Technology Newsletter
14 March 2008

Welcome

Welcome to another edition of the Prompt Newsletter.

We’ve got it all this week - AI breakthroughs, corruption, Guitar Hero and Doctor Who. Plus reports on a new camera that can see through clothing and how, by 2011, we may be looking at a serious storage crisis.

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Hazel Butters, CEO - Prompt Communications

Technology News

Wikipedia founder accused of corruption
By Duncan Heaney

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, has been facing a barrage of criticism over the last few weeks. A number of accusations of corrupt and controlling behaviour have surfaced that, if proven accurate, could have damaging implications for the site.

According to the BBC, Mr. Wales has been accused of editing a page in exchange for a donation. Former Novell scientist Jeffrey Merkey claims he donated $5,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation, and in return had changes made to his Wikipedia entry. The page history does show that it was edited by Mr. Wales, and protected so that no edits can be made by the company.

Mr. Wales fervently denies the allegations, calling them “nonsense”.

Last week, the Register reported that former Wikimedia Foundation executive Danny Wool has strongly criticised Mr. Wales over the way he handled his expenses. In a blog, Mr. Wool claims that,“At one point, [Wales] owed the Foundation some $30,000 in receipts, and this while we were preparing for the audit,” Mr. Wool also claims that this was not paid until someone threatened to leak the information to Wikipedia’s community of editors. Mr. Wool says that Mr. Wales paid back $7,000, but the rest in unaccounted for.

Again, the Wikimedia Foundation refutes this, stating clearly that “Jimmy has never used Wikimedia money to subsidize his personal expenditures”.

Mr. Wales also received criticism for using Wikipedia to dump his girlfriend, ex-Fox News journalist Rachel Marsden. Marsden claims that Mr. Wales ordered changes to her biography. Wikipedia theoretically has a neutral point of view, and many have expressed concern that Mr. Wales is misusing the site to pursue a personal agenda. Mr. Wales insists his involvement with Marden’s biography is completely unrelated to their relationship.

So, not a good month so far for Jimmy Wales.

AOL + Bebo = Meh
By Lance Concannon

Desperate to prove it can still swing with the cool kids, AOL this week announced that it plans to splurge $850 million on the ginger-stepchild of social networks, Bebo. AOL is no doubt hoping that the acquisition will make it more relevant to a new generation of internet users who view the company as "that crazy old man who keeps muttering about how he used to be in charge round here". Bebo currently has approximately 40 million members, compared to the 67 million claimed by Facebook and the 100+ million on MySpace.

On the surface, this deal might be somewhat reminiscent of your dad buying a Nickleback album to show you that he still knows how to rock but, to be fair, Bebo is pretty big in some international markets and even if this deal is relatively meaningless to the US, there’s a good chance it could work out nicely on a global level for AOL. The question that now needs to be answered is how AOL will integrate Bebo into its overall strategy (assuming, of course, that it has any kind of strategy beyond jumping on whatever bandwagon seems hot at the moment).

US Media News

By Tarryn Morley

April Kilcrease has resigned from her role as a reporter for Red Herring. Kilcrease has been with the business publication since 2007. In her role as a reporter, she covered networking and clean technology. She had been with the business publication since 2007. No replacement for Kilcrease has been named.

Elena Malykhina has left her post as an associate editor for Information Week. Paul Travis, Information Week’s web site news editor, will cover wireless, VoIP and smart phones until a replacement for Malykhina is appointed. Malykhina previously wrote for Newsday before joining InformationWeek in early 2004.

Three editorial staff members will leave the Boston Globe before April 1st. Executive editor Helen Donovan, deputy managing editor/news operations Michael Larkin and business columnist Steve Bailey are all leaving the paper. Page 1 editor, Caleb Solomon, has been promoted to executive editor to replace Donovan. Solomon will retain his previous responsibilities. Ellen Clegg, the Sunday deputy managing editor, will replace Larkin as deputy managing editor in charge of news operations.

Leroy Jones, Jr. has launched a new blog, Talking Technology with Leroy Jones, Jr. The blog covers the latest news in technology breakthroughs and development. Jones is currently editor of PoliticalJones.com, a daily blog featuring commentary on political happenings, and will continue write for the blog as well as Talking Technology.

UK Media News

By Tarryn Morley

Martin Courtney has been appointed technology editor at Incisive Media's Computing. Courtney joined Computing at the beginning of the year. He was previously editor at large on IT Week. In his new role, Courtney is responsible for writing about the key technologies and trends affecting Computing’s readers, as well as important developments in the major IT suppliers.

In other changes at the publication, Angelica Mari joined Computing as senior reporter covering financial services, retail, and travel and transport industries at the end of last year. Mari was previously editor of Incisive Media's Southern Update. Reporter Lara Williams left Computing in November last year and is now deputy editor of Foreign Direct Investment, a specialist financial business magazine.

