WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton
I'm afraid this is a shorter and somewhat erratic Winding Down, because I've been out of town for part of the week.
It's still unseasonably warm here - but the summer rains seem to have stopped, and the autumn rains have set in. For those of my readers who are not familiar with the English weather system, the autumn rains come between the summer rains and the winter rains, which comes before the spring rains. I'm sure my Seattle readers will understand what's involved. It's rumoured that the British Empire was founded by Brits trying to get away from the British weather.
So... Here's here's all the (soggy) news I saw fit to print this week!
Shorts:
Microsoft released the new version of Internet Explorer - IE7 - this week. A number of reports described it as being 'unleashed', but I suspect dribbled would be a better term. Most of the features in it are merely fitting the browser with features that the competition has had for some years.
The browser was barely out of the door before the first bug reports came in, although, to be fair, the one security flaw reported turned out to be a problem located in Outlook Express - which, of course is also a Microsoft program. No one seems to be asking why it is that Microsoft are writing programs in such a way that problems in one application can cause security failures in a completely different application.
My advice? If IE is your browser of choice then wait a little longer (say a month or so) until you're sure the bulk of the problems have come to light, and possibly been fixed, before you decide whether to upgrade or not.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/19/ie7_release/
Ten house points and a gold star to the UK's Transport for London (TfL). The organisation is the body with the responsibility for public transport in London, and for strategic transport planning. Part of their remit is the congestion charging of cars coming into central London, which helps keep down traffic in the centre of London, and pay for TfL. Incidentally, in case you are wondering, surveys have proved conclusively that car owners are heavily in favour of keeping cars out of the centre of London, but only other people's cars, not their own car!
At the moment cars entering central London are identified by a series of cameras and charged for access, but there have been suggestions that satellite tracking technology would be far better, and TfL have been investigating. Now they have reported that the technology is not yet up snuff for the demanding requirements of TfL, who will not be upgrading their current system to satellite. Congratulations are definitely in order for TfL's perspicacity in avoiding the siren call of unproven, bleeding edge technology, the blandishments of hi-tech snake oil vendors, and the high visibility lure of mega-tech projects! Would that more bodies responsible for spending public money show that sort of restraint.
http://Mail.computing.co.uk/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ewYa0BsjfA0UCK0DTXH0E8
The UK government, on the other hand, is definitely not in line for a gold star. It recently revealed that its major IT projects are running 17 years late... And this is just the projects for which the government can make estimates. Take, for instance, (as The Register did) the tax department's 'modernisation' of its computer system for taxing employed workers. The Treasury said the project started last February, but it had no idea when it was due to finish, or how much it might cost!
I definitely want the opportunity to bid for one of these projects - the phrase 'gravy train' comes to mind.
In the meantime, detention for the Brit government, and write out one thousand times, 'I must remember to beware of geeks bearing gifts."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/14/it_tyranny/
No let up in Sony's woes this week. Not only is Toshiba rumbling about compensation for damage to its brand over the recalled batteries fiasco, but Sharp has announced that it too will be recalling Sony batteries - 28,000 of them. Fujitsu then announced it was upping its number of recalled batteries by a further 51,000 units.
To cap it all Sony's Vaio division announced that it is also initiating a recall. They didn't give figures, but analysts are suggesting that the recall may well reach the 300,000 level world wide.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/16/sharp_battery_recall/
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/17/sony_japan_recalls_90k_vaio_batteries/
http://newsletter.eetimes.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/ez6U0FypUC0FrK0EpWs0E8
Apple managed to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the iPod by shipping a bunch of video iPods infected with a Windows virus. The virus, which doesn't affect the the iPod, just Windows machines you plug it into, was caused by an infected contractor. According to Apple only a small number of machines were involved. Great quality control, guys. On the other hand, I suppose we could consider this to be a limited edition iVirus machine :)
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6126804.html?tag=nl.e550
http://www.apple.com/support/windowsvirus/
Thinking of playing 'Battlefield 2142', Electronic Arts (EA) new game? Think carefully before you do so - EA have bundled an adware package with it. To be fair, they are completely up front about it, with a leaflet explaining it in the box. Privacy enthusiasts are up in arms and there is a threatened boycott in the offing.
I'm not totally sure that the furore is justified. The purpose of the adware is to generate in-game advertising - current products in a futuristic setting. As such I don't see a problem. On the contrary, it's a good way of keeping the retail price down. The problem is that experience indicates that few of these programs stop at that. The temptation to collect info about the user is something that the advertising companies can rarely resist.
I think I would want a great deal more information up-front before deciding to buy this game.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/18/battlefield_2142_ad-ware_rumpus/
Just watch this space. Cisco appear to have been granted a huge broad patent which appears to cover virtually everything involving integrated voice, video, and data content transmission! I haven't had a chance to study the details, but a quick look gives me the distinct impression that they've been allowed to patent the Internet! More info on this loony decision as it comes out.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/16/cisco_triple_threat/
Homework:
I recently came across an interesting piece on the amorality of the Web while I was searching for something completely different. The piece, a blog by Nicholas Carr, takes a firm aim at those who consider the Web to be some kind of mystical experience, and an unalloyed force for good.
The piece was written a year ago, and some of it's broadsides against the Wikipedia might be thought of as knocking down straw men in the light of the criticism leveled at the site in the last year. However, in spite of that It's a relatively short, well written piece, that deserves a wider readership by those who want to understand the direction in which the web is moving.
Recommended.
http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2005/10/the_amorality_o.php
And for some light relief there is an amusing tale of future history on Avant News. It's the story of the 2008 US presidential election - I'm not going to tell you who won it, 'cause that would spoil the story - take a look, it's well worth it.
http://www.avantnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=281
Geek Toys:
Now here's a toy for geeks, even if it's not on sale anywhere! The UK's Highways Agency has deployed a very big magnet with which it 'sweeps' the hard shoulders of our motorways (six lane intercity highways) for metallic refuse. The magnet is bolted on to the front of a road sweeper and so far has scoured no less that 32,000 km of motorway in the south of England. While doing so it has collected more than three tons of scrap including nails, wrenches, wheel nuts, and money. I think they should put one in the next instalment of Grand Theft Auto!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/19/street_cleaning_magnet/
And for those into steampunk - here's a working steampunk laptop. Typewriter keyboard, wooden spacebar, morse key, the works. There's a picture and more details at the URL.
http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2006/10/13/handmade_steamp.html
Scanner: Other stories
PS3 Linux ready and waiting
http://ct.enews.deviceforge.com/rd/cts?d=207-158-2-28-255-13714-0-0-0-1
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3148775
Universal Service Funds not being spent
http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?r=314&c=659302&l=
12142&ctl=1470EAB:215D3E184FC552DCAE06382FFD4C5DE4EFF29049075316B4
Europe's banks target payments upgrade
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/17/banks_euro/
Spamhaus appeals possible shutdown ruling
http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?r=314&c=659302&l=12142&ctl=
1470EAF:215D3E184FC552DCAE06382FFD4C5DE4EFF29049075316B4
Microsoft promises to give away key virtualization spec
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/17/microsoft_vhd_away/
France Telecom Customers Out Of The Loop
http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/17/france-telecom-orange-markets-equity-cx_po_1017markets01.html
?partner=telecom_newsletter
EU mulls RFID privacy laws
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/17/eu_rfid_consultation/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barbara, David and Fi for drawing my attention to material used in this issue. Please send suggestions for material to alan@ibgames.com.
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
22 October 2006
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist. His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
|
