Blame this one on Hank Maus, the network sniffer. "This is really bloody fascinating," he said.

So we gave the story to the Pimply Faced Youth, and this is what we got...

IBC's call for papers. We've <a href="http://www.newswireless.net/articles/031223-ibc.html"> published their proposed programme.

Any comments?

Why do people not want the Internet on the Underground in London?

Edited by author 02-26-2004 07:18 AM
So, Cambridge Silicon Radio has gone public. Well, is going. But why is it supposed to be a secret in Australia?

Don't ever accuse me of not giving you tips for bargains...

All the public wifi you can eat. Probably six months. Read all about it!

The Comms Channel Expo: discuss here. If you can stay awake...

Are rude text messages really a problem? Or is it just a sensitive subject which actually doesn't bother anybody?

I'd not smile so readily... About 14 months back BBC4 screened an excellent documentary on G3 in the UK (at midnight on the UK's least-watched channel?) They drew attention to the absurd license costs that the telcos had agreed to pay (and documented the whole story; I've a suspicion that I once dated the daughter of one of the leading players, who was also a friend of the man who went on to become "Mr. Vodaphone". Small world!) But, to return to the point.... the program asked "where are the telcos going to recoup these huge costs?" And one of the answers they got was... Porn. Apparently, in the USA, one of the most profitable web-based companies offers live video... of a bed. Subscribers email in real-time what they want to see. The company admitted that they'd been approached by a UK mobile carrier to see if carrying live, hadcore porn videos over a 3G link was possible. "Of course, we can't tell you WHICH company it was" they said, "But their trademark is a colour". Well... that DOES make it hard to work out which one. The program makers asked an Orange spokesperson for acomment. He rapidly changed the subject - without issuing a categorical denial. Oops. What amazed me was the radical idea of a senior Orange manager coming up with such an original idea.

Yeah, I saw that programme too - incidently the guy that made that commment about trademark was asked to leave his company a few days after the programme went out. Not sure why, but referring to one of his product as "the 30 second wank" might have had something to do with it.

Three-Gee? Yes, Vodafone says, "you can buy a card in the shops today."

Twenty quid a month, 100 quid purchase. Broadband speeds, if you get a signal. Ah, yes... if!

I'm fed up with the London Underground and their endless excuses.

How can we tackle this?

At last! Guy's found a use for the now-ubiquitous camera phone and MMS messaging. You see someone being mugged a few yards away? You reach for your trusty mobile. You take a snapshot. And when you've emerged back into the daylight, you MMS it to the Evening Standard (having first negotiated an exclusive deal with the photo editor)

After the Madrid bombs, I think mobile phone services will be removed from all underground stations, worldwide. Explosives are TEN times as effective inside a building than outside. 10kg of dynamite inside a tunnel would cause massive damage.

On the way back from the Wireless LAN show I travelled in the same tube train carriage as a group of 5 Police Officers. Their radios kept chattering intermittently and it was disconcerting to see them straining to try and hear what was being said. Still it's good to know that they have the manpower to spare even if they don't have a clue what's going on outside :-)

You ask how to tackle London Underground - would shame work? I often go to Brussels and the mobile phone works fine in stations and through the tunnels. That is in a country which by our ususal stereotypical image never finished anything!

Peter,
 You thought /m24 - that "After the Madrid bombs, I think mobile phone services will be removed from all underground stations, worldwide" - a response about as useful as getting rid of all the dustbins in London after an IRA bomb in one!

The IRA bombing was brought under control by diplomacy and espionage, not by banning dustbins. If someone wants to set off a bomb in the underground, the lack of a mobile phone trigger won't bother them. There are dozens of ways of setting timers, wireless triggers, and so on, and terrorists have used them all.