Scratch

Here you will find older scratches, musings and other detritus that once were located on the front pages, but have now faded.

Filed away here to collect dust and cobwwwebs in perpetuity, links may break, facts may change and data may corrupt.

On occasion I may come down here to tidy, but for the most, I prefer to leave the past where it lies.

Monthly Archives

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Trying/Interesting Times

So, as I am on leave this week, I have no access to my work PC and its only now my PC decides to just give up the ghost. I love technology. On a plus note though, I have finished my new DVD rack.

On a completely unrelated note, courtesy of Liberty (who isn't looking quite so cute at the moment), we now have two baby blackbirds in the airing cupboard. Not content with bringing us one at 5 in the morning, she dutifully trotted out to get us the matching set.

Apologies

We interrupt you regular reading (dis)pleasure to bring you this quick advertisement for a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16GB U3 USB Flash Drive. Happy USB-ing.

Or voice recording

Pretty picture(s) may follow.

Technology Is Getting The Better Of Me

I have inadvertently become old. Well no, perhaps not old in the traditional sense of clinging to the technologies of the past whilst still being technically older, I am either more demanding or just want foir a simple life. Case in point, whilst I can probably program the video recorder and can also probably use my phone to do so albeit at some cost*, I cannot just type something out, hit enter thus simultaneously making my video record at the appropriate time and also send me a reminder of why I cannot watch the program because I am doing something else.

Not only is technology is getting away from me in terms of what I can do in whatever language is best suited, I cannot even settle on the best technology to begin thinking about getting things done.

At home I use Outlook for everything. At work I use Thunderbird for email and Oracle Calendar for my diary and tasks. In between I have my phone which pulls contacts from Outlook with ActiveSync and tasks/diary from Oracle with SyncML. I don't pull tasks/diary from home for fear of inadvertently dumping my personal life into the corporate arena for all and sundry to marvel/laugh at**. I have used** Remember The Milk, in combination with Twitter, and still sporadically do so, but RTM doesn't play well with Outlook and a cursory glance at the Interweb only reveals me needing something like OutTwit to achieve some semblance of compatability for Twitter/Outlook. I also use text files and simple perl to update things either by hand or, at work, dynamically by whatever piece of kit it is that needs my attention. Whilst this data is generally only modifiable on whatever computer is running the script I can, and do, have it send copies via SMS and email to various places which should let me know of problems. Sometimes they even arrive...

I have multiple mail accounts, POP3 and IMAP4, that Outlook can just about deal with including with Google / Windows Live. Both now offer calendars, tasks, contacts and links to their own blogging areas, but IMHO for the benefits of 'ubiquitous' access, there is some tradeoff in security and control, however small. Both of these now offer diaries that are not compatable with all of my home, work or phone as presently stands, but both now offer storage (the latter 25Gb), I probably need something like Gladinet to best make use of the free online storage for backups, which I have currently set up in a piece meal fashion using different technologies to copy certain files somewhere one day, recopy them another day etc etc.

This site, hosted on a machine not three feet behind me rather than a third party host, uses Movable type which has twitter plugins, but only from the backend side, and nothing I can use to dynamically update this site aswell. I have now switched to Digsby for my IM needs from Trillian to maintain an easy interface to facebook and twitter as the former doesn't support command line, and I generally neglect to log into either. I have to do both seperately but at least they are now on the same taskbar. Neither is supported in Tarpipe but its something that might be the way forward.

Is it too much to ask for a simple, secure interface that links chunks of me on the web together and replicates data this way and that? Perhaps I should stick with pen, paper, a photocopier and Royal mail...

Rant over-ish. Going to bed no better than when I was starting to think about all this to increase my productivity some 5 hours ago.

EDIT: 04/12/2008 19:05: Seems like I am not the only one to think about Personal Syndication Overload.

Lightroom 2 Beta

So, after a couple of false starts, I have now got the beta of Lightroom 2 installed, and have begun retagging my current photos. 310 down, some 5649 to go.

Joy.

So, I mentioned earlier that my iTunes library had gone belly up and due to the changes, some good and bad, since my last backup I decided to start from scratch.

