WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton
This issue of Winding Down looks at some of Samsung’s troubles, the FCC fine levied on Comcast, time-lapse history maps, a question on e-mail, Halloween pictures, and a new Heath Robinson Museum. Scanner’s URLs will take you to articles on encryption, Facebook fiddling the numbers, a new Vangelis album, Capcom’s root kit, a Cybathlon, a manic Nest smoke alarm, and The Coalition for Better Ads.
By the way, this is the 600th edition of Winding Down, and I forgot to mention it, but last month we also passed the 15 year mark of continuous publication. That’s pretty good going, I think.
Analysis: The not so strange case of the exploding Samsung
Well I managed to stay away from Samsung’s woes in the last issue, but this week I’ve accumulated something in the region of a dozen URLs on various aspects of its problems. I should perhaps say that I actually have a Galaxy Note 1! I’ve had it nearly five years, and it hasn’t exploded once. I like it, and I see no reason to change it yet, although it’s actually starting to look somewhat battered.
So what’s the problem with the phones – why do they keep exploding, even the replacement ones? Well the bottom line is that Samsung have got a batch of faulty batteries. But that doesn’t really tell us anything much. Perhaps a more useful thing to note is that in this year alone HP and Sony have recalled batteries because of fire dangers. It’s not just phones, either. In July the US Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled half a million hoverboards because of overheating and fire problems with the batteries they used.
The common factor in all this is that the batteries are lithium-ion batteries. This type of battery is very popular, because you can pack more energy into it than virtually any other type of battery, they last a long time, and they can be recharged many times. Unfortunately, they have to be manufactured to fairly exacting standards, or they can overheat. The batteries in the Note 7 come from two different suppliers – Samsung itself, and a Chinese company called Amperex Technology Limited (ATL).
The really interesting thing is that all the batteries that exploded came from the same manufacturer. Now guess which one supplied the exploding batteries. Hands up those of you who guessed that it was the Chinese company ATL? Clearly a majority. You’re wrong! You let your prejudices run away with you :) In this case it’s the Samsung batteries that are the problem ones. Clearly Samsung have a problem with quality control in their battery division. Samsung reported the problem as being ‘a very rare manufacturing process error.’ But then they would, wouldn’t they? They’ve not only recalled all Note 7s, but they’ve now stopped manufacturing the model as well. R.I.P. Galaxy Note 7.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/13/technology/samsung-lithium-batteries/?iid=EL
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/06/health/hoverboard-recall-fire-hazard/?iid=EL
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2016/09/samsung-note-7-not-using-own-batteries/
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2016/09/rare-manufacturing-process-note-7-battery/
But that’s not all of Samsung’s woes. In the very long-running Apple v Samsung patent dispute, the full Federal Appeals Court in Washington DC has overturned a previous ruling and made it clear that Samsung will have to pay Apple US$120 million for infringing three of Apple’s patent. This week the US Supreme court has been hearing arguments about whether Samsung using curved corners on its phones is an infringement of an Apple patent. Ever had the feeling that lawyers make far more money out of the tech industry than any of the companies do?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/07/samsung_does_have_to_pay_apple_120m/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/10/apple_samsung_supreme_court_show_down/
Moving away from the courts, Samsung are also having problems with an activist investor who wants to split the company in two and release a stunning US$27 billion to shareholders! And finally, to top it all, a recently release survey of 1,000 Samsung smart phone owners reveals that 40% won’t be buying another Samsung phone. I won’t. But it has nothing to do with exploding batteries – after this little experience I think Samsung will be very careful indeed with their batteries. No, it has everything to do with the crud that Samsung, and most other major players, put on the phone when you buy or rent it, and which you can’t remove. Thus, my next phone will probably be a Wiley Fox Swift...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/10/samsung_under_assault_by_activist_investor_elliott_management/
http://blog.brandingbrand.com/news/survey-google-pixel-takes-a-bite-out-of-samsungs-declining-consumer-base
http://www.wileyfox.com/swift-95.html
Shorts:
I see that the US federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined cable operator Comcast US$2.3 million for padding out its bills with unwanted services and equipment. According to the FCC, this is the “largest civil penalty assessed from a cable operator”. Really? That doesn’t mean very much when you consider that the penalty amounts to three hours’ worth of profits! In other words, the fine is just the cost of doing business (a bit like parking tickets are for a tradesman in a city). I think it’s long overdue for regulatory penalties to be assessed in terms of a percentage of pre-tax profits for companies like this...
http://variety.com/2016/biz/news/comcast-fcc-fine-1201885295/
Homework:
This week’s homework is on the subject of history. It’s the work of YouTuber EmperorTiger. Tiger is a specialist in time-lapse maps, and his latest map is a history of Europe in 10 minutes, starting at the Minoan civilization and ending in the current year. US Civil War and WWII in Europe buffs might also like take a look at the maps for those wars as well. The only ‘problem’ for me is that I would really like to be able to control the speed – especially of the history of Europe one. But I guess you can’t have everything!
http://www.openculture.com/2016/10/the-history-of-europe-5000-years-animated-in-a-timelapse-map.html
http://www.openculture.com/2015/10/animated-map-lets-you-watch-the-unfolding-of-every-day-of-the-u-s-civil-war-1861-1865.html
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/watch-world-war-ii-rage-across-europe-in-a-7-minute-time-lapse-film.html
Geek Stuff:
Right – here’s a little test for you to see just how clued up you are about the size and scope of the internet. How many emails on average do you think were sent each day during 2015? There are no prizes for guessing correctly, but you may be surprised when I tell you the answer next week!
Pictures:
Halloween is not far away, so this week the pictures are of an amazing display of Jack O’ Lanterns.
http://gothamist.com/2016/10/10/the_blaze_hudson_valley.php#photo-1
London:
I’m sure my US readers will know of Rube Goldberg’s drawings and strange machines, but you may not have heard of his UK equivalent – Heath Robinson. Indeed, Heath Robinson’s name has entered the language in this country with people referring to ‘Heath Robinson contraptions’! So for this week’s London section I’d like to draw your attention to the newly opened Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner (that’s a north-western suburb of London – look it up on the tube map) . It’s certainly going on my list of things to visit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37632827
Scanner:
Encryption laws should think global, not local
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3056187/security/encryption-laws-should-think-global-not-local.html
Facebook fudged its video ad numbers
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/23/facebook_fudged_its_video_numbers/
Albedo 0.06: Vangelis returns
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3072/1
Double KO! Capcom’s Street Fighter V installs hidden rootkit on PCs
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/23/capcom_street_fighter_v/
Cybathlon: Battle of the bionic athletes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37605984
My Nest smoke alarm was great … right up to the point it went nuts
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/05/nest_smoke_alarm_great_til_it_went_nuts/
Global online media leaders join forces to improve consumer ad experience
https://www.betterads.org/global-online-media-leaders-join-forces-to-improve-consumer-ad-experience/
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
16 October 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.
