PC Pro (Dec 2022)

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO The Network Reviews

Zyxel NR5101 The router is supplied with

A flexible and affordable 5G active SSIDs on each radio, which
mobile router with speedy
Wi-Fi 6 services and support are protected by strong
for cloud management
default passwords. You can
SCORE
also create two active guest
PRICE £435 exc VAT
from broadbandbuyer.com wireless networks that only

permit internet access to

connected clients.

Cellular settings are
RECOMMENDED provided in the network

menu, where you can

PIN-protect the SIM and enable

data roaming should you wish.

An integral firewall offers three

security levels set with a slider

bar, and filters can be added for

Zyxel’s NR5101 has a connection controlling access to specific
for every occasion as this
desktop mobile router network services.
combines 5G NR (new radio), Wi-Fi 6
and Gigabit networking services. This Zyxel’s Air mobile app will
makes it incredibly versatile: it will
suit businesses and home workers in undoubtedly come in handy.
remote or rural locations that can’t
get decent fixed-line broadband After we connected an iPad to the
speeds, those that need a high-speed
wireless router with 5G WAN failover, router’s wireless network, it
or mobile workers that demand
anywhere internet access. provided details on cellular signal

The NR5101 is solidly built and its strength and status. Alas, with
600g weight makes it reasonably
portable, but if you want a 5G mobile NR5101 mustered a very creditable ABOVE The NR5101 is the lab located in deepest, darkest
router you can slip in your pocket performance in our real-world tests.
then Zyxel’s smaller NR2101 is worth Copies of a 25GB test file between a solidly built and its Sussex, the app reminded us we only
considering. The NR5101 offers more Windows 10 Pro workstation
features, though, and the latest equipped with a TP-Link Archer 600g weight makes it currently have 4G services in our area,
firmware upgrade supports Zyxel’s TX3000E Wi-Fi 6 PCI-E adapter and a
Nebula Control Center (NCC) for server on the Gigabit LAN averaged reasonably portable and we also found that its internet
cloud-based remote management. 93.5MB/sec at close range, dropping
to 82MB/sec when we moved the speed test function is not currently
Two Gigabit ports are provided, router ten metres away and into an
with the first offering WAN and LAN adjoining room. supported by the NR5101.
services and the second for connecting
other devices to its network. The Zyxel supplied our review sample To add the router to our Nebula
NR5101 is an AX1800-rated Wi-Fi 6 with a pre-configured Voxi 5G micro
access point (AP) with speeds of up to SIM card, which fits into a slot on the “The router is supplied account, we scanned its
1,200Mbits/sec on its 5GHZ radio and unit’s base. There’s also a removable
573Mbits/sec on the 2.4GHz one. panel at the back that provides dual QR code using the Nebula
SMA connectors for Zyxel’s optional
The Wi-Fi 6 high-speed 160MHz external aerials. with active SSIDs on iOS app. It appeared in the
channels aren’t supported, but the each radio, which are portal under the Mobile
The NR5101 is simple to deploy protected by strong router section and we
using the wizard provided by its local could add a status widget
web browser interface. It then
presents a dashboard with details default passwords” for it in the site dashboard.
such as cellular status and signal Selecting the mobile
strength, active wireless networks
and Nebula cloud connections. router in Nebula takes you to a screen

with hardware details and a location

map alongside. Down below are a set

of tools for viewing WAN and cellular

status, traffic graphs for up to 30 days

and details of connected wired and

wireless clients.

BELOW The NR5101 Nebula handles firmware updates

can be managed locally so when a new version becomes

and from the cloud available it can push it out for you.

Nebula can’t be used to configure

the router, but its new remote

configurator feature allowed us to

load its local web browser interface

directly from the portal.

Zyxel’s NR5101 is a competitively

priced 5G mobile router; D-Link’s

DWR-978 costs nearly the same but

only offers Wi-Fi 5 services. The

impressive range of features makes

the NR5101 suited to a wide range

of usage scenarios, and support for

cloud management will appeal to

businesses that want to deploy it to

remote workers. DAVE MITCHELL

SPECIFICATIONS
AX1800 dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz 802.11ax
2 x 2 MU-MIMO 4G/5G micro SIM slot
2 x Gigabit (LAN/WAN, LAN) USB 2 2 x
SMA external antenna ports 100 x 100 x
205mm (WDH) 600g external PSU 2yr
RTB warranty

103





Get the
best from
Microsoft
Teams

Teams has rapidly evolved from a mere Slack wannabe into a a case of get chatting or watch your
cornerstone of communications. Steve Cassidy explores how job disappear.
to make it work as smoothly as possible
Teams has also benefited from its
When Microsoft Teams the best choice of communications scope to be more than a simple
was introduced in 2017, messaging tool. The software has been
no-one could have platform; the basic app comes with tightly integrated with the Office apps
guessed how it would in which many people spend their days.
take over our lives. The pandemic gave Windows 11, but the full setup is pretty For home workers who may need to do
Microsoft’s unified communications their own first-line setup and support,
(UC) platform the perfect opportunity hefty compared to the likes of Zoom, there’s a huge benefit to being easily
to grow into an indispensable business able to share a spreadsheet with
tool. That hasn’t just meant between and your machine will be signed up to colleagues – or able to avoid sharing
departments, but for cooperation and it. So you might reasonably wonder
collaboration between customer and a whole lot of purely Teams-related what else is necessary.
supplier. But the basic setup is just
that – basic. A little configuration, updates. Indeed, the way Teams takes a Do I need a clever camera?
coupled perhaps with some hardware
and software add-ons, can help you grip of your hardware means it may not Not long ago, teleconferencing meant
make the best of Teams. a big investment in camera hardware,
coexist neatly with other UC systems. with companies such as Tandberg
How big is Teams anyway? Data wanting as much as £35,000 for
“A little configuration, This awkwardness an enterprise-grade conference
Most metrics place Teams as one of the might have been a big camera. Thanks largely to the mobile
top four UC platforms, alongside Zoom, phone sector, however, the industry
Cisco WebEx and Google Workspace. coupled with some discouragement from using has made vast investments in
In mid-2021 it was estimated to have hardware and software Teams when the platform producing compact, high-quality
145 million users. Although Teams is add-ons, can help you first appeared – not to
part of Microsoft 365, it’s not always make the best of Teams” mention the upheaval cameras at low prices; almost
caused by its usurpation of every laptop has a usable
webcam built into the
Skype for Business from chassis, and if it doesn’t
you can get a perfectly
Microsoft’s catalogue. In acceptable clip-on
camera for under £20.
the working-

from-home era,

RIGHT Decent clip-on though,

videoconferencing there’s little

cameras are available space for such

for as little as £20 sensitivities; it’s

104

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO The Network MicrosoftTeams

When I say acceptable, I don’t
mean the quality is indistinguishable
from the boardroom-scale cameras of
old. But that level of quality isn’t
necessary for effective communication,
and indeed it’s generally wasted on
teleconferencing: your pin-sharp
image will tend to be softened and
degraded in the course of transmission
over the internet. Maybe in a few years
we’ll have multi-gigabit pathways
between all meeting participants and
IMAX-quality communications will be
expected, but right now there’s a
general tolerance for video quality
that varies like crazy, and professional
communications don’t require a huge
investment in camera hardware.

Get the audio right Automated behaviours the whole field of company
telephonic traffic is a different
While video glitches are a tolerated If you try to figure out all the morass of cellular call charges,
fact of the remote-working life, the different use-cases and technologies
same charitable outlook doesn’t apply that connect with Teams, you might multi-carrier transport,
to audio. Our ears and brains don’t end up with something as large and least-cost routing and even
cope well with jittery speech, and complicated as the eavesdropper hackers. It’s
expectations have been firmly set by London Tube map. just the kind of territory you’d
the presence, presentability and That’s neatly hope Teams would help you
participation of an old-school mirrored by services stay clear of, by making it as
audio-only conference call. such as Tray.io, a easy and convenient as possible
cloud-based platform for to converse over the internet and
While Teams itself is a relatively automation instructions that can skip the phone network entirely.
young product, Microsoft has lots of drive, or be driven by, Teams, within
experience with audio transmission, which you can make little map-like TOP Power Automate Control surfaces
having previously owned Nokia for a flow diagrams of boxes, lines, arrows is hidden away but
while and Skype for rather longer. On and buttons. For instance, when a
the back of this, it’s built an architecture Teams meeting call starts, your offers some powerful There are some quite large tablets out
that claims to use AI to distinguish Tray.io automation might turn off
between preferred sound sources your low-level indoor lights, close automation options there, such as the 12.9in iPad Pro, the
(your boss) and the entire universe of the blinds and switch on the
“background noise” (your boss’ dog). conferencing bright LEDs. 14.6in Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra

Even so, a decent microphone still Alternatively, you can use the ABOVE A cheap or Microsoft’s own 13in Surface Pro 8.
makes a big difference. Again, this popular IFTTT service. There’s no
doesn’t have to be expensive: I’ve single automation I’d recommend in gaming headset with a You’ll seldom see these being used for
found a cheap gaming headset works this space: low-code automation is
far better than any built-in array, as it beloved by users largely because built-in mic is plenty anything practical, but they’re ideal
positions the microphone right in there’s so much flexibility, in the tools
front of my mouth, making any other you can use and the outcomes you can for a Teams call for the very particular role of meeting
noises in the room comparatively engineer. Whichever platform you go
inaudible. However, it also makes me with, most automations are a few manager. Such devices are a perfect
look ridiculous, so the majority of my short steps, maybe using smart-home
Teams attendance is audio-only. In plugins, or turning off your Spotify fit for the Teams experience,
fact, I prefer to get Teams users up player to conceal your affinity for
with just audio first, and run a policy Abba when there’s an incoming call. providing a massive glass-fronted
of video connection only for the
presenter, with the audience all on You don’t even necessarily need to plank, which you can tap and slide all
audio, to cut down on distractions. use a third-party platform: there’s a
whole lot that can be automated over with your fingertips, controlling
The biggest problem might be semi-natively, using Microsoft’s
dealing with audio source selection. Power Automate tool. However, the as much of the Teams estate for your
This is handled inside Teams, and full power of this isn’t so conveniently
the disconnect between this and exposed, being mostly tucked away in business as you can fit into the pixels.
Windows’ native device selection can the administrator’s settings, and
be fiddly. In my case it doesn’t help described in the usual rather The appeal of this is somewhat the
that I have drivers installed for any forbidding terms of security and
number of desktop speakers, permissions. This may be rooted in a opposite of automation: it lets you see
microphones on booms, USB- long history of very reasonable
connected sound enhancers (does anxieties about outbound calls to “While video glitches are and control everything,
anyone else still use a Terratec high-cost countries, but nowadays so you’re fully in charge
Audeon?) and so forth. But I have
heard rightful complaints from users a tolerated fact of the and AIs and the like need
who find setting up audio-only remote-working life, the not apply. It might not
conferencing far more complicated same charitable outlook be the same kind of
than a regular webcam arrangement. integration as one sees in
doesn’t apply to audio”
cloud-based automators,

but there’s no doubt in

my mind that bigger screens enable

better administration.

Whiteboarding

I’m quite sure that many people have
no idea about the whiteboard function
built into Teams. It’s normally hidden
while you’re working with video,
and even if you go searching for
information it’s easy to miss, as many

105

The Network MicrosoftTeams

of the relevant terms overlap with TOP It’s not strictly I know: if you’re a conventional ARM CPUs, ready for any future
other technologies. One example is laptop and tablet devices that might
Logitech’s super-wide-angle necessary to have all systems admin in a medium-sized use that platform.
whiteboard camera (see pcpro.link/​
338scribe), which broadcasts an the participants in a company trying to implement This is all good stuff: the ability to
online streamed video of a real use my smartphone to drop into a
physical whiteboard, with squeaky meeting on video teleworking on demand, the idea of group conversation that’s otherwise
pens and inky, ragged eraser. All being held across a dozen desktops
that’s missing is the smell of the ink. staff merrily handing out documents across the nation is a terrific
convenience. I’m even prepared to
From a videoconferencing ABOVE Good picture that might contain sensitive formulae chase around the phone marketplace
perspective, this is a sign of the times. to find the best device for Teams –
Not long ago, we used to have weighty quality is not always a or security-busting macros is going to although I might reserve that one
combined cameras and projectors, solely for work communications,
positioned on heavy-duty steel ceiling given on a Teams call induce cold sweats. That’s especially and keep my existing one for the
mounts, watching the movements of usual rag-bag of personal apps
instrumented radio pens that never true when you’re working with and services we all seem to carry
dropped any ink because that was around these days.
drawn in by the software and the external parties whom you have no
projector lens. That kind of It’s a shame, though, that Microsoft
technology required deep plug-in strong reason to trust. never delivered on the promised
relationships with the software “Continuum” concept, which would
sending the composite of video and “Teams isn’t just for people But we’re coming up to have let us run the same application
pen-traces out as a whiteboard across Windows 10 and an envisaged
presentation. Now, the shrinking of sitting at their desks: the second quarter of the generation of companion mobile
the camera down to something you devices. I love the idea of hopping
can carry in your rucksack, along with mobile apps are available 21st century. Most people freely from a tiny device to a 50in flat
the laptop to drive it, means that for the most popular phone are used to the idea of a screen TV. It feels a bit retrograde to
digital whiteboard capabilities are no safe copy being made, be stuck with a cut-down Teams
longer anything more remarkable and tablet platforms” client on your smartphone, with
than a presenter with more than one and this is where the tiny participant avatars and the
camera pointing at them. whistling of groundsmen as your
software whiteboard backdrop. At the least I would have
Hopefully one day someone will liked to see a sensible call-control
come up with a terminology that comes into its own. A presenter can interface, and perhaps a way of using
distinguishes between a software Miracast type technology so a big
whiteboard inside a conferencing app, put an Excel sheet up on the board, screen nearby can join the call as a
and a physical whiteboard, slapped no-control participant.
up on a wall with a little holster of run through the calculations and
gaudy pens to draw with. While I’m I don’t doubt that this is a gap soon
on the subject, we could also use a give the customer their personal to be filled, if for no other reason than
term that covers connecting your that the explosion of interest in
communications platform with your PDF at the end of the exercise. collaborative services has completely
document management system, so demolished any notion of relying on
that participants in an online meeting Meetings on the move old-fashioned lock-in. Not just Teams,
can fetch their own copies of files from but all players in this game have had
your repository, without having to Teams isn’t just for people sitting at to abandon the idea of slapping a little
wake you up to ask for the papers. their desks: mobile apps are available “works great with X” sticker on their
for the most popular smartphone and former hardware. And this is good
tablet platforms, along with a news for the market; it’s just a pain for
run-anywhere web edition. There’s those of us who are called upon to pick
also a Teams client for Windows on the “best phone for Teams”. In the
course of my 5G testing last year I
tried out five different smartphones;
none of them could really be called a
winner or a loser when it came to
Teams-style collaboration. They were
all good enough.

