2005

Ravensbourne College Publish Course Under Creative Commons
London’s Ravensbourne College is launching a new program called the School of Computing for the Creative Industries.
It’s quite hard to work out what it actually involves as their overview reads like a missive from a Hoxton style bar, babbling on about the “learner-practitioner” using the Internet “as an inspirational resource, drawing on that vast, interconnected meme-pool, but returning far more to it than s/he ever withdraws.”
We had to reach for the dictionary to make sense of this part:
“As the creative industries bifurcate into the twin realities of intellectual property businesses, and crafts-for-hire, the new creative has the skill, and panache, to exploit the opportunities of the new creative landscape.”
Apparently these new creatives are connected citizens, “whose passions and campaigns, ideas and innovations appear first on their blog.”
We would have thought that most of the passion manifests itself in the student bar, but the School insists that the new creative “understands that s/he is defined by the impact and credibility of their online presence.”
Now, some of you may be rightly thinking that this sounds more like The School of Buzzword Bullsh*t, but there is some interesting stuff lurking within the industry-speak.
It seems that School will release its learning materials under a Creative Commons license in an attempt to maximise usage and dissemination.
All the technical facilities in the School will be built on open source platforms, with support offered to students wishing to release projects under free and open source licenses.
Although it’s easy to scoff at their daft Nathan Barley airs, this looks to be a brave and innovative move by Ravensbourne College, which may prove a portent for colleges coming to terms with the impact of new technology on teaching.
Overview of the School of Computing for the Creative Industries
Creative Commons
25 July, 2005
BBC TV Listings Opened Up By Backstage Project
Punters are being invited to get all interactive with the BBC’s TV and radio schedules as part of their Backstage experiment. The call to action was trumpted at the London hosted Open Tech grass roots conference that ran at the weekend.
As we reported in May, BBC’s Backstage project gives coders, computer program writers and graphics types the opportunity to bend and twist BBC digital content into new applications or Web-based prototypes that can be shared with others.
Developers and designers are now being asked to dream up innovative ways of using TV and radio schedules via a BBC competition.
“We want people to innovate and come up with prototypes to demonstrate new ways of exploring the BBC’s TV schedule,” said backstage.bbc.co.uk project leader Ben Metcalfe.
Metcalfe suggested that those taking part might be interested in combining schedules with Web search services, using online social bookmarking managers which let people collect, organise, and share their favourite Web links easily.
He also proposed that developers might like to fiddle about with the TV schedule data mixing it with other social elements, such as recommendation systems for friends and alert systems, or combining schedules with other Web data to serve up genre-based programme searches or listings.
The BBC has already received more than 50 prototype ideas for using BBC feeds and content for non-commercial purposes since the project’s launch in May.
Backstage aims to tap into the resources of the distribution channels and knowledge networks already used by big companies such as Google and Yahoo, who were quick to realise the value of releasing content tool kits for developers to create applications with.
“Companies are waking up and realising that they need to have a conversation with their audience,” explained Mr Metcalf.
“The BBC has a good opportunity to take the lead in that, and others are realising it has its benefits too.”
The competition runs until 5 September, with the winner being invited to take the proposal forward with the BBC.
As we’d reported before, we think that Backstage is a great idea … we just wish they hadn’t used the word Remix – it’s really just a big too much, jumping on the blogging bandwagon. The idea is strong enough with having to resort do that.
BBC Backstage
25 July, 2005
UK Wi-Fi Freeloader Fined £500
A British court has fined a man £500 ($870, €720) for using a residential wireless broadband connection without permission.
In what is believed to be the first conviction of its kind in the UK, a jury at Isleworth, Middlesex court found Gregory Straszkiewicz, 24, guilty of dishonestly obtaining an electronic communications service and possessing equipment for fraudulent use of a communications service.
The case was brought under the Communications Act 2003 with the Crown Prosecution Service saying he was guilty of ‘piggybacking’ a household wireless network.
Police officers nabbed Straszkiewicz after he was spotted by locals wandering around a residential area looking for “free” net connections.
He was reported to have attempted this several times before the Old Bill invited him for a date in the cells.
In addition to the fine, Straszkiewicz was also sentenced to a 12 months conditional discharge and had his laptop confiscated.
We have to say this seems a little harsh as there appears to be no evidence that there was any hostile motive behind his actions.
Earlier this month, we reported on a Florida man being arrested for a similar offence.
It remains unclear whether mobile Wi-Fi users accidentally connecting to another party’s unsecured, unencrypted connection would risk prosecution.
