Evil Phonenumber

So, first off, I have to give all the credit to this idea to Saire, who some of you may have read at Step Away From The Console.....

I got a phone call yesterday (on my fancy new Galaxy) from 02 8986 3000 and when i answered it the call immediately disconnected.
(Don't stress about me publishing the number - there is a reason!)
I don't really know anyone in Sydney but I do know people in Brisbane and, having lived there for a decade or more, I'm really feeling it when i watch the flood disaster unfolding on TV. Given the parlous communication systems in Brisbane at the moment I considered there was a *small* chance the call may have been legitimate, possibly soomeone from Sydney calling about a mutual contact in Brisbane.
I am, however, reluctant to call odd numbers without doing some research so I went straight to uncle Google.
I typed the number, including the area code in brackets into Google in inverted commas and clicked on 'Pages from Australia'
[If you don't know - Inverted commas (or "quotations" like that) limit Google to searching for exactly what you have typed and nothing else. It's a very useful tip, especially for things like phone numbers and names.]

I expected to find nothing or possibly the phone number listed as a number of some random Sydney business.
Instead I came across rage and bewilderment: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=02+89863000&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

It appears this number is used by someone, probably a phone company call centre and if you call back you will get a variety of responses ranging from being immediately put on hold, getting a recorded message claiming "No agents can take your call" or an engaged signal.

I mentioned this call to Saire and she said "Oh, I've had one of those random numbers bothering me. I simply listed the contact in my phone as "Evil phone company" and every time they call I know not to bother answering it." (I may have misquoted a little. Please excuse me if I did, Saire.)

What a brilliant idea!

I listed the number in my phone contacts as the deliberately mis-spelt "Evil Vodaphone" (which plenty of people seem to agree with anyway) and thought nothing more of it.

Just five minutes ago I heard my mobile ringing and, as no-one I know rings my mobile when I'm at work, grabbed the phone as fast as I could.

"Evil Vodaphone" said my phone.  Chuckling, I refused the call and went back to work. But the whole thing stuck in my head....

What an interesting use of technology. Using search engine to check unknown phone number, discovering plenty of websites that exist solely to help you figure out mysterious phone numbers and defining that kind of number in your phone so it becomes no more annoying than some random fly, bugging you for as long as it takes to swipe it away.

Quite Nice?

Anyone who has read my blogs may know that I wasn't much of a fan of Delicious and, I'm guessing, everyone now knows that Delicious is done, or will be soon.
Just today I realised that a service I use regularly does have one aspect that sort of mirrors one of Delicious' primary functions.
Bit.Ly (http://bit.ly/) is a free on-line service that allows to to shrink those ridiculously long URL's that you often find down into something short enough to allow you to post links in Twitter or emails, without negatively impacting your word-count.
To use it all you have to do is Copy the URL of the site you are interested in and Paste it into the box on Bit.Ly. Instantly, without any other input, it is converted into a much shorter URL. Simply Copy that URL and Paste it into your Twitter post or email.
Earlier today somebody mentioned a site I had emailed someone else and asked if I had kept the link. I started to tell them that I had not kept when I suddenly realised that I had, without any plan or effort on my part.
Bit.Ly keeps a record of every long URL you shrink! It keeps records of links and Tweets about the URL as well, and a lot more information I haven't explored.
Now this is not the reason that I signed up to Bit.Ly but it is certainly the kind of value-adding that makes any web service more useful, especially on a free service.
It may not be Delicious but, in terms of tracking websites I found interesting enough to share with others, it does a good enough job for me.

The demise of two media formats...

...well, that may be a little misleading. But only a little.

