Jama: Rants, Raves, Reviews

Unemployment does get boring

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:25:00 PDT

I have been a techno recluse for the last few months and I know that a few of you might have been wondering where I disappeared to. Well, I can tell you now that I have been through a very frustrating time.

In July I was made redundant from my very short lived role of Brand Manager at Renaissance Brands. I don't consider myself a vicitim but more of a casualty of the current economic climate. I was employed to bring on the 'next big thing', an investment for the future; unfortunately I quickly became an expensive liability. The digital Freeview PVR was going to be the hero product but the TVNZ TiVo announcement gave Renaissance management cold feet so the project was dumped. We had actually signed an agreement with Magic TV which I thought was an excellent product regardless of TiVo. It is good see that freeviewshop has picked up the product.

Fortunately money has not been an issue for us, well not yet anyway. But we have had to change our lifestyle slightly. For the first 2 months of unemployment I worked on our house during what was apparently the worst Wellington Winter in 30 years and I managed to paint the house inside and out. Quite a feat when you consider that we hang off a hill and the scaffolding was 30 meters high! I even painted the roof which is probably one of the scariest things I have done. All the work paid off as we sold our house in 7 days and at a good price. In the next 4 weeks we are dramactically downsizing. Moving from our modern, 3 storey house in central Wellington with the hell harbour view to a little 2 bedroom old house in the Hutt hills. Fortunately we have this option, the house in the Hutt is our rental property which we have owned for a number of years but it will be a shock to the system none the less.

I have seriously lost count of how many jobs I have applied for; sometimes your application is acknowledged, sometimes not. Sometimes you get to meet with a recruitment consultant and sometimes you get an interview with the employer. All very frustrating and how the market has changed. Probably 2 years ago it was a job hunters market, loads of jobs and too few applicants and now it is exactly the opposite. It is a lengthy process as well; one position I applied for dragged on for 8 weeks from initial application to interview to not being successful and I really, really liked the role.

After 20 odd years working at the cutting edge of technology in a variety of roles I have started to consider other options and have been looking at purchasing an exisiting business. It is possible that to secure a financial future for my family I may have to buy myself a job. Not necessarily where I want to be but I know my wife has probably had enough of me being at home. On the positive side though I have been able to spend lots of time with my 4 year old son and we are good mates. I know he doesn't want me to go back to work.

Will my phone work on the new Telecom mobile network?

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:50:00 PDT

A very good question actually and not an easy one to answer accurately. I felt compelled to compile a list of phone manufacturers and models that potentially will work on the new Telecom mobile network after a couple of friends of mine received bum advice from a retailer. They were told that because their phones supported the '850MHz' frequency they would work. Wrong! Sure they support 850MHz but only for 2G (their phones are quad-band GSM). Very, very important your phone must be 3G and it must support 850MHz.

In the spirit of sharing I have taken the time to compile the definitive list of most of the 3G, 850MHz phones currently available around the world.

There are a couple of things to be aware of:

1. Manufacturers such as HTC, Motorola and LG produce variants of major phone models. For example, the HTC Touch Diamond is available in two variants, one supports 900/2100MHZ (great for Vodafone) and the other 850/2100MHz (required for Telecom). If you are not sure check with the phone manufacturer.

2. Some phones were made specifically for a carrier such as AT&T or Telstra. This could mean that the phone software is heavily customised for that specific carrier and possibly not all services (eg WAP and MMS) will work on Telecom.

3. The frequency used by Telecom (850MHz) is also used by Telstra Australia and AT&T USA, if the phone works on either of these networks it will probably work here but again, check with the phone manufacturer

4. Remember this is a guideline only and I have not personally tested all these phones! All I have done is spend quite a bit of time looking at phone specs.

