Beyond

What an absolutely fantastic event Gnomedex 8 turned out to be! Held in Seattle USA; this once-a-year event has reached and completed its 8th-time round. Run by Chris Pirillo and his wife Ponzi in association with their sponsors, which this year included HP as the main sponsor, this year’s show was simply awe-inspiring to me as I watched, despite the fact that I was online, across the pond in UK, and in an 8-hours ahead time-zone.

There isn’t much more to say other than the above now it’s over. At the end of the last night, Chris and Ponzi mentioned a chance of there being several one-day events of a similar nature in various locations around the USA; I suppose that would be next year if it happens, in addition to the main venue in Seattle: That would be utterly fantastic; especially if they were all streamed online too.

Having bade farewell to Gnomedex 2008 from my office chair in front of my monitor; (Yes I am still using a 17″ CRT monitor - I wrote a script to make the streamed picture cover the entire screen in 1024 x 768 resolution so that I didn’t have to watch through a magnifying glass.) I leave you with the closing views of the event as seen on the stream:

See this video to check out some stills of the highlights:

Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes

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With Gnomedex going full-pelt in Seattle in the USA I am baffled as to the seeming total lack of interest in, even knowledge of, the Web 2.0 phenomenon in the UK. All this antiquated “stiff upper lip” crap and resistance to change, coupled with general lethargy and a lack of motivation, is a hindrance to progress.

From what I’ve heard the general perception is that the UK is ahead of the USA technologically to a certain extent; in which case why oh why can I get no public wireless signal anywhere along the line on the train travelling from Warminster in Wiltshire to London? Why is it that, when I go to a place called Wilton which used to be the capital of Wessex, I have to stand at a particular point on a particular road to get a GSM 900 signal and GSM 1800 signals are virtually non-existent.

Why the heck do we have 2 different frequencies here? (In USA they all use GSM 1900.) As for Wifi; (In Wilton, as well as in most places outside the city centres - Even in London itself, apart from the City Centre.) unless I am within close proximity of any one of a small number of dwellings, and the owners of those individual properties happen to have their BT Home Hub routers switched on at the time, there is no Wifi signal. As for anywhere rural; forget it: Usually no Wifi at all, and perhaps a fluctuating poor-quality GSM900 3G signal that’s as good as useless for anything other than making an interrupted phone-call on the Vodafone network. Even if I owned a house any distance out of town I’d probably not even be able to use anything other than dial-up or satellite to connect to the internet: That’s not technologically advanced; that’s third-world!

The sad fact is that the UK is or seems to be a third-world country as far as the internet is concerned; and the future of the UK will be affected by that inasmuch as it could well become a third-world country bearing in mind that the future world-economy will depend upon internet communication and usage. Despite boastings from government officials and companies such as Virgin Mobile that they have expanded the internet service and are continually developing it, the truth is that only populated areas close to a telephone exchange, and some other sub-urban areas as far as cable-internet is concerned, are able to get anything on a wired service greater than 5.6K dial-up.

This situation is slowly improving; but at a rate which is far too slow. Honestly in most rural areas I’ve been to I am unable to get any Wifi or mobile telephone signal whatsoever.

As a geek I’m quite ashamed in a way to be British - But the Wifi and 3G signals, or lack thereof, aren’t half of the problem: The attitude, bad attitude, or complacency/lethargy of a lot of the British public, but moreso the “ruling classes”, is a major factor.

Gnomedex in its original format could never happen in the UK. Why? There is nothing even remotely like Gnomedex in the UK outside of private corporate functions that are for internal company personnel only currently, and attitudes are so different here. There seems to be very few in the way of dedicated internet entrepreneurs in the UK. Why? Because the Government does its utmost to make it impossible to be such. Also there appears to be an overall work-ethic-dependency-culture amongst the population. I blame Government yet again: The bullshit that the UK Govt., in association with what the UK media spew forth, is unbelievable and it soaks everybody in crap: The negative deprecating content of it encourages a controlled tiered society; with the masters - the bosses - controlling their highly-paid understudies, who in turn regulate the multi-tiered workforce consisting of managers, Sub-Managers, Assistant Managers, Supervisors, and General Dogsbodies: Like ‘The Victorian age meets Communism’ under a negatively-oriented right-wing political system.

