Posts by Fred Flintstone

It is not PHONE hacking - it's VOICEMAIL

FFS, is it so hard to be a bit more accurate? I can accept this from the Sun and NotW, but this is not some high-tech data tap on a live GSM conversation (which has only become possible and affordable in the last few months), this is a guy dialing 0000 to 9999 after trying the defaults until he gets access, and it's easy to make his lide a bit more miserable.

After the 3nd fail, send an SMS to the user and put some delay in to slow down the retries. Or do what some other coutries do, use more digits, and force a change on first access.

But it is NOT a phone tap..

Drunk + possession of a dangerous weapon

What a great combination..

Alternative motive..

.. AFAIK, there are rumours that low-energy bulbs have proven somewhat of an own goal for the green lot because they may be using less energy, but they contain chemicals that you don't really want to have in landfill. The result is that those bulbs are heading for an EU ban, which explains the sudden explosion is discounts on them.

LEDs have always been very efficient compared to other techniques to create light, but until recently either they were not powerful enough, or were simply too expensive to present an economic alternative, but this is starting to change. Even in the end user DIY market lights are starting to appear that are actually affordable.

However, there is another own goal we're heading for as end users. Money is made from energy sales, with governments taking a substantial part of it. The argument that replacing lights with LED equivalents will save you money is thus IMHO total BS.

Last but not least, my main like for LEDs is because of their flexibility. I have lit a place with a 3mm 8000mcd LED where I would otherwise not have the ability to put light in - class..

Not holding my breath..

MS hasn't succeeded in any other market, and even their own market is being eaten away by Apple. Given that they're not really enterprise ready that's saying a lot.

Beside, MS is to innovation what a fish is to a bicycle..

Haha, that's not a debate..

The Familiy First woman is not capable of having a debate - she cannot allow someone to finish a sentence. As a matter of fact, she's not someone I would like to marry and have children with - can you imagine not being able to say *anything* without being interrupted?

The Sex Party spokeswoman actually gives a very credible presentation of their stance and provides proper answers. What strikes me most is that the Sex Party rep punts facts, where the FF woman depends on artificial, unproven enforcement statements like "many people" and "most Australians". In other words, ASP hard facts (cough :-) versus FF bullshit. I didn't know either or what they stood for (I don't live in Oz) but on the basis of this "debate" the ASP would have my vote. The FF seems a bit like UK's New Labour in their desire to impose their ideology on others.

Note the reaction of the presenter - she tries hard to remain neutral but you can see she's occasionally losing the fight..

Maybe they ARE going into mobile phones again..

.. given that this sort of stuff nicely wastes bandwidth. The untold story with mobile bandwidth is that the real heavy users typically travel, for which there are NO unlimited plans available anywhere on the globe.

It's the equivalent of the con trick mobile phone companies play on you with voicemail: the real reason the "hello" message is so extensively helpful is that it makes it more likely you will go beyond the one minute barrier, so any voicemail always gives them two minutes without them having to supply two minutes' worth of resources for it. Multiply that by their call volume and you're talking about millions being earned by appearing unavoidably "helpful"..

NFC is a HUGE risk..

Unless someone puts a control into the NFC chip so it's only enabled when you want it it's something I would actively avoid - I would thus certainly avoid buying a phone which has it built in.

The whole NFC concept is based on the misapprehension that NFC is "N" (Near), but that's just a matter of using a better aerial - an NFC chip can be read from a good 30 meters - without the owner noticing.

With NFC I get the same feeling as with RFID - someone has decided it's sexy (or has shares in the manufacturing) and thus pushes the concept for all it's worth, even if the specific use is wholly inappropriate and even risky. With passports, there was no reason to use RFID (neither is there a need for a central database with your biometrics), yet it happened.

Time for some metal wallets..

Where marketing drones fail to understand publicity: Apple

The bla-bla machine at Apple appears to believe that if you BS enough, the problem will vanish. Not unexpected, after all, Microsoft got away with it for years, gradually pushing people into accepting new products that were not even ready for beta until they went too far with Vista.

It ain't working no more..

They tried it with the iPhone 4 - I still think they may be forced into a massive recall if some government trade organisation decides it can use Apple to prove how strong it protects its customers (read: vting public). Well, here's rule 1 of crisis management (also not picked up by Tony Hayward): do NOT lie to the press. It is better to admit a problem and fix it than to deny it exists in teh face of overwhelming evidence. The former will create credibility (most people allow a mistake to happen), the second destroys brand trust.