Acer Tempo DX900
Acer Tempo F900
Acer Tempo M900
Acer Tempo X960
Apple iPhone 3G
Asus Lamborghini ZX1
Asus M536
Asus P560
Asus ZX1 Lamborghini
Dopod 810 (variant of HTC Trinity
Dopod 838 Pro
Dopod C730 (HTC Cavalier variant)
E-TEN Glofiish M800
E-TEN Glofiish M810
E-TEN Glofiish V900
E-TEN Glofiish X800
E-TEN Glofiish X900
Garmin Asus nuvifone G60
Garmin Asus nuvifone M20 (USA version)
HP Compaq iPAQ 610
HP Compaq iPAQ 610c Business Navigator
HP Compaq iPAQ 612c Business Navigator
HP Compaq iPAQ 614 Phone
HP Compaq iPAQ 900 Phone
HP Compaq iPAQ 910 Business Navigator
HP Compaq iPAQ 910c Business Navigator
HP Compaq iPAQ 912c Business Navigator
HTC AT&T 8525 (Hermes variant)
HTC P6500 (O2 XDA Mantle)
HTC P3600 variant (Orange SPV M700)
HTC P3600 (Trinity)
HTC P3600i (D810x)
HTC P3650 Touch Cruise
HTC P4550 (TyTN II Kaiser)
HTC Qtek 9600
HTC Qtek S300
HTC S730 (Wings) (USA version)
HTC S743
HTC Softbank X02HT (Cavalier variant)
HTC Vario III (Kaiser variant)
HTC Touch Diamond
HTC Touch Dual (USA Variant)
HTC Touch Pro (Fuze) (AT&T)
HTC TyTN (Hermes 200)
I-Mate 810-F
I-Mate Ultimate 5150
I-Mate Ultimate 6150
I-Mate Ultimate 7150
I-Mate Ultimate 8150
I-Mate Ultimate 8502
I-Mate Ultimate 9150
I-Mate Ultimate 9502
LG CB630 Invision
LG CF750 (variant of KF750 Secret on AT&T)
LG CU500
LG CU500v
LG CU515 (AT&T variant)
LG CU575 Trax (AT&T variant)
LG CU720 (AT&T variant)
LG GD900 Crystal
LG Globus TU330
LG Incite CF810 (AT&T Variant)
LG KC910 Renoir
LG KF390
LG KF700Q
LG KM560/CM560
LG KP330/CP330
LG KT770
LG LG-KM900
LG Telstra TU500
LG Telstra TU550
LG Telstra TU575
LG TU720 (Shine)
LG Vu CU920/CU915
Motorola A3000
Motorola A3100 Surf
Motorola Maxx V6
Motorola MC75 EDA
Motorola Q9h
Motorola RAZR2 V9
Motorola RAZR2 V9x
Motorola Tundra VA76r
Motorola VE66
Motorola Z9
MWg O2 XDA Orbit II
MWg Zinc II Phone
Nokia 5320
Nokia 5800
Nokia 6120
Nokia 6720
Nokia E51
Nokia E55
Nokia E66 (850/2100MHz)
Nokia E66 (850/1900MHz)
Nokia E71-2
Nokia E71-3
Nokia E75-2
Nokia N78
Nokia N95
Palm Treo 750/750v
Palm Treo Pro
Pantech C610
Pantech Duo
Pantech Matrix Blue (AT&T variant)
Pantech Matrix Green (AT&T variant)
Pantech Matrix Pro (AT&T variant)
Pantech Sky IM-U210/U210K
Pharos Traveler 117
Pharos Traveler 127
RIM Blackberry Bold
RIM Blackberry Storm 9530
Samsung A501
Samsung A551
Samsung A561
Samsung A701
Samsung A706
Samsung A717
Samsung A737
Samsung A827
Samsung Epix i907
Samsung F480T
Samsung i617T
Samsung i8510
Samsung Pixon M8800
Samsung Propel SGH-A767
Samsung Rugby A837
Samsung SGH-1707
Samsung SGH-A707
Samsung SGH-A821
Samsung SGH-A867
Samsung SGH-i607
Samsung SGH-i617
Samsung SLM SGH-A747
Samsung Telstra A412
Samsung Telstra A711
Samsung Telstra A801
Samsung Telstra A811
Samsung Telstra i601
Samsung U900T
Sharp SX663
Sony Ericsson C510a Cybershot
Sony Ericsson C702a
Sony Ericsson C903a
Sony Ericsson C905a
Sony Ericsson G705
Sony Ericsson G705u
Sony Ericsson K850i
Sony Ericsson W508a
Sony Ericsson W760i
Sony Ericsson W995a
Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1
Sony Ericsson Z750a
Sony Ericsson Z750i
Sony Ericsson Z780/Z780i
Toshiba Portege G500
Toshiba Portege G810
ZTE F188
ZTE F890
ZTE F900
ZTE F912
ZTE Telstra Easy Touch Discovery
ZTE Telstra Easy Touch F858
ZTE Telstra F152
ZTE Telstra F153
ZTE Telstra F156
ZTE Telstra F158
ZTE Telstra F159
ZTE Telstra F165
ZTE Telstra F165i
ZTE Telstra F252/F256
ZTE Telstra F852

