Links for 13 August 2010

Published on 13 August 2010 in Daily Links, BBC, BBC Breakfast, BBC Out of London, buses, London, Manchester, Merton, money, online banking, Salford, vending machine, web development

Hmm. Methinks this is less Daily Links and more monthly links!

• Giant Chinese ‘straddle bus’ drives over traffic

  Bonkers idea or genius new way at tackling congestion? You decide.

• Call to improve password security – BBC News

  Apparently we need to make passwords longer because shorter ones will be easily cracked. But frankly sod the cracking – people already struggle with passwords and if we make them longer, then people are going to struggle to remember them. Case in point – me. Halifax recently changed their online login requiring brand new "memorable data". They then pick three letters. The data they had me use is so long that to get the three letters I have to write down the password on a Post It note… It really is time the password died and something easier to use took its place.

• Why the US keeps minting coins people hate and won’t use – BBC News

  Apparently in the USA they're making dollar coins people won't use because they prefer notes. Personally I can't imagine still having a pound note in the UK – my wallet would just be full of paper…

• What makes a place worthy of World Heritage status? – BBC News

  "In most ways it is an underpass like any other. There are discarded shopping trolleys, the sound of cars overhead, and the less than fragrant smell of urine. The idea that anyone would mark this underpass in south London's Collier's Wood as a place of worldwide significance would merit a smirk at first glance. But behind an inconspicuous black door, near the entrance of the alley, lies a completely different world. " Yep, it's the Merton Abbey Chapter House, the ruins of which were built over by the local council in the 1980s!

• BBC News – Wine vending machines launch in US

  Bonkers wine vending machine which only really exists because Pennsylvania seems utterly paranoid about anyone drinking wine.

• Turn the BBC into a co-op – Progress Online

  "Under a mutual model, membership of the BBC could be open to everyone who pays the licence fee. Members could have the right to elect representatives to a members' council that would elect a majority of members of the BBC Trust. This would give licence fee payers a way to democratic voice in the priorities of the BBC." David Milliband and Tessa Jowel discuss turning the BBC into a co-op.

• David Ottewell’s Politics: Sian Williams on the BBC move north – Manchester Evening News

  A rather good piece from the Manchester Evening News fighting back at some rather bitter pieces about the presenters of BBC's Breakfast being reluctant to move to Salford. It's a great, level headed piece that accurately portrays the dilemmas affected staff have – that there are reasons that people DON'T want to move and people have valid reasons for not moving. Manchester may be great, but even those of us who know how great it is (and that includes some presenters of Breakfast and myself) may not want to move.

• How To Use CSS3 Media Queries To Create a Mobile Version of Your Website – Smashing Magazine

  Some months ago I tried to find a nice easy to understand article about creating mobile versions of a website as I wanted to experiment with doing one for Planet Bods. If only this piece had been around then – I would have saved a lot of hassle, tears and gnashing of teeth!