Christian Annesley has resigned from his role as editor of Computerworld UK. He will replace Michael Taylor as editor of South West Business Insider. Taylor continues to edit the Insider title for the North West. Prior to joining Computerworld UK, Annesley was news editor for Computer Weekly. Jeremy Lee has been promoted from news editor to associate editor of Haymarket’s Marketing magazine. Lee has held various positions at Haymarket, including media editor at Marketing, as well as media reporter and section editor at Campaign magazine.

Tech Totals

By Zachariah N. Hofer-Shall

$164 billion
Value of AOL’s merger with Time Warner in 2001

$850 million
What AOL paid for social networking site Bebo

New camera can look through clothing
By Duncan Heaney

Some clever boffins have invented a new camera that allows them to see under people’s clothing. But before people get excited and start putting on their dirty macs, we should clarify that it does not reveal body detail.

According to the BBC, the ThruVison system uses terahertz rays, or T-rays, to detect concealed objects underneath people’s clothing and present an image on screen. T-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation emitted by all people and objects. They can pass through clothing, paper, ceramics and wood, but are blocked by metal and water. When these rays are collected and processed, users can see a glowing silhouette of the object or person. Different objects glow with varying brightness, but no anatomical detail is shown.

It is believed that the cameras can be used to detect hidden weapons, drugs and explosives from 25 metres away. The ThruVision system has been sold to Canary Wharf and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, and future demonstrations are planned.

Guitar Hero accused of infringing guitar maker’s patents
By Lance Concannon

Engadget reports that the legal beagles at musical instrument manufacturer, Gibson, think that Activision’s massively popular Guitar Hero games might infringe on a patent the company holds for “simulating a musical performance”. The odd thing about this situation is that for several years Gibson has been a partner of Activision, licensing brand names and guitar designs for use in the Guitar Hero series. So when exactly did somebody at the company realise that their new buddies in the video-games industry were making fat cash by infringing their intellectual property?

Gibson wants Activision to stop selling the games until the games publisher agrees to buy a licence to use the intellectual property, while Activision argues, naturally, that the games do not infringe Gibson’s patent. The matter now rests with the courts, where some doddering old judge is no doubt going to have a hell of a time trying to get his head around the concept of Guitar Hero.

Make Room! Make Room!
By Dave Wilby

Back in 1966, science fiction author Harry Harrison created a dystopian vision of a world in 1999 that found itself in the grips of a rampant population explosion, crippling resource shortages and crumbling infrastructure. Of course the vision never came to pass – we got boy-bands and the Sega Dreamcast instead – but perhaps Harrison’s punt wasn’t totally inaccurate, simply a few decades out of kilter?

A new IDC report sponsored by EMC entitled The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe claims that the amount of data that we collectively created, captured or replicated last year exceeded all available storage for the very first time. It goes on to predict that by 2011, the amount of digital information in existence will exceed the total storage space available by almost 50 per cent. Our current "digital universe" already comprises 281 exabytes (281 billion gigabytes) and counting.

EMC chief executive Joe Tucci told ZDNet on Tuesday. “As people's digital footprints continue growing, so too will the responsibility of organisations for the privacy, protection, availability and reliability of that information.”

Don’t worry though – there’s still plenty of time to dig that SLR back out before the revolution hits.

AI Eddie passes human development test
By Dave Wilby

Researchers into artificial intelligence have created a virtual character capable of passing cognitive reasoning tests beyond the abilities of human children under the age of five. Avatar Eddie was developed by Selmer Bringsjord and Andrew Shilliday of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. Eddie’s ability to pass ‘false belief’ cognitive tests normally used to test development in children and autistic adults is not only a major milestone in the understanding of human intelligence – it could also make gaming better.

“Today's video game characters have no genuine autonomy or mental picture of who you are," Bringsjord lamented to New Scientist. But virtual world’s populated with genuinely intelligent characters that could understand players’ motives and actions would open up whole new realms of possibilities to game developers. Watch the simple "false belief" scenario Bringsjord's team set up inside Second Life (15MB .mov file) and presented at the first Artificial General Intelligence conference in Tennessee earlier this month.

Website of the week

With Sean McManus

The ten doctors

Whether you’re a hard core Doctor Who fan, or just someone who’s watched the odd episode over the years, you’ll appreciate this tribute. Cartoonist Rich Morris has created a comic book in which the ten doctors are mysteriously reunited. The characterisation of each one is perfect, and the jokes roll as Rich tackles the inconsistencies between the different incarnations. It’s a work in progress, but with 80 pages completed, there’s more than enough to get you started. Well worth making time for.

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