Wireless comes to Oxford!

El Reg is reporting that Austrialian telecomms company iBurst is set to trial their wireless broadband package across Oxford.

The orignal press release can be found on iBurst’s site, which seems to suggest pricing of around A$100 per month (around 40 quid).

iBurst has so far been deployed in 2.3GHz bands (but can also run in 3.5Ghz), and as such requires special modems and antennae, adding to the cost of service.

The whole thing is therefore probably packaged towards heavy roadwarrior-types and not us poor students….
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These musicians are saying that true creativity needs to be open, fluid, and alive. When it comes to copyright, they are pro-choice. Here are 16 songs that encourage people to play with their tunes, not just play them.

http://creativecommons.org/wired/
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An A-doubleplusungood for Charles Clarke?

Yesterday the government announced new proposals to reform 14-18 education with the all-arching diploma to replace GCSEs (which it seems to admit have failed to be the all-encompassing miracle they were heralded to be) and A-levels (in some part).

This included the idea to tackle grade inflation by adding A-plus and double-plus grades. At the time, I thought it rather Orwellian, and so it seems did letter writers to the DT…..

Sir – I see the Government is to back a proposal to tackle grade inflation by adding A-plus and double-plus grades (News, Oct 19), a deliciously Orwellian idea carrying our glorious leaders further beyond parody. Why stop there? The B grade should become A-ungood and C, A-doubleplussungood, thus avoiding any confusion.

In order to allow everyone to have an A, the lower grades would be abolished entirely. Soon most people would accept that they had never existed at all, apart from a few misfits who still thought the first division in football was really the third division.

From:
David Miller, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

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Movement on the VoIP front in the UK

UK rings up new ‘real phone’ VoIP service

A German company has launched a new internet telephony service in the UK which offers cheap calls and uses “geographical” numbers.

The Sipgate service is now available in ten UK cities – Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle – using existing area codes. Sipgate is also planning to make the service available in other area code regions over the next six months.

More in the El Reg article.
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Gardies is Saved!!

Gardies has been saved!

Not only have the Caius fellowship given it a stay of execution, but it’s actually made the front page of The Times. That article by Sam Coates explains that is often a location for blind dates … the poor women of Cambridge! Still, I wonder whether the place has seen any dining experiences like Brian’s birthday bash back in 2002.

An LJ discussion of the news can be found on the Cantab community.
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