On Phorm's murky past

Over at the nodpi foums, there's a discussion about some rumoured employment changes regarding Phorm in Korea (Trouble at Mill).  Some of the emails contain Kent Ertegrul's contact details as they were at that time, and these have been looked at to see if the veracity of the Korean story could be checked.

One of the posters googled Ertegrul's phone number and found:

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Fly heads

Here's the cover picture from the February 2009 issue of Genetics, which just arrived in my office.I think this counts as art!  The caption is Adult heads of Drosophila melanogaster mass-fractionated for RNA extraction. Or, to paraphrase Edmund Spenser, "Dead skulls and bones of flies, whose life has gone astray." For further details see Telonis-Scott et al. (pp. 421-434).  The full citation is: Telonis-Scott et al (2009) Sex-Specific Splicing in Drosophila: Widespread Occurrence, Tissue Specificity and Evolutionary Conservation. Genetics, Vol. 181, 421-434, doi:10.1534/genetics.108.096743

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A new Phorm PR offensive?

There's a new Phorm web presence, which seems to mark the beginning of a new PR offensive.  The new site, called "inphorm", is a nicely laid out website featuring more spin from Kent Ertegrul, the Phorm CEO.  It should be be named "misinphorm".  It can be found at http://www.phorm.com/newsletter/01/article01.html.

The main story seriously misrepresents the Phorm system.  Remember, as it currently seems to work:

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basic map blog with kml file



{mosmap width='500'|height='400'|kml='http://www.robertsaunders.org.uk/cycling/maps/090315a.kml'|zoomType='Large'|zoomNew='0'|mapType='Map'|showMaptype='1'| overview='0'|text='sv DWO'|tooltip='DWO'|marker='1'|align='center'}

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Cream teas and a broken spoke

The morning dawned and it was a bright and sunny morning, and ideal for tandeming over to Ivinghoe for a cream tea.  It also meant a chance to try out the new GPS data logger.

I thought it would be nice

{mosmap width='500'|height='400'|kml='http://www.robertsaunders.org.uk/cycling/maps/090315b.kml'|zoomType='Large'|zoomNew='0'|mapType='Map'|showMaptype='1'| overview='0'|text='sv DWO'|tooltip='DWO'|marker='1'|align='center'}

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Are international sports federations luddite?

As a racing cyclist, I'm pretty aware of the equipment restrictions put in place by the sport's governing body, the UCI.  While many of these restrictions are really aimed at safety (such as prohibiting the use of aero bars on road race bikes), many seem to be just a reaction to increased technological developments.

Thus, we are faced with regulations that among other things aim to

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Cream teas and a broken spoke - out in the sun on the blue tandem

The morning dawned and it was a bright and sunny morning, and ideal for tandeming over to Ivinghoe for a cream tea.  It also meant a chance to try out the new GPS data logger.

I thought it would be nice to ride the Longstaff tandem, as it's a bit more sprightly than the Dawes touring tandem.  We set off via the Brickhills and out to Stewkley.  I think this tandem is quicker because the gear ratios are a bit closer - the downside of course is that we don't have quite such a range of gears, so climbing can be a bit of a trial.  The ride out was pretty uneventful, and we saw quite a few cyclists out enjoying the spring sunshine.  There was another tandem at the cafe when we got there, with a Dawes Galaxy Twin.  From the rear window of the cafe, we could see a pin windmill in the distance. Apparently it is Britains oldest mill (it looks to be in a bit better nick than a similar one at Brill), though it hasn't worked since a storm in 1904!

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NBRC Club '10' Astwood 14/3/09

White Cloud; Temp: 9°C; Wind: W 16mph; Hum: 83%; Press: 1011mB; Vis: Very good

 I have to confess to having had another poor week's training - I had intended to force evening turbo sessions, but frankly working 8am to 6.30pm, cycling home, then cooking and eating dinner means that by the time I've let dinner begin the digestive process it's rather late to blast myself on the turbo.  Still, since last week's event, I cycled every day (even if some of those days were merely the 12 mile commute to work), and I managed one level 2-3 session and a set of 1' intervals.  With the usual excuses now out of the way, on to the event, billed as a two-up team time trial.

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The Register explains what a netbook is

Hot on the heels of news that Psion seeks to enforce ownership of the word "netbook",  The Register(So, what's the f**king difference between a Netbook and an ultrathin?) presents a useful flowchart which will you whether you are the proud owner of a netbook...or a plain old laptop...or a handheld....or an ultraportable PC...or an ultrathin...

 Now, as a proud owner of a (rather venerable) Sony Vaio nini notebook, an OQO UMPC, a Pocket PC, and a rather large IBM ThinkPad, what I really need is a princely purple PC formerly known as a Netbook..

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House of Lords meeting on Online Privacy and Internet Interception

There is a meeting at the House of Lords this morning about

The Internet Threat: Who needs privacy when we can have relevant ads?
Online Privacy and the Interception of Internet Communications

You can read more on it at NoDPI (Press Release: House of Lords - A Round Table Event).  Participants will include:

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