That perhaps makes interacting
with Teams sound rather dull, but one
consistent theme in my Teams-related
conversations has been how
emotional the business of embracing,
deploying, managing and extending
the system can be. It’s stressful, it’s
boring, and it’s even risky; the key to
defusing the whole affair is to
experiment, go trying out options and
plugins, and explore patterns that you
really don’t want to think about in the
first nervous seconds of a person-to-
person connection. Find buddies to
experiment with, and don’t be afraid
to break a few rules here and there.

106

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO The Network CheatSheet

information (see How small data can
produce big insights, below): every
big data event starts out as small data,
so it certainly doesn’t hurt to have
eyes on that end of things.

Small data So what’s “small” isn’t the data
itself, but the scope of inquiry?
You can think about small data as
corresponding to an infographic.
This type of visualisation is designed
to tell a strictly specific story with
an absolute minimum of necessary
context (or none). You’re not
expected to dive into the data or pivot
it into different dimensions: no-one
has so far come up with a standard for
live, tappable infographics, and
that’s probably a good thing.

That’s not to say that such a
presentation wouldn’t have its uses.
It could be valuable to the mobile
gaming development community, or
the old-school telecoms businesses,
who are having all sorts of fun with
their proprietary phone-call-hacking
API services. But once you start
delving into the numbers, you’re
leaving the realm of small data.

So is small data only useful for

Amid a deepening sea of data, Steve Cassidy discusses simplistic snapshots?
the importance of keeping things manageable I wouldn’t go that far, but there are
reasons to be wary of embracing
small data too wholeheartedly. When
a vital part of your process is actively

excluding data, it’s easy to be misled.

Seems like the backlash against big data has begun? “Anything that qualifies There are also risks associated with
Not a backlash as such, but a response to the limitations of big data, for the term ‘big data’ is, keeping human-readable records and
and its accompanying analytical apparatus. The point of the “big by definition, too large spreadsheets that aren’t connected to
data” approach is to not get bogged down in details: you don’t need to the original data source – it’s all too

know exactly which numbers are feeding into the output, or how and complex for a human easy for things to get accidentally
many petabytes they take up – it’s just big data. That’s great as far as to comprehend” changed in ways that could lead to
it goes, but you can’t run a business entirely on not knowing things. disconnected and misconceived

decisions. Ideally, small data should

So now we’re turning back to small data? be an application of your big data

Big data is as powerful as it ever was: the problem is that anything assets, and treated with at least as

that qualifies for the term is, by definition, too large and complex for much caution and seriousness as

a human to comprehend. It’s great to have machines poring over a the main repository.

huge aggregated mass of data to extrapolate emerging global trends,

but staff need to focus on much smaller sets of facts and figures. How small data can produce big insights
These might be customer profiles, daily sales totals or server
statistics – things we can understand and process for ourselves.

Surely that’s what search and filter is for? This doesn’t sound like Don’t think of small data as merely In particular, it’s suggested
a whole new data paradigm. a selective distillation of big data. that a customer’s decision-making
The thing is, engaging with big data is a lot more complicated than Focusing on individual data points process can be affected by
just pulling up an Excel spreadsheet. A query is likely to involve can – with a little human intuition intangible factors such as the
multiple systems and data sources, and often some sort of fuzzy AI and understanding – yield valuable climate, the governmental and
interpretation. It’s too big and woolly for most people’s daily tasks. information that’s overlooked by religious context or cultural
traditional big-data analysis. tradition. Ultimately, the goal is not
Even formulating the right questions for a big-data system is a only to predict what customers will
challenge. “How do our last five years of sales figures compare to That’s the thesis of Martin do, but to identify the underlying
those of our top three competitors?” is a human-grade question: Lindstrom’s book Small Data: Tiny drivers that motivate them.
you’re probably better off spending your time putting the graph Clues that Uncover Huge Trends (St
together yourself and drawing your own conclusions, rather than Martin’s Press, 2016). Based on This is the sort of analysis that
trying to figure out how to get a meaningful answer out of the AI. extensive consumer analysis, big data alone could never produce:
Lindstrom advises businesses not it’s fair to say that few CRM systems

Score one for the humans then? to focus on figures and trends, but are set up to record and track this
In a way, yes. Although we humans can only process limited amounts to examine the behaviour of type of data, and interpreting it
of data, we have a natural talent for identifying which items are individual customers to understand would be problematic for even the
important, and making actionable decisions on that basis. We can why they act in the way they do. most advanced AI.

also draw on our wider contextual understanding to interpret

107





Real world
computing

Expert advice from our panel of professionals

JON HONEYBALL

“Biking requires top concentration
so any pondering must be done on a
low-priority thread in the background”

The major learning from biking in the rain with a laptop? Make sure it’s
ruggedised. Plus, why Jon won’t be using UPS for international deliveries

Iam currently enjoying a brief stuttering issues. This is the case Jon is the MD of an IT carrying handle. It’s pretty much
escape from work, visiting friends whether I’m using a raw connection to consultancy that water- and dust-proof too, and is
across the UK as part of a the Wi-Fi or tunnelling the connection specialises in testing ideally suited for abuse. The eighth-
motorbike trip. I do this each year over the VPN. Or connecting over 4G. and deploying kit generation Core i5 won’t set the
over the Bank Holiday August Maybe there’s something weird going world on fire, but the SSD drive is
weekend as it’s when many of us meet on with the Virgin Wi-Fi provided at @jonhoneyball quick enough, 16GB of RAM helps run
at Carmarthen in south-west Wales, Premier Inn, despite me going for Windows 11, and it has the excellent
“us” being friends that go back to the the £5-a-day Ultimate package. And BELOW A road trip to Dell update manager tool to keep
earliest days of the internet, who were the 4G signal isn’t particularly Wales by motorbike drivers and firmware up to date.
there on the CIX system as it moved strong, either. This is something to requires rugged kit Ordering the second internal battery
from a hosted CoSy conference engine investigate when I get back home as it pack was a good idea as well.
to an internet-connected platform. normally works without a hitch. The
3CX client is excellent and having it But the star of the show, apart
My route, from my Cambridgeshire on my phone means I carry a full from the obvious charm of the Land
base to Telford, Malvern, Cirencester, extension of the lab phone system in Rover-esque styling and offroad
Ross on Wye, Carmarthen, through my pocket, which is either incredibly capability, is the screen. It isn’t the
Wales to Chester, over to Scarborough useful or a real pain, depending on highest resolution at 1,920 x 1,080
and back home again takes six days whether a client from foreign climes pixels, but that’s usable enough. The
and allows for an enjoyable trundle, phones in the middle of the night. brightness, however, is a quite
and you might imagine a lot of thinking eye-searing 1,000cd/m2. Given that
time. However, motorbiking requires Normally I take the tiny original this laptop is designed to be used
top concentration so any pondering Apple MacBook with me, but its outdoors, in full sunshine, having a
must be done on a low-priority thread performance on the Intel CPU is too screen that will never look washed
in the background. antiquated now, and some of the Excel out is very important. Even on the
models I work with are somewhat hottest days in the summer, the
I always try to do this trip without heavyweight. It was time for the screen was clearly readable with
a laptop. And every year I fail, and rugged Dell laptop. This is a Latitude direct sunshine landing on it.
take something along just in case. The 5420 Rugged model from a couple of
hotel Wi-Fi is usually reasonable, and years ago, and it has done sterling Being almost waterproof is useful
I can fall back to 4G if required. A VPN work as a “chuck it in the car” device. when you throw it into a motorbike
tunnel using OpenVPN lets me The idea of it having a case is silly, pannier. These tend not to be
connect back to the core network of given it has a shoulder strap and watertight, relying on inner bags to
the lab, and I always engage this provide protection against rain
whenever I’m on an untrusted hotel
Wi-Fi. Although rarer now, I
remember hotels, especially in Las
Vegas, doing their best to break their
way into web browser pages to insert
adverts and other unpleasantness.
TLS-encrypted traffic means this isn’t
the issue it was, but I prefer to be safe.

Not that it’s all progress. This time
around, I’ve noticed a worsening of
the call quality on the 3CX client for
VoIP, with many more dropouts and

110

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO Real world computing

Jon Honeyball Paul Ockenden Lee Grant Davey Winder Steve Cassidy
Opinion on Windows, Apple and Unique insight into mobile Tales from the front line of Keeping small businesses The wider vision on cloud and
everything in between – p110 and wireless tech – p113
computer repair – p116 safe since 1997 – p118 infrastructure – p120

seeping in. But this Dell doesn’t care. drag the window. Bah humbug, says ABOVE Rugged my world cluttered by adverts. Do
A couple of days ago, I rode through I. There was nothing wrong with NT4. laptops such as the this, if you insist, for those who have
torrential rain on the M6 going Dell Latitude are free storage and the web-based apps.
through Birmingham. When I got to Despite this being the current inexplicably pricey But not to your paying customers.
my destination, the Dell was beyond release, there’s a nasty bug whereby
moist; it was wet and dripping. And the taskbar disappears if you slide a “Can I humbly Bought an Allegro
yet a wipe with a towel was all that window downwards. The window point out to
was needed to put it back into action. should go behind the taskbar, but Microsoft that A couple of months ago (see issue 335,
annoyingly it often goes over the top. not everyone p108), I told you about the Allegro
So this sort of toughened laptop And did I mention that the mouse wants to use network multimeter tool and how
most definitely has a place. The pointer often disappears in Word? OneDrive?” impressed I was with it. After it
problem has always been one of cost. went back to the good folks at
Devices such as this Dell or the On the subject of moaning about BELOW The Allegro Networkology (networkology.com),
Panasonic Toughbook are much more Windows 11, can I humbly point out network tool is great I decided that the hole it left on my
expensive than an equivalent indoors to Microsoft that not everyone wants – if it can be delivered network management couldn’t be
laptop, and I’m not sure why. For to use OneDrive? Fire up Office, do a overlooked. So I placed an order for
sure, the casework is chunkier, and file save, and most of the screen space my own unit, which has finally
care has to be taken over the design of appears to be filled with a bunch of arrived and is about to be installed.
the flaps over various ports. But none stuff about where in OneDrive I might
of this seems to justify the cost. Maybe want to put this file. I don’t use I say “finally” because of the
most of them are bought by business OneDrive, and I have no intention of intense frustration that we had with
people, including contractors moving to it. My files go onto servers UPS and its import department. This
working on site? In which case the in the lab, thank you very much. But isn’t the first set of issues that I’ve had
cost is just part of doing business. you can’t do anything without with UPS bringing items into the UK
However, there’s a real need for such Microsoft pushing its own tools on in recent months. The typical delay
a toughened device for students, and I you, and this is really starting to runs to between three and four
think that is an untapped market. annoy me. Especially when I read that weeks, with the packages sitting at
Microsoft is going to start injecting the company’s holding depot.
Part of the experience of using this adverts that look like emails into
Dell is to spend more time with Outlook inboxes in the forthcoming Now, the problem might be
Windows 11. And my love-hate release of Outlook. If it does this, then HMRC, but UPS is the carrier.
relationship with Windows 11 has I’m afraid Outlook will be nuked from And UPS is wholly, completely
taken a turn for the worse. I can’t my machines. I pay hundreds of and inexplicably unable to tell you
quite put my finger on it, but it seems pounds a month for Microsoft 365 E3 what’s going wrong. You can phone,
more akin to a cheaply renovated accounts, and I’m not going to have check the website, contact its team
house, with wallpaper covering the via Twitter, and the answer is the
cracks and a dodgy boiler that rattles,
than anything comparable to a same: “Please wait to get an
polished experience in 2022. There update via the website.”
was nothing particularly wrong with And when you point out
Windows 10, once Microsoft had fixed that nothing has changed in
most of the design problems of over 20 days, there’s the
Windows 8. But I can’t find myself inevitable brushoff.
feeling that this is a quality product.
It was a mistake to upgrade this Dell
laptop from Windows 10 to 11, and
maybe I should downgrade it back to
10. Or, in this case, upgrade it.

