WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton
Not a lot of really interesting material on the Internet and computing front this week, but these days that doesn't seem to be unusual. :( One interesting snippet that did come through was the announcement that for the first time, in the USA, aggregate sales went over the US$100 billion mark in 2006. No doubt this will spur fresh demands for taxation of goods and services bought via the Internet. http://www.physorg.com/news88056135.html
There were a couple of neat things in the wider science field. First, there is a gorgeous picture of Saturn on the NASA web site. Yes, I know that the Cassini spacecraft has been sending back dozens of amazing pictures of Saturn. This however is different, because in the background of the picture, millions of miles away is Earth. If you really want to get some grasp of our place in the Universe, this is a must see. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17524
And, at a more down to earth level, researchers in Brazil believe they have finally cracked the mystery of what 'ball lightning' is. Scientists have been trying to figure this one out ever since Benjamin Franklin flew his kite in 1752. And the secret? I'm not telling you! Go and look up the story yourself :) http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GKIDRSC0HK2BOQSNDLSCKHA?articleID=196902085
Story: Once is tragedy, twice is farce
I suspect the war over the high definition DVD formats is over - and Sony lost (again). Why do I think this? It's because Sony has just made the same mistake with its Blu-ray format as it did in the 1970s with the Betamax video tape recording format. Betamax, generally considered to be technically superior to its rival VHS, lost out when it refused to allow adult movies to be pre-recorded in Betamax.
This week they made the same mistake with Blu-ray format. The wording is a little more subtle this time round. They haven't actually banned adult content, just ensured that not only will Sony not duplicate adult material, but that producers of such material will get no technical assistance. Technical assistance is essential when technology, like high definition DVD, is in its infancy. Lack of such assistance will force adult content producers, who are otherwise agnostic on formats, to go to with HD DVD, Toshiba's alternative format.
The decision by Sony is a classic case of failing to learn from experience. And it's not as if there's any way to argue that the original video tape format defeat was a flash in the pan. It's an open secret that the commercialisation of the Internet was pioneered by the adult content industry. It was the industry that drove the setting up of the commercial infrastructure that now sustains the myriad firms selling to consumers on the Internet today.
But Sony's attempt to commit hara-kiri was not the only blow to Blu-ray this week. One of Blu-ray's key marketing (neither side have sold significant quantities yet) points has been that it can hold up to 50GB of data, while HD DVD can only hold 30GB. The fact that you need less than 30GB to store a high definition film and lots of extras, doesn't get a look in in this debate.
Now, however, Toshiba have produced a prototype triple layer HD DVD, which holds no less than 51GB - one GB more than Blu-ray's double layer versions. OK, so the triple layer version can't be read without special equipment, but, hell, who cares about details like that in a format war!
Of course, Sony could change its mind, it will undoubtedly be under pressure from other companies in the Blu-ray consortium to do so, but I'm not sure whether its corporate culture would allow such a major back down. Only time will tell.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9008579&source=NLT_PM&nlid=8
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/15/tosh_touts_51gb_hddvd/
Shorts:
I mentioned the iPhone last week in an article about a trademark dispute over the game. Now there has been time to peruse the information about the device itself.
I suspect Apple has produced a lemon with this one! I know people think that Steve Jobs can do no wrong and anything he touches magically sells, but those who make this claim have short memories.
If you don't believe me, Google for the Apple III, the Apple Lisa, the Next Machine, or, even closer to the iPhone, the Apple Newton. And don't forget that Mr Jobs tried to kill the Mac because it was competing for resources with the Lisa, Job's pet project. The iPhone has all the traits of a sofa-bed assemblage - a sofa-bed makes a bad bed and an uncomfortable sofa.
In addition to which, having built a device which does a bit of everything badly, Apple are going to some trouble to make sure no one else can get into it to write applications that might make it into something useful: Apple Only - Keep Out!
Yep, definitely a lemon, I think I'd prefer Blackberries...
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
As you may have guessed from the previous article, I'm not all that enamoured of devices of the Swiss Army kitchen sink variety (though it would be useful if my Razr phone had a thingie for getting boy scouts out of horses hooves). However, if you want to make one of those, then you need look no further than OpenMoko.
OpenMoko is a Linux based mobile phone development platform. It runs on an FIC neo1973 phone which has a large VGA touch screen and built in GPS. The basic phone does little but make calls and send text messages, but it's open hardware and developers have access to all functions - including the GPS through the OpenMoko development system.
Expect some really interesting and innovative applications to come out on this phone in the not too distant future.
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/01/15/open_phone/
And while we are on the subject of Open Source, the EU recently issued a report on open Source software that suggests it is currently worth 2 billion Euros (about US$2.6 billion) to the European economy.
Of course, it's only an estimate, and such figures are at the very least, speculative. I'm sure the likes of Microsoft will have something to say about the report's methodology in the not too distant future. In the meantime, the EU Commission is using it to suggest tax breaks for companies that put their software into Open Source (FLOSS - as they call it - Free, Libre and Open Source Software). That's a nice idea - I approve!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/15/open_source_2bn/
Oh-oh - there's trouble at mill, lad. MIT researchers have come up with a way that engineers can use to predict how well a system, or project, will perform when it's finished. The system uses a list of thirteen measures that give the information to make the prediction.
There's only one problem. The measures are based on those used by economists to predict what the economy is going to do. Tell me, when was the last time that an economist correctly predicted what was going to happen in the economy in the future?
Do I detect a resounding silence from my readers?
http://www.physorg.com/news88437844.html
Users of Symantec's corporate anti-virus products are being targeted by a new virus that turns the machines into spam spewing zombies. A patch has been available for some time for the flaw that allows the attack to succeed, but many corporate sysadmins haven't applied it, thus allowing the virus to take hold.
Most of the articles about the problem are scathing about the failure of sys admins to update the software, but the flaw is Symantec's and they were the one who dismissed the threat in the first place - and they have not produced an auto-updater to make sure their products are up-to-date.
My sympathies lie with the sys admins. They have to deal with a bunch of vendors, few of whom can be trusted to just patch security holes and not try to add in other 'goodies' which alter the behaviour of the software, often causing a cascade of other problems.
How long will it be before major corporations like Symantec realise that they need to get it right first time? Don't hold your breath...
http://ct.techrepublic.com.com/clicks?t=26103459-18a32f6148453f76b7d88f6b914d69a0-bf&s=5&fs=0
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/17/symantec_worm/
Scanner: Other stories
'Microsoft broke anti-trust agreement,' prosecutors claim
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/18/microsoft_breached_antitrust/
DNS may seem like an old topic, but it's still vital and there's invention
going on around the edges.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2007/01/11/dns-extensions.html
EU set to rule in Intel anti-competition probe
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196901373
Dell accused of selling defective notebooks - again
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/12/inspiron_defect_lawsuit/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barbara, Fi and David for drawing my attention to material used in this issue. Please send suggestions for material to alan@ibgames.com.
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
21 January 2007
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
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