RIM's execs have announced that they have slashed their salaries to $1 (assumed to be Canadian) after a year of disaster piled on top of disaster for the company. Delays in the Blackberry 10 smartphone and the low sales of the Playbook didn't help, either.
The slashing may be symbolic, but it could mean that the execs want to turn the company around. Playbook OS2.0 is in development and will be aimed at businesses already using Blackberries, and the new Blackberry is just waiting for energy efficient chips.
–Scott D
RIMpocalypse Update
Research in Motion's revenues are still falling. The lowered levels are blamed on poor sales of the Playbook and on an aging line of smartphones.
Smartphone, Smart Shoppers?
The use of smartphones by shoppers to do product research, price comparisons, and online sales are changing the retail landscape. It might not just be bookstores that will feel the crunch of online shopping.
Triple X'ed
A grab of domain names in the new .xxx TLD came from business and others trying to secure their names away from potential porn sites. Among those trying to prevent a tarnishing of their images include universities, Scouting, galleries, and multinational corporations. PETA has also snapped up their .xxx domain, but, well, given how they've advertised in the past, they probably want to put their purchase to use.
Another Steve Jobs Book to Come Out
The Zen of Steve Jobs by Caleb Melby will be a released as a graphic novel, focusing on when Jobs left Apple to found NeXT. It's a different way to produce a biography. Forbes has a four-page preview.
Google Buzz Gone
Alas, no link. Google did warn, but as of December 14 at 6pm EST (at least locally), Buzz was removed from Gmail. I already miss it.
–Scott D
China Still an iRisk to US Companies, Government
Geeks interested in security may find jobs with the news that at least 12 different Chinese hacking groups are responsible for cyberbreak-ins, stealing billions of dollars worth of data. In a related issue, there is the possibility that hacking could upset the supply of oil. Security geeks should see the demand for their services continue to grow.
Tech Industry Wants Canadian Goverment to Migrate to Cloud
Dave McDonald, CEO of Softchoice Corp. and the chair of the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) board of governors, feels that the Canadian Government should migrate to cloud computing or risk being "technologically incapacitated". Nice thought, but given the above and the nature of the data used by the government, the big question becomes, "How secure is it?"
Bell Runs Afoul of CRTC Regs
Related to the discussion of Tamara's news about the sale of MLSE, Bell has been found in breech of CRTC rules by limiting the streaming of NHL and NFL games to just Bell wireless subscribers. "Canadians shouldn't be forced to subscribe to a wireless service from a specific company to access their favourite content," said Konrad von Finckenstein, chair of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.
English to English Translation App
Tricolour Software of Newfoundland has developed a Newfoundland to English translatation app for the iPhone. The Whaddaya App allows users to enter the Newfoundland phrase to get a plain English explanation, with proceeds from the 99 cent app going towards a no-kill shelter. While this app has a humourous bent, it could be the forerunner of apps allowing visitors to understand local idioms, even if both the visitor and the local allegedly speak the same language.
Reading for Pleasure in Decline
Recent studies are showing that Ontario schoolchildren aren't reading for pleasure as much as in prior years. Normally, I would have passed on this for a news round up; however, an article in the November/December 2011 Scientific American Mind ("The Death of Preschool" by Paul Tullis, behind a paywall) shows a disturbing trend. The push for standardized testing may be working against getting an education.
–Scott D
More Phones Hacked
Okay, not quite so bad as the above would imply. However, the News of the World's phone hacking scandal has reached over 800 people whose phones have been hacked. Coupled with products such as the one from CarrierIQ, phone privacy should be a far more important issue than it currently is.
RIM's Anno Horribile Continues
The Indonesian government is threatening to cut Blackberry data services unless RIM provides state access to users' messages. RIM is trying to work with Indonesia's government, though, and has installed the mandatory filters.
–Scott D
Social Media Brought Together
A new device called MagnetU will let you broadcast your social media (including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) profiles to everyone around you. The device will also alert you when it detects a profile in the area that is similar to yours. Great for extroverts; not so great for those who like some privacy.
Online Memorials
Working from an idea already in use in Seattle, a Regina, SK company, Remco Memorials, is offering a way to bring up memorials on smartphones while visiting a grave. The company will provide a QR code to be added to grave markers that, when read by a smartphone, will go to a webpage that can be added to by family and friends with the password.
Canadian R&D Spending to Rise
Canadian firms are intending to increase their research and development expenditures, the first such increase since 2007. However, Canadian R&D is still lagging in terms of GDP. Most of the R&D work (approximately 75%) is done in Ontario and Quebec.