To get a variety of songs and start rating over again, aswell as giving me a chance to listen to music I may not have heard in a long time, or ever, I set up a smart playlist adding just 200 songs that have not been either rated or played and synced away. 18790 songs. What are the odds that so many that were synced onto my iPod, currently 9/67, would be Joy Division or New Order when in reality it should be nearer the 1/100.

Too things to learn from this. First, I have far too much Joy Division and New Order. Secondly, I have obviously offended my PC and its trying to tip me over the edge. Perhaps I shouldn't have called it a useless piece of crap last night.

Jinxed

Not sure what started this weekends jinxing. First my broadband router develops a complex, then iTunes decides to go belly up and now my PC in general seems about as responsive as a dodo. Perhaps time for a reformat methinks...

A Mobile Life

I remember when I got my first mobile, not necessarily the exact details (me being at the end of my second year of University) but most of the facts. The where was Chatterbox Telecom - 184a Cowley Rd, Oxford. The who was John. The what was an Orange badged Motorola StarTAC. The when was 15 May 1998 (10 years ago today) and the why... well thats one of the facts I can't quite remember.

They were heady days. Texting the three or so other people we knew with phones to see if they had escaped from their 10am lecture in sufficient time to be in a position to stand at the bar and order at 11am*.

Time passed, and the numbers with phones that we knew rose into double figures. I remember the conversations when 'The Matrix' came out, and everyone marveled at the bananaphone which was quickly redesigned into the Nokia 7110 which if memory serves**, I think Stu was the first to get. He was also I believe the first to break it. On a reassuring note, even with the Navi wheel as it was then, he has never escalated into a crackberry, though he now has an iPhone...

Over the decade that would follow I have been through, by my counting 2 free replacements, 5 upgrades and 2 freebies. There would be shares of ups and downs. Happiness and sadness can be transmitted from or to wherever you were. The flaw in the plan is the word 'mobile' always there, ready to bleep when you least want it to to make or break your day... I would say when you least expect it, but I guess by definition it will only beep when you are staring at it really not wanting it to and so that means you are expecting it, or perhaps in some sixth sense-esque way making it ring.***

Ignoring the cost to ones sanity, relationships and general well being, one key element however can be quantified.. the cost to the pocket. Before I divulge this cost lets see what milestones I have 'achieved'.

Over the last ten years, I have:

• Talked for a total of 26 Days, 13 hours and 50 minutes
of which
• June 2001 was the highest with 20h, 53m & 30s;
• Febuary 2006 was the lowest with 29m & 44s;
and
• the average being 5h, 19m & 07s

• Texted a total of 30,028 message
of which
• November 1999 was the highest with a staggering 1032 texts (which also accounted for the longest bill of 29 pages, compared to the average 9 and lowest being 2);
• March 2006 was the lowest with 14 texts;
and
• the average is an unhealthy 250 texts a month (although if you only go back 5 years the average is a marginally better 77 texts a month)

These are just differing scales of markers on the road that is my mobile life. They are more easily resolved against other peoples mobile lives as they do not change with time - a minute or a text are exactly that whatever phone you have or whatever plan/network you are on. There is another set of markers however that we traditionally put more weight and relevance on:

• July 2007 was the cheapest bill at £22.20;
• October 1999 was the most expensive bill at £207.46;
and
• the average is £63.62 (although for the past 5 years this drops to £40.36)

The cost though, the bottom line cost, for the long calls to friends, the arrangements to meet down the pub, the moral support, the wrong numbers, the condolences and the celebrations, the memories - both good and bad, the accidentally leaning on the phone and calling the police, the replacement handsets... the sum total of my mobile life to date is £7884.70.

Not a small amount by any means. Whilst not wishing to change the past, I shall however be bearing this in mind for the future as I watch to see what other devices (crumpet toaster anyone?) can be added to phones... When I first got a phone you could (just about) make calls and send texts, now, you can do a hell of a lot more, take photos, watch tv, replicate PC functions... ...If only I could get a signal at work.

As a closing note, if you are interested, you can click here and see a graph of my minutes, texts and bill totals...

Remember kids, practice safe text.

