Technically Speaking

About damn time

After all these years, Alan Turing is finally being apologized to for the way he was hounded to his death by the British government and it's archaic homosexual laws of years past. Mr. Turning has finally received an official apology from Her Majesty's Government - only 55 years too late for it to really mean anything. If history was written fairly, he would be a name as big as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, instead he is only recognized by the few. To those few, he is only known for the 'Turing Test' that measures how intelligent an artificial brain is. I suppose that's not a bad legacy to have. If you are familiar with the Blade Runner movie, the test (Voight-Kampff) used to determine if you are talking with a replicant is a form of Turing Test. He should be also remembered for his pioneering work that helped create the first true computers and by doing so helped ensure an Allied win in WWII. He is truly an 'unsung hero'. It's interesting how we can look at one persons work and then find that he was destroyed by an unthinking and unyielding government and legal system - I wonder how many people like him are littered through the discarded pages of history. Whether or not you consider homosexuality a 'sin' or something 'bad' is not really relevant when it comes to the contributions of brilliant individuals like Turing. As the post title says; about damn time!

Mists of time

Who would have thought it? How time files. 30 years ago Phillips first demonstrated the compact disc to an unsuspecting world and billions of discs later, we are still buying them. Even the humble floppy disc didn't last as long. It's hard to believe there was a time before the CD permeated every part of our world. Mind you, certainly in the music world, the vinyl disc never vanished and is making a strong comeback. It's quite interesting how some of the pre-computer technology is still around. Again, taking the music world, the reemergence of the valve as opposed to the transistor for hi-fi sound took me by surprise. My experience with the brightly glowing valve was through my father who worked at the BBC for 40 years. Some of that time was as a radio studio manager in the 60's during the most tumultuous time in popular music. However, the time of the CD may now be slowly fading as the emergence of high capacity removable storage media starts to dominate. Mostly, it's all down to cost. The first USB memory stick I purchased as a birthday gift a few years ago cost around $100 for 256MB - now, for around $40 you can get 16GB or more. The rise of the downloadable content and the MP3 player and the ability to hook that to your home or car sound system has meant that the use of a CD is irrelevant. I recall, some years ago, clearing out all my floppy disks and filling a big garbage bag - I suppose that I may be doing that again, this time with CD's. How the world turns.

Snowed under

I don't know about you, but I find that the marketplace is getting inundated with new gadgets and it's almost (read, always) impossible to keep up. I could come up with news items hourly that showcase the 'latest and greatest' in the home and business technology market. How many damn 'phones, cameras, book readers and netbooks (can I say netbooks?) can we buy. Asus, with the Eee computers, is a good example of overload with their releasing of so many items with differing configurations that no one has any idea of what is going on. Who decided that my telephone needed a camera  - OK, that's useful - an MP3 player, games, schedulers and all those other 'bells and whistles'? If I wanted that, I'd get an iPhone, like my son. You already know my thoughts about book readers. The public is still getting bamboozled with the electric car scam. I just have a question for the electric car people. How do I drive to relations in Hamilton and back in one day? At some point I'll have to spend most of a day recharging and hanging around doing nothing. Obviously, driving across the country or even to Ottawa is out of the question. They say (who is they?) that hydrogen cell fueled cars are dangerous and may explode. Hello! Cars get filled up with petrol that passes near and through some pretty hot places and, maybe I'm wrong, but gasoline is inflammable isn't it? Sometime you do get the idea that just gets your attention and makes you go 'what a clever thing'. Here is one I recently found. Will it go mainstream - probably not - but, clever indeed.

Blowing my own horn

Actually, blowing my son's horn. Over the years he has had an 'on again - off again' website where he has posted his thoughts and ruminations for others to share. As his yearly cost was going up to maintain his site, he had to look for alternative hosting at a more reasonable cost. So....how does $1 a year sound to you? Yes! For one silly dollar, his site is back up and running. Just shows that getting a web presence doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. I urge you to check out his new site and the recently posted images from his trip to the auto show yesterday. As a budding photographer he would really like your comments and advice. I was going to make my own website a while ago, but I don't think I would have enough to keep it interesting for long - plus I'm a lazy bum.