One factor that grates a lot is
the sheer waste of space and the
clumsiness of the apps. For example,
in the Microsoft Edge browser, I will
often open a dozen or more tabs. At
this point, the title bar of the Edge
window has been almost entirely
taken over by the tabs themselves.
Which is fine, except it makes it very
hard to find somewhere to click and
drag to move the window
around. I have to resort
to finding a few spare
pixels of space between
icons, simply to find
somewhere I can use to

111

If a company can’t provide timely, required to keep the eye to screen ABOVE You’ll need a paid to touchscreens. Running
accurate information, it’s simply not distance under control when working beefy graphics card if VisiWave on a tablet would be easier
fit for purpose. After the calamities of with such a big panel. you opt for Samsung’s than hauling a laptop around. This is
using UPS this year, I 49in beast of a screen
will actively avoid I’ve spent a bit of time with this actually one of the
it for anything screen, and it is certainly an excellent “It’s been some main uses for my
international. I know everyone had a monitor for those who do a lot of years since we tough Dell laptop,
hard time during Covid, but the work in Microsoft Office applications. needed two
excuses need to stop. UPS’s tracking Keeping a large Excel sheet open, with people to put where the shoulder strap is a real help.
systems are woefully inadequate, and Outlook and a PDF visible too, is the a monitor onto The heatmaps that it generates of
that isn’t down to call centre sort of task that this screen manages a desk”
operatives working from home. It’s with aplomb. Being a gaming RF signal level provide an excellent
time to call out those who don’t monitor, it can also handle high BELOW VisiWave is a insight. But a few weeks ago, I wanted
deliver, both literally and figuratively, refresh rates – useful if your graphics great way to visualise to dive into the underlying numbers
and say enough is enough. card can crank up the settings. router strength, both to do some statistical analysis of my
inside and out own. When VisiWave sees an access
Samsung goes BIG And therein lies the problem. point (AP), it assigns it a number. In
We connected it up to Andy’s the local vicinity of my home, it can
I needed to buy another monitor for five-year-old Dell XPS 15 laptop pick up the beacon broadcast of
the lab. Jordan, my stores lad, was and discovered that the graphics around 80 APs, even though most of
finding it hard working on large Excel chipset couldn’t cope with the high them are far too weak either to cause
sheets using a standard monitor. resolution. I hoped for more from a interference problems or to be logged
Andy had a larger widescreen Dell high-end laptop, albeit one that’s a into. In case you’re thinking that’s a
display, so it made sense to hand this few years old. There was only one crazy number, I should explain that a
down to Jordan and to get a new solution: swap out the laptop for the mesh unit of three devices, running
screen for Andy. The obvious choice Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio that on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, would
was the massive screen by Samsung: I bought a few months ago. Hopefully show as six APs – three for 2.4GHz,
the 49in “Odyssey Neo G9 DQHD this setup will last for a few years three for 5GHz.
Quantum Mini-LED Gaming Monitor” now, but I can’t doubt the capability
to give it its full name. of the combination. So having done my site survey, I
exported the data to CSV format and
It’s been some years since we VisiWave and data export imported it into Excel. A few data sort
needed two people to put a monitor clicks later, and I had extracted the
onto a desk. Back in the good old One tool I like for wireless network APs that I was interested in. But
days, of course, the sheer weight and signal visualisation is VisiWave. It something wasn’t right. I knew the
size of a decent CRT monitor led to runs as a Windows app and allows AP numbers that I was hunting for
much grunting as two people shunted you to import a bitmap of your office – the UI told me they were APs 30, 31
it onto the nearest flat service, but or home building layout. You then and 32. But the data in the CSV file
since the arrival of LCD panels the walk around the property, both inside didn’t match up correctly.
weight has simply vanished – until and outside, and take RF signal
we had to wrestle the G9 monitor measurements at each point. It
onto its stand and place it on the desk. doesn’t do throughput testing, using
a backend server such as iPerf3, but
Any screen that’s 49in across is the measurement of RF signal level,
going to need a high resolution, and background noise levels and so forth.
at 5,120 x 1,440 it certainly ticks that It can be very useful to work out what’s
box. The maximum brightness of happening in a Wi-Fi environment.
420cd/m2 won’t burn your retinas but
is more than enough for a day-to-day The app itself is packed with
monitor. But it’s the aspect ratio of features but suffers from that typical
32:9 that’s really eye-popping. As is ageing problem that afflicts much
the strong curvature, which is software. In particular, the UI is
clunky and no real attention has been

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@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO Real world computing

The clue was in the information PAUL OCKENDEN
about each AP. Because these APs
were slightly older 802.11ac devices, I “There’s no single ‘best’ language
was surprised to see one of them listed to learn. I think the real key is to
as an 802.11ax access point. learn how to write code”

Much head scratching ensued. And Paul explains how programming should be taught to beginners, looks
then it hit me: the internal number, as at some SQL basics and debunks a myth about destroying your phone
displayed in the UI, didn’t align with
the numbering in the CSV file. They Regulars here will know that Paul owns an agency to plan using a big piece of paper (at
were off by one. So the UI told me 30, sometimes I include code in that helps businesses least A3) and coloured pencils.
31 and 32. But I needed to use 29, 30 these columns. Feedback exploit the web, from
and 31 in the CSV file. suggests that readers like that, even if sales to marketing If the task is complex, split it into
the tight confines of a magazine page smaller sub-tasks. If you find the same
A somewhat robust email to mean it’s not always easy to convey. I @PaulOckenden thing being done in several places,
VisiWave prompted a rapid response mention it because last week someone split that out into a sub-task too. It’s
and a new build of the app within a asked me for a good programming much easier to do this at the “big piece
day, which fixed the problem. It was language for their child to learn, and of paper” stage than it is when the
a classic array numbering problem, at first my mind turned to code, but code is already half written.
and should have been caught years then it took a step back.
ago. But it wasn’t, until I was left When learning to code (or indeed
scratching my head. The moral of the As far as I’m concerned, there’s teaching it) this planning can be a
story? Don’t assume anything is no single “best” language to learn. good exercise, and you don’t even
correct, because it probably won’t be. I think that the real key is to learn need to write any code; just think of a
how to write code. With one notable real-world task and write a high-level
Synology Drive now fit exception that I’ll come on to shortly, plan for it. That task could be cooking
for Macs the programming language is mostly Sunday lunch, mowing the lawn or
immaterial, and learning languages redecorating a room. You choose. It’s
As you will recall, Synology is my should come later. Four of the key a great learning exercise, and gets you
chosen NAS vendor. The range of elements are as follows. thinking with a programmer’s mindset.
capabilities it offers is astonishing,
and as a platform it’s the ideal tool for 1. Learn to plan BELOW It doesn’t 2. Learn the key building blocks
an SMB and the smaller end of the matter how you do it,
enterprise market. Before you get anywhere near a code but plan your code Pretty much any programming
editor, you should always write down before you start language will be built around the
It has a file-sync tool called a high-level plan. This can be in same logical functions. If this, then
Synology Drive, which works rather words, or a flowchart, or loads of that, else something different, while
like Dropbox. You keep your files on Post-its on a wall, or whatever you loops, case or switch statements, etc.
the server, and the Drive client syncs find to be easiest; we all have different The syntax might vary slightly
the files to and from your desktop brains that work in different ways. between languages, but the principles
device. And just like Dropbox, you Some people prefer word-based plans remain the same.
can choose which files are to be where others like something more
synced and which can be left in the visual; neither option is right nor Some people switch off at this
cloud, merely referenced by a wrong. Try both, see which seems point, but when you think about it
filename stub in the appropriate to come more naturally for you. I like these are exactly the same things that
directory. Click on the stub filename we do in those real-world tasks that I
and the file is automatically brought listed above. Par-boiling spuds for
down to your client device.
Sunday lunch: if the water
This works well in Dropbox and starts boiling rapidly then
other such cloud storage tools, and turn the heat down slightly.
Drive did it too on the Windows Washing up a pan: while
client. But not on the macOS client, there’s residue on the pan,
for reasons that weren’t particularly keep scrubbing. We do stuff
obvious; there were mutterings about like this in our daily lives
Apple having deep, dark APIs that but we don’t think about
were changing with the recent macOS the rules that we’re
versions. I am pleased to read, then, subconsciously obeying.
that the new Drive for macOS app is
not only M1 native, but also supports 3. Learn to optimise
the sparse sync capabilities. I confess I
don’t have much use for this, because This is usually seen as an
I don’t like keeping files on local advanced topic when people
machines, and I always ensure that learn to code, but I think
devices have enough storage. But this it’s critical and should be
capability certainly has its place. taught right from the start.
Optimisation is all about
[email protected] saving time and effort, both
in terms of the work that the

113

computer needs to do, and your own times. I say pair, but in reality most ABOVE It’s easy to are syntax differences
effort in designing and maintaining languages have a datetime data type switch languages once between all of them, and
the code. What’s also crucial is that can store a date, a time or a you’ve learnt the basic in the old days that would
learning not to over-optimise, combination of the two. coding principles have caught people out,
because that can make future code but modern IDEs
maintenance difficult. There’s a Those four things are, I think, a “Writing a (integrated development
balance that’s needed here. good starting point when it comes to Hello World environments – basically
learning to code. There’s other stuff program is a code editor on steroids)
Using our real-world examples that I could mention, and the running before are language-sensitive,
again, when cooking Sunday lunch experienced programmers reading you’ve learned and will have things such
you might have two vegetables – say, this are all probably saying, “You to walk” as code autocomplete.
carrots and peas. Unoptimised, you’d should have also mentioned such and They will also highlight
simply cook each in a separate pan of such,” and they may well be right. BELOW Modern things such as missing
water. But you’ll save yourself work if But my key point is that none of these code editors are semicolons or unclosed
you bung them both in the same pan. things is language-specific. You can language-aware brackets. Much of the
Carrots take a bit longer to cook, so apply them whether working in actual coding is spoon-fed
you’d throw the peas in a few minutes Python, C, Java, PHP or whatever. You to you – the key thing is
before the carrots are ready. You’ve can and should learn these things following the design that you created
saved a pan, space on the cooker top, before you start to dive into writing long before you fired up that editor.
washing up and energy, as you’ll only code. But programming courses,
have heated half the amount of water. whether in the classroom, online or in Is the sequel any good?
This might sound like a contrived a book, never seem to do this. The first
example, but it’s very similar to what thing they’ll have you do is fire up a I mentioned earlier that one
happens with code optimisation. development environment and write a programming language is a bit
simple Hello World program. But I different, and the particular language
4. Learn about data types think that’s running – literally – I was thinking about was SQL. It’s
before you’ve learned to walk. generally pronounced “sequel”,
There are some differences when it although it stands for structured
comes to how different programming Also, once someone has learned the query language. There are even people
languages handle data, but the language-agnostic fundamentals I who would say that SQL isn’t a
underlying basics are usually pretty listed above, they’ll find it’s so much programming language, despite the
much the same. One of the key easier to switch between different “L” in the acronym, but that’s rubbish.
fundamentals is that numerical and programming languages as their You don’t generally write applications
text data will be handled differently. coding career progresses. Sure, there in SQL but you can, to a limited
Text is stored as a series of characters, degree. It does have programming
so my name is P + a + u + l. But if you elements. In general, though, you’ll
tried to divide my name by ten it have either SQL statements (or whole
would be nonsense – it doesn’t make procedures) embedded within the
logical sense. For that reason, code that’s written in a different
numbers are stored in a different language, and these SQL statements
format that allows them to be are used to exchange data between
manipulated arithmetically. your code and the database server.

That’s not to say that all numerical You probably won’t start using
data should be stored as numbers. SQL in anger until you’re well into
There are many exceptions, but let’s your coding career, or indeed hobby.
take telephone numbers as an But for those who are at that stage
example. My mobile number starts I’ve got a few little tips that I’ve
07850. If I store that as a number then picked up over the years.
the leading zero will be dropped,
because 07850 is actually seven The first is that before you try to
thousand eight hundred and fifty, access the database, you should check
or 7,850. You’d never write that the database engine is working
that number with an extra properly. I’ve seen too many websites
zero at the front. that fall to pieces after you’ve spent
ages filling in a form because the web
You may well have seen server can’t communicate properly
this problem if you’ve ever with the database server. I’ve never
exported personal data from a seen it listed as official best practice,
system as a CSV file and then but it’s my best practice to test that
tried to view it in Excel – everything is working properly before
telephone numbers nearly even displaying the form. It’s just
always get mangled in the frustrating if someone spends a lot of
process. Another pair of time filling in loads of details only to
numerical types that need be presented with an error message
special handling are dates and when the form is submitted.

