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Another 404: a weblog, by Dick O'Brien
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Tuesday, 27th of May 2003 As you may have guessed, this weblog is no longer active. See Back Seat Drivers for my current effort. Friday, 13th of September 2002 God, just realised the date when writing this... And the headline of the month award goes to.... "In some countries, you can tune the TV to 'text channels,' which are like Web pages with background music. Each displays news headlines, weather, sports scores, stock prices, and -- the most useful one for me -- the latest airline flight information." - NTK spotted this one in the New York Times. Very funny, very black: www.thinkofthechildren.co.uk.
Thursday, 12th of September 2002 Apologies about the lack of updates over the past few days. I've been too busy to write. And on to the real stuff.... The Guardian today has a bit review of Sony's the Getaway. The streets of London are completely recreated in this car chase/action game. Looks good. The Register has picked up on the Zimbabwe fraud thing. They're even selling 419 t-shirts! Meanwhile over at Silicon.com, there's an interesting Wi-Fi piece on how different public access providers are teaming together to create roaming agreements. Funny, we were just talking about that in the office today. People have been pitching the idea of '4G', which is basically Wi-Fi and GPRS when you're out of range. The idea is you wouldn't need 3G at all. And Vodafone have just ponied up for their licence.... Sanity seems to be returning to Greece after the government banned computer games. The BBC has reported that a court in Greece has thrown out a case against two internet cafe owners accused of breaking the law banning computer games. The court ruled that the law was unconstitutional.
Monday, 9th of September 2002 More on the war driving front. Silicon.com today reports that "war spamming" is on the rise. Apparently spammers are using unsecured wireless networks to send out bulk mails. Microsoft meanwhile has released a beta version of Windows Media Player 9. It promises more song data and faster streaming speeds. Service Pack One for Windows XP is also due out today, but there's no sign of it yet. Continuing with Microsoft, the Register reports that they're looking for someone to track down and keep tabs on those producing Xbox mods. Nokia are continuing to add to their huge portfolio of phones. The 3650 is their second camera phone. It has a better spec than the 7650 and is somewhat cheaper, which will no doubt please 7650 owners no end. We're also a little bemused by the circular keypad, which seems to have no purpose other than a cosmetic one. Heavy texters ain't going to be happy getting used to a new keypad. The other phone to be launched is the 3510i which features a colour screen and MMS capability.
Friday, 6th of September 2002 I'm in France today, so there will be no update until Monday. Until then...
Thursday, 5th of September 2002 UTV today announced a telephone and internet deal. All though not truly 'flat-rate', the package is as near as dial-up customers will get to it at present. You'll get unlimited off-peak access during the evenings and weekends for €29.99 a month.
Wednesday, 4th of September 2002 WTF! This has to be the most ridiculous thing I've heard all year. According to the Register, the Greek government has banned all computer games. Now how are they going to enforce that one? And the reason for it? A law against internet gambling they were finding too hard to enforce. Apparently, officials were having difficulty distinguishing between gambling sites and ordinary computer games. Talk about taking a sledgehammer to the problem. We may be coming to an end of the rewritable DVD format war. Sony today announced the launch of two multi-format rewritable DVD drives. The new drives support the DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD-R formats. The first model, the DRU500A is an internal drive. The other model, the DRX500UL is an system featuring both an a FireWire and USB2.0 interface.
Tuesday, 3rd of September 2002 My God! Dublin really thinks it's the new New York. We're going to have a temporary ice rink in Smithfield this Christmas. News.com tells us that Microsoft has decided to make some changes to the often criticised Passport authentication service. You can no longer use a bogus email address to sign up and it's now easier to cancel an account. According to the Register, Britain's Civil Aviation Authority has decided to ban laptops that employ UWB (Ultra Wide Band). Only problem is that they don't exist just yet. Link of the day: Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers.
Monday, 2nd of September 2002 The Register reports that Bertelsmann are looking to sell Napster. Well, it took them a long time to find out that charging for MP3s when you can still download them for free ain't going to make you much money. "But what about all the brand loyalty Napster had?" Microsoft announces that Windows XP Service Pack 1 will be available from Monday, 9th September. Business 2.0's 101 dumbest moments in e-business history. It's too easy really. Mine Finder: A useful app for a Palm. Must get one the next time I'm going to Cambodia.
Friday, 30th of August 2002 Netscape 7 has been launched. One wonders though if it will do anything to reverse it's dwindling market share. It's now down to 3.4%, according to recent research. O2 has launched a Java games service. It goes live in the UK next week and will arrive on other O2 networks, including Ireland, in October. "Analysts" say mobile games will be big business. Deloitte & Touche Ireland has published it's latest eBusiness Survey. Four out of five (82 per cent) of Irish business managers say that IT investment represents good value for money. 61 per cent of firms say they will increase the investment they make in information technology in 2003, relative to 2002. Not surprisingly, almost half the respondents (45 per cent) agree that "the lack of availability of broadband is a major issue for Irish businesses". Go figure Another move in the mobile OS scramble. Samsung licences Series 60 software from Nokia. Google now has a Gaeilge option.
