Occupy Social Networking
The Occupy movement is creating its own social network to better coordinate efforts and to keep private messages properly private. The system, likened to Facebook but not really, is intended to allow the Occupy movement to be more democratic in choosing issues and targets.

LCD Price-Fixing Fixed
Seven companies will pay US$553 million due to the price-fixing of LCD monitors. The settlement includes Chi Mei Innolux Corp., Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., Epson Imaging Devices Corp., HannStar Display Corp., Hitachi Displays Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sharp Corp. and their U.S. affiliates and will provide partial refunds for consumers in 24 states and the District of Columbia.

HP Printers Not So Explosive
In November, MSNBC posed the question, "Could a hacker make your printer explode?" In theory, this could happen if a hacker can cause the printer's fuser to heat up and if the thermal switch doesn't work to prevent overheating. HP, naturally, exploded at the research. However, a real security flaw was found and a firmware update released. Lesson for security geeks is that anything with a processor can be hijacked, and many devices now have processors.

More on Security Holes…
A professor at Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany has warned that train switching systems are at increasing risk at being hacked. The danger comes from the move to wireless, giving hackers a greater opportunity to access the system. Normally, the train has a key allowing access into the network, but that key is delivered through a USB stick. If the key gets into the wrong hands, problem.

Meanwhile, McAfee reports that cars may become targets as well. With mobile devices being plugged in to the car's console, this gives hackers a chance to insert a virus or worse into the vehicle's systems. Of course, decentralizing systems is one way to combat the threat. If the air conditioning, locks, and stereo aren't all on the same circuit, it gets harder to break into all at once.

–Scott D

Well, not much today, but there are several aspects to the one story worth reporting.

Christmas Shopping Up and Down

Through the Christmas shopping season, I was seeing apparently conflicting stories about the amount of sales.  Online sales were up, way up.  Meanwhile, malls were seeing fewer people coming through their doors.  The economy was causing problems for many people.  Wages were stagnant, necessitating cost-cutting measures.  Apparently, online shopping allowed people to save on the cost of gas and avoid (non-existant) crowds.  This ties into Steve's post on the closing of Sears and K-Mart stores.  Online shopping is starting to look far more attractive to people for shopping.  Start early enough and the gifts can arrive long before the holidays.

Anecdotally, I delayed my Christmas shopping until the week before and was dreading hitting the malls.  However, the large mall I went to was sparse.  I'd seen larger there on regular weekends.  At the same time, the mall closest to me was busier, but had the advantage of being walking distance from several apartment buildings and seniors residences; but, it, too, wasn't super busy.  However, I didn't go into any mall on the 24th.  I'm crazy, not stupid.  Meanwhile, my sister did most of her shopping online, finding things that can't normally be found locally without great effort.

It looks like the future of retail involves online stores with some hyper specialized stores for items that either can't be shipped safely or are impulse buys.  The U.S. has seen one large bookstore chain fold already.  Up in the Great White (finally!) North, our major bookstore chain has jumped readily into online retail.  Chains not able to follow might not last past the next two years.

–Scott D

Anonymous has released some of the information discovered after hacking into security think tank Stratfor. The info includes credit card numbers, names, addresses, and phone numbers of government and private employees. Among the agencies affected are the US Army, the US Air Force, the Texas Department of Banking, and the Miami Police Department. Anon is making donations in the names of the employees through their credit cards to various charities. This may place Anon into the terrorist files, if they weren't there already. However, it's hard to tell which Anon is part of the Anon that did the hacking, if that makes any sense.  Stratfor, for its part, should have encrypted the data.  Really, that should have been the first thing it did and places a lot of the data loss on their heads.

–Scott D

Back in May, when I wrote a guest post, I didn't know it would turn into a regular gig. I've looked at a wide range of remakes, reboots, and adaptations, trying to find what makes them work and what makes them fail. Over and over, the key is a level of caring for the original. With it, a remake stands a great chance of suceeding, even if only critically. Without it, the adaptation becomes a mess.

