hip hop through the subway speakers?

A few years ago I was sitting on a New York Subway, when some hackers jacked into the MTA carriages's audio system and started playing hip-hop through the speakers. No-one in the carriage seemed to bat an eyelid, and I wasn't sure if it was commonplace or if New Yorkers were as insulated as Londoners when on public transport.

I wondered at the time just how long it would be before this started happening to other forms of transport.

I now see a couple of hackers have just published some computer code which can be used to intercept automobile firmware and mess around with the systems. They have been doing it in plain view, so that manufacturers get onto the security requirement, but it does raise the kind of issues I was thinking about as I travelled uptown on the 5.

Cars have a sort of Local Area Network whose speed has been progressively increasing for the last few years.

There's a few standards like CAN (Controller Area Network) and LIN (Local Interconnect Network) which have to be more resilient to electromagnetism and EMF noise as well as having workshop-friendly industrial looking connectors.

A typical modern car has 50-100 microprocessor systems, so these modern-day computer linkages are pretty important, and have progressively increased in speed, running at around a Megabit per second in modern cars.

Naturally, car manufacturers are already talking about wifi car diagnostics, and the wifi extension IEEE 802.11p has been around for some years, specifically as a vehicular communication system to support ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems). The idea is that cars can talk to one another as well as to the workshop.

That's where the modern-day equivalent of the subway train hackers come along. If they can bridge the gap from the roadside to the car using wifi, and then hook onto the car's 'LAN', there's a potential way to exploit the car's control system.

The two guys that just tried it with a Chrysler in the USA also illustrate the start of an intriguing era for cars.

They get more computerised, but the uConnect fix for the Chrysler has to be uploaded manually via a USB stick into the vehicle. Its's supposed to be a driver-friendly update, but I do wonder whether its is completely foolproof? We all know the strange things that can happen with, say, a Windows update.

I remember when we needed to update something in the sporty little red car. It ran the special car version of Windows and needed someone with a fairly extensive computer knowledge to get it all working. Or the time my smart windscreen was replaced by a normal windscreen fitter who effectively disabled the whole car for about three weeks until all the right control systems could be reinstalled by the car dealers' people.

So, who will get there first? The car dealers or the hackers? Maybe Suzi Quatro was prescient with 'Can the CAN'?

rare migratory vehicles

Around town with some friends in the evening, we briefly commented on the interesting cars in the residents' car park. We are now at that time of year when cars get shipped over to London from places where it is inconveniently hot.

I noticed the blue Aventador first. It allegedly glows in the dark like something out of Tron, and nearby the accomplice red Lamborghini just looks pretty.

There's a couple of Aston Martins, but no-one seems to notice them as the air-freighted cars start to appear. The Roller next to the Lambo flew first class and next to that there's a middle eastern plated G Class Mercedes, admittedly with the AMG spec to keep the price north of £100k. The Merc and the Lambo still have sand on them and the Lambo has those Italian-flag coloured disk brakes.

I don't think I'll be keeping up with the neighbours.

As if the #cupcake wasn't enough, now we're onto the #edfringe @ukmixtape carrier bags

Decisions, decisions...

These desirable bags are for leafleting in Edinburgh, and we decided they might as well be branded.

Instead of getting them made by a fancy printer, we've decided that these are relatively straightforward to produce ourselves.

The difference is, when you send them away there is One Design. End of story.

By feeding them through the home printer, there's the opportunity to try different designs.

And don't get me started on the tee-shirts.

#cupcake plans for @ukmixtape promo

Another item in the Mixtape armoury is the #cupcake plans which have already created a few boom-box as well as cassette and CD cakes as part of the fund-raising.

A couple of attempts are illustrated here.

I'm thinking that a Kit-Kat bar (maybe only 3 instead of 4 sticks?) would make a good base for a facsimile robust but edible cassette? Anyone know of any recipes?

Everyman steps beyond

We finally got to see the NT production of Everyman on the South Bank this week. Tickets have been scarce and I had to book about three months ahead. Ironically, there was huge array of HD production vehicles and a large satellite dish parked alongside the theatre because there's to be a live broadcast version to cinemas around now.

The story is quite well-known; a 500-year old morality play about how Everyman (everyone) is called to their God by the agent of Death and judged by their good deeds. The Everyman in the play wants other allegorical supporters to speak in his favour, but Fellowship, Family, Material Goods and Knowledge won't play along. It goes a bit guilt-trippy Catholic after that, with Penance and Confession making appearances.

At least, it does in the original version.

This is a bangin' overhaul set in a clubby metropolis, where Everyman is having a big party for his 40th birthday accompanied by the longest line of cocaine it is possible to imagine.

Naturally - and no spoiler because it's the premise of the piece - there are consequences and a dry-witted Death appears complete with a police forensic outfit.

The modernised script has been written by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Chiwetel Ejiofor impressively plays Everyman.

There's some stabbingly good lines in this version, which has removed much of the religion and secularised many of the discussions, whilst keeping a clean version of a God in the mix.

We get more about how Everyman is spending the earth and the pervasiveness of materialism. The Judgement by Another has been largely removed although Death as an Agent inevitably persists.

It isn't supposed to be a realistic story, although I found the energetic Ejiofor character difficult to pinpoint. He's supposed to be hyper-rich in this modern take, starting out in a smooth-looking suit. His friends for his birthday bash don't quite carry the same haute couture and it's difficult to tell the doorman from the divine. But then, I suppose Everyman is also supposed to get stripped back to his essence?