Telstra 21

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:40:00 PST

Tesltra has announced at the GSMA Mobile World Conference that from the 23rd February Telstra customers will experience the fastest mobile network speeds in the world. The 'Telstra 21' network will offer peak download rates of 21Mbps and peak upload of 5.76Mbps. No word yet on what the actual expected average speeds will be but I am sure they will be a vast improvement over what is currently offered. With this announcement Telstra totally leapfrog their competitors who are still (mostly) offering peaks of 3.6Mbps.

Telstra commissioned an independent Productivity Study which concludes that the benfit of faster mobile broadband could add .7% gains to the Aussie GDP.

To support the Telstra upgrade, Sierra Wireless has released a PCI Mini Express card and a USB Modem

This is actually good news for us in New Zealand as Telstra operate at the same frequency as Telecom. So hopefully we will see some 21Mbps product here soon.

Qualcomm gen 2 Gobi World Modem

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:40:00 PST

It looks like the second generation Gobi2000 platform has been commercialised by Option in a mini PCI express form-factor.

This is the ultimate modem as it supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE, HSUPA/HSDPA/UMTS and CDMA 1xEVDO RevA. But what makes this modem really smart is that it is the first product to support Quad-band HSPA across the 850/900/1900/2100 MHz bands.

Now, if this product was available in New Zealand and had all the necessary approvals it could be used on the Vodafone 3G 900/2100MHz HSDPA network, the Telecom EVDO RevA network or the new Telecom 850MHz HSPA network.

Gobi 2000 is dubbed the 'WiFi killer' because of its true global potential but I can not help thinking that global roaming is not a technology problem. It is a pricing problem. Who really wants to pay $10-30 per Meg?

Gobi products have already been adopted by Sony, HP and Dell for embedding in notebook computers. Whether or not we see it down this way will depend entirely on the price premium for the modem and if the price is jutified by demand and usefulness.

Acer Aspire One Netbook Teardown

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:44:00 PST

If you are wondering what is inside the Netbook check out the FCC Website

The HSDPA mini PCI Express module used is an Option GTM380 which is capable of a maximum of 7.2Mbps down and 2Mbps up.

I am surprised that Vodafone didn't go with the Option GTM382 which is available as a 900/2100MHz variant.

You would think that selling an 850MHz product in this region opens it up for customers to easily migrate to Telecom in NZ and Telstra in Aus.

Vodafone NZ Launches 3G Acer Aspire Netbook

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:40:00 PST

I just noticed that Vodafone is now selling the 3G embedded Acer Aspire One Netbook.

Nice looking product but quite a terrible price really. You have a choice of:

$949.00 outright purchase
$700.00 on 1GB, 24 month term
$649.00 on 3GB, 24 month term

Compare this to AT&T in the US who sell the same product for US$99.99 on a 24 month contract.

Looking at the specs the Aspire One supports tri-band UMTS/HSPA 850/1900/2100 MHz.

Ok NO support for 900MHz 3G which means coverage is limited to where Voda has 2100MHz 3G. I am going to say it -

You would be better off buying the Netbook outright and chucking in a Telecom SIM when their new 3G 850MHz network launches.

Over the 'i'

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:40:00 PST

iPod, iTouch, iPhone, iCute, iToys, iSite, iEarn, iLearn, iPlay, iTunes, iFlex, iClicker, iShare

And from my 3 year old son 'iWant, iWant, iWant'.

Sprint USB multi 'G' modem

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:54:00 PST

To bridge the network divide between EVDO and WiMAX, Sprint are soon to launch the ultimate hybrid USB modem dubbed the U300

According to the reports I have read this modem is manufactured by Franklin Wireless but a sift on the FCC website reveals that it is actually made by C-motech of Korea. C-motech is (was) actually the manufacturer who supplied all the initial products (USB modem, etc) for the Telstra NextG network under the Maxon brand.

It appears that the modem supports 800/1900MHz CDMA and 2500MHz WiMAX. What is not clear is how the modem handles hand-over. In other words does it automatically and seamlessly switch your data connection between CDMA and WiMAX (as in Mobile IP) or is it a manual disconnect/reconnect process to change networks? The user manual is a little bit light on information.

