loose wire blog

Recharge Vouchers and Fantasies of Schoolmistresses

I’m doing a piece on speech recognition for the Journal, all the time wrestling with my own voice menu cellphone demons. One message from Hong Kong’s 3 network sends me apopleptic with rage while at the same time kind of turning me on, which tells you more about me than you probably want to know.

I use a prepaid card and I use recharge vouchers (a blessing, at least, that they don’t call them top-up cards, which for some reason I find a horrible expression, as if you’re not really paying ridiculous amounts of money to pay for SMS and voice calls).

Anyway, for some reason my Treo doesn’t like inputting the 16 digit number on each recharge voucher, so I get quite a few error messages, delivered by one, possibly two, female voices. The first part of the message, explaining I have not input the correct number, is schoolmistress-stern — you can almost hear the cane being flexed in the background — while the next, asking me to input the number again, addresses me as if I am a complete imbecile. Which, after hearing this message a few times, I kind of feel I am.

Here it is, in all its MP3 glory. I’m going to make it my ringtone.

Bluetooth as a Beacon for the Missing?

Thinking about the poor Londoners unable to call their loved ones because of the overloaded cellphone networks on Thursday morning, I wondered whether Bluetooth might help in such incidents in future.

Most cellphones come with Bluetooth now (the number of devices containing Bluetooth doubled last year to 250 million; this figure is expected to double again this year): Is there no way that a connection could be created so cellphone users can transmit urgent messages via Bluetooth to a landline system, via Bluetooth receptors placed at strategic spots in a place that might not be easily accessible, or easy to escape from — say in a tunnel, or tall building? Then, even if the cellphone network is congested, those messages could get thro, perhaps via a central switching station that could monitor the messages as way to build a list of the missing, the victims and the found? These messages could be built in to the fabric of the phone — a sort of panic button — which would try to relay a standard message about the user and her emergency contact numbers, first via SMS, then, if no network signal is available, by Bluetooth to the nearest emergency receptor. This sort of thing isn’t going to work in big open spaces, but it might suit urban spaces and places like subways.

This Bluetooth network could also be used to locate the missing buried under rubble or otherwise not readily reachable. With the network down, emergency services could not use mobile phone signals to locate the missing (indeed, many lines in London do not have any mobile signal, unlike places like Hong Kong and Singapore, although this may change), but Bluetooth signals would not be hampered in this way. (Bluetooth doesn’t require a network to operate, since the connection is from one device to another creating an ‘ad-hoc network’.) Rescue teams armed with powerful Bluetooth transmitters could seek out Bluetooth phones or other devices, the strength of the signal giving some clue about location.

Of course this would require some rethinking of how Bluetooth devices are configured: The devices would have to be given names that might identify the user, and the devices would have to be set to on (and possibly ‘discoverable’ although I guess there’s a way around this hiding aspect of Bluetooth that emergency services could utilise). Both of these elements — identifiable device names, discoverability — are not recommended in this age of Bluesnarfing, but if the Bluetooth SIG could think differently about what Bluetooth is and what it could do — i.e., not just a pairing technology but a limited-range location ‘beacon’ technology — maybe these problems could be overcome.

Of course, Bluetooth as a beacon could be used in different ways — to find ATMs, or your car in a large parking lot, or your children in a crowd. Perhaps this is already being done. And while there’s a good argument for saying Wi-Fi could do all this better, over greater distances, the great thing about Bluetooth is that it’s already in the one device that most people are carrying around with them: Their cellphone.

The Firefox Del.icio.us Toolbar

The guys at del.icio.us have launched a “very preliminary del.icio.us firefox toolbar at http://del.icio.us/toolbar/ :

The button icons are placeholders and a product of Joshua's creative fury. If you bring up the 'customize' toolbar palette in firefox, you can rearrange, remove or place the buttons on on any other customizable firefox toolbar.

The icons are very basic, but somewhat charming. There’s not an awful lot going on, but the ‘about’ button is a useful addition, listing all the other people who have tagged the page you’re viewing.

Wikinews Coverage of the London Blasts

Just been checking out how Wikinews is handling the explosions in London. Very well, I have to say: Explosions, 'serious incidents' occuring across London .