The fact that many cafes and bars now offer free Wi-Fi Web access surely make it difficult to enforce this law, although there’s clearly a different case to answer when individuals are persistently wandering around residential streets with their laptops flipped open.
As ever, the solution is simple, and that’s for people running Wi-Fi connections to use the encryption tools provided.
And if you don’t know how to do that, here’s a tutorial: Wireless Home Networking, Part III – Wi-Fi Security
25 July, 2005
Google Profits Rocket Another 300%
Champagne corks were firing off at Google like a military salute as the Internet search engine kings revealed that their profits had jumped more than 300 per cent in the second quarter this year.
Fuelled by continued growth in Web advertising, Google raked in a revenue of $1.38 billion (~£788m ~€1.13bn) its second 2005 fiscal quarter, up 98 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Once you take off the $494 million (~£282m ~€406m) paid by Google to its ad network partners (known as traffic acquisition costs), revenue racked up to a wallet-delighting $886 million (~£506m ~€728m).
Net income came in at $343 million (~£195m ~€282m), favourably comparing with the $79 million (~£45m ~€64m) recorded in 2004’s second quarter, while revenue from Google sites totted up to $737 million (~£421m ~€606m) – up a thumping great 115 per cent.
Revenue from Google ad network partners was similarly rosy, totalling $630 million (~£359m ~€518m), an increase of 82 per cent.
“We are very proud of our results. Business is very good here at Google,” said chief executive Eric Schmidt, dodging the flying champagne corks. “It’s really because we’ve figured out ways to stay focused on end users and innovation.”
Although the vast majority of Google’s revenue comes from paid advertisements on search results pages and on partner sites, the company has been diversifying with new products and services like video search and mapping.
The company’s fortunes are currently on a stratospheric trajectory, with April’s first-quarter profit almost six times higher than a year earlier.
Not surprisingly, Google’s share price has soared, nudging above $300 (~£171 ~€246) a share for the first time last month and giving the company the honour of being the world’s biggest media group by stock market value.
Recent figures from Nielsen/NetRatings revealed that Google has attracted in excess of 78.5 million US visitors last month, up 25 per cent from a year ago, with the Google and Blogger brands ranked numbero uno in search and Web hosting, respectively.
Meanwhile, Yahoo had to make do with cheapo Cava as figures posted on Tuesday revealed a higher second-quarter profit but with revenue falling short of analyst expectations.
This news sent Yahoo! shares tumbling down as much as 10 per cent in after-hours trading.
Google
22 July, 2005
Mac Mini Overheating Issues?
What with the summer in full swing, and the weather in the good old UK being as warm as it has been, I have observed some serious heat issues while using my Mac Mini.
On particularly warm nights, the fan never seems to switch itself off, and seeing as it’s in my bedroom, I have to switch the computer off so I can sleep.
It’s also my Web server (I’m on a budget, get over it!), and so this means my Website is unavailable on warm nights. This fan issue is also accompanied with terrible performance, and occasional freezes and crashes, which is something that never otherwise really happens on a Mac.
At first, I had put it down to my Mac simply not running as well as it used to for whatever reason, but today it’s been considerably cooler because it’s rained, and all of a sudden my Mac Mini is running perfectly again.
Whether this issue is widespread or not isn’t clear at this point, but I for one, can vouch for the inability of this computer to run properly in hot weather. Is it Apple’s way of getting people to go outside on a hot day, or is it simply Apple cutting costs and making sub-standard products? Who knows, but I sure find it irritating not to be able to check my emails reliably on a hot day!
So, word of warning: Either pack your air conditioning unit along with your Mac for those warm days, or forget using your Mini when the sun’s shining.
Makes me want an iFridge ;-)
Is this a one off or have you had problems with this too? Get in touch and let us know.
22 July, 2005
Microsoft Vista Announced
After a morning of fishwife-hot rumours, it’s been officially announced that the next version of Microsoft Windows – previously code-named Longhorn – will be known as Microsoft Vista.
Although wags are already suggesting that the word might apply to the distant view of the product consumers will get for many months/years, Microsoft remains confident of an ontime release in the second half of next year.
Naturally, a big new product needs a suitably uplifting tag line, so the cappuccino-supping, flipchart-flapping, brainstormin’ visioneers at Redwood have come up with:
“MicrosoftVista. Clear, Confident, Connected: Bringing clarity to your world.”
The story was first broken by anonymous sources close to the company (that generally covers anyone from the cleaner to the guy who delivers the water cooler) who revealed that Microsoft had unveiled their new name in Atlanta during the company’s internal sales event, known as the Microsoft Global Sales Briefing (that’s ‘MGB’ to those in the know).