The construction is very much 'generation 1', the internal pictures reveal a dual radio module construction with the CDMA module on the topside and the WiMAX module on the underside. Also included is a small internal battery which must be used to boost power to the radio(s) for when a laptop is running on battery.

I vaguely recall a large chip maker saying at one stage that WiMAX would be built into everything. I guess the Sprint U300 proves we are not quite there yet.

Head of New Media buys into 'old media'

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:56:00 PST

All the assets of Real Groovy records have been purchased by a company called Fonografo. One of the partners of the new owners is Ralph Brayham

Ralph is a one time country manager for Toshiba and has held a number of roles at Telecom including General Manager of New Media, General Manager of Ferrit and currently (I have heard) he is General Manager of Broadband.

Over the years Ralph would have been one of this countries greatest proponents of digital delivery for everything media related through his varied roles in Mobile, Xtra and Ferrit. On the other hand Real Groovy is one of the last of a dying bread of 'real' record shops. A place where you can still get vinyl!

Good on him for saving the Real Groovy icon but why did he do it? Was it a purchase based on some nostalgic whim or is Ralph about to expand the Real Groovy online store? Only time will tell.

For the non-Italians out there. Fonografo means gramophone or phonograph. Very appropriate.

The Butler and Butler 5 Point Plan

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 08:35:00 PST

I read with interest today on Stuff the Butler Brothers 5 Point Plan for ICT the authors are Mr Martin Butler, ex (recent) GM of Telecom Mobile and Mr Neil Butler, the founder and owner of Optimation

Point number 2 (of 5) really stood out for me:

'2. Ultra Fast Broadband: think mobile as well as fixed

National has talked about investing up to NZD $1.5b to help achieve ultra fast broadband that seems primarily oriented toward fibre to the home/business. There may be benefits in considering mobile as well as fixed. Mobile broadband is the fastest growing service category in Telecommunications with costs falling significantly as a result of maturing 3G technology and devices. While fixed broadband services are expected to maintain a speed/capacity advantage, the productivity enhancing value of ubiquitous service at high speeds/capacity and reasonable cost may be compelling.

Whether it’s a TV camera streaming live footage, videoconferencing using you (sic) laptop or simple content download – mobile broadband is about to come of age in NZ.'

There is absolutely nothing wrong with including mobile in the grander broadband plan in fact it makes a lot of sense but it is not all about price. The coming of age for mobile broadband is not about 'a TV camera streaming live footage, videoconferencing using you (sic) laptop or simple content download' which unfortunately are all very poor service examples. It is in fact about great and innovative services that drive adoption and create customer loyalty. There are plenty of small, innovative company's in New Zealand developing very cool services and applications for mobile networks. The problem for these company's has always been getting a moment of time with or any recognition from people such as a GM of mobile.

At my last place of employment we spent 18 months developing a world leading and in fact a world first service for mobile. It is no longer my place to get into the details of what we had developed but the development was the easy part. The hard part was getting any recognition or support from a major Telco. All we wanted was a reasonable data ($$) plan so we could launch the service and write big cheques for network usage each month. We weren't asking for any money, all we wanted was to pay money based on a reasonable price for data consumed. After 6 months of trying it became very frustrating.

Telecom used to have a developer program called dzone. It wasn't perfect but it did help developers 'get in the door' to speak to the right people and in a very few instances there were some business partnerships formed. Unfortunately dzone seemed to have disappeared during Mr Butler's leadership.

I would welcome a coffee and chat with the new Telecom director of mobile, Mr Paul Hamburger. I am sure a bit of history could help broaden the perspective.

Mini Nukes for the Masses

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:25:00 PST

We have a change in government so it could also be a good time to rethink the flawed leftie, greenie policies of generating electricity from renewable resources such as the ever unreliable wind and rain.

It seems Hyperion has released a safe and affordable mini nuclear power plant that will provide enough power for between 10,000 to 20,000 households. The Hyperion Power Module or HPM is shipped sealed and ready to go, all you need to do is dig a very big hole.

With a purchase price of $25M US (or between $1250 to $2500 per household) it is got to be one of the cheapest options for continuous power generation. Think about it, this is between $125 to $250 per year, per household based on a 10 year expected life for the fuel.

Apparently it requires some sort of security detail to make sure the HPM is safe from 'nefarious threats'. Being buried underground is an obvious advantage but as an added security measure the local neighborhood could form a volunteer detachment to keep an eye on things.

