Posted by admin on April 1, 2010 under News | 
Bill Thompson is pleased to see the punk ethic alive and well online
Anyone with a few minutes to spare online might enjoy visiting- the finest expression of punk mentality from the emerging internet generation that I’ve yet come across.It’s not hard to play, as there are only three rules. You have to be aged 16 or over. You’re asked to "please stay clothed". And you can alert the management by clicking F2 "if you don’t like what you see". Click ‘New Game’ to start a game, give the service access to to your camera and microphone and you begin a video conversation with a random stranger.
That’s it.
Chatroulette uses Adobe Flash to turn on the camera and microphone on a visitor’s computer and register their IP address with the site. It then connects that user with another, random IP address and opens up a connection between the two, so you can start to chat.
Causing a stir
Even though it’s getting millions of users, Chatroulette is very scalable because, like the original Napster, the data doesn’t actually go through the Chatroulette site itself.
Instead it uses Flash’s peer-to-peer streaming service to make a direct link between the two computers and only has to keep track of the IP addresses and "next" calls.
It is also causing an enormous fuss, largely because it is unmediated, requires no registration or verification and is open to every exhibitionist, deviant and random stranger online.
My son reckons he is getting a ratio of 14 naked men to one worthwhile conversation, which sounds about right for a service that is intended to do for video chat what Twitter has done for communication in 140 characters or less, and show us the real potential of the unfettered connectivity that the internet makes possible.
Of course it’s a scandal, and of course it is potentially corrupting and dangerous, though the random nature of the connection and the lack of any way to choose who you talk to mean that the chances of coming across someone in the same country never mind the same city or town are vanishingly small.
Yes, someone could use it to make contact by writing their email address or phone number on a card or calling it out as soon as a connection is made, but you’d have to be pretty stupid to think of this as a reliable way to make new friends or find victims.
Punk personified
The point about Chatroulette is that is has no point, that it strips away the wooden panelling from this finely modelled room we call the internet to reveal all the workings beneath and show that in the end it’s just a space for making connections between people.
It reminds me of the day in 1977 when I went into the sixth form common room at Southwood Comprehensive School in Corby and my mate Dougie Gordon played me his newly-arrived copy of God Save The Queen and everything I thought I knew about politics, music and revolution coalesced around the Sex Pistols into a punk sensibility that has stayed with me ever since.
Chatroulette is a pure expression of that punk spirit, delivered through the tools available to today’s teenagers rather than the electric guitar and seven-inch single of my childhood, and the anger with which it has been received by the establishment is a testament to its disruptive potential.
The kids have arrived online – Chatroulette creator Andrey Ternovskiy is the same age as the Mosaic browser – and they want to shape it in their image.
I hope they pull it off, though in another echo of punk history Ternovskiy is already being wooed by the majors to sign up and sell out, and the temptation to turn his rebellion into money must be intense. Rather like Jimmy, the punk-precursor hero of The Who’s Quadrophenia, he is under pressure to conform from his parents as his mother doesn’t like the way Chatroulette can be used.
Perhaps he will stay true to punk, like Joe Strummer of The Clash or Siouxsie Sioux. Perhaps he’ll sell out like Johnny Rotten and we’ll see Chatroulette used to advertise butter.
But whatever may happen to his site the impact will be felt as other kids realise that they can pick up a keyboard and become punk programmers, just as my generation picked up a guitar and learned three chords. Chatroulette’s launch was the day the net turned day-glo, and Poly Styrene and X Ray Spex would be so proud.
Bill Thompson is an independent journalist and regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet. He is currently working with the BBC on its archive project.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Posted by admin on under News |
The first hands-on reviews of Apple’s iPad are in
Posted by admin on under News |
The water from a flood which caused a broadband and telephone outage for thousands of customers on March 31 has been cleared overnight says BT.
The flood at an exchange in Paddington on March 31 was caused by an electrical fault, which also sparked a fire.
It had a knock-on effect at exchanges around the UK. People on various broadband and phone networks were affected.
BT says it is reinstalling power to its Paddington exchange.
"We are now beginning to restore communications services to customers and this work will continue throughout the day," said a spokesperson.
Telecoms company Gradwell told the BBC that 437 exchanges around Britain were affected by the incident.
Readers of the BBC News website reported that bars and shops in the surrounding area were only accepting cash on March 31 as card payment systems had crashed.
In an email, reader Mark Airey said that "many businesses" had been affected in Marylebone, where he works, and Roger Gherson reported ongoing problems with phones in west London at 9am on April 1.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Posted by admin on under News |
Two brothers awarded millions of dollars after claiming they had the idea for Facebook tell BBC News their legal battle isn’t over.
Posted by admin on under News |
Mapping agency Ordnance Survey has launched a new service offering free and unrestricted access to most of its map data.
