05.07 How To Complain In A Restaurant For cap-doffers like me.
 

11.05 Why can’t my mobile spell “tofu”? Technobile for The Guardian.
 

10.05 Fitter Happier More Productive A time-management system changed my life!
 

08.06 They Sing The Comet Electric Dissident scientists outpredict NASA. For Wired.

Trail of electronic data from US websites leads to convictions for Britons buying psychedelic drugs on net.

Police have arrested and prosecuted more than 22 British customers of websites selling class A designer drugs online after a trail of electronic evidence from busted websites in the US led police to addresses across the UK.

Published in The Guardian May 05

Usenet newsgroups dedicated to piracy are seeing a resurgence in activity as file sharers seek less-policed areas of the internet to trade illegal data…

Published on Wired.com May 05

Feel guilty eating a constant stream of ‘evil products’? You could go Fairtrade.

Published in BBC Olive Magazine May 05

Is it OK to borrow someone else’s wireless network without their permission? And how do you stop others doing the same to you?

I am faced with a modern ethical conundrum. My flat is very long and thin and, frustratingly, my wireless network does not extend from the office at the back to the lounge at the front. My dreams of sofa-surfing have been thwarted. However, my laptop does pick up my neighbour’s Wi-Fi connection. It’s called “belkin54g” after the brand of router he is using. A quick Google reveals the default passwords for this router. A few security screens later, I’ve effortlessly hacked into my neighbour’s Wi-Fi. I can now surf on the sofa while watching TV and drinking red wine. Bliss.

Of course, he doesn’t know this, which leaves the conundrum: should I tell him his network is unprotected and risk losing my convenient living room wi-fi? Or should I continue to hijack his connection, risking discovery and a possible neighbourly feud?

Published in The Guardian April 23rd 05

An obsession with healthy eating could be dangerous, doctors have warned. So what’s it like suffering from orthorexia?

My family have accused me of having it. My friends suspect me too. After a brief resistance and some research, I’m ready to concede: “My name is David and I am mildly orthorexic.”

Orthorexia nervosa is an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Unlike the related anorexia, sufferers are concerned not with quantity but with quality. It’s not about feeling fat, but about feeling pure.

Published on BBC News March 05

With an estimated five million people now connected to broadband at home, one early internet enthusiast is giving it up for good. David McCandless explains why he’s given it the boot.

Published on the BBC News Magazine, Feb 2005