silicon.com : Peter Cochrane's blog

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Uneconomics

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Compiled at the IoD, Pall Mall, London, and dispatched to silicon.com via a free wi-fi connection.

For more than a year now I have been in a state of mild bewilderment while watching and listening to the economic commentators. The truth is: I find it difficult to afford them much credibility as I have been here many times before.

Peter Cochrane's Video Blog: Tapping into London's 20Mbps broadband

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:27:01 GMT

While out and about in London, Peter Cochrane discovers there's an awful lot of unsecured wi-fi on offer, you just have to dig around.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: United breaks guitars?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Compiled at JFK Airport whilst waiting for BA 178 to fly me home via London Heathrow. Dispatched to silicon.com via a free LAN connection in the BA lounge.

I just boarded an early morning shuttle bus from my hotel at JFK airport. Barely awake, I heard the driver call for airlines and terminals. Someone piped up "United" and the immediate rejoinder from the rest of the passengers was a chorus of the song "United Breaks Guitars".

Peter Cochrane's Blog: What is intelligence?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Written in a coffee shop on the corner of 1st and 71st Street in New York on bright autumn day. Dispatched to silicon.com via a free wi-fi node.

For more than 20 years now I have worked on artificial life and intelligence systems. Much of the time, efforts in this area have been confounded by a lack of common definitions and descriptions, compounded by questionable performance measures.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Linking up with Barack Obama?

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:57:01 GMT

Compiled at my hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey, US, on a rainy autumn day and dispatched to silicon.com via a free wi-fi connection

Travelling as I do in the course of my professional activities, I meet a lot of interesting and well-connected people. For the most part I link up with them by email and social networking sites.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: The turntable spins on

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:32:02 GMT

Compiled at my home on a sunny autumn day over a morning coffee and dispatched to silicon.com via wi-fi.

Ten years ago a 19-year-old Shawn Fanning launched Napster and music file-sharing; and the property rights war has been raging ever since. Out of this came iTunes and other online services, but the tech evolution is unlikely to stop.

Peter Cochrane's Video Blog: DIY broadband

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:45:01 GMT

Peter Cochrane video blogs from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he finds he has more bandwidth than he's had anywhere in North America. So where did all this broadband come from?

Peter Cochrane's Blog: 3G Reality bytes

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:09:01 GMT

Compiled on BA 215 flying London to Boston and dispatched to silicon.com from my harbour hotel via a rather poor and expensive wi-fi service

Continually promising to deliver what the limits of physics say can't be done is no way for an industry to operate. The outcome can only be customer disappointment, scepticism and commercial damage, but the telecom industry continues to do it anyway!

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Software - keep it short and sweet

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Compiled in a car park in Redcar UK, edited in my garden on a warm summer evening, and dispatched to silicon.com from The IoD via a free wi-fi service two weeks later.

For more than 35 years the immutable law of software has seen the inclusion of more and more features with each upgrade of applications and operating system.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Can tech end bloody wars?

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:26:01 GMT

Compiled on the M6 driving to Birmingham, edited later in my hotel, and dispatched to silicon.com from Leeds via a free wi-fi service the next day.

Throughout my life I have seen warfare mutate from the World War II model to terrorism, the threat of weapons of mass destruction and cyber attacks. Like all aspects of human activity, this has been powered by raw technology, and the advances in the next lifetime will most likely be even more dramatic than what we've seen so far.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Digital TV too annoying to watch?

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Compiled on the Ipswich to London train and dispatched to silicon.com from the Institute of Directors via a free wi-fi service an hour later.

Many countries are migrating to digital broadcast services, with most in 'partial transition' toward completion dates spanning from 2009 to 2015 (and later).

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Who accepts my social networking invites?

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:03:01 GMT

Compiled at my home early one morning when I just couldn't sleep, and dispatched to silicon.com via a free wi-fi service in London a week later.

My earliest experiences of social networking alerted me to the cultural differences between peoples and companies. It started with companies banning the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo and then moved onto the extremely variable response times to invitations and the varying acceptance rates.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Singapore's fibre paradox

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Compiled at my Singapore hotel upon arrival and despatched to silicon.com on the day of my departure from Changi Airport via a free wi-fi service

Having arrived in Singapore during the late afternoon, I went for a walk to help my body normalise after the flight.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Three clicks away from eight million people

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Compiled at the IoD and various hotels in London over several days, polished on TG409 flying Bangkok to Singapore, and dispatched to silicon.com via my hotel LAN shortly after arrival.