Adaptations are almost a no-brainer for studios. Most of the creative work is already done. The setting, the characters, even the plot, someone else has already done the heavy lifting. The next step is making sure that all the elements can survive the transition into the new medium or through the update. This is where the production staff can make or break the adaptation. A crew that is working to keep the core of the original, even when making a core change to the approach in the remake, is going a long way to keep the fans of the original satisfied.*

While adapting books, plays, radio shows, and comics to movies has existed since the dawn of cinema, we're starting to see a new trend. TV, once relegated to the lowest common denominator, is now opening up as a new ground for adaptations. The advent of season-long and series-long plot arcs in shows like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the remake of Battlestar Galactica, and even soap operas has allowed the adaptation of novels, even series of novels like A Game of Thrones and Dexter, to be attempted on specialty subscription channels. With the successes of A Game of Thrones, Dexter, and True Blood, we should be seeing more novels adapted for TV as a series in the future.

One thing that I've learned from working on Lost in Translation is that I should be keeping the possibility of my works being adapted open. In the past, I've done some original writing, moving away from fan fiction** as I found my voice. Of the various original works I've done, most don't lend themselves easily to being adapted. Sticking with the NaNoWriMo project I've done since 2006, two would have no trouble becoming a TV series or movie, one has licensing issues, one would need to go to a specialty channel due to gratuitous nudity, one would be almost unadaptable due to language, and one needs to be scrapped and rewritten.*** While I learned a lot about how to write and how I write, future projects will definitely include the idea of being adapted into the planning.

There has always been adapations, remakes, and reboots in the history of entertainment. The challenge has been making sure that the new product resembles the original sufficiently to keep the existing fans while being intriguing enough to pull in new fans. It's a tough job, but it can be done and done well.

Next time, a look towards the future.

* There will always be unpleasable fans. It's the nature of the beast.
** I realized that when I was just using the setting and creating new characters, it was time to just start from scratch.
*** Let's just say that romance novels are harder to write than they look.

Microsoft Pulls out of Electronics Show
Microsoft joins Apple in pulling out of the International Consumers Electronics Show. Their last appearance will be at the next show, January 9-12, in Las Vegas. MS will still attend to connect with potential customers, but won't have a booth. The reasoning is that their product cycle doesn't coincide with the timing of the event.  No idea what this means for shows like the Consumers Electronics Show.  Maybe if they added cosplay?  Come as your favourite iDevice!

Swiss Army Knives for the IT Tech
Victorinox has released new versions of the classic Swiss Army Knife suitable for IT folk. The "Flash Collection" includes the Slim, which is just a USB drive; the Flash Alox Flight, adding a knife, scissors, and nail file; the Flash LED, adding a LED flashlight; the Flash Laser, replacing the flashlight with a laser pointer; the Secure, adding a fingerprint scanner for added security; and the Presentation Master, adding a laser pointer and Bluetooth remote. The Secure has been called unhackable; Victorinox has held a contest with a prize of $250 000 to break into it with no one claiming the money. Pardon me while I drool a bit…

–Scott D

More on RIM
RIM's stocks rose on speculation of a takeover by Amazon. RIM rejected the bid, though. Both RIM and Amazon declined to comment in the linked story. However, the two companies are still working together on expanding commercial ties.  Speculation includes the licensing of QNX, RIM's Blackberry OS.

Hot Cross Nuns?
Someone beat the Vatican to the vatican.xxx domain.  A quick whois request got me the registrar, icmregistry.com. Going to the site itself (don't try this at home; stunt netbook used) gets a note that the domain has been reserved from registration.

Another Entry in the Tablet Wars
Intel has both a smartphone and a tablet coming out next year. One of the dominant chip makes for PCs, laptops, and netbooks, Intel is now setting their sights on mobile computing market with a new chip in their Atom line of processors. The Medfield is less power-hungry than previous Atom chips, thus making it more useful for tablets and smartphones. Hardware geeks know what to do with this.

