As much as I love the Surface, I sincerely hope the government doesn’t buy one, and instead spends their money on doing something useful, like ensuring every peak hour train has eight f—king carriages. Honestly, how can they justify even contemplating the Surface when our public transport system is worse than some third-world countries.

Anyway, according to the article, the Government is looking for “innovative ways to store, share and analyse government information”. Like claiming copyright on train timetable info and blocking third-party apps? No?

Sorry, I’m just a bit over Cityrail at the moment. But you should read the ITNews article anyway.

[ITNews]

Lots of gear still that’s still kicking around only has an analogue connection with digital video recorders (DVRs): like TiVos and Slingboxes made before 2004. And what about your TV? You’d likely be forced to upgrade to gear with digital ports (like HDMI) to watch movies protected with Selectable Output Control (SOC).

The studios are desperate to show on-demand movies over cable prior to their DVD release, but claim they can’t without so without SOC. They say the tech protects their revenue by blocking easy analogue copying — the so called “analogue hole“. Problem is, DVDs (a supposed secure format) get ripped and shared online anyway.

Not only that, but it’s almost a moot point. Warner Brothers (who signed the original SOC petition last year) released Observe and Report and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past for video-on-demand (VoD) this September — before their DVDs hit stores. Consumer advocacy groups, like Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), also point out that Magnolia Pictures, distributors like IFC Films and more recently, Starz Media, are also doing VoD before DVD.

The MPAA says that the outputs would only be disabled for the new movies, and wouldn’t impact any existing content. And they make the fair point that there’s always a lag between new experiences early adopters get compared to those with older gear.

But I’m sorry MPAA, pull your head out of your arse. DVDs still get ripped, and one of the very studios you represent is still releasing on-demand movies prior to their DVD release. Why bother? Think about the huge customer base you’re alienating, and stay away from the back of my TV. [Public Knowledge and PC Magazine via BoingBoing]

There are a thousand gigabytes in a terabyte, a thousand terabytes in a petabyte, a thousand petabytes in an exabyte, a thousand exabytes in a zettabyte, and a thousand zettabytes in a yottabyte. In other words, a yottabyte is 1,000,000,000,000,000GB.

In terms of data on current human scales, a yottabyte is nearly infinite (though I’m sure the NSA will manage to fill the thing in like two weeks, and iPods will come with yottabytes in just a few months).

To be fair, the yottabyte figure is just one estimate generated by a Pentagon think tank. The facility could hold a mere hundreds of petabytes. But either way, the prospect is as unsustainable as it is frightening. This one facility will burn through as much electricity as the entirety of Salt Lake City.

All of this data comes from the book The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency by Matthew M. Aid. And while the paranoid among you may read it, I, MARK WILSON, HAVE NO REASON TO FEAR THE NSA’S INVOLVEMENT IN MY LIFE OR INFORMATION AT ALL. [NYBooks via CrunchGear]

Most of the Maldives lie less than three feet above sea level, which puts them much more at risk if global sea levels keep rising. Some scientists have warned that the islands could even be uninhabitable within 100 years (provided a rise of 7-24 inches), and the Maldives government has been vocal in the campaign to battle rising sea levels. Eleven of the 14 cabinet members attended the meeting, conducted with whiteboards and microphones 20 feet underwater, and all signed their wetsuits, to be auctioned off for the cause. [Telegraph, image from AP via CBC]

Apparently, US government officials have been advising frequent business travellers to keep separate electronics for use in China that they only use there. This includes computers and mobile phones. And if you used your normal phone over there, it may be time to toss it.

It’s all about corporate espionage, as one bugged phone or computer in the hands of a powerful exec could end up costing millions of dollars if info falls into the wrong hands.

It’s both totally nuts and completely sensible at the same time. This is the age we live in, friends. [Geek.com]

The app store will be managed by the General Services Administration, and in addition to business apps, will provide tools for storage, web hosting and social networking. Kundra hopes it will save both time, energy and money, while bringing the Government’s IT infrastructure out of the dark ages. Somewhere a Vogon is shedding a tear.

Google Exec Sergey Brin was so excited that he drove over in his Tesla and promised to save a chunk of Google’s cloud servers just for the government! Facebook, Vimeo, Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce.com are all providing services as well. Everyone wins! [Apps.Gov via White House via NY Times]

Here’s Telstra’s response to Conroy’s ultimatum for separation:

Telstra remains committed to working with Federal Government
September 15 2009 – Telstra Chief Executive Officer David Thodey today responded to the Federal Government’s proposed regulatory reform package.

“While we are disappointed the government has felt it necessary to introduce this legislation, Telstra remains committed to working with the government to find a solution that is in the best interests of the industry, the nation, Telstra and our shareholders,” Mr Thodey said.

“It is Telstra’s view that many aspects of this package are unnecessary and need never be implemented if a mutually acceptable outcome can be reached on the National Broadband Network.

“Telstra supports the Government’s NBN vision. We are willing to discuss options around separation.”

Telstra will carefully examine the package over the coming days, he said.

