Geographic

Holographic TV Created By Scientists
US scientists have created imaging technology that lets viewers enjoy what they claim to be the first truly three-dimensional holographic movies.
Sadly, the chief boffin of the “holographic television” project, Dr Harold ‘Skip’ Garner, has admitted that the technology will “not be coming soon to a theatre near you”.
Looking into his holographic crystal ball, Garner, professor of biochemistry and internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said that he could see the technology being used for entertainment applications like 3D multiplayer games, theme parks, holographic cinema and holographic TV.
Another of the developers, Dr Michael Huebschman, a postdoctoral researcher in Garner’s lab predicted that we’ll all be floating about on hover-boots watching holographic TV in our homes by 2020 (OK, I made the bit up about the boots).
Naturally, the inner gubbins of this device are unfathomably complex, but we can tell you that it’s based on complex optics principles, outrageously clever computer programs, and a small chip covered in more mirrors than Fatty Arbuckle had hot dinners. We’re talking thousands of the things.
Lurking in the heart of the system is a digital light processing micro-mirror chip.
Made by Texas Instruments, these clever puppies are currently used in television, video and movie projectors and incorporate a computer that processes an incoming digital signal several thousand times a second.
This changes the angle of each micro-mirror to reflect light from a regular light bulb and projects the resulting two-dimensional video onto a screen.
By replacing this light with a laser light and opening up his Big Box Of Clever Ideas, Garner set about creating different wavelengths that were out of phase with each other to create the holographic effect.
The signal created is a sequence of two-dimensional interference patterns, called interferograms, which can be cooked up from scratch or from data gathered from 3-D imaging applications, such as sonograms, CAT scans, magnetic resonance imaging, radar, sonar or computer-aided drafting.
“This technology is potentially powerful for medical applications,” commented Garner. “We could easily take data from existing 3-D imaging technologies and feed that into our computer algorithms to generate two-dimensional interferograms.”
If you look at interferograms on a PC screen, all you get is a series of random black dots creating an effect that looks a bit like a telly on the blink.
But feed them into the digital light processing micro-mirror chip, blast them at the tiny mirrors and reflect laser light off them and you’re presented with a Star Wars-esque 3-D moving image suspended in air, captured in a special material called agarose gel, or on a stack of liquid crystal plates like computer screens.
Naturally, there’s a ton of really useful applications for this technology that could really benefit mankind: holographic visualisations of human organs, dental and bone development, surgeon training and all that kind of stuff.
But all we want to know is when can we play a holographic shoot-em-up or watch the mighty Cardiff City in glorious surround-o-vision?
Garner and his colleagues whizzed up the technology with students at the Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business. The objective was to develop a tentative business plan exploring the possible commercialisation of the technology, with a sensible focus on medical applications and not a desire to see Dot Cotton in 3D.
“An important next step is to take our proof of principle technology that we have now and move it into a commercial entity,” teased Garner before going off to admire a holographic heart.
Harold “Skip” Garner, Jr., Ph.D.
Garnering Innovation
16 June, 2005
Lastminute.com Launches Print Magazine
In an interesting reversal of new media trends, online leisure retailer lastminute.com is to launch its first print magazine.
The new “lifestyle” title, set to launch in mid-July, will be sent to the retailer’s top 100,000 customers and will include travel mag-style guides and more informal features on holidaymaking and leisure pursuits.
The move reflects the company’s strategy to reposition itself as a “lifestyle brand” rather than just a run-of-the-mill online travel retailer.
The 72-page quarterly title will be headed up by former-Guardian Guide and Hotdog editor Ben Olins, who is tasked with editing the magazine and leading an editorial and design team at publishing company Zone, appointed to oversee the process.
Inhaling deeply on a heady perfume of Eau de Buzzword, James Freedman, chief executive at Zone rhapsodised, “Lastminute.com has developed a fantastic business inspiring and fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of a growing group of dynamic, confident and adventurous consumers.
“Creating a magazine that reflects the choices and interests of this group of ‘action-leaders’ will reinforce and highlight Lastminute.com’s position as a lifestyle icon.”