GTA IV Influences Violence. And Queuing

After reading the BBC News article entitled 'Stab attack at Grand Theft Queue' I was left with a curious thought. If a man is passionate enough about his gaming and obviously British enough to queue up in an orderly fashion for several hours to buy a game at midnight, I cannot understand what could possibly make him voluntarily leave his place to stab someone seemingly at random. Even bearing in mind that the Police might not turn up and arrest him before the shop still opens, he is still going to have to rejoin at the back of the queue or face a unending barrage of hushed 'tsk-ing' muttered in his general direction until he leaves like a social pariah.

The British public may turn a blind eye to a stabbing less than a few yards from them, but pushing back into a queue you have clearly left is just not happening, not without serious social consequences. Perhaps slap someone with a glove and make arrangements for a later date, but leave a queue?

Seriously though, the Johnny Cash song 'Don't Take Your Guns To Town' seems pretty apt. With respect to the game, I suspect there would be less uproar if it had been for release of a new My Little Pony. I can see the news headline now, Man beaten with saddle recovers in hospital...

Edit 30 Apr 2007 13:47:According to The Register however

A hooded male stabbed another man in the head and neck yesterday as they both queued to buy copies of Grand Theft Auto IV from a Croydon Gamestation store... it’s thought that the two men were just rude to one another.

Perhaps more notable is

The victim managed to survive the ordeal - and stumbled home to grab a knife for a revenge attack. However, he collapsed in the street on his way back to the store.

British queuing jokes aside, perhaps its just me but I cannot imagine what words could've been said, let alone what the guy thought he would achieve by heading for revenge rather than medical attention.

Perhaps its the people who play the game that are to blame rather than the game itself. If you can't differentiate between pixels and real life...

Less Guitar Hero, More Average Session Musician

I presume like many an aspiring musician in the formation of a band, the choice of which instrument you end up with is defined by both what the other, better, musicians can play, and also what instrument can be afforded*.

As such I find myself using the Wiimote to play the bass part.

Now don't get me wrong, whilst not quite as glamourous as wanging around a lead guitar, its about the participating and a bass guitar, however small in this instance, is still a core element of a band...

I know its not about appearances, but perhaps I would feel more rock n roll if I stood up. Or perhaps took off my slippers. Only the other day I was watching some footage of Queen and saw John Deacon wearing a tank top whilst on stage....

Snap, Crackle, Pop

So, I am leaning down over my desk trying to plug work out why a bluetooth adapter I plugged in the day before is no longer showing up. I finally manage to extricate it from the mass of cabling and have a look. Why I did this I have no idea. Its not as though I expect it to have a flashing LED on it once the power is gone, or have a little thumbs up sticker. Anyhow. I plug it back in. Nothing. Possibly a device conflict I think, and sit back down to head to the control panel. I stand back up and reconnect the mouse which must have jumped shipped in the confusion. No device conflicts later, I unplug the dongle again. I plug it back in again. This latter move is accompanied by a sound one might associate* with introducing into a live three phase fuseboard, something with the electrical resistance of, oh I don't know, a pig.

Whilst I am busily jumping backwards over the chair, there is another almighty pop followed by the sound of a harmony of young children accompanied by a rather large orchestral ensemble.

Having realised that I hadn't just fried myself, I am somewhat bemused by the fact I had managed to activate the internal PC speakers, which I had been thusfar unable to do since getting my new PC, and it was just unfortunate that the volume setting was marginally higher than on the external ones I had been using.

Oh, but the dongle still didn't work.

SmooshTacts

For those of you with an iPhone, although presumably any hi-res device will work, a rather cool way to display contacts, sorry smooshtacts. (Courtesy of photojojo)

Some Days

Its as though technology conspires against me sometimes. Earlier today, AutoCAD kept crashing at work on my main PC, and another PC lost both graphics cards in quick succession. Tonight, PDA software refuses to sync with laptop. Whilst am waiting, check mail. Four accounts are down. Of the few mails I get from other accounts that aren't junk or equipment failures at work, one of which notifies me of a payment refusal, but the subsequent failure of Internet banking prevents me from finding out why. And to cap it off, now some files just will not delete/rename/piss off.