The UK Government provides you with the incentive to stay within this aged, stuffy, culture, by taxing anyone who decides to go it alone extremely heavily: As a “drone” or “worker” subservient to the work-ethic-based culture they tax a person at between 10 and 15%, I think it is, of their gross income. Attempt to break free from the dominant suppression, however, and that person can be taxed anywhere up to 50%. (Yes; half of their gross income!)

For the Owner/Director of a large successful company whose gross (personal) income can be anything up to £1 million pounds a year, it presents no problem whatsoever. For anyone trying to break free from the work-ethic culture, however, it means that essentially they have no option but to stay working at least at a part-time job until their income from self-employment matches up to double their gross earnings from their j-o-b in order for them to be able to maintain the lifestyle that they are used to. - Is it any wonder that people in the UK lack the motivation to go outside of the job-dependency-culture as it would mean leaving their comfort-zone: Something which the average British worker can’t even imagine doing for that very reason: It’s a vicious circle.

So there seemingly can never be true freedom within the political control-society of the UK; and this is one aspect where the USA is truly “The Land of the Free”. There is the other side of the coin though - Health: The British NHS is funded by involuntary contributions from this dominated-work-ethic-culture, and without it there’d be no National Health Service, no free medicine, no healthcare for all. People’s health would be dependant on their ability to pay for healthcare and for medical insurance. There’d also be no state-funded retirement income for the elderly, (SERPS - the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme.) and those too old or too ill to work would have to rely on a private pension scheme or a welfare-handout system such as that currently running in the USA.

It all boils down to the old adage “There is no such thing as a free lunch” : What you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts. The British system has its faults; many of them - But so does the US system. The difference is that the US system is founded upon the concept of personal freedom; whereas the British system is founded upon subservience to State and to the class-system. Both work in their own way; but the US system works best as far as the concept of Web 2.0, co-working, and internet-dependency is concerned.

So what is the solution if there is one? The best I can come up with at present under the UK system is, as I mentioned previously, to stay in a job of some kind under the work-ethic-based system whilst at the same time building up an online enterprise. That solution is more difficult than it might at first sound. It requires twice the work for half the profit initially: One has to hold down a j-o-b and at the same time build an internet business. The j-o-b will pay peanuts (Enough to save you from bankruptcy - exactly as all such employment does.); around the same amount of peanuts as far as consistency is concerned; but nevertheless peanuts. The internet business will slowly take off and eventually equal the income from the j-o-b. (2 x peanuts.) When it does so perhaps it’s time to do the j-o-b part-time so that you can concentrate more on the internet business. Your income may stay static while the workload increases perhaps; but stick at it, as when the income from the internet business doubles you’re making as much as you were previously in your j-o-b. - Go for the gamble at this point: Say goodbye to the job.

You’ve made it: You’re working for yourself and your income no longer depends upon working 9 to 5, 5 days a week - Rather it depends upon your own efforts and actions: You’re now your own boss and your destiny is in your hands. Remember, though, you’re paying up to 50% of your income to the UK Government still.

You now have a choice: Stay in the UK and benefit from “free” healthcare + receive the pittance the state will pay you from SERPS when you reach retirement age AND continue earning from your internet business while paying up to 50% of that to the UK Govt. OR Move to America and become a US Citizen, and continue to control your own destiny.

Freedom at Last!?

What would I do? I’m working on it. When I’ve researched this properly I’ll come up with a proper, stage-by-stage, formula for making a success of Web 2.0 starting in the UK (Maybe even completely in the UK.): It’s a tough one, so I won’t have all the answers tomorrow, next week, maybe not even this year. When I do I’ll publish the final article as a paid-for work:  First as a prospective untested how-to; then, when I’ve done it myself, as a “How I Did It” article, again for a price. Watch this space - or somewhere near it - for more, at some point.

