WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton
I see that politicians are flocking to Twitter in ever increasing numbers. Makes sense, in the realm of soundbite, something like Twitter is bound to be ideal. It also has the advantage of making them appear hip and tech-savvy without having to actually understand or do anything. Soon politicians 2.0 will rule supreme!
There was quite a lot of material about e-books and e-book readers this week. That's probably because the huge CeBit consumer trade fair has just taken place in Hanover, Germany. CeBit is a great place for launching new products, and since e-books seem to be the 'in' gadget at the moment, there were plenty of reader type thingies on show.
So, for your Sunday e-reading...
Shorts:
Pssst! Got an iPhone? Have I got some games for you. The Chicago Tribune recently looked at free iPhone games. Assuming the four they picked are typical, then iPhone owners are going to have fun.
The first was 'Labyrinth Lite', which turns the phone into a maze through which you have to guide a ball by tilting the phone. From all accounts it's very addictive. Second was a text based gangster game which is also a social network. Sounds interesting. Third is street racing game demo where you use the iPhone as a steering wheel - a very neat idea.
Finally, there's 'Frotz' which is a selection of the classic text based adventure games, such as 'Zork'. Could it be that with the new generation of smart phones, text adventure games are actually going to come back into vogue?
http://www.physorg.com/news155496335.html
And while we are on the subject of iPhones, I notice that it now has an Amazon 'Kindle' book reader. At US$359 a pop Kindles are likely to be only affordable by a small minority in the present economic climate, but if you already have an iPhone, this sounds like a good deal.
http://www.physorg.com/news155372509.html
Still on the reading front, ASUS revealed their new Flipbook PC this week. The touch screen machine opens like a book to give two screens and can be used (according to ASUS) as a laptop, an e-book reader, or a multi-media machine for watching movies or listening to music. Why you would need two screens to listen to music is not explained.
The picture of it on PhysOrg makes it look pretty neat, but significantly, it doesn't have a price tag yet. That usually means it's going to cost serious cash.
http://www.physorg.com/news155476157.html
One thing that automated and computerised systems have proved particularly good at is upping the rewards of criminal activity. Management at companies are always replacing people who would have spotted fraud, with dumb systems that are supposedly foolproof. They seem to think this is a cheaper option.
A story in the Chicago tribune this week is a case in point. A couple were allegedly able to swindle Best Buy out of a cool US$31 million by manipulating the automated bidding system Best Buy uses to choose suppliers.
They used the money to build a really tasteless US$2.75 million house in Deerfield, and build up a collection of high performance cars including a Ferrari coupe and a Lamborghini convertible. The latter collection is now in the possession of the local FBI, who reckon they are worth about US$2.8 million. (I wonder if they feel the need to make sure they all work...)
The couple were described by their attorney as upstanding citizens who give to charity and have two children in elementary school. Perhaps Best Buy will be asking the charities for their money back?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-best-buy-fraudfeb24,0,6558363.story
There's a great story in the Telegraph this week about a woman who is now able to swim even though she had to have both legs amputated before she was 16. She approached the Oscar winning Weta Workshop who were involved in the visuals for Lord of the Rings, Narnia and King Kong, and asked them if they could come up with a mermaid's tail that would actually work.
And they did! The tail was built specially for her and allows her to swim using an undulating movement. It looks realistic as well. Now that's what I call lateral thinking for new uses of hi-tech techniques!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4839818/Disabled-woman-
given-mermaid-tail-to-help-her-swim.html
Microsoft had one happy event this week. The EU, which in 2004 fined it over US$2 billion for abusing its dominant position in the PC and workgroup market, has removed an additional requirement that the company be overseen by a 'monitoring trustee'. I'm not sure whether this makes Microsoft trustworthy now, but I guess there will be some relief at not having an outsider looking over your shoulder all the time!
On the downside, Microsoft is now facing a new anti-trust case, started in January, over the stifling of competition caused by bundling its browser with the Windows operating system. One step forwards, two steps backwards...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/04/ec_ditches_microsoft_trustee/
It seems that the UK's Data Protection Act, and its enforcement arm, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) really does have some teeth after all. The ICO has just raided and closed down a secret blacklisting system run by a consulting company.
The company provided secret information about what it considered to be potential troublemakers to many of the largest players in the UK construction industry. People blacklisted include those who had raised safety issues - about asbestos, for instance - and those who had managed to win cases for unfair dismissal.
The Data Protection Act outlaws the collection and distribution of secret information about individuals without their knowledge.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7927487.stm
Identity thieves have a new scam on the market - pretending to be potential employers! As such, people looking for jobs give them the information needed to steal the job seekers' identity. Here in the UK such fake ads have gone up by 345% (I couldn't find the actual numbers, unfortunately), and such scams are only likely to increase as the slump starts to bite.
So, if you find what looks like a good job ad, the first thing to do is to research the firm online. If you can't find it, then be very careful, very careful indeed, about what information you give them. And remember the first rule of safety on the internet - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/cybercrime/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=
215800622&cid=nl_tw_weekly_T
Juan Zamora, of Spokane just received the ultimate bill for filling up the gas tank on his car - US$81,400,836,908. Yes, that's over US$81 billion. Stories of ridiculous charges from electronic transactions are so common these days that they rarely make the news, but this one takes the biscuit for sheer size.
