Year 3 Semester 1

So the first semester of my final year, that would be my 4th semester, is now over. This semester, I've written 4 reports, so that's 6,500 words plus two 15 minute presentations and an Android app for some "less than fun" modules but I've made it with time to spare. I'm not the biggest fan of writing, but that seems like all I've done this time round.
But now it's off back to work, where I should be completing my final project of an iPhone/iPad app, then back to 12 more teaching weeks before my entire degree is over.

The Defence of Clarkson

It's not often I'll leap to the defence of somebody, especially a celebrity, but I really do feel the need to defend Jeremy Clarkson from the vultures that are the British media.

Firstly, the story. Clarkson was on the One Show last night (30th November) and was asked about his views on the public sector strike. He said, yes he supports them and understands the reasons behind them. Then as a bit of a joke, as the BBC is known as ,and often forced into, a perfectly balanced view on subjects, said "As this is the BBC I think all strikers should be shot. They should be taken outside and executed in front of their families. How dare they strike!". See, Clarkson presenting a rather comical "balanced view".

The problem comes when you have Daily Fail editors and John Prescott tweeting this in order to cause trouble and gain followers. Now the BBC are telling Clarkson to apologise over the remark, even though they apologised on the One Show. And that reminds me, it was hilarious watching Alex Jones, who I'm not overly keen on, looking incredibly awkward while Clarkson was talking.

Unison, the "wonderful" trade union are also calling for Clarkson to be fired and "considering legal action" against the BBC/Jeremy Clarkson. Now I don't really support trade unions, in my opinion they're simply out to cause trouble these days, and this makes me support them even less. Clarkson did not threaten them, he simply made a joke, in his classic hyperbolic style, about the BBC's stance on balanced views.

So how about all of you develop a sense of humour, that's mostly aimed at the BBC and Unison. I must admire David Cameron for keeping cool over this, I think he does understand what a joke is. Everyone on Twitter just needs to stop fishing for followers in the way James Chapman (Daily Fail) and John Prescott have.

News of the World

So that's it, News of the World is dead. It really is quite ironic though. One thing they have always done is publicised a rumour until the country believed it to be true. And what has brought them down is a rumour that they hacked into 7/7 victims phones, and the phone of Milly Dowler.
There is no real evidence of this, just pure speculation and accusation.
"Irony" and "what goes around comes around" couldn't sum up this news any better.

Friday 13th

So today is Friday 13th, a supposedly unlucky day. Here's the truth about it.

The day as such, isn't unlucky that would be ridiculous, it's still just any other day.
Though the IDEA of the day being unlucky, does make it so. A bit of psychology/sociology here.
When people expect something, their actions from this assumption will generally lead to it happening.

This is why today is unlucky, but no different to me believing the 18th August is unlucky (I don't).

The iOS privacy "issue"

So it's emerged(again) that your iPhone and iPad keep a location cache, holding data on local wifi networks and cell towers. And there is outrage.

What this is all about is classic misrepresentation of the facts by the press, which we should all be used to by now. The data stored is accurate to within metres or miles so no one can realistically use it to track your whereabouts. In fact, mobile networks keep a far more accurate location of your phone, any phone, without you being able to do a damn thing about it.

If you (Americans) are so shit-scared of someone finding out you were within a mile of your mistress, there are three things to do.
1) On the iPhone, you can set a passcode lock which will encrypt the file
2) encrypt the backup on iTunes
If none of these appeal to you, there's always the 3rd option. Never use any form of technology, this includes phones, laptops, iPods, credit cards, cameras, cars, sat nav etc and keep your face covered at all times so no one can ever track where you are or where you've been.

Yes, that does sound ridiculous doesn't it?

Then stop moaning.

4G Coming to a UK Near You

The telecoms regulator, OFCOM, has announced it is to start selling off parts of the radio spectrum for 4G mobile services in 2012. Interestingly, this 4G is defined by OFCOM as LTE rather than WIMAX. LTE is the same technology used by Verizon in the US so is now looking to be the latest standard to be adopted, hopefully worldwide.

It's now been 11 years since the 3G spectrum was auctioned off to mobile networks here, so really is time for an update. It is obvious that all networks will want a 4G licence, Orange lost out considerably by not purchasing a 3G licence when they were first offered. The only question is how much will they pay? For 3G, the highest bid was around £4.1bn, but is 4G worth as much as 3G was?

I think it is, customers are demanding more data, quicker and the best way to provide this is via a 4th generation network delivering broadband speeds. Whoever first implements LTE in this country will make an awful lot of money, especially as, by then, Apple may have implemented a full LTE iPhone, rather than the 3G-only Verizon iPhone.

XCode 4 [Updated]

So now it looks like XCode 3 has been discontinued at version 3.2.6.
iOS 4.3 SDK is now being distributed with XCode 4 by default, with XCode 3 still available as a download in the Download Centre.
XCode 4 has been in preview for months now, starting around the time iOS 4 was released, meaning it's been around 9 months from beta to final release. This was signalled as an approaching event with the release of XCode 4.1 for Mac OSX Lion.


Update:I'd just like to add my view on Apple charging $5 for XCode 4 via the App Store. I know everyone seems to be complaining about how $5 is a major issue for developers, but just look at Visual Studio 2010. Visual Studio 2010 Professional is available for $550, so 11 110 times more expensive than XCode 4. So stop complaining, anyway it's probably bundled with Mac OS Lion which comes out this summer.