I want to be doing what they’re doing at Gnomedex. I want to make money online; and use some of that wealth to change the world for the better in whatever way I can in tandem with the people from the USA at Gnomedex. I’m going to do it too; but starting from the UK as I will inevitably have to do, I first have to work out a strategy as I stated in the last paragraph; and I’m going to do that too. Then I’m going to share it as I said.

If you have any ideas, insights, opinions, expertise, comments, whatever; then post them below. If you wish to dialogue or have any spontaneous input then I welcome it.

In the post I made earlier entitled “A Geek’s Toolkit Supplement: Loaded USB Drive ” I spoke of what I described as “branding files”: Files that I add to the operating system to indicate that I am supplier, builder, and maintenance tech for a particular computer.

I can hear your brains whirring; so before you start thinking that I’m up to something naughty I’ll show you exactly what I mean. Oh yes; this only works if you have Windows XP installed, so don’t go trying it with a Linux or a OSX installation and then comment that I’ve messed up your operating system or “I can’t find those files in Ubuntu!” - “It doesn’t work with Leopard!” You’re quite right; it doesn’t - So be forewarned.

If this information has already been added to your operating system by the manufacturer then I suggest it best to just leave it anyway.

(Why are you playing about with your computer like this anyway? What do you hope to achieve? Oh well; your problem, not mine.)

The aim of the exercise is to customise Windows XP’s general tab in the System Properties dialogue box that you call up by right-clicking the My Computer icon and selecting Properties.

This customisation involves adding support contract information and a logo. It involves using only Notepad and whatever program you like to use to create a 256-colour bitmap.

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OK let’s start with the details: I won’t tell you exactly what details I put for computers that I build; so for this exercise we’ll assume that these details are regarding a computer built by the Acme Computer Corporation:

The computer is a Datamax, model 55102. Support line is 1-800-ACME…

Open Notepad and type the following text, replacing the example with your company’s details etc:

[General]

Manufacturer=Acme Computer Corporation

Model=Datamax 55102

[Support Information]

Line 1=Call 1-800-ACME for technical support

Line 2=  support [at] OMG [dot] acmecomputer [dot] com.invalid

Line 3=500 Billion Byte Drive

Line 4=Pixelgraphicsville, USA

Save this file to %windir%\Windows\System32 as Oeminfo.ini

Create a 256-colour bitmap of your company’s logo that is no more than 96X96 pixels in size. Save this file to %windir%\Windows\system32 as Oemlogo.bmp

Yes I deliberately soiled the picture: ‘Better safe than sorry.

To see the results either right-click on the My Computer icon or press the Windows and the Break key simultaneously.

And that’s how it’s done - No registry edits, no hacking into anything. This is a white box system builder’s trick; but it’s no massive secret. The files aren’t permanent anyway; if you remove them or reinstall your operating system the dialogue box reverts to default.

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At 01:40GMT (02:40 BST) this morning the following email was delivered to my inbox. I’ve added my comments to it in regular Arial 12pt text:

“I’m sending you this note because you registered a mobile device
to work with Twitter over our UK number. I wanted to let you
know that we are making some changes to the way SMS works on
Twitter. There is some good news and some bad news.”

“I’ll start with the bad news. Beginning today, Twitter is no
longer delivering outbound SMS over our UK number. If you enjoy
receiving updates from Twitter via    +44 762 480 1423   , we are
recommending that you explore some suggested alternatives.
Note: You will still be able to UPDATE over our UK number.”

What this means is that UK telephone companies are refusing any concessions to Twitter in the interests of their own continued 100% profit; as if they needed to do so - The greedy money-grabbing penny-pinching slimeballs! Doing so might reduce their profits by a fraction of a percent; which might mean the Director will only get 5 paid-holidays and less than £500G a year or something equally ridiculous.

“Before I go into more detail, here’s a bit of good news: Twitter
will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries
throughout Europe in the coming weeks and months. These new
numbers will make Twittering more accessible for you if you’ve
been using SMS to send long-distance updates from outside the UK.”

