Teknovis

I just read that Skype is considering the use of SIP in Skype Opens Up To SIP, Finally Eyes Enterprise Customers The Way It Should. (For an explanation of SIP see Session Initiation Protocol.) The main motivation of this would be to bring Skype to the business community. (Although in my experience Skype is already used extensively by both small and large businesses.)

Skype currently uses a propitiatory protocol to exchange VoIP data, and this protocol masquerades as HTTPS. SIP is a mature open standard for VoIP, and therefore there are already many compliant hardware and software solutions.

In general, I am a big fan of open standards. However, in this case I think that the biggest advantage of SIP is also its biggest disadvantage. In particular, because SIP is an open standard is is very easy to identify it on the network, and treat it differently. The advantage of this is that VoIP traffic can be given higher priority. The disadvantage is that VoIP traffic can easily be blocked :( I have experienced Internet connections in many hotels that block all outgoing traffic except HTTP and HTTPS. In these situations Skype still works perfectly :)

If Skype can successfully incorporate SIP functionality without compromising on the existing propitiatory protocol over HTTPS then I think that would be a great solution!

Tags: HTTP, SIP, Skype

A friend sent me this cool Internet based subway map last week. (Click to see the original 2.6MB version.)

Web Trend Map 2009 (Copyright Information Architects)

It was developed by Information Architects, and you can read more about it in Web Trend Map 4 – Final Beta.

I tend to connect to the Internet a lot with my laptop in public places. I have no confidence in the security provided by Windows (2000 or XP), and I am am extremely sceptical of any software based firewalls for Windows. I am a firm beliver of hardware based security!

So I am very interested in some products by Yoggie that I saw recently. This video explains them:

In particular, I like the Gatekeeper Pro in inline mode. I think that this would be perfect for me if only it also included WiFi.

Tags: Firewall, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Yoggie

Last October I described the format of the Irish budget, and how it is broadcast online by RTE, in Record Traffic For Irish Budget 2009 Announcement. At that time INEX had a record throughput of approximately 5.3Gbits/s.

Last Tuesday the Irish Minister for Finance had to announce a second annual budget for 2009 because he got the first one wrong. (I will not comment on his incompetency on this blog ;) It appears that this caused a new record throughput of approximately 7.2Gbits/s according to the INEX traffic statistics.

I should have thought of putting a copy of the Day Graph here earlier in the week :(

Tags: INEX, Peering, RTE

You work in a large organisation that deals primarily with very sensitive information. You develop procedures to ensure that this sensitive information is handled correctly at all times. You invest in hardware solutions to ensure that your systems remain secure. You develop access control models that are based on biometric identification. You use the most secure protocols and algorithms to encrypt data. Indeed, you do everything that you can think of to ensure you have the strongest security possible.

Then some photographer in the right place, and at the right time, uses his digital camera and zoom lens to capture a photograph of a very sensitive document.

If you are not sure what I am referring to, then take a look at Police chief quits over blunder. It is actually a great example of why security requires an all encompassing multi-faceted approach.

Tags: UK

Earlier this year Science Foundation Ireland announced the creation of five new Strategic Research Clusters with an investment of 23.9€ million. (I should have written about these at the time, but better late than never :)

Two of these projects are of interest to me (because they are ICT related):

• Clique is analysing data graphs and networks. This project is based in UCD.
• FAME is investigating end-to-end communications over heterogeneous networks. This project is based in TSSG.

For more details about this announcement see Tánaiste announces establishment of 5 New Science Foundation Ireland Strategic Research Clusters, and for the complete set of Strategic Research Clusters projects see Strategic Research Clusters.

Tags: Science Foundation Ireland, TSSG, UCD

I came across this web site recently… it seemed that Jamie Varo really wanted to work for Twitter. So she created http://www.twittershouldhireme.com/

I thought it was very creative!

Tags: Twitter

I heard somebody using the term TLA during the week, and I had to interrupt to ask what exactly this meant.

A TLA is a Three Letter Acronym! Apparently, Intel employees love using TLAs :o

For more about this see Three-letter acronym.

Tags: Intel

There was some good technology related humour yesterday as part of the normal April Fools’ Day celebrations! Here are some of my favourites!

• Electronic tagging for exiles of ‘high net worth’ proposed in Ireland
• The Guardian newspaper will be published exclusively on Twitter according to Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink
• Amazon introduced some new cloud computing services in Up, Up, and Away – Cloud Computing Reaches for the Sky
• YouTube developed a way to improve the viewer’s experience in Your New Viewing Experience
• Smellr: It’s like Flickr, but for your nose
• Warner Bros will buy The Pirate Bay according to Warner Bros. Acquires The Pirate Bay
• Google launched CADIE
• Identi.ca has bought Twitter according to Identi.ca acquires Twitter. According to a Twitter executive: “I was worried we were going to have to make a business out of that whole Twitter thing! I’m really glad it’s someone else’s problem now.”

For a more comprehensive overview of the technology related humour see April Fools: YouTube Flails, Amazon Cloud Computing In A Blimp, 3D Chrome Browsing, Google Masters A.I..

Tags: Amazon, Google, Identi.ca, Smellr, The Guardian, The Pirate Bay, Twitter, Warner Bros, YouTube

There was a story in one of the Irish national newspapers earlier this week claiming that UCD was having difficulty filling up to 33 computing research positions. The full story is Wanted: 33 smart people for top posts, and the positions are described in Vacancies.

I thought that this was very surprising when I read it initially, but after further investigation I think that it is understandable.

Firstly, 23 of these 33 positions are for PhD studentships. The successful candidates will receive a tax-free salary of 18,500€. I do not think that this level of remuneration will attract anybody of the right calibre who is already working in industry. Most likely, it will only appeal to graduates.

The other issue that I see with these positions is that they are based on formal methods. I know that this area is significant within the computer science world, but I do not think that industry has much interest in this area. Therefore, it is less likely that the successful candidates will learn significant transferable skills.

Tags: UCD