Net Traveller: December 2016

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Buy Global Refill Local

Recently I purchased a SodaStream CO2 refill at the supermarket. On the way back stopped at the local newsagency and noticed they offer compatible SodaKing refills for $2 less.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Kindle 3 Still Has Free 3G Data

Yesterday at Vinnies Leichhardt in Sydney, I purchased an old Kindle Keyboard for $50. After an hour charging it rebooted and I found this was a Kindle 3 with 3G + WiFi (European model D00901, with a serial number prefix B00A). It took another reboot and entering my Amazon account password for the 3G function to work.Unlike newer Kindles with 3G, this unit allows access to any website, not just the Amazon store. The web browser is limited, but provides a handy backup for Internet access when traveling.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Australia Leading the Americas and the Pacific with Mobile Broadband Speed

Akamai’s State of the Internet Report for the Third Quarter of 2016 indicates Australia is ahead of the Americas and the Pacific with mobile broadband speed (p. 48):

"Americas: Canada, 8.9 Mbps

Asia Pacific: Australia, 12.8 Mbps

Europe: United Kingdom, 23.7 Mbps

Middle East/Africa: United Arab Emirates, 13.3 Mbps"

The media coverage of the report in Australia focused on Australia's low global rank for Internet speed of 50th at 9.6 Mpbs. However, the report also points out that Australia has high Long-Term Evolution (LTE) coverage at 98% of the population, compared to 90% for the world (p. 48). The report also points out that only half the Australian population are using this service. However, it may be that Australian telcos and customers are skipping LTE and moving to true 4G. In any case I suggest there is scope for faster broadband access, simply by making mobile broadband more affordable on the devices customers already have and use. While fiber should be laid in the street and into new homes, it may not be worth the cost of retrofitting to existing homes.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Alternative EPG for TiVo?

On 2 December my eight year old TiVo Personal Video Recorder (PVR) failed to update the Electronic Program Guide (EPG), with the error message "N18 Failed While Configuring". I thought nothing of this until the end of this week, when the unit started to run out of program information. The TiVo Australia website says:

"TiVo Support and Hybrid Television Services have been made aware of an issue and are working to identify the cause of the problem. Due to the complexity of the issue, there is currently no know resolution timeframe. ..."

It goes on to detail how to manually record, but without any form of EPG this is a very cumbersome task. Without the EPG the TiVo is essentially unusable. The Tivo General Discussion forum on Whirlpool speculates if this is the end of TiVo in Australia and what the alternatives are.

A quick look for TiVo alternatives suggests that the Beyonwiz T2, is the closest, being a Lnux based unit. Or perhaps someone has an easy hack for a TiVo to work with another EPG?

Friday, December 09, 2016

Lights Out in Cyber Attack

Professor Roger Bradbury, from then ANU National Security College, has portrayed the "South Australian power shutdown ‘just a taste of cyberattack'" (ANU Reporter, 2016). He speculates that Australia's electrical, telecommunications, water, sewerage, transport and financial services infrastructure already has been compromised by China, in preparation for a "surgical cyberattack" in a future dispute over the South China Sea. The effects of a possible cyber attack are not exaggerated, but perhaps Professor Bradbury should not have singled out China.

It is likely that all nations are now preparing for cyber-attacks, as a routine adjunct to conventional military operations. This year I ran ANU computing students through a "Cyberwar: Hypothetical for Teaching ICT Ethics". This was based on a possible conflict over the South China Sea. However, I was careful not to identify who might be attacking who.

Professor Bradbury suggests that our systems can be made less vulnerable by not having them top-down or hierarchical. He suggests "We need 21st-century networks that have no centre: no main power station, no main water dam, no main interconnector, no main transport hub or central train station...". In this he is perhaps suggesting a system like the Internet, which consists of a collection of interconnected networks (literally an Inter-Net). However, even a system with no hierarchy is vulnerable to attack if it uses the same computer control software for all iots nodes and those nodes are all connected to the Internet.

One way to build resilience is to rely on gravity, as is done with much of the water supply. Water is pumped to reservoirs and then flows by gravity. Similarly, sewage systems have overflow valves, which open to allow sewage to flow into waterways (bad for the environment, but better for human health than sewage backing up into people's homes).

The electrical grid can be similarly protected by having generators independently working to maintain the system, rather than acting via central control. Local home solar panels could have a role in this, by boosting the grid when required. However, these systems need to be protected from hacking, or they could be used to attack the grid.

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

New Theater Sydney 2017 Season

The New Theater, launched its 2017 season of plays last night, in Newtown, Sydney. Directors were on hand to discuss the works and call for actors to audition. My pick would be, best first: Birdland, The Little Dog Laughed, The Chapel Perilous, The Clean House and Consensual. After the Dance and Australia Day I am not so sure about. Tickets now available.