The BBC has an article today about the evolution of RFID tags. They can now hold more complex information than simple product bar codes and people are doing increasingly clever things to enable normal household goods to interact over the internet. One example of this is Nabaztag wi-fi rabbit, a cute gizmo that can read RFID tags and communicate with the internet. Now some book publishers are adding RFID tags to their books, so that when the book is waved in front of the rabbit it starts to 'read' the book out loud - well, stream a recording of it being read from the internet anyway. Cute. But that's not all. It seems the Rabbit, which according to the website is 'good for lovers' (coff), has a PR guy whose last name is Kitten. Maybe this is just a coincidence, or maybe the sinister Rabbit Corp forces every staff member to change their names to be cute just like their product... Hmm... if I ever join them I'd be Mr Fluffy.

Labels: cute, Technology

There is some movement across the EU to allow in-flight calls from mobile phones. At the moment this discussion is in its early stages, as all the national air regulators need to approve it, but the very fact that it is even being discussed seriously worries the hell out of me.

Even ignoring the possibility of remote triggering of terrorist devices, my vote is firmly against allowing in-flight mobile phone calls purely for social reasons. Smoking, that most anti-social of social behaviours, has already been banned on the grounds of safety but people of my age may well remember the frustration of being on a long haul journey when smoking was allowed. So instead of that pervasive stench, imagine the constant nattering of people on seats all around you loudly talking into their phones, or the beeping of text messages arriving. Argh! It's already making me feel tense and I'm on the ground right now. Innovation in communication is a wonderful thing, but sometimes common and social sense should win out.

Labels: flying, Technology

Today is Google's 9th birthday - hence the natty pinata design they have on their home page. In some ways it surprises me that they're that old, and then it feels like I can't remember what life was like without being able to 'Google' anything. I'm sure even Larry & Sergey didn't envision that it would turn out like this. Here's to another interesting nine years...

Labels: google, Technology, Trends

Well after almost a full day of no Skype, the wonder peer to peer telephone app, after their mysterious unexplained outage it looks like most people can now log on again. It's slow to sign on right now though and it's not letting me make some profile changes, so guess not all is good in the woods. However this whole event means we now know more about the Skype 'heartbeat' page.

In most likely unrelated news, my website host is having their own issues, so at the moment Matt Hobbs is fine (ie, here) but is Useful is unavailable. They claim it will be back up soon, but it's already been down since 9pm last night so that's now 12 hours.

Hmm... maybe the whole internet just has a 12 hour cold or something. Makes you appreciate the value of a good sysadmin person!

Labels: internet, Technology

The Kinetica Museum, slated to be the site of the first demonstration of the Orbo perpetual energy device from Steorn, has now announced that the opening of this exhibit has been "postponed until further notice"...

Labels: London, Technology, treadmills

Today at the Kinetica Museum in London, Steorn are supposed to be demonstrating their new Orbo technology - a technology they claim offers free energy, or perpetual motion as it's also known. As of now, July 5th 3pm BST, the demo is not working - with the following explanation:

"We are experiencing some technical difficulties with the demo unit in London. Our initial assessment indicates that this is probably due to the intense heat from the camera lighting. We have commenced a technical assessment and will provide an update later today. As a consequence, Kinetica will not be open to the public today (5th July). We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience."

Labels: London, Technology, treadmills