Not to be outdone, Brent Hoberman, chief executive of Lastminute.com, brewed up his own beefy brand of buzzword blather: “The launch of this magazine is a fantastic opportunity to engage with our most loyal customers and reinforce our brand values through inspirational and informative editorial.
Our ‘raison d’être’ is to improve people’s leisure time and this lifestyle magazine which generates ideas on how to do just that is the ideal way to give something extra to our customers.”
Lastminute.com’s in-house sales team will be handling the magazine’s advertising, marking their first foray into off-line advertising.
With the magazine offering readers “a mix of pure temptation and stimulation to try out new experiences”, it’s clearly hoped that the publication will stimulate online sales for the company.
Today’s announcement follows news of the company’s £577m takeover by Sabre Holdings, the owner of Travelocity.
LastMinute.com
15 June, 2005
BT Fusion Integrates Landline And Mobile Calls
BT has unveiled a smarty-pants phone designed to integrate landline and mobile phone technologies.
Called BT Fusion, the handset promises callers the “best of both worlds” and works like a regular mobile phone away from home, but when the rambling caller comes home, the clever stuff whirrs into action.
As soon as the user’s home broadband hub is detected, the call is transferred to a VoIP connection through the phone’s own Bluetooth software.
BT is hoping that the service (dubbed “Project Bluephone” during development) will tickle the fancy of consumers looking for the functionality of a cell phone with cheaper fixed-line prices.
“We know that many of our customers enjoy the convenience of their mobile phones when they’re out and about, but switch to using a landline phone when they arrive back home to save money or because they have little or no mobile coverage”, observed Ian Livingstone, chief executive of BT Retail.
BT Fusion is part of the company’s strategy to lure back customers wooed by mobile telephonic temptresses touting cheap calls.
The BT Fusion service – using adapted Motorola V560 GSM phones – will initially be trialled by 400 customers, with a more widespread consumer launch in September, followed up by a corporate package rollout in 2006.
BT was tight-lipped about how many customers it expected to sign up to the service, but was clearly eyeing up the 30 percent of their customers who make mobile phone calls from their homes.
“The future will be convergence”, insisted Livingstone. “This is going to be a market that grows fantastically over time even though it might take a while to get going. We still expect many millions of converged handsets by the end of the decade.”
BT’s monthly packages will come in two flavours, offering 100 cross-network minutes for £9.99 (US$18.07~ €15) or 200 minutes for £14.99 (US$27.12~ €22.5) for 200 minutes.
Calls to landlines originating in the home will be ratcheted up at BT’s regular rate of 5.5 p (10 cents, €0.08) for up to an hour.
Subscribers wanting to join the BT Fusion gang will need both a BT landline and access to BT broadband, with a special access point, called the BT Hub, being installed in the home.
Although currently using Bluetooth, BT is planning an upgrade to Wi-Fi technology and has already installed the necessary wireless equipment in the hubs.
Although Ian Livingstone, chief executive at BT Retail, has commented that the service could be used on any broadband service provider “if we decide to make it available”, subscribers will have to use BT’s own broadband service and Vodafone for now.
BT Fusion
Motorola’s RAZR Coming Soon to BT Fusion Service
15 June, 2005
T-Mobile Wi-Fi Usage Soars
T-Mobile USA today revealed that nearly half a million are currently signed up to access their hotspots with hourly, daily, monthly or yearly accounts
The company’s figures revealed that 450,000 people accessed their high-speed Internet access at locations such as Starbucks coffee shops, airports and hotels in the past twelve weeks.
Although the company declined to provide year-on-year access figures, the figures showed that not only are there a lot more T-Mobile Hotspot users – they’re staying online longer too.
In the first quarter of 2005, users stayed logged on for an average of 64 minutes per login in 2005 – up from 45 minutes last year and just 23 minutes in 2003.
The total number of T-mobile Wi-Fi log-ins reached 3 million in the past three months against around 8 million for all of 2004. In this year’s first quarter alone, more people became customers than in all of 2003.
Although many early Wi-Fi adopters were laptop-toting business suits connecting in airports, hotel rooms and lobbies, the demographic is now far broader, with students, music fans, backpackers, silver surfers and others hitting the hotspots with their PDAs, smartphones and laptops.