This has got be a much better value option than the Meridian Energy project West Wind being constructed at Makara which will provide enough electricity for 110,000 homes (when the wind blows) for a cost of $500M.

I Smell a Conspiracy

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:04:00 PDT

On the 1st of July the NZ government became the proud owner of the whole rail network - track, rolling stock, etc.

On the 3rd of July Transport Minister, Annette King, announced road user charge increases of between 7.5 to 15%

According to KiwiRail:

'KiwiRail is New Zealand's leading transport operator. We provide a cost-efficient linehaul service for the movement of bulk commodities or containerised freight.'

KiwiRail uses tracks not road so immediately they have an advantage over truckies because they do not pay road user charges

The government has paid over the odds for KiwiRail and must now pay even more to upgrade the rail corridor and rolling stock.

What is the best way to recover your investment?

Simple - monopolise the long haul, bulk freight market by making it significantly cheaper to use rail over road.

Disposal of Eco-bulbs

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:55:00 PDT

From the Housing Corporation website:

'At the end of the bulb’s life — Dispose at your local refuse station so that the mercury can be collected and recycled. Freephone 0800 10 21 31 for locations that collect energy efficient light bulbs for recycling. If possible, don’t put the bulbs in your household rubbish.

Ecobulbs have a 2-year warranty, so any bulbs that fail within that period can be returned to the retailer and exchanged for a new Ecobulb (no receipt required).

If the bulb breaks — Air the house for about 10-15 minutes. Broken bulbs fragments should then be swept into a bag (don’t vacuum) and taken to your local refuse station for recycling. Be sure to wear gloves to avoid being cut'

So, if Eco-bulb (or CFL) breaks evacuate house, put on Hazmat suit, sweep glass into a sealed airtight container, gas up SUV and drive 10km's to local refuse station for disposal.

It is so hard being green.

Welcome to Vuestar

Tue, 27 May 2008 02:16:00 PDT

Welcome indeed. It seems that Vuestar of Singapore (and Australia) is claiming to own a patent in Singapore, USA, Australia and little old NZ for, wait for it...

'A "technology" that enables a visitor to a web site to click on an image to go to another web page or web site'

In fact they have already started to send out invoices in Singapore:

'We hereby wish to advise the Commercial community that in the coming days you may receive an invoice and notice of a need to have a licence of “ USE ” where it is deemed that our intellectual property is being used to locate web – sites and/or web – pages using visual images pursuant to the various patents granted by the patent offices in the identified Countries.'

It seems that Vuestar claim to own the patent granted to one Ronald Neville Langford of Battery Hill, Queensland, Australia.

If correct then obviously Vuestar (and I assume Mr Langford) stand to make a sh_t load of money. The FAQ's are an interesting read. Here are a few highlights:

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Why are you invoicing me?

You have accessed the VUESTAR , Vue Smart System by clicking, scrolling or streaming over a Visual Image to connect with a website or web page.

My web page uses visual images am I the only one paying the Licence?

No. You are required to have a License, as is your Internet Service provider, your Telco whose phones connected to the web and anybody else contributing to the use of the patent. All search engine portals and web sites that have search facilities and images will require separate Licenses.

What are Visual Images?

Icons, logos, brand names, photos, signatures, animations, graphics and other likeliness used or capable of being used to identify, isolate, promote, educate, market or otherwise exploit in commerce or otherwise visual images.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

At this stage Vuestar appear to be only sending invoices to Singapore companies and granting 'licenses' for the Singapore territory. I really do have to wonder how this patent was granted, why it was not contested and surely there must be prior-art in existence that totally invalidates any Vuestar claims.

National to invest in broadband

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:20:00 PDT

The National Party has today announced that it will invest $1.5b to drive the roll-out of a 'fibre to the home' network which will deliver much faster broadband. It has been variously estimated that $5b of investment would be needed to give NZ a truly world class broadband network and that no single telecommunications company would have pockets deep enough to go it alone. The announcement by National is a large up front incentive that also shows that the next government does believe that faster broadband will have a positive impact on our economy.

National has outlined 5 principals for investment:

The network being open-access, ensuring the investment does not see already-planned investments cut back, ensuring increased broadband services, and making sure we do not end up lining the pockets of incumbent industry players.