Checking the database can be done
using the SQL command SELECT 1.
This one’s something of a database
programmer’s secret. At first sight it
doesn’t appear to do anything, and

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@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO Real world computing

you’d be right – it doesn’t. But what it thinking that you ABOVE You’ll embed microphone hole instead of the one
does do is verify that the web server could have a lookup SQL within code for the SIM tray you’d have kissed
has a connection to the database table with the days of written using other your phone goodbye. The very least
server. If you get a response, it means the week and an order languages bad thing that would have happened
the database server is visible on your value, but using this is that you would have punctured
network (of course it might be the string search will be “A bit of metal the diaphragm of the microphone,
same machine as your web or much faster, especially poked inside a making it effectively mute – not what
application server), that the database as the query optimiser phone can cause you want in a phone. But it could
service is up and running, and that will remember the first all manner of sometimes be even worse – a bit of
you have the correct credentials to run time it looks up, say, internal metal poked inside a live phone can
queries. That’s much to achieve in one “TUE” and so will only damage” cause all manner of internal damage.
seemingly “do nothing” statement. have to perform the And there was absolutely zero
string lookup a BELOW It’s easy to chance that such damage would
My second tip is not to over-index maximum of seven confuse the SIM tray be covered by the phone’s
your data. When you create a SQL times in any query. eject hole and the guarantee or insurance.
table you can specify that certain microphone hole
columns (or groups of columns) Finally, I once came Loads of people on forums and
should be indexed. This makes it across a system where social media will still tell you to be
faster to do lookups on that data when the programmer had done everything extremely careful, as will many
the indexed columns are used in the possible to reduce the load on the SQL “helpful” websites and blog posts.
WHERE part of the query. There are server. So he was pre-processing data They’ll all go on about the damage you
various tools out there that will before doing writes to the database, might cause to your phone. However,
examine a running SQL system and manually sorting data returned from I’m here to tell you that you can sleep
suggest indexes to make it run faster, lookups, and saving retrieved data to easy. I can pretty much guarantee that
but the trouble if that they will often temporary disk-based files in case he you’ll be okay with any current
suggest too many indexes, especially needed the same results again. phone, especially the flagship models.
if you run these optimisers over and Basically, he was terrified of The phone manufacturers have
over. Indexes might make lookups overloading the database engine and cottoned on to this problem and
faster (sometimes only fractionally), so slowing down the application. they’ve mostly done something about
but they’ll slow down any data writes, During a long and frank chat I it. Some have adopted tapered mic
as not only will the data be written to explained how this was crazy – channels going down to a very small
the table, the indexes all have to be database engines of whatever flavour point, others have L-shaped channels
updated as well. I once sped up a are designed to, well, handle data. The with the mic at 90 degrees to the pin
sluggish SQL-based application by clue is in the name. And the more you
simply removing all the indexes. It allow a database to process your data hole. And on top of this
was then sped up further still by the more its built-in optimisation most now have dust- and
re-applying indexes where genuinely features will make light work of water-resistant foam that
needed, but sparingly. things that would be both slow and also provides resistance to
expensive (in CPU terms) to process in a paper clip.
Tip number three is to always use the surrounding application code.
appropriate data types. It comes back This is why most phone
to what I wrote about learning data Poking the wrong hole manufacturers are now
types in the programming section quite blasé about where
above. If, for example, you had a Most phones have a SIM tray that’s they put the microphone
three-character field for the day of the removed with the application of a holes. On the Samsung
week and you did a sorted lookup, small proddy implement into a tiny Galaxy S21 Ultra that I’m
you’d get FRI MON SAT SUN THU TUE hole someone around the edge of the currently using there’s one
WED. That’s really not ideal – if you’d phone. This will continue to be the right next to the SIM tray. It
stored the data in a date-aware type case until the mobile phone world would be incredibly easy to
then you wouldn’t get that problem. moves over completely to eSIMs. poke something into the
But what if you’ve inherited data with wrong hole but I can rest
a three-character day of the week But there’s a problem. easy, safe in the knowledge
embedded, or you need to work on Somewhere around the that if I do it won’t hurt.
data that’s exported from or synced to edge of the phone there
another data source? Well, there’s a will be another hole for @PaulOckenden
simple cheat we can use: the microphone. Some
phones have more than
ORDER BY LOCATE(day_field,​ one mic hole too, on
different edges. The extra
'MONTUEWEDTHUFRISATSUN'); mics are for speakerphone
use and ambient noise
LOCATE() is a function found in most cancellation.
flavours of SQL, but if you’re using
Microsoft’s SQL Server you’ll need to You can probably see
use CHARINDEX() instead. And if you’re where this is going, but
still using Access then you’ll need maybe it’s not going
INSTR(). The version here treats where you’re expecting
Monday as the first day of the week. If it to. In the old days (by
your business weeks start on a Sunday which I mean five to ten
then just adjust that lookup string. years ago), if you’d
Seasoned SQL people are probably accidentally poked a
paper clip into that

115

LEE GRANT above, Sam had abandoned genuine
Epson cartridges in favour of “roll
“My suspicions were first raised your own” refills. I had no way of
when he asked me to help him get telling if the ink inside the tanks was
the printer out of his truck” matte, photo or squid, so I shut my
eyes, made two clicks and thankfully,
Lee manhandles a 43kg printer into submission, accidentally we were back in business.
re-creating a crime scene in the process
Normally, I’d hit the phone to tell
The man at our counter was the Lee Grant and his wife I hadn’t really appreciated how much Sam the good news, but this was one
artist I had spoken to a few days have run a repair shop Windows has progressed, including of those instances where technical
earlier. It was the ink-stained in West Yorkshire for support for exFAT partitions that my solutions didn’t get to the heart of the
fingers and normcore, paint- over 15 years driver-laden portable SSD required. matter. My reasoning was that
splattered attire that gave him away. someone who had owned this device
When I’d chatted with Sam on the @userfriendlypc Once the Epson and XP were for so long knows how to flip ink
phone, he’d declared: “I have a small friends, I replicated the error when settings, so to be certain, before we
printer problem.” I’m happy to report “This thing printing from software, but could now hauled the thing back into the truck, I
that almost everything in his doesn’t work quite happily get it to self-print test asked Sam to bring his laptop in.
statement was incorrect. at pages per reports. This proved the printer
minute but wasn’t dead, so what was the issue? I imagine you’ve worked out where
My suspicions were first raised square metres I pressed a few buttons to access the this is heading. Sam’s Vista laptop
when he asked me to help him get the per hour” service settings and reset all the wasn’t well. Each time I modified the
printer out of his truck. Two-person counters, and still “Command Error” ink settings in the Epson control
peripheral lifts are unusual in RIGHT/BELOW The haunted every print. panel, Explorer crashed. Luckily, this
consumer IT, but Sam’s printer wasn’t huge Epson Stylus Pro version of the Epson software allowed
designed for the home, or indeed two 7600 was haunted by The great thing about old kit is that for the import and export of the
people. Page 15 of Epson’s manual a Command Error top-secret service documentation, printer’s configuration, so I imported
specifically states, “Make sure you withheld to anybody not on the my XP settings into Vista and received
have four people lift the printer,” so, manufacturer’s payroll, will probably the unfriendly message, “Sorry, that
happy to be doing the work of four have leaked online, and this was true for uses a different ink configuration”.
people, we lifted the 43kg device, an this model. A little cross-referencing
Epson Stylus Pro 7600, into the shop. within the unauthorised book of I can’t now recall if I was more
Epson’s secrets uncovered section upset by the idiocy of the Epson
Epson released this A1-capable “3.2.2.19 – Wrong IK designation”, software or because I was going to
inkjet almost 20 years ago, and it’s a which is Epson shorthand for have to fix a Vista machine, but either
marvel of engineering because highlighting problems with the “IK”, way, I pulled Sam’s hard disk from his
everything is so vast. This thing also known as the black ink tank. laptop and cloned it to an SSD. Once
doesn’t work at pages per minute but I’d repaired the file system, Vista’s
square metres per hour. It has eight With this pro-level printer, the performance on SSD was good. I
ink tanks, holding around 220ml each user can switch between two variants removed the Epson software,
at a total RRP of £500 for Genuine of black ink and, seemingly, the XP manually deleted a driver or two and
Epson fuel, so let’s all be thankful that setup and the tank in the printer put everything back together. I flipped
we’re not footing Sam’s ink bill. didn’t match. Well, I’m presuming the software ink switch. Explorer
there was a mismatch as, for the didn’t crash, and the Stylus Pro fired
The problem was that every print financially ruinous reasons mentioned into life and began to empty the Vista
job generated a “Command error” on print queue that had somehow
the printer’s panel and, despite Sam’s survived my tinkering.
vast experience with the device, he
hadn’t found the cause. In order to Despite its age, Sam’s original hard
replicate the fault, I needed to attach disk was in perfect health, so I wiped
the Epson to a PC, but as the last it and re-cloned the SSD back to the
published driver was dated November
2012, that meant digging out some
vintage XP hardware.

Some readers may be going
misty-eyed at the mention of one of
Microsoft’s best-loved operating
systems, but let me assure you
that trying to use it in anger in
2022 is more than frustrating.

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@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO Real world computing

hard disk. I launched Sam’s image York passed state-wide ABOVE All the tools Given the prices for Sarah’s repair,
editor of choice, Adobe Photoshop 5 legislation that mandates you’ll need to fix a I enquired how it plans to make
(not CS5, just 5) from 1998 and printed that for many consumer sticky keyboard repairs more affordable. “Lenovo is
something exciting onto A1. electronics, the committed to making commercially
manufacturer must offer “The man had responsible efforts to provide service
So remember, when dealing with free repair documentation, tried to knock parts and repair services for all our
Epson Stylus Pros, always check the free software for diagnostics the toner into products.” Lenovo’s responses do
ink type and bend with the knees. and replacement parts and position with a nothing to justify a £625.78 keyboard
Also, put something down on the tools at reasonable prices. bit of wood and repair and show that, despite
floor: Sam’s cartridges leaked like a I want you to put a price on a mallet” ground-breaking legislation advances
church roof and the shop floor soon “reasonable” by guessing in New York, getting a machine
resembled a crime scene. the price of the C-cover BELOW If the ink repaired for a reasonable price
(with keyboard) for Sarah’s toner doesn’t fit, it’s remains challenging and, I suspect,
Call the keyboard cops laptop. Remember that she best not to force it the battleground for many right-to-
spent £300 on the second- with a hammer repair legal squabbles to come.
Speaking of potential cases of robbery, hand unit and also consider
a customer brought in her laptop, that at the time Sarah’s machine was A real small printer problem
complaining of spongy keys. Almost a with me, Lenovo was selling a brand
week earlier, Sarah had thrown a mug new IdeaPad Flex 5i with flippy 360° One device that narrowly avoided the
of coffee over the machine but deftly 14in touchscreen display, 11th skip last month was a small Samsung
dried it with paper towels and generation Core i3, 4GB RAM and a mono printer brought in by a furious
propped it upside down for 24 hours. 128GB SSD for £399. man. “This toner you’ve sold me is
By the time I’d got it on the bench, faulty,” he declared, aggressively
many of the key mechanisms were I contacted my Lenovo parts waggling the printer’s lid to prove it
gummed up and couldn’t pop back. It supplier and my reaction to its pricing wouldn’t close.
was clean-up time. is unpublishable, so I contacted
Lenovo directly for a quote. Okay, I won’t repeat our conversation,
This job required a toothbrush, an time’s up. How much to fix Sarah’s but all you need to know is that it took
anti-static brush, some tweezers, keyboard? Ready? Brace yourself! some time to assure him that he didn’t
magnifying glasses, isopropyl alcohol £625.78. Just to be clear, that’s not a buy it from me. Peering in, I could see
and the PC Pro podcast; give it a listen, printing error: the price really started
it recently celebrated 600 episodes with a 6. If you guessed correctly, then the drum, which told me that
(five-star reviews always welcome). I’m astounded. the toner had been inserted
upside down. Unfortunately,
While I’m scrubbing for all I’m Sarah wasn’t happy. “How can the man had tried to knock the
worth, listen carefully while I tell you they justify that? It’s more than a new inverted toner into position
about Sarah’s laptop before you enter machine.” I don’t think any of us with a bit of wood and a
our prize-less quiz. It was a second- would disagree, and in these mallet. “Just a few firm taps!”
hand Lenovo Yoga 520 from August situations, it’s hard for me, as a
2017 replete with an Intel Pentium Gold retailer, to give an answer that Freeing the toner was a
4415U, 4GB of DDR4 RAM, a 128GB improves the situation. However, I two-handed affair, akin to
SSD and a flippy 360° 14in touchscreen possess a tool so deadly that no other unstuffing a turkey, but
display. It was nothing exciting, but at independent computer retailer on the thankfully the machine
just shy of £300 when she’d bought it planet has one. A tool capable of wasn’t damaged. We’re all
a few years earlier, it was perfect for bypassing customer service hotlines human and the temptation to
her needs. Cleaning the keys took a to get answers straight from the press take a wooden mallet to a
long time, but it was cheaper than a office. You see, I have a PC Pro printer can sometimes be
new keyboard, which brings me to our email address. I asked Lenovo overwhelming, but my advice
prize-less quiz. How much for a why the part price was so is to put the hammer down, go
replacement keyboard for this laptop? high. “On occasion, we need for a walk and return to the
Answers in around three paragraphs. to look to the open market to problem when the air is
source replacement parts for cooler. Don’t turn a small
I removed, cleaned and dried all our customers. Unfortunately, printer problem into a large
the caps and scissors then set about pressures on the supply chain printer problem, especially if
replacing all the keys in the correct and the costs of international it’s not a large printer.
order (and at no extra charge). Sarah shipping can negatively
was happy, as was the laptop, for two impact pricing.” [email protected]
weeks until prodding certain keys
garnered no reaction. Frustratingly, Perhaps Lenovo ships
it’s not unusual for liquid damage to things by unicorn, who knows?
take a while to materialise, and the I also enquired how it intended
only remedy for Sarah’s laptop was to to enable home users to access
fit a new keyboard. A decade ago, genuine parts to repair their
keyboards were a simple fix, but own devices. “We’re trying to
modern machines have the keyboard make it as easy as possible for
welded into the top “C” cover, so our customers to repair their
a more complicated and expensive own devices. Customers are
fix was required. able to source components
through our network of
Before we get to the nitty-gritty, I authorised resellers and
want to explain that I’ve showcased via lenovo.com.”
Sarah’s laptop to highlight one of the
next hurdles for the right-to-repair
movement. In June this year, New

