Frankfurt at Night

For the rest of the week, I was in Bensheim on a training course - where I did not have time to explore the area (course ran more or less from 8am to 10pm every day). But, I don't think I missed much.

My initial plan was to go straight to Heidelburg, but all the hotels were booked out, and so I decided to base myself in Frankfurt. Despite it being an old town on the banks of a massive river, I have always found Frankfurt to be a bit dull - but the city lights did present an opportunity to take some interesting pictures.

Darmstadt

South of Frankfurt, Darmstadt is very much a technology town, featuring a Fraunhofer Institute (for Security), a well regarded university, and one of the big centres for Deutsche Telekom - research labs, offices etc. Like many other towns, the old town centre is quite well preserved and features a number of palaces, statues and old buildings. Unfortunately, I did not have much time in the town - I arrived as sun was setting and then left the following day after my work engagements.

More on Poznan

Poznan is supposedly the birthplace of the Polish nation - and the explanation given by the tourist information is fairly simple. In the 900's, the king of the area was baptised (to what would later become the Poznan Cathedral) and thus began Poland. It is quite clear that religion plays an active role in Poznan - there are many churches, and almost all of them are busy. Even on Saturday, when I was walking around Poznan, I could not really go and explore inside the churches becuase there was Mass or some other activity going on.



Classical music is also a big cultral event in Poland; and there are many concerts and events for classical music, especially featuring Chopin. The conference dinner featured a short performance by a string quartet (from a highly rated local music school) and I also went to a performance in Poznan. The latter however was slightly disappointing in the sense that it featured a German Bass Band and not Polish performers. But what was amazing was that people crammed into the theatre (of the Poznan University of Music), stood in the aisles and sides and was also crammed with kids. There was a very busy buzz of activity from people of all ages - and was not a snotty affair of well dressed people sipping champagne.



Poznan was also meant to be the easternmost residence of the last German Kaiser Wilhelm II, and he even built his castle/palace in the turn of the 20th century for that reason. It is very close to the centre of Poznan, and was opposite the venue of the conference.



A fort on a small hill near my hotel, also features a small military musuem. I did not have time to explore the museum, but they had a lot of WW2 era tanks, aeroplanes and other vehicles.



Amongst the beuaty of the old buildings and the striking new glass buildings are the dreary soviet buildings. My hotel was one of them ... certainly not one of the most comfortable or value for money hotels in my opinion.

Virtual Goods 2008

Or to give its full name, "6th International Workshop for Technical, Economic and Legal Aspects of Business Models for Virtual Goods incorporating the 4th International ODRL Workshop", held in Poznan, Poland. This workshop has had some interesting history; and I thoroughy enjoyed it last year and brings together a number of different aspects of computer science. As we become more digital, the concept of a virtual good becomes more tangible; and some of the ideas explored in the conference are more realistic that ever!

There were a few really interesting talks and presentations. The host university, demonstrated a virtual museum system, which had a wonderful way to interact with 3D virtual objects; in a very low tech solution; and a presentation by the general chair on why the "free" economic theory ultimately will not work was very interesting.

With authors from 6 continents (no one from South America, but a presenter from Tahiti!), there was a small, but very diverse group of papers and people. This was a very good workshop, and I hope I can contiue to be involved.

Toilet Signs

The Poles use different signs to indicate male and female toilets - an useful guide to anyone needing a toilet in Poland :)

Triangle: Male
Circle: Female

Very different to other places in the world, and somehow more baffling ...

Poznan

It's reputedly the oldest town in Poland - oldest surviving town that is. And it shows - penty of old European buildings - but not as well preserved as those in Bruges :p But there is also a lot of Soviet influence - my hotel for one - and a bit of more modern influence. So the architectural mish-mash makes this place quite facinating.

Poland is reputedly cheap - but I am not sure why this reputation exists? My hotel for example is definitely not worth the money I am paying in my opinion - it is not bad per say; but definitely a bit overpriced. The same goes for the restaurants and cafes - the prices seem a lot steeper; even when converted and compared in Euros. But then other prices are very reasonable - the taxi from the airport to the hotel was quite reasonable for example - so I suppose it all balances out.