Possibly because of a fear of failing to release the product in the year bearing its name, Microsoft has once again shied away from its earlier practice of releasing dated operating systems (Windows95, Windows98 etc).
The current major version of Windows originally regaled under the name of ‘Whistler’ during development before being christened WindowsXP prior to its public release.
Brad Goldberg, a Microsoft product manager, said that the first beta of Vista is slated for release on Aug. 3 and will be targeted at developers and IT professionals.
Goldberg stated that Vista’s three design goals include better security, new ways to organize information, and seamless connectivity to external devices.
A second test release is anticipated to be debuted before Vista’s full release next year.
More details about the new operating system’s features will be announced on August 3.
Video of whooping Microsoft Execs
22 July, 2005
UK Digital TV Trial Results In – It Went Well
The long-awaited results from the Welsh Digital TV trial were published today.
The trial ran in the carefully chosen sites of Ferryside and Llansteffan, two Welsh villages either side of the River Towy (Google map, Geograph photo). The main reasons, it’s cut off as it’s surrounded by mountains and the sea.
The project started back in May 2004 with a roadshow that alerted the local residents to the intentions of the trial and to show them the range of equipment that they could choose.
Following the positive acceptance of the trial, the equipment was selected and installed and setup by residents. They were offered one of five Set Top Boxes and 2 PVR’s as replacements for their video recorders. The big difference between this trial and the full UK rollout, was that the equipment was supplied to them free of charge – something the UK government has refused to consider for the country at large.
The TV transmitter sat on the Ferryside of the River Towy serving the 475 homes and 1,200 residents that lived in both locations. The population was more elderly, retired and ill that the average UK population. Nearly 30% of the population of Ferryside were over 60.
The digital signal was switched on in November 2004, running simultaneously with current analogue for three month.
The big day of tension was on 30 March 2005 when the analogue signal was switched off. Digital-Lifestyles spoke to key members of the team during this time and learnt that it had gone remarkably smoothly, much to everyone’s delight.
The summary of the results from the 64 page document are as follows.
Transmission and Coverage – No one lost their TV service during the trial. Only three homes, which were previously in poor reception areas, could not receive the digital service and these were given a digital satellite service. Broadband was introduced during the trial and is seen as an alternative form of delivery to satellite.
Consumer Experience – Not everyone was able to install the equipment themselves but the majority of those who had trouble were able to fix problems with guidance over the phone.
Remote Control – The elderly hit problems handling additional remotes, especially those with many buttons – their preference being remotes with three functions – on/off, volume and channel change.
Aerials and Connectivity – This is where the majority of problems occurred. Digital TV needs a quality signal to work and nearly a quarter (22%) of the household had problems. Set-Top aerials (Do they still exist?) had problems, which wasn’t really a surprise.
Content – Having an EPG went down well with the residents, particular when they used it to record programs on their PVR. The trialists also enthused about the ability to receive extra TV channels – after all the major benefit to consumer if the expanded choice they will be given.
The total cost of the trial was a little short of 1 million pounds. The UK Government put up £565,000 and the broadcasters the rest, £300,000.
Many organisation worked hard to bring the trial to a successful outcome including Intellect, the trade association for the UK IT, Telecommunications and Electronics industries in the UK.
There’s going to be a lot of people letting out a sign of relief that this trial went well, and not just in the UK. Those involved feel there have been some real lessons learnt here. The harsh reality is that there a world of difference between a controlled trial in two villages in the Wales and a full scale rollout over the UK.
Digital Switchover Technical Trial at Ferryside and Llansteffan Report PDF (1.68mb)
Intellect
21 July, 2005
VoIP Market To Hit $4 Billion By 2010: Report
The North American voice over IP (VoIP) market is about to go completely bananas, with phenomenal growth predicted for the next six years, according to a report by Frost & Sulllivan.
The analyst’s newly-released North American Residential VoIP Markets report says that the pervasiveness of broadband Internet access and the availability of low-cost VoIP services will spur huge growth, with consumer VoIP market revenues reaching $4.07 billion (~£2.33bn, ~€3.34bn) in 2010 – up more than 1300% over $295.1 million (~£169m, ~€242m) last year.
The report anticipates a stampede of non-traditional telecommunications companies – including cable operators, Internet service provider (ISP), and non-telecom companies – charging into the voice market, driving the number of North American VoIP lines up to 18 million from 1.5 million in the same period.
The VoIP’s operator’s joy could be the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) misery, as Internet telephony represents a direct threat their market share and revenue.
