Why would Apple want to restrict iPhone filming at live gigs?

A couple of days ago, rumours came through that Apple is working on Infrared technology which would prevent unauthorised filming at live events.  Some good responses have been posted around the blogs concerning the way a repressive regime might deploy the same technology to prevent the recording of violent suppression / genocide etc.

I am unconvinced by the proposition that Apple would want to protect the IP of the recording labels.  But, put this technology against a couple of other new rumours / announcements and it makes more sense:  the rumour that Apple is going to announce its own TVs together with possible cable service/Netflix killer services AND the details of the iTunes LIVE event in London.  What Apple is doing is protecting its own future revenue from its own future live events!

Why can’t we do tethering on an iPad running IOS 4.3?

So, O2 just announced that we can now have tethering fo free on on iPhone4.  Great.  When I called them to implement this, they still wanted me to upgrade to a different package, which is not quite the same as “what you already pay for” plus free tethering, but by jiggering around a bit, I did manage to get tethering plus a bit more Internet allowance minus a few minutes for 15p a month extra, which is probably an OK deal.

Now I want to do the same on my 3G iPad on the 3 (Three) network, but I can’t because it isn’t supported!  Why would I want to do that?  Simply because the network coverage between the two networks means that most places I go are covered well by one network or the other, but rarely by both.  So if I need to use a proper laptop, and I had the option to use both networks, this would be great.

2011 Census: a waste of time?

The 2011 Census will, in my mind, be a complete waste of time and effort because the likelihood of the data collected being accurate is slight. In Peterborough, the city council estimates that there are may be 20,000 people living here in addition to the 170,000 or so that its official statistics show. My question is whether those additional people are likely to show up in the Census.

I suspect that a number of people are most unlikely to fill out the census forms because:

- They are in shared accommodation. They do not consider themselves responsible for filling in the form, and neither does anyone else in the building.
- They are not proficient in English and will not be bothered to get the forms in their own language or to get help with completing them.
- They do not perceive themselves as having sufficient stake in this society and will not see the Census as being relevant to them.
- They are illegally in the country and will not want “the authorities” to have any record of their whereabouts.
- They object to providing the government with some of the information provided, so they will not respond.

If challenged, I imagine these people will say they have returned the forms and it will be impossible to prove otherwise.

How inaccurate does the Census have to be before it is worthless? My impression would be that a Census that is more than 3-4% out would not give us any advantage over the statistics that we already have, and I can’t imagine that this Census will be that accurate.

The reason for the N Carolina data centre

Let’s triangulate a little information…

1. Apple have a desire to get more into the enterprise market, I think.

2. Apple has announced that it will cease supply of XServe servers

3. Apple has just built a huge data centre with no announced purpose as yet

4. Rumours have been recently cirulating about the ability to run an OSX machine “in the cloud”

5. Apple has been quietly working on iWork.com

6. There was no upgrade to iWork announced yesterday with the opening of the Mac App store.

So maybe we won’t need new servers or work apps because they will all be in the cloud?

 

India jet fighters paid for with DFID money?

I know this isn’t a technology point but….

I can’t quite understand why the UK continues to spend £300m a year on overseas aid to India with one hand and is close to selling them 5Bn worth of Typhoon jet fighters with the other.  If they can afford the fighters, perhaps they should be helping their own poor.  Or maybe India is taking pity on the UK and ensuring that BAE workers keep their jobs?

Why I don’t believe that Apple is done with servers

The announcement this week that Apple is to stop shipping XServe in January seems to have been greeted by a chorus talking about the possible inadequacies of the proposed Macmini and MacPro replacements, and suggestions that Apple is really not interested in the server market.  This doesn’t seem to square with the fact that Apple itself is just building some of the biggest server farms in the world, and another big user will be Disney, in which Steve Jobs has a big interest. I can’t think that they are going to fill the new data centres with Dells!!

New MacBook Air dual boots iOS and OS X?

Here’s a bit of speculation that I haven’t seen elsewhere.  Just imagine a machine that could boot into either OSX or iOS.  You could then use it either like an iPad with a keyboard or like a small notebook computer running all the main Mac applications.  It would have to have a multi-touch screen too, but I’d buy that!