In a recent post I talked about using USB drives as my storage media of choice and I considered ideas about storage media. I was recently reminded of this when I saw the sad news that Kodachrome was dead: http://bit.ly/flvukK
I used this film, back in the day, as did millions of others around the world. I even developed a couple of rolls (with help) in the darkroom at high school. I used to love film photography and i loved the different formats of film; 35mm was king but I loved the neatness of 126 and the compactness of 110. I even have a 'collectable' 110 camera rattling around in one of my drawers at home. Sure, the resolution of those compact formats wasn't great but I didn't care; to me it was all about the art.
(If you ask nicely, one day I'll tell you how I got my first camera - it's the perfect origin story for a famous photographer; I simply failed to take advantage of the 'narrativium' surrounding me and did not become a famous photographer.)
As soon as digital camera's passed the resolutions available to ordinary click-and-shoot, paper copy cameras (yes, I'm ignoring slide photography) I was interested  but it wasn't until assorted flash memory storage options (like Memory Sticks, XD and SD cards) became mainstream that it became a truly viable option. There were some fascinating alternatives along the way. Do you remember the Kodak Disc camera? (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc%20film if you don't.) But, eventually, digital cameras became relatively cheap and people started using their PC's as a method of storing, organising and editing their happy snaps. Right along with that was the idea of storing photos on CD's.
Which brings me to this point...would you believe CD-ROM's have now been around for 25 years! I was astonished to realise this; I have mates who aren't that old!
Can you remember when your library first introduced CD-ROMS? No, you don't have to have been working there! It might have happened when you were still bemoaning your local library's lack of YA material. Heck, you might have been listening to your parent marvelling about the new technology!
Anyway, here is a pretty thought-provoking little piece about the history of CD-ROM's in library environments: http://www.librarytechnology.org/blog.pl?ThreadID=182&BlogID=1
I love the cover of CD-ROM world from 1994!
How many of us still have CD-ROM's? It's worth wondering just how much longer PC DVD drives will incorporate CD format support. Will Blu-Ray drives always remain backwards-compatible with CD's? No technological format last's forever, nor will readers of those formats always be available. Laser Discs are gone, microfiche readers are virtually impossible to find and now even the most venerable film format has expired.
For long-term, device-independent, data storage it's still pretty hard to beat printed paper.

A new toy

I bought a new phone the other day, for no good reason.

Nope, I did not buy an iPhone, nor and iPad, continuing my small protest of all things Apple. (I’m thinking of going into business making signs with a bar sinister slashed through a rotten apple proclaiming “Fruit Free Zone” but my wife thinks I’m trying to justify a meat-only diet!)

Nope, I did not buy a replacement Nokia, despite being incredibly satisfied with my N95 8Gig. When I bought this phone almost two years ago I researched available phones for months and became convinced that the N95 was very close to perfect. At the time there was even a thread on Nokia.com’s forum entitled “Is the N95 the greatest phone ever made?” I have always been happy with this phone but I fell in love with it when we were closed for our stocktake/tagging period and I took advantage of it’s amazing music player and Bluetoothed some wireless headphones. It was a fantastic experience, not far away from the first time I heard LP’s through decent headphones. This has been a great phone but it’s spiritual successor, the Nokia N8, uses an odd OS called Symbian and Nokia have already announced they will not be supporting the OS for much longer, which doesn’t inspire much faith in the long-term viability of the phone. It is a staggering phone in terms of hardware with a 12Meg camera, HD video capabilities and another fine media player but these days phones are all about apps.

I hate this word ‘apps’, what was wrong with ‘applications’? Too many syllables? But, since it has become an accepted term, and I am an advocate of using English as it adapts and alters, I’ll just have to cope.

I wouldn’t be the first person to note that mobile phones are now much more about computer-like abilities than telephonic proficiency but in very recent days I have become a convert to the concept. Apple pioneered (or, at the very least, popularised) the idea of downloading additional applications to add personalised functionality to your ‘device’ (as opposed to ‘phone’). Arguably because it was Apple, developers swarmed to the concept and both validated and  expanded the market for those applications. Most of us would remember Apple’s  “…there’s an app for that” marketing campaign and I have often wondered if it was the first phone campaign that never actually mentioned the device’s ability to make a phone call.

I will happily admit that I liked Apple’s concept and the iPhone introduced a slew of interface improvements that were incredibly smooth and intuitive, making the iPhone so easy to learn and use that it set new benchmarks for the whole industry. Just because I have issues with Apple-the-company doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate Apple’s achievements and products.

So I guess, essentially, I was looking for a non-Apple iPhone (or a Clayton’s iPhone, if you are mature enough to recall that reference). I wanted a phone with a great screen, auto-rotating aspects, pinch-to-zoom and, most importantly, the ability to download and install additional functionality (no, Saire, not games!).

A wish-list like that meant I was going to end up with an Android phone.

Android as an operating system has been around for few years now but it is only recently that it has become big news. It’s now up to the sixth release, called FroYo, and the next version, Gingerbread, is being hotly anticipated. FroYo has added a few features that closely emulate iPhone apps and there are some that are probably superior. Certainly there is a greater range of free apps than is available at the App Store although Apple has almost double the range of apps in total.

I love tinkering with technology, especially hardware, and Android phones have that appealing tinker factor, although they are generally pretty decent phones without modifying or upgrading.

Yes, I did consider one of the range of phones using the new Windows Phone 7 OS, which seems to be pretty well regarded, with a lot of pundits alleging it is the finest iteration of the Windows Phone OS ever made. Lots of reviewers seem happy with it but, to be honest, the whole ‘tile interface’ looks cheap to me. It’s only my opinion but isn’t your own opinion the most important factor when you buy a phone?