According to Frost & Sullivan’s report, ILECs are already reeling from losing 15 million access lines to their non-traditional competitors, although a sizeable proportion of these were data lines and second residential lines.
“Residential subscribers are likely to replace second lines with wireless or VoIP; the benefits of VoIP include lower cost, additional features and ease of use,” Frost & Sullivan Senior Analyst Lynda Starr said in a statement. “If an ILEC offers VoIP, it risks cannibalising traditional revenue but also opens up new revenue streams.”
The report concludes that it’s the quality of service and the VoIP feature set that’s attracting punters to the service rather than a desire to get in with the hi-tech crowd.
Frost & Sullivan notes that the mass market will initially be attracted by cost-savings, but the compelling new features on offer will ensure VoIP’s success.
Frost & Sullivan
21 July, 2005
Superfast Broadband Access Via TV Cables
TV cables could provide broadband Internet access speeds up to a trouser-flapping 100 megabits per second as early as next year according to Finnish broadband equipment maker Teleste.
The technology is claimed to provide punters with access 50 times faster than the average broadband speeds now offered to cable TV homes.
Although similarly nippy data transmission speeds are possible over fibre networks, these would cost a lot more for operators to build.
“This is a cost-efficient technology, as we use the cable TV networks which are already in place,” Teleste’s CEO Jukka Rinnevaara told Reuters.
Teleste has said that it will bring its Ethernet-to-the-home product to the market early next year, giving consumers access to speeds of up to 100mbps.
The company manages to achieve the Billy Whizz speeds by fitting Ethernet – your everyday, cheapo technology for shifting Internet data over broadband networks – into cable television networks.
Teleste reckons it’s way ahead of the market, predicting that rival technologies won’t emerge until the second quarter of 2007 at the earliest.
The foxy Finns are currently running field trials with cable TV service provider Essent in the Netherlands, but are yet to reach the top speeds they predicts will be available to most homes in a few years time.
“Based on our research, 30 megabits per second is the absolute minimum in future homes,” Pekka Rissanen, a Teleste exec informed a news conference. “Just one TV programme would take 10 to 20 megabits per second of this alone. So, very fast we would reach a need for 30 megabits, and also for 50 megabits per second.”
Rissanen calculated the cost of connecting a home to the high speed ethernet-to-the-home technology could range from US$60.30 (~£35, ~€50) and US$241 (~£140, ~€200).
For some inexplicable reason, the company has splashed out a fortune for a bizarre, near feature-length futuristic 3D-tastic cartoon fronted by a talking monkey to explain their new service.
We’re not quite sure what the connection with the service is, but it sure beats listening to some swivel action suit blathering on via Power Point.
Teleste
21 July, 2005
Laptops Being Packed By More Holidaymakers
Feebly posing as some sort of independent study into the portable computer use, a recent US survey commissioned by Intel reveals that 34 per cent of respondents or their families have taken a laptop PC with them on vacation, with just over half likely to take a laptop PC on a future vacation. Oh that’s lucky … aren’t Intel involved with laptops in some way?
The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive discovered that the three most popular uses for a laptop PC while on holiday checking personal e-mail (72 per cent); playing movies, music and games (56 per cent); and gathering trip information online (45 per cent).
Despite being on their happy hols, 43 per cent used their laptops for of checking and sending work-related email.
The growth of compact, wireless-enabled laptop PCs [cue: another plug for Intel Centrino here] and hotspots have made it easier for globe trotters to taunt their office-bound chums back home with beach photos, as well as keep in touch with work, news, sports and grab local information.
“The survey results show that mobile technology is making it easy for travellers to research destinations, be entertained and stay in touch with family and friends while away from home,” said Ralph Bond, Intel consumer education manager, rudely cut out before another plug for Intel Centrino products could be delivered.
The survey also discovered that Hawaiian shirt-toting holidaymakers rated a long battery life (62 per cent), lightweight design (58 per cent) and Wi-Fi (55 per cent) as the most valuable features for a holiday latop. Wow … isn’t that what Centrino’s good at?
Of course, seasoned PC users have dragged laptops around with them for years on end, with many of the early adoptin’ cognoscenti choosing to travel even lighter by using PocketPCs/smartphones for keeping in touch while away from home.
With the growth of iPods, digital wallets and teensy weensy portable hard drives, keen photographers no longer need to lug around a laptop to back up their images, while Wi-Fi enabled PDAs – like the Palm LifeDrive – mean that travellers can access the Internet in-between splashes of sun tan oil and leave more room in their bags for essentials.
Like beer.
We would have provided you with a link to the survey but the page on the Intel site is 404ing.
21 July, 2005