How exciting!

British Telecom have just written to me telling me that they've just rolled out fibre optic technology and introduced BT Infinity on my home area, so I can have speeds up to four times faster than the average speed of standard UK broadband.

This is so exciting, well it would be were it not for the fact that I've been on fibre broadband at this address for almost a year now.

British Telecom idiots.

Is Big Brother tracking your every move?

Zeit online (in English) explains how:

'Green party politician Malte Spitz sued to have German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom hand over six months of his phone data that he then made available to ZEIT ONLINE. We combined this geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites, all of which is all freely available on the internet.

By pushing the play button, you will set off on a trip through Malte Spitz's life. The speed controller allows you to adjust how fast you travel, the pause button will let you stop at interesting points. In addition, a calendar at the bottom shows when he was in a particular location and can be used to jump to a specific time period. Each column corresponds to one day.'

Fascinating stuff and it does make you wonder about the position in the UK where all network operators store their customers' historical locations for a year. The police aren't allowed to ask for the kind of data Malte Spitz obtained in Germany, they are supposedly restricted to asking specific questions such as where a phone was at a specific time. However the data is available for interrogation should the law be changed... Please note therefore that it would take only a minor change in the law and a reasonable increase in processing power for all of our telephone's movements to be tracked in real time 24/7.

HTC's September 15 announcement

So that's a UK version of the US's Evo 4G to be called the Desire HD and a UK version of the US's G2 with the same hardware keyboard called the Desire Z.

The Desire HD runs a SnapDragon processor at 1GHz whilst the Desire Z runs a Qualcomm MSM 7230 at 800Mhz. Do please be aware that the Qualcomm MSM 7230 processor is intrinsically faster than the SnapDragon and so both machines should have similar performance. The Desire Z handles HD video, not that that is of any interest and both have Froyo (Android 2.2) as the os.

The Desire HD has the larger screen 4.3", the Desire Z has a 3.7"; the Desire Z has the hardware keyboard. As a lover of hardware keyboards I want the Z but I have noticed that the keyboard is a 4 row affair, with no separate numeric row, unlike my elderly HTC Touch Pro.

I really want some hands on time before I choose but as usual I don't see how that will be possible. So as nobody has stock yet, do I wait for Vodafone or Carphone Warehouse to get stock or even take orders (rumoured stock in form mid October) or do I just order from Expansys for £449.99 (inc VAT) and wait?

For more pictures try Engadget or Google

Are mobile phones dangerous?

No this is not a Gordon Brown related story, I am talking technology not being used as a missile.

Pop Corn téléphone portable micro-ondes
by sassiere

Can mobile phones really 'cook' popcorn?





Thanks to Grumpy Old Twat for the spot.

Do you want an iPhone but don't like O2?

Do you want an iPhone but don't like O2? Maybe you experienced their recent system downtime abroad or have had the misfortune to use their dire "customer service". There seems to be a solution for O2 phobic iPhone users; rumours abound that T-Mobile will offer iPhones to high spending customers who threaten to leave for another network. Allegedly there are 150 iPhones per week available, I presume the iPhones have been purchased outside of the UK for resale.

As an O2 user I am not sure if I would swap to T-Mobile, a network whose building penetration sometimes seems to be measurable in inches rather than feet.

The forty eighth weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's award is so "No shit, Sherlock" that I may enter it for my annual award...

It goes jointly to Ofcom and the BBC for the Ofcom report being given huge publicity on the BBC this morning that tells us the simply incredible news that:

"Broadband users are not getting the speeds they are paying for... Nearly one fifth of UK broadband customers on an eight Megabit per second (Mbps) connection actually receive less than 2Mbps... "

Advertised broadband speeds are not achieved in real life?

"No shit, Sherlock"

O2 data outage

I read that:

"Network operator O2's data network has experienced an outage across the UK.

Internet and multimedia message services have been disrupted for all of the firm's customers who are on monthly contracts.

O2 is not releasing the cause of the outage but says that its engineers are aware of the cause of the problem and are working to correct it.

...

The firm was unable to say when the problem would be fixed. "

Thankfully my main data device is on Vodafone.

A good old-fashioned British phone

Back view



Front view


That is the London Calling Mobile Phone and is a fully-functional mobile telephone. It has a colour LCD screen, SMS and MMS functionality, tri-band GSM connectivity and has pre-programmed ringtones including a patriotic "Rule Britannia" and "God Save the Queen." Might be just the thing to give my dad as a present....

Another money-making invasion of privacy (update)

Further to this story about the company that had created a database of a large proportion of UK mobile phone numbers and will allow people to search this database, albeit via an operator, and ask to be put through to a number. As I said at the time,

"the fact that operators will find and dial the target's number and ask whether they are prepared to receive the call does not inspire me with confidence. How do I make my mobile number ex-directory?"

I found a link to unsubscribe from 118800's service BUT the facility to remove my mobile number is unavailable, as is the 118800 mobile telephone directory service... Apparently

"Service suspended whilst we make improvements

The 118 800 service for mobile phone connections is currently unavailable - from this website and by phone - whilst we undertake major developments to our 'Beta Service' to improve the experience for our customers. We'll be back as soon as possible with the new improved service.