T-Mobile’s figures show fast accelerating Wi-Fi usage, with 90 terabytes (i.e. 90 million megabytes) of Wi-Fi data flying across their network in 2004, with December accounting for 10 terabytes alone. By May 2005, 18 terabytes had swooshed across the ether.
T-Mobile dished out the stats as it announced an expansion in the provision of US and overseas hotspots.
New locations include the provision of roaming access throughout another 39 more airports in North America (making a total of 75 airports covered), with Wi-Fi guest room access being installed at 525 more hotels in the Marriott, Hilton, Ritz-Carlton, Doubletree and Renaissance chains.
In the US, every single Starbucks, FedEx, Kinko’s and Borders Books & Music store in the United States is covered by a T-Mobile hot spot, “unless they got built within the past five minutes,” quipped Joe Sims, VP and GM of the company’s hot-spot operations.
This brings T-Mobile’s hotspot tally to 5,700 locations in the US and 6,500 in Europe.
Roberta Wiggins, a senior research fellow with the Yankee Group was impressed with figures: “The numbers show that Wi-Fi is no longer an obscure, upstart technology. It’s gaining credibility.”
T-Mobile hotspot
14 June, 2005
OfCom Response To DCMS Green Paper on BBC Royal Charter: Comment
Ofcom’s press release accompanying their response to the DCMS green paper on BBC Royal charter was my first point for comment. It initially indicated to me Ofcom were sticking to:
* An institutional model of PSB (BBC fully-funded, cornerstone of PSB, key role in digital switchover, all things to all people, etc.);
* The much-derided PSP concept; and
* ‘The BBC is independent’ myth (Note the irony – this statement is otherwise contained in a document related to how the government will establish the funding, governance and remit of the BBC).
I wondered if I was being a little too hard on Ofcom. If there was original, evidence-based thinking in the document?
Once I’d had the opportunity of read through the whole document, combined with the benefit of reflection, my views changed slightly, leading me to the following conclusions.
1. Ofcom have produced more original thinking than I gave them credit for, initially, perhaps because the introduction and summary to the document are not as robust as its contents. Read on…
2. That being said, Ofcom in its response still embarrassingly clings to the discredited notion that PSB must be fostered by significant and prolonged state intervention in the form of subsidy. I agree with the Financial Times on that point. Will there always be a need for a multi-billion pound state subsidy to this sector?
3. Much of Ofcom’s thinking stems from a very questionable line of logic. Ofcom posit that PSB is in danger of becoming a BBC monopoly because the ‘implicit’ subsidy given to ITV and Channel Five is disappearing as the move to digital is underway. This line of argument is contained in Sections 2.4 through 2.11 of Ofcom’s response. I’ve never been convinced by this argument for two reasons: (i) recent empirical research by the Satellite and Cable Broadcasters Group (SCBG) demonstrated that PSB is being provided in abundance in the digital world without any subsidy and (ii) Channel 4 provides PSB and makes money. Ofcom’s statements–actually they are more like predictions–on this point have simply been unconvincing.
4. Someone should actually listen to what the SCBG has to say. These providers don’t receive scarce spectrum, don’t have must-carry status, and don’t receive public funds. Yet SCBG say their members produce 14,000 hours of PSB programming per month—more than all the terrestrial channels combined. The SCBG say:
[I]n the majority of programme genres that Ofcom defines as “public service broadcasting”, channels other than the BBC’s now provide most of the UK output: more than 60% of news and current affairs, more than 90% of documentaries, more than 80% of arts and music programmes. It follows that publicly funded broadcasting should now be limited to services, or to a quality of service, that the private economy cannot provide or would not provide in the absence of competing public subsidy.
This reflects the EU rules governing the use of State Aid, which require that publicly funded services such as the BBC’s must complement rather than substitute or duplicate provision by the market. Furthermore, where market developments supersede publicly funded provision, the BBC should withdraw from those services or activities and re-direct its valuable public resources to areas of activity where there is a proven market failure. While market failure should not be the only test applied to BBC services, it should provide the underpinning for all publicly funded BBC services. The absence of a market failure analysis raises significant questions as to the compatibility of the BBC’s publicly funded status with European State Aid rules.
