Software utilities

Now that’s something I never knew.

Apparently, if you walk through a US airport with your laptop or memory stick, it can be seized by customs (and, check it, they don’t have to give you a reason either).

That’s just great.

Can you imagine - you’re a writer or a programmer. You’re on your way to New York for a conference or maybe you’ve snagged a great 3 month contract with a firm over there. All your work is on your Mac Book and a backed-up copy’s sitting all nice and snug on your memory stick.

And customs can take them off you? Without an explanation? For any length of time they frikkin want? That’s amazing. Intrusive. Annoying. Inconvenient.

It’s apparently a procedure that’s been in place for years but only became public knowledge when a group of lobbyists demanded that the Department of Homeland Security’s policies be revealed.

I can partly understand why customs would do this. The world is a much more dangerous place these days. However, to not give an explanation is ludicrous. I’ve been to the US a few times and I’ve met some great custom folks, but I’ve also met some who were complete and utter assholes. Who’s to say they won’t abuse their power and seize your laptop just for the fun of it, ‘cos they’re having a bad day? And if that ever happens, there’s so much red tape that it’d probably take centuries to get through the complaints procedure.

So, if you’re ever travelling to the US, do bear the above in mind. As an extra caution, you might wanna back up all your important stuff online.

If it’s any comfort though, I haven’t heard a case of anyone who’s had their laptop or iPod seized. It doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, though.

Apparently, a group of ex-Google employees have gotten together to give their former employer a run for its money by setting up their very own search engine called Cuil (pronounced ‘cool’). Cuil believe that the service they offer is more efficient and that they possess at least triple the index size that Google has.

A certain IT analyst responded by saying that Cuil is not likely to keep Google awake at night.

But stranger things have happened. You just never know what Cuil is capable of especially as, being former Google employees, they have insider information – they know how Google ticks – and what makes it tick - its strengths and weaknesses (yes, I’m sure that even Google has its weak spot/s). Who’s to say Cuil can’t take some of those weaknesses, spin it on its head and turn it into a strength that propels it head and shoulders above the rest?

Cuil = David; Google = Goliath. Never say never.

I wish them luck. Google has too much power and it’s time their feathers were ruffled a little. Even if Cuil don’t succeed, I hope they at least get Google hot under the collar, leading the way for another company to possibly take it a step further in unhinging them from the top spot. It’s time someone else tried the top spot on for size.

One thing Cuil definitely has over Google is that it doesn’t hold onto personal data (unlike Google who’d love to know how many times you blinked the last time you were online).

Cuil’s design and usability is being criticised by some, but I’d like to see how Google used to look back in the day.

Regardless of how it pans out for Cuil, I admire them for having the courage to challenge Google.

Six big UK-based Internet companies have joined part of an ensuing campaign to tackle the amount of music being downloaded illegally, particularly file sharers.

UK law tackling the issue has been in place for years, but it’s only recently that a new momentum has kicked in.

The Big Six (as I shall call them) will send out letters to any illegal downloaders warning them to stop. The next step, if there’s no cessation, will include measures such as slowing down of the user’s bandwidth or stopping them from downloading altogether.

People have already been taken to court in the past. In 2005, 23 people were taken to court and ordered to pay £50,000 in compensation for illegally sharing 9000 tracks online.

I was watching the news a couple of days ago (about what these ISPs are planning to do). A young man was being interviewed. He was asked how he felt about the new campaign and he said he didn’t see how what he downloads affects record companies in any way as they make so much money anyway.

First of all, I thought:  you dumb fool, you’re admitting to illegal downloads ON TV? Good move. Really good.

Second: The late media magnate, Robert Maxwell, was found to have embezzled millions from his employees’ pensions. He managed to get away with it for as long as he did ‘cos he shaved a very small unnoticeable amount from each account. Add those little bits up and you’re talking £450 million.

Third: My grandmother used to say, ‘little drops of water make an ocean’.

I’m in no way jumping to the defence of record companies (‘cos they need to take a serious look in the mirror too), but if all those illegal downloads are eating into their profits, they’re not the ones that’ll suffer - it’s the artist.

We’ll see how this recent ‘toughening up’ affects the music-download landscape in the UK. It will, no doubt, encourage the development of new technologies – some by those looking to enforce the rule – others by those looking to buck the system.

I can’t imagine life without a mouse. Yes, I can use a laptop without one (and I’ve once had to do that on my desktop when my mouse suddenly gave up the ghost), but not to be able to ever use one would be like going out without a handbag. It’s something a lot of people are so used to.

Well, if we are to believe the latest tech news whizzing its way round the ether, we may have no choice in 3 to 5 years’ time. An analyst has predicted that within that time, the computer mouse will be obsolete. Poof! Kaput! No more!

In its place will be face recognition and touch screen technology.

Now, looking at products like the Wii, Guitar Hero and my best friend, the iPhone, you can see this prediction taking root in some ways. However, I don’t think there’ll be as complete and as rapid an overhaul as the analyst may think. Yes, young people of today have ‘iPod’, ‘Wii’ and ‘iPhone’ tattooed on their fingernails, but I think the complete shift he mentions is more likely to happen with the next generation because then they can grow into it, never having known what a mouse is in the first place.

I wonder where it leaves big companies like Logitech, though, who probably make a significant chunk of their bread-and-butter from manufacturing mice. The senior vice president of Logitech has said that the predicted demise of the mouse ‘is greatly exaggerated’.

All I can say, Mr Vice President, is:

…look what happened to vinyl.

…and video recorders.

Is Logitech being too self-assured or are they secretly getting worried and working overtime in their R & D department?

Only time will tell.

All I know is I’m going to start collecting mice – one in every colour – ‘cos in 10-15 years’ time, if they indeed do become obsolete, you just never know how much you might be able to flog it on eBay for!

Step aside, Nicole Kidman. You too, Angelina Jolie. ‘Cos Mama WordPress has just given birth to a bouncing baby boy. Weighing in at 2.6 lbs, mother and baby are doing fine.

Baby WordPress better watch its back, though, ‘cos I’m sure Mama WP’s gotten herself all knocked up again and 2.7’s on its merry little way.

No shame, woman. No shame.

One word. Contraception. (or will hackers do the job just as well?)

As I’ve mentioned briefly in a previous post or two, I’m really not one to thirst for new technology. My breath doesn’t depend on it. I like to let new versions stew in some vinegar for a while before I try it (if I ever do). In the meantime, I’m quite happy to see other people offer up their souls at the guinea-pig altar. I’ll even line the bottom of the New-Version-X mountain with loads of pink pillows when they jump off.

I find the constant WP updates a pain, like a kid that has to constantly move from town to town and reacquaint himself with new schools, new friends, new bullies, etc. every 6 months or so. Always the new kid on the block.

The new features WordPress offers are helpful but it makes me wonder why they didn’t think of (and act on) some of these in the first place. For example, everyone and their chihuahua knows that the new word-count feature should have been in place since the year 1907. If you’d given me a ton of Lego, I would have built that feature myself.

If you do plan on upgrading to 2.6 (or is it 2.7? I get so very confused these days), I shall pray for you. If you see a slight glow round your keyboard, that’s my prayer taking effect.

Have a good weekend, my friend, with or without WordPress.