Thursday 27 December 2007

November

The Future:
A story about an android dental patient called Simroid used to train dentists in Japan (30th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/30/robots.japan


Cinema:
An article on the problems the cinema industry is facing with a slide in DVD sales and dipping of other revenue streams. A new report asks, ‘Do Films Make Money?’: ‘According to a recent report that is causing some uncomfortable shuffling in Hollywood, the combined release slate from the major studios last year (132 movies) is expected to lose $1.9bn by the time it has run through the five-year cycle of theatrical release, DVD, pay and free-to-air television, and every other source of income (a film's "ultimates", in movie industry jargon)’ (30th Nov): http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2218874,00.html


Mobile Phones:
A judge in upstate New York jails an entire court after a mobile phone rings during his session after the owner refuses to identify themselves! (29th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2218553,00.html

Security:
A ‘cyber cold war’ is developing as international web espionage and cyberattacks become significant threats to net security, according to a report. Many countries are now using sophisticated cyber-spying and attacks, with many originating in China (29th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/29/hacking.news


Television/Internet:
Rival broadcasters, BBC, ITV and C4 unite to launch a new download service from a ‘massive online library’ in a ‘historic’ agreement (28th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/28/television.bbc


Future:
New developments in cyborg technology as a woman with a bionic arm has her sense of touch restored. With her nerves re-routed to her chest a device replicates feeling in her hand (27th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/nov/27/medicalresearch


Internet:
A discussion of the problems the UK faces in its attempt to develop faster broadband speeds (26th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/26/telecoms.internet


Internet:
The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is embarrassed when his new blog attracts a critical response from the Iranian public (26th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2216893,00.html


Television:
Has the death of mainstream TV been exaggerated? (26th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/26/mondaymediasection.television1


Internet:
In one of the strangest stories of the year, a 13 year old girl in America kills herself after rejection from her 16 year old boyfriend on Myspace. Then it turns out the boyfriend didn’t exist and he was the creation of the mother of one of the girl’s friends, living four doors away. The mother cannot be charged with any crime though the local community have turned on her after her bullying of the girl (25th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2216675,00.html


Internet:
Youtube rejects calls for filters for threatening material after the school shooting in Finland and the use of the video0-site to promote the killings (24th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/24/internet.youtube


Crime:
France is planning to cut off the broadband connections of those who illegally share copyrighted material (24th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/24/crime.france


Security:
After the Government loses the public’s personal data, The Guardian investigates online personal identity-theft and the sale of information (24th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/nov/24/scamsandfraud.economicpolicy


Theory/Future:
An article by Ray Kurzweil, ‘Bring on the nanobots and we will all live long and prosper’ (22nd Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2214883,00.html


Internet:
UK broadband use reaches a new high, with almost 9/10 users (88.4%) connecting by broadband (21st Nov): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7105242.stm


Security:
The Government admits the loss of 2 discs of date with the personal records of 25m on them, opening up the threat of mass identity fraud. It wouldn’t have happened if it had been stored in filing cabinets instead of in a digital form … you can’t lose a room of cabinets… (21st Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2214458,00.html


Print:
Amazon launches its new ebook reader, the Kindle (20th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/20/amazon.news See also (22nd Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/22/news.gadgets and 17th Nov): http://www.newsweek.com/id/70983/output/print


Surveillance:
Credit reference agency Experian launches a ‘Minority Report’-style service to alert banks about borrowers at risk of defaulting before they do (20th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/20/experiangroupbusiness


Security:
Animal rights campaigners are among the first hit by a new decryption law (the Regulation of Investigatory powers Act, RIPA). They have been asked by police to hand over keys to date encrypted on their computers (20th Nov): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7102180.stm


Music:
Thom Yorke admits he paid nothing to download Radiohead’s new album. Of course, he shouldn’t have to as its his… but the story discusses the question of how much others actually paid (20th Nov): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7103071.stm


Future:
Gene-therapy helps Parkinson’s sufferers (20th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/nov/20/medicalresearch.health


Internet:
The Dutch justice ministry bans its employees from editing Wikipedia after a magazine investigation discovered their computers had been used to edit over 800 entries (19th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/19/wikipedia.internationalnews


Newspapers:
A discussion of how head-line writing will be affected by the need to search stories online. Out go the puns in favour of internet-friendly keywords (19th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/19/mondaymediasection.sun


Mobile Phones:
The Spanish King’s recent outburst at Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez –‘why don’t you shut up’ – is turned into a ringtone, bringing in over £1m of revenue (19th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2213061,00.html


Internet:
An article taking advantage of the recent theft of property in a virtual world to explore the phenomenon of virtual worlds and their success (17th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/17/internet.crime


Science Fiction:
An article reflecting on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (17th Nov): http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,,2212319,00.html


History/Computing:
On the rebuilding of Colossus, the British war-time, code-breaking computer (16th Nov): http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2212177,00.html


Television:
The BBC resurrect the problem of fakery with complaints after baby cries are dubbed onto a TV report (16th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/16/bbc.television


Crime:
An article on the hunt for Russia’s web criminals (15th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/15/news.crime


Crime/Internet:
Police arrest a teenager over the theft of items in a virtual world (15th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/15/socialnetworking.news


