Stop the press. Sneak has a mindblowingly unbelievable story coming your way. Ready? Really ready? OK. Here it comes. Some celebrities with Twitter profiles don't actually update them themselves. Yup, thought you'd be shocked. And there you were giving Britney parenting tips or advising hip hop star 50 Cent about where the best bling emporia in London are. And all along they weren't even listening! Can you believe it?

Well, yes actually, Sneak can. According to reports, Ms Spears even posted an advert recently for an assistant who could help her with menial stuff like managing the content for her Twitter and Facebook accounts ... and childcare. That last one was made-up, by the way.

For his part, 50 Cent's online business manager, Chris 'Broadway' Romero, is apparently the lucky soul who is tasked with capturing the spirit of his employer in his Tweets. What a job. What. A. Job. Sneak wonders if there are any down-on-their-luck celebs who might want a bit of Twitter action to kick-start their careers? Sneak would be happy to oblige by ghostwriting their Tweets in keeping with the true essence of the man or woman behind them. Paul Daniels maybe? Although no, he is already a prolific blogger in his own right. Maybe Bobby Davro? I'm sure you'll all agree it's been too damn long since he was on our TV screens...

March 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

HP has revealed how its intention to take the complexity out of computing has led to a novel design technique, which might put the firm on the blacklist of many female technologists.

Speaking at an HP workstations event in Los Angeles, Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of the Personal Systems Group at HP, was keen to demonstrate the firm's focus on keeping things simple for the user.

"The biggest frustration for a user is every time a new version of the software comes out, they've got to learn how to use it," he said. Taking the example of switching from Microsoft Office 2003 to Office 2007 and the different ribbon interfaces, McKinney added, "Be honest, how long did it take you to find the 'Save as'? We make the user fight through the technology to use it."

HP has found its own way around the complexity issue, which although admirable in its intentions, unfortunately sets the case of women in IT back a few years. McKinney said that to get to the concept of "absolutely insanely simple" technology, HP simply tailors its designs with women in mind.

"When men buy technology, they take it home and if it doesn't work they beat it into submission," he said. "For women there's a three-strike rule." He explained that women want technology to work straight out of the box, and if the product does not work on the third try they will take it back to the shop.

To demonstrate his point further, McKinney shared the details of the "Michelle test", Michelle being McKinney's wife. "She tests every prototype product. She has to be able to take it out of the box and get it functioning without my help. If she can't, it doesn't ship."

So full marks to HP for putting the user at the heart of its design, even though the reasoning behind the technique is unlikely to help convince more women to consider a career in the IT industry.

March 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Street View has launched in the UK today, which I'm sure has caused a surge of people (me included) in rushing to see if where they live is pictured on the site. So far, the photo mapping tool covers 25 UK cities, including London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester.

Google also released some Street View Facts to support the UK launch. These included the biggest problem for drivers trying to put all the photographs together in the UK was - you guessed it - the weather, with all the dreary rain last summer. London was highlighted as the worst city to photograph, due to its one way streets, parking restrictions and high buildings.

Google also listed several ways that firms can use the technology, including making it easier for customers to locate restaurants or offices by embedding the relevant Street View image into web sites, and showing house hunters suitable properties.

There are certainly potential business uses, but one area that could trip Google up is privacy.

Google was at pains to point out that it has gone to great lengths to protect individual's privacy. "Street View only contains imagery that is already visible from public roads and features technology that blurs both faces and licence plates," the search giant said. Users will be able to flag any suspect image to Google, and the firm cited support from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over its approach.

Google has previously come under pressure from the European Union and US government representatives over the technology, and Street View has already been tested in the US courts. Last year, a Pennsylvania couple sued Google for trespass and invasion of privacy, after the firm took pictures of their drive which was marked with 'Private Road' and 'No Trespassing' signs. The couple said that the pictures had caused their home to diminish in value by $25,000, but the US court ruled in Google's favour.

Although that case certainly sounded like people trying their luck, no doubt there will be similar cases here in the UK where photos include unauthorised or unexpected content. When I searched for my house on Street View, the first shot showed three women walking along with their children in pushchairs, and further up the road a man in shorts and sunglasses. Although their faces were slightly blurred, anyone who knew these people would have been able to tell who they were. This could lead to some tricky situations, especially if people are caught on camera in places where they shouldn't be. Cheating husbands and wives, I'd start checking out Street View now in case you've been pictured coming out of any houses you shouldn't have been in.

March 19, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2)

After last week's Eyeborg story, Sneak wondered if there were any more slightly distasteful, incredulous, amusing and downright bizarre true tales of body-part technology innovation. And after much scouring of the interweb, Sneak was finally alerted to this little gem, by an eagle-eyed viewer.