Apple launching Microsoft Exchange replacement?

Just suppose for a second that the giant data centre being built by Apple in North Carolina isn’t just to serve the expected “iTunes-in-the-cloud” offering. What if it’s real purpose is to provide a beefed-up, business capable version of Mobileme. Imagine a prettier front end than Google Apps, but a solution that would not require businesses to run their own servers. Maybe somewhere between Mobileme and OSX Server?

I’m not sure such a product would be an instant hit with a lot of big businesses, but for small-medium firms, it would be an absolute boon.

In the past week, there have been more reports about the high proportion of college students who use Mac. These guys are not going to want to regress to Windows once they graduate. If Apple wants to expand its footprint in small businesses, it has to displace the default MS corporate solutions, not just the desktop apps. As more of the desktop migrates to the cloud, so is corporate infrastructure (Salesforce.com is a good example.)

The incompetence of UK mobile 3G providers for iPad

It has been an interesting experience comparing the sign-up and customer service arrangements for three of the UK’s 3G providers who advertise offerings for the iPad.

Vodafone

I bought a Vodafone micro-SIM from Apple.  Their website gives the impression that I can buy a 30 day service, but when I went to activate the SIM, they went through the whole credit check thing and I suddenly found myself committing to £15 a month.  The service is good in terms of coverage and speed, but I don’t want to spend £15 a month when most of the time, I can jump on a WiFi link.  I decided to monitor my usage online (I know you can do it from “settings” on the iPad too)  but was amused to find that when I entered my mobile number to register for a “my account” on the Vodafone website, it said it would send me a security code that I would need to progress further.  But the iPad doesn’t have SMS. Duh! Doesn’t anyone think these things through?  Customer services said I couldn’t register for online account management with an iPad.  I cancelled my account.

O2

On opening the O2 Micro-SIM package that came by post, the packing told me to insert it into the iPad and follow the onscreen instructions.  I did that.  Nothing happened. I went to the O2 website on my computer and found that O2 want me to sync my computer via iTunes which will download some software which will enable me to activate the service and manage it right from the iPad.  That’s no good.  Scenario: I just arrived in the country for a week’s work, looking forward to buying the advertised 7 day’s service for £7.50.  I can’t go back home to sync with iTunes to get their download, so I can’t use their service.  That’s not my situation, but I can’t be bothered to faff around with their software. Shame, as I’m quite happy with their service on the iPhone.

Three

I decided that their 1GB package would be great at £7.50 a month. Opened their Micro-SIM package with anticipation, and called the number on the card to activate it.  I was then told that this is the wrong number and was kept waiting while their rep found the right one in their email.  Then it took another 15 minutes to do the credit checks etc.

What I want!

Can’t we just have a pay-as-you-go service like Three have for their USB dongles.  On their website, I can easily load some credit and buy a month’s worth of service when I need it.  Then it expires and I do it again when I need to.  Simple.  If all the providers did that, then I could have multiple SIM cards, and I could choose the one which has the best coverage for wherever I am.  I also want to be able to do the same when I visit another country.  Just buy some credit, slip in a SIM and get online.  We can do that with phones, so why not with other devices?  Better yet, banish international roaming charges and I wouldn’t even change SIMs most of the time.  When will the mobile networks respond to customer needs.  They would probably say that they are responding to shareholders in preference to customer.  Hmmm…. it turns out that most shareholders ARE customers, who probably want the same as I want!  Wait…. I probably am a shareholder via my pension fund!

Where is the global market?

Why is it that book and music publishers continue to make their output available selectively, in only certain countries? I have my shiny new iPad pointed at the UK bookstore and the stock is very limited. If I want a physical book which is “only available” in the USA, I can order it on Amazon and have it delivered to my UK address. I also have a US iTunes account, so I can switch to that and buy the stuff I want as if I were in that country, but why is all this necessary?

What’s wrong will having one big bookstore, where all the books are available to whoever wants them?