5. Give Ofcom some credit – if the SCBG is wrong and instead Ofcom’s thinking is correct and PSB does require massive public subsidy, at least they have it right that the public subsidy should not all go to the BBC. Ofcom also propose a responsible structure to apportion that subsidy.
6. Give Ofcom more credit – they are keen to point out that the BBC’s role in the digital switchover process should not mean a government preference for Freeview over other digital platforms. Ofcom say the switchover should be platform neutral. Amen. Freeview stinks – I recently heard an influential observer charitably call it a ‘transitional technology’, and that’s really about the best you can say for it. Its capacity is limited; it’s not two-way; it has no worthwhile gaming applications, etc.
7. One more area where Ofcom deserve credit – suggesting to DCMS that it consider moving the review date for PSB funding to 2010 instead of post-digital switchover. Ofcom rightly realise that this is a fast-changing area and an earlier review will serve the public interest.
8. Finally, Ofcom say they want an ‘enhanced’ license fee for British viewers. An ‘enhanced fee’ – that can’t be a good thing, right? How much more will that cost us?
Russ Taylor is a co-founder of ofcomwatch.
Review of the BBC’s Royal Charter – Ofcom response to the Green Paper
Ofcom publishes response to Government Green Paper on BBC Royal Charter Press Release
BBC Charter Review
10 June, 2005
Freeview Breaks 5m Barrier. UK Digital TV Now ~62%
Ofcom has today reported its quarterly figures on the rate of take-up of digital TV in the UK.
The number of homes that are connected to a digital TV service through some means has increased 2.5% to just short of 62% (61.9%). No big surprise there as this has been gradually increasing over the previous quarters.
The bigger news, we feel, is Freeview, the UK’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service reaching 5,059,350 homes – breaking the significant barrier of five million homes.
This is bad news for Sky, as it’s starting to get close to the around 7.5m homes that they have. What’s worse news for them is in the detail of the report. Sky’s all-important ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) has dropped from £386 in Q4 2004 to £382 in Q1 2005. This might not sound huge, but for an organisation that is trying to constantly increase their ARPU, it’s not encouraging. Another figure of note is their rate of churn, that’s up to 11.1% form 9.6% in the previous quarter.
Xmas has previously been a strong time for Sky as people with little imagination and less conversation buy in Sky to keep them happy over the Turkey dinner.
The growth of aerial-delivered Freeview has been gaining more momentum of late, still spearheaded by the BBC using the Freeview channels to first-show a lot of its content.
For the fact spotters, a minor point of interest is the number of old ITV Digital STB’s that are in use in the UK. This is in steadily decline since they went bust and is now running at 290,000, down 60,000 from 350,000 in the previous quarter.
I actually run one of these and have increasingly found problems with it as the ‘digital rust’ sets in – box freezes, etc. (I’m not looking for sympathy. The problems with the box are significantly offset by the fact that I paid the princely sum of 1p for it, timing its purchase, as I did, during the week of uncertainly before ITV Digital went bust).
The breakdown of the figures is as follows
Sky Subscribers – 7,349,000 Freeview & free satellite – 5,504,350 Digital cable – ~2,500,00
Ofcom Digital Television Update – Q1 2005
10 June, 2005
Gorillaz Launch ‘Next Generation’ Enhanced Video
Animated UK act, Gorillaz, are proudly claiming a world first for their ‘next generation’ enhanced video for ‘Feel Good Inc.’
Using new “template technology” brewed up by MTV and its partner Ensequence, the video for ‘Feel Good Inc’ utilises the technology’s modular capabilities which – apparently – allow “more in-depth, bespoke, multi-layered content to be added behind the red button.”
After consulting our buzzword translator, we’ve worked out that their next-gen video will allow viewers to call up more interactive content, including track info, competitions and artist biogs, as well as each band member’s audio commentary on the video.
“The new Gorillaz video takes the extended relationship interactivity offers and takes it a step further, giving fans a much richer experience, “offered Lisa Gower, Digital Media Manager at Parlophone.
“The new technology allows fans to get closer to their favourite artists and brings interactive content closer to the quality and choice found with the ‘extras’ on DVDs,” she added.