It is good to see National taking a stand on a subject greatly politicised by our current inept leadership. So, while Labour continues to rip the balls out of Telecom (and its share holders) National has taken the lead and given this country a broadband direction. Ironically, with this announcement, National would be able to take NZ into the upper quartile for all OECD broadband indicators which was something Labour had aspired to but never achieved.

I am sure Cullen and co will announce a $1.6b investment tomorrow.

I will leave you with this recent comment from Mr Cunliffe which dismisses NZ needing government investment to build a high speed network:

"We've turned the regulatory system on its head, we're negotiating a groundbreaking deal with Telecom around operational separation, and that's going to lead to an unprecedented level of investment."

You are correct Mr Cunliffe, the 'unprecedented level of investment' is going to come from the National Party.

Finally - Mobile Convergence Sanity

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:00:00 PDT

From the look of this press release from Motorola we may finally see a future where mobile networks are no longer split down two camps - GSM and CDMA. Motorola have demonstrated at CTIA the first packet-data call handover from EVDO RevA to LTE. For those of you who do not know, LTE (or Long Term Evolution) is the GSM industry (3GPP) version of the future 4G (or Super 3G) mobile technology. In the CDMA world (3GPP2) we have UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) or EVDO RevC which was championed by Qualcomm but some of the rumours circulating recently are speculating that UMB may never 'see the light of day'. This is possibly driven in part by the decision of Vodafone owned Verizon who recently stated their intention of adopting LTE rather UMB even though they are a CDMA carrier.

What Motorola demonstrated was true handover from/to LTE and RevA with no packet loss. This represents the nirvana of inter-network interoperability. The experience today with handover from CDMA 1x to EVDO (and visa versa) is not exactly seamless.

In the 4G world voice over mobile is actually VoIP and it has always been the intention of EVDO operators to use VoIP over their RevA networks by utilising QoS infrastructure to ensure a consistent service. There is probably more incentive for EVDO operators to adopt VoIP now that the network migration path is much clearer.

What this also shows is quite a sound strategy by Telecom NZ to keep their RevA network while only building a much smaller footprint of HSPA.

Certainly LTE will offer quite a competitive challenge to WiMAX and also to fixed-line technologies. I can seea future where the GZ forums will no longer be filled with the same hyperbole over which is better - GSM or CDMA.

Online Lotto Sales

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:30:00 PDT

I have to wonder at the logic of providing online sales of lotto tickets when we apparently have such a gambling problem in this country. Apparently there will be 'safeguards' such as each person can operate one account and to set-up an account they must register on-line, the person is then required to set their own 'weekly and monthly' spend limits 'that can not be exceeded' and if you constantly spend to the 'maximum' you will be contacted and offered 'problem gambling' support.

Seriously this is another example of 'nanny state' madness. Think about this:
1. If you have a gambling problem just keep buying tickets anonymously at a retailer
2. Everyone knows that it is not difficult to set-up and operate multiple on-line accounts in different names even if they require ID like a driver licence it wouldn't be difficult to sign up under multiple family members.
3. Why would you want the 'nanny' government to know how much you spend on Lotto?
4. If you spend up to your maximum limit and get barred just go off to a retailer and pay cash
5. It hasn't been said but you have to assume that on-line Lotto would require you to purchase via credit card. How bad is that? Using a credit card to gamble!

This sounds like an experiment in 'social engineering' where we are looking at a future of all Lotto purchases going on-line and the government telling you what you can and can not spend. Not only that but they are also cutting out the 'middle man' which is all those little retailers who invested in Lotto serving equipment and probably derive a good income from Lotto sales.

I occasionally buy a Lotto ticket with the milk and there is no way I am signing up to a data-mining website so that Helen can tell me off for buying too many 'Mega Power Dips'. How stupid!

Off to Space aboard an XCOR Lynx

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:40:00 PDT

Well I wish.

XCOR Aerospace has announced that they will be offering suborbital flights from 2010 using their Lynx spaceship. I think I would prefer this option to the Virgin Galactic offering because you get to sit up front in the co-pilot seat rather than being a passenger sitting in the back. Also it is just you and the pilot. The Lynx takes off under its own power rather than being launched at 50,000 feet from another craft which is what Virgin Galactic are intending. The Lynx looks like one hell of a ride.