Overall, it has been interesting - there is no visibility of beggars or struggling people; but it's not posh - there are not too many fancy cars or shiny houses. It is I suppose, very industrial.

A big plaza near the centre of town

The University of Economics (host of conference)

A side street with some old buildings

"Merchant Quarter" of the old town centre

A WW2 Memorial (plus Autumn leaves)

Car Insurance

So, the car I was driving since I came up to Jo'burg has been written off (although not strictly true). Basically, I stopped behind a person dropping off people (as if it was a taxi) and then I got hit from behind. The damage was a lot more than the value of the car; so it got written off.

Which is all a bit ironic; simply because I have been meaning to buy a new car anyway. But it is still damn inconvenient - I have had to rent a car for the past week or so; so that I can get around.

But what has been really interesting is getting quotes for car insurance. Being a single male aged 25; I automatically attract high premiums. In fact, I was told by one insurance agent that any car with an engine capacity over 1.6 l is considered high performance!

But what I found interesting is also the factors they do not consider when calculating risk; such as the regularity in consumption of alcohol, main driving routes, amount of Km travelled, time of travel and the maintenance record of the car - all the main factors that contribute to accidents.

Also interesting is the fact that many of the "low insurance" adverts were not low - Outsurance came out the most expensive (R4500!), Budget Insurance and Dial Direct were cheaper but still over R500 more than the quote I did take in the end. Also - Dial Direct, Budget etc - they are all still brokers - just brokers fronting for one specific insurance underwriter. So much for skipping the middle man.

So, I will get my car on 1 Nov (I am not in Jo'burg for most of October); and will post about that then ...

Movie: In Bruges

Bruges is a medieval town in Belgium; or as Ray (Colin Farrel) calls it in the movie - Hell on Earth. There are two hitmen hiding away after a job (which went slightly wrong); and it's a comic gem. Very fast dialogue - very English. It is a gangster movie meeting a comic movie set in an historic town. And it is done very well!

Movie: Vanaja

I don't usually watch Indian movies - well bollywood style movies anyway. It's not really the song and dance routines that bug me - but the actual storylines are usually all the same.

Vanaja, is I suppose also a movie about song and dance - but not the traditional musical. It is about a young village girl, who wishes to learn to dance the traditional Indian dance; and is taught by the mistress of the house where she works as a servant.

The storyline is somewhat heartbreaking; and somewhat bold for an Indian movie (dealing with child abuse for example) - the dancing is spectacular; and there is visible improvement as Vanaja improves through her training - giving a very authentic feel to the movie. And the writer/director submitted the movie as part of his Master's thesis!

Altech vs ICASA and 28 Others: The Minister Appeals

ICASA did not appeal the judgement; and in my interactions with ICASA, I have learnt that many inside ICASA are happy that they did not appeal the judgement. Managed liberalisation or not; the over all feeling on the matter was that opening up the market was the way to go.

But the minister of communications has decided to muddy the waters once again - and apparently it is for our collective good. In her infinite wisdom, the minister (although there are claims it is more the DG and not the minister herself) has decided to appeal the judgement. And most striking argument that the minister proposes is the following:

If VANS licensees are allowed to obtain Individual-ECNS licenses under license conversion, government’s managed liberalisation policy will be seriously undermined to the detriment of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry.

I can already see two major arguments against this statement. First, the minister did not make this argument in the case itself. While there was an argument about managed liberalisation being affected; the argument was not extended to the effect it will have on the broader industry - just to Neotel.

But it is last part that is quite funny - that giving VANS i-ECNS licenses will be to the detriment of the ICT industry. The ICT industry is composed of three types of companies: VANS (communications), software development and standard hardware/software service and support. There are 600 VANS licensees - and they all benefit from having i-ECNS licenses. So presumably; the other components will be affected by VANS licensees having iECNS licenses.

The question is - how exactly will this affect the ICT industry negatively? The minister's arguments in the appeal, will be, if nothing else - hilarious.