Dave, I Know What You're Thinking
IBM is working on methods to have your computer/tablet/smartphone know what you want. One of the goals for Big Blue's researchers is to have ATMs able to recognize you when you go to get cash, just by using both voice and facial recognition. Ultimately, they hope this will lead to security driven by retinal scans and/or voices instead of passwords. Coupled with Watson, could we be seeing protocol droids on the horizon?

Interview with HP's Prith Banerjee
MIT's Technology Review interviewed Prith Banerjee on how Hewlitt-Packard could turn around. Some of the ideas the HP Labs' director has includes using "disruptive technologies" – technology capable of changing, transforming, or destroying an existing market. Key quote: "We felt that we needed to channel the creative minds of these people. If every project would bring together two computer scientists, one chemical engineer, a social scientist, and a physicist, something really cool could happen."

–Scott D

A shipment of Playbooks, over 5000 units, were stolen last week.  The truck carrying the shipment disappeared when the driver when into truck stop in Indiana.  Apparently, someone found a new market for the tablet – the black market.

In the same article, the UK's telecommunication regulator is concerned that it's too easy for kids to find porn using Blackberries.  RIM has offered filters, but only one British network has implimented them.  Mind, a teenager looking for porn will find ways around filters.

What a way to top of a year…

— Scott D

That Time of the Year
The CBC's list of top tech news of 2011. Definite Canadian slant, with usage-based billing being the top issue of the year. Also making headlines: the death of Steve Jobs, Sony's Playstation Network breach, and the RIMpocaypse. SOPA didn't really crack the list here, though we will have our own bad copyright law returning. The odd thing about our bad copyright law is that the conservatives keep proroguing before it comes up for debate in the Commons.

Speaking of UBB…
Bell is backing off from Internet throttling. Starting March 1, 2012, Bell will cease using equipment to throttle file transfers. CRTC regulations and policies may be the reason for the telecom company ending its controversial throttling. Eyes can now be turned to Rogers to see if they will follow suit.

Cyberattacks
South Korea is on alert for hacking attempts on military systems by North Korea. North Korea denies the allegations. The fallout from Kim Jong-Il's death is going to take time to settle. We may be seeing the start of a new battlefield here.

Wireless Mergers?
The CEO of Wind Mobile believes that consolidation may happen in the wireless industry. His reasoning is that the deep discounts by new wireless providers is not sustainable. However, right now, competition is starting to give Canadian wireless users real choice outside Bell and Rogers.

TCP/IP Off the Corner
Researches at UC Santa Barbara, working with Intel, are working on a method to increase signal speed by 30%. To improve transmission speed over that through wires, researcheres looking into bouncing the signal off data centre walls. The research should prove useful for anyone working with large data centres.

When a Problem Comes Along, You Must Print It
3-D printing is coming along as a technology. General Electric is using the process to manufacture jet parts, items that require high tolerances. Niche markets are also jumping on to the 3-D printing bandwagon as it provides accuracy without high costs compared to traditional methods of manufacturing. Although it might be too expensive still for the tabletop minis niche.

–Scott D

Google is working on a project to preserve the pre-tsunami memories of Japan. The company is asking for pictures and videos from people who lived in the affected area to be posted on the site, Memories of the Future.

French company Atos is aiming to phase out internal email by 2014. Replacing email will be instant messaging, video conferencing, Facebook, and software like LiveMeeting. Might work. However, this is just going to transfer the time spent on email over to the other methods. Video conferencing is going to require more work to coordinate than just sending info out to the required people. Facebook introduces a risk of leaks.  Hopefully, Atos will follow up in 2014 on how well the phase out went.

Locally, a group of parents are trying to get Wi-Fi removed from schools, citing the World Health Organization reclassifying RF energy as possibly carcinogenic. WHO's findings run counter to Health Canada's, though; HC maintains that the frequencies aren't dangerous.  Some of the reasoning is correlative, though not causative.

