Dongles ‘R Us

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From The Register…

Maverick mobile operator 3 UK says it’s seen a 700 per cent increase in data traffic since it launched its price-busting dongle last October. Average data throughput on the network rose to 1,400 mbit/s by February, a steep ramp from 200mbit/s when the offer was introduced.

The dongle is available to pay-as-you-go customers for £70, with 1GB for a tenner, or 3GB for £15. T-Mobile and Vodafone have followed suit with aggressive dongle deals.

3’s UK CEO Kevin Russell said it had conjured half a million customers “from nowhere”, as he gave details of the networks roadmaps for higher higher 3G speeds, and how it will share infrastructure with T-Mobile.

But we weren’t alone in wondering the aspiration of becoming the king of mobile broadband was something to wish for. Data networks don’t make money – ask a British ISP – and the new investment in fibre is coming from taxpayers or is being cross-subsidised by TV. So what’s the masterplan?

Russell told us it was all about incremental margin. He didn’t think mobile broadband was going to display fixed broadband by 2012 – a figure we plucked out of the air – and preferred to see it as a new marketplace, rather than one of substitution.

“Data becomes valuable as a leverage into increased share of the handset business,” he said. “We have a different strategy from the other four operators.”

So, give away the data and make more on handsets. It seemed rude to point out that you can walk out of a 3 Store with a dongle, but no handset.

Another reporter asked the same question, phrased differently. Nobody makes money from data – “so isn’t your business model running on empty?”

Russell said he didn’t understand the question.

Personally, I don’t much care what 3’s business model is: my 3G USB dongle has already proved a Godsend — especially since Pipex and BT began to ‘regrade’ my DSL line, thereby making it chronically erratic.

Curiouser and curiouser…

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It’s strange what one finds on the Web. There’s a site called Stuff White People Like, which is so languidly smart that the author’s tongue occasionally protrudes through his ear. But apparently his performance has landed a dead-trees book deal. He describes himself thus: “I ride a bicycle in Los Angeles and keep one of the best NCAA blogs on the internet.” So now we know.

Er, what is the NCAA when it’s at home?

Is Gates losing the plot?

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Or just demob happy? How else can one interpret this BBC report?

Microsoft boss Bill Gates has dropped a hint about the next version of Windows.

He said Windows 7 could be released “sometime in the next year or so” during a Q&A session at a meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank.

After the event a Microsoft spokeswoman said the new version was scheduled for 2010 – three years after the January 2007 release of Vista for consumers….

Make that 2015 just to be sure.

The Office of … what?

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I’m attending a conference on social networking jointly organised by the Oxford Internet Institute and OFCOM. It’s being held in OFCOM’s splendid Thameside offices, which has a wireless network for guests. But guess what? It’s only accessible by people using Internet Explorer. So it’s closed to — for example — Firefox users.

What, you ask, does OFCOM stand for? Answer: it’s the ‘Office of Communications’.

Thank goodness for 3G modems.

Update: There’s someone here from Microsoft Research and he can’t get in — even with IE!

P on Q

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Quentin sent a mysterious Tweet yesterday. Now all is explained…

Take today, for example. I drove out to a nearby village, had a pleasant lunch with my wife and mother-in-law, and then, a little later in the afternoon, a lion peed on me.

This is not something that I would normally expect on a quiet Sunday afternoon, but life would probably be very dull if it didn’t happen from time to time.

He was, I admit, the other side of a fence. We looked each other in the eye, we both purred some suitable greetings, and we seemed to be getting on rather well. But then, as he turned to go, he lifted his tail, and his range and aim were good. I turned fast, but not quite fast enough to stop a little from going down my neck.

I shall continue to assert that he intended this as a mark of great friendship and respect…

Hmmm….

Mr. and Mrs. Boring go to Court

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From The Register. The couple’s name is too good to be true, is it not? But the date on the piece is not April 1. Anyway, here goes:

A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania couple has sued Google for invasion of privacy, accusing the world’s largest search engine of photographing their swimming pool and posting it to the web.

Aaron and Christine Boring claim that in offering 360-degree panoramic pics of their private residence via Google Street View, the web giant has “caused them mental suffering and diminished the value of their property.”

According to their suit – turned up by The Smoking Gun – the Borings purchased their Pittsburgh home in 2006 for “a considerable sum of money,” and “a major component of their purchase decision was a desire for privacy”. So they were annoyed when pan-and-zoom-able pics of the home, including its swimming pool, turned up on Street View.

These pics were acquired, the suit says, when a Google vehicle appeared on their private road without a privacy waiver or other authorization. Claiming this private road is marked with a “Private Road” sign, the suit calls Google’s behavior “an intentional and/or grossly reckless invasion of…seclusion.” The Borings’ lawyer calls it “outlandish.”