Note the absence of the word “free” or “Freephone”.

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BEWARNED: BT’s new Home Hub could cost you nearly twice as much as advertised as an existing BT customer; and you won’t know that you have to pay extra until after you receive the unit:-

Home Hub v2.0, released in July 2008

Last week I was looking at the BT website and I noticed that they had brought out a new model of the BT Home Hub router - a version 2.0. http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/homehub2.html It had a stylish curved polished black plastic design and 4 ethernet ports. I decided that I was going to have one, as the one I was currently using was white which clashed with the colour of the rest of my equipment, was chunky and fairly ugly in comparison, and I was using both ethernet ports out of the 2 available and would prefer an additional 2 ports for future expansion.

I rang BT and eventually managed to get the Indian at the other end of the phone to understand what I was saying and take my order. He said that I’d have to pay £44.99 for it, (About $90USD) which I thought was fair (That was half-price as an existing BT customer.): I’d had the existing BT Home Hub (V.1.1) free with the full package including VOIP phone, unlimited bandwidth, and their biggest and most expensive residential phone package. The VOIP phone uses a separate BT telephone number on the same line, and was channeled over the internet from the BT exchange; thus the cost of calls was allegedly cheaper. (As well as worse quality.)

(*Note: The recent BT Home Hubs; 2.0 and above, require a working voltage of 15 Volts. The older BT Home Hubs, before 2.0 require a working voltage of 9 Volts: Therefore if you’re replacing an old Home Hub with a new 2.0 or greater, you would probably have problems with it, if it works at all, if you don’t use the power adapter supplied with it and use the old one instead. (I don’t advise using the new adapter with an old Home Hub; although it may or may not work as a temporary measure. (Then again it might damage the old Home Hub due to over-voltage - I don’t know and I don’t intend to experiment in this area.)))

Today I received delivery of my new BT Home Hub; exactly as described in their advertising material. It was a snitch to set up; the only thing I had to do really was replace the old mains power adapter with the supplied adapter; as the new hub ran on a voltage of 15 Volts, whereas the old one ran on 9 Volts. I already had the required software installed, (I don’t use their free Norton security software as it’s ineffective resource-hogging crap. I only use the BT Desktop Help software.) and it picked up and worked a dream. I then realised that I hadn’t attached the VOIP handset’s cradle or configured it to work with my existing handset. The existing handset was white - Hmm; a new one would cost me so I decided I’d live with it until I had enough spare balance to buy a new black one.

I removed the cover from the cradle socket on the new hub and it suddenly hit me that there was no way that my old cradle was going to fit. I checked the package for a new cradle but none was supplied. I phoned BT. :

The Indian went all through the most stringent interrogation for identity verification; and then said he’d transfer me to the relevant department; who did it again. This time I was talking at last to a Brit - Yippee!.. But my happiness was short-lived:

The reply was that they don’t supply a new cradle separately; and that I’d have to buy one along with a new handset for £35.99 (About $70USD)> I said that this was a con: I already had a perfectly good handset; all I needed was a cradle which should have been supplied with the new hub: I’d like a free cradle by itself or I’d be taking the matter to the Office of Fair Trading. I’d also like BT to make it clear in their advertising that the new router would require a new cradle and handset BEFORE the customer chose to buy it; or I’d be taking that matter to Trading Standards as well.

To cut a long story short she wouldn’t budge; so rightly or wrongly I went ahead and ordered and told her that I’d be referring the matter to the relevant powers that be - Which I’m about to do.

If you’re a BT customer and you’d like a new BT Home Hub 2.0 with a usable cradle and phone included; the cost isn’t £44.99: That’s a con - You can’t use your existing handset as the cradle won’t fit. The true cost in total is £80.00 approximately. (Somewhere around $160USD.)

Another example of Bullshit Telecom’s dishonesty and unethical advertising.

They WILL be sorry: I’ll make sure of it!

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