There’s a wealth of detail here, culled from a wide array of sources in many different languages. There are maps, diagrams and photographs, including quite a few from witnesses, such as this one, from Adam Stacey who was on the northern line just past Kings Cross. Train suddenly stopped and filled with smoke. People in carriage smashed tube windows to get out and then were evacuated along the train tunnel. He's suffering from smoke inhalation but fine otherwise.

It’s all really good stuff. And well ordered, although perhaps not how a traditional media editor would organise it. That’s not a criticism: I’m not the first to question whether the old ‘news pyramid’ of writing news copy shouldn’t be superceded by something more suited to the Web age. For example: putting in a telephone number for worried families near the top of the page; putting information under subheadings; very clear sourcing; holding off (or backing away) from the ‘six blasts’ version which the UK police don’t seem to be supporting in their most recent statements.

Of course, there’s another irony at work here. News websites add as many stories as they can at a time like this, with the dateline moving between London, Scotland and Singapore, including updates, sidebars etc. However, the Wikinews model actually works better for most readers, adding incremental tweaks to a core story on one page as new information comes in. (Google News, for example, has 721 stories on the topic as I write.) It may not work for the news-junkie, but for most of us it’s a great resource, a real working draft of history as it happens.

Well done, Wikinews.

 

Opera Offers Support for BitTorrent

Opera has today launched a ‘technical preview’ version of its browser that includes support for BitTorrent, the protocol for distributing files via peer-to-peer that utilises both downstream and upstream bandwidth and spreads the load among different servers. As far as I know this is the first mainstream program that offers inbuilt support for what could become an increasingly controversial medium (please correct me if I’m wrong, but I know of no Firefox plugin for BitTorrent files).

The press release explains as follows:

Oslo, Norway - July 7, 2005: Opera Software today launched a technical preview (TP) of the Opera browser for Windows, Linux and Mac that includes support for BitTorrent. Integrating this popular file-downloading technology in the Opera browser offers the end user a faster download process by utilizing full bandwidth and reducing the chance of in-transfer delay when multiple users download the same file.

Its BitTorrent Resource page explains that Opera treats BitTorrent as just another protocol, like FTP and HTTP. This is not Opera turning browser users into BitTorrent hosts:

By offering BitTorrent in a technical preview of its browser, Opera seeks to broaden the appeal of downloading legal torrent files. Opera does not encourage the use of BitTorrent, FTP and HTTP protocols for downloading illegal, copyright infringing material.

I must confess I haven’t used BitTorrent a lot, but it clearly is popular and has huge potential. Part of the reason I haven’t used it too much is that the software I’ve used, tho simple, isn’t quite as intuitive as one would like, so the idea that the browser might make it as easy as downloading an ordinary file might propel usage into the mainstream.

Getting Excited and Depressed About Scalable Interfaces

This isn’t new, and it’s not even supported anymore, but it’s a great Outlook add-in that is both inspiring and depressing. Inspiring because it shows us what we could be doing, depressing because there’s nothing really like this out there that fulfils this kind of potential. It’s Datelens - A Revolutionary Scalable Calendar Interface:

Calendar applications for small handheld devices such as PDAs are growing in popularity. This led us to develop DateLens, a novel calendar interface that supports not only PDAs, but a range of devices, from desktop computers to Tablet PCs. It supports users in performing planning and analysis tasks by using a fisheye representation of dates coupled with compact overviews, user control over the visible timer period, and integrated search. This enables users to see overviews, easily navigate the calendar structure, and discover patterns and outliers. Moreover, DateLens takes advantage of each device, running quickly on PDAs and supporting ink on Tablet PCs.

To get a proper sense of it download the movie/screencast on the page. What impressed me is not the graphics, which are clunky, with too many lines and not enough charm, but its malleability to the user. Or what is called ‘scalable user interfaces’. For example

• By zooming in on the entry, day or month you’re interested in you can see more of what you need, right down to the half-hour segment itself, but with lots more context;
• Search for events doesn’t throw up a boring list of matches, but a colour-coded range of matches, plus more colour markings on the scroll bar to show you what else is matching offscreen;
• Easily assign more space or less to weekends, or months, or weeks;
• The video/screencast (actually it’s not really a screencast) shows how even something as complex as these features can be explained really easily in three minutes.