All civilisations have been critically dependent upon the development of communication skills, language, mathematics and abstract thinking. Ours surged forward with the arrival of the printing press, the electro-mechanical/electronic age and the information era. But quantifying the impact of networks and networking remains a bit of a challenge.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Open info for all?

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Compiled on TG409 flying Bangkok to Singapore and dispatched to silicon.com via a hotel wi-fi connection four days later

Governments and ministers seem to find it very hard to decide what information should be in the public domain and what should not.

Peter Cochrane's Video Blog: Bangkok needs fibre

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:25:02 GMT

In his latest video blog, Peter Cochrane heads to Thailand and investigates the state of broadband while he's there. What does he find? Watch the video to find out

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Tales of all-in-one woe

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Compiled on BA009 flying London to Bangkok and dispatched to silicon.com via a domestic wi-fi connection the next day

Over the years I have had numerous printers, scanners and copiers, and about five years ago I opted for an all-in-one machine. At the same time I moved away from a dedicated box to a networked and shared facility.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Iran, tweets and e-democracy

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:54:01 GMT

Compiled at the IoD in London and dispatched to silicon.com via a free wi-fi service on the same day

Like most of you I have been following the aftermath of the Iranian election via printed press, radio and TV. But it has been blogs and Twitter that have proved the more interesting, informative and up-to-date.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Baker's dozen - a lesson for broadband

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:33:02 GMT

Compiled on KLM 1508 flying Norwich to Amsterdam and dispatched to silicon.com via wi-fi from my Amsterdam hotel a day later

The expression 'a baker's dozen' originated around the 13th century in an early statute instituted by Henry III called the 'Assize of Bread and Ale', which aimed to prevent customers being short changed.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: We have plenty of radio spectrum

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:25:01 GMT

Compiled during a visit to Amble in Northumberland, edited on the A1 heading home, and dispatched to silicon.com via 3G from Norwich Airport two days later

I keep hearing presentations and reading reports and articles that paint a worrying picture of a world running short of radio spectrum. But in the back of my mind I have the recollection of being on the periphery of a spectrum study of Chicago by the Illinois Institute of Technology some 15 or so years ago that revealed a total spectrum occupancy of only 17 per cent spanning some 10GHz.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Why are we so wasteful?

Thu, 28 May 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Compiled on the Ipswich to London train and dispatched to silicon.com via 3G during the same journey

As a young man I worked in a number of 'mom and pop' stores and small businesses before joining a state-run enterprise.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Squeeze more speed out of your broadband

Wed, 20 May 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Compiled at my home near Woodbridge, UK, and dispatched to silicon.com via wi-fi later the next day.

My office looks like Armageddon. There are cables, CDs, instruction books, cardboard boxes and ADSL modems covering most of the floor and desks.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Become a bandwidth scavenger

Wed, 06 May 2009 15:17:01 GMT

Never has a subject been so studied, debated and reported with such little understanding and positive action as broadband in the UK. For me this came to a real head recently with the publication of the Carter Report, compounded by my appearance at a broadband conference - the last one I shall ever attend.

The Carter Report is a travesty of misunderstanding, misconception and missed opportunities. On one day our Prime Minister announces that every home in the UK will have 2Mbps broadband in 2011, and the next a Korean minister announces that everyone in his country will have 1,000Mbps in 2012.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Uncommon mode failure

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Compiled at my hotel in Newbury, UK, and dispatched to silicon.com via wi-fi from my home three weeks later

So there I was on a weekend stopover in a hotel. It is a Friday morning and I have a clutch of urgent emails I need to send. So I log onto the hotel LAN to find I can receive email but I cannot send. Hmm, time for my second strike capability - a 3G dongle.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: The cloud cometh

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Compiled in my home office on the first day of Spring and dispatched to silicon.com via wi-fi from BT Labs at Martlesham Heath, UK

The technical literature is currently ringing with cries of: 'I want to know where my bits are - and what about the increased security risk?'