Sponsor's Message

The objective is to deny terrorists access to the service and the only reason I can think that such groups might be reliant on GPS is if they're launching their own home-made missiles.

Gosh, could it be that I was right and the level of threat from such a simple autonomous device is much higher than they were prepared to publicly acknowledge?

Given the speed (or lack thereof) with which governments work, I would not totally discount that the implications of what I've suggested have finally hit home with those at the top (as opposed to their bureaucratic minions).

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination.

Will the next step be, as so many have suggested, have me "taken out" as someone who is on the wrong side of the war against terror?

I don't think so -- but obviously the US Government's level of worry is showing. It's just a shame that they continue to avoid using the most powerful weapons they have against such a potentially leathal threat -- education and public awareness.

Perhaps I'd better not publish anything about the astonishingly accuracy of low-cost "off the shelf" inertial guidance components that can easily be used to significantly reduce the effects of a GPS shutdown on the accuracy of such a device.

Push to save?
I see that across the ditch, Telstra is launching a CDMA-based push-to-talk (PTT) service that will be available for a flat-rate $50/month for "all you can push."

For some cellphone users, this could result in quite a saving -- especially for those on a pre-pay plan where there are no free minutes included.

I first saw PTT in operation nearly 18 months ago while in the USA and was impressed with the potential it had for offering a real value-for-money service.

Despite the fact that Telstra are offering flat-rate, I think this service could be a real money-spinner for them because, in theory, it has the ability to take advantage of otherwise unused network capacity. This is because, unlike the regular duplex voice service, it need only be pseudo-realtime.

If you encounter a 500-1000mS delay on a regular voice call the effects can be almost intolerable (don't you hate those international calls routed via satellite?). The same degree of latency on a PTT service (while the network waits for a free hole in the datastream) goes almost unnoticed.

Here in NZ I see that Telecom are already selling phones with PTT capabilities that, they promise, will be available sometime in 2005. Could *this* be the killer service Theresa's gang need to claw back some ground in the mobile market?

Weather or not
You may not have noticed, but the weather has been really lousy so far this summer.

Let's give a little thanks to global warming -- for without it I'm sure we'd have all frozen to death by now.

Fingers out folks
Come on, I'm still waiting for the deluge of suggestions for the Christmas Eve "Lighten Up" extravaganza. Get your suggestions in now!

Have your say on today's column

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!