This Will Be Great Fun!
I’ve just seen this Panono camera ball demonstrated on the Click segment of BBC Breakfast for today. You can probably find it on this page.
At the moment, it’s only a prototype, but my devious mind has already thought of several useful applications of the technology. At the moment the price looks to be several hundred euros, but one that was the size of a cricket ball, that is say just £200 would be wonderful toy for people of all ages.
Is Facebook Going Belly Up?
This article in the Guardian, quotes researchers at Princeton University, saying that Facebook will lose 80% of its members by 2017.
They’ve compared the growth of the social networking site to an infectious disease.
I think it will have died, as something else will replace it.
The Problems Of Twitter
We have had a lot of stories in the past few years about people being abused on Twitter and similar sites, such as this report about Stan Collimore.
I have been involved in a few studies about malicious calls in the past with BT and have a small amount of knowledge. For instance, those that abuse usually target someone specific like an ex partner or employer or they might do the opposite and tend to target a range of people.
But there is always a pattern, as people are creatures of habit!
I also did some work years ago with project management software to see, if it were possible to fill in the blanks on an activity, based on other activities in a project and the words in the description. Techniques of language recognition, weren’t that good in the 1980s, but I believe that it is now possible to make a better fist of it.
Twitter messages are a string of a few words and I believe that computers can now get the flavour of what is said with a bit of help. After all Google often gives you what you want in a search, that is full of spelling and typing mistakes.
So let’s say you get an abusive Twitter message. By flagging it to Twitter, they should be able to automatically determine if the contents fits a typical abusive pattern, based on the words and the tweeting profile of the sender.
An automatic warning would then ensue if it was deemed necessary, followed by deletion of the account, if the abuser persisted.
I obviously don’t know the thoughts of Twitter, but I’m absolutely certain, that an automatic system could be developed based on technology that works well in other areas.
The trouble is, any system like this is against the American rules on Free Speech. But it probably would be acceptable to many of those who have suffered abuse.
Bank Regulator Says Bank IT Systems Are Antiquated
This article from the BBC, tells how a senior regulator thinks that the IT systems of UK banks are antiquated. Here’s the jist.
A regulator from the Bank of England has told the inquiry into Northern Ireland’s banking system that he is a “very long way” from being able to say that UK banks have robust IT systems.
The Prudential Regulation Authority, should publish an on-line list of all the computer failures, that we could all see. After all, you wouldn’t want to transfer your account to a bank with a crap computer system, would you?
Towards The Paperless Society
On the BBC’s News web site today, these are two of their top ten stories; the scrapping of the car tax disc and driving licence records going on-line.
Obviously, these don’t affect me as I don’t have a driving licence or own a car.
But they do show the way that society is going. After all, for many of us, the only contact with our bank or credit card provider is through the Internet.
The one area, where we don’t seem to be going on-line and paperless is healthcare.
The two stories today claim that this paperless route may save us money on car insurance.
So why is healthcare not following the same route?
It doesn’t necessarily mean a loss of privacy and the need to carry a health card, as we do when we travel in Europe, so I’d put it down to a lack of vision of those who run healthcare and the NHS in particular.
Kicking A Bank When It’s Down
I keep all the scamming e-mails, that I get sent, so I can see any trends. If for instance I were to see a large number attacking the bank I use, it would put me on alert, and I’d be very careful in checking my account.
Over the last few months, RBS and its subsidiary, Natwest have had a series of well-documented computer problems. So as customers of this group now seem to be the target of most of my scam e-mails, could it be that the scammers get a higher chance to fraudulently remove money from a customer of a bank, that has a series of computer problems, as this softens customers up.
So perhaps, if your bank continually annoys you with unavailability of the service and security lapses, you should move to one that is more reliable.
Perhaps, the Financial Conduct Authority, should publish a web site, showing all of the failures of banks, building societies and credit cards. Then we’d all be able to sort the good from the bad.
Why Is This Story Popular?
This morning, this story about the execution of Saddam Hussein, was second on the most-read list on the BBC News web site.
It’s still at number five!
Why? It was written in 2006!
Now That’s What I Call A Robbery!
I was once called one of the Top Ten programmers in the world and as that was before I wrote Artemis, it is a compliment to the guy who said it, that he spotted my talent early.
I’ve never attempted to steal any money using a computer, but I have certainly had a few ideas, that I’ve kept to myself, or used in the odd unpublished short story. But this report on the BBC about how a series of cash machines were emptied, is completely unbelievable. Here’s the opening paragraphs.
Researchers have revealed how cyber-thieves sliced into cash machines in order to infect them with malware earlier this year.
The criminals cut the holes in order to plug in USB drives that installed their code onto the ATMs.
Interestingly, the crooks emptied the machines of the higher value notes first, so they could be away quickly.
This illustrates one of the big faults of the euro., compared to the pound. There are so many large notes in circulation, that the currency is a criminal’s and a money launderer’s dream. I don’t like large notes anyway!
I suspect it was an inside job, in that someone who worked for either the bank or the cash machine company was the guy behind it all.
But of course, these days, where software is produced under contract by those in far off countries, is it any wonder you get crimes like this?
I wound never put anything more than working petty cash into a bank or building society, as they’re all vulnerable to be taken out by a gang of clever hackers.
And they are a lot less vulnerable if all those in charge of the computer system and those who program it, are actually employed by the company.
Sadly, this is no longer always the case, as various calamities in the banking industry in the last few years has shown.
Logging In In France
On my recent trip to Bilbao and back, I spent three days in France and on the two mornings in Biarritz, I checked some of my Internet accounts, from a computer in the hotel’s Business Centre.
My major accounts have a system of logins and passwords that are stored in my Mark One brain, which means it is a system that is unbreakable without my being present. Nothing is written down, on or in anything I carry.
However, France with its bizarre keyboard layout, made some of the logins difficult. For instance to login to many accounts, you need to type an e-mail address, but that is not easy, as typing the @ sign is not a simple shift, but a control-alt keystroke.
Sometimes, France can get very annoying in the simplest of things, by going its own sweet way.
Are Google And ARM Holdings Forming An Alliance On Servers?
There has been a couple of reports on the Internet about a link-up between ARM Holdings and Google forming an alliance to create low energy use and high power servers. The Register bills it as Chipzilla versus The Chocolate Factory, in this article.
The last paragraph of the article, wich refers to the reports, is significant.
Such a scenario would be far worse news for Intel than merely losing a few million CPU sales each year.
So has Intel finally met its match in a small Cambridge company?
I think the answer is yes and we must make sure that this amazing UK company stays independent.
The Anonymous Widower 