I just heard a fascinating podcast interview with Michael Chorost, who had a computer implanted in his head to stimulate his auditory nerves directly. Chorost’s hearing snuffed out shortly after he completed his Ph.D. in English, and he speaks eloquently about the experience of losing an organic sense and gaining an electronic facsimile. Bionic hearing, it seems, is impressionistic.

Interesting paper on the security of contactless smartcards:

Arrived at the hotel a few minutes ago, after spending a wet by nice weekend at Cape Cod with my wife. Yes, I wasn’t as eager as my colleagues to get started on the technical content. So sue me. :)

Most systems until now have been centralised : A bit like the old Soviet Union, everything is centrally planned. The trouble is real-life isn’t like that - it’s a market economy with no central control. There’s a story about a Russian Diplomat posted to New York in the 60’s. On a visit to a bakery he asked - who decides how many loaves are baked in the city? The answer is no-one - each baker individually decides how many to bake based on how many he sold the day before. Somehow (almost) everybody gets fed.