XCOR has produced this really cool animation of the entire journey. I couldn't help but notice that the Lynx vehicle design looks very similar to a VKA-23 which was designed in 1959 by the Soviet OKB-23 Myasishchev design bureau

Boston Dynamics Quadruped - Big Dog

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:36:00 PDT

This is absolutely amazing. A quadruped robot from Boston Dynamics that moves effortlessly over all terrains although it had a bit of trouble with ice. Designed for the army as a pack horse I can't help but wonder what happens if you blow out a leg with a standard Soviet era RPG. I think they need to do something about the noise as well. Even the hard of hearing would be able to tell a Big Dog was on the way. The project appears to be funded by the deep pockets of DARPA. I suppose in the future there could be a version with side mounted laser canons or ED-209 style rocket launchers and machine guns.

FBI - 'Bait and Hook'

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:15:00 PDT

An interesting story over at El'Reg regarding the FBI and the baiting of suspects with an unhealthy interest in children. Apparently the FBI solicits suspects through forums via an enticing link (FBI hosted) and then nabs them by tracking their IP number.

Obviously the word 'entrapment' springs to mind and certainly anyone wanting this sort of content should be apprehended and dealt with severely but does clicking a hyperlink pointing to a server that does not actually host any or display any of the 'advertised' content constitute a crime? Well, apparently it does. This raises the obvious question of how far 'entrapment' can go and your rights when 'innocently' being led down the link clicking path.

For the first time ever I got severely caught out today at work. Drinking my morning coffee I was looking for a tutorial on puttying - as in puttying windows. So, I search on Google for 'puttying windows' which in the second page of search results throws up this:

Not really concentrating on what I was going on I opened multiple windows from lots of links with the above being one of them. This page (do not go there!) asked me to install an ActiveX control for a media codec which stupidly I did. I know, I know, I should have known better but I was still in morning brain fuzz phase and simply thought 'great a video tutorial'. Well, the link is not what it purported to be and it sent me to this internet nugget http://porn-youtube-8.com/freemovie/Video%20-%20puttying%7CSpecial%20Archive%20-%20puttying/725/6/ which went about infecting my laptop with all manner of nasties like multiple Trojans (which disabled my task bar) and some pop-ups. Luckily AVG, Spybot and HiJackThis cleared out the mess.

So, what if my innocent search had re-directed me to a fake FBI web site specifically set up to entrap viewers of illegal content and how would you actually prove your innocence? It wouldn't take much effort for a hacker to place an Open Redirect to the FBI server from an innocuous looking hyperlink with the true link hidden through URL encoding.

My colleagues awarded me the 'Turkey Trophy', because 'I should have known better' which is fair enough. Needless to say I have learnt my lesson and will be more diligent in the future.

Finally some sense in politics

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:33:00 PDT

I haven't had a political rant for a while but I must say that I am impressed with Roger Douglas. Yes, this would be the same Roger Douglas who gave us 'Rogernomics'. The slash and burn financial policies of the post Muldoon era of the early 1980's. Regardless of what you think of that time and the methods used the fact remains that Roger did drag us kicking and screaming into the brave new world of globalisation.

Now he is at again on the far right of the ACT Party and I can't help but agree with (some) of what he is proposing:

- Cut the top tax rate to 33c in the dollar
- Adjust tax thresholds
- First $20K of income tax free
- Get rid of 'welfare for families'

With all the farting around and bickering between Labour and National it refreshing to see a party laying all the policy cards on the table rather than dealing them up one at a time.

It almost suspiciously seems that Roger has been reading my blog. Perhaps the Jama Party should join forces with ACT.

Subprime Primer

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:48:00 PDT

Are you left wondering how some greedy banks with dodgy home loans can totally root our economy forcing up the interest rates on your mortgage even though we live at the other end of the world?

Well, wonder no longer here is the Subprime Primer for everything subprime but written for the masses. The truly funny thing is that this was all legal and no one is being prosecuted. Instead the Fed is bailing out the finance companies in the US and the Brits have nationalised Northern Rock.

Sharemarkets are taking a dive, gold is going through the roof, finance companies are hitting the wall and it is estimated that 1.5 million Americans could lose their homes in the next 2 years.

Damn those Sinners

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:20:00 PDT

The good old Vatican has decided to update the list of 'burn in hell' sins beyond the standard 7 of sloth, gluttony, greed, etc which have been with us since probably the first Pope was ordained 1000 years ago. I find it quite amusing how a bunch of men in silly costumes can come up with this sort of stuff but then again I am an atheist who finds all religion to be quite ridiculous so what would I know.

