WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton
Steve Jobs is dead. Or maybe not, according to conspiracy theories even now being worked on by believers hunched over their iPads. He's probably alive and living with Elvis in a subterranean hideout at the North Pole. Or maybe just his body died but his essence was uploaded into the iCloud, where it controls all things 'i', determining what is allowed on the iPad/Pod/Tunes/etc. <Gulp!> That actually sounds exactly like the sort of thing the man would have done.
In the meantime, life goes on, and we in the Winding Down editorial suite have another slice of it to present to you this week. Cry 'Havoc' and unleash the electrons of war...
Shorts:
Oh dear. It seems that the US drone fleet has been hit by a virus. It's not the Predator and Reaper remote controlled aircraft themselves that have been hit - it's their controllers - cockpits, if you like - back at base that are suffering from a virus that includes key logging software. All attempts to remove the virus have failed so far. As one source put it, “We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back". Yes, sir, that is one of the characteristics of modern viruses.
Welcome to the real world of 21st Century computing and networked data.
This isn't the first problem with security for the drones. In 2009 it was found that Iraqi insurgents were using a US$26 program to download the video being streamed from the drones to their controllers back in the USA. Apparently, it hadn't occurred to anyone to encrypt the video. There's always a tendency to underestimate the technical skills of the other side, especially when you are part of an armed force used to having considerable technical security.
And the virus? No one is saying what it is - perhaps they don't know. It could just be a regular one that somehow got into the system (USB sticks anybody?), or it might be something tailored for drone warfare. We'll probably never know.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/virus-hits-drone-fleet/
There was an interesting survey published by Ovum this week. It questioned 8,000 broadband TV viewers in eight countries about their viewing habits. It turns out that around three quarters of them are surfing the net at the same time - especially the time when the adverts are showing... The report puts this down to the growth of 'second screen' gadgets, such as laptops, tablets, and smart phones, which are starting to be standard in the living room.
This has interesting implications. For a start, it means that shows have to be more repetitive if they want to appeal to an audience that is not paying attention, making it boring for those who were paying attention! What the advertisers are likely to make of this conundrum can only be imagined, but it doesn't bode well for the TV networks.
Ovum's suggestion for handling this is that the television shows create their own networking environments to enfold the viewers and take the advertising from the second screen for themselves, rather than allowing the likes of Facebook and Twitter to steal the bread from their mouths. That doesn't sound very convincing to me, but I don't have any better suggestions.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/06/tv_watchers_are_surfing_web_survey/
A completely different report, by the Bevan Foundation, has been looking at the plans for online government services in Wales. Over here in the UK, the government has been pushing for its services to go online for ages. They are under the illusion that it will cut costs. Just how wrong this idea is is clearly demonstrated by the survey, which reported that one in three of the Welsh population don't have an internet connection at home. As the director of the foundation pointed out, "There is a real problem because the people who rely most on public services are the least likely to use the internet."
No one in government seem to have thought through the implications of having a sizable chunk of the population off-line, and Wales is by no means unique in this case. What it actually means is that not only will the 'powers that be' have to run the online stuff, they will also have to run a parallel organization of manual stuff to deal with the people that have no access to the internet! And they will have to keep each side in sync with the other. Not exactly going to be cheap...
Furthermore, if they do succeed in onlining everything, I predict benefit fraud will go through the roof. Organized humans will beat electronic only assessment and checking any day of the week. Result, the employment of vast numbers of humans to check what the electrons are doing!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/26/public_services_online_could_leave_a_third_of_wales_behind/
Did you know that you could build your own blacklist on Google? Karen Blakeman has a piece about it in her blog this week. This is in addition to using the minus sign to block a specific site for just that one search. With Google's new system you can build up a list of sites that you -never- want to see. It's an interesting idea, but I can foresee problems. Google already filters the sites according to what it knows about your from past searches, if you start also cutting out sites you could end up seeing a very narrow band of results for your searches...
http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/10/05/build-your-own-web-naughty-list-on-google/
Those of you who like horror stories may have suffered some problems in trying to find suitable bedtime reading for your children. Fear not! help is a hand. The amazing DrFaustusAu has begun a project to redo H. P. Lovecraft's 'The Call of Cthulhu' in the style of Dr. Seuss... Judging from the first ten pages, available in on his web site, this is going to be an impressive work. I'm sure he who sleeps in R'lyeh would approve!
http://io9.com/5847879/what-if-dr-seuss-wrote-the-call-of-cthulhu
http://drfaustusau.deviantart.com/gallery/32992770
Homework:
How would you like to get data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the most powerful atom smasher in the world? Now's your chance, if you have an Android smartphone. It seems there's a free app available which will let you get and display live data from the collisions at the LHC. You can even play a game 'Hunt the Higgs boson'! It's an ultra-cool app with lots of educational material, and it's free from the Android Market - just type LHSee into the search box. I'm really looking forward to giving this a workout!
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/111007.html
http://www.stfc.ac.uk/News%20and%20Events/37666.aspx
It's official, the asteroid Vesta is groovy. To whit, it has a rather intriguing belt of grooves at its equator, as well as one of the biggest mountains in the solar system and rift valleys - all evidence of tectonic activity, just like the Earth. How do we know this? Because NASA's Dawn spacecraft went into orbit around it in July. This looks like it's going to be a really interesting mission - I'll keep you informed as more is published during the course of the mission.
And, no, Dawn is not Marooned Off Vesta!
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=asteroid-vesta-has-planet-like-features&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_physics_20111007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marooned_Off_Vesta
Geek Toys:
According to a study I read a few years back - and, no, I can't find it now - the average keyboard has sufficient rotting food and such like inside it that it qualifies for a bio-hazard sticker. However, before you rear back in horror from your keyboard, let me tell you that a solution that is now available, for a hefty price.
I'd like to introduce you to the COOL LEAF USB keyboard (their choice of capital letters). And it really is cool, very cool. It's a black framed, mirror like flat touch panel surface expected to be used for "...dimly-lit home theater environments, medical treatment sites and food plants where cleanliness is important and clean rooms where dust resistance is required."
Of course, such coolness comes at a price, and that price is likely to be in over US$300. I guess I'll just have to stick with my increasingly grubby looking regular keyboard, with its lethal lunch inside.
http://www.gizmag.com/cool-leaf-keyboard-release-date/18503/
If the keyboard doesn't appeal, how about the ultimate geek bathrobe? Take a look at the brilliant Star Wars Jedi Luxury Bath Robe from MenKind, it's a classic. You too can glide around the house uttering cryptic threats, while keeping your hands tucked into the capacious sleeves. A must for Star Wars fans!
[
Link removed at the request of the site]
Scanner:
Oracle v Google patent punch up probably postponed
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/06/court_schedule_delays_trial/
Diagram lost for more than 350 years documents 'Seven Suns' of Rome
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=seven-suns-of-rome-diagram-lost-document-350-years&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_physics_20111007
‘Invisibility Cloak’ uses mirages to make objects vanish
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/invisibility-cloak-mirage
The creative class is a lie
http://entertainment.salon.com/2011/10/01/creative_class_is_a_lie/singleton/
Best skiing in space is on Saturnian ice moon Enceladus
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/03/ice_particles_moon/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb, Fi, Occy, 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
9 October, 2011
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist, the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! 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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