Samples Missing
Geeks interested in sapce exploration may want to develop a tracking system for NASA, who has lost or misplaced 500 samples of material from space since 1970. The missing pieces, including moon rocks and meteorites, were part of the 26 000 samples loaned out by NASA. Some of the missing samples may have been returned but not checked in.
Kill Your Cable and Phone
Washington, DC, is funding a 100-gigabit network to be made available to universities, businesses, and anyone willing to resell the service. Such a service bypasses the backbone that was built by a telco or a cable company, and was created to serve areas of Washinbton not served by those companies. A step like this could be the first in turning high speed Internet service from luxury to public good.
The 80s were a turning point in media. Between the heyday of the music video, the breakout of shows like Miami Vice, and a new crop of writers. the approach to storytelling changed. One of the literary movements of the 80s was Cyberpunk, a mesh of man and machine in a distopian world where corporations have become monolithic and governments exist only at their pleasure*, where people outside pleasant society act as go betweens and expendable assets for the corporations and for the criminal organizations. The vanguard of cyberpunk was "Johnny Mnemonic", a short story written by William Gibson** and published in 1981 in Omni magazine.
The title character of "Johnny Mnemonic" was a data courier, with the equivalent of a hard drive*** implanted in his head. He ran into a problem with one client and had his bacon rescued by Molly Millions, a razorgirl with mirrorshade eyes and razors implanted under her fingernails. The criminal organization from whom the client stole the data now in Johnny's head wanted the data back and traces of it eliminated, sending a killer who had more replacement parts than original body to clean up. Johnny and Molly turned to Jones, a war vet dolphin with a smack addiction, to retrieve the passcode for the data and to the Lo-Teks, a anti-technology gang, for protection while sending a snippet of the data to the criminal group to get them to back off. The killer, meanwhile, has tracked the duo down and takes on Molly on the Killing Floor.
In 1995, Gibson worked with director Robert Longo to bring the story to the silver screen. Althought the original script was more an art film, desogned to be made for under two million, they pair went with Sony who saw the Internet as a potential draw. Sony provided $30 million. Several changes were made to the story. Because the character of Molly was already licensed out to another company, she was replaced with Jane. Unlike Molly, Jane was on her way down, having been infected with Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS). The criminal organization was replaced by a pharmaceutical firm that had discovered a cure for NAS but wanted it buried because their treatment program would be more profitable.***** Johnny, played by Keanu Reeves, became the main mover in terms of plot and action, where as in the original short story, he directed the plot but left the heavy lifting for Molly.
With Gibson and Longo working together on the movie, what could go wrong?
Executive meddling. According to William Gibson himself, the movie was recut at the last moment by the American distributor, and recut badly. The flow fell off. There was some criticism of Keanu Reeves's acting ability, but, in retrospect, he managed to portray a man who had part of his brain removed and altered to become a data courier believably. Unlike How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Johnny Mnemonic didn't keep the creator in the loop at a crucial stage in editing, and the movie suffered as a result.
Next time, a summary.
* So, all we're missing today are USB ports in our heads.
** Other early cyberpunk works include /Neuromancer/ and /Mona Lisa Overdrive/.
*** I really hope IBM isn't going this route with racetrack memory.
**** Superconducting quantum interfence detectors.
***** Okay, cyberpunk waned because it started to look good compared to reality.
Hewlett-Packard is releasing WebOS as open source software. While the company will still support WebOS, the move allows other programmers to take the source code and modify it to their own needs. This could be a move to get people to use both the Palm Pre smartphone and the HP TouchPad, both of which use the OS.
–Scott
Online Freedom
India is the latest country asking social networks, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter, to remove offensive material. In this case, India is making the request to avoid having tensions stirred up as a result of controversial and offensive content. This will be a social issue that keeps popping up, sometimes in unexpected places.
Privacy Matters
Canada's privacy commissioner has said that consumers should always be able to opt out of tracking. There could be work in the future, either in writing a browser add-on that prevents data being tracked/forwarded or in showing the data being tracked. This may mean that companies like CarrierIQ will have to be careful of what data they track.
The Red Light (Web)District
The new .xxx domains are available. Filter writers now have a new spam detector, just like when .biz and .info came out. It's not going to make a difference; porn sites will just add the .xxx version of their web addresses along with the .com.
The Internet is for Reading
Author Margaret Atwood argues that the Internet, especially social media like Twitter, encourages reading and writing. While Twitter has a hard limit on total characters, other forms of social media (such as blogging ^.-) allows for a more unlimited span. The only way to improve reading is to read; and, the only way to improve writing is to write. And, well, you're reading this, right?