After months of public consultation, OS OpenData is being launched by Communities Secretary John Denham.
He said he hoped it would attract "a new wave of entrepreneurs" to reuse the data in innovative ways.
Previous data sharing scheme OS OpenSpace was available for free but operated with limitations.
In the past people have used it to create safe cycling and rambling routes, as well as maps detailing local post and phone boxes.
OS OpenData has been funded by the government and is the result of the "Making Public Data Public" initiative announced by PM Gordon Brown in November 2009.
Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt, two key figures behind data.gov.uk, a project to open up almost all data acquired for official purposes, welcomed the move.
"I’m delighted that the Ordnance Survey is releasing this data for free re-use," said Sir Tim.
Mr Denham set the new scheme placed the UK at the "cutting edge of a digital revolution".
"The changes signal a wider cultural change in Government based on an assumption that information should be in the public domain unless there is a good reason not to – not the other way around," he added.
"Greater openness, accountability and transparency in Government will give people greater choice and make it easier for individuals to get more directly involved in issues that matter to them."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Posted by admin on March 31, 2010 under News |
Advertisement
The Great Exhibition of 2010 was held at London’s La Scala club – though on a smaller scale than the 19th Century original. This one was a party for steampunks where they could come together to show off their creations and costumes.
Steampunk has rapidly grown as a sub-culture among makers, hackers and crafters the world over. It takes the Victorian era as its inspiration, but imagines how it might have been had technology been more advanced during the days of Empire.
"It’s a highly literate art," said Tobias Slater of White Mischief, which organised the night. "It’s unlike the original punk, it takes quite a lot of work and dedication to end up looking this way."
For him, steampunk is all about "raiding the garret of the past to make something new". Stalls were dotted around the venue showing off some of some of the new that had been made from the old.
The exquisite steampunk models of Ian Crichton (aka Herr Doktor) were on show, including his Thunderbuss – an elaborate ’sonic gun’ intended to scare off birds.
Professor Maelstromme and House of Hirudenia displayed jewellery and clothing and craftsman Shipton Bellinger had built some modern gadgets to give them a neo-Victorian feel.
Most popular was his "portable information cabinettes".
"They are otherwise known as USB flash drives but we like them rather more ornate than most," he said. "They have been well and truly steamed."
The USB drives were housed in a case of English oak stained and polished to a high shine then adorned with metalwork such as tiny brass gauges and, in one case, piston and smokestack.
‘Eclectic taste’
For Ian Crichton the surprise of the night was the numbers that had turned out.
"I’m amazed there’s so many people here," he said. "Considering it’s such a niche genre it’s amazing that you can walk into a room of 1000 people and not know any of them."
The vast majority of party-goers went in costume. There were more top hats being worn than at any time since the days of Dickens and many were adorned with gears and goggles. Guns and swords were tucked into belts and many used a fob watch to keep track of time.
Alongside those in frock coats and corsets strolled women aviators, adventurers, explorers in pith helmets, street urchins and soldiers in dress uniform.
"One of the really good things about this is the mix of people you have," said Allegra Hawksmoor, editor of The Steampunk magazine.
Evidence of the movement’s eclecticism was demonstrated by the bands that played on the night.
The roster included The Clockwork Quartet which describes itself as playing "steampunk, folk narrative songs" and Tankus The Henge, who combine brass, guitars and a steam-powered piano.
Also playing was Mr B the self-styled gentleman rhymer who combines "beats, rhymes and manners" into a charming whole he has dubbed "chap hop" rather than hip hop.
The sheer variety of music, performers on display led many to ponder what steampunk was becoming and if it could be described as a unified sub-culture.
"This is a niche," said Mr Slater, "though I hope this is the start of fomenting a bit of a social movement."
"It’s going to hit the threshold where the media start to think about it and that’s how more and more people will discover it," he said.
Miss Hawksmoor from The Steampunk Magazine is keen to remind people of the politics that informed the first punk movement, which had a very DIY element to it and set itself apart from the establishment.
Many of those involved in steampunk do take a political stance by championing open source software, transparency and the use of licences that let anyone rip mix and burn what they have done.
For polymath Edward Saperia, steampunk’s origins are linked closely to the rise of the net and the maker culture in particular.
"It’s about the realisation that technology will probably solve our problems and it is good thing and we should learn about it and use it," he said.
The Victorian elements are present, he believes, because that was the last great industrial shift that mirrors the big changes being inflicted on society by the rise of the net.
"Think about how things were 10 years ago, 20 years ago," he said. "Everything has changed. Now no-one can even say what things are going to be like in five years time."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Posted by admin on under News |
Applications for the iPad will generally cost more than ones for the iPhone or iPod touch developers have said.