Am hot, am annoyed, and agitated. Also slightly superstitious/suspicious given Stigmata is on.

Its A Conspiracy

First my router dies, then the replacement goes loopy. Now my 500GB My Book has died less than a day after getting it. Apparently it can't even do a disk check as it has too many bad sectors. I'm guessing someone drop kicked it.

Must be karma.

Glutton

And just to test the karmic powers affecting all things technological in my life, I have decided to turn trackbacks on. No doubt I will regret this when my server falls over.

The processor catching fire and burning my flat down will no doubt compound this.

Damn PCs

It never rains but it pours. Its bad enough my ADSL modem dies taking with it my internet connection along with my NAT/firewall settings which I have to try and claw back from memory, but then a HDD starts going all clicky on me.

I apparently have inhereted my friend Smully's technological touch of death. Thats what you get for playing with another mans Wii.

Skype

Hmmm. Have now installed Skype. Its up and running and seems to be working with Trillian without too many problems. In hindsight, perhaps I shouldn't be doing this on a Vista Beta... Now all I gotta do is replicate this onto a USB stick..a la portable apps.

PCs

Computers are the darndest things. First one starts playing up, then another. Programs stop working, others only sporadically. Trend Housecall failed on one machine, on another it said something stupid like 3 years to complete. Windows Live OneCare works fine on both. Network traffic soars, then nothing. Then twenty fours ours, several virus scans and reboots later, and all seems working fine.

Who knows.

iTunes

Come the weekend, iTunes 7 shall be leaving the PCs in the flat to be replaced by iTunes 6ish. I can take no more of the buggyness and the constant problems with it or the iPods. A single library file will cut out the time overhead for importing everything twice, not to mention exporting and transferring playlists about so our Squeezebox stays uptodate. Mapped drives should solve any file inconsistencies. Also as there will be no vestiges of it left, I think I will also take the opportunity to slap in a new 320GB disk so I can consolidate all the relevant files and hopefully spead thing up.

The first PC I had ran with 32MB of disk space. I will now have over 1.5TB and it still doesn't seem enough.

CAPSoff

You know it makes sense.

Cabling

Theres nothing better than getting home after a hard days work and forgetting you'd agreed to simply recable for some additional electrics. The joy of fishing around behind plasterboard walls... Hell, whilst there I might aswell throw some cat5 cable in just in case I want a telephone/PC behind the sofa in the future.

FON

To FON or not to FON, that is the question.

VOIP

Various VOIP products compared. But not the Gizmo Project. I'm half in a mind to register with them all and proceed to never use any. Although I guess the key element is that it is still not possible to call from one program to the other so the decision for a VoIP program will be influenced by which program your friends/colleagues are using. Related info is Big Blue Ball which looks at IM progs. Currently I'm using Trillian which does have make use of the Skyllian plugin... although you still need to install Skype...

Slashot Dead?

An interesting article about the current relevance or lack thereof, of Slashdot

Office '07

Messing about with my new installation of Vista, specifically Office 2007 Beta and I have found all these new applications I haven't used before. Infopath, SharePoint, OneNote and Groove. All seem to be geared towards team based operations and making everything much easier to do and share.

All I need now is a team to work with and a project that justifies the learning curve. Ooh, and some sort of PDA to run OneNote on.

Bigger. Better. Buggier?

I realise that the Windows Vista Beta 2 was released to testers on May 23, 2006 and it has taken me until tonight to install it, but at the same time I didn't quite expect 9 'important updates' to be the first thing I downloaded.

Then again, maybe I did and I'm just being a bit harsh.

Clippy

For all his faults, and Lord are there many*, I may have considered installing Clippy if he had been a bit more helpful.

A Time And A Place

I suspect that like many other males in the world, I am viewed as having an appalling memory by my better half. True my memory is not the best, and the one excuse I have, that I probably didn't listen enough in the first place, is not one I can use and expect to live. Needless to say there are occasions when my loving wife forgets stuff, but apparently that doesn't count.

