WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week’s net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton
This week’s selection is, I hope, an interesting one. It includes the SpaceX crash, the ultimate poker algorithm, the FCC redefines broadband, the NFL’s new app, London’s Crossrail project, women in computing (or lack, thereof) and Grace Hopper, the Leatherman Tread, Apollo 7 UFOs, a computer in a mouse, and an Uzi for US$25. URLs cover Charles Townes, an extra second this year, telomere extension, and the F-35 software mess. There’s also some URLs on the climate change debate.
RIP: Charles Townes, inventor of the maser and the laser, without which there would be no fiber optic based broadband...
And now – let the show begin!
Shorts:
There was a lot of rubbish talked about the failure of SpaceX to successfully land the first stage of their rocket back on Earth last month. It was a good try, and it nearly made it. “Close, but no cigar.”, as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk put it. Judging from the comments one would think that all first tests of new technology in space had gone perfectly.
Far from it. Germany, the US and Russia suffered large number of launch failures when they first tried to reach space. Ten minutes of watching Fabio Baccaglioni’s 30 minute YouTube compilation of launch failures should be enough to convince anyone.
The important thing is to learn the lessons and try again. That’s what the pioneers of space flight did, and that’s what their successors are doing now.
So here are three URLs that are relevant. The first is a well-reasoned piece about the issue, the second is a video of the SpaceX failure, while the third is the YouTube compilation mentioned above. The fourth is a gratuitous addition by me of a video of Tom Lehrer’s Werner von Braun song, which I couldn’t resist. The song starts about 15 seconds into the video.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2676/1
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/16/watch_spacexs_falcon_crash_land_on_
floating_barge_after_fluidic_fail/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McbCwSW2moo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro
Do you play online poker? Texas Hold’em, perhaps? Beware! There is a new computer algorithm for the heads-up limit version that has ‘completely’ solved the problem. The algorithm plays the game perfectly, and its creators claim it is virtually incapable of losing to an opponent in a fair game.
My father once told me, “The only people who make money out of gambling are the bookies.” I guess we can start adding to that “...and certain computer algorithms!”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/game-theorists-crack-poker/
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just changed its definition of ‘broadband’. Previously anything above the pathetic speed of 4Mbps was classed as broadband. Now the minimum speed has gone up to a much more reasonable 25Mbps (Mbps = Megabits per second). The net [pun intended] result is that nearly a fifth of the US population are unable to get broadband internet links.
That’s pretty damning, considering that the USA was where the internet all started. But it’s probably partly because a lot of the equipment is much older than that installed in countries that came later to the internet. They have more up to date equipment. We know all about that in the UK – we had the same problem in the industrial revolution, we were the first and everyone else leapfrogged us, because our industrial machinery soon became outmoded. When I was in college, I once worked during the vacation in a factory that had a number of machines dating back to the 1860s!
I hope you manage to sort this problem out better than we did, though the monopoly providers you have do not bode well for a solution!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/29/fcc_broadband_speed/
http://www.cnet.com/news/sorry-your-broadband-internet-technically-isnt-broadband-anymore/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/29/fcc_sextuples_broadband_speed/
Danger, Will Robinson! According to the well-respected Ars Technica site, “The National Football League’s official app for both iOS and Android puts users at risk by leaking their user names, passwords, and e-mail addresses in plain text to anyone who may be monitoring the traffic...” That’s nasty. I’ve no means of checking whether it’s true, but there are a lot of these sort of problems with both Android and iTunes apps, so it seems entirely plausible.
In the circumstances I would suggest you think carefully, and maybe Google around a bit, before making a decision on whether to download this app.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/01/lack-of-encryption-makes-official-nfl-mobile-app-a-spear-phishers-dream/
Homework:
London’s new Crossrail project is an underground rail link running right across London from East to West. It runs 73 miles and will have 37 stations when it’s finished. BBC’s online ‘News Magazine’ has some stunning pictures, and has comments from a few of the 12,000 people working on the project. The IT stuff I deal with is usually pretty small, but tech is also about big engineering projects as well, and the is one of the most ambitious.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30704449
Less than 12% of computing jobs in the US are held by women, and the figures aren’t any better elsewhere. That’s pretty miserable when you consider that programming was originally considered ‘women’s work’ in the early days of computers. Also, some of the best programmers I know are women, and the same goes for network engineers. Given the shortage of suitable applicants for IT jobs, it’s a crying shame.
