WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton
Linksys routers and open source, the insidious Google, insurance and self-driving cars, a historic map of the Middle East, computers in 1957, and walking Soho's murder mile. All grist to the mill this week, but if that's not enough try a few of the Scanner URLs: TeslaCrypt, ransomware tools, a 96TB drive for those for whom size matters, three million free satellite pics, 3D printing and the military, and some very small satellites indeed.
There will be no Winding Down next week... This is because it's another one of these weirdo Brit holidays! Hooray! However, it will probably rain. It always rains on a bank holiday in England. Boo! Hiss! Actually, there was one year when it didn't rain on the May Bank Holiday. I think it was in the early 1980s...
We'll be back the following week - June 5.
Shorts:
The FCC recently announced new rules coming into force to prevent wireless routers from causing interference on the radio spectrum. Basically the FCC wants the manufacturers of wireless devices to make sure that the devices, which have to be certified to meet the standards, cannot be altered and thus cause interference with other people's equipment. Unfortunately, most of the manufacturers are using this as an excuse to prevent open source software replacing the firmware on their devices.
This is a problem. A lot of people use inexpensive home routers with open source software to ensure that they can get what they are looking for on the internet. They are also used as the basis for other non-router devices, for which they are very handy. Significantly, few of these alternatives make changes to the wireless portion of the device. The changes are to what or how it's used, not how it transmits. The decision to prevent any other software from being loaded is claimed to be necessary because the radio and the firmware are all part of the same chip.
Is this ability to change the software important? I think so. A few years back I worked briefly on a project to provide people in the UK with routers modified using OpenWRT to monitor the speed of their internet connections for themselves. I'm sure that's an issue dear to the hearts of readers, wherever they are!
Fortunately, Linksys (owned by Belkin) have promised that its modifiable routers will allow open source firmware to be installed. They are introducing a hardware separation between the wireless and the firmware. It will be interesting to see if the other providers are forced to follow Linksys's lead!
http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/15/linksys-routers-stay-open-despite-fcc/
I must admit that I hadn't realized the extent to which Google seems to have infiltrated the US government until I saw a piece about two 'Google Transparency Projects' launched recently by the Campaign for Accountability (CFA). Among other things it reveals 61 staff taking key public positions after leaving Google, and 171 leaving public office to join Google. If I was a US citizen, I think I'd find that worrying, but since I'm not, it's not really any of my business (though I note that Obama seems to think he has a right to tell UK citizens how to vote in the forthcoming EU exit referendum).
What I do find worrying though is the implications for the closeness of Google to the UK's government. There have been hints and snippets in the press about the close relationship between Google and the government for a number of years, going back to well before the current administration. Sadly nothing like the CFA exists in this country, so the chances of daylight being allowed to illuminate this issue are minimal, and will dim even further if our government succeeds in curtailing the current rights enshrined in the Freedom of Information legislation...
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3061959/security/got-ransomware-these-tools-may-help.html
Homework:
Self-driving cars. Some people love them, others hate them, but have you ever stopped to think about the wider implications? No? Then how about the implications for the insurance industry if such cars become common on the road. It's really going to screw up the industry's business model, with premiums nose diving as accidents become less and less frequent.
That's not all. Go back to basics. Why do the drivers of cars have to be the ones that are insured now? Because they are the ones in control of the vehicle. But if it's the car that's doing the driving, wouldn't the maker of the vehicle be the one that's liable for damage and injury caused by a crash? If that's the case then only a few dozen car makers are going to need to be insured!
Looking at the way book, music and video publishers have used the law to protect their business models, it wouldn't surprise me if the insurance industry manages to do the same. There's a lot of money at stake here. Even if they do succeed, premiums will slump because of the reduction in accidents, unless one of the big car makers allows a serious programming error to slip through.
That has implications for the insurance brokers. Smaller premiums means that while their percentage may stay the same, the absolute amount will be smaller. Brokers are already being hit by people using the internet to find their own cheapest deal. Self-driving cars could well sound the death knell for auto insurance brokerage. If it's the car makers being insured, the brokers are out of business immediately!
I can't honestly say that the demise of the insurers serving the government mandated auto market is going to break my heart...
http://www.businesscar.co.uk/news/2016/insurance-industry-faces-radical-restructuring-thanks-to-driverless-vehicles
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/05/03/self-driving-cars-set-to-disrupt-uks-14bn-motor-insurance-indust/
Here's a little piece of history bought to you courtesy of the internet. It's a copy of the original map used in the Sykes-Picot Agreement during World War I. The map of the Middle East specified how the Ottoman Empire would be dismembered after its defeat. Sykes, an ambitious British politician, was quite clear - there would be a line drawn on the map - from the 'e' in Acre to the 'k' in Kirkuk. Territory north of the line would go to France, territory to the south of the line would go to Britain.
The Middle East is still suffering from the after effects of this cynical piece of imperialism. Whatever your take is on the current crisis, I'd recommend you take a look - you are unlikely to ever see another map whose effects are so profound and long lasting!
http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-map-that-changed-the-middle-east-1916/
Geek Stuff:
Ah... You lot never had it so good. In the old days, when I were young, one wrote ones programs in zeros and ones, put them on to punched cards, walked 40 miles barefoot in the snow, handed them in, waited two weeks, and eventually got them back as an 8 inch thick wodge of fanfold paper full of cryptic messages about the mistakes you made. Debuggers? Don't make me laugh!
You don't believe me? Well maybe it's a little bit of an exaggeration, but they certainly were big clunky and cranky beasts. Take a look at the URL which is to an old computer magazine from 1957 that I came across. It's absolutely fascinating. Looking at the adverts indicates that during this period delay line memory, magnetic core memory and discrete transistor memory were all in use. I'd guess that delay line memory was on its way out by then. Incidentally, readers might like to note that judging from the pictures, women were much more involved in computing during that period than they are now!
https://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.bitsavers.org/pdf/computersAndAutomation/195712.pdf
London:
Here's something a little different. I've mentioned before that the best way to see stuff in London is to walk, and London has a number of professional guides who will run walks (so to speak) with various themes. I've heard good things about Murder Mile Walks which is a trip round the Soho area taking roughly two hours. You need to be over 18, because there are visits to pubs where murderers picked up some of their victims. The walk features 21 different sites, 18 murderers and 75 untimely deaths - all in the tiny area of Soho.
Judging by the pictures on the walk site, the parties on the walk are really into what they are hearing!
http://www.murdermiletours.com/
Scanner:
TeslaCrypt ransomware group pulls plug - and releases decrypt key
http://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/teslacrypt-ransomware-group-pulls-plug-releases-decrypt-key/d/d-id/1325616
Suffering from ransomware? These tools may help
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3061959/security/got-ransomware-these-tools-may-help.html
LaCie goes big and roomy with 96 TB hard drive
http://www.gizmag.com/lacie-12-big-thunderbolt-hard-drive/42878/
Three interesting pieces of technology used in the medical world
http://www.33rdsquare.com/2016/04/interesting-pieces-of-technology-used.html
When CubeSats are too big
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2984/1
3D printing goes to war
http://www.gizmag.com/3d-printing-military-feature/42384/
Three million satellite snaps now free for all
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/05/asters_world_view_now_free_for_all/
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
22 May 2016
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.
