Musings from Bill
[As ever, read this on the BBC News website if you prefer]
The long-term viability of the iPhone is unlikely to be seriously damaged by reports of a serious security vulnerability that allows hackers to take over the device.
Most early iPhone adopters have bought into the Apple mythology which convinces them that anything blessed by Steve Jobs is automatically desirable, so we won’t see a mass return of the shiny devices with their slick interface.
[as ever, you can read this on the BBC News website]
In a desperate search for a reason to issue a press release the US-based Software and Information Industry Association has latched onto the tenth anniverary of the US Government’s ‘Framework for Global Electronic Commerce’ as an excuse to put out yet another ranking of significant developments in internet history.
A group of unnamed ‘policy and industry experts’ has chosen the top ten developments in ecommerce since 1997, and although pseudo-polls like this one usually merit little attention there are some unexpected nuggets in the list.
[As ever, this is on the BBC News website]
I have spent a significant chunk of the past four days teaching a group of young people how to make radio and television, working with the fantastic team from the BBC’s Blast on Tour project.
They are the real-world bit of Blast, the BBC’s youth creativity service, offering all the stuff that you can’t do so well on a website like free workshops in dance, fashion, music, animation and, of course, film and radio.
Last week they were on Parker’s Piece in Cambridge with a modern mobile digital studio built into a lorry and three marquees for dance workshops.
One of the Internet’s main governing bodies, ICANN, has just finished its latest public meeting in Puerto Rico. After a week of debates on subjects like Accountability and Transparency Management, and workshops on Domain Tasting and WHOIS, delegates, representatives and interested observers are all heading home, wondering whether anything useful has been achieved.
ICANN, founded in 1988 by the US Government to take over responsibility for key aspects of the internet’s technical architecture like domain names and IP addresses, has had a troubled history.
[As ever you can read this on the BBC News Website, and I get a good critical kicking from The Black Project for being old, nostalgic and feeble…]
Last weekend I had the enormous privilege of seeing the 70mm print of Stanley Kubrick’s film of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ at the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge.
Watching ‘2001’ on a small screen diminishes its artistry and the film can sometimes seen boring and even dull, but on the big screen with proper sound and an audience it remains a challenging, stimulating experience.
[Also there to read on the BBC News website]
About a year ago I asked my daughter, fifteen at the time, if she would ‘ADD’ me as a friend on MySpace so that I could comment on her profile and be part of her online social network.
She refused point blank, not because she wanted to keep things secret from me but because it would be unutterably naff to have your dad as a MySpace friend.
Having coffee with Chloe on Thursday, we looked up to see this…
[You can also read this on the BBC News website]
As a digital nomad of some years standing I’ve had a lot of opportunity to try out various mobile technologies that claim to make my life easier.
I’ve had phones, smartphones, PDAs, sub-notebooks, infra-red keyboards and various other devices, peripherals, gizmos and cool toys.
[As ever, you can read this on the BBC News website]
The imminent arrival of Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister by acclamation seems to have prompted an outpouring of speculation on the future of the British political system.
Recognising, perhaps, that Brown will be far closer to Blair in his policies than many of his followers would wish, the debate has moved up a level to address the processes, structures and operations of our flawed democracy.
And in a reflection of the changed times in which we live, much of the discussion is taking place online instead of in the traditional smoke-filled rooms or on the editorial pages of our finer newspapers.
They’ve turfed Trafalgar Square and it’ is quite fabulous. Sat on the grass yesterday enjoying the ambience and reflecting on the nature of public space…
