O2 UK's Weird MSISDN Lookup API


Sorry, we don’t recognise this number. Please try again.

It's always fun keeping your network inspector tab open. While looking around the O2 UK website, I found this page all about eSIMs. For some reason, it wants to know the user's phone number. I put in a random number, and it refused to let me in. Putting in a genuine O2 number let me […]

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Responsible Disclosure: Abandoned Buckets and Billing Emails


Error saying the bucket does not exit.

A few weeks ago, I received a billing email from my phone provider O21. While glancing at it, I noticed all the images were broken. Viewing the source of the email showed that they were all coming from http:// mcsaatchi-email-preview.s3.amazonaws.com/o2/... What happens if we visit that domain? Ah, the dreaded "The specified bucket does not […]

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Can You Power an iBeacon with a Lemon?


Photo of ten lemons wired up to a multimeter.

This is a necropost - resurrected from the now defunct blog of a previous employer. Sadly, most of the photos have fallen down the memory hole. So use your imagination. Energy efficiency is the next battleground for electronics. As the price of electricity soars, people will become less and less enamoured with charging their devices […]

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QR Codes on Energy Bills


Photo of an eBook. It is demonstrating how a customer can scan a QR code on their bill to see what their energy usage is.

This is a necropost - resurrected from the now defunct blog of a previous employer. Sadly, the follow-up post has fallen down the memory hole. You can still read Sharon's response to it. Well, we can finally unwrap one of the little projects The Lab has been working on. Along with the Department of Energy […]

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3D Printing at Over The Air


Various pieces of 3D printed gadgets.

This is a necropost - resurrected from the now defunct blog of a previous employer. We had an amazing time at Over The Air 2013. We’ve teamed up with ThingMaker to digitally scan attendees. Our long term aim is to release on GitHub a collection of faces which artists and game designers can re-use. The […]

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Demoing BlipDrop at Mobile Monday London


Terence standing up demoing to a room full of people.

This is a necropost - resurrected from the now defunct blog of a previous employer. I really loved the idea of geolocated ephemeral content. And I was a little disappointed that the business never saw the potential for it. Maybe I'll find a way to relaunch it in the future. I’ve been attending Mobile Monday […]

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Are Megabytes Meaningless To Customers?


The Lab's logo.

This is a necropost - resurrected from the now defunct blog of a previous employer.. Pop quiz: How many MB did you use watching that YouTube video? When dealing with data usage, a familiar cry in the telco world is “Customers just don’t understand what a MB is!” Is this true? The theory goes something […]

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Fairwell InMobi - Hello Telefónica!


The Lab's logo.

Sixteen months ago, I climbed a rattly staircase behind a restaurant to a fairly typical "start-up loft". My first taste of InMobi. I was enthralled! I've spent the last year driving the developer relationship process in the company, watching as we've grown from 15 people in a small room to 70 people in swanky London […]

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#O2Fail - What You Need To Know About Mobile Phone Content Control


WARNING This article and pages it links to, contain information about pornography and sex education which may be offensive to Daily Mail readers. These are the hurried lunchtime writings of a chap with too much on his plate. So, O2 has apparently angered the Internet Gods by switching on its Adult Content Filter. This means […]

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