Into the deep end

Here I go! I'm putting my toes into the evolution pool. Let me start by saying that the theory of evolution has been fairly well tested over the years and 'technically speaking' appears to be a more correct view of human and animal development than any 'divine' intervention. I'm sorry to say that I don't subscribe to the theory of 'intelligent design' that is just a thinly veiled front for the fundamental Christian view of the creation. Having said that, here is a very interesting book that adds another view of why Darwin was so dedicated to his ideas of evolution and the role of natural selection in creating the ever changing world around us. It appears that Darwin's horror and revulsion to the then highly profitable slave trade became a part of his belief that we were all descended from a common ancestor. The current feeling amongst most slave owners that the African was somehow a lesser breed of man was something he felt was a fundamental wrongness in human thought. I didn't know that his ship, the Beagle, had been a slaver and, after his voyage, became one again. Whether you are a dyed-in-the-wool creationist or a devout evolutionist, I recommend this book as a part of understanding Darwin and his motivations. One day I may visit the Creation Museum and try not to laugh - it would be rude to mock someone else's firmly held beliefs - even if I think they're wrong..

No Celebrations?

It seems that Apple and, by extension, Steve Jobs, chose to ignore a special day in history. Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of the first Macintosh. I'm sure there are enough people that will celebrate today as the remembrance of a day that changed history - at least as far as technology goes. I don't believe that many people would doubt the impact of the diminutive Macintosh all those years ago. The elegance of the design, the ease of usage with it's ground breaking GUI (thanks Xerox) and the portability. It took IBM and Microsoft many years to even get close to what the Mac did for the business and home user. You may ask, 'why didn't the Mac take over?' Good question with, unfortunately, difficult answers. Firstly comes the price - if it had come in at under $2000 then I think the sales would have been even more massive. It seems that the asking price of $2500 was decided by incorporating the advertising costs into the final price - big mistake guys. Secondly, the main issue was that people were dubious about it's claims for easy use and basically didn't believe it would do as advertised. Interesting to note that the first UK owner of a Mac was the wonderful Douglas Adams - yes! Mr. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy himself. Try to ignore or decry it, the Macintosh is here to stay and don't you forget it!

Hunk of burnin' love

The disposal of our waste here in Durham is currently the ‘hot’ subject and causes a lot of discussion and argument. Personally, the creation of some sort of clean incineration is preferable to creating bigger and bigger landfills. Many people seem to have the idea that incineration is just burning stuff in an open pit! According to recent studies, every year 130 million tons of America’s garbage ends up in landfills. Together the dumps emit more of the greenhouse gas methane than any other human-related source. A sobering figure indeed. However, a technology that was postulated many years ago may hold the answers to both the disposal of our waste and the creation of power. The Atlanta based company, Geoplasma, has a plan for one city’s garbage that will soon release far less methane and provide power for 50,000 homes. Their clever people have developed an efficient torch for blasting garbage with a stream of superheated gas, known as plasma. When trash is dropped into a chamber and heated to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, its organic components - food, fluids, paper - vaporize into a hot, pressurized gas, which turns a turbine to generate electricity. Steam, a by-product, can generate even more power. Inorganic refuse such as metals condense at the bottom and can be used in roadbeds and heavy construction. Geoplasma is to construct the first US plasma refuse plant in St. Lucie County, Florida. The plant is to go online by 2011 and is scheduled to process 1,500 tons of garbage a day, sending 60 megawatts of electricity to the power grid. Emissions are far lower than in standard incineration, and the process reduces landfill volume and methane release. Power prices are projected to be on par with electricity from natural gas. Technology may yet be our best solution to a very smelly and divisive issue. Our local politicians and activists should be monitoring this installation closely. They won’t, of course.

