The news that Nasa is to allow the public to choose the name of the latest module to be attached to the International Space Station has led to mass action by fans of the cult TV show Firefly.

For those who aren't familiar with the show it was created by Buffy creator Joss Whedon as a Western set in space. The show gained a loyal following but Fox pulled it after one season. Since then the show has gained a loyal, and some would say crazed, band of followers, including many in the technology community.

As an example of their devotion to the show (and subsequent film 'Serenity') fans had a whip round and raised enough money for a full page advert in Variety asking for the show's return. Every year they also raise thousands of dollars for Whedon's favourite charities. They sometimes call themselves Browncoats (a show reference) and make Trekkies look like under-acheivers.

The news about Nasa holding a naming vote seems to have got around the internet faster than naked pictures of Vannesa Hudgens. The name Serenity was always going to be on the list - it has a lot of fans in Nasa, and DVDs for the series and film are already on the space station.

Sure enough, a quick scan of the Nasa vote this morning shows the voting for Serenity running at 85 per cent of votes cast, including mine. Looks like the good ship Serenity will make it into space after all.

Posted by Iain Thomson on February 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A quick browse around Amazon and I find this little gem. Basically it's a special notebook where you can write down the URLs of your favourite web sites and passwords - yours for just $8.95.

If you ever see one of these on your employee's desk I would strongly consider firing them, or at least moving them away from a computer. Not only can they not understand basic web browser functionality but the book itself is a security nightmare.

Posted by Iain Thomson on February 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sprint Nextel, the US's third largest mobile operator and WiMax bearer, is finding it difficult to deal with the cold chill of the current recession.
 
The firm, which owns a significant, nationwide fibre optic network spanning the US, is Intel's flag bearer when it comes to high-speed, fixed mobile WiMax technology. However, Sprint, which has managed to fight its way up from the bottom of the telecom market to lag behind only AT&T and Verizon Wireless, is beginning to show the strain.
 
Recently Sprint Nextel admitted customers were deserting it in droves and it would have to lay off some 14 per cent of its workforce, approximately 8,000 jobs, in an attempt to cut costs and save up to $1.2bn a year.
 
The firm's woes are partly due to the current financial crisis, but they also have roots further back, namely the 2005 acquisition of Nextel, which many questioned from the get-go. The two firms found it difficult to mesh, resulting in poor customer service and bad network performance stemming from a serious lack of capacity.
 
In 2008, Sprint Nextel, which provides a plethora of both national and international services for businesses, governments and consumers, lost 3.6 million contract and 600,000 pre-paid customers to other networks. Unsurprisingly, company revenues also began a downwards spiral, which saw the firm's turnover plunge 10 per cent in the first three quarters of last year alone.
 
As if plunging revenues were not enough, Sprint Nextel also posted net losses of $1.17bn and saw its share price depreciate by 60 per cent to a paltry $2.45. This, despite measures taken by Sprint last year, including layoffs of some 4,000 employees, reducing its outsourcing, closing 125 shops, and slashing over 4,000 third-party distribution points. But the constant cost-cutting does not seem to be showing the desired results.
 
In addition to cutting costs, Sprint Nextel seems to be making a concerted effort to win back customers, especially within the younger population segment, signing deals with content providers like social networking giant MySpace, sports network ESPN and filmmaker Disney. These measures, however, pale in comparison with the huge bet the firm has placed on mobile WiMax.
 
It is actually Clearwire, in which Sprint Nextel holds a 51 per cent stake, that heads Sprint's mobile WiMax initiative, with other shareholders including Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner also heavily invested in the new technology. Many have high hopes for WiMax, especially since it purportedly offers between 2Mbit/sand 4Mbit/s while most other cellular networks currently struggle to even reach 1Mbit/s. 
 
Last year Sprint Nextel pushed ahead with Wimax by releasing a dual mode EV-DO/WiMax dongle, allowing users to switch from EV-DO to the faster Wimax network when in range of Clearwire's current infrastructure which spans Baltimore, Maryland and Portland Oregon.
 
There is, however, much more work needed if WiMax, and indeed Sprint Nextel, is to succeed. Clearwire has consistently complained over the past few months that it needs more money if it is to ramp up its rollout of the wireless network, much to the dismay of its investors.
 
If Clearwire does not begin picking up the pace, Sprint Nextel will find it exceedingly difficult to start exploiting WiMax's fast speeds and the technology might even fall by the wayside as other technologies like LTE creep up behind it.
 
With WiMax looking shaky, there is also talk that Sprint Nextel might succumb to a takeover by either T-Mobile or SK Telecom. But what this will mean for Intel's wireless network and for Sprint Nextel itself, only time will tell.
 

Posted by vnuneteditor on February 23, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

You have to love the excitement generated by the apparent sighting of Atlantis on Google Earth.