They blame the extra work involved in designing for the iPad and the risk factor of not yet knowing how many customers will buy the device.
The iPad goes on sale on Saturday 3 April in the US.
"We are really testing the waters on pricing," developer Igor Pusenjack of Lima Sky told BBC News.
"For a lot of us it is an early experiment to see how people will react but I wouldn’t be surprised to see prices go down to 99 cents really early as happened on the iPhone," he said.
Mr Pusenjack is the creator of an iPhone game called bubble wrap where you have to pop the bubbles in a set time. His two-man developer shop has sold 3m units at 99 cents (67p) and will price it at $1.99 (£1.35) on the iPad.
Likewise another game called Animoto, where users have to match the heads of cute animals, will be pitched at $1.99 instead of 99 cents.
"The pricing is really crucial and developers are looking at this as a more expensive device with a wider screen and that means the apps have to be more feature rich," said Jeff Scott, founder of the review site 148apps.com.
"So what you have is developers thinking the app prices should be more expensive but the consumers thinking the other way around, that because this is seen as a larger iPod touch, we want 99 cents games or we are not going to be happy."
Return on investment
Depending on functionality and the number of features, the cost of designing an app can be anywhere between $200-$20,000 said developers.
For the iPad with its bigger screen and the opportunity to offer more bells and whistles, the stakes and development costs rise.
The actual size of the market is also seen as concerning with sales estimates varying wildly from 2m to more bullish figures from Morgan Stanley of between 6-8m in the first year.
"Everything is so up in the air with developers in the dark about the number of pre-ordered iPads that have sold," said Mr Scott.
"There are so many more questions now than in 2008 when the App store launched and today no-one knows if they are going to make any real money."
Mr Pusenjak agreed it is all a bit of a gamble, but probably a calculated one given Apple’s track record with the iPhone and iPod touch.
"The hot stories in the early days of the App Store launch were about individuals making $250,000 in a month or two but that was because the number of apps was much smaller and the number of devices was 10 or 20 times what we will see with the iPad.
"I just don’t expect the iPad to make anyone rich quick," said Mr Pusenjak.
‘Betting big’
Back in January when Apple unveiled the device to press and analysts, the company said that the iPad "will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store".
One of the most successful developers designing for the iPhone and the iPod Touch is Dave Castelnuovo of Bolt Creative. He is the co-creator of Pocket God which is centred around a tropical island peopled by characters called The Pygmies.
Since launching 14 months ago, it has sold 2.4m units at 99 cents (67p) each.
Mr Castelnuovo will bring the game to the iPad for the higher price of $2.99 (£2).
"The simple fact is that even if the iPad is a tremendous success, it is not going to have the same install user market from day one that the iPhone and iPod Touch had."
Apple CEO
Like many developers he is also not rushing to get his game out on day one, instead bringing it to market at the end of April or beginning of May.
"Even though everything on the iPhone and iPod Touch is compatible with the iPad, it probably won’t look very good on the bigger screen so we want to give it more detail, make the islands big and lush and really do it justice.
"Also we don’t have an iPad yet, which is a disadvantage, and we want to test the game and put it through its paces so we know there are no bugs and it works well and takes advantage of the screen, the tilt sensors and improved graphics," said Mr Castelnuovo.
Rohit Singal is the chief executive officer of SourceBits, an app factory that develops for a number of clients from Coca Cola to General Electric.
While nearly half of the 200 strong company is working on iPhone and iPad apps, Mr Singal agreed not having the device to try things out on was a concern.
"We are betting big on the iPad but there is a real worry in rushing out applications until you test them on the real device. There are bound to be some bugs until you can really try them out."
It is expected that as many as 1,000 new apps will be available on launch day.
Winners and losers
Despite some of the grumblings and caution, most developers seem to be embracing the iPad as another development opportunity.
A recent comScore survey suggested that browsing the internet will be the most popular activity on the device followed by checking email and then listening to music. Reading books and playing games came fourth and fifth in the activity list.
"The winners and losers will be just as varied on the iPad as they are on the iPhone," said Jeff Scott of 148apps .
"Stuff that is internet enabled like Facebook and Twitter apps will do really well, as will productivity apps and books and obviously games which will take advantage of the increased screen size."
Developers like Mr Singal of SourceBits believe the iPad will sound the death knell for one-off, gimmicky apps.
"Quality will shine more on the iPad than on the iPhone but with consumers looking for more functionality in their apps, those single function apps will fail and it will be the end of the iFart app that has done so well on the iPhone," said Mr Singal.
Amazon’s e-book reader the Kindle could also face its greatest challenge yet with the iPad and its new iBookstore.
The website AppAdvice.com said the iPad will include all 30,000 free ebooks from online library the Gutenberg Project.