So, just in case any women readers are wondering whether to go into computing, here is an URL to a piece about computer pioneer Grace Hopper, and it has a wonderful little cartoon strip about her work – show it to your children to inspire them...
http://i-programmer.info/news/99/8223.html
Geek Stuff:
Leatherman has just put out a rather nifty looking ‘tool bracelet’ called ‘Tread’. Each of the Tread’s 11 links incorporate two to three tools – screwdrivers, hex keys, box wrenches, a carbide glass breaker, not to mention a bottle opener. I can see goths zeroing in on the black version!
http://www.gizmag.com/leatherman-tread-bracelet/35731/
And for the conspiracy theorists amongst you, take a look at these photos from the Apollo 7 mission. The astronauts seem to have tried to blank out shots of an unidentified object – using duct tape!
http://www.techienews.co.uk/9722877/apollo-7-mission-ufo-astronauts-use-duct-tape-redact-sighting/
How about this for miniaturization then? A computer built into a mouse (the electronic kind, not the biological sort). It’s not exactly workstation class, but its specs are quite reasonable – 1.4 GHz quad-core ARM CPU, a micro-HDMI port, Wi-Fi up to 802.11n, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, two USB 3.0 ports and 128 GB of flash drive. Take a look. Command line freaks need not apply...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/21/get_rid_of_the_desktop_grab_a_handful_of_pc/
And if that doesn’t grab you, how about an Uzi for US$25? Sorry, but it’s a pen, not a submachine gun, though it is made by the same company...
The Tactical Defender Pen is made of aircraft aluminium, accepts Parker or Fisher refills, and can be used upside down or underwater. Its crown can be used as a glass breaker. There’s also a handcuff key hidden underneath the crown, should you end up on the wrong side of the law.
Sounds a bit James Bond like to me – but it does look cool!
http://www.gizmag.com/uzi-tactical-defender-pen/22829/
London:
Here’s a little round up of some London snippets that might be useful if you ever visit. They are all from ‘The Londonist’ daily online rag. You can see who it was managed to have tube (subway) stations named after them. I note that a number of them are only famous for having their heads chopped off!
You could also take a look inside the insectary at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine. Ick – just looking at the pictures makes me itch all over...
You wouldn’t know it, but there’s massive amounts of London beneath the ground, and the surface is absolutely littered with ventilation shafts. Some of them are obvious, but many are ‘disguised’ as something else. Where I used to live in the London suburb of Isleworth, the War Memorial was hollow and doubled up as a vent to the local sewer system! The URL has a selection of disguised entities.
Finally, I thought I’d let you in on a few pictures of the limitations of Google’s ‘Street View’ algorithms. As they went round London they managed to blur out the faced not only of passers-by, but also pictures of faces on pub signs and adverts. But not on all of them – sometimes in adverts involving groups of people only a few of the faces are blurred, while others, equally clear, are left alone. A little bit of tweaking needed there, I think...
http://londonist.com/2015/01/people-who-got-their-names-on-the-tube-map.php
http://londonist.com/2015/01/inside-londons-itchiest-room.php
http://londonist.com/2015/01/londons-secret-shafts.php
http://londonist.com/2015/01/blurred-lines-google-street-view.php
Scanner:
Charles Townes, inventor of the laser and friend to both science and religion, dies.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/29/charles_townes_nobel_
prizewinning_inventor_of_the_laser_dies_at_99/
Hang on a second – Time Lords have added one to 2015.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/08/hang_on_a_second_time_lords_have_added_one_to_2015/
Telomere extension turns back aging clock in cultured human cells, study finds.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-01-telomere-extension-aging-clock-cultured.html
US military finds F-35 software is a buggy mess – tests jettisoned to protect schedule.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/22/us_military_finds_f35_software_is_a_buggy_mess/
And the latest in the climate change debate:
Year 2014 said to be hottest so far, but what about margin of error?
http://www.techienews.co.uk/9722771/year-2014-said-hottest-far-margin-error/
Scientific consensus that 2014 was record hottest year? No!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/19/no_scientific_consensus_
on_2014_hottest_year_on_record_claims/
Peer-reviewed pocket-calculator climate model exposes serious errors in complex computer models.
http://phys.org/news/2015-01-peer-reviewed-pocket-calculator-climate-exposes-errors.html
Another climate change myth debunked by proper climate scientists.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/26/another_climate_change_
myth_debunked_by_proper_climate_scientists/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for Winding Down.
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 Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
1 February 2015
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/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
