Author: Fraser Lovatt

Fraser Lovatt has spent the last fifteen years working in publishing, TV and the Internet in various capacities, and believes that they will be seperate platforms for at least a while yet. His main interests at the moment are exploring where Linux is taking home entertainment and how technology is conferring technical skills on more and more people. Fraser Lovatt was born in the same year that 2001: A Space Odyssey was delighting and confusing people in the cinemas, and developed a lifelong love of technology as soon as he realised that things could be taken apart, sometimes put back together again, but mostly left in bits or made into something the original designer hadn't quite planned upon. At school he was definitely in the ZX Spectrum/Magpie/BMX camp, rather than the BBC Micro/Blue Peter/well-behaved group. This is all deeply ironic as he later went on to spend nine years working at the BBC. After a few years of working as a bookseller in Scotland, ("Back when it was actually a skilled profession" he'll tell anyone still listening), he moved to England for reasons he can't quite explain adequately to himself. After a couple of publishing jobs punctuated by sporadic bursts of travelling and photography came the aforementioned nine years at the BBC where he specialised in internet technologies and video. These days his primary interests are Java, Linux, videogames and pies - and if they're not candidates for convergence, then what is?

EU Passes the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive

The European Parliament has passed the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive, an anti-piracy law covering media and other copyrighted goods across the entire EU.

The new law has had an early amendment to restrict civil lawsuits to commercial counterfeiters and pirates such as those selling copied football shirts, CDs and videos. In it’s original form publishers could pursue individuals through the courts for downloading music and other media in good faith, rather like the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Civil liberties groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) still argue that the amendment is not enough and that individuals could still be prosecuted as under the new law. Companies are allowed to raid homes, freeze bank accounts and seize property though proposals for custodial sentences were dropped. In the US, organisations such as the RIAA used the DMCA to prosecute file sharers, and resulted in a number of unfortunate legal cases against children.

Interestingly, the new law was guided through the courts by Janelly Fourtou. By sheer coincidence, her husband is Jean-Rene Fourtou, chief executive of Vivendi Universal.

The EFF on the new law

Sky Launch Virtual Horse Racing Channel

With CGI horses and a live studio commentary, Sky have launched a virtual racing channel for subscribers. Broadcasting from 6pm to 2am on Sky Digital channel 295, the channel will also allow punters to bet on the Super Keno draw, with a jackpot of £1 million.

Pete Ward, Executive Producer of Sky Vegas Live, said: “Sky Vegas Live gives viewers everything to play for – a slick and attractive channel with high pay-outs. The virtual TV studio will be the first of its kind and will give viewers the Vegas buzz in their living room and attract viewers who will enjoy a new betting experience.”

Presenting the channel will be National Lottery Live’s Gigi Morley and former Blue Peter host Stuart Miles.

Sky Vegas Live

Half of UK Homes Now Receive Digital TV

With penetration of 50.2% of UK households, the total number of homes in the UK watching digital television now stands at 12.3 million, up 423,000 in Q4 2003. This number includes 3.2 million free to air digital viewers using Freeview and ITV Digital boxes, and PC cards.

The report will be submitted to the secretary of state for culture, media and sport at the end of March.

Ofcom

SCO Round-Up

SCO is charging companies a licencing fee for using Linux – despite the fact that they don’t offer a distribution of the open source operating system, but instead claim ownership over part of the code used in the kernel.

  • Last week SCO claimed that Computer Associates (CA) had bought a “Linux IP Licence”. This would have been a big win for SCO had it been true: instead CA had actually bought some UnixWare licences from the Canopy Group.
  • Midweek, SCO announced legal action against companies using Linux in their business or websites — these were AutoZone, and Daimler-Chrysler.
  • A leaked memo from SCO stated that they’d considered taking action against Bank of America, whilst another leaked memo refers to a much larger amount of funding from Microsoft than previously thought: US$86 million
  • The the court in Nevada where SCO are pursing their legal claims runs its website on a Linux server. They do not possess a licence.
  • The Judge in the case has now ordered SCO to provide the disputed source code. Part of SCO’s tactic has been to not identify the code portion – as soon as the kernel developers know which part they are laying claim to, the kernel will be rewritten (probably over night) and SCO will have no further claim.
  • SCO lost US$2.25 million in the quarter ending 31st January, against an estimated income of US$20,000 in Linux IP Licenses.

The key reason we bring you news in this area is because Linux is a fundamental part of many of the devices that Digital Lifestyles readers use now, or will use in the future: the Linux kernel has been extremely successful as an embedded operating system in consumer devices.

The majority of set-top boxes use a Linux kernel as their operating system, Linux is the core of many phones and PDAs, and PVRs (and PVR-capable cards) are increasingly either Linux-based or feature extensive Linux support. Even your G5 Macintosh running OSX has more than a whiff of the penguin about it, just under that Aqua look and feel. This is because other operating systems are often too flabby to function on the limited hardware available or licensing another operating system can just be too expensive.

If SCO are successful in their legal claim it will push up the cost of licencing the kernel for use in embedded devices.

