ Stupidity
The Sydney Morning Herald report that a NSW Police security glitch exposed “email passwords” is misleading. But it provides useful lessons in password choice — hackers, relax, you’ve got it easy! — website security and media management.
Continue reading “Police Security Blunder reveals Journalists’ Stupidity”