There's a message doing the rounds on Facebook as people copy and paste it into their status in response to a new(ish) news ticker on the top right hand side of the Facebook page. The worry is that because it displays that I've liked a post along with the post itself, your post might become visible to people who aren't your friends. The solution it seems, is to ask me to change my settings for each of my friends individually to disable this feature.

Sorry, but the answer is no, and it's not just because I'm feeling lazy. Here's why.

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You might think that tabbed browsing is a good way to hide the fact that you're playing a Facebook game. If anyone comes near, Ctrl and Tab will quickly switch tabs to safety.

Only it's not that simple. In fact, your boss doesn't even need to leave the comfort of their executive chair to see not only whether you're playing a game but what the game is.

You may have noticed the chat list that appears on the right of the Facebook page with green icons to show friends are online or phones to show that they are using a Facebook app. Earlier today I noticed a gamepad icon.

Thinking that it might mean this particular friend might be using Facebook from a console, I moved the mouse over it. To my surprise a pop up appeared with details of the Facebook game this friend was playing.

The solution. Well apart from having two Facebook accounts (which isn't allowed and might lead to both being deleted). Don't play games on Facebook during the day.

So Baroness Howe of Idlicote wants all ISPs to block pornographic images and websites unless the subscriber actively ‘opts-in'.

Like many online child safety proposals the intentions are good, but the proposals are unworkable. As a colleague aptly put it - "there are people who think that there are things on the internet you can just turn off like taps".

On many levels the proposals are deeply flawed.

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How much do you share online? The often terrifying results when doing a Google search on yourself or a close friend is testament to the amount the internet knows about us. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are only adding to the veritable life story that some people are putting online. Now a clever new Facebook application is attempting to make people aware of exactly what they're doing...

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On the way back from the UpNorthWeb conference in Oslo yesterday, I got all excited at the prospect of using my biometric passport in the automatic gates at the airport.

Up I strode and scanned the photo page of the passport using the electronic reader.

And scanned it again, and again.

Eventually, a customs officer noticed my predicament; he suggested that I go over to the staffed desk. It turned out the reason for the passport gate not working was rather suprising, and certainly worth clicking on the Read more link to find out.

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The technology industry is one of endless jargon and endless assaults on the English language. Consequently, when a major technology story breaks, working out exactly what is going on can be fiddly. Case in point: what exactly is a hacktivist?

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