Whackjobs

Part of the Arts Alive initiative, Whackjobs was a one off stand up comedy show at the Bassline in Newton (on Saturday night). Hosted by the very politically incorrect John Vlismas; it was definitely one of the best stand-up comedy gigs I have been to.

The best part of stand up, is the freshness - comics can make jokes about what has happened in the recent past. And this weekend's political turmoils were exploited by most of the comedians. The variety was also impressive - and Alyn Adams' musical parodies was one of the more unique acts of the week.

Movie: Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad)

Most of the movies I have seen featuring Rio de Janeiro are about the favelas, or the slums, the druglords and the gangs that rule the favelas together with the (usually corrupt) cops. Tropa de Elite, is a documentary style, movie about the elite cops - BOPE - who try to make sense of it all.

Blood runs through the movie - but it is not only violence - the movie is an unflinching look at the whole ecosystem: cops are sometimes corrupt becuase they cannot survive on their measely salaries; because taking bullets is not worth it. And gangs and drugs do not exist in isolation: the gang lords are effectively funded by the rich/middle classes who consume the drugs and at the same time hate the favelas and the police. It is a vicious circle.

The style and cinemtorgraphy is amazing - and a thumping sound track keeps up the pace. It is an amazing movie - even if life is cheap and blood flows down the hillside.

(Nearly) Free Education?

Time has an interesting story about tertiary education in the United States - currently one of the most expensive places to have tertiary education. Basically, a number of universities are replacing student loans with grants, using the household income as the basis to determine eligibility.

This is certainly a noble pursuit - after all, if knowledge is meant to be free; surely financial ability should not impact the dissemination of knowledge. And I do not understand the author's argument, that this ultimately has a ripple effect on other universities who cannot match the generosity of the institutions with large endowments (such as Harvard). Because - does that matter?

Surely, a prospective student will only really look at two factors - the quality of the education offered by the institution and the can the student afford it. In that light, will a student who can get into Harvard (and now afford it) really look at alternatives? Yes, it does raise the prospect that the "good" students will only be going to a select number of universities - but is there any different to the present scenario?

Altech vs ICASA and 28 Others: The Ruling

So the judge has ruled on the case, and I was wrong in the major issue. The judge ruled this morning (I was unable to attend in person sadly), and broadly; VANS have been able to self provide since Feb 2005, and thus all VANS licensees should be awarded Individual ECNS licenses, which will allow them to roll out infrastructure.

There are two broad impacts of this decision. Firstly, this will mean that there will be a lot more suppliers in the market than simply Telkom, Neotel, WBS (iBurst) and the 3 cellular operators - but over 600 new operators. This should increase competition, and ultimately bring better service and hopefully better pricing.

Secondly, and rather drastically - the managed liberalisation of the telecommunication market in South Africa is no more. And this can be very dangerous. The whole rationale behind the managed liberalisation is simple: give a second (and later the third, and fourth etc) enough space and time to build up infrastructure and service offerings such that they can compete effective and efficiently against the incumbents. An unmanaged liberalisation could result in too many ambitious projects that may not actually allow real competition with the incumbent (in the case Telkom) and thus ultimately fail in the end goal.

The fact of the matter is; it takes a lot of money to invest in telecommunication infrastructure. A router that is meant for the home costs R1000; the router that is meant for a medium sized business costs about R10 000; the router that is used in large company sites costs about R300 000 and the routers that are used by carriers cost upward of 1.5 million Rands. There are simply not enough companies out there, that can commit to investing in what is required to build a good telecommunications network.

I will be presenting a paper at WCITD 2008in October (not peer reviewed though) where I discuss the economics of WiMax as applicable in South Africa. I will go into more detail then (maybe), but basically, I do not see WiMax as the saviour for cheap Internet access - the numbers just don't seem to work out. Likewise, having 600 new operators will not really help - it will just make a lot of wireless Internet service providers legal.