117

DAVEY WINDER all the emails, and left again without
leaving anything to alert the real user
“The threat actors operate within it was ever there. It’s worth
the espionage arena, and both mentioning that Hyperscrape can
can read your Gmail messages” target, according to the Google TAG
report, both Microsoft Outlook and
Read this very carefully, for we shall write it only once: invisible ink has been Yahoo mailboxes as well. At the time
updated for the 21st century. Plus, good news and bad news for Gmail users of writing, I don’t have the specific
detail on how that occurs, beyond the
You might almost believe that Davey is a journalist attacks begin with compromised same basic techniques being involved
Dickens had a Gmail account and consultant credentials. The thing here is that the or whether any attacks on these
when he wrote: “It was the best specialising in privacy “persistent” bit of the APT label is services have been successful.
of times, it was the worst of times.” I and security issues important to Charming Kitten. It
jest, of course – he was a Hotmail kind wants something that it can I do have the other report I
of guy – but email security is a serious @happygeek repeatedly access without alerting the mentioned, this time from security
matter. There’s a reason that criminal victim. Hyperscrape enables that in a researchers with Volexity (pcpro.
and state-sponsored threat BELOW Enable basic but ultimately rewarding way. link/338volexity). The report details
enterprises invest so much time in Gmail’s Enhanced Safe an attack being executed by another
exploiting vulnerabilities in email Browsing to mitigate First, it will spoof the browser likely state-sponsored group, in this
clients. Gain access to the average against attacks client user agent so that it appears to case aligned with North Korean
email account’s data vault (financial be an old, outdated version that will government interests. That group is
details, personal information, business enable the equally ancient basic HTML known as SharpTongue, which has a
communications and password reset view in Gmail. That accomplished, the fair amount of operational overlap, it
links), and you have the keys to the language option is changed to English has been suggested, with the Kimsuky
hacking kingdom. So, with a heavy if it wasn’t already, and it then goes APT group. The connection to the
heart, I read reports from two security through the mailbox contents one at a Charming Kitten attacks is twofold:
research teams, one being Google’s time and downloads each message as the threat actors operate within the
own Threat Analysis Group (TAG), an EML (electronic mail format) file. espionage arena, and both can read
which revealed a couple of very nasty Any security warning messages from your Gmail messages. The difference
Gmail threats that can read all the Google are deleted to prevent the user is that in the case of the North Korean
target’s email messages. from being aware anything untoward campaign, it doesn’t need to have your
may have occurred (such as logging in Google account credentials upfront.
Let’s start with the one that TAG from a different device or region), and
disclosed in August, named the language then reverted to the The hacking tool used here is
HYPERSCRAPE – I’ll just call it original setting. The TAG report also SHARPEXT (Sharpext from now on)
Hyperscrape from now on – and used mentions that one version of and takes the form of a malicious
in a small number of successful Hyperscrape was able to download all browser extension for Chrome and
attacks, as confirmed by Google user data from a Google account using Edge clients. Once installed, it directly
(pcpro.link/338TAG). The group the Google Takeout tool that I’ve inspects and exfiltrates data from the
behind it is Charmking Kitten, a covered before in these pages. target Gmail account and AOL, if
known advanced persistent threat anyone is still using it.
(APT) actor, which specialises in The result is that Charming Kitten
espionage and is affiliated with will have been into the Gmail That’s one difference between the
Iranian government interests. At first, mailboxes of the victim, downloaded two attack campaigns; another is the
Hyperscrape appears to be much fuss targeting. Rather than just being
over nothing much. Deploying this confined to one region, Sharpext has
hacking tool requires the attacker to been deployed across South Korea, the
already possess Google account United States and Europe. It’s not all
credentials or an authenticated user bad news, though, because as with
session it has hijacked using some Hyperscrape a certain level of
adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM)
compromise. More of that in a compromise must have
moment, but the question remains as already taken place for it
to why Hyperscrape is getting so much to work: the Sharpext
attention when the attacker can already browser extension has
access the target Gmail account. to run on an already
compromised system.
The answer is because of the way Regardless of how that is
Hyperscrape does it. Besides, most achieved, the extension
can be installed through a
malicious VBS script
replacing system
preference files. That
extension, running in the
background, is hard to
detect, the researchers say.
The user is logging into
their Gmail account from
the expected system,
browser and location.
There’s nothing out of
the ordinary for Google

118

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO Real world computing

to pick up and warn them about with The AiTM attack uses a ABOVE High-risk you have to deploy a hardware key;
an email alert. proxy between the victim users should enrol in any FIDO-compliant key will work as
and Microsoft’s servers, Google’s Advanced your second authentication factor.
So, there are plenty of “worst of with the MFA request ProtectionProgramme
times”, but what about the best? relayed to the victim who Even if you aren’t the kind of
That comes in because, in the case of unknowingly enters the “Mitigation person who needs to enrol in the
Hyperscrape, Google has re-secured code on the attacker’s means programme, there are still two steps
the couple of dozen Iran-based device. This method of appreciating you should take to better secure
accounts that were found to be stealing authentication your risk your Gmail account:
compromised. Like that campaign, cookies begins, as is so factors”
Sharpext is highly targeted, and often the case, with an email 1. Use a unique, random and strong
most users won’t be in the crosshairs. containing a malicious link or password. I tend to recommend 25
Don’t panic isn’t the same as don’t document. Microsoft has said that 365 mixed characters or longer, either by
be aware of and don’t take mitigating Defender “detects suspicious activities way of a passphrase comprising
measures, though. Sharpext requires related to AiTM phishing attacks and unrelated words or, my preference,
PowerShell to set up and install the their follow-on activities”. letting a password manager do the
malware, so enabling and analysing heavy lifting.
PowerShell ScriptBlock logging is Mitigation also means appreciating
recommended if you’re in a situation your risk factors. Journalists, 2. Don’t rely on these credentials
to do so. The usual advice regarding politicians, those working on alone. Add an additional layer to your
social engineering tactics applies government projects, activists... the account protection by enabling
in both cases. Phishing is a common list could go on. With regard to Gmail, Google’s two-step verification. Any
way to get hold of credentials and if you fall into a high-risk category, 2FA is better than none, including the
install malware for a remote system then you can, and indeed should, least secure option of a text message.
access exploit. enrol in the Advanced Protection Better, use the Google prompt sent to a
Programme (APP) as well as make use different device than the one you’re
Adversarial times of Google’s Enhanced Safe Browsing accessing. Are you trying to log in on a
(pcpro.link/338safe) for the Chrome laptop? The prompt opens on your
I mentioned AiTM attacks earlier browser. Using Google’s APP means phone (Android or iOS), and you
and promised to return to the subject, confirm with a single click.
so here I am. This is one of the Authentication apps are also highly
methods that could be used to steal recommended. I usually point to
an authenticated user session Authy in this type of conversation, as
cookie to bypass multi-factor it’s the most flexible cross-device
authentication protections. Zscaler supporting and backup authenticator
ThreatLabz spotted this being used I’ve found. Best of all, and I’ve already
in a campaign aimed at enterprise mentioned it, is a hardware key.
users of Microsoft’s email services Finally, keep on top of operating
(pcpro.link/338zscaler). system and application patches to
minimise your attack surface.
Flipping heck! This genuinely pocket-sized hacking tool can
“explore” numerous wireless devices, by which I Lovely bit of secret squirrel
I’ve gone flippin’ crazy. Well, sort of. I’ve got hold mean infrared, NFC ones, RFID and GPIO
of a Flipper Zero (flipperzero.one) – advertised (debugging). It can both transmit and receive I don’t need to tell you that I find
as a “multi-tool device for geeks” – and am sub-1GHz frequencies to a range of 50m. quirky scientific research into
currently in the “flip around and find out” phase security and privacy matters
with it. I’ll be writing about it in a column coming To get around region-locking legalities, some interesting. I’m pretty much obsessed
your way soon enough, but for now, here’s what folk are replacing the firmware, which removes with reading these papers. The latest
I have uncovered. to have fallen into my lap for some
them. Some restricted nerdy bedtime reading was heavy-
frequencies are used by going, to say the least.
the emergency services,
as well by air traffic
control, so it could be a
dangerous game to play.

This brings me to my
final thought on this, for
now: Flipper Zero isn’t a
toy. In particular, it isn’t a
Tamagotchi for hackers
but a serious tool, and
that comes with much
responsibility.

LEFT The Flipper Zero is
no toy but a seriously
powerful – and potentially
dangerous – tool

119

Continued from previous page STEVE CASSIDY

Scientists from the University of “The bad guys have definitely and
Texas at Austin have published their clearly won the competition for
research, entitled “Molecular
Encryption and Steganography Using
Mixtures of Simultaneously
Sequenced, Sequence-Defined

eyes on Facebook”Oligourethanes” and downloadable
from pcpro.link/338ACS, which takes

the concept of invisible ink firmly into Steve has a message for MPs who are worried about their social media

the 21st century. You remember presence. And it’s a message that they really won’t like

invisible ink, right? The writing

remained invisible-ish until revealed

by the use of half a lemon. These Even though this is one of those the right idea and who hasn’t. The bad
scientists have managed to conceal a topics best handled (to quote guys – the makers of all that fake data
256-bit cipher key within the ink Microsoft) with a decent glass of – have definitely and clearly won the

itself. That ink is then used to write a strong Tuscan red, I was still intrigued competition for eyes on Facebook,

letter on standard paper and mailed by a friend’s account of his ongoing which is a perfect and clear mirror of

off, with the recipient able to reveal reputation management project. He the issues and wants of the voting

the key using a chemical process. has been working for a member of public. All clear?

This research builds on earlier work parliament who, at first sight, is in Well, no. First of all, every source I

that looked at storing information pretty dire straits. His last Facebook Steve is a consultant looked at had no way of showing the

within digital polymers; macro- update – a basic, sober social who specialises in integrity or transparency of their

molecules, in other words. The data announcement about exam results – networks, cloud, HR data-collecting methods. Not even the

storage is accomplished by way of a had six likes. A total of 3,100 people and upsetting the good guys make their little bar charts

defined monomer sequence. But follow his account, so not a huge corporate apple cart clickable to take you back to the

monomers, a class of molecules that number, but still within reasonable @stardotpro source data so you can verify they’re

react with others to form larger boundaries. Six, though: that’s pretty working from the real deal. Second,

polymers, can’t store much appalling, right? the separate bits of jargon on the

information. That shouldn’t come as It turns out that the online and various social platforms are just

any surprise to anyone who just read social media habits of our political different enough to muddy the waters,

“macro-molecules”. The advances of representatives are easy to trace. I usefully. Facebook used to keep things

this research team are that the 256-bit typed “list of UK MPs by Facebook simple with “likes”, but these have

cipher key is the largest amount likes” into Bing and the top link was to now joined by half a dozen default

stored to date. Or so the team claims. Statista (pcpro.link/338statista). emojis, ranging from ha-ha to oh-no.