Because it starts with Ejiofor living it really large, there's something of a challenge to balance a tone which already begins at a maximum volume.

And there's almost a life lesson, in that the original play would get the audience to think about their own condition and path through the world. This version emphasised the consumerism and perhaps became altogether more flighty as a consequence.

I'll put this into the 'Glad I've seen it' category.

#yarnbomb exploits of @ukmixtape for #edfringe

We were #yarnbombed by the Button Theatre on twitter a couple of days ago and decided it was only right to respond.

A certain person will recognise these crazy characters standing in for the Mixtapers. It's best to look at the real poster as well to get the best impression.

I can hardly tell the difference.


Get tickets to see your new Mixtape friends:
Underbelly Booking Office
Edinburgh Fringe Booking Office
Live Theatre Preview

a short video explaining @ukmixtape ahead of #edfringe

I suppose I should mention the posters and flyer somewhere too.

Meantime, get tickets to see your new Mixtape friends:
Underbelly Booking Office
Edinburgh Fringe Booking Office
Live Theatre Preview

Amy

I'd expected the movie 'Amy' to be some sort of bio-pic, and was surprised to see it was well-cut raw footage of Amy Winehouse. It describes the progressive toxicity of fame and its effect on the singer. There's plenty of happy camcorder extracts in the first section but as the quality of the footage improves she becomes more famous but more troubled.

There's telling early cutaway scenes of her talking to camcorder saying she's not sure she can handle fame and wants to just make music. It's obviously un-scripted, unlike many of today's pop stars who have had the media training to spout on about their latest single and tour dates.

Later a pernicious introduction of drugs into Amy's world and the sadly familiar story of 'they want piece of me' as she is loaded into tours and record contracts. The documentary leaves the viewer to draw conclusions about some of those close to her and their motivations.

Throughout there's plenty of opportunity to examine Amy's twisty lyrics and their frequently autobiographical nature.

Included are some great live performance extracts both in the studio and on tour which later shows things start to go wrong spiralling towards the sad ending.

I'll prefer her rainy performances of Glastonbury of 2007, when she actually performed twice (Pyramid and Jazz) compared to her notoriety in 2008 where we stood at the back of a huge crowd many of whom were there expecting a sideshow as well as the performance.

getting my summer on?

On the way to a nearby town, the main motorway is coned for most of its length, whilst it is made into a Smart Motorway. Then a short gap of normal motorway (no cones) and then another set of cones for the last 4-5 miles. Turn off the motorway and the route towards the exit has a separate set of cones because of a separate roundabout upgrade. I don't think it will be a smart roundabout, but who knows?

Anyway, eventually I arrive in the actual town centre (with its confusing multi storey parking) and finally emerge on foot into the shopping area.

"This is the place to get your summer on" proclaim the signs, although the actual mall appears to be suffering from the traffic blockade. I idly counted nine closed shops in the first few minutes walkabout. An area on the floor which once sported a concession stand now has a kind of green stain, left behind when stand holders had moved away. Adjacent, the bank has gone and next door the opticians proclaims in large print that it has moved.

Amazon Prime and internet shopping march on, whilst this mall becomes troubled with a combination of the current poor road access and the general economy. Yet, curiously, across the road there's a massive hole where another new store is supposedly being built.

wheat and poppies

Something I notice if I'm out on my regular bike routes is the way that the landscape changes. Both the street scenes as people wear different clothes but more dramatically the fields which entirely change according to where they are in the seasonal calendar.

This field still has wheat growing, but a couple of other recently abundant large fields I pass are now populated mainly by crows, scavenging the aftermath of the farmer's tractor.

And this year, along the edges, someone seems to have turned the poppy count up to a particularly high setting just about everywhere.

the opposite of lightning

Here in rashbre central we've a fair collection of iPhones, iPads and similar. There's some of the old kind with the long connector and also the newer type with the small connector.

What is annoying is that even the small connector type doesn't always work to recharge or communicate.

We get those 'accessory won't charge' messages sometimes or the device just sits on a connector without showing the lightning flash symbol.

There's various reasons - a few of the cables are probably emergency purchases from 'non Apple' suppliers and so they don't have the right microchip built into them.

Then there's the charging from a USB strip, which won't provide as much power as one of those little power blocks provided with a new device.

I'm sure Apple would say its all because they have made the cable intelligent, with digital signalling multiplexed via a micro controller in the cable. I'd have thought that the two basic functions of charge and sync (the basic four wire connection) would have been made persistent, but apparently not. Default connection is 'Fail Dumb'.

It's plain annoying though, having to retry various cables and power chargers to find a combination that works.

a few ants short of a picnic

Inevitably, a few days of bright sunshine here and the wildlife comes out in force.

The bees that enjoy one of the bright areas of our garden provide a continual hum from their contented buzzing. But it's indoors that we have had a small ant incident.

They have become very organised and somehow managed to drill their way through a window frame, making a small gateway from their outdoor world (acceptable and probably aerating the soil) to the indoor world (no, no, no) where they had started some so far fruitless expeditions.

I've had to discourage them, creating a small amount of ant carnage, and it does seem to have worked.

The thing I can't understand is that slight sensation on the skin after they've been around.

It's like an ant is walking around on me, but when I look there's none there.

Well, most of the time, anyway.