Daily Archives:December 31st, 2010

You no longer give us those nice bright colours…

End of an era…

Last year, the National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry was given the last roll of Kodachrome produced by Kodak. Yesterday, the last lab still developing the format took its last orders. He delivered it to them by hand.

He made good use of the roll, though.

In some ways it seems inappropriate to mourn the death of a media format – it’s happening all the time now. But this one is unusual, firstly in having lasted for 75 years, and secondly, in having so much of people’s lives bound up in it.

One day, we, or perhaps our grandchildren, may feel the same about paper.

Would you like a PIN with your chips?

The security group at the University here found a flaw in the Chip and PIN system, and told the banking industry about it.

A year later, the industry body responsible for such cards, whose slogan is ‘Representing, Informing, Advancing,’ sent a notice to the University, asking that they take down the thesis of a student in the group who had published further information about it, and not to do that again, please.

Unfortunately for them, universities are not companies. Ross Anderson wrote a masterful response.

Details here.

© Copyright Quentin Stafford-Fraser