This interesting factoid was reported in several outlets after Her Majesty paid a visit to Google UK:

According to the Palace, the Queen was the first monarch in the world to send an email, at an Army base in 1976.

Sterling work Ma’am!  After further research I also discovered that she created her first lolcat (pictured) in 1979 and in 1982 she produced the first ever entry on YTMND.

While we’re on the SUBJECT (yay!) of the Queen, I just want to clear up this common mistake:

It was exciting, it was an honour. To think when we started three years ago that we’d have the Queen of England uploading a video to her channel on YouTube,” said Hurley.

That’s YouTube founder Chad Hurley forgetting that Her Majesty’s official title is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji.  Get it right next time or the DMCA will be the least of your worries.

Web app HopStop (via LifeHacker) allows you to access public transport directions directly from your phone.  It’s currently available for some of the major metropolitan areas in the US and based on my tests in Chicago it works pretty well.

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In his book The Future of Reputation (available for free online), Daniel J Solove discusses some of the dangers of being a participant in an online world. One of his points is that even the most carefully honed personal privacy policies are subject to leaks from friends, family members or even complete strangers.

He also mentions that many companies are starting to take advantage of the availabilty of extra information by using Google searches to screen potential candidates - but I wonder if this is really the best approach.

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I was a little freaked out when Google Streetview appeared on my street. This video shows the inevitable next step.

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After a couple of privacy slip ups from Facebook, and with some employers routinely Googling new applicants, many people have been scrambling to lock down their online identities. Having read Daniel Solove’s The Future of Reputation I’m starting to think that this is the wrong approach.

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