Archive for 2008
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Grimpen Mire
A while back I wrote a column about cloud computing in which I noted that the physical location our online services still matters, and commented that:
In the real world national borders, commercial rivalries and political imperatives all come into play, turning the cloud into a miasma as heavy with menace as the fog over the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in billstuff by bill
Friday, November 14th, 2008
Elizabeth Anscombe’s grave
Elizabeth Anscombe’s grave
Originally uploaded by BillT.
Wandering through a damp Cambridge yesterday I made my way to St Giles’ Cemetery (as was, it’s called something else now) to visit Wittgenstein’s grave, and also to call on Anscombe, buried nearby. An important philosopher in many ways, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in billblog by bill
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
Wired for a cause
[As ever, you can read this on the BBC News website too]
By the time you read this we may well know who is to be the next President of the United States, [indeed we do, and the result has given us hope] hanging chads, voter challenges and defective e-voting machines willing, although as I write [...]
No Comments » - Posted in billblog by bill
Saturday, November 1st, 2008
More from Free Thinking in Liverpool
Ian McMillan introduces the thinkers speed dating event
No Comments » - Posted in billstuff by bill
Saturday, November 1st, 2008
Is Privacy Dead?
I’m in the bar at FACT in Liverpool having just had an excellent time debating privacy with Jeffrey Rosen, Jonathan Sawday and Sonia Livingstone, expertly chaired by Philip Dodd. It’s part of Radio 3’s Free Thinking festival and will be broadcast on Monday’s Night Waves on Radio 3.
FACT is a fabulous building, and there’s a [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in billstuff by bill
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
Who is responsible in our cloudy world?
[As ever, this is also on the BBC News website]
In the next few days [in fact it is now published] a number of large technology companies, including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, are going to announce that they have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct on how they do business in countries that curtail [...]
No Comments » - Posted in billblog by bill
Friday, October 24th, 2008
Old Street and environs
Peter Brawne is a genius.
Originally uploaded by genmon.
Maybe you have to know them… but it made me laugh out loud.
No Comments » - Posted in billblog by bill
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Don’t have nightmares
[As ever you can read this on the BBC News website. Or on any of the spamblogs that rip off my copy and use it as linkbait.]
Anyone concerned about the security of their computers and the data held on them might sleep a little uneasily tonight.
Over the past few weeks we’ve heard reports of serious [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in billblog by bill
Friday, October 17th, 2008
My bio as a wordle
I took the standard biography I send out to people who want to know and made a Wordle… I think it says more about me than the 1000 word version…
And Jamais has done it too…
No Comments » - Posted in billstuff by bill
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
The Weight of Data
[As ever, this is on the BBC News website too]
I have just deleted fifteen gigabytes of data from my laptop. Gone are the unwanted video clips, the duplicated photos, the filed columns and the unlistened-to music, all consigned to the great Trashcan in the sky.
Yet it weighs the same as it always did, just over [...]