It used that key to encrypt the text Pretty decent for a first-pass estimate. And although Meta’s allied platform

of a book, The Wonderful Wizard of The graphical display is a bit basic, but of Instagram also uses the Like

Oz, in a separate document. This then I have yet to meet a field of stats concept, it (along with Facebook)

molecular encryption key was in which the largest value was 1.8 also encourages you to “follow”

dissolved in isopropanol and then million (Boris Johnson) and the someone. Instead of liking, snootier

mixed with glycerol and soot to smallest was six, and which could put text-focused Quora “upvotes”,

create the ink used in the letter a gap that vast across in an intuitive while Twitter brings hashtags to

writing. Key recovery needs the and readable graphic format. the foreground, without really saying

proper instructions and the right But that’s a minor issue. What that its retweeting mechanism isn’t

chemicals, but beyond that appears to really fascinated me is that a bunch of BELOW Some political entirely the same as a Facebook share

have worked the first time and recent news stories have revealed the leaders garner a lot or a Quora Group Publication (I said it

without any problems. The recipient level of social media power that rests more likes than others was posh).

had no prior in-depth knowledge of in so few hands. That no

the process, which involves dissolving more than half a dozen Number of Facebook likes for party leaders in the UK, August 2022
the paper and ink, and creating a soup identities seem to be able to

using dichloromethane, from which attract absolutely every Boris Johnson (Conservatives) 1,842.16
the molecular key is separated. idle eyeball in the UK, and

But the scientists aren’t finished encourage them to click Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) 458.49

there. “Future iterations will look to “like” on fake, dog-whistle Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Fein) 173.72
robotically automate the writing and scare tactic subjects, and in

reading processes, furthering its doing so influence the last Keir Starmer (Labour Party) 133.78
accessibility and practicality for few elections.

real-world applications,” the report At first sight, those Richard Tice (Reform UK) 26.36

states. Using no ink at all, just a stories look like the Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP) 10.3
computer, thankfully. flipside of the poor old

[email protected] backbencher and his six Adam Price (Plaid Cymru) 7.7

likes. Clearly, our MPs are Ed Davey (Liberal Democrats) 7.63
off their game when it

comes to engaging via Carla Denyer (Green Party) 1.22
social media, and the
league-table approach 0 250 500 750 1,000 1,250 1,500 1,750 2,000
shows us exactly who’s got Number of likes in thousands. Source: Statista

120

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO Real world computing

My rule of thumb for giving credulous voters, my ABOVE AshleyMadison Are you covered?
credence to any kind of like-counting reaction is rather was plagued by fake
exercise are from a good few years different. accounts, and little has One view of the web of relationships
ago. In paricular, I remember the changed since then between individuals and businesses is
fantastical claims made when the FBI I don’t take any of almost entirely composed of insurance
closed down a dating site called that at face value. I “The great policies. Theory has it that you can
Ashley Madison. You can still find suspect that if someone unwashed are insure anything against anything else:
most of the reports on this sorry trail developed a complete streetwise the insurers take on the responsibility
of leaked data (including many men fake dating site enough to spot of giving you fair value back, based
who would have preferred for their management system back fake news on a mix of inputs from sources as
names to be kept secret), faked in 2013 or so, then there’s identities” diverse as us humble IT guys,
accounts, complicit management and been plenty of coding counting mice and keyboards in the
dubious data sets still hanging around time for them to extend LEFT Matt Hancock’s cupboard, right through to esoteric
on the net. All I want to resurrect was that to the general social alleged avatar for the and incomprehensible actuaries.
a particular finding from an exercise media suppliers. After all, metaverse… are you Maybe mine is a biased perspective,
reading through the archive of Ashley the developer’s priority scared yet? but I find it intriguing that of all the
Madison’s email server. Some isn’t to uncover the professional fields susceptible to
middle-management person was philosopher’s stone and takeover by AI, voiceover artists have
trying to get more actual users, and really come up with a become an endangered species, while
bemoaning how difficult this was. mass hypnosis tool; it is, actuaries seem to be doing fine,
She enumerated the proportions they rather, to show clients a thanks very much.
were used to operating with when it set of selected stats that
came to the ratios between fake make it look like they You’re quite right that something
accounts and real users,all with the have a lot of eyeballs has set me thinking about this subject,
aim to make the user base seem a lot following them. Whether that is and it’s a bit more chilling than the
larger than it really was. actually from traversing Facebook or usual vague threat of rising premiums
from painting the big numbers in or the difficulty of hedging off risks
Now, the Ashley Madison story Photoshop is a matter between the within the insurance business itself.
broke seven years ago. I doubt that developer and the customer. What initially seemed like a harmless
the world’s software platforms have announcement turns out to be more
changed so much over those years This is quite likely to be a like a bomb with a very long, fizzing
that the mix of straightforward disappointment to Matt Hancock, fuse. I am talking about the
code and exploitation of particular formerly Minister for Health. He and announcement that from March 2023,
features to construct a plausible but some dev type chums have released a Lloyds will stop covering businesses
almost 90% fake dating site has view of his new cyberspace avatar, all against the risk of a nation-state-
changed very much. So when I look at spangly new and ready for the backed malware attack.
the long lists of Facebook IDs Metaverse, whenever it is that might
removed or otherwise reprimanded arrive. I’m not entirely sure what this One of the things that completely
for likely involvement in social media is meant to achieve at this point in the foxes me about insurance and
news fakery, with tens of millions of development of politicians who “get” recovery – despite having spent a
followers and other social media the Metaverse, but a straw poll of couple of years inside a firm of loss
scorecard values to show an apparent nearby folks found it somehow adjusters – is the matter of where the
massive following of unusually creepy, inhabiting the Lovecraftian buck stops, and who gets to take the
shadowlands between the living and pain. I did partly understand the thing
the merely digital. about re-insurance, and the idea that
essentially a loss gets handed from
I am left wondering whether our insurer to insurer until one of them
political class hasn’t quite worked out can figure out who’s the bad guy, and
what the more realistic social media
statistics on MPs ought to be telling
them. That, actually, the great
unwashed are quite streetwise
enough to spot moody or self-
important fake news identities, and a
low but long-term interest in a
political figure is a whole different
level of attention, as befits the serious

matters people actually want to
know about. “Faces for radio”
is what we used to call it.
People who do so much
better when not obliged to
communicate in all ways
and always for maximum
excitement. Perhaps
Hancock needs to do a bit
more research, before this
avatar is encountered by
the actual, experienced,
socially clued-up online
British voter.

121

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO

recover the whole shebang from them, connections moves any traffic, it’s ABOVE Lloyds’ measures”. On the other hand, any
without the original policy holder highly unlikely you will be able to underwriting attack that meets the description of
knowing that’s what happened. estimate the insurance payout as business has changed “catastrophic” can be assumed to be
things stand now, never mind in a a little over the years one that lasts for quite some time.
In the case of a nation-state few months’ time. That’s because this
malware attack, it seems pretty clear type of problem is not like a house fire Of course, remediation is
who the bad guys are – after all, what’s or a car crash: remember, the something everybody has been
the point in being a brutal and announcement from Lloyds said practising for, and most remediation
heartless enemy if you can’t take “catastrophic nation/state attack”. battle plans assume that a pocket full
credit for the outcomes of your chosen of router configurations on USB keys
forms of attack? Recovering money The solution to this uncomfortable is all that’s really needed. The
from such a perpetrator isn’t likely to situation is two-fold. Of course, we problem is, we really don’t know
be easy. Indeed, there are several can expect to see a few very high- whether a nation/state attack is a
instances where recovering the powered routers turning up in some propaganda exercise – a short-lived
money in reparations for the last key locations, designed more as publicity grab that makes grandiose
conflict was a primary motivator for fail-safes than as actual sifters of every claims in online postings you can’t see
the next war; a case of the scope of the passing packet. A bad internet day is a because the internet is down – or
eligible losses being set too widely to bad commerce day, and governments whether it’s intended as Armageddon.
have any hope of a claim succeeding. will want to be sure they are seen to
have taken “reasonable protective I have been thinking about the
So, back in the rather more easily right response with my mixed bag of
understood world of technology, let’s clients, and right now they are all
assume that the predicted situation
by March 2023 might feature an doing some research into
elevated level of large-scale, how long a complete
unusually sophisticated penetrations remediation – a reload of
and subsequent attacks, to a point potentially infected
where the insurance business isn’t machines, databases
able to price or design an appropriate restored, documents
countermeasure. In which case, brought back from local
what is it we actually want from a NAS backups – might
cybersecurity insurance policy? require. They are then
There you are, with the Google taking this estimate to their
homepage sitting in hula-hoop wait insurance brokers for
mode, with an indefinite queue on discussion.
the insurer’s phone hotline, and A large part of the
therefore very little idea of what conversation is the
you can do to spend your way out of customer ruling out any more than
the crisis. this basic restitution process from
the insurance agreement, because
If you have a connection (of the after all, if it’s a nation-state attack
legal kind) between your access to the then very likely they won’t have
internet and your ability to do customers or suppliers to talk to for a
business, then when you can’t do week or two at the very least. This
business because none of your helps to keep the power of the
insurer’s imagination under some
What might a catastrophic nation- kind of control!
state internet attack look like?
[email protected]
The best estimate I’ve heard so far is from the hardcore guys who are

responsible for the internet at the highest possible levels. Their worst

nightmares come from a couple of services. One is DNS, which I suspect

we’re all familiar with. The other is less widely known, and that is BGP,

or Border Gateway Protocol.

Back when the world was somewhat less warlike, we would

occasionally have “Internet not happening” days, which is what happens

when one BGP router decides it owns every address on the internet. What

used to happen was that someone would wake up in one of the backbone

carriers, or Google, or somewhere in the mysterious depths of the ABOVE Could a nation state

Russian military/informational complex, and realise their config for their actor bring down the whole

BGP device was trying to claim ownership of the whole planet, and they’d of the internet?

better shut it down sharpish.

These days, the outcome of a big BGP screw-up is unlikely to be swept away without further comment.

Partly this is because the West isn’t in the habit of leaving our own routers as open and welcoming as they

had been – here the key development work is within the IETF and the IEEE, both global bodies these days.

This area is hard to predict, mainly because the dramatic language given to internet hack attacks

overstates the level of violence actually achievable by way of a web browser. Nation states have very little

use for stolen credentials or people’s credit card numbers, and hackers can’t give them the level of personal

discomfort and fear they want out of the populations they believe they are targeting.

122

Inspirational stories from computing’s long-distant past

Ravers of the lost art

Collecting retro PC games in their original big boxes is more
popular than ever, but don’t expect to get rich quick, and watch
out for crooks. Particularly David Crookes, who reveals all here

A nne Bras is a king. The PC record collectors love a vinyl sleeve, ABOVE Never mind “Some were more streamlined,
King. Or at least that’s he was prizing the artwork and the Game of Thrones, such as the early Infocom titles,
what he calls himself, and presentation. “Sometimes the this is Anne Bras’ some followed the lead of the bigger
for good reason. His huge publishers made these boxes throne of games players, and some, such as Origin,
collection of boxed PC games is special,” he said. were more adventurous.”
officially the largest of its kind on BELOW Dune There was a spell primarily in the
Earth, earning him an entry in the Bras is by no means alone in his opened up to reveal 1980s, however, when games sold at
Guinness World Records. When he love of the big box. There are many an open-mouthed full price would be distributed in
was bestowed with the honour in collectors willing to spend good sandworm smaller cardboard packages,
2017, he had amassed 1,832 items. money stacking their shelves with essentially the size of a couple of
Images: Anne Bras Today, he owns more than 2,000. colourful cardboard, and you only cassettes. Even so, they still provided
need to go on Facebook to find sufficient room for artwork to shine,
As with many vast collections, it numerous groups with literal names and this was an era which heralded
started with a solitary purchase. such as Big Box PC Game Collectors the great work of artists such as Bob
“Day of the Tentacle,” he said. “It was and Big Box Games Buy Sell Swap. Wakelin, who made a name for
the art of the box that grabbed my himself among users of 8-bit and
attention.” He’d played the game Benjamin Wimmer, who lives in
many times but had never seen it on Vienna, Austria, is among them, 16-bit
the shelves of a game store until that starting his stash with the 3D game computers
point. “I had no idea what the original Castle Master. “At one time, cassettes by producing
box looked like,” he explained. in single jewel cases were the norm up to three
“Seeing it for the first time was a in the local shops in my area and designs a
really amazing experience.” throughout Europe, but due to their week for
size, the cover artwork was rather the game
Visit a game store today and things limited and there wasn’t any space for publishers
are very different. You’re more likely screenshots or descriptions either. Imagine
to see a plush toy based on a major
videogame franchise than you are a “Deciding what game to buy often and Ocean
PC game in a cardboard box. Digital came down to the cooler-sounding Software.
distribution is now the main way to title or tagline, a ‘number one’ sticker
obtain games made for a computer, or who was the publisher and, to be
with Steam reaching an astonishing honest, most covers weren’t that
$6.6 billion in gross revenue in 2021. good looking – they were an
attention-seeking mess.
Despite that, there remains a great
deal of fondness for the packaging of “Not Castle Master. That was quite
old, with lots of gamers still enjoying a revelation: the ominous cover
the feeling of running fingers over artwork presented boldly without
rows of shelves filled with boxes. “I any taglines, slogans or stickers. The
slowly started to realise that there back listed the game’s features and a
were more amazing-looking PC couple of screenshots. It definitely
games in a big box out there,” Bras felt like a step up in quality.”
recalled of his motivation to collect.
“And when I started collecting, every Making an
PC game came out in a big box.” impact

At first, he selected games for Many artists made the
nostalgic reasons – “just knowing if a game boxes their own,
game was good made me want it but the size of their
more” – but he gradually began canvas varied hugely.
hunting out the big box games for “At first, every
their sheer beauty. In the same way publisher did their own
thing,” said Wimmer.