Twitter received a $300 million boost from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's investment company. Kingdom Holding Company, who also has stakes in Apple and News Corp, looks like it wants to take advantage of the increasing number of Arabic users on Twitter. Might be worth keeping an eye on Twitter in the near future to see how things shake out.

Some RIM shareholders are wondering if the Blackberry should be ditched to keep the company afloat. The idea is that RIM would continue with its Blackberry network, opening it to current smartphone rivals for a fee. Could be a fallback position for the beleaguered company.

–Scott D

Over the past ten weeks, I've looked at a mix of hits, misses, and cannonball caroms. What can we take away from the morass? Well, again, taking care of the original work plays an important part.  How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a sterling example of not only having the creator take part in the process but also finding the right people. In contrast, Johnny Mnemonic, shows what happens when the creator is left out of the loop. The former had Dr. Seuss involved at several levels, including producing and lyrics. The latter had an exec take the final product and recut it before sending it out to theatres.

Executive meddling can be an issue. Flash Gordon had producer Dino DiLaurentiis and his wife casting the leads and making deals for cross-promotions that could have torpedoed the movie. However, the director was able to cast for the supporting roles and brought in veterans who could hold their own and make the inexperienced lead look decent at the same time. Coupled with a kick-ass soundtrack by Queen, the movie survives as a cult classic. Sure, not a financial success, but the movie is remembered. Having the right people can save a movie.

As Steve pointed out, sometimes the best thing is finding the right fit for the work.  A Game of Thrones definitely fit best as a TV series over a movie. There is just too much happening that is too important to cut. The build up of the threats and conflicts required the time that a weekly episodic format allows for. Likewise, the weekly format is working for Once Upon a Time, allowing for the mystery of the story to be built properly. As movies, both would lose far too much in the translation.

Sometimes, going from TV pilot to cinematic feature causes problems. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was originally the pilot to a second Star Trek series. However, the decision was made to turn the script into a full-fledged feature film. Unfortunately, this required the script to be extended. Most of the filler came from loving shots of the USS Enterprise, as the camera flew around and over her. Long shots became the order of the day, giving the movie a far slower pace than a pilot would have. Compare Star Trek: TMP to "Encounter at Farpoint", the pilot for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Both are cerebral, but "Farpoint" builds up the action through character interaction and twists while TMP relies more on lengthy approaches in space.

What about works where the creator is either long gone or a corporation? Where the work is part of a larger franchise? For this, I looked at three movies.  Rookie of the Year adapted the game of baseball into a family narrative. The plays on the field were believable; in fact, there have been stranger in the game. The movie was faithful to the sport while telling its story. It is obvious that the writers, the cast, and the crew have been to a ballgame or two. The other two, however… Oi.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was, in short, a mess. It had several good scenes tied together with a plot a 3rd grader could find plotholes in. The promise of the opening scene – Cobra's assault on an US Army convoy – provided a glimpse of the potential that was never reached. Meanwhile, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li just really wasn't a Street Fighter movie. What happened? In the case of GI Joe, it looks like the license was available and was used with a quick script that did take into account the characters and groups but, well, forgot about cohesion.  Chun Li, on the other hand, felt like an available script was taken and had the Street Fighter aspects grafted on. Both movies had potential never realized.

And that leaves Dungeons & Dragons. The movie had decent scenes and a decent plot, but completely fell apart during execution. It seemed to be suffering from having the wrong people involved. It missed on what made the game D&D interesting and didn't have many of the game's iconic monsters. Unfortunately, many studios decided that the takeaway was, "Don't make movies off tabletop RPGs".

Overall, again, respect for the creator and the work heads the list of how to make an adaptation successful. Followed, though, is making sure the adaptation is in the right format. The right format can get the work's full impact; the wrong one can mute it or draw out the impact to the point where it's not felt at all.

Next time, year-end round up.