Just another day

It must have been the obligatory 90 days since Apple announced something because the new Mac Books are out. As usual, all the Mac fanboys are making the typical ooo's and ahh's over the shiny new creations, From what I can see they are much the same as before with a few little refinements but NO Blu-Ray or HDMI support. According to Mr. Jobs, 'Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace'. Whatever! What he really means is that Apple doesn't want to pay for the licensing. I am still undecided about Mac. I recently set up an older iMac for my nephew and it was interesting to grapple with a Mac and OS X after a couple of years. Yes, it was great how it immediately found the internet connection,but the absence of a scroll on the mouse is a real pain and the constant security exhortations when installing software gets on my t**ts. It was interesting having to explain about Macintosh to someone who had never even heard of Apple computers before. Very odd indeed. To lighten the mood a little - look at this site. It's amazing what products we have been advised to buy over the years. This thumb thing just looks scary. I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!

Think of the children!

As Yom Kippur approaches, I was reading this news article and was sure my readers would be as bemused as I was. It’s amazing what things never occur to you and take you by surprise. In retrospect, it’s an idea that doesn’t seem that strange. When an Israeli father tried to register his child for his local ultra-Orthodox school this year, he was happy to sign a form saying his children did not watch television or use the internet at home, but he was taken aback when he was asked for a ‘kosher’ cell phone number. As with many groups of very religious people, the use of the internet and the viewing of TV are looked upon as very dubious things. Considering the filth and depravity shown on many western TV shows and the amount of porn that is viewable on the ‘net (voluntary or in-voluntary), it is no surprise that these groups are concerned for their children. So, the idea of a specialized telephone service makes sense. The kosher cell phone looks like an ordinary cell phone; it can make and receive calls, but it cannot send or receive text messages, browse the internet or take photos - all activities that could potentially involve behavior considered ‘immodest’ among Haredis or ultra-orthodox Jews. For example, SMS capability could lead to the unwitting receipt of mass text messages publicizing secular events. It could also be used as a method of illicit communication between male and female teenagers. And all photos of women are forbidden, as is accessing websites with content deemed inappropriate. There is also a rabbinical stamp of approval on the ‘phone, similar to those seen on kosher food items. Last year, an Orthodox rabbi and an Israeli technology executive established an ISP which claims to be the only filtering service provider in Israel that offers customized surfing packages. The company says it cuts out pornography, violence, and gambling, and then provides the user with five levels of further filtering. Maybe this is a trend that could be taken up by other groups that wish to ‘protect’ themselves and their children from the excesses of the modern age.

Gotcha!

In these days of increasing identity theft and other privacy and security issues, we would like to think that the Government is behind us protecting our liberties. In most cases, certainly in the US and more so in Canada, that is indeed the case. Generally, if there are issues with this type of thing, we have some protection. However, in the case of some counties, in particular Communist China, that is certainly not the situation. If anything, the government IS still behind you - with handcuffs and truncheons. The latest revelation that they are monitoring and recording conversations made over Skype comes as no surprise at all. This is the same issue that Yahoo has been castigated for and other companies, such as Microsoft and Google, have also been a party too. We are told, especially by Yahoo, that this is the price of doing business in China. Well, here's my two cents - 'stop doing business in China you  greedy ba****ds!' I really cannot abide the nonsense that we must leave our scruples and morals on the doorstep when we enter certain foreign countries. We wouldn't tolerate this sort of thing in our western democracies, why should we tolerate it elsewhere? I'll tell you why they do it - money. I think it's time we all watched very carefully how our own lawmakers and police deal with our on-line activities - the days of the thought police are now with us. The frightened state of our democracies in this post 9/11 World makes this type of monitoring more prevalent in the name of State Security. Hmmmm - State Security - SS - a coincidence - maybe.