As a way to try and prolong my existence on this earth I have tried to solve this using my friend the computer (who I was probably concentrating on when I should have been listening) and although I spend an inordinate amount of time with computers, I have not gone as far as to set up an Exchange server in my loft, nor do I want to.

It seems fortunate that I've managed to get hold of GroupCalendar to sync our Outlook calendars and it seems to do the job pretty well, although I'll let you know in a week or two. Still need to sync my Oracle Calendar at work with it, but its a start.

Needless to say when my work calendar fills her entire screen it'll be time to rethink the plan.

iPoddy Goodness

I've been meaning to put this link here for sometime so, courtesy of Kottke, 50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod.

Geekery

I have no idea why, but over the last couple of days I seem to have my attention direct soley on things I have no real need for, but seem to be possessed by an incredible want factor. Take for example gaming peripherals such as the Logitech� G5 Laser Cordless Mouse. Do you really need that many buttons, God yeah. Do you need the ability to adjust the weight balance of the mouse, hell why not.

But whats the point of having an eight button mouse if you use a normal keyboard. Perhaps you would want something more specialised like the Logitech� G15 Gaming Keyboard with a few programmable keys and a LCD panel for game info, or the more gamepad like Zboard.

My choice though would be the Ergodex DX1 Input System afterall, why constrain yourself to horizontal lines. If anyone wants to send me one to trial :)

Sumo Lounge

Oooh. The Sumo Lounge's Omni* - Giant Beanbag Pillow, Lounge, Chair, Loveseat All In One! If only my living room wasn't filled to the brim with seating...

*Attractive young women not included

Pocket PC

So, with the release of Quake 4 into the shops, we also received the announcement that id Software would release the source code to Quake 3 Arena under the GNU Public License.

Shortly afterwards, the nice people at NoctemWare took this code, loved it, nourished it and cherished it, before rather kindly porting it to the PocketPC. As such there is now no excuse for sitting in meetings pretending to take notes whilst in reality playing dull solitaire, not when you can sit and frag to your hearts content. Not having a PocketPC to check this out, I can't tell what the controls are like, but judging by the screenshots, it looks a pretty damn good alternative to staring at Excel spreadsheets, Powerpoint presentations or in fact doing any work at all.

Storage

Quick post. Hitachi's have just confirmed a storage density of 230 gigabits per square inch (Gb/in²) thanks to perpendicular storage.

Hitachi expects to see products shipping at 230 Gb/in2 in 2007, translating into storage capacities of up to 20 gigabytes* on Hitachi�s one-inch Microdrive and up to one terabyte on the Hitachi 3.5-inch Deskstar hard drive

If you can't wait that long, and are willing to compromise, then Seagate have recently announced their new "first 8GB 1-inch hard drive for new handheld capacities".

The only question is obviously how, not when, you would fill it.

Oystercard

Having been a frequent user of the Tube for some years, I was overjoyed when, in 2003 they introduced the Oystercard to make things more efficient and effective. And to all intents and purposes it has. One glitch in two years ain't bad..

The idea was simple. Gone would be the old paper cards prone to such issues as being chewed by the machine, being thrown away with receipts, absorbing coffee spills and perhaps most annoyingly, just degrading over time. In their place, a rechargeable smartcard that could withstand the maulings of a dog, being immersed in a majority of non chemical spills without disolving and, although probably not something that is shouted about, strong enough to jimmy open a door lock. And it doesn't stop there. Only last week there were mutterings of Octopus an extension of the Oystercard in the small purchases market eg milk, parking etc.

Convenience and simplicity through tehnology.

Before the Oystercard, I occasionally forgot my season ticket, had it mauled "I'm sorry I can't come in boss, but the lizard ate my travelcard", but now I just have it wedged into the deepest pocket of my wallet so that I can never loose it/forget it. Its just a simple matter of waving my wallet, or if its very cold waving my wallet in my jacket pocket, over the reader.

Of course when it goes wrong it goes really wrong.

Ticket barriers were left open and travellers showed passes to staff.