“At all times, our approach to regulatory reform and the NBN will continue to be driven first and foremost by the need to protect the interests of our shareholders,” Mr Thodey said.

The NBN has been given the strongest possible board and management focus, including the establishment of a dedicated Board sub-committee, chaired by the Chairman of the Board, Ms Catherine Livingstone, and an NBN engagement team, led by Group Managing Director Mr Geoff Booth.

Telstra has done a large amount of work to ensure we have the best possible understanding of the complex and challenging issues around separation and NBN.

“We are actively and constructively engaged with Government.” Mr Thodey said. “Much remains uncertain, but we will continue to provide updates whenever it is appropriate to do so.”

Naturally, Optus weighed in on the discussion:

Optus welcomes landmark decision on regulatory reform
Optus today welcomed the landmark decision by the Federal Government to reform the regulatory environment governing the Australian telecommunications sector.

“The Federal Government today made an important step in reforming the telecommunications sector with its proposed changes to the regulatory regime. It is a landmark decision that has the potential to change the entire telecommunications landscape forever, resulting in considerable benefits for all Australians,” Paul O’Sullivan, Optus Chief Executive said.

The Government’s draft legislation closely mirrors the model Optus put forward in its submission to the Government’s regulatory reform discussion paper on 3 June 2009. Optus has long advocated for a regulatory framework built around four key pillars including: structural separation; open access principles; cost-based pricing; and ACCC oversight.

Maha Krishnapillai, Optus Director Government and Corporate Affairs said, “We are encouraged by today’s announcement and believe that the proposed reforms will address many of the issues which have adversely impacted competition in the Australian telecommunications industry over the last 12 years. We look forward to examining the draft legislation in further detail over the coming weeks.”

“The Government has made its intentions clear. It is now up to the parliament, Telstra and the rest of the industry to ensure this long overdue reform becomes a reality,” Mr. O’Sullivan said.

As did iiNet:

iiNet Welcomes Telecommunications Regulatory Reform

15 September 2009 – iiNet, Australia’s third largest Internet Service Provider (ISP), has welcomed the Federal Government’s planned reforms to telecommunications regulations saying it will encourage competition and benefit customers.

While still examining the full detail of the reforms, iiNet’s Managing Director, Michael Malone, said requiring Telstra to separate and streamlining the competition regime were critical to the future of Australia’s telecommunications industry.

“The big winner from these reforms is the Australian consumer who will be able to gain access to fast, affordable and competitive broadband services,” Mr Malone said.

“It should provide greater certainty for the telecommunications industry and encourage investment, innovation and jobs.

“iiNet is well placed to continue our strong growth under the new world that will be created by the National Broadband Network and these regulatory reforms.

“We are a market leader in product innovation, customer service, content provision, backed by a strong brand, and will be able to compete on a truly open high speed network.”

So the question now is whether anybody cares? We probably won’t actually see any pricing reforms for a while yet, and while it’s always nice to see Telstra slapped around a bit (especially after the arrogant way Trujillo ran the company), what we really want to see is cheaper broadband (and ADSL2+ at my local exchange for ISPs that aren’t Telstra)…

[Conroy vs Telstra on Giz]

Apparently the government and Telstra have been talking about this for awhile, so it shouldn’t have come as a big surprise to the company. Of course, that doesn’t mean they won’t fight it. Considering how much friction there has been between the company and the government over the past few years, you’d expect a confrontation.

Here are some of the restrictions Conroy announced this morning:

If Telstra don’t play along and do thins voluntarily, the Government will change the Telecommunications Act 1997 so that:

* Telstra conduct its network operations and wholesale functions at arm’s length from the rest of Telstra;
* Telstra provides equivalent price and non-price terms to its retail business and non-Telstra wholesale customers; and
* this equivalence of treatment is made transparent to the regulator and competitors via strong internal governance structures.

Furthermore, the Government will prohibit the company from gaining any additional spectrum for advanced wireless broadband while:

* remains vertically integrated; and
* owns a hybrid fibre coaxial cable network; and
* maintains its interest in Foxtel.

Discussions will need to be completed by December at the latest, with the Bill set to be voted on in October or November. Which gives us a couple of months of entertainment at least. Let’s just hope the consumer – who Conroy claims will benefit most from this – actually does see the benefit.

[DBCDE]

The research, which will almost certainly be used by Conroy and his pals to try and reinforce their argument for mandatory internet filtering, also states that two thirds of teenage girls surveyed have viewed porn online as well.

Even though the internet wasn’t anywhere near as prevalent when I was a teenage boy, I can say without a trace of doubt that any teenage boy saying they’d only seen porn online accidentally is lying. Because it’s completely natural for teenagers to be curious about the physical and hormonal changes in their body, and porn offers a fairly easy way to explore and understand those changes, even if it isn’t necessarily the best way.

I can’t speak for women here—never having been one—but I imagine it’s the same across the estrogen fence.

Let’s just hope that somehow the end result of this study is better parenting, rather than the government deciding they’ll try and “fix” the problem themselves…

[News.com.au]