Virtual coffee break - 7 July

Much to do, so here's another collection of semi-random shards.

I should post pictures of distressed street cabinets more often. The response has been good judging from traffic, and one equipment vendor's branch office in Germany seems to have ground to a halt for ten minutes or so this morning. The Flickr photo is up to 79 views and counting...

A few minutes ago I happened to catch the end of the BBC World Service's Digital Planet show, coming from Japan. In addition to an interesting segment on home-made game software, there was a (thankfully audio-only) demonstration of Daiwa House's intelligent toilet technology (what it is about companies with Daiwa in the name?). If Graceland had only been equipped with one of these, we might not be King-less today. Joking aside, I think this illustrates pretty well that the range and number of networkable devices is probably a lot greater than most people think, and should not be poo-pooed.

I recall a couple of years ago, James Murdoch made a speech in which he said something along the lines that if OFCOM were efficient in its mission, its offices would eventually be empty. Seems now that the Conservatives want to help in the packing to speed things along. I guess industry consultants may have to move directly into industry in future without the intermediate tenure with a river view. (Okay, I know a fair number of OFCOM folks and respect the job they're doing, but I couldn't resist.)

The British Chamber of Commerce reckons the worst may be over, but note the five key words: "Talk of recovery is premature." Equity market cheerleaders should listen. Meanwhile, Ireland is apparently (Experian, why are your press releases not linkable?) seeing a net contraction in numbers of businesses, with companies going into receivership nearly quadrupling over H1 2008 levels.

Random thought of the morning. I really like what SamKnows is up to in broadband performance monitoring, but I wonder if it's also possible to achieve some of the same objectives at a more macro level via the massively distributed nodes of existing P2P systems such as BitTorrent or, better yet, Skype?

Lastly, and most importantly, I have a value proposition for you. I am honored to have been asked to be on the advisory board for eComm Europe 2009. (Disclosure: I have no economic interest in eComm or any associated entity, nor am I receiving remuneration of any sort. My advisory role is largely one of kicking around ideas, suggesting speakers and making a few introductions.) I think it's shaping up to be yet another great event. The organizers have kindly extended a 20% discount to EuroTelcoblog readers - the promo code is "Enck" (without the quotation marks, obviously). The Super Early Bird offer expires this month, so book now to avoid disappointment.