Do you know how inconvenient it is to show your pass when it is wedged somewhere in a bottom compartment of a wallet, in a pocket that you could loose a small panda in, let alone a small piece of leather. All the time people surging by, trying to trample both you and the ticket guard to death, not through any particular malice, but just because you are there. It was at this point my brain decided to remember a piece of writing by Douglas Adams from the The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy:

Mr. Prosser said, "You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time, you know." "Appropriate time?" hooted Arthur. "Appropriate time? The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked him if he'd come to clean the windows and he said no, he'd come to demolish the house. He didn't tell me straight away of course. Oh no. First he wiped a couple of windows and charged me a fiver. Then he told me." "But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months." "Oh yes, well, as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything." "But the plans were on display..." "On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them." "That's the display department." "With a flashlight." "Ah, well, the lights had probably gone." "So had the stairs." "But look, you found the notice, didn't you?" "Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display on the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'"

And all the time the technophobes with their little paper cards stream through. Its enough to make you want to take there little bits of paper and rip them up in a menacing manner. They may have one a battle today, but how I will laugh when the revolution comes and they try to hide behind there pieces of pulverised tree....

Keyword

The web can be a wonderful thing, and one aspect is storing information for perpetuity. I was rereading this old post of mine and decided to follow the links and see whether The Register was continuing tracking such occurences. I'm glad for all our safety it this BBC Article. I only mention it to draw attention to the statement (with my emphasis):

We would like to reassure domestic customers this isn't something that is likely to happen in their own homes.

If I'm reading this correct, "isn't ...likely", as in probably not, although possible? Rat brained controlled fighter planes raining doom and destruction down on me from the skies I can handle. War is hell afterall.

Its the being blown up whilst sitting in the bathroom innocently reading I am not so au fait with.

Unreal Engine 3.0

Oooh, its so pretty. Hmmm, 2048x2048 resolution for mid range PCs. I wonder what the upper limit is..

Firefox

You know it makes sense.

Administrative Shares

Having just downloaded the latest version of the MBSA it reminded me that I really need to permamently disable the 10 administrative shares on my PC.

For info see WOWN.

I could of course solve this by having less partitions...

I'll be Rat

Its worrying really.

Microsoft Support

According to the Microsoft Road Map for 2003 Server, I can be expecting SP1 and 64 bit support in the first half of 2005, with the "R2" release coinciding with the first Longhorn beta in the second half.

Having studied software life-cycles, I realise that support can only be given for a finite period, before the technology becomes obsolete and in the case of o/s', no longer able to support newer software to its best potential. Given, this roadmap, and the fact 2003 Server is only 20 months old, I didn't realise Microsoft had moved this plan drastically forward.

And yes FYI, you can run a web/email/ftp server on a PC with such little processing power and RAM. Well I say run, more like sedate afternoon stroll.

Alien Swarm UT2K4 Mod

If your idea of a good night/following day/further good night is to get some beer in, order pizza, rent Aliens and play Unreal Tournament 2004 till your fingers bleed and your eyes turn to dust, then you may want to check out this mod.

I've Seen The Future

The da Vinvi Institute has committed itself to "creating a museum of future inventions designed around our pursuit of inventions that will create a spot in the history books for people who develop them".

Spray on clothing anyone?

Firefox/IE6

I always thought that to look at something objectively, you needed to at least look at both sides. Microsoft Australia's managing director, Steve Vamos, doesn't agree.

In a
CNET article days after the launch of open-source browser Firefox 1.0, he claims Internet Explorer, "is no less secure than any other browser and doesn't lack any important features."

It's interesting to note that these statements come with no knowledge of what Firefox has to offer as he admits not even installing or using Firefox.

BT Broadband VoIP

The BBC is reporting that BT is to start offering customers free internet telephone calls if they sign up to broadband in December. The offer will be limited to the first 50,000 people who sign up and users will need to use BT's internet telephony software, known as BT Communicator.

US Scientists Enjoy Big Bandwidth Boost

According to New Scientist:

"The world's biggest fibre optic network entirely dedicated to scientific research is now in place in the US. The National Lambda Rail will allow scientists to exchange more data at faster speeds than via the internet."

To find out how it does this either click the link above or read on.

"NLR is entirely owned by the US research community and offers users 10 gigabits per second each. In contrast, Internet2 is a slice of internet infrastructure currently designated to the US academic community and provides a total transfer rate of 10 gigabits per second to be shared between all its users.