A number of online publishing houses have also done deals to have their libraries available on the new device on launch day.
The iPad will be on sale in parts of Europe, Canada and Australia by the end of April.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Posted by admin on under News |
Internet giant Google says malicious software has been used to spy on tens of thousands of Vietnamese web users.
The company said the cyber attacks appeared to target opponents of bauxite mining in Vietnam.
Google said the malware was "damaging" but less sophisticated than recent attacks at the heart of the company’s dispute with China.
But computer security firm McAfee suggested the perpetrators could be connected to Vietnam’s government.
Writing on his blog, Neel Mehta of Google’s security team said the malware had "infected the computers of potentially tens of thousands of users" around the world.
It installed itself when users downloaded the software needed to type Vietnamese characters, he said.
The infected computers were then used to spy on the users or to block other sites "containing messages of political dissent".
"Specifically, these attacks have tried to squelch opposition to bauxite mining efforts in Vietnam, an important and emotionally charged issue in the country," said Mr Mehta.
The mine operations have attracted criticism in Vietnam over concerns about environmental damage.
George Kurtz, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of McAfee, which has been working with Google to uncover the hacking, said the action appeared to be "a politically motivated attack", because of the individuals and organisations affected.
"We believe that the perpetrators may have political motivations and may have some allegiance to the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam," said Mr Kurtz.
The Vietnamese government has not responded to the allegations.
The alleged cyber attacks come amid an ongoing row between China and Google about the censoring of online content.
Google said it would stop censoring its search results after it complained of a "sophisticated cyber attack originating from China" targeting the email accounts of human rights campaigners.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Posted by admin on under News |
A major flood at a BT exchange in Paddington, London has affected broadband and telephone services across the UK.
In a statement BT said it could not predict when either service would be restored.
"Tens of thousands" of customers have been affected, said the firm, with the majority in north and west London.
London Fire Brigade attended the incident at 7.30am on 31 March. The flood was caused by an electric fault.
The fault also caused a fire.
The BBC was alerted to the fault by IT consultant Jerry Sanders, who said customers as far afield as Potters Bar, Hertfordshire and Nottingham were reporting problems with Pipex UK broadband coverage.
Pipex UK’s parent company TalkTalk said that its service had been affected by the incident.
Some mobile phone services may also be affected, a BT spokesperson said.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Posted by admin on under News |
The government has published a new draft of a controversial clause in the Digital Economy bill, in an effort to ease its progress through parliament.
The Liberal Democrats said they will oppose any plans to rush the Digital Economy bill into law.
The bill faces its second reading in the House of Commons next week.
Critics say the bill is unnecessarily draconian, particularly plans to cut off persistent net pirates and grant powers to block access to some sites.
Clause 18 has proved one of the most controversial aspects of the bill.
Originally it outlined how the government intended to future-proof the legislation by granting it the power to deal with other methods of copyright infringement, including the right to block access to websites, without the need for further legislation.
The new clause steps back from this, granting "limited power to propose regulations in the future".
It would "allow copyright owners to apply for court injunctions requiring service providers to block access to specified internet locations providing access to copyright infringing material".
But, before such injunctions could be carried out, the Secretary of State would have to consult "widely with industry", said a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
He or she would also need to be satisfied that the new form of copyright theft was having a serious affect on the industry, of equivalent severity to the current trend for file-sharing via peer-to-peer networks, he added.
It is estimated that in 2007, one billion music tracks were shared illegally. More than half of all net traffic in the UK is believed to be content being shared illegally.
‘Undemocratic’
It is widely expected that the Digital Economy bill will enter the so-called "wash-up" process.
This sees remaining government legislation speeded up ahead of a general election.
The Liberal Democrats have called for the bill in its present form to be scrapped and re-introduced in the next parliament.
The Open Rights Group, which has orchestrated a campaign against the bill, said any attempt to rush the legislation through would be "undemocratic".
"It is outrageous to circulate the text of a clause days before it is due to be debated," said spokesman Jim Killock.
"There will be no scrutiny and it will be rushed through the day after. This is no way to make serious, wide-ranging laws," he added.
The fate of the bill will rest with MPs.
"A rising number of MPs, including the speaker of the House of Commons himself, are concerned about the lack of scrutiny and the future of the bill is by no means certain," said Mr Killock.
Some 20,000 people have written to their MPs voicing their opposition to the bill.
Hundreds protested outside parliament last week and campaigners are planning a series of advertisements designed to block its progress.
The Stop the Digital Economy Bill campaign is being organised by the Open Rights Group and digital campaigners 38 Degrees.
They have raised £20,000 to run ads in national newspapers and websites on 6 April.
That is the day when Gordon Brown is expected to announce the general election and also the day when the digital economy bill is due to be debated in the House of Commons.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.