In then end I bought a Samsung Galaxy which does not currently have FroYo but, like most Android phones, can be upgraded to the newer version. Indeed Optus have already sent me a message encouraging me to enjoy a free OS upgrade.

I did not need a new phone but I knew I was approaching the end of my current contract so I started looking around and got very excited about these Android phones. Optus bent over backward to allow me to finish my existing contract early and sign a new contract and it turns out that I will be saving just over $13 a month on the new plan.

In the end, being a tech head, do I need any better reason than a $13 a month saving? J

Multiple media and synchronicity (or just co-incidence!)

I have never considered myself much of a fan of classical or symphonic music but there have been any number of connections to it, whether I recognised it or appreciated them. I have a cousin who plays French horn (which, I’m told, may be the hardest instrument to master) and has worked, full time, his entire life as a professional symphonic musician (he currently plays for the Sydney Philharmonic and Sydney Ballet Company, I think). My mum and an aunty used to take me to the Proms at the Entertainment Centre (RIP) every year in my youth, which I enjoyed, perhaps more than I told them. (BTW – I really miss the Proms; they disappeared while I was living in Brisbane and it made me quite sad when I realised they were gone.) I listened to a fair amount when I was a kid but mainly because the only records ( for the youngsters out there ‘records’ were an oil-refinery by-product once used for recording audio. Think of oversized, black, CD’s) my parents owned were classical or movie soundtracks like Oliver, Jesus Christ Superstar and West Side Story.  

As I age, however, I’ve noticed that I more often enjoy the musicality of symphonic music as a variety to my usual punk, techno, alternative or Floyd. I still hate opera but I’m learning to appreciate classical and symphonic music enough that ABC classics is one of the pre-sets on my car stereo. It’s probably worth mentioning that I loathe listening to adverts and idiots on the radio; if the music stops I’ll change channels, except if it’s for the news.

I work with staff who’s musical taste covers just about everything and a few of them are mighty talented: one passed all her piano exams right up to the point where she would have been permitted to teach but then gave it up when she had kids and moved up north; another one is a violinist with one of Perth’s local symphony orchestra’s, though she insists she is still an amateur.

One advantage of being surrounded by peers who all have different musical taste is that discussions about music can range far and wide. Last Friday, for example, I was discussing music with some of the other staff and the discussion turned to 80’s and 90’s music. One of the staff, let’s call her Smurfette, mentioned what a fan she was of ‘Depeche Mode’ and we had a bit of chat about the band and her memories of their music. I played one of their tunes called ‘Condemnation’ and told her that it reminded me of the song I had used for my wedding. I don’t know why – the lyrics, tune, melody and rhythm were all different but, for some reason it reminded me of ‘Gorecki’ by a band called Lamb, a powerful and romantic song that so moved my fiancée the first time she heard it that she instantly agreed we would use that as our wedding song, instead of Vast’s ‘Touched’, which had been her preference for years.

Smurfette said she had never heard it or, at least, couldn’t recall it and, as we can’t play YouTube or other music clips here at work I told here I would bring it to work next time she was working here.

On Friday night I was driving home from an excellent dinner with friends at Mahsuri Thai and, as moronic DJ’s and inane advertising would have it, I switched the car stereo to ABC Classics. Now there was someone talking but he wasn’t loud, nor abrasive, nor irritating and, to tell the whole truth, my wife and I were discussing plans for the rest of the weekend, so I was only giving the radio 10% of my attention, because 90% was fully focussed on everything my wife was saying J

Anyway, the ABC DJ was talking about a 20^th century composer who, in terms of his reputation, fell on quite hard times in the 70’s due to a change in his style and it was many years before the impending piece was recognised as an extremely significant work in the minimalist milieu. The work in three movements was about motherhood and the pain of separation through war. Called Symphony number 3 officially it is better known as the ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ by Henryk Gorecki.  The music started and I was immediately struck by the sparse power of the melody and was thoroughly enjoying it in a very short time. My enjoyment was interrupted, temporarily, by us stopping for petrol. We were gone for some time and when we returned to the car I found that the tenor had started singing and I changed the station, not with any disdain, simply because I don’t like opera.

Today, I was talking to the staff member who plays violin, let’s call her Talented, about music and I mentioned that I had heard this piece by a 20^th century composer who’s name I couldn’t recall, but I really enjoyed at least the start of this work. While we were trying to work out who I was talking about I mentioned that the piece was included laments by mothers bemoaning the loss of their sons during wartime. Talented was sure she could work out what it was and she went off to ask Uncle Google.