Both networks use a technique called Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) to send different wavelengths or �lambdas� of light through an optical fibre simultaneously, with no interference. Light is routed to its destination using prisms which extract particular wavelengths.

Whereas Internet2 dedicates just one lambda to the whole US research community, NLR dedicates 40. Its creators are now distributing cards embedded with lasers of different frequencies to the first four users of NLR, allowing them each to hook into their dedicated channel.

�NLR is another landmark in the progression towards ubiquitous high-speed computing, which is essential for our research,� says Julian Bunn, a particle physicist at the California Institute of Technology, US. "

The possibilities are endless.

Them, Robot(s)

According to the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics, "the use of robots ... will increase sevenfold by 2007 as more consumers snap up smart machines, the United Nations said."

Currently there are:

607,000 Automated domestic helpers
692,000 Entertainment robots
800,000 Industrial robots

I am not sure the difference between a domestic helper and a robot, although I am sure they will want equal suffrage in the future. And before you get any ideas, "Entertainment robots" refers to robot toys, like Sony's canine Aibo, so all you Blade Runner type Robophiles can put the controller back in the packaging. Saying that, there is this non work safe article...

The article goes on to say that by the end of 2007, some 4.1 million domestic robots will likely be in use...

On a kinda related issue, an interesting article I, um, stumbled (a better word than the misleading alternative) across, was this one concerning gender identity in robots.

WinXP SP2

Hmm, to download or not to download, that is the question.

I think in all reality as the Infoworld article states, its best to do a little research, do some more - (if you run DivX 5.2 read here).

Also of use is Steve Bink's site which contains other info, not just re: sp2. And of course don't forget Google and words like WinXP, SP2, problems, (in)compatabilities, pros, cons, do, don't - all of which you can use interchangeably as you feel the need. Others can be found here.

Read, learn, maybe update later.

XP Shortcut

I didn't know up until just now, that if you click the mouse wheel, then it acts just like Alt + Tab and scrolls through open windows/apps...

IP - CCTV

Particularly Axis products.

MS Longhorn

I never knew that so much effort went into naming Microsoft products. Check out here for various links to all things Longhorn.

If you're interested in Beta tetsing, you can download the beta from here. A .net passport account is needed

Yay

Ordered my new PC from Dell last night. Whilst I was sorely tempted to go for their new Dimension XPS, I plumped for a slightly modified 8400.

Now I just have to wait for it to arrive. skitz looks at watch

tic tock...

Its Full Of Stars

Over the weekend I discovered a thing of beauty.

Take one early start. Add a unheathy amount of processing power and a large drain on the electrical supply. Lay/drape/suspend additional CAT 5 cable where necessary. Add Pizza, steak and caffiene as required.

Then frag. Frag till you can't frag no more. And then some.

SpaceShipOne (2)

I didn't manage to watch SpaceShipOne's flight yesterday, although I have managed to catch up on what I missed.

Whilst the flight certainly didn't go without problems I was interested to that "Melvill recounted how, as he became weightless, he opened a bag of M&M chocolates to watch them float around the cabin".

Whilst not being an expert in these matters, having temporarily lost control of the craft, bits crumpling off, I don't think I would trust my luck not to get an M&M stuck in the controls.

petfrog

Oh my god, what they done?

frog have created an "Integrated Fusion Device". Thats right, "a personal computer, PDA, Digital Media player, camera, karaoke machine, and more...":

Ladies and gentlemen (drumroll please) the petfrog.

A device where, "All functionality converges into one seamless, human-minded experience platform, which results in an "all-in-one gadget" that has both professional and personal uses".

Huh? For those of you who didn't understand that, let me rephrase it for you.

For "all-in-one" read encompassing, not-often used, see-though marketing term that screams "we don't know why we made it or what it does, let alone what it could be used for, but all you geeks out there need it because you are weak!".