Oh, and it’s free. I would love to see this kind of thing introduced into ordinary software. I’m not an Outlook user, which it plugs into directly, or a PocketPC, which it also works well with. But hopefully Microsoft are thinking along these lines. (All this reminded me of the late Jef Raskin’s zoomable user interfaces. What a shame no one ever got that kind of thing onto the desktop computer in his lifetime.)

The Skype Revolution Hits Teaching

I don’t know if this is the first, but it’s certainly an early example of how Skype and other VOIP products are going to create a new form of business: Accessible voice services. An Online Language School Uses Skype to Teach English:

Isle of Man (UK)-based school Telephonenglish.com [not the most elegant of website names, and you have to wonder how the spelling will rub off on students] has committed itself to using Skype VoIP technology to teach English to its global clients. “The quality and the popularity of the Skype VoIP telephony service makes it the obvious choice for our e-learning services,” said Telephonenglish founder Martin Curtis.

Telephonenglish.com was founded in September 2004 to take advantage of cheap internet telephony as a means of teaching English students around the world who are either too isolated, or simply too busy to travel to a traditional language school for classes.

Why Skype?

“The ability to send files during the lesson, as well as using the text-based chat facility during the e-lesson, makes Skype a perfect platform for affordable online learning,” said Martin Curtis.

So who is Telephonenglish.com? It’s four full-time teachers, and as far as I can figure out from the websites, students get emailed the lessons in advance, download Skype and then will get called by the teacher at a booked time.

Microsoft's Antispyware Turns Neutral on Claria?

(Sorry, a few days late with this.) Further to the reports of talks between Microsoft and adware maker Claria (formerly Gator), spyware/adware expert Ben Edelman points to a website discussion that highlights an apparent conflict of interest should Microsoft Buy Claria: What would Microsoft’s own anti-spyware software make of Claria’s adware?

A Dozleng.com post reports that Microsoft's Anti-Spyware Beta now recommends that users "ignore" Claria. To confirm this result, I downloaded Claria's DashBar and Precision Time products, then installed MSAS, all on a fresh virtual PC that hadn't previously run any of these programs. MSAS's recommendation and default action was "Ignore."

In contrast, when last I ran MSAS on a PC with Claria software installed, MSAS recommended removing these same programs. This is exactly the kind of conflict of interest I worried about three paragraphs above -- but I didn't anticipate how quickly this problem would come into effect!

There are some more comments collected here. One website, Sunbelt Software, which receives updates from Microsoft but has its own inhouse research lab, reports that the change in recommendation from Quarantine or Remove to Ignore took place on March 31. Sunbelt’s Alex Eckelberry writes:

At any rate, does this mean that Claria will, in fact, be purchased by Microsoft? Not necessarily. It could mean, however, that the two companies are working together in some other capacity, or that Claria has successfully lobbied Microsoft to change the default action. Or, it's a simple oversight.

I can’t help feeling that if it was an oversight, it would have been corrected by now. And, as Ben Edelman points out, it’s not possible to check a list of Microsoft’s decisions on this kind of thing, where Microsoft lets users know what’s no longer being detect etc.. .

Compare Microsoft’s neutral ‘Ignore’ recommendation with nearly all other antispyware/adware programs that do, according to the Spyware Warrior website, detect Claria products, and, where they make a recommendation, suggest they be removed.

Bottom line? I’m with Ben: I think whatever bits of Claria Microsoft is interested in, conflicts of interest rear their head and the company’s efforts to burnish its image as security guardian will be lost, virtually overnight.

Another Skype Rival

Another Skype wannabe: Gizmo: A free phone for your computer:

Gizmo is a Free Phone for Your Computer
That makes calling as easy as instant messaging

An internet telephone. As simple as an instant messenger. Now you’re talking.

Make all your calls from the comfort of your desktop. With Gizmo, it’s point, click, talk. For free.

Say goodbye to high price calling, and say “hello” to anyone online, anywhere on earth.

Works on Macs, Windows and Linux.