Microsoft’s Wi-Fi Sense appears a bit scary for anyone running a wi-fi network. Once a user has joined your network and not opted out of sharing it, the network and its access details are sent to Microsoft for use by everyone in that user’s contact list:

For networks you choose to share access [to all your Outlook, Skype or Facebook contact list] to, the password is sent over an encrypted connection and stored in an encrypted file on a Microsoft server, and then sent over a secure connection to your contacts’ phone if they use Wi-Fi Sense and they’re in range of the Wi-Fi network you shared. Your contacts don’t get to see your password, and you don’t get to see theirs.

To me, it seems obvious that patents in my industry — software — are destructive. The Economist agrees, and makes some suggestions, in Time to fix patents.

Patents are supposed to spread knowledge, by obliging holders to lay out their innovation for all to see; they often fail, because patent-lawyers are masters of obfuscation. Instead, the system has created a parasitic ecology of trolls and defensive patent-holders, who aim to block innovation, or at least to stand in its way unless they can grab a share of the spoils. An early study found that newcomers to the semiconductor business had to buy licences from incumbents for as much as $200m. Patents should spur bursts of innovation; instead, they are used to lock in incumbents’ advantages.

We stopped off at Crank Arm Brewing (map) when in Raleigh, NC, last week. It’s got some great beers; be sure to try the Unicycle if it’s on.

We also went to the amazing The Pit – just opposite Crank Arm – for BBQ. I ate enough that I had difficulty sleeping (or I could blame jetlag, but, to be honest, it was really my greed).

Most modern games don’t ask the player to interpret the wry smile on another character’s face. The narratives are built on enjoyment and, as games are chiefly meant for recreation rather than as a test of emotional intelligence, there’s nothing wrong with that. Old-time RPGs did not adhere to that idea: back then, “fun” was what you made it and you were not guaranteed to have any.

Does it matter if people don’t finish games any more?

In One to Watch’s film querying at risk I mentioned that the Freebase API that One to Watch relies on was going offline on June 30th.

I’ve submitted an update to Apple which migrates the application to use TMdB’s API. I’ve been using this for the past couple of months without issue, and it was getting close to June 30th, so I decided it needed to be submitted.

Please accept this update :)