As you may remember from my earlier post on the $100 laptop, I find the both the hardware, and the events that have surrounded it all quite interesting.
Well, now the laptop is finally starting to be made, after a long, long wait, since its creation as a concept. If you check out the BBC article on it, you will see a lot more information has been revealed. For example, to keep costs down, there will be no hard drive, but 1Gb of (presumably flash) memory. The case is designed to withstand a hard life in the open, and the screen is designed with outdoor use in mind, as many locations may not have a school, or a roof for the pupils using them. Finally, as mains electricity is rare in many undeveloped areas of this world, the power can be fed by solar panels or produced by hand.
Anyway, I await to see if they manage to get the cost down to the projected 100 dollars…
Jul 24 2007
100 Dollar Laptop Starts Production
Comments Off on 100 Dollar Laptop Starts Production
Jul 24 2007
Kazakh Company Wants To Invest
Just caught this report over on the BBC World news channel.
Apparently the American government and GreenPeace (for differring reasons) is not very happy at the prospect of KazAtomProm (the Kazakh Nuclear Company) wanting to buy an 8% stake in an American company, WestingHouse Nuclear.
KazAtomProm is a Kazakh state company that produces Uranium. Anyway, here is the report itself…
On a related subject, I found a video on the BBC website reporting that Kazakhstan has announced plans to build a uranium enrichment facility in conjunction with Russia. Here is the direct video link. If that direct link does not work, or you have a dial up connection to the internet, you could try the following official link instead.
Jul 23 2007
BBC Reports On Gloucesterhire Flooding
Gordon Brown was interviewed in Gloucestershire, regarding the government’s response to the flooding afflicting the country, and Glos. in particular.
This was then followed a reporter in Tewksbury describing how life was right now for its citizens, with serious commentary; the people playing in the water in the background did not help to add any gravity to his words however 😉
You can also find a BBC text report on the situation here.
Hmm, it looks like the audio is out of sync slightly there, I will have to return to my old method of ripping the video from our satellite receiver, apologies.
Anyway, with more rain forecast, I hope everyone will be ok over there.
Jul 23 2007
Pleasantly Surprised – Israeli Arab Textbook
I was trying to catch up on the news from the past week, when I ran across a BBC article that grabbed my interest.
Apparently the Education ministry has approved a textbook (for the first time) to be used in Arab schools within Israel that presents a slightly more balanced way than any previous attempts.
Rather than simply stating the events surrounding the 1948 creation of the state of Israel from the viewpoint of Jews, it mentions that Palestinian Arabs were not happy at all at their land being taken away, and people being expelled. Of course right wing politicians in Israel have complained, but hopefully people will ignore them, rather than get behind their chest thumping…
Comments Off on Pleasantly Surprised – Israeli Arab Textbook
Jul 17 2007
Britain Expels Russian Intelligence Officers
According to a BBC article, Britain has ordered four diplomatic staff to leave the country, in retaliation for Russia refusing to allow extradition of the main suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, Andrei Lugovoi.
Russia claims that such behaviour is immoral which is an interesting phrase to use. I can not help wondering what the original Russian word used was, and whether it has any other translations commonly used from it. I saw piece on this issue a couple of days ago on Russia Today, a satellite TV channel we pick up. The station appears to do little to dispel the rumours of high levels of Kremlin policy extension through the media in its portrayal of Western governments and non-criticism of the top dogs over in Moscow.
Comments Off on Britain Expels Russian Intelligence Officers
Jul 17 2007
Queen – Last Post Hopefully
As you may remember from my previous Queen Bites Back and Queen Bites Back Post Correction posts, there was a suggestion that the Queen stormed out of a photo session. This then turned out to be a technical glitch, where video footage was accidentally edited out of chronological sequence, when a promotion video was shown to the press at a launch event.
Well, the BBC appears to have been exonerated, mostly, in the matter, as the independent production company (RDF Media) have held their hands up, and explained it was an (honest) mistake on their part.
Jul 16 2007
Charlie From Lost…
This time, I don’t think I will need Alex to come along and correct me on character names again 🙂 …
Irina recently noticed recently that ‘Charlie Pace’ (Dominic Monaghan) from Lost played ‘Geoffrey Shawcross’ in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. There is around a 10 year gap between the two roles, but Ira’s eagle eyes spotted the similarity. This afternoon, I noticed an episode of Hetty etc. was on, so I flicked the satellite onto BBC Prime.
Anyway, I have included a couple of screen grabs from both Lost and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates for comparison, click the last two to see a higher resolution version.
Jul 14 2007
BBC Set To Talk Over Open Source Software
For Brits who pay for a TV licence, there will be a service launched at the end of this month that will allow them to watch TV programs from the previous week, and keep them stored for up to 30 days in most instances.
Unfortunately, the initial release will only work on PCs with Windows XP, and some people are claiming this gives Microsoft an unfair advantage. Although the BBC is hoping to bring out a version for Macs soon, it looks as though Vista PCs and mobile devices will have to wait a little longer. I was not able to source any information about plans for Linux based computers.
If the iPlayer application/service was open source, it seems more likely that porting it to other platforms would take less time, though some people fear this would make it easier to bypass the DRM (digital rights management) contained within iPlayer, that stops downloads from working after a set time, and presumably blocks anyone other than the original licence player’s PC from being able to play the videos.
Comments Off on BBC Set To Talk Over Open Source Software
Jul 13 2007
Find A Bug – Make Some $$$
Just read a BBC news article, that reports how researchers/hackers (depending upon your viewpoint) can now make money by selling the details of any security loopholes they find. Rather than doing dodgy back room deals with dodgy criminals, the idea is that the software company that makes the buggy software can pay for good information that will then lead to their products becoming more secure.
Assuming that the auction house does actually ensure that people buying the secrets are intending to fix problems, not exploit them, this seems like a really good idea. So, as it has been a while since we’ve had a debate in the comments section on this blog, does anyone have anything to add?
Comments Off on Find A Bug – Make Some $$$
Jul 13 2007
Queen Bites Back Post Correction
In a previous entry (the Queen bites back post), I relayed information that the BBC had provided, detailing how the Queen had apparently stormed out of a photo session with Annie Leibovitz. However, the situation has now changed, and it would appear that this footage was ‘mistakenly’ edited incorrectly.
The remarks the Queen made to one of her aides (“I’m not changing anything. I’ve had enough dressing like this, thank you very much,”) whilst apparently walking off, were actually made before the photo shoot took place, and not after Leibovitz was shown asking Elizabeth II to consider removing her tiara. The BBC has apologized for the accidental mistake, and so I thought I should provide an update.
« Previous Page — Next Page »