One-off App Becomes Hit
Autodsesk's Sketchbook app for iPhone and iPad has become a huge hit. While the income is a small percentage of the company's overall business, the apps have added more customers than ever. The lesson here is that a one-off could become a great way to introduce people to your product line.
Microsoft Steps Up
The App Wars are about to heat up. Microsoft is offering developers a larger piece of the pie in revenue for apps for smartphones and tablets. If a Windows app's revenue breaks $25 000, MS is offering 80% of the revenue, ahead of Apple's 70%.
–Scott D
Big Blue Is Off to the Race(track)s
Once in a while, IBM makes an announcement that reminds people that they're still around and still in the game. In 2008, IBM researches described "racetrack" computer memory, which promised to combine the storage capacity of hard drives with the speed of flash memory. A prototype has been unveiled, with the benefit of being made by standard chip making tools. Hardware geeks may want to send resumes to Big Blue – it looks like storage limits are going to drop when the kinks are ironed out.
iSpy?
A company known as CarrierIQ has made a splash. On the surface, its product seems simple – it monitors wireless network performance in real time using feedback from cell phones. The problem is the type of data captured. A security research determined that the program tracks such details as device manufacture and model, battery life, applications on the device, location of the device, keystrokes, and HTTP header information. If that data is not recorded and never used, no issue, right? Too bad there's people like those working for Rupert Murdoch, who had no problem hacking into the phone of a dead teen.
The ethics of using and abusing new technology need further developing, and could be an area of growth as smartphones become more integrated with daily lives.
Carriers using the software include Sprint (they claim to not look at the contents of messages), AT&T, and T-Mobile (both of whom only look at data to improve service). Companies not using CarrierIQ's software include Apple (after iOS5, so upgrade if you can), Nokia (not installed prior to shipment), and RIM.
Speaking of RIM:
A stampede that injuired dozens in Jakarta, Indonesia, on November 25 was caused by the demand for the release of the Blackberry Bold 9790. As a result, the head of RIM's Indonesia office, among four others, has been charged with negligence causing injury.
Meanwhile, two RIM execs have been let go due to their behaviour on a flight. The two men were drunk and had to be subdued by the entire crew on the flight from Beijing to Toronto. The flight was redirected to Vancouver.
Not sure if this will hurt RIM any further. Definitely not helping, though the demand for the new Blackberry could have been a positive sign if it weren't for the injuries.
–Scott D
The late and long missed Theodore Geisel madse a name for himself in the realm of children's publishing – Dr. Seuss. With an amazing sense and knowledge of the English language, he wrote many books that are still remembered and read today. In 1957, he wrote How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, showing how one person, the titular Grinch, discovered the true meaning of Christmas, the one beyond the superficial lights, presents, and food. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), the story avoided religious overtones, defining Christmas as what comes from inside.
In 1966, Geisel's production company, Cat in the Hat Productions, worked with MGM to adapt the story as a holiday special. The production team included Ted Geisel and veteran Warner Brothers animation director Chuck Jones*. The story was kept as is, with music to help fill the 25 minutes then needed for commercial television. Songs were added, with lyrics by Dr. Seuss and music by Albert Hague**. The main voice was provided by Boris Karloff***, providing a gravitas that isn't expected in a Christmas special. Not listed, but providing the male singing voice for the Grinch's theme is Thurl Ravenscroft****.
To say that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! has become a classic is an understatement. The timelessness of the original story along with Chuck Jones's deft handling of the material and utter care put into the work by the cast and crew. Having Dr. Seuss involved helped greatly, both as lyricist and producer. The animators took the illustrations from the book and brought them to life. Even the practice of animation reuse added, allowing the montage of the Grinch sneaking and stealing through Whoville to add humour and character development. The Grinch is another example of where having a staff that cares about the original helps with adapting. Another lyricist could have not had the ear that Dr. Seuss had for the language and joy of the scenes. Another narrator wouldn't have had the gravitas that Karloff provided. Unlike far too many Christmas specials, the Grinch doesn't depend on sentimentality, which helps it stand out even after forty-five years.
Next time, Cyberpunk hits the big screen
* Many many Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons.
** Who would later be seen in the role of [Shorofsky] in the film and subsequent television adaptation of Fame.
*** Noted for playing Frankenstein's monster in many movies as well as being many more horror films.
**** Also known as Tony the Tiger, voicing the mascot until his death in 2005.