It always amazes me that people get so het up about the myth of Atlantis. Plato must be kicking himself. He mentions that he heard about a kingdom that sank into the sea from a sailor in a bar that was called Atlantis. If everything sailors said in bars was given that much credence we'd be in deep trouble as a society.

Nevertheless behind every piece of folklore there may be a grain of truth. Atlantis was said to have existed around 11,000 years ago, around 2,000 years before the Sumerian civilization that is generally accepted to have been the first.

However, archaeologists are increasingly questioning this account of history. We are finding more and more evidence of older civilizations, but the remains of these are largely underwater. Much of Alexandria bay in Egypt sits on top of an old city and similar finds have been reported in India and Japan.

Around 9,000 years ago the earth went through a rapid warming phase and, as the ice retreated, sea levels rose around 125 feet. Given that most early civilizations started next to the sea it's highly likely that they would have been drowned, albeit with the residents scattering and fleeing for safer ground.

Such an occurrence has made it into many accounts of human development, from the Bible onwards, and this may explain why the story of Atlantis has such a hold over us.

Posted by Iain Thomson on February 22, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Google blog for President's Day contains a long post from the ever eloquent Jonathan Rosenberg, on the future of the internet and how we use it.

There's some good points to be made in his arguments, particularly on the importance of global information being available to all. Try telling a teenager today about life before the internet and they either won't believe you or will pity us our dark age existence.

Translation too is going to be important - vital even. No-one's still sure if Islamic martyrs are being promised 72 virgins or 72 raisins. If the 9/11 hijackers got it wrong then there's going to be a very downbeat baking party in their afterlife.

But there's some areas where he gets it wrong, particularly in online journalism. Rosenberg states that users should be able to log onto a news site and only be presented with the news we are interested. I beg to differ.

There's a definite advantage in not having personalised news content - it leads to less informed people. One of the side benefits of a newspaper is that you never know what you will find there - a small article could spark a whole new area of interest. Just sticking to what you know about leads to the kind of narrow mindset of a Fox News junkie.

Posted by Iain Thomson on February 18, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

California is an odd place politically.

One of the most socially democratic states has a Republican governor and an increasingly conservative base. Now eBay's former head Meg Whitman has announced she will be running for office when Governator Schwarzenegger steps down next year.

Now I'm all for people with real business experience getting into politics. It's difficult to see what they could do worse than the actor currently running the show and some real world experience would be no bad thing in Sacramento, particularly from someone who understands the tech industry.

Bear in mind that Arnie was elected in a special ballot because the existing governor had run up a $34bn deficit. It's currently standing at $40bn.

So let Meg run I say. She's done a sterling job at eBay and if it does all go pear-shaped and the state goes bankrupt we should be able to get a really good sales channel discount from her former employers when it comes to disposing of assets.

Posted by Iain Thomson on February 10, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

So Motorola's had a massively bad quarter, particularly the mobile phone division.

I've owned a few Motorola phones over the years and I can tell them what the problem is - they're rubbish. Generally the styling is rather good but when it comes to using the things the unfriendly operating system and frankly bizarre menu options drive even experienced users to tears of frustration.

Add in to this the fact that the company has been slacking in the new product area for some time. After all, when you're facing competition from the iPhone, full touchscreen devices and a host of cheap Asian handsets the response should be a little more inspiring than the Razr2, an upgrade to the original Razr that must have taken the design department about ten minutes to sort out.

I've already put Motorola's handset division on my deathlist for the year and would advise against purchasing one unless they really shake up the division.

Posted by Iain Thomson on February 4, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Our colleagues in London have had the Monday from hell it seems, that is if hell really did freeze over.

While here in California we're basking in sunny days and wondering if the drought is going to get worse London's seen the heaviest snows in over 20 years, and the capital has pretty much shut down.

London doesn't really know what to do with snow. Having lived there for nearly 20 years myself I can attest to the fact that a couple of inches of snow paralyses the city in a way that turns terrorists green with envy.

The underground train system pretty much shuts down, since most of the tracks outside the city centre are actually above ground, as are the train storage depots. Buses are comical in the snow - Britain's venerable fleet of red double-deckers have antiquated brakes that freeze when it gets too cold.

However, as befits a technology site like vnunet.com, we are better prepared. Although no-one actually made it into work everyone filed stories, thanks to the marvel of the internet. Some managers in corporates may not like home working but cases like today show its value clearly. As one journalist said: "I get the work done, but no-one knows I'm doing it in a cosy bed with a big mug of tea!"

I hope things clear up for the UK crew tomorrow. After all, one can work from home occasionally but we all need to get out and meet people to get the fresh news. Normal services should be back on track tomorrow, even if London Underground isn't.

Posted by Iain Thomson on February 2, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)