Bundling in a host of interactive freebies is clearly being seen as a useful marketing tool for record companies, keen to discover new ways to part loyal fans with their cash.
Matthew Kershaw, Head of Interactive, MTV Networks UK & Ireland, explains, “Offering greater flexibility, we now have the creative freedom to create bespoke interactive layers that complement each video and can be different depending on when the viewer accesses them, giving fans a far richer and more enhanced experience than they have had before”.
Elsewhere, the Gorillaz have confirmed details for an innovative virtual US tour, with unique performances being streamed via the Web sites of radio stations across the country.
The Demon Detour virtual tour starts on June 6 at KNDD Seattle’s 1077theend.com and will go on to ‘visit’ the sites of 39 US radio stations and include two national broadcasts.
The band – brainchild of Blur’s Damon Albarn (aka 2D) and Tank Girl” creator Jamie Hewlett (aka Murdoc) – are already celebrating the US success of their second album, “Demon Days,” which has debuted at No. 6 on The Billboard 200.
“It’s not enough that we’ve just recorded and released the defining album of the century, now we’ve gotta go tell the world about it,” quipped. “We’re gonna play some live songs, maybe talk a little about the album, crack some jokes.”
Gorillaz
Ensequence
10 June, 2005
GNER Publishes Passwords In Customer Magazine
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s story about the ‘world’s greatest military hacker’ comes this tale of advanced doltery from train operator Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), who managed to publish their system passwords in a magazine available to thousands of passengers.
The April/May edition of their freebie passenger magazine, Livewire, positively invited hackers to come and do their devilish work, with an article on their operator’s control centre in York being illustrated with photographs showing mainframe and computer passwords written on a whiteboard.
Red faced and flapping like Fred McFlapster wearing flares in a gale force wind, William Higgins, editor of Livewire, surprised us all by declaring that including the picture was a mistake, insisting that the highly competent GNER technology team had already rectified any problems.
Martin Grey, technical services manager in GNER’s information systems department, claimed that passwords were changed before the magazine was published, ‘We quickly changed the passwords and user accounts so no one outside could get into our corporate data.’
‘The procedure in terms of our internal security was not being followed and we took quick steps to remedy that,’ he added.
A GNER spokesman later confirmed passwords were no longer being written bold and large on whiteboards and – presumably – their photographers will no longer be invited to go around snapping confidential information for free magazines.
GNER, owned by the Sea Containers Group, provide high-speed intercity train services along Britain’s East Coast main line, linking England and Scotland along a route of almost 1,000 miles.
Of their annual 15 million passengers every year, eight million are calculated to be business travellers, with the free magazine enjoying a circulation of more than 100,000.
A deeply unimpressed Phil Robinson, chief technology officer at security specialist Information Risk Management, commented that it was unusual to see passwords emblazoned on whiteboards, although it’s commonplace to see office monitors flapping with Post-it notes containing security information.
‘Mainframes are a sensitive part of any organisation and contain the crown jewels of data a business might want to protect,’ he warned.
Robinson suggested that companies need to work out a coherent security password policy and insist that employees use secure – but memorable – passwords, with a lock-out policy stopping repeated wrong password entries.
Microsoft’s ‘At Work’ site offers a series of tips for creating passwords, advising against using combinations of consecutive numbers or letters or adjacent letters on a keyboard such as “qwerty.”
The site also recommends avoiding any word that can be found in the dictionary, in any language, or replacing letters with numbers or symbols that look like the letters such as M1cr0$0ft or P@ssw0rd as hackers are wise to these tricks.
Instead, Microsoft advises coming up with a passphrase – a sentence you can remember, like “My son Aiden is three years older than my daughter Anna” – and then using the first letter of each word of the sentence to create ‘msaityotmda.’
It then advises mixing and matching a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters that look like letters to come up with a hacker-challenging password like M$8ni3y0tmd@.
(Your writer now hastily goes off to change his own passwords…)
GNER
Creating stronger passwords
9 June, 2005
Europe’s Broadband Access Overtakes America’s
A new survey published today reveals that more Europeans than Americans possessed a broadband Internet connection in the first quarter of 2005, with hi-tech South Korea in danger of losing its global pole position.