Frankly, I would prefer they get a serious clobber around the ears from, say, the UK Department for Trade for selling "goods not of merchantable quality" or whatever the term is. They must learn that customer trust is again important..

As for me, thanks for confirming rule no. 1 of personal purchases: never buy a version 1 in hardware or software..

There are simply two problems

The way RIM has implemented it does not allow for legal intercept. I would not want to venture into the why and how, but law enforcement has a problem if it's non-US. But that's only half the problem.

The other half is that most of the RIM traffic appears to be hauled back to the US, which means that the US have yet another route for uncontrolled espionage. As the US espionage efforts have reached somewhat ridiculous proportions I can appreciate any non-US government expressing distrust in anything hauling back information to the US.

In that context it's interesting to observe that, for instance, the UK government uses MessageLabs for email filtering, which means MessageLabs get a copy of every single email going in and out of the government email gateway..

Is this exclusively a RIM problem? Nah, I suspect that Apple is probably reading a lot more than it should as well - just read their revised T&Cs.. It's as if Data Protection principles simply never existed..

It's early days

I'm old enough to remember the first days of stereo. That was a good indication - the first few years it all had to be very, very obvious. That "Play that funky music" - the music starts hard in one corner, and then the rest comes in from the other side - these days we go for accurate definition of the player's position.

Avatar was well used 3D because it was in Cameron's thinking from day one. It takes quite some time to get your head around that new dimension, with Alice in Wonderland showing what you have to avoid (depth of vision, for example, is something that has to be re-thought to draw focus to a particular part of the scene). We'll have a few more clangers before 3D becomes an integral part of a movie experience, but it will come. It has drawn me back into the cinema whereas before I no longer could be bothered..

However, AFAIK, on the back of 3D was another revolution: full digital delivery of content. Every theater that had a "3D conversion" had a bit more than just a new screen and sound system: the way the movie gets on the screen is different too, as it's played straight from hard disk to screen (this also provided the startup problems as the transmissions are DRM protected and they screwed up in a few cinemas). It's basically a larger and better version of the thing you use to show Powerpoint slides.. To me, that was a much bigger revolution than 3D - this time there was enough of an argument to do it (it's been tried before).

As I said before, give it time. In a couple of years or so you will expect it as standard..

It's got NOTHING to do with the OS at all - stop the myth

The reason the tablets didn't take off and the iPad is is not just marketing, it's simply technological advance. I have used tablet PCs before (usually laptops with a bastardised screen hinge) and they were not usable, because - OK, big insight, ready for it? - they were FAR too cumbersome and heavy. And call me silly, but I rather like to have the screen write where I put down the pen, something I never managed to achieve even after repeated calibration.

The technology to make a usable screen has arrived in bits and pieces. Apple (I think) pioneered the multi finger interface, and at the same time the screen themselves got better, and battery technology improved to a point where you could actually make a tablet PC that WAS indeed a tablet in the physical instead of the biblical sense, i.e. not the weight of a large stone.

However - all of that is hardware. Once you have a decent platform to work on, only then software becomes important, and I have yet to see anyone taking advantage of a decent working tablet I/O. First off, the Apple stuff is operated by fingers which doesn't make for large precision (thus avoiding calibration issues), but does enable multiple ways to provide input..

With a tablet you typically use a pen for input, and that requires some precision. It also requires good recognition, and if I look at the handwriting of most doctors I know where the challenge lies..

But before you go near this, answer question one: what would I want it for? The clever stuff about the iPad marketing was that is gave some possible end user uses. Without having a decent use there is no market, without the market there will be no investment.

Personally, I see tablets and book readers combine, at which point this market WILL get interesting. But I still cannot see any difference between MS, Apple or Linux on the device other than as a factor that determines cost, compatibility and comfort.

From personal experience I think using MS will mean it's going to look good in the brochure and be cheap to buy and you'll bleed forever after (as MS has stopped selling anything but badly finished beta software since W2K).

From Apple it will look fantastic, will probably be quite usable but expensive, and only on one type of Apple made hardware (which is why it will work as long as it doesn't need an antenna, which is clearly not their expertise).