Thursday, 29th of August 2002 Anyone who receives any amount of spam has no doubt received the legendary "419" Nigerian letter. It's a scam that's been doing the rounds for years and has moved from letters to email. For the uninitiated, the letter purports to be from an official in the Nigerian government who's trying to move funds out of the country and requests your assistance. If you express interest, you'll eventually be stung for sums of money in order to help ease the money out of the country. A new variety of the scam seems to have appeared in recent days, a Zimbabwean variety. I've already received two into my inbox. The sender claims to be "Peter Brown, the secretary of Commercial Farmers Union, Matabeleland Branch". It says the beleaguered union is trying to move funds from Zimbabwe following raids by Mugabe's government. I've included the full text of the email here. William Safire points the finger at Bloomberg in the New York Times for caving into Singapore's dictatorship. However, as my mate Jon pointed out: "I'm not sure that a former Nixon flack should complain too loudly when a news organisation goes soft on dictators". Apple kills the Happy Mac icon, according to Wired. A recent report from technology analysts Gartner Group found that while overall global sales of PCs have dropped by 1 percent in the second quarter of this year, the sales of notebooks have increased by 6.1 percent. Manufacturers have been quick to cotton onto the fact. For example, TV advertising from Dell has begun to focus on the notebook market. Another giant which seems to be betting heavily on mobile computing is Intel. According to the South China Morning Post (you'll need a subscription to view this one), Intel predicts Greater China and other key Asian markets will soon lead the deployment of wireless-enabled mobile personal computers based on its new processor code-named Banias. The processor is the first Intel chip designed specifically for notebooks. Over at News.com, Intel's Anand Chandrasekhar gives a video interview, predicting that Wi-Fi enabled notebooks are the way to go.
Wednesday, 28th of August 2002 According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony has announced that's to stop making Betamax video recorders. I think most people will be surprised to hear that they were still making them until now. By the way, Betamax.com is for sale. Intel releases 2.8GHz Pentiums. Where's it all going to stop? Rob Rosenberger tells us why Osama Bin Laden isn't going to unleash a computer virus that will destroy the world. Who actually thinks this kind of stuff is possible anyway? Graham Cluley of Sophos tells us that virus writers are teenagers obsessed with sex and computer games. One wonders how long it will be before a virus is named after him?
Tuesday, 27th of August 2002 With friends like this who needs enemies. Silicon reports that OpinionWorld, an online market research company has accidentally sent the email addresses of around 13,000 of its subscribers to what appears to be its entire UK mailing list. Good piece from the Register on the RIAA's assertion that file sharing is solely responsible for the seven percent drop in CD shipments. Of course it has nothing to do with the current economic downturn or the quality of music being released at present... And if, you haven't discovered it yet, you should try WinMX. No adware or spyware included. Excellent interface. The trademark infringement merry-go-round continues with the news that Phil Kamplan's F***edCompany was shut down for nearly two days after the Ford Motor Company complained to the site's hosting provider about alleged trademark infringements. This follows hot on the heals of Toho Ltd's accusation that Dave Linabury's weblog Davezilla infringed on its Godzilla trademark. Are they going to pursue Mozilla and Gozilla next? At least BT lost it's case where it claimed it owned a patent for hyperlinks. Aside from the huge amounts of cash, just what was it hoping to achieve? And how on earth did it think the patent could be enforced at this stage?
Monday, 26th of August 2002 Everyone's a blogger now. Add this one to the pile Israeli firm realises another copy protection technology for CDs. How long will it take for this one to be cracked? Another gem from the Silicon weekly roundup:- "The FBI is worried about warchalking - the much written-about but rarely seen 'phenomenon' supposedly sweeping the streets of America's cities (and London). These chalk marks are etched onto pavements outside buildings when some pesky so-and-so with a laptop (and some chalk, obviously) comes across an insecure wireless network. Some genius federal agent warned this week that if you see such a mark outside your office, you should check the security of your WLAN. "If you notice these symbols, it is likely that your network has been identified publicly," the FBI said. A phrase including the words 'No' and 'Sherlock' springs to mind..."
Friday, 23rd of August 2002 Even the Sunday Mirror is war driving now.
Thursday, 22nd of August 2002 Mobile phones for dogs? Classic silly season story from the Register. The Guardian claims that internet dating has gone mainstream... In Ireland, Esat BT launch their own online dating service (www.rsvp.ie). But why is everyone "best described as Spontaneous, Thrill-seeker, Self-Confident, Free Spirit, Erotic, Dominant, Sexy, Dark, High Stamina, Mysterious, Aggressive, Kinky, Passionate and Sensual". Boxes being ticked? Europa Universalis.... Highly addictive Soviet posters. Good idea. Very expensive |