Movie: Lust, Caution

Directed by Ang Lee, this is a well told, brilliantly filmed story set during the Japanese occupation of China in WW2. A group of students decide to take down the "traitor" puppet government; in particular the chief of security, Mr Yee. To achieve this aim; a young woman (Wong Chia Chi) decides (or rather led to this decision) to trap Mr Yee and become his mistress; and thus ultimately lead him to his death.

In reality, it is very similar to most spy stories of this type - IIRC Head in the Clouds starring Charlize Theron and Penelope Cruz was similar. But, what is special in this movie, is the story is largely narrated from the view of Wong Chia Chi - and thus recounts her sacrifices in a lot more detail. It is not just a tale of lust, or love.

Movie: The Bank Job

The movie is supposedly based on a real story - a bunch of amateur (but not too bad) criminals get an opportunity to rob the safe deposit boxes of one of main banks in London (Baker Street Robbery). But they walk off with more than just cash and jewels - but also of incriminating pictures of ministers going to brothels (the one minister looks just like Max Mosley and also enjoys BDSM), incriminating pictures of royalty as well as incriminating documents of police bribery and corruption.

The movie is very similar in style with recent british gangster movies such as the ones made by guy Richie and Layer Cake - and is a very enjoyable story. It is less of an action movie, and while it does not feature the glitz of some recent bank heist movies such as Inside Man, it is still interesting and fun.

Movie: Goya's Ghosts

Francisco Goya is a famous painter, who lived in the late 1700s, and apart from painting portraits of famous people and murals on churches (as other famous artists did) - he was also well known for his portrayal of dark fantasy - of demons, hell and disturbing scenes of war and life of the times.

The opening scene of the movie, where the leaders of the Spannish Inquisition are examining his prints, one of the leading characters makes a comment that Goya is merely potraying the world as it is out there, and it is the Church's duty to cure the world, and not punish Goya for potraying the truth.

I thought, that would have set the tone of the story - given an examination/plausible theories of the stories behind the paintings. However, the movie instead meanders through the life of a rich devout merchant, his devout daughter, the corrupt church and priests and the general unfairness of life.

While maybe the general unfairness is Goya's ghosts, but I think the movie could have been much better - and had more sturcture. And, I wish it did not take so much artistic license in historical accounts and settings.

Problem Solving, or the lack thereof

A few weeks ago, a colleague commented that modern day tech support do not really know how to problem solve - they have just one solution; rebuild the machine. He had been having some problems with his laptop, and that is the solution tech support came up with. I share his frustration after this week ...

I have had intermittent problems with my cellphone since last weekend, and it died on Tuesday afternoon. I was in Cape Town, and had left my charger back in Johannesburg - so I did not think too much of it. When I recharged the phone on Wednesday night, it seemed to work fine; but on Thursday morning, the phone packed up (and started dropping signal an hour or so before that). Nashua Mobile, my service provider - had a solution as soon as I walked in - the cellphone equivalent of rebuilding machines - reinstall the phone software.

After 45 minutes, the phone seemed to work again - only for it to pack up again around 4pm. So, I did my own quick investigation (something I should have done on Wednesday night I suppose); and deduced that I had a faulty sim card. When I went back to Nashua Mobile today (Friday), and explained that reinstalling the software did not help, the guy suggested a new sim card - did not even test out the real problem!

Anyway, the new sim card seems to work fine, and I haven't had any dropped signals or frozen cellphone operating systems. But surely, a check list of remediation is the least efficient way to fix problems - finding the cause of the problem should come first!

High Court Action: Altech vs ICASA and 28 Others

I spent quite a substantial part of this past week at the Pretoria High Court, monitoring the case Altech vs ICASA and 28 others. As my company is one of 28 others (although not actively participating), and the results of the court case could have significant impact on our business in the next 3 - 5 years, I was there to monitor the proceedings. Interestingly, most of the non-participants (will clarify just now) from the industry was not there at the hearings - which I found very surprising.

