Daily Archives: September 23, 2006

Happy birthday, hard disk drive – and my, how you’ve grown

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This morning’s Observer column…

…No matter how one views the impact of hard drive technology, one thing is unarguable: it’s been given a raw deal by history. The story of computing has hitherto been told almost entirely in terms of advances in processors and networks. But the truth is that nothing that we take for granted today would be possible without the vast, fast, cheap mass storage provided by hard disks.

Not surprisingly, the Cinderella status accorded to their achievements infuriates the industry’s leaders, who feel they don’t get the respect they deserve.’Instead of Silicon Valley, they should call it Ferrous Oxide Valley,’ Mark Kryder, chief technical officer of hard disk manufacturer Seagate, complained last month. (Ferrous oxide is what provides the magnetic coating on a hard disk.) ‘It wasn’t the microprocessor that enabled the personal video recorder – it was storage.’

He’s right. But nobody in the computer industry will thank him for saying it. Which only goes to show that if you want gratitude in this life, buy a dog…

How to cool a hot computer

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Use two giant dice! This ingenious solution was devised by a friend. She wondered if it would be worth patenting. I said it might be more lucrative to design her own line of personalised dice.

Quote of the day

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From the BBC’s Ryder Cup Blog…

Sign at the K Club: “Lost people should go to the information centre in the tented village.”

Er, if they’re lost, how will they know where to go? Or are they lost in the Biblical sense — i.e. beyond salvation?

Dunn falls on her sword

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Patricia Dunn is stepping down as the H.P. bugging scandal gathers speed. New York Times report says:

The furor over Hewlett-Packard’s spying operation claimed its highest-ranking victim on Friday with the immediate resignation of its chairwoman, Patricia C. Dunn.

The move was announced by Mark V. Hurd, the chief executive, who will now succeed her. But even as he offered an account of an investigation gone awry, and offered apologies to those whose privacy was invaded, he made it clear that many questions had yet to be answered.

His voice shaking, Mr. Hurd said a review of the means used to trace leaks from the company’s board had produced “very disturbing” findings. He also conceded that “I could have, and I should have,” read a report prepared for him while the operation was under way…

It’s over: get used to it

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Terrific column by Martin Kettle.

Yesterday’s Guardian poll shot an arrow through the heart of the Labour party. It says that Labour is on course to lose the next election. It says that Gordon Brown hasn’t got what it takes to turn things around. It implies that no one else in the Labour party has, either. It crystallises everything anxious Labour activists have been saying to themselves on the eve of the party conference in Manchester – and then it adds some. It is hard to think of a more pivotal political opinion poll in recent times…

It’s a very perceptive piece — and I’m not saying that just because Kettle agrees with me. Here’s how it concludes:

Perceived likability unlocks electability. One of the reasons Blair dominated British politics for so long was that, where personality was concerned, he had it. It is equally clear that one of Cameron’s great strengths is that he has it too. The message of the poll is that the voters have sized Brown up and don’t like what they see. It may be miserably demeaning that modern politics has come to this. But if Brown hasn’t got it, how does he acquire it? And if he can’t acquire it, who else has Labour got?

Answer: nobody.

Top Gear

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It is reported that doctors caring for Richard Hammond, the Petrolhead’s Friend and Top Gear presenter who was seriously injured when his car went out of control during a speed trial, have concerns about his brain function as a result of the accident. If the accident had happened to Hammond’s co-presenter, Jeremy Clarkson, the medics would at least not have had to worry on that score.

Top Gear is an interesting case of a curious condition — the worship of stupidity. It is filmed in a vast aircraft hangar filled with grinning, half-witted, twentysomething males and is dedicated solely to the fetishising of speed and the lampooning of any measure designed to protect society from dangerous driving. On the few occasions when I’ve watched it, what always came to mind was Randy Newman’s wonderful satirical song about American rednecks, the chorus of which goes:

We’re red-necks, red-necks,
We don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground.
We’re red-necks, red-necks,
Keepin’ the niggers down.

Britain’s egghead heir

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There’s an hilarious Guardian story based on Jeremy Paxman’s forthcoming book about royalty.

According to Jeremy Paxman, …, the prince [of Wales, heir to the Coburg-Saxe-Gotha throne] is particularly fond of a boiled egg after a day’s hunting. “Because his staff are never quite sure whether the egg would be precisely to the satisfactory hardness, a series of eggs was cooked, and laid out in an ascending row of numbers. If the prince felt that number five was too runny, he could knock the top off number six or seven”.