Twitter owns @

Here’s a fascinating cultural phenomenon I’ve observed recently: The @ symbol, placed before a word (such as @gourmethotdogs) is beginning to become an instant reference to that username on social network Twitter. In the same way that the popular early subdomain “www” identifies web sites to the average person without the need for text explaining that it is a web site (or even the http:// part of the URL that specifies the protocol!), we’re starting to see signs and adverts for businesses just identifying their presence on Twitter with their name preceded by @. Essentially, Twitter now owns the @ symbol for the purpose of brand recognition. What’s even more interesting about this is that the use of the @ symbol was not a...

Posted by on Nov 23, 2011 in Tech | 0 comments

I’m not stupid, but: what is https about?

I’m not stupid, but: what is https about?

Any tech-geek followers of my blog will probably know this inside out, so this one is for the rest of you. My next entry in the I’m not stupid, but… series is about the difference between http and https in web URLs. We’re all told https is more secure, but there’s a shroud of mystery about what this actually means. In a nutshell: https prevents anyone but you and the owner of the web site reading your communications. At a public internet connection, not using https means anyone in that same location can steal your login sessions at any sites you visit while there. The certificate proves the owner of the site you are visiting is who they say they are. When you visit a web site, you are communicating with a computer somewhere else in the...

Posted by on May 15, 2011 in I'm not stupid but | 0 comments