Microsoft Tags, QR Codes and OpenID

I have used Barcodes and QR Codes in the past on some projects and played around a bit. Well, this morning i saw Microsoft released "Microsoft Tags" as a beta at CES 2009.

Clearly from my own selfish perspective, what i'd like to see if OpenID (disclaimer, i run http://OpenID.ORG) go OPEN in the real world. So, at a conference you could put a QR Code or Microsoft tag on your badge, t-shirt, hat or what ever. Maybe on the back of a card, on your company documentation, promotional material and so on.

If your OpenID is encoded in there then people could save you as a contact direct from your t-shirt :)

Thoughts? Other ideas?

Here is my OpenID (http://weblivz.openid.org) as a Microsoft tag (which would be printed out of course):

... and here is my OpenID as a QR Code :

Update : Sure enough, i installed the Tag reader on my PDA and simply pointed the phone at the image and it took me to my OpenID page in the web browser. Very nice!



They say more formats may be supported in the future - hope they add QR Codes to that list!

Twitter phishing issues

I agree with this article in the main, but there are some things worth pointing out… baring mind the majority and most concerning of these phishing issues came from people giving their credentials out and the 3rd parties assuming their identities and the associated trust with that.

1. oAuth could have allowed me to provide access for 3rd party systems in a case by case basis - not providing the credentials that could be stored and re-used.

2. oAuth would allow me to disable access immediately for a 3rd party site.

3. oAuth, as used in GMail, could be used to restrict the levels of access you permit of 3rd party applications. Therefore i may allow a site to read my contacts (which most do) but not sent replies or DM’s on my behalf (in fact this is what GMail can allow).

... I totally get that anyone can @ you on twitter - but i would be unlikely to click a random link. It it came from a friend - especially DM I am MUCH more likely to click it.

Only question i have is why did the phishing sites not use tinyURL or something to mask the link?

In the zone

Every New Year we promise to change something about ourselves. Well, this year i'm THINKING of trying something new (for me). Starting Monday 5th Jan, I am going to change timezone.... well, for an experimental period anyway! I was inspired to try this by reading this article by @4entrepreneur ... and the fact that it's harder to work at home during the day when my daughter is around (not yet at nursery).

What does that mean? Well, for 2 weeks (gotta trial this and start somewhere!) i am going to work to PST time. So that means i will be working through the night, at the same time as most of the tech activity on Twitter. It also means i can see whether coding in the evenings really is more beneficial. I used to write all my code books into the early hours but when i had the kids things reversed and i starting getting up very early.

I will blog and tweet as i go.

But i need to get a few typical daily timetables from tech folk working in PST (when do you rise, work, go to sleep and so on?). If anyone can comment, email or DM on twitter it would be much appreciated!! I could easily subtract 8 from my normal day, but want something real.

Anyone NOT in PST already work to that timezone, perhaps out of necessity via remote working?