The Halloween X Memo – Microsoft Funding

Ireland Launches Free WiFi Service

Ireland’s Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (a varied remit if ever we saw one) Dermot Ahern has launched a free wifi service at the country’s three largest airports to mark Ireland’s Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers.

The service is only free until June, and will be centred on departure lounges and other major passenger areas.

Hosted by Aer Rianta at Dublin, Shannon and Cork Airports, each location will be in partnership with either Eircom, Esat Telecom and O2, depending on what airport you’re visiting.

Twenty million passegers pass through these airports each year and given how much of that traffic is related to the technology firms in Ireland, the service should be very successful.

Eircom

O2 ie

Esat

School Bans Camera Phones

West Lothian Council has banned mobile camera phones from all 11 secondary schools and 66 primary schools in its area. The council stated misuse of the cameras as its motivation for the ruling – images can be used for bullying or more sinister purposes, though the council has yet to receive any complaints involving the phones.

The Gartner Group estimate that soon 80% of phones sold will feature cameras, and this is causing security problems in companies, as well as personal security issues. Many companies simply do not have the infrastructure, staff or budget to protect their business and employees from misuse of digital camera phones.

Information Week reports on Gartner

BBC News

Recycle Your Computer

A report from the UN University recommends more effort is made to recycle computer hardware as every PC, from production to disposal, uses huge amounts of natural resources.

The UN report states that producing a PC system (base unit, monitor etc.) requires 240kg of fossil fuel, 22kg of other chemicals and 1.5 tonnes of water. This incredible figure then needs to be multiplied by 130 million, as that’s the number of PCs that roll out of factories every year.

BBC Breakfast picked up on the news and produced a rather confusing report based on it: they seemed to think that UK computer firms could take old motherboards and produce refurbished computers from them after a bit of recycling. Recycling electronic components is extremely difficult and produces large amounts of toxic materials, requiring specialist facilities which are often in developing countries.

So what can you do?

  • Since there is no real provision in many countries to collect and properly recycle PCs, reuse is often the easiest and most effective option.
  • Donate old PCs to charities or clubs. Even if your PC is getting on a bit it, can be still be used. Remember how fast it seemed when you first got it out of the box? Reinstalling the operating system and giving the hard drive a good clear out really makes a difference. Other operating systems like Linux can make good use of older PCs’ hardware.
  • Don’t dump your PC at a landfill – as we’ve said, the components contain highly toxic metals and chemicals. For this same reason, don’t burn it either – you’ll release poisons into the ground and atmosphere.

Only about 10% of electronic devices are recycled currently. To address this, the European Union has legislation coming into place in 2005 which will promote recycling by organising proper “take back” services and drop-off points for equipment – though expect the cost of a PC to go up by about US$50 as a result. Small price to pay, we say.

Computer Aid (UK, France and Spain) Digital-Lifestyles.info’s choice

Donate a PC (UK)

Metech PC Recycling (US)

Europe’s Recycling Marketplace

Disposable Computer Arrives

With the same memory capacity as the BBC Micro and based on Radio Frequency ID (RFID) technology, researchers have developed a paper board computer with 32kb of memory and basic processing and communication capabilities.

The device has many applications in data collection and processing – self-tracking courier packages, passports, pharmaceutical dosing, interactive books … the list is endless. As it incorporates a high standard of encryption, transactions with the device can be secure and authenticated. Current projects for the Cypak computer include providing tamper-proof packaging for the Swedish Post Office and pharmaceutical monitoring with a Swedish university.

The computer is based on “printed” sensors and can be incorporated in a wide range of products, and is priced at about US$1.

Cypak

TechWeb on the computer

1st July 2005 – the Broadcast Flag Comes to American Television

From July 2005, every digital TV tuner sold in North America, whether a card or standalone television set, will incorporate a chip listening out for the Advanced Television Systems Committee Flag, or “broadcast flag” as it has become known.

Devised by the Motion Picture Association of America, the broadcast flag is a technology where broadcasters will be able to control whether or not a home viewer can make a digital copy of a particular programme. If a programme has the flag set, receivers disable their digital outputs – so if a viewer wishes to make a copy, it will have to be onto analogue tape, or onto special low-resolution DVDs.

Needless to say the flag has had a somewhat mixed reception – as do most initiatives where the default position is to mistrust the customer.

But what will the flag be capable of in the future? Further incarnations of the technology could be used to prevent viewers from skipping adverts, or even preventing time shifting.

“Losing Control of Your TV”

Michael Dell Steps Down as CEO

Kevin Rollins, Dell’s president and chief operating officer has taken over the role of CEO from Michael Dell. Rollins joined the company as second in command in 1996, from Bains and Co.

Last year, Dell announced plans to launch new consumer products including televisions and its own personal music player.

Dell founded the company in 1984 with US$1,000 – last year Dell’s sales were worth $41.4bn. Shares in the company closed down slightly on the announcement, but the news is not expected to damage the company’s share price in the long term.

Dell on the news