Just Jack

As mentioned previously, I am soon to depart on a walk to Land’s End. We are travelling Monday - Sunday and to ensure we reach our destination on time we are beginning in Mevagissey. My mobile will be off during the day time to conserve battery but I will be picking up messages each evening if anyone needs to contact me.

No doubt there will be a post mentioning how it went very soon …

Earth from Galileo.

An ars technica article talks about a paper by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger called ‘Useful Void: The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing‘ in which he expresses his concerns about the amounts of data being ‘remembered’ by the systems that now permeate our lives.

The rise of fast processors and cheap storage means that remembering, once incredibly difficult for humans, has become simple. Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, a professor in Harvard’s JFK School of Government, argues that this shift has been bad for society, and he calls instead for a new era of “forgetfulness.”

…

In contrast to omnibus data protection legislation, Mayer-Schönberger proposes a combination of law and software to ensure that most data is “forgotten” by default. A law would decree that “those who create software that collects and stores data build into their code not only the ability to forget with time, but make such forgetting the default.”

This ‘memory’ is an issue that has concerned me in the past. All people do things they regret and some may find that such memories return to haunt them; politicians sometimes discover that an admission of drug taking or an unpopular stance on an issue can impact a career. Even with a simple blog like this, I often pause before posting to consider how an entry or submission might be interpreted sometime in the future.

These cookies look and sound amazing. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

Engadget is reporting that Nokia 1100 sales have passed 200 million worldwide. It must be doing something right.

All those who complain that modern phones have too many functions, are too hard to use and don’t have good enough batteries, this is the phone for you.

Trust me, my dad has one.

As my contract has run out and the joystick on my K750i is failing me, I’m looking for a new phone. Disappointed by the Nokia N95 I’m hoping the imminent K810i (slimmed down version of the very popular K800i) will be good. Anyone know if Sony Ericsson are bringing out a competitor to the N95 any time soon? 5 megapixel camera and GPS is hard to ignore…

I have long been concerned about identity management on the Web. Many sites require registration but few are integrated resulting in users having to manage many separate accounts. A few options are available, eBay used MSN Passport for a while and Google offer Account Authentication. OpenID, an “open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity”, seems to be gathering momentum and the O’Reilly Radar reports that Sun Microsystems are currently implementing OpenID for employees.

Decided to buy myself a proper bow tie for the summer ball to replace my pre-tied one. Now just need to learn to tie it.

As part of our post exam activities, ‘MVT Summer‘, Chris, Owen and I are intending to follow the South Cornwall Coast Path, a 150 mile walk from Plymouth to Land’s End. Hopefully Ben & Claire, Lucy & Adam, and the girls from House 69 will be able to join us at some stage on our trip.

I’m looking for a decent pair of boots size 8-9, a backpack and a highly compressible sleeping bag. If anyone has anything in good condition and going cheap please let me know. My email address is jacksmall [at] gmail [dot] com or leave a comment.

As widely reported, Nicolas Sarkozy beat Ségolène Royal in the French Presidential election. Goodbye to Jacques Chirac after twelve years as President. End of an era.

Amazingly, both rounds of the of the election enjoyed turnout as high as 85%. The 1997 Labour victory had a turnout of 71%, the 2004 U.S. Presidential election experienced 64% turnout.

As NASA begin contemplating a Mars trip that would take three years they have begun examining issues previously considered unimportant. According to this AP article via The Washington Times policies are being devised to deal with potential problems such as serious illness or death.