The Asia Pacific region – home to most of the world’s population – continues to be the world’s biggest broadband market, notching up 61 million subscribers and a 39 percent share of the global broadband market.
The research by the Anglo-Dutch research group TelecomPaper placed Europe in second place with 47.95 million broadband subscribers, edging past America with 47.53 million.
“Europe has outrun the Americas for the first time in history and became the second largest broadband market in the world,” TelecomPaper noted.
The addition of broadband to European homes was also greater than Asia and America, growing around twice as fast.
Leading the European charge were countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark whose broadband connectivity now only trails South Korea by a smidgen.
South Korea currently boasts 23.92 broadband connections per 100 inhabitants, which is calculated to give over 50 percent of the population fast internet access when connection-sharing is taken into account.
Growth in South Korea has almost come to standstill, with new connections only up 1.45 percent from the same period last year.
In the Netherlands and Denmark growth was explosive, with penetration reaching 21.1 percent, up from 13.9 and 15.8 percent respectively.
“Given the slow growth of South Korea, we expect that the top position, now held by South Korea, will change hands this year,” observed TelecomPaper director Ed Achterberg.
With virtual telecoms operators gaining access to the incumbent operator’s networks via European unbundling regulations, consumers have been able to take advantage from the fierce competition among telecoms’ operators and cable TV companies.
European telecommunications commissioner Viviane Reding stated that she wanted more than half of all Europeans to have high-speed Internet access by 2010, bringing it up from an average 8.5 percent in 2004.
Five out the world’s top 10 broadband nations are European, with Hong Kong at number four and Canada at five. Switzerland, Israel, Taiwan, Norway and Sweden are all up in the top ten, boasting at least 16.9 percent fast Internet connections per 100 citizens.
TelecomPaper
9 June, 2005
Gary McKinnon, Wood Green’s Biggest Hacker Faces Extradition
An unemployed Scottish man alleged to have carried out “the biggest military computer hack of all time” will appear in a London court today.
Clearly not one to merely dabble, Gary McKinnon, 39, faces extradition after being accused of gaining illegal access and fiddling about with files on no less than 53 US military and NASA computers over a 12-month period from 2001 to 2002.
Using software downloaded off the Internet, McKinnon allegedly hacked his way into almost 100 networks operated by NASA, the US Army, US Navy, Department of Defence and the US Air Force, with the US government estimating that his antics have cost around one million dollars (£570,000, €790,000) to track down and fix.
Originally from Milton, Glasgow, the north London resident was indicted in 2002 by a Federal Grand Jury on eight counts of computer-related crimes in 14 different States.
The indictment claims he successfully hacked into an Army computer at Fort Myer, Virginia and then indulged in a veritable orgy of hacking merriment after obtaining administrator privileges.
McKinnon is alleged to have transmitted codes, information and commands, deleted critical system files, copied username and password files and installed tools to gain unauthorised access to other machines before finishing off with a flurry and deleting around 1,300 user accounts.
In New Jersey, it’s claimed he hacked into the Earle Naval Weapons Station network and plundered 950 passwords a few days after 9/11, which resulted in the entire base being effectively shut down for a week.
With a sense of the dramatic, Paul McNulty, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, announced that “Mr McKinnon is charged with the biggest military computer hack of all time” at the time of his indictment in 2002.
Investigators found that many of the computers he allegedly hacked were ‘protected’ by easily guessed passwords, and although sensitive information was downloaded, no classified material was released.
Investigators found no evidence of data being offered to foreign governments or evil terrorist organisations, prompting his solicitor, Karen Todner, to suggest that the motivation for the extradition is political with the intent to make an example of McKinnon.
“The Crown Prosecution Service has the power and opportunity to charge Mr McKinnon, a British citizen, with offences for which he could stand trial in this country,” she said.
“However, they have chosen not to pursue this course of action and are allowing the American authorities to apply for the extradition of a British citizen,” Todner added.
If extradited and found guilty, McKinnon could face a maximum penalty of five years in the slammer and a £157,000 (~US $288,249.48 ~ €233,953.42) fine.
8 June, 2005