Communications

Packet inspection renders Internet connection unusable for blogging

Here's one I hadn't run into before.

The typical hotel broadband access service checks the MAC address of your computer. When you first connect, it sees the new MAC address, interrupts whatever access you were about to make and instead delivers a sign-up screen.  After you've signed up, your packets are routed directly to and from the Internet until your sign up period expires.

Of course this means every packet is being inspected to verify the MAC address is for a computer that has paid for access.  This is very light packet inspection, nothing like the DPI that various ISPs have been called to task for.  It's also very fast so it doesn't introduce noticeable latency, at least until now.

Last night I was staying in the InterContinental Nehru Place in Delhi and I observed a strange effect on perhaps 1 out of 3 or 1 out of 4 page loads.  First I would see a very brief splash screen from the hotel's ISP, then my desired web page would load.  This was unusual but not a bother.  Next, while using Bloglines, every now and then the left screen list of unread posts would fail to refresh, instead displaying a message about access had timed out.  However the next refresh always worked, so again, I can live with that.

Finally I tried to create a blog post but I lost the text as I went to post it.  Ugh!  Apparently, Typepad's blog author's content posting page requires reasonably fast turn around time for update messages.

Clearly MAC address redirection was beginning and then being canceled.  I'd never run into anything like that before -- a case where even shallow packet inspection is a problem.

Cultural Stew

Just back from dinner in Bangalore.  It was fine, but it was a truly bizarre cross cultural experience.  My main course dish was described as:

Creole spiced roast chicken served with stir fried vegetables and tumeric tempered spagetti.

Desert was:

Nutty pistachio mouse flavored with tequilla.

The red wine was from a Shiraz grape but grown and fermented by the Sula wineries in Maharashtra, India.

The restaurant was on the 10th (the top) floor of a hotel in one of the taller buildings in Bangalore.  It emphasised Cajun food, however the waiters and waitresses were all wearing cowboy hats mimicking a Texan tourist restaurant.

This was a far contrast to my first trip to Bangalore (2003?) when we traveled down a dirt alley to a local restaurant serving south Indian cuisine and then went to a different local restaurant for specialty deserts.

The biggest change in the past year is the opening of a new airport, some 35 km away from central Bangalore.  The new airport is nice, the highway is plausible, but traffic remains a problem.  Too bad they didn't contract for a high speed rail link at the same time.

Off to Hyderabad in the morning...

Next two weeks in Asia

I'll be traveling for the next two weeks with stopovers and meetings in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing and Beijing.  Most of my time is booked and some of my stopovers are just long enough for one meeting, but if you are in one of these cities and want to meet please email me.

Two weeks in California — eComm, VON and other meetings

I'm leaving for northern California early tomorrow (Tuesday) to participate in eComm 2008 in Mountain View March 12-14 and then Spring VON.x in San Jose March 17-20.  I'll be back in the office Friday March 20th.

At eComm 2008, I'm speaking on Thursday and moderating on Friday:

• Thursday, 10:20am:  Own the Network — A Radical Approach to Internet Connectivity
• Friday, 2:00pm:   Panel: What Will Drive Wireless Innovation?

The Weekend

Most of my weekend is uncommitted, as yet...  suggestions?

Then at VON, I'm speaking on Tuesday and Wednesday and running a session in the "Unconference."

• Tuesday, time uncertain...:  Unconference session: Rethinking Broadband Internet Connectivity
• Tuesday, 2:50pm:  Panelist in Content Delivery over Alternative Wireless Architectures
• Wednesday, 4:00pm:  Speaking on Wireless Mobility Trends

If you are attending either of these events or live in or are otherwise in the area and interested in meeting, please send me an email using "rbt", i.e. my initials, at nmss.com.

Estimated departure AHEAD of schedule!

This was a first for me — an airline departure that was not delayed, but was estimated to depart 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

Our return from Manilla was via Nagoya, Japan and Detroit.  After disembarking in Nagoya, I checked the monitor and found our flight NW 072 (code share with Continental CO6357) scheduled to depart at 12:45 and estimated to depart at 12:35.

And we weren't the only ones.  CS 970 to Guam and NW 78 to Narita were also listed ahead of schedule.

Did we?  Well they appeared to have the doors closed at least 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

I'm off to Asia

Just leaving this evening for Saturday in Amsterdam, but then it's on to Kuala Lumpur for Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday, Hong Kong Tuesday evening and Manilla for Wednesday evening through Saturday morning March 1st.

Right now the schedule looks rather packed, but if you are in any of those cities and are interested in meeting, please email me.  Something may be possible.

Flying to Vegas this morning

Now that CES is safely over and hotel rates are economical, I'm off to Las Vegas for some business meetings.  I'll be in there through Thursday afternoon. 

If by chance, you are in Las Vegas and want to meet, please contact me on Skype.

Hacking the Boeing 787 -- cartoon

As a frequent traveler, I couldn't help being a little worried by this post on Bruce Schneier's Security blog which discusses several news articles including this:

According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aeroplane may have a serious security vulnerability in its on-board computer networks that could allow passengers to access the plane's control systems.

But reading his post reminded me of a great cartoon by Ritsch and Renn, originally published in the German IT magazine C'T.

The full original (in German of course) is here.  The English adaption is from the ComPilots website.

Off to Madrid for Connect 2007 Europe

The third and final Connect conference of 2007 is taking place in Madrid on Wednesday and Thursday, November 7th and 8th and I'll be there.  My blog comments on earlier conferences are here (& 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

Day One has a heavy focus on mobile industry issues and mobile applications. And, it's conducted as panel discussions with few or no slides.  Perhaps this only works because there are good speakers, chosen to promote controversy and discussion, but it really works!  In both 2006 and so far in 2007, the nature of the discussion has been much, much better than at a typical industry show.  The session descriptions for November 7th are here and the speaker bios are here.  If you can be in Madrid on Wednesday, you should attend.

Day Two is a more traditional developers conference focusing on NMS technology and products that are used to create many of the applications discussed by the Day One executives.  Check out the Day Two program.

I'm off to China for Connect 2007 in Guilin

I'll be in Guilin all next week for Connect 2007 Asia.  I've been to quite a few places in China, but never Guilin, despite the fact that Chinese friends insist it's the most beautiful place in China.

The occasion is the Asian version of our Connect 2007 conferences.  While it's being held in China (which complicates visas for some potential attendees), registered attendees are from all over Asia.  The conference format includes a mix of presentation and panels with some great speakers.

For me, this is tremendous event as Asia leads both the EU and the US in mobile service innovations.  Interestingly, that's not just in the 3G areas like Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, but in Malaysia, India, Pakistan and so on, and most importantly in China.  Few in the west are paying attention, but entrepreneurs in China have been innovating in both Web 2.0 and mobile value-added services.  I look forward to talking with some of these innovators live during Connect 2007.

I may not be able to blog every session live (as I'm participating in three of them), but I learned a few things from my attempt to blog the Boston conference live (here, here, here, here, here & here) so I'll record what I can.