You only have to look at the Catholic church's recent backtrack on Limbo to understand that no doctrine or belief system is truly set in 'brimstone'. It does make me wonder though what has happened to all those unbaptised pre-embryos, embryos, foetuses, and babies who were condemned to limbo for the past millennium. Do they suddenly pack their bags and head off to heaven?

Anyway back to the sins. On top of the existing (and well known) 'seven' the Vatican has added another 'seven' sins to bring some more relevance to the modern world. Apparently Abortion and paedophilia received an honourable mention but were cut from the short list. And the sin awards go to:

- Environmental pollution
- Genetic manipulation
- Accumulating excessive wealth
- Inflicting poverty
- Drug trafficking and consumption
- Morally debatable experiments
- Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

I guess this means that Bill Gates, Exxon Mobil, The Sudanese government, some Colombians, the scientist who cloned 'Dolly the Sheep' and the odd despot are all headed South unless of course they repent. That is a funny thing about sin (according to the Catholic Church), you can sin all you like, confess to a Priest and hey presto you will be absolved.

I find it quite ironic that 'accumulating excessive wealth' has been outed as a sin when (by some estimates) the Catholic Church is the biggest accumulator of wealth and the biggest property owner in existence. I personally have not seen the 'books' but some 'in the know' estimate that the church has global assets and wealth the equivalent of $8T (that is trillion) which (as the head of the church) makes the Pope the richest individual (or corporation head) on the planet yet we never see him mentioned on the 'Forbes top 500' list. Obviously 1000 years of hoarding and investing is quite lucrative. This brings me to pollution, is it a sin to commit the act of pollution yourself or to invest in companies that pollute? If it is the later then you could have a 'double-whammy sin' that could see you liable for accumulating wealth from pollution. Given that the Catholic Church probably invests its money rather than hoarding it in a shoe box under the pulpit I would hope that they are at least investing in 'ethical' companies rather than corporate polluters.

I actually think that the church has been slightly conservative with the new 'sin list' and as it is a '1000 year update' I thought I could help them out by adding a few more. So here is Gazza's Guide to the greatest sins not mentioned - amen:

1. Tax - Jesus was apparently Tax Exempt in the temple. Because my body is my temple everything I put into my temple should be tax exempt as well. By the way, the Catholic Church pays no tax.
2. Beta Software - releasing beta software as a commercial product onto the unsuspecting paying public (XP, Vista, etc) is definitely a sin. Bill gets two places down South - one for wealth and the other for beta software
3. Bad driving - people who run red lights, who don't indicate and who drive to close should definitely burn
4. Spamming - no body likes spammers so they deserve a special place at the 'hearth of hell'
5. List MP's - Hey I didn't vote for them
6. Fonterraism - any company that can charge $5 for 2L of milk and $16 for 1Kg of cheese because 'that's what we can get for it in China' deserves a steam bath in Satan's cauldron
7. Paedophilia - yes they make it onto my list, sick bastards
8. A paying membership to PETA - come on animals are tasty.
9. Being a Scientologist - seriously, how can anyone really believe that an alien named Xenu traveled to our planet in a DC-10 and dumped 40 billion souls into a whole lot of volcano's.
10. Oil rich Arabs - in 1998 it was only $11 for a barrel of oil now it is $100. I am sick of paying for excessive and outrageous luxuries like customised A380 aeroplanes. The bubbling pitch pit awaits.

There you have it, the sin list according to Gazza. Feel free to add your own.

Begalet - Universal Personal Transport

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 02:25:00 PST

This is so cool I want one.

From Scarab Aviation Labs based in Russia comes the Begalet - Universal Personal Transport.

It can be used on land, water and snow (with modification) and it can fly!

The craft weighs just 55Kg's when empty and can reach a maximum speed of 80kph on land and up to 160kph in the air (according to some reports). It seems to be a motorised paraglider but Scarab also have some fixed wing versions in development.

It uses a parachute in case of emergency landing when airborne and a bouyancy device to stop it sinking when on the water.

The engine delivers just 30hp with a range of up to 400km so it should be quite economical to run as well.

Throwing a Paper Plane

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:55:00 PST

From the 'really annoying game that I can't stop playing department' we have the Amnesia throw the Paper Plane game

Getting it past the ceiling fan (without getting shredded) and out through the window is the biggest challenge.

My record so far is 61.796m for a global rank of 45,888. I have certainly contributed to the 213 million planes thrown so far!