That's not all that was interesting about it. The debit card was a PayPal one, so he rang PayPal customer service to ask what was going on. To quote Mr Zamora, "Somebody from a foreign country who spoke in broken English argued with me for 10 to 15 minutes," Zamora said. " 'Did you get the gas?' he asked. Like I had to prove that I didn't pump $81,400,836,908 in gas!" Eventually, he got his money back. Phew!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008790918_webbigbill27.html
And finally in this section, just one more, wafer thin, tech screw up. It seems that Swiss bank UBS (not to be confused with a memory stick - that's USB) managed to accidentally place a order for no less than three trillion yen (US$31 billion) of computer games company Capcom bonds on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Fortunately for UBS, the exchange managed to cancel the order for them. Capcom are best known for their 'Resident Evil' game - I guess that it is only a matter of time before they bring out a 'Three Trillion Yen' addon for the game...
This isn't the first screw up by UBS on the Tokyo exchange. In 2001 they mistakenly issued an order to sell shares they didn't have in the advertising firm Dentsu. They then had to buy enough shares to honor all the sales they had made.
In 2005 a UBS trader mistakenly agreed to sell 610,000 shares for 1 yen each, instead of one share for 610,000 yen. An error in the stock exchange software meant the deal couldn't be cancelled and the firm ended up a mammoth 40.5 billion yen (US$412 million) out of pocket.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7909627.stm
Homework:
There's a thought provoking essay from renaissance type (programmer, artist, entrepreneur) Paul Graham suggesting that the computer has already won the convergence war with TV.
For nearly 20 years now pundits has been predicting that TV and the computer will morph into a single thing. What they've not been able to agree on is what the resulting device will be - a computer or a TV. Graham's thesis is that it is now clear that it will be a computer, not a TV.
He justifies this with a number of technical arguments, but believes that the main reason is that the internet linked computer can not only show online TV, but that it also provides social networking, which, according to Graham is desired by everyone from 14 year olds to grandmothers.
I don't think we are quite as far along the line as Paul Graham seems to think - especially given the damage that can be done by Microsoft's slavish kowtowing to big media draconian demands for Digital Restrictions Management - but the article has much to commend it, and I would definitely recommend it to readers.
http://www.paulgraham.com/convergence.html
The Washington Post has an article by Brian Krebs about cyber security in Russia and the East European countries. These countries have some of the most active cyber criminal gangs in the world, and yet the authorities there are reluctant to do anything to track them, or cooperate with other affected countries.
It is a common belief that the reason for this is that the gangs don't target the countries in which they are based. The belief may be common, but that doesn't make it correct. In fact statistics provided by researchers at Team Cymru indicate that the gangs are just as likely to launch denial of service attacks on targets in their own countries as in other countries, such as the USA.
Add this to the long list of compromised organisations, private and public, in countries to the east of the old iron curtain, and you start to realise that no one is safe. The article suggests that the authorities in, say, Russia might be moved into action by public revelations about the extent of cyber criminal penetration in Russia.
Frankly, I don't think that stands a snowball in hell's chance of working. Dragging unpleasant facts into the light of day might work in democratic countries, but not in places like Russia. The only solution I can think of that might work is to completely isolate all the states involved from the Internet, and I'm not sure that's even technically possible, these days.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/03/from_to_russia_with_love.html
Most of you will be aware of the collision of two satellites in low earth orbit last year. From all accounts it's getting quite crowded up there, with live satellites, defunct satellites, and assorted debris.
If you are interested in finding out more about how the debris and satellites are tracked, and how the collision came to happen, then I'd refer you to an interesting, if rather long, essay by former USAF captain Brian Weeden in The Space Review.
While the essay ends with a polemic arguing for more resources for the US tracking network, the earlier part is entirely factual, and makes interesting reading for those who take an interest in what happens high above us.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1314/1
I've mentioned before in this newsletter the importance of verifiable election results, and the perils of electronic voting. Now there is a bit of good news on that front. Scientists at US and Belgian universities have developed a practical web based voting system which they believe is both secure and verifiable. What's more, it is open source, so we should soon be getting feedback on whether it does indeed meet its inventor's claims.
http://www.physorg.com/news155473407.html
Geek Toys:
Having problems lugging around your latest wide screen laptop? Then Lockheed has just the kit for you! It's a powered exoskeleton which is designed to confer superhuman strength and endurance on the user.
The wearer will, according to Lockheed spokesdroids, be able to carry loads of up to 200 pounds with minimal effort - only slimline laptops then. You will, however, be able to run at up to 10mph, provided you have plenty of batteries.
Even better, should you be inclined to take your laptop with you for a walk in the local park, you might like to obtain a remote-controlled gun mount able to handle heavy weapons. Just what's needed to deal with muggers...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/27/lockheed_exoskeleton/
http://defense-update.com/events/2007/summary/mdm07_rws.htm
Scanner: Other Stories
Politicians using Twitter in growing numbers
http://www.physorg.com/news155481820.html
'Lord' jailed for £229m bank plot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7926294.stm
Touch Book from Always Innovating harbors removable tablet, netbook price point
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/02/touch-book-from-always-innovating-harbors-
removable-tablet-netb/
Ad click-through rate lower than previously thought
http://www.physorg.com/news154786609.html
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb, Fi, Lois, and to Slashdot's daily newsletter for drawing my attention to material used in this issue.
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Spamato spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
8 March 2009
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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