Why only last night as the meeting went passed nine, I was looking for a way to ease tensions during a particularly difficult negotiation. If I'dve had one of these babies, Mr Wakajimo could've put down the pen he was wielding as a sword, started his Soho-famous rendition of "Baby One More Time" whilst myself and Jones from accounting strutted our stuff, thereby smoothing the rough, completing the deal, solving world hunger, establishing world peace AND had the pictures to prove it....

If you haven't visited the site they petfrog can be seen here and here. I particularly like the snazzy colours and the draw out screen and pads.

Lets be honest though. Its a Fisher Price-esque version of a Star Trek Communicator.

Having looked at it, mocked its functionality and its facade, I realise the sad truth. I want one.

Bluetooth Worm

The worlds first Bluetooth worm has been discovered in the wild. EPOC.Cabir is a proof-of-concept worm written by 29a that replicates on Nokia Series 60 phones. There is no payload, apart from the vastly shortened battery life caused by the constant scanning for Bluetooth-enabled devices.

This worm repeatedly sends itself to the first Bluetooth-enabled device that it can find, regardless of the type of device (even a Bluetooth-enabled printer will be attacked if it is within range). The worm spreads as a .SIS (Symbian OS distribution) file, which is installed into the APPS directory.

However, given the worm requires two manual actions by the user before it can infect a device, accidental infection is remote. Kaspersky Labs personnel believe Cabir is unlikley to spread as those who possess bluetooth enabled devices, according to Kaspersky, tend to be more technically inclined individuals who don't click on anything and everything. (Cutting dig at PC users anyone?)

Certainly though, it should sound a warning to users of mobile technology throughout the world. Bluetooth technology has a number of documented vulnerabilities. Cabir proves it is possible to write a mobile phone virus which will propagate: the first program with a malicious payload is unlikely to be far behind.

For more information see here.

RAID

For all those occassions when you need a RAID Tutorial.

iTunes

Have just finished installing iTunes and am so far pleased with the results. Seems to handle larger playlists better than WMP, and certainly there has been less crashing. Interestingly, or maybe not, I read the terms and agreements and came across this:

"THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE."

I presume this means it shouldn't be installed on boxes responsible for critical systems, rather than using it to control nuclear reactors by song title whilst modifying planes flight numbers and manifestos..

SpaceShipOne

It would appear that the Scaled Composites team led by Burt Rutan and Paul Allen are progressing towards claiming the Ansari X $10 million purse offered the X Foundation of Missouri.

Check out this image.

For more information and a report of the flight and progress to date, see USA Today.

Orange Everyphone

07973 100330 for the times when you left your phone on the bedroom sideboard. For more info see here.

Fiddlesticks

One day old and it's already broken. Damn Cisco and their VPN software incompatibilities...

Yippee

My new toy arrived today. *Happy dance* Now I have no excuse to not work in the park.

Red Dead Revolver

For all those Vice City fans with a penchant for wild west movies, it would appear someone up there is looking out for you. Check out this for some screenshots and trailers and this for some teaser info and a general review. Sadly no PC version for the time being.

Advances in Chivalry

It is customary in England, that should a damsel find her horse with a stone caught in its hoof, she should wait (in distress) by the side of the track/road for help to arrive. In this instance, help usually takes the form of boys in khaki shirts / big hats who appear from the shrubbery brandishing a Swiss Army knife, extract the offending stone and then disappear into the woods muttering something like ging gang gooley, leaving the damsel (and presumably the horse) less stressed and able to carry on their merry way.

Given advancing technology, and the changing requirements and pressures put on chivalrous types, is it any wonder Swissbit have devised an updated knife for when the damsel in question finds herself in a more contemporary predicament which could be played out in offices all over the world every day -the network has died meaning she cannot transfer the presentation from desktop to laptop, AND she has rather unfortunately also forgotten her laser pointer and pen. Given the potential brownie points (pun intended) for any desktop support type, it must seem like a dream come true. If only they did one with an in built microwave and fridge...

Modding

Hmmm. Modding. Given I'm already thinking of upgrading my main PC, I am sorely tempted to see what I can do. I am torn between the all singing and all dancing neon glow box and the small as a cokecan options. What do you think? Certainly not worth retrofitting my old machine, but with a new one (or two), then maybe, just maybe...

Technology

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