With Linux it will work, but you'll have to choose from 20 distros and it will never quite work completely or support *all* your hardware, and any effort to find support or help is met with the comment that you can find it all on the Internet. Which is true, after long searching you'll find a HOWTO that for the average end user might as well have been written in Swahili and involves using a command line and editing text files with vi.

Let's get some hardware before we start looking at software. Apple has produced the first usable version (although I think it's too think and it MUST have a battery you can replace), and I think the first "open" platform will be found in the electronic book sphere. From then on the fun will start.

Rule 1 of crisis management..

..is to avoid patently false statements. Epic fail, thus..

"One thing I’ve learned is that when there's a successful organization, people want to tear it down," Jobs said.

Well, one thing I learned when analysing crisis is that the BS thickens in a direct relation to the depth of the problem. Not that I needed it, but Jobs has just 100% confirmed that there IS an issue, and that they are far removed from sorted it.

That is the problem with hype based sales: if you screw up, you screw up in large volumes. The amount of BS here indicates that Apple is absolutely desperate to avoid a recall, but I cannot see it solved any other way. Oh, and as for "few people calling in with a problem", well, yes, that IS kinda hard f the phone doesn't work, duh.

I've seen some people say that the problem is present in all phones, that's BS too. I avoided the Motorola brick by buying a more slick and discrete NEC P3, but I have been using mobile phones pretty much since they no longer needed a carrying handle, and I have in those years never seen a similar pronounced problem. The 3GS has it to some degree, but you have to hold it in a weird way to kill reception, only the 4 takes no effort whatsoever. It is a problem specific to the iPhone 4, and the iPhone 4 only - any other statement is simply not consistent with the facts.

As someone with a mechanics, electronics and computing background I'm impressed with what Apple has done with hardware over the last few years, it makes the disappointment with the way they handle this evident cock-up even greater.. It makes you wonder what else they haven't told you about..

Weird - mine just, well, worked

I have a 3GS which is scandalously denying me a rant at Apple. It, it, it .. well, just works.

Upgrade to iOS4: diverted the phone to another mobile, plugged it in and went shopping. Came back, done. Upgrade to 4.01: left it for a couple of hours while I did something else. Came back to a iPhone that wanted password and SIM unlock, so I have no idea what the fuss is about. I feel left out :)

It appears very similar to an erect d*ck: it stays up as long as you don't mess with it. So far, so good.

Having said that, the 3GS can also be brought to full disconnection if you cup the bottom..

Oh, that other phone? A good old trusty Motorola v3i. Totally crap UI, but the best designed hardware ever. Right size, easy to use flip, swappable battery. If someone could simply take the exact same dimensions and put a decent hardware (3G), OS + UI in it it would mean perfection to me.

The worst part is ..

.. that you can actually drop the signal on the 3GS as well. Just hold it at the bottom..

Oh well, that will teach me. Delivering good product in one sector (MacBook Pro) does not guarantee a fully thought through product in another. BTW; the UI on iOS4 is IMHO not improved, but that's a personal opinion. It looks prettier, but I'd really like something that would allow me to calibrate the tilting sensitivity, and a one-button control to kill the language dictionary. It's not good at supporting multi-lingual users.

Bugger the octopus, listen to the parakeet..(*)

According to the parakeet, the Dutch will win:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/07/mani-the-world-cuppredicting-parakeet-does-not-think-paul-the-psychic-octopus-could-be-more-wrong.html

(*) Side note: sorry, I have no idea how you would bugger an octopus, and I'm actively not interested in the answer..

All I know is that it's likely to be a very interesting match. I'm already happy the Germans didn't make it, so the only way is up (**)

(**) That too has nothing to do with buggering an octopus. Enough already, focus!

There is actually an Asterisk plugin for this

AFAIK, there is actually a plugin to set up this sort of stuff in Asterisk...

I find there are two types of telemarketers. There's the desperate kind who has to do this job because they need to earn a living somehow, and there's the type who really loves the challenge. As soon as I find I have a type 2 on the line ("challenge"), he or she will have time wasted (if I have it to spare, which is why I'll set up the Asterisk plugin soon)..

The problem is that the laws surrounding tele-selling are not only crap, they're also not enforced in any meaningful fashion. Using a blocked number should be illegal for this work.