All ex-directory requests made by people in our directory to date are being processed. There will be no need to resend these requests. And we will take further ex-directory requests when the service resumes. We will not be taking ex-directory requests by phone or text whilst the service is not operational.

Please do not call us on 118 800 for anything other than landline directory enquiry requests as you will be charged for the call.

For other enquiries email us at contact@118800.co.uk or write to us at 118 800, PO Box 2747, Reading RG30 4ZQ

Sorry for any inconvenience caused. "

I presume that they had rather a lot of ex-directory requests and are now re-evaluating the service. I wonder what the "improvements" will be; hopefully a non-continuation of the service.

Another money-making invasion of privacy

This time not the Labour government but free enterprise that has built a database of a large proportion of UK mobile phone numbers and will allow people to search this database, albeit via an operator, and ask to be put through to a number. The fact that operators will find and dial the target's number and ask whether they are prepared to receive the call does not inspire me with confidence. How do I make my mobile number ex-directory?

Gordon Brown and the flying mobile telephones

The stories of Gordon Brown throwing mobile telephones around the Number 10 bunker have become legion, but today I read some proof in The Register:

"Back in February, Tory Grandee Francis Maude asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many mobile phones had been replaced.

At the time, Kevin Brennan replied: "The Cabinet Office has recorded that of the mobile phones procured for official use under the Vodafone contracts, 11 have been reported lost, two stolen and 14 damaged during the past 18 months."

An innocent enough question, surely; but one that became more interesting when Bloomberg reported the Prime Minister's alleged propensity for taking out his frustration at the deepening economic crisis on office equipment, with cowering Downing St aides warning new recruits to watch out for "flying Nokias".

Cue another question from Francis Maude, who asked:

* (1) whether any of the 14 damaged mobile telephones had been allocated to individuals who work in 10 Downing Street; [269953]
* (2) what the cost to the public purse was of replacing the 14 damaged mobile telephones; [270170]
* (3) what the (a) make and (b) model of each of the 14 damaged mobile telephones was. [270171]

Yesterday, it was Tom Watson who had to step up, and reveal that the toll included two Sony Ericssons, one Motorola RAZR, four BlackBerrys and yes, six Nokias.

But, he added, none of the 14 phones was actually issued to "individuals who work in Downing Street". And just in case anyone was wondering how much the taxpayer was having to shell out to keep government workers in shiny new mobes, the answer is nothing at all.

...

Of course, the fact that none of the borked handsets were issued to Downing Street staffers doesn't mean a thing. After all, no one said that it was the PM throwing his own phones. "

Go on Gordon throw a Nokia, it doesn't cost the taxpayer a thing and may even keep your blood pressure down.

How was “65″ confused as “82″

Mobile Crunch reports that:

"With the BlackBerry Storm vanishing from the shelves at big city Verizon shops around the nation, folks have been looking for an explanation for the shortage. When it was discovered that the identification sticker on the Storm box could be peeled away to reveal another sticker with different software version numbers, rumors were abound that a last minute software flash was the cause of the limited availability.

Not so, says RIM. While they acknowledge that a small chunk of the boxes had to have new stickers placed on them, they say it was because of a typo. In fact, the erroneous software version (4.7.0.82, rather than the 4.7.0.65 which actually shipped on the device) doesn’t even exist.

It’s okay, RIM. We mistype “65″ as “82″ all the time. The keys are right next to each other."

50 years today

Today is the 50th anniversary of the making of the first ever trunk (long distance) call. The BBC have the recording of the call between the Queen and the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Apart from the Lord Provost sounding worryingly like Mr Cholmondley-Warner and the rather stilted nature of the conversation it is a rather lovely piece of history and a reminder of more civilized days.

Mobile phones on planes

The mobile phone is a curse and many a tube or train journey has been ruined by morons conducting loud conversations over their mobile phones. Now Ofcom have decided that we should be able to use our mobile phones on planes once they are above 3,000 metres (around 10,000 feet in real measurements), so not for take off and landing but for the rest of the journey. Aeroplanes are bad enough with the sound of drunken fools shouting competing with the sound of babies screaming and small children shrieking without adding people using mobile phones to the mix.

Clive James feels the same way as me, read his wittier remarks here.

Why are undersea telecoms cables being damaged (update)

I blogged earlier today that "Is it just coincidence that in the last week four major undersea telecoms cables have been damaged thus cutting internet connectivity to Egypt, Gulf Arab states and south Asia including India? Cables have now been damaged in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Dubai and Qatar."

Tonight I read on Sky News that "Firms in the Middle East and India say they are facing big losses after undersea cables were cut, disrupting internet services.
The damage - under the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Egypt - could take a week to repair. It has cost India half its bandwidth.and is hitting the country's lucrative outsourcing industry. The cables carry computer traffic from Europe. Smaller firms which don't have back-up systems have been the worst affected. Many have said they will lose business if full internet access is not quickly restored... he Mediterranean Sea cables, which lie north of the Egyptian port of Alexandria, snapped on Wednesday. The Internet Service Providers' Association of India said the country had lost half its bandwidth. TeleGeography, a US research group that tracks submarine cables, said the disruption reduced the capacity on the route from the Mideast to Europe by 75%."


As Goldfinger said to James Bond - "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence but the third time is enemy action". So what is four times?