Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

The weekly newsletter for Fed2
by ibgames

EARTHDATE: September 25, 2016

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WINDING DOWN

An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton

I’ve avoided the so-called ‘internet-of-things’ until now, but this week we have our first, tentative taste of things to come. There are stories about an electronic candle, and about the dangers of smart homes. Apart from that we cover the new electric world land speed record, ‘fixing’ TV test results, the Yahoo hack, libraries of things (nothing to do with the internet of things), metal sculptures, autonomous boats, street murals, and Victorian art and telegraphy. The Scanner section includes URLs pointing to an article about rockets that failed even before they got to the launch pad, the OPM system hack, 3D printing and home improvement, age discrimination, WikiBots, and finally a Warner Bros attempt to have their own web site taken down for infringing Warner Bros copyright!

So, let’s get started...

Shorts:

Aaarrrrgh! This has got to be the ultimate Internet of Things lunacy. It’s a Bluetooth controlled electronic candle, which you can operate from an app on your smart phone. As ‘The Register’ so aptly put it, this is “Someone with far more time and money than sense...” All I can say is “‘Scuse me, I have to go to the bathroom to control my electronic candle with the app on my iPhone 7!”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/21/bluetooth_smart_candle_ludela/

And while we are talking about the Internet of Thingies, I see that if you use Apple’s HomeKit to turn your humble abode into a smart home, you need to be careful as to which bits you en-thing. Take the front door for instance. Should you be thinking about fitting a smart lock, be careful where you leave the Apple device controlling it.

One enthusiastic smart homer, having set up a super smart home, controlled via an iPad Pro, discovered that Siri would happily unlock the front door if you asked it to do so through the letter box!

Not such a smart home, then.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2016/09/21/apple-homekit-siri-security/#773496a06e8a

It’s the land speed record season at the moment, and there’s a new electric vehicle world speed record of 341 mph. It was set by the Venturi VBB-3 machine. The only electric vehicle I’ve ever driven was a milk float, which probably did about 3.41mph! In the meantime VBB-3 is going to be making another record breaking attempt in the near future when the weather is better. The people involved are aiming to break the 400mph marker. I wish them the best of luck.
http://newatlas.com/venturi-2016-ev-world-record/45551/

It seems that ‘fixing’ government tests on equipment is not confined to the likes of Volkswagen, or even to the motor industry. The suggestion is being made that some TV makers are setting up their TVs to perform well in government tests, but once they get into your living room they become power hogs.

At the moment the issue is mainly a ‘debate’ between America’s Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Consumer Technology Association, rather than an official investigation, but given the amount of money already extracted from Volkswagen for its transgressions, I suspect the powers that be will soon sit up and take notice...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/22/nrdc_and_cta_in_tv_industry_dieselgate_spat/

Yahoo – once the darling of the internet – has had half a billion accounts hacked. And that’s the minimum, it may be more. Even worse, it’s taken them three years to figure out they’ve been hacked. Inevitably, they are claiming that it was a ‘nation state’ attack. This is the latest excuse and seems to be the excuse-du-jour for hacked companies. “How”, they cry, “can we, a mere company, be expected to defend ourselves against hackers with the resources of a major nation?”

The answer is easy – start taking security seriously! It’s time companies – and governments, stopped using the pathetic ‘nation state’ justification for their failures. If it’s a ‘nation state’ then that fact is a political problem, which needs to be solved by politicians, not a technical problem. If it’s -any- sort of hack it’s an internal security problem which needs dealing with.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/yahoo-hack-by-state-sponsored-actor-biggest-of-all-time-2016-9
http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/yahoo-reveals-nation-state-borne-data-breach-affecting-a-half-billion-users/d/d-id/1326984

Homework:

The 99% Invisible site has an interesting piece on ‘libraries of things’. It seems that libraries, previously just places where you could borrow books, are branching out. The things loaned range from tools through musical instruments, sewing machines, and such like, to 3D-printing machines. The latter, can be used in situ rather than being loaned out. As an aside, I’ve often wondered why the instant print shops on many high streets haven’t embraced 3D-printing as well as their regular 2D stuff.

A few libraries now also feature seed libraries. No, you don’t have to return the seeds after they’ve sprouted! If the new seeds on the resulting plants are viable, you donate some of them back to the library for other people to use. A brilliant idea...
http://99percentinvisible.org/article/libraries-things-real-sharing-economy-digital-age/

Last week I drew attention to sculptures made from scrap wood. This week I’m happy to present some more sculptures, but this time made out of scrap metal – hub-caps and the like. They’re from an artist with the wonderful name of Ptolemy Elrington. With a name like that, you’d -have- to be an artist!

Take a look at the pictures of the sculptures, they’re wonderful.
http://laughingsquid.com/beautiful-metallic-animal-sculptures-made-from-hubcaps-and-other-scrap-materials/

Geek Stuff:

Autonomous cars are grabbing all the headlines these day, but they’re not the only ‘autonomous’ thingies in the works. It seems that in Amsterdam they are experimenting with autonomous boats on their myriad canals. The research program is called ‘Roboat’ (groan). The project also includes studying the use of portable infrastructure – temporary bridges for instance.

Personally I’m not sure what the results would be when an autonomous boat meets a temporary bridge, which is not on its map of the canals!
http://newatlas.com/amsterdam-roboat-autonomous-boats/45494/

Pictures:

London’s Southbank complex is a triumph of post-war brutalist architecture, based, I suspect on the design of the French Maginot Line. Ironically, it contains many of London’s cultural venues, and, of course, its unfinished concrete walls are a magnet to mural painters.

Unfortunately, even the best street art murals tend to be transient beasts. However, as I discovered earlier this week, Google has a street art collection, which includes a slide show of some of the best murals painted on the Southbank’s grotty walls. Take a look – they’re pretty impressive.
https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/southbank-centre-murals/QRUB82Q6

London:

Readers in London, and those who will be in London sometime between now and 22 January next year might well find the ‘Victorians Decoded: Art and Telegraphy’ free exhibition at the Guildhall worth a visit. The exhibition explores the impact that the then new technology of the telegraph had on Victorian culture, especially art. In its time, intercontinental telegraphy was as revolutionary for society as the internet has been over the last 20 years.
PS: While you’re there take a look under the art gallery – it’s built on top of a Roman amphitheatre, which is also open to the public!
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/visit-the-city/attractions/guildhall-galleries/Pages/victorians-decoded.aspx
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/visit-the-city/attractions/guildhall-galleries/Pages/londons-roman-amphitheatre.aspx

Scanner:

Launch failures: non-launch mishaps
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3064/1

Read the damning dossier on the security stupidity that let China ransack OPM’s systems
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/08/opm_hacking_report/

How 3D printing will change the future of home improvement projects
http://www.33rdsquare.com/2016/07/how-3d-printing-will-change-future-of.html

You’re how old? We’ll be in touch
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/opinion/sunday/youre-how-old-well-be-in-touch.html?_r=2

Indefatigable WikiBots keep Wikipedia battles going long after humans give up and go home
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/21/humans_get_tired_or_bored_but_bot_battles_can_last_for_years/

Warner Brothers reports own site as illegal
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37275603

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
25 September 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.

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