Talented very quickly got back to me and told me the name(s) of the piece and the composer: Gorecki.

I replied that there is some irony there because Gorecki had written a piece called a ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ and I had used a piece called Gorecki as the primary tune during my wedding – “I hope that wasn’t my wife's lament, hahaha” I said.

Talented noted that she, too, had never heard of ‘Gorecki’ by Lamb and I replied “Well, I have it here, I bought it in for Smurfette to listen to” and started rummaging in my bag.

After a while Talented wandered off, tired of waiting for me to find this mysterious tune.

Meanwhile, I was going crazy. I have, normally, three USB drives in my drawer and 6 more USB drives in my bag. I checked each one for this tune, remonstrated with myself and then checked again, and then again. I knew I had bought ‘Gorecki’ into work, I remembered putting it my bag and mentally ticking the task off. It was very frustrating. Eventually I decided there was a chance that one of my USB’s might have been accidentally put in the wrong pocket in my bag and I started to dig through the accumulated detritus. Then I noticed the CD….

“Ah ha!” I cried, pulling the CD out and waving it in the air like a trophy.

I called Talented over, plugged in some headphones and played her track 4 on the album.

I left her to have a listen and she found on note on the album liner that I had never seen, in which the writer explained that ‘Gorecki’ the tune had been written to honour Gorecki the composer after hearing his 3^rd symphony for the first time.

So does all that count as synchronicity or is it all just coincidence?

But that wasn’t my only question…..

I had significant difficulty locating a piece of music I knew was in my possession. Why had it taken so much effort to find?

Because I knew I had planned to play a tune on my work PC my brain had gone straight to “Which USB stick did I send that file to?” and I had spent fruitless minutes checking and rechecking one form of media.

Once I actually started looking for alternatives I finally noticed that CD I had been shoving out of the way.

Now I don’t bring an MP3 player to work, so I knew the file had to be on a PC-compatible media but I find it fascinating that I couldn’t let go of the idea that it was on a USB drive. Even as little as 3 years ago I think I would have looked for a CD first but now it’s all about the portable flash drives.

I played a video for friends this weekend and, once again, the first place I looked for the file was a USB drive. Admittedly I own rather more USB drives than most people but the reality is that USB drives and iPods (or non-fruit equivalents) have usurped CD and DVD as a storage medium in a quiet but pervasive manner. One has to ask if we should bother with the whole BluRay thing at all – maybe  we should just start waiting for movies to be released on USB drives instead.

I’m not sure I quite realised how much I depended on USB drives instead of discs before today.

In case anyone has tweated me

hmmm, I wonder if it's related to the wiki-war?
anyway...
If anyone has tweeted @gozziehoon and I have not replied it's access to Twitter has gone weird. I (and I'm guessing other staff in the council) can sign in but everything works except the actual tweets :-)
It's a lot like having a working DVD player but no discs :-)

One other facet of the Wikileaks frenzy

I am so NOT trying to start a debate about Wikileaks, Julian Assange, their philosophy or political reactions over the last couple of weeks.
What I am fascinated to see is how fragile the Web has turned out to be, once real challenges to general perceptions of free speech were made.
I was a little dismayed to see the Library of Congress ban Internet access to the site but, honestly, I can see some elements of truth in both sides of the debate. (If you want to see a reasonable, generally well-reasoned and relatively insightful discussion about it you could do worse than checking out their own blog site  http://bit.ly/eN4hom  )
What caught me off guard was the swift and strong responses by elements of the Web: Paypal took away Wikileaks ability to get money through them; different hosting services refused to host Wikileaks; a primary DNS service denied Wikileaks IP resolution services (now that was new and very scary  -I've not heard of that happening before) and banks froze Wikileaks funds.
It's a strong reminder that, although we think of the Web as virtually unassailable and a haven for all forms of expressions and free speech, in the end there is still a lot that can be done by governments and corporations to limit what the average citizen can see.
Here is a pretty good summary of the issues http://rww.to/gkETu2
I would like to re-iterate I am not willing to discuss the rights or wrongs of Wikileaks actions - I don't think this blog (set up as part of my job) is the appropriate forum for that discussion.
But, I do feel that we are now watching "The first serious info-war...", given the reactions by a loose association of hackers operating under the name 'Anonymous', who, over the last 24 hours, have used the Web to launch attacks on banks, the Swiss legal prosecutors, Facebook, Twitter and others in what appears to be retaliation to the way Wikileaks has been treated.
It's all a bit grim.
EDIT: Up-to-date, financially oriented, follow-up article here http://bit.ly/gLeG7w