Gmail has finally updated its contacts manager so that users can stop it from automatically adding every address they e-mail to their contacts list. I actually really like the way they’ve done it, by adding recently and most frequently e-mailed lists, addresses from which can then be easily transferred to contacts. It’s a long-overdue fix to the annoying behaviour of a supposedly “helpful feature”. For more info, see the Gmail Blog, here.

Anyway, now that my contacts aren’t going to end up overloaded with randoms, and in the interests of integration between e-mail and IM, I’m going to start using my Gmail address (guy.rintoul@gmail.com) for Google Talk, although I’ll still use im@guyrintoul.com for MSN. Please update your GTalk contact lists as required. My full contact details can be found here.

The security minister Lord West has refused to reject the idea of a proposed Big Brother database, which would hold details of all phone calls, e-mails and Internet use made in the UK. He slithered around the issue, simply saying that it’s “early days”. “We haven’t made a decision” is not a no and is not good enough. Anything other than an outright rejection of proposals to catalogue every piece of communication in the country shows that the government is willing to shit all over the few civil liberties they’ve left us with post-9/11. To even consider the idea is dangerous, threatening everything Britain stands for and making us no better than the dictators we rail against. Disgusting

Full story from BBC News, here.

“Some start-ups choose to develop their products and services in stealth mode in order to avoid competitor attention and build hype leading up to the launch … [But] Building an entire product below the radar, then banking on a one-time launch is a risky proposition … I think that a more open approach, that may involve some level of secrecy, is the way to go.”

I completely agree. Building up anticipation through controlled information release will excite people and prompt them to sign up for the final release. If potential users are kept completely in the dark about what to expect, they’ll often just find another solution to use in the meantime - and once locked in, they’ll stick with it even if it’s inferior. Post is on Mapping The Web, here.

Lol, I love xkcd Original strip here.

I’ve just been playing about with the new Facebook profiles layout, and my overriding opinion is that it’s ugly and badly designed. I get that the idea was to group things into logical areas and get rid of profile clutter, but I find it to be even less intuitive with tabs and filters everywhere, and the merged wall/minifeed thing is a bad plan. I can see a massive backlash from the Facebook community on this one, and for good reason. The only good thing is the new Info tab, which combines your networks, work experience, groups etc. into one logical page. Apart from that - it’s a massive disappointment

To view your profile page in the new layout, you’ll need to install the Developer app then visit www.new.facebook.com. Via CNET News.

“This is voting as handheld therapy to make us (and politicians) feel better. No one – not the Putney Debaters nor the Suffragettes – put their lives on the line for the right to be patronised madly by an aloof and idea-lite elite. They wanted the right to engage in serious politics on an equal footing, not to have their self-esteem massaged by someone like Hazel Blears or to get an ‘I’m special’ badge for using a biro to tick a box.”

James Panton quite rightly rallies against ridiculous and offensive government suggestions on how to get more people to vote. They include prize draws and stickers for those who take part in the democratic process. From Spiked.

Yet another hostile bid triggers yet another rejection by Yahoo’s battered board. This time, they were forced to reject an offer which would have seen Microsoft take their search division while investor Carl Icahn took the rest of the company. Ars notes that this may just be part of a larger strategy by the hostile bidders, but it will be interesting to see how Yahoo fares at its annual meeting on August 1. And going forward, Microsoft have made clear their intention to renegotiate if a new board is put in place - not an unlikely scenario given how much the current board have screwed up. Neither the current board, nor the company as a whole, are out of the woods yet.

Ars Technica post here.

The Mail on Sunday claims to have revealed the identity of elusive graffiti artist Banksy, famous for incredible street art the world over. I really hope Middle England on Sunday hasn’t given the game away - not only because Banksy would charged with numerous counts of criminal damage, when instead he deserves to be recognised as a brilliant artist using public space as his canvas, but also because it would take away some of the mystery surrounding him. As he notes, the reality might be a bit disappointing

The BBC reports on the story and the artist, here.

“If we only make standard fare, we cannot beat other studios. There were already adult videos with Lolitas or themes of incest, so we wanted to make something new. A relationship between wife and an old father-in-law has enough twist to create an atmosphere of mystery and captivate viewers’ hearts.”

Time has a bizarre insight into the Japanese trend for ‘elder porn’. In a country with an ageing population and one of the most sexless societies in the developed world, there’s been an explosion in demand for adult movies starring ‘mature’ stars. The article features Shiego Tokuda, a 73-year old pornstar whose 350 films include “Forbidden Elderly Care” More here.

So true… I’m sure most people who work in an office can identify with this I’m a big advocate of letting people pick one password and stick with it, or at the very least not making them have a different password for every single system they use. The problem with having too many passwords, and being forced to constantly change them, is that it has an adverse effect on security as people end up writing them down and sticking them under their keyboards so that they can remember them! Comic reproduced by kind permission of Shane Johnson, author/artist at My Life in a Cube.