Podcasting is an interesting development, but currently is not for the technologically naive user. Steve Jobs has announced that within two months Apple’s iTunes will offer support for podcasts. Lots of people are pondering what this might mean. Here’s Eric Hellweg on the subject.
Category Archives: Technology
On this day…
… in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to the public at 2:00 p.m. A total of 150,300 people crossed it on opening day, each paying one cent to cross. David McCullough wrote a wonderful book about its construction.
On not believing everything you read on the Web
Last Sunday’s Observer column on the strange case of David Bellamy and the non-retreating glaciers.
Le Crackberry est arrive!
I’ve been using my new Blackberry for over a week. So far, no sign of the addictive behaviour which led people to rename it the ‘Crackberry’. The key to controlling it is to be VERY selective about which correspondents’ messages are forwarded to the device. I can imagine a forthcoming New Yorker cartoon showing a couple having a tiff and one shouts “Right! That’s it! I’m not letting you through my Blackberry filter any more!” as s/he flounces out. The pseudo-QWERTY keyboard takes a bit of getting used to after years of texting on ordinary mobiles. But the predictive software is actually very good. And it’s really nice having email and text messages presented in the same list and letting the phone sort out what to do after one clicks on ‘reply’.
Reboot that car!
Hmmm… Knowing that I am a Prius owner, Dave Hill kindly sent me this link!
Since its launch, the Toyota Prius has become the most popular gas-electric hybrid automobile. Drawn to its excellent gas mileage, consumers have been so eager to get their hands on the car that they have been willing to pay US$1,000-2,000 over list price for used models.
Some 2004 and 2005 models have fallen victim to a software bug that causes the cars to stall on the highway. In some cases, the cars can be restarted immediately, but other instances have required a call to AAA for a tow into the dealership to get the problem fixed. A Toyota spokesperson blames a “programming error” for the situation and says owners of affected vehicles have been sent letters asking them to bring their cars into the dealership for what is described as an hour-long software update. Overall, it appears that fewer than 30 cars have been affected by the problem.
Phew! But don’t you just love the idea of having your car logged in for a firmware upgrade!
Reboot, reboot I say!
Passing through Cambridge station the other day, Alan Jackson of AidWorld noticed an interesting malfunction.
Normally, it’s the central monitor that is displaying the Blue Screen of Death. This time it was the left-hand screen, displaying a prompt well known to those aged 50 and over! Ah, the days of booting from floppies… Don’t think my kids have ever used one.
The new gender gap?
Why is it that only 4% of legally downloaded music is being bought by women? Interesting Guardian report by Natalie Hanman.
On not believing everything you read on the Web
Last week, George Monbiot wrote a fascinating column in the Guardian. It opened thus:
On April 16, New Scientist published a letter from the famous botanist David Bellamy. Many of the world’s glaciers, he claimed, “are not shrinking but in fact are growing … 555 of all the 625 glaciers under observation by the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, have been growing since 1980”. His letter was instantly taken up by climate change deniers. And it began to worry me. What if Bellamy was right?
So he telephoned the World Glacier Monitoring Service and read out Bellamy’s letter to them.
I don’t think the response would have been published in Nature, but it had the scientific virtue of clarity: “This is complete bullshit.” A few hours later, they sent me an email: “Despite his scientific reputation, he makes all the mistakes that are possible.” He had cited data that was simply false, he had failed to provide references, he had completely misunderstood the scientific context and neglected current scientific literature. The latest studies show unequivocally that most of the world’s glaciers are retreating.
So where had Bellamy got his numbers from? Read George’s article for the grisly details, but the answer, in a nutshell, is that they came from websites published by a number of fruitcakes who are into denial about global warming. The article is a salutary warning to anyone who believes something on the grounds that they saw it on the Net. It should be required reading for every teacher who tells pupils to “look it up on the Web”.
This you gotta see
I’ve always thought that the people who work in BBC Online are the most creative folks outside of Google. Now, right on cue, comes further proof — BBC Backstage
backstage.bbc.co.uk is the BBC’s new developer network, providing content feeds for anyone to build with. Alternatively, share your ideas on new ways to use BBC content. This is your BBC. We want to help you play.
It’s amazing, simply amazing, to think of a leading content owner and creator being willing to do this. Thanks to Ben for alerting me.
Learning from the Net
If the net had been designed by New Labour, we’d still be waiting for permission to connect.
This morning’s Observer column.