123

Wakelin’s notable hand- Sierra, GT Interactive and Microsoft – TOP Anne Bras has thicker gauge cardboard or
drawn covers included Batman: but there were some tricks that could the world’s biggest increasing the size helped them to
The Caped Crusader, Operation still catch a gamer’s eye. collection of big stand out on the shelves of retailers
Wolf and New Zealand Story, and box games such as Electronics Boutique or Radio
he created nearly 100 illustrations “The possibilities of creating a Shack or wherever they were sold.”
overall. After spending days unique box were endless, combining ABOVE LEFT The
researching the theme of each all of the tricks the printing industry 11th Hour came in Trilobyte was also behind The 11th
game, he’d draw in pencil and had up its sleeves including different an elaborate Hour. “That game had a box [that]
airbrush over the top. The results finishes, die cut holes, irregular box clockwork box opened up like the gears of the box,”
stood the test of time – so much so that shapes, gold letters and so on,” Bras recalled. “I also remember the
posters sold by Wakelin at numerous Wimmer said. For collectors, they can ABOVE RIGHT The Gabriel Knight origami-shaped box,
retro fairs up and down the country be on a par with the shiny Panini Big Box PC Game the Ultrabots box, which transformed
decades later sold incredibly well. stickers that were once highly prized Collectors group into some kind of machine part, and
in playgrounds up and down the land. on Facebook has the Dune Sandworm edition, where
Other early notable creators 6,500 members you’d fold open the front of the box to
included British comic book artist “Every once in a while, you could allow the sandworm to appear and
Images: Anne Bras Simon Bisley, known for his work on come across a box with a weird or open its mouth.”
the magazine 2000 AD. He created the beautiful shape,” said Bras “There was
artwork for the Bitmap Brothers’ a special collector’s version of The 7th Tried and tested
achingly cool game Gods in 1991. Then Guest, which had a box in the shape of
there’s Roger Dean, a man responsible a book. When you opened it, you The regular boxes are just as collectible,
for the album covers of bands such as would see a hallway with a door at the however. “All you need is stunning
Yes and Asia but who also did much end and when you opened that door cover art that’s enriched with a good
work for game publisher Psygnosis. you would find a VHS tape with a printing job,” said Wimmer.
‘making of’ programme on it.”
Dean’s unique fantasy style In Europe this refers to a sturdy
adorned the covers of Barbarian and The 7th Guest was developed by two-part box with a glossy finish.
Obliterator, and he also created the Trilobyte, a company founded by “But in the US, one-piece boxes were
cover for Shadow of the Beast, which Graeme Devine and Rob Landeros. more common, featuring gate-fold
made a particularly big splash on the “We were of course delighted and covers and embossing, but it also
Amiga. Artworks such as this created flabbergasted that you could charge resulted in a more flimsy box that
a cult following, but the ultimate aim £99 for a collector’s edition,” Devine required an inner cardboard for
was to ensure a package stood out on told PC Pro, revealing that the idea stability,” Wimmer added.
the shop shelves. In some instances, it came from Keith Greer and Martin
was possible to identify a publisher Alper at Virgin Games.
simply by looking at the art style.
“For a premium collector’s edition,
Box clever you had to make the box look really
high value,” Greer said. “Using foils, a
The games industry had other ways of
encouraging gamers to part with their
cash. Over time publishers gravitated
towards packaging that rolled in at
nine inches tall and seven inches wide
– a size eventually used by numerous
publishers such as Broderbund,

124

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO Retro Boxcollections
Amazon

That may be so, but many of those wasn’t satisfied with the varying BELOW Benjamin possibility the more people buy into
one-piece examples are also highly quality of my pictures so I started Wimmer in front of this idea of retro games being a
collectible. “My all-time favourite scanning them,” Wimmer explained. his large collection lucrative market.”
packages are Electronic Arts’ flat of big box games
folders,” said Spanish collector “I then turned those flat scans into Bras agrees, pointing to some
Jaime González Soriano. “They were 3D – in contrast to how we’re scrolling sellers asking for high amounts in the
similar to vinyl record sleeves and through our digital purchases on hope that they strike lucky. “Because
they included interviews with Steam, gog.com or consoles these
programmers and artists of the games days. We’ve lost the tangible of this rapid rise in popularity, the
as well photographs of them, often nature of playing computer PC gaming community has
dressed as characters.” games, haven’t we? unfortunately now become
It’s similar to putting the target of forgeries,
Such flourishes proved a hit with on a vinyl record fakes and reproductions.
many collectors, as did the wealth of compared to just “I’m not a fan of
material that would usually end up hitting that play reproductions at all
inside the boxes. “Some manuals button in Spotify.” and I believe the
were as good as an academic paper. person making one
Timothy Leary’s Mind Mirror is a great There are should always ask the
example, although it’s not actually a numerous threats IP owner for
proper game; it’s an exploration of facing collectors of permission and it
your mind,” Soriano said. “Others had big boxes, however. should always be
maps and books full of hints and clues. Bras says games need extremely clear that it’s
Infocom and Telarium [formerly to be kept out of the not an original. They
Trillium] were very good at this”. sunlight and they must should always work
be stored in areas with low within legal limits.”
It was certainly easy to add extra humidity. “I try to keep them
goodies inside the boxes given how in a dust-free, enclosed Changing times
much space there was inside. Floppy environment and I advise against Games in big boxes began to decline in
or compact discs would take up only a stacking games because the pressure
fraction of the interior. “Being a fan of can damage the boxes,” he explained. the early 2000s as console gaming
computer role-playing games, a title
that included a good-quality cloth map Sadly, scammers are also waiting took off and retailers needed
or coins always made me smile,” said for collectors’ cash, and it emerged
Wimmer. “They were little artefacts this year that a large number of clever publishers to release titles that took
that linked the virtual world with forgeries are lurking around the retro
your own, and Richard Garriot did a market. Some were printed using up less space. Fast forward to today
wonderful job with his Ultima series.” materials untypical of the time of
release and discs inside boxes were and you’ll find most games are offered
Bras reels off a list of the best stuff, found to contain no data.
from T-shirts, mousepads, a as game codes or keys online, with
soundtrack and map to a VHS tape, “The rarer a game, the harder it is
figurine and stickers. “Some of my to spot a fake because you can’t easily only the odd standard issue game
favourite feelies were the napkin from compare it with verified copies,”
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Wimmer said. released in a DVD case.
Lounge Lizards, the cloth maps from
the Ultima games and the Jack According to Bras, the rise in If you’re to find a modern big box
Jackrabbit plush, which came with forgeries has aligned with growing
Jack Jackrabbit 2 on the Mac.” interest in collecting big box games. PC title, it’s more likely
“For a long time, the big box PC game
His all-time favourite goodies are collectors’ community was still very “We’ve lost the tangible going to be a collector’s
those within the Hitchhiker’s Guide much untouched by forgeries and
to the Galaxy box by Infocom in 1984. reproductions, but finding games nature of playing edition (the sizes and
“It came with fluff, destruction orders became harder and harder and the
for your home and planet, a ‘Don’t prices became ridiculously high very computer games, haven’t shapes varying wildly) or a
Panic!’ button, Joo Janta 200 super- fast. Where there used to be 100 we? It’s similar to putting Kickstarter perk. When
chromatic peril sensitive sunglasses, collectors and 100 games on the games in recent times are
‘no tea’ and a microscopic space flea.” market back in the day, there are now on a vinyl record”
1,000 collectors and ten games.” issued in the boxes familiar
Digital unboxing
“The trend of grading everything to millions all those years
To showcase the wide variety of doesn’t do anyone a favour either,”
boxes, Wimmer has spent a great deal Wimmer said. “The prospect of ago, however, they still turn heads, as
of time scanning the 691 game boxes getting rich quick by selling your old
he physically owns before uploading games found in the cellar isn’t really Ron Gilbert and Gary Winmick’s
them to his website, true but fraud becomes a real
bigboxcollection.com. It’s Thimbleweed Park proved in 2017.
become a faithful digital
reproduction of the game shelf Bras is at least helping to keep the
in his home (“I rarely sell
boxes, but if I do, I also remove feeling of game boxes alive. Having
the virtual ones”, he said).
founded Pedestal Games in 2021, he
The project began because
he wanted a visual catalogue of develops his own titles – which he
his games, and he says a big
part of collecting is sharing prefers to call “pieces of art” – and, for
what you have. “I started with
photographs of my boxes but I one of them called Mini Prince, he not

only offers a free download but the

chance to snap up a limited edition

mini-box that’s large enough to fit an

BELOW Collectors SD card along with a manual and

are reviving the two-sided poster.

lost art of big box It’s all great fun, and that’s the way

PC games Bras wants the collecting scene to be.

“Maybe the biggest threat collectors

are facing is a lack of money

or fun,” he said.

“Sometimes collecting

can become less like a

hobby and passion and

Images: Benjamin Wimmer more like an obsession,

and you have to be

careful when that

happens. It’s important

to focus on the end goal

and ask why you want

to get there.”

125

Futures

We explore the trends and technologies that are set to shape the future

How quantum
computingcan fight
climate change

Quantum computers could help unpick
the challenges of climate change and
offer solutions with real impact – but
we can’t wait for their arrival, says
Nicole Kobie

Technology won’t save us from Dusseldorf, who have identified five So far, such hardware is known as
climate change, but it could ways that quantum computing could
help – and if quantum be put to practical use addressing NISQ – that stands for noisy
computing would hurry up, climate change. These five quantum-
the leap forward in processing power powered solutions could slash a intermediate-scale quantum. “This is
could help expand our understanding whopping seven gigatons of carbon
of our changing world, reveal how to emissions by 2035, helping to keep the a quantum computer that is working;
reduce the impact of carbon emissions globe on track to warm by 1.5°C and
and spark innovations that make a nothing more, the widely agreed upon what it is not yet doing is something
real-world difference. target to avoid catastrophe.
commercially useful,” said Ernst.
Rather than have bits that are That doesn’t mean existing climate
either on or off, as in standard binary change mitigation efforts should halt, The question, according to Ernst, is
systems, quantum computing uses as there are lots of reasons the arrival of
physics that allows particles to be in quantum computing could be delayed. when can you do something actually
multiple states (see box, p128). That But when we develop these powerful
means quantum bits (qubits) give this computers, they could have real impact. useful with quantum computing?
type of computer an exponential jump
in processing power. Vital milestones Where are we now “The very rough consensus estimate is
have been reached – Google laid claim
to reaching quantum supremacy in Quantum computers already exist, “This is a quantum that the real breakthroughs
2020, which means its system but they’re small in scale and more can come once you’ve
managed an equation that a standard qubits are needed for error correction.
computer couldn’t do. Still, progress has been made, Ernst computer that is established error-
says. “If you look back at the last ten
It’s well worth the effort, argues years, you basically started with these working; what it is not corrected, fault-tolerant
Philipp Ernst, senior expert in the two, four, five, ten cubit systems. yet doing is something quantum computing,” he
innovation practice at McKinsey, and They are in the vicinity of 100 aiming said. “We’re talking orders
Niko Mohr, partner at McKinsey for 1,000 cubits, so this is evolving.” commercially useful”
of magnitude here – it

probably needs around a

million cubits in order to realise that.”

Put another way, Ernst says that

because of the noise on the system,

existing quantum systems can run

about 50 gates, similar in principle to

logic gates on a classical computer. To

achieve something beyond what an

existing computer could do, we’d

need around a billion quantum gates.

