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Brian and team, who work for a digital marketing agency run this Digital Crosstalk blog.
Occasionally we might blog about companies and people we work with but for the most part we'll simply be blogging about stories and events which we find interesting.

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25th
FEB

Elvis exposes biometric passport security flaws

Posted by Brian | Filed under blogging

: Elvis Presley via last.fm

The introduction of biometric passports was supposedly to tighten security and make travellers feel a little safer. But hackers have showed they’re far from foolproof in a CNN report.

In the pursuit of improved security, Adam Laurie and Jeroen Van Beek demonstrated just how easy it is to fool a passport scanner using a fraudulent biometric chip. Checking in at a self-serve passport machine at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport in September 2008, the hacker was able to clear passport control with a faked Elvis Presley passport!

Van Beek said: “What we did for that chip is create passport content for Elvis Presley and put it on a chip and sign it with our own key for a non-existent country. And a device that was used to read chips didn’t check the country’s signatures.”

Biometric passports, which contain data stored on an embedded chip are now standard issue in much of Europe, the United States and in numerous countries around the world but the hackers maintain biometric passports are still vulnerable to fraud.

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25th

Alcohol-free resort launched for recovering addicts

Posted by Brian | Filed under Uncategorized

: Image by Valter Jacinto | Portugal via Flickr

Many holidays abroad usually involve some level of alcohol consumption amongst its participants. However, Europe’s first alcohol-free holiday resort has been unveiled in Portugal, and is being aimed at recovering alcoholics.

A report in the Telegraph says that Renovatio – the company behind the project – is to launch the service – called ‘Sober Holidays’ – with the aim of providing holidaymakers with a ‘safe, supportive environment’ which it claims is not available at other resorts.

Fashioned from a restored 19th-century villa, the resort property is situated on the Algarve near to Faro airport and will open for business from April. The resort will offer a host of activities from mountain biking and hiking to bird-watching and tennis. The surrounding countryside also hosts 14 golf courses.

The company claims that counselling sessions are not obligatory, and they are not affiliated to any other organisiation. They will however offer access to three weekly English Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, while weekly Gamblers Anonymous and bi-weekly Narcotics Anonymous meetings will also take place locally.

Sober Holidays are open to guests with a minimum of 60 days sobriety with prices starting at €395 for a three-night break, and €595 for a five-night break. Both tariffs operate an all-inclusive board basis.

The property used by Sober Holidays is owned and operated by Andrew O’Loughlin, himself a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for four years.

“On any conventional holiday, alcohol is everywhere,” said Mr O’Loughlin. “I could not find anywhere in Europe that offered an alcohol-free environment. I’d spoken to recovering alcoholics who had not been on holiday for five years. If we can stop one person relapsing on holiday, then it’s worth it.”

Tags: Alcoholics Anonymous, holiday resorts, sober holidays

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22nd
FEB

Lufthansa pilots’ strike grounds flights

Posted by Brian | Filed under air

: Image by caribb via Flickr

Almost 50% of German airline Lufthansa’s services were scrapped Monday as pilots at the airline began a four day strike over job security.

Travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers have been disrupted as some 800 flights have been grounded as a result of the strike with the airline’s long-haul routes worst affected by the strike. The majority of the carrier’s short-haul flights are running as normal.

The strike action has also affected Lufthansa’s budget airline subsidiary, Germanwings.

With further cancellations expected throughout the week, the airline has asked for a court ruling to halt the strike, with a decision expected to be delivered on Tuesday.

Passengers affected by the industrial action will be offered alternative arrangements – including train tickets or flights with partner airlines – or a full refund, while Lufthansa has published an amended flights timetable on its website, and providing regular updates via its Twitter feed.

More than 4000 pilots are involved in the strike action which has been organised by Vereinigung Cockpit – the pilots’ union – with the main concerns being job security.

The airline estimates that the strike could see loss of revenue in the region of €25million per day. Lufthansa also holds stakes in BMI, Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines and JetBlue.