It turns out that a Finnish software developer by the name of Jerry Jalava has managed to obtain a prosthetic USB finger, after losing said digit in a motorcycle accident last year. "But how does he type or work at a PC with his finger sticking in the USB port?", I hear you cry. How is he not electrocuted? Is the USB drive attached to his bone? How, and more importantly, why?

Well, as Jerry explains in his blog, the appendage is not permanently attached to his body but can be removed at will. So it's actually a removable prosthetic finger with a USB drive installed in the tip. Handy eh?

"Currently I have Billix, CouchDBX and Ajatus installed inside it," writes Jalava in said blog. "I'm planning to use the other prosthetic as a shell for the next version, which will have a removable fingertip and RFID tag."

So there you go; the wonders of modern science and the eccentricities of software developers perfectly encapsulated in a bite sized morsel of technology news. Next week: what happened when a web coder lost his right foot in a bizarre yachting accident.

March 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blogs and social networks are the death of culture, or so haters of these 21st century phenomena tell Sneak. Instead of reading a book, or visiting the library, or doing anything to generally enrich their lives, the yoof of today is exchanging insults, fashion tips and tales of the night before on the internet, your roving reporter has frequently been told.

Well, Sneak has news for you; far from accelerating the decline and cheapening of our wonderful culture, social networks could actually be its saviour. Literary enthusiasts the world over are using this medium to spread the works of literary greats like Samuel Pepys and William Shakespeare, it has emerged.

Thus, the renowned diarist Pepys has been given a new lease of life, and a blog, to present his musings to a new generation of internet savvy readers. Which actually works rather well, his entries being the perfect bite-sized morsal to fit such a format. Less successful, Sneak reckons, are the attempts to condense Hamlet into a Facebook-style news feed, or Pride and Prejudice into a series of status updates. Sneak appreciates these attempts to engage the present with the past, but fears that the people behind these ideas may have bitten off slightly more than they can chew.

Then there's the journalist's journalist - George Orwell. The Orwell Trust has gone all Web 2.0 and decided to present his diaries to the world via a Twitter feed. Don't exepect the kind of insightful journalism you can find by visiting vnunet.com's Twitter page, but top marks for trying anyway, George.

March 8, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Take one filmmaker (semi-eyeless), an avionics systems engineer, a whizz kid ocularist and what have you got? Possibly the weirdest, craziest, and certainly most unique technology engineering projects ever devised.

The Eyeborg Project, Sneak has just discovered, was created when Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence decided he would like to film his documentaries from a perspective never seen before. So he decided to have a tiny video camera and transmitter embedded into a prosthetic eye. The technology set up to make this a reality includes lithium button cell batteries, a 1.5mm camera, a tiny RF transmitter and an even tinier image sensor "so small you could lose it in a sneeze".

It's bizarrely brilliant, and makes Sneak a little squeamish at the very thought. "We're waiting for the miniature fuel cell guys to get their technology out of the lab," wrote a recent posting on the Eyeborg blog. "Just add water and you have instant power. We'll connect a tube to Rob's tear duct and make him cry every day or so to keep his eye powered!"

Spence is hoping the technology will enable him to complete his current film project, which is loosely based, appropriately enough, around the theme of surveillance. "We are all moderately to severely crazy - with wild ideas, a knack for getting things done, and a level of enthusiasm that could certainly be mistaken for obsession," says a message on the project's site. Yup, severely crazy is about right, Sneak reckons. But if you've only got one eye, you might as well put something useful in there. Beats a pencil sharpener or a bottle opener I suppose.

March 6, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sky News is set to appoint a dedicated member of staff to trawl Twitter for breaking news. Yes, in a "leaked" memo which Sneak is pretty sure Sky will not be too concerned about (after all, it makes them look, like, totally Media 2.0, man) it has transpired that a certain Ruth Barnett will be the lucky lady.

The new Twitter correspondent will no doubt be tasked with searching for the kind of breaking news that has come via the web 2.0 phenomenon in the past few weeks; the Hudson River rescue, Buffalo plane crash, and the attempted rescue of a British snowboarder. However, Barnett will have her work cut out to sift through the more usual items of 'news' posted on Twitter:"off to the gym", "sigh" and "anyone want a coffee?" are just this morning's pick.

Sneak doesn't know what's more worrying. That media companies are now investing so much time and resources to platforms which are mainly used to peddle self-indulgent twaddle, or the fact that Sneak heard this news today through his Twitter feed.

March 5, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)