A recent series of events has been unfolding in the UK where a decision by the high court forced Virgin Media (an Internet Service Provider amongst other things) to block the popular bit-torrent site “The Pirate Bay” (TPB) from its users. In retaliation the hacker group Anonymous started a DDoS attack on Virgin Media. TBP issued a statement on their Facebook page (scroll down to 9th of May, 2012) objecting to the Anonymous DDoS attack on Virgin Media. Within a few days TPB found themselves under a DDoS attack.
For a while it was not clear who was behind this attack however recently someone calling themselves Nyre has claimed responsibility. Their name on Twitter is @anonnyre and this post link currently works. In short Nyres logic or command of English does not make a great deal of sense to me.
What I find interesting in this whole series of events is how vulnerable the design of the internet is to such “attacks”. Truly they are the Atomic Bomb of the Internet – whereby dropping such a bomb wipes out all communication with the intended target site very effectively. There are ways to counter such attacks given time and filtering and then a cat and mouse game ensues and it can drag on for some time – days or even weeks.
Like an Atomic Bomb a DDoS attack requires some advanced knowledge, with software installed (usually in secret and maliciously) on a great number of computers around the world to make it work. The analogy ends when the person with the keys to an Atomic Bomb is not the scientist or engineer but the military – who are very careful who they give the keys to. With a DDoS attack, a brilliant programmer/hacker is unlikely to be as objective or careful who/what their targets are and they – the creator – have the keys to their own bomb. That should worry all of us…
In somewhat of a shocking move John Gruber of Daring Fireball fame has pulled up stakes from his weekly podcast gig with Dan Benjamin of 5BY5 with “The Talk Show” moving to the “Mule Radio Syndicate” running Grubers own version of the show under the same title.
Neither Gruber nor Benjamin have commented on the reason for the change but it has been swift and unexpected. Updating the 5BY5 Radio app and pulling The Talk Show from 5BY5s schedule happened on the last day or so and no hints were dropped on Twitter or any other blog.
Both Gruber and Benjamin are very private and will very likely give little to nothing away as to the reason for the move so rather than speculate we’ll just look at the fundamental shift between the show formats.
Under 5BY5 “The Talk Show” was hosted by Dan Benjamin and John Gruber whereas under Mule it will be hosted by John Gruber with special guests. Throughout its history The Talk Show always had both Dan and John but for a handful of exceptions and under Mule it seems John will be leading the charge and picking the guests he chooses to have.
Anecdotally The Talk Show has been the highest rating show on the 5BY5 network for nearly two years and was a key component to Dan’s initial success. Now that Dan has secured additional guests such as Andy Ihnatko, Jim Dalrymple and Horace Dediu there is no doubt that 5BY5 will survive just fine without John Gruber.
It’s a sad day for me as I enjoyed listening to the chemistry between Dan and John and this, at least on a regular basis, is now gone. All too often I’ve seen music groups that had a chemistry together split as each member wished to pursue their own gig. One or more people in the group say “I’m the reason we’re successful” and believes they can make it better on their own when it’s really (forgive the cliché) the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Most of the time they individually don’t experience the same level of success than when they were together as a group. Sometimes though they come out of top and only time can tell us that.
I’ll try out the new version of “The Talk Show” however I have my doubts as to whether it will have the same level of success it enjoyed at 5BY5.
In late March I went into depth about the ACCC case against Apple and the new iPad that Apple was advertising as having a 4G capable model. I encourage readers to go back over that article before reading on.
This week Apple took their labelling changes further with their online store now calling the new iPad + 4G the iPad + Cellular. This is a global change and appears on every Apple website I checked around the world.
Clearly Apple is responding to the ACCC and the also pressure from the UK ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). The change is welcome and a step in the right direction.
Before wrapping this up I’d like to add an interesting footnote. In Australia, people don’t call mobile devices “cellular” devices: we say “Mobile Phone” NOT “Cellular Phone” like North Americans do. That’s okay though: we know what they mean…
I’ve been pulled up on occasion on The Exastential Podcast for referring to Apples desktop OS, OS X, as literally O-S-X instead of “OS Ten”. The thing is that I learned the name of it when I was building Hackintoshes before I ever listened to an Apple keynote or ever walked into an Apple Store or ever talked to anyone else with a Mac. I simply got used to saying it O-S-X and like any accent or regional dialect it just stuck.
Naturally people that have followed the Mac since System 6, System 7, OS 8, OS 9 and now OS X it’s natural enough for them to say OS 10. Then again I didn’t see Apple calling their earlier operating systems OS VI, OS VII, OS VIII and OS IX respectively. Why introduce Roman Numerals for the 10th version? How long has it been since Rome fell apart?
I also note that Apple released Xcode for programming in OS X and they do not pronounce it Ten Code.
I therefore propose this: To anyone that complains that OS X must be called OS Ten, whenever they refer to Xcode I will correct them that it must be referred to it as Ten Code for consistency. What’s that you say? Apple weren’t consistent?!
Here’s another thing: why do people get so hung up on how technical jargon is pronounced. If you know what I’m talking about then simply nod don’t argue about how I said it. Do you ask a foreigner who speaks your language as their second language to repeat what they’ve said until they pronounce it right or do you just nod? Yeah, I thought so.
For those readers that say: “Well Apple pronounce it this way and the word came from them first so you have to say it their way” I therefore submit that all Americans must now start pronouncing Tomato correctly – oh, I mean as per the English custom. What’s that you say my dear American reader? Yeah, I thought so. For the record – I wouldn’t either…
Before I begin this somewhat controversial post, I’d like to say that what an individual finds inspiring is their own business. What I’m about to write is not a judgement on those who are inspired and if you have found inspiration in the “Welcome to Apple” card then please stop reading now.
I love Apple products – in general. I think the world is a better place for their existence. I however also believe that they are just another company. Companies are motivated by money and only money. No company survives without revenue and therefore companies must extract value and profit from their products and their employees.
To make money companies can make products or services and to compete with other companies they need to get the best value and performance from their employees. That comes down to motivation. Some people are motivated by money alone. Others enjoy the fringe benefits some companies offer. Others find inspiration in that what they do makes a difference. This is where the “Welcome To Apple” message comes into play.
The inspiration card you are given when you start working at Apple reads as follows:
“There’s work and there’s your life’s work. The kind of work that has your fingerprints all over it. The kind of work that you’d never compromise on. That you’d sacrifice a weekend for. You can do that kind of work at Apple. People don’t come here to play it safe. They come here to swim in the deep end. They want their work to add up to something. Something big. Something that couldn’t happen anywhere else. Welcome to Apple.”
Every tweet I’ve seen and blog post says that the vast majority of people find this inspirational. Where they see inspiration I see Human Resources (HR) spin. I see a motivational message. I see HR channelling the current popularity of the company into words to encourage working overtime. I see promises of working on big things that may or may not see the light of day. In short, I see a method of motivating employees with something intangible. It’s an example of genuine HR genius that I personally wouldn’t swallow but evidently many do.
I may be an eternal cynic because I can’t see the inspiration. Perhaps that means I’m not cut out to work at Apple. Not everyone that works at Apple would be inspired by this message and it’s okay if you’re not inspired like me and this is what actually bugs me: it’s not the message itself but peoples reaction to it – especially those NOT working there.
It has been my observation that a great many people look for inspiration in everything that Apple does. I think that people need to stop idolising Apple and everything they do and remember that they are company at the top of their game; but they are just a company.
Enjoy their products – I know I do – but never forget what they are and what they want.