Print:
Marvel comics puts makes old issues available online for a fee (14th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/14/news.booksnews


Television/Internet:
Bebo sign a deal with a string of TV broadcasters (including BBC, C4, ITN, Sky and CBS) ‘in a move hailed as one of the most significant yet in marrying old and new media’. Traditional broadcasters are hoping they will find a new way to reach the ‘lost generation’ of 13-24 year olds who will now be able to assemble clips and add them to their personal profile page (14th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/14/bebo.digitalmedia


Computing:
The BBC’s website has a feature on 6 developments that may revolutionise computing – quantum computing, the use of particles of light, spintronics or magnetoelectronics, chemical computing, and DNA or biomolecular computing (13th Nov): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7085019.stm
The same feature includes a page with a discussion of Moore’s law and links to videos, including of Moore speaking: see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7080772.stm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7080646.stm


Mobile Phones:
iPhone sales are in line with expectations, say O2 (13th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/13/iphone.mobilephones


Internet:
A story about how employers are cracking down on time spent on social network sites at work (12th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/12/news.facebook


Internet/Television:
A story about how social networking site Bebo is about to launch its third reality drama – new content commissioned especially from Endemol. ‘While TV-style content is widely available on social network sites such as MySpace and YouTube, it generally falls into one of three types: user-generated content, existing broadcast TV content, or brand content created for advertisers. However Bebo - with 10.7 million regular users in the UK alone, according to latest research from HitWise - is developing a portfolio of video-based, original content.’ (12th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/12/mondaymediasection.technology


Print/Journalism:
A defence of journalism and its principles against the rise of citizen journalism (12th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/12/mondaymediasection.pressandpublishing3


Advertising:
A piece about Guinness’ new £10m advert and how the company launched a viral internet competition with clues to follow to incite new consumer interest (12th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/12/mondaymediasection.advertising1


Internet/Television:
A piece about how young users are turning off the TV and logging onto the net instead (12th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/12/internet Though this produces a dismissive reply from the television industry (22nd Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2214907,00.html


Music/Mobile Phones:
How music labels are banking on mobile phone downloads to increase their sales (12th Nov): http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2209689,00.html


Computing:
Intel launch new, faster and smaller Penryn processors (11th Nov): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7085480.stm


Future:
An article about robots in the workplace (10th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/nov/10/workandcareers.work


Mobile Phones:
Apple’s iPhone goes on sale in the UK (10th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/10/iphone


Economics:
BT beats rivals to bulk of new broadband users (9th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/09/telecoms


Internet:
Britain’s blogging army is now 4m strong (9th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/09/blogging.socialnetworking


Future:
An article on the annual Darpa-organised competition to develop robot controlled cars. The USE congress has demanded that by 2015 one third of its armed forces ground vehicles must be autonomous (8th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/08/news.robots See also (3rd Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/nov/03/driving


Television:
ITV wants BSkyB to sell its 17.9% share in the company, prompting a fall in ITV’s shares (8th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/08/television.itvbusiness


Television:Virgin media begins to recover from its battle with BSkyB, with strong customer growth (8th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/08/citynews.virginrichardbranson


Internet:
An 18 year old student kills seven teenagers and his Head-teacher in a school in Southern Finland. In a copycat version of the Virginia tech killings in the US in April 2007 he posted a video on Youtube first about his plans (8th Nov): http://education.guardian.co.uk/schoolsworldwide/story/0,,2207100,00.html


Music:
Research suggests Radiohead fans paid about £2.90 for the new downloadable album (7th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2206551,00.html although, as the BBC point out, nearly two-thirds of those downloading the album paid nothing (7th Nov): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7082627.stm John Naughton, however, paints a more optimistic picture of the band’s economic activities (18th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/18/digitalmedia.netmusic


Music/Law:
Prince threatens to sue his fans over their use of copyrighted images online. Apart from the idiocy of alienating your most important fan base (the one’s who’ll buy your product even if it’s terrible), he misses the fundamental point that they’re doing his advertising for him. Does he lose anything from them hosting his images? As fans working for nothing they wouldn’t pay him to include them. Instead he loses from forcing them to take them down. They won’t want to buy his music and they won’t be able to advertise it for him anymore (7th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2206461,00.html


Mobile Phones:
Google confirms it plans to enter the mobile phone market with a new phone system called android. They deny any plans to produce handsets, focusing primarily on software at the moment (6th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/06/google.mobilephones
Mobile Phones:
Hackers pledge to unlock the iPhone from o2 within hours of its launch (5th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/05/news.apple


Television:
An article on the 10th anniversary of BBC News 24 and the future of rolling news coverage (5th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/05/mondaymediasection.bbc


Internet:
The author of a famous satirical blog about the TV industry claims he is standing down. The blog, ‘The Secret Diary of a TV Controller’ has caused much hostility within the industry (4th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/04/news.television


Internet:
Google teams up with Myspace and Bebo to battle Facebook’s success (2nd Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/02/google


Internet/Economics:
Google’s market value propels it into the top-five US firms (1st Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/01/news.google

Interfaces:
A news-item about developments in head-mounted radar devices: http://twenty1f.com/tag/head-mounted