126

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO FutureFsuQtuarnetsumSeccotimonphuetinadg

mainly to secure transmission. One BELOW Quantum and simulation, and that could enable
popular use case is post quantum computers could breakthroughs by researchers in a
cryptography, which is related to the make solar panels far range of topics, from green energy to
power of a quantum computer to more efficient slashing industrial carbon.
crack security.”
Consider solar panels. They’ve
That said, quantum computing is been an unquestionable success, with
drawing the most research activity as costs falling 82% over the past decade,
well as the most funding, with an becoming one of the cheapest sources
estimated $3 billion spent in 2021, of energy. However, existing panels
largely in the US and China, though the have an efficiency rate of about 20%,
UK is also “very active”. Most of the meaning that’s the amount of energy
money is focused on hardware, Mohr they manage to capture, with the rest
says, but there are more companies lost. Improving that would make solar
working to develop software. panels significantly more important
in terms of national energy creation,
Of course, it’s not as simple as particularly in places that get less sun.
pointing a quantum computer at a
problem and a solution magically A solution has already been spotted
appearing: first you need to identify using a crystalline structure called
the problem you’re going to solve and perovskites. But there are billions of
understand what it is you need to options for the arrangement of
simulate. “That’s actually work you molecules and the materials to make
can start doing now, understanding them, and development is currently a
the specific problem that you want to matter of trial and error. “Perovskites
simulate,” said Ernst. are just a structure where you can put
different atoms in... creating different
Beyond hardware, we need the physical properties,” Ernst said.
right software and systems to run
“You’re trying to synthesise a
He predicts that should happen simulation applications, ABOVE Perovskite new compound with a better
within the second half of this decade, which in turn also need to solar cells are at yield, but there are problems in
helped by advancements in hardware be developed. Companies the forefront of terms of durability and toxicity.
as well as improvements to algorithms need to offer this as a quantum research It takes tons of time to cycle
that run on that hardware. However, service as well, as most through all these questions.”
he notes there is some disagreement, researchers won’t have a
and companies in the industry believe quantum setup in their Because of that, progress is
they will be able to do commercially own labs. slow. “Perovskite research has
viable work before then. actually slowed down – it will be
In short, we need a slow and incremental,” Ernst
Quantum technology fully functioning said of the existing approach.
ecosystem with a top layer
Mohr notes that the field really should of easy-to-access services for A quantum computer would
be referred to as quantum technology, those who need to tap into make short work of it. “You
as it also takes in quantum sensing quantum technology’s power. could effectively identify the
and communications – think specific compounds that would
measurements and networking. What can it do? have a high efficiency, basically
increasing it from 20 to 25% where
“Quantum sensing is about One of the most compelling use cases it currently is for solar cells to a
measurements and position – gravity for quantum computing is modelling
and time and electromagnetism, those theoretical limit of 40%,” Ernst
kinds of topics” he said. “And that explained. Then the material
ecosystem, especially in the component needs to be produced and
space, is in mature development, fashioned into solar cells at
there are products in use already, such a mass scale, but once
as in seismographic applications. that’s achieved it should
lead to a step-change in
“Quantum communication is all power generation.
about the transmission of information
based on quantum physics, related Where else?

And that’s just one area
where quantum could help.
McKinsey also identifies other
areas where quantum computing
could yield real results. For example,
green hydrogen was – before fuel
prices went berserk – 60% more
expensive than natural gas. By
optimising the procedure to

127

Futures Quantumcomputing @PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO

produce green hydrogen, known as the components to build the What is quantum computing?
electrolysis, the process could become hardware, software to operate
significantly more efficient, pushing systems, and platforms for The next generation of computing is on the horizon,
the cost below emissions-spewing researchers to easily run their apps with an exponential leap in processing power
gases. The same could follow for green and modelling. “In the end, it’s about
ammonia, McKinsey argues, helping developing a fully fledged ecosystem, Quantum computers, and using a technique called
to decarbonise the shipping industry. starting from the components fully
through to the tech stack with adjacent technologies such as quantum annealing. There are
Detailed modelling that isn’t services on top, which needs to be
available today could help do the same in place,” said Mohr. quantum networks, could different types, and they’re all
for batteries, increasing energy density
through chemical breakthroughs, Before that happens, we’ll likely change the way we process bewilderingly confusing: trapped
letting them power lorries to slash see the use of hybrid systems, with
emissions from transport and support classical computers paired with data, ripping through existing ion, quantum dot, molecular
renewables on the power grid. quantum power, dividing problems
Simulating material makeups for new, into pieces that each type of cryptography and enabling magnet and many more.
reduced carbon cements could solve a computing can handle. “That’s how
little-known source of immense we envision the next step, which we world-changing modelling. Some of this hardware is
amounts of emissions, while finally will probably see in the next two to
cracking carbon capture could be three years,” Mohr said. But first we’ll have to build them already available to access via
possible thanks to accurate modelling
rather than trial and error. Once such systems, be they hybrid – and figure out how to use them. the cloud, letting researchers
or full quantum, are up and running,
ABOVE Green hydrogen could help reduce carbon At a basic level, traditional and businesses access early
emissions for public transport how do we ensure they’re
used to solve the most computers use binary – every bit iterations of machines to start to
One last major source of emissions serious issues facing
is cows. Research suggests it would be society? In some cases, the iseitherofforon.Thatwemanage understand them and develop
possible to reduce methane expulsion market will drive it, says
from cattle via a vaccine – an anti-fart Ernst, noting that anyone so much with so little is frankly applications. This is likely one
jab for cows – but development right who can significantly
now is down to trial and error. A boost the efficiency of amazing. But quantum takes this way quantum computers will be
quantum computer could make light solar panels will find
work of it, letting researchers unpick plenty of customers. But further with quantum bits, which accessed when they do truly,
the perfect molecule for this some of the other ideas
important, but odd, job. might need a bit of help. have been rather cutely dubbed fully arrive, as such intricate and
“I believe in the end this
McKinsey argues that applying can only be a combination “qubits”. Thanks to quirky expensive hardware will be well
quantum computing to those eight of government support,
areas could save enough emissions to philanthropic support quantum physics, rather than beyond the means of all but the
get the world back on track to net zero and visionaries that
before 2050. That includes creating will enable some of the use cases just two positions, qubits can be best funded labs.
higher-density batteries for lorries and that are not the most attractive
grids (1.4 gigatons of CO2 emissions), economically, but will have huge off or on or both or neither, an What is quantum
decarbonising cement (1.5 gigatons) impact,” said Ernst. idea called superposition. Add to supremacy?
and the development of direct-air And there are plenty of areas that entanglement – the idea
carbon capture (0.7 gigatons), where the processing power boom of
perovskites in solar panels (0.4 quantum computing could be applied that qubits can interact – and Quantum computers are still
gigatons), affordable green hydrogen to benefit us all. Mohr points to
(1.1 gigatons) and green ammonia human health, using advanced that gives quantum computers just computers running
(0.6 gigatons), and an anti-methane modelling to better understand
vaccine for cattle (1.1 gigatons). diseases and treatments for them, as exponential processing power equations, and there’s in theory
well as optimising transport networks
What’s next? and routes to reduce pollution and over our existing computers, nothing that a quantum model
traffic. As with any technology, there
For all of this to work as quickly as are potential downsides – the ability including supercomputers. could do that a traditional binary
possible, we need not only working to break existing encryption is one –
quantum hardware – a massive and Mohr calls for us to make good use Why don’t we design also couldn’t manage,
challenge in its own right – but also of the time we have left before the have them yet? given all the time in the world.
arrival of quantum systems to put in Time is the key difference:
place frameworks, monitoring and
laws to avoid misuse. Harnessing quantum physics is quantum computers can
Perhaps the biggest downside of
quantum computing’s potential to no easy task. Beyond figuring out manage tasks that would take
battle climate change is that it leaves
some believing we can wait for how to build one, and sourcing existing computers far too long
technology to rescue us. That’s not the
case, argues Ernst. “You obviously materials and components, – there’s not much point in
need to continue with other efforts,”
he said. “What we’ve modelled is that quantum computing is full of asking a supercomputer a
the impact of quantum computing can
be significant, but it’s on top of [other] errors – and they need question and spitting out the
measures. Given the importance of
this problem, you basically need to do correcting. Because of the huge answer for your grandchildren
everything you can.”
amounts of error correction to collect, after all.

required, we’ll need computers Quantum supremacy is the

with an excess of qubits in order point where the qubits outpace

to fix their own mistakes. And, to the bits, when a quantum

be clear, quantum computers computer can solve an equation

already exist. that no classical computer could

Who’s making them? do in a reasonable amount

IBM’s quantum of time. Depending on

computer is who you ask, that

currently nut has already

deemed the been cracked,

largest, with by Google’s

127 qubits. The Sycamore in

Eagle, as it’s 2019. IBM

dubbed, is disagrees,

what’s known as a saying the

superconducting equation done by

quantum computer, ABOVE A representation Sycamore could be

which means it’s of IBM’s Eagle quantum managed by a

built using electronic computer, which has supercomputer it

circuits. Google and 127 qubits built called Summit.

Chinese university Since then, Chinese

USTC are using similar models, researchers also claim to have

as are Intel and Rigetti. managed the milestone.

Canadian startup Xanadu is Given we’re in such early

building a photonics-based days of quantum development,

machine that uses light as a that suggests supremacy isn’t a

conductor, while D-Wave is very useful milestone.

128

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They’re the simplest way to give your laptop or PC a speed boost, but how do you
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round up the 2.5in SATA SSD alternatives.

Gifts for grown-ups Retro The Network

If you’re anything like us, you’re a nightmare Psion Series 5 review Business Endpoint
to buy for. We put a selection of tempting but Protection 2022
affordable techie treats through their paces How usable is the Psion Series 5 now that
to draw up a handy shortlist. 25 years have passed? David Crookes If you need to keep remote workers as
buys one from eBay for around £50 and secure as people working in your office
Windows on ARM: delivers his verdict. then nextmonth’sissueholdstheanswer.
will it ever work?
Futures Subscribe today
We would love to believe that Windows will run
as quickly on ARM as MacBooks do on Apple’s “No way was Start your subscription today
M1 and M2 chips, but is there really any chance that offside!” and claim a free 10,000mAh
of such a thing? Barry Collins finds out. PowerKick Wireless Charger
If those words have recently emerged that’s worth
Ethernet explained from your mouth, you may well be right. £50. You can
Here’s how motion- read PC Pro in
In one of his regular deep dives into the capture technology print, or on an
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129

One last thing... @PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO

The Queen’s death has
brought out the worst
in our new era of
internet reporting,
says Jon Honeyball

The profound sense of loss felt The government decreed that it significant that I clearly recall the
by so many, myself included,
came as a shock. As did the was all right for football to continue, moment to this day, 45 years later.
words “this is the BBC from
London”. Trying to rationalise that but the FA wimped out and decided It would be nice to think that the
grief against the reality that this was a
lady I had never met, someone I only not. Event after event was cancelled Royal Family itself might now move
saw on TV, caused great upset to me
and, I’m sure, to us all. that weekend, often at great cost to into a more internet-connected age.

The death of the Queen has also been the parties involved. I was due to visit Although that thought soured after a
an object lesson in the internet’s place
in the transmission of news. We were the UK Hi-Fi Show in Ascot for two few nanoseconds, when I struggled
watching, live, a statement by the
newly appointed Prime Minister about days, but that was cancelled hours with the idea of King Charles III
the ongoing horror of the UK energy
market when it quickly became clear before the doors opened. Peak having a Twitter handle. It’s bad
that notes were being passed among
the top teams. Live, before our eyes. nonsense arrived in an email: I had enough with the lesser Royals having

With a mastery that only the Palace recently bought (and paid for) a podcasts and a Netflix contract.
could manage, brief messages from
the Queen’s medical team moved remaster reissue of George Michael’s But time moves on, and the world
from comfortable to concerned. And
when it became known that the close album Older, but a message from the changes with it. If anything, recent
family were rushing north, there was
an inevitability to the day. record company said: “The loss of events illustrate just how much things

I write this a handful of days after someone who was loved by so many is have changed, and how well Her
the official announcement, since when
we have had 24-hour news cycles on profound and so as a mark of respect Majesty balanced that with the duties
the major channels, discussing every
detail of each move by the Royals. during a period of national mourning of the Crown. But we are now a more
Where they were. Whether the
princes had reconciled. Speculation, we feel it is appropriate to
conjecture and rumour, fuelled by an
almost insatiable need for the news move the release of Older
channels to be seen to be doing “the
right thing”. This reached a crescendo back to 30 September.” All I No need to book a 15-minute slot on a
in the day after her death, with the could do was to shake my satellite at vast cost; anyone with a phone
social media teams of every company head in disbelief.
and organisation, small and large,
wanting to get their message out. To The use of technology by could be part of the media frenzy
be seen to be caring. My inbox filled broadcasters showed just
with messages of sadness from every
email address I had ever contacted. how much has changed in

Websites went greyscale via the the internet era. Now there
judicious use of a quick “filter:
grayscale(1);” being slapped into their are cameras everywhere, transmitting modern, connected society, and we
CSS. If that was the limit of their
careful crafting of a public message, live footage back to the newsrooms must accept what comes with it. Or
then you could measure their
sincerity with a micrometer. from around the world. No need to do our best to tune out from the

book a 15-minute slot on a satellite at whole event.

vast cost; anyone with a smartphone How might this run in the future,

could be part of the media frenzy, let when we say goodbye to Charles? Will

alone the news crews along every it be an immersive 3D virtual reality

route, each armed with a 4G or 5G experience, where you can travel

network connection. Without doubt along with the coffin from a top-

this will be the event that sees the mounted VR camera, allowing you to

most bytes of data consumed. But we immerse yourself in a first-person

should not mix quality with quantity. view of the admiring crowds? The

As expected, we ended up with the whole thought is utterly miserable.

TV companies desperately trying to I think we have gone too far this time

fill the time, falling back onto the with the coverage, but I accept others

time-honoured tradition of asking will disagree. Going further, however,

members of the public how their lives might be too much for anyone. Even

had been affected. And then checking for Meta and Mr Zuckerberg.

in on their granny in Sheffield who

had seen the Queen drive past on the Jon Honeyball is a contributing editor to

Silver Jubilee tour of 1977. I remember PC Pro. He, along with many others, now

her driving past me, too, with a has a Queen-shaped hole in his life. Email

glimpse of Her Maj lasting less than a [email protected] or find him on

couple of seconds. But maybe it is Twitter at @jonhoneyball.

130