On The Net - Computing News

with Chris Goh

It was a cramped, hot afternoon. Around 50,000 commuters travel from the Central Coast to Sydney each day. I think they'd all caught this train with me.

The 90-minute trip was now going to take 3.5 hours, including two cab rides.

It was a country train and had to stop twice at every station because it was too long for the city platforms.

The temperature was above 40°C. You'd think that if you're going to build a train with no opening windows you'd try and make sure the air-conditioning works. Someone tried to open the train doors to let in some air in, but it only made the train stop.

I had to remind myself I wasn't in India, where the smart travellers sit on the roof of the train.

The train lingered just off Redfern station for 30 minutes. Tempers stretched to breaking point and babies cried in this sardine can of sweating people. Thanks to a man with a radio, news quickly spread that there was a gas leak and Central Station was closed. All we could do was wait. When the train finally moved, you wouldn't believe the cheer that reverberated through all the carriages - then laughter broke out. Conversations and goodwill began to flow once more - people were offering their mobile phones to others to call loved ones. The babies were still crying, but no-one seemed to mind any more - in fact they were sympathetic.

What is it about the human condition that we only see our better side in times of shared distress? Why is it that we are capable of so much goodwill, but seldom take the opportunity unless it follows misfortune? It's one of the great mysteries left to philosophers and poets. And train drivers.

HotNews

Corporate bedfellows can be strange. As Pixar and Disney go their separate ways, Disney is joining Microsoft in developing a new digital media content delivery system. Who'd have guessed Pixar (and Apple) CEO, Steve Jobs, would become Microsoft's new best friend. One thing is for sure, with Time Warner also on the Microsoft digital media bandwagon, guess which company is going to have a large influence in the next generation in digital multimedia?

You'd think that if your website was given special tribute by the Google search engine, you'd be happy. But Melbourne's Swinburne University website was brought down recently when Google put the birthday of mathematician Gaston Julia on its clickable logo. A deluge of people wanted to know more about Gaston, but the university site could not deal with the traffic. It's good to see mathematicians almost as popular as Ford car salesmen.

The free trade agreement between Australia and the US has brought mixed response, but there is some hope that Australian companies can now compete for IT projects in the US. However, observers are speculating that the $79 billion market will remain impenetrable because of the difficulties of foreign countries getting on the US federal list of contract suppliers.

The MyDoom virus code has been copied by someone with Microsoft in their sights. The second variant uses machines that are still infected to send a denial of service attack to MS sites. Fortunately for MS, the code targets single addresses. At 38 million and counting infections MyDoom has become the worst act of sabotage the internet has seen.

Well Microsoft has certainly put themselves in deep doo doo again. In the same week they finally admitted there were flaws in the Windows Operating systems that allow hackers in the backdoor of a computer (and they'd known about it for six months, but hadn't told anyone), it was also discovered that Microsoft's supposedly tightly guarded source code is floating around on the Internet. Just how much of it's available is so far is unknown. The fear is with the source code, hackers can figure out how to get under the operating systems skin.

A 26-year-old Queensland University student is the first person to be charged under the state's new Internet sex laws. The man had attempted to lure a police officer, who was posing as a 13-year-old girl in a chat room, to a park for sex. New statistics show a marked increase in Internet-related sex crimes in Europe and parts of Asia like Japan. Sadly things are going to get worse before new legislation begins to clean up the problem.

Optus has been watching Broadband take up rise at a dramatic rate so in a bid to grab some market share, Optus has launched its ADSL offerings two weeks earlier than expected. It means Telstra now has some serious competition and it didn't take them long to respond - on Monday, Telstra announced new lower Broadband rates from February 27. For as little as $29.95 a month (on a 12 month contract) you can get 256/64 ADSL with a 200MB download limit. It won't take long for everyone to forget the days when we used to worry about whether our dial-in speed was 33.6 or 56.6kps.

HotSites

www.world66.com

If you're a frequent traveller, no doubt you'll have seen your fair share of travel sites. This one is for travellers to share their experience. There are some bugs in the registration, but hopefully, once this site is fully operational you'll find some excellent tips on what to see when you travel.

www.thebigtravelguide.com

If you don't know where to start with accommodation, this guide certainly gives you plenty of options around the world.

www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/MCC/

Kidlink still has some of the most interesting and collaborative programs for kids.

This link allows kids to see how children from around the world celebrate special days. It's fun, fascinating and educational.