The high court is a remarkably formal setting - every one stood up as the judge entered and left the court room; people leaving the court room bowed before the exited, and similarly bowed before they entered. Even when responses to opposition argument were polite and quite reserved - even if saying that the opposition lawyer's argument was stupid and wrong :) Given the fast track nature of the case (and even then, it took about 3 months to be heard), the judge was very well prepared, and very engaging. It is certainly very different to the TV law series - where the judges are usually passive controllers. Instead, the judge was very engaging - asking questions, clarifying arguments made etc. which made it very easy to follow the arguments (from a listener's perspective).

The case made by Altech is quite simple, but has very wide ranging implications for the South African Market. The core case is about the right of Value Added Network Service (VANS) Licensees to self-provide network infrastructure. ICASA (the regulator) and the Minister of Communications say no, and Altech say yes. But before I elaborate, some background.

Under the old telecommunications act of 1996, there were effectively 4 major types of licenses - public service licenses (for Telkom and Sentech effectively), private service licenses (for specific institutions such as Eskom), cellular operator licenses (for MTN and Vodacom) and VANS licenses which allowed service providers to provide value added services over a communication network. VANS licensees encompassed all ISPs and other corporate network service providers such as my company, which run managed networks for corporate clients. A couple of years ago, the Electronic Communications Act came into operation, which had a different licensing structure: Electronic Communication Network License (ECNS) which allows the license holder to build network infrastructure, Electronic Communication Service License (ECS) which allows the license holder to provide a service over a communication network and Radio Frequency (RF) licenses that allow a license holder to get access to specific radio spectrum.

Sine the old act is going to lapse next year, all existing licenses are being converted to the new license regime; and during this conversion the license holders cannot get lesser rights than they already have. ICASA instituted a conversion process last year for VANS licensees and basically decided to convert a selected number of VANS licensees to ECNS license holders through a competitive process. About 26 VANS licensees took part in the competitive process, including Altech. However, soon after the hearings and submissions of documents to ICASA was complete, Altech brought an urgent court case to stop the process, and joined all the participants in their case. Altech basically argued basically two points:

1. All VANS licensees already have the right to self provide infrastructure, and thus should get ECNS licenses.


2. The process undertaken by ICASA is illegal and should be stopped

Off course if the first argument succeeds, then the second does not matter much. But ICASA and the Minister's arguments in respect of the first point, in my opinion was a lot stronger than Altech. They argued that Altech basically misinterpreted the old laws and ministerial directives. Furthermore, the government is interested in a phased liberalisation program for telecommunication - and the big bang approach that Altech's case would produce (over 600 potential telecommunication service providers instead of about 10) was never envisaged so soon.

But worryingly for all the participants of ICASA's process, Altech's second argument was basically uncontested. If the Judge agrees, and grants the order requested by Altech - the next step of the phased liberalisation process which envisages the introduction of a few more network operators (indications initially was that about 6 new licenses would have been granted) will have to be restarted. This would set back the process by at least 18 months, and that is bad news for telecommunication in South Africa.

Movie: The Dark Knight

Unlike most superheroes - Batman, under his disguise, is still a man - a wealthy man, but still human. He relies on his physical ability for his actions, and his money for his gadgets. Except maybe The Phantom, no superhero, is at his core just another human.

I went to watch it on IMAX - an experience in itself; especially the scenes with city scapes. It took some effort however - I went last night also, but the cancelled the late night showing, but neglected to tell anyone ...

I thought Batman Begins was the best superhero movie - this is far superior. And it is not only because of Heath Ledger. First and foremost, the story was good - well paced, and cruel; just as the concept of the Joker was meant to be. Without spoiling the storyline - when was the last time a major character in a superhero movie was killed by the villain? How about, when was the last time more than 2 major characters were killed directly or indrectly by the villain?

But the masterpiece in the movie is the Joker. The Joker proves the superhero movies do not need meglomaniacs or super-powered villains - all it needs is a psychopath. Heath Ledger's Joker is in the same realm as Hanibal Lecter - a psycopath killer who is in it for the game; and not the result. And Heath Ledger is awesome - utterly believable; so completely engrossing, that you cannot really picture him as anything else. And that is the hallmark of great acting IMO.

In all probability there will be another Batman movie - but what villain could possibly rival the Joker? And yes, IMO Heath Ledger should get the Oscar.