2.501622JULY2015 ISSUE 1371tinyurl.com/mm1371mmPlusBT, OPENREACHANDTHEUK'SINTERNETPROBLEMHOWCAN OURBROADBANDSERVICES GETBETTER? High-quality CPU CoolersTried And Tested Can The Pirate BayEver Be Truly Defeated? How To Make A LivingFromPlaying PC GamesHOWMINECRAFTIS CHANGINGTHE WORLDwww.cclonline.comPrices correct at time of going to publishing(7th July 2015). Images & designsare for illustrative purposes only. Monitors and desktopbundles are available separately. Pleasecall for details.call: 08000 50 10 10visit: www.cclonline.com email: sales@cclonline.comnd us: CCL Computers Ltd, Inmoor RoadOff Cross Lane, Bradford, BD11 2PSHigh-speed printer for small ofce with built-in Wi-Fiand Ethernet, mobile and cloud printing.Perfect for small offices this fast cloud ready printer offers2-sided printingmobile and cloud printing. 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Thanks to the way theinfrastructure is sold in this country, not to mention theinfluence of BT, many ISP are unable to compete on a levelplaying field. Mark Pickavance wonders what, if anything,can be done16How Minecraft IsChanging The WorldThe popularity of Minecraft really is amazing for whatappears to be a relatively simply game. But theres more toit than punching trees and hiding from zombies. In fact,people are finding all kinds of other uses for it, and DavidCrookes has been talking to some of them this week46On Test: CPU CoolersAlthough you normally get a cooler when you buy aprocessor, its only good if you dont want to overclock.If you want something better, without the hassle ofwatercooling, then a high-end air cooler is what you need,and weve been testing six of them56What To Expect FromQuantum ComputerAs a famous physicist once said, If you think youunderstand quantum mechanics, you dont understandquantum mechanics. Putting that aside, though, whatcan we actually expect from quantum computers, and willthey be any good for games?Contents08Openreach &BT16How MinecraftIs ChangingThe WorldOn Test:CPU Coolers46Issue 1196 558Why Wont ThePirate Bay Die?Like some great mythological beast, the Pirate Bayseems to keep on coming back. Cut off one head, andfive grow back in its place. Why is this the case, though,and why are the governments attempts to block it areso ineffectual?62VPNs Worth TryingLooking to claw back some internet privacy from the eyesof the government? If so, then a VPN service could be justwhat you need. Weve picked out a few that we think cando the job for you64Painting With KritaWhen it comes to image editing, Adobe products rule theroost, but theyre also prohibitively expensive. And what ifyou just want an advanced painting package, rather thana photo editor? In that case, Krita is what you need, anopen source paint program that wont cost you a pennyAlso InThis Issue...28RememberingWhat were the mostimportant files in DOS?David remembers them30Component WatchFancy getting a Windowstablet? James Hunt canhelp67Top 5What are the worstthings about Facebook?Weve picked five86Crowdfunding CornerThis week, we look atalternative chargingsolutions87App Of The WeekWe check out an app tohelp with worries aboutMRIsIssue 1371 5What To ExpectFrom QuantumComputer56Group TestPeformance CPUCoolers46 Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 347 Zalman CNPS9900-DFDual Fan Ultra Quiet CPUCooler48 Noctua NH-U14S SlimU-Series49 Cooler Master Hyper 612V250 Cryorig H5 Universal51 Xilence M60652 Sum upReviews38 Archos 50 Diamond39 HomeMonitor HD Pro40 HP Ofcejet Pro 8610e-All-in-One42 SteelSeries APEX M800Gaming keyboard44 Archos 101 Oxygen45 Macrium Reect 6Experts82 Ask Aaron84 Ask JasonSpecialists68 Linux Mart69 Amiga Mart70 Mobile Mart71 Hardware Mart72 Gaming MartNews32 The Latest News53 Your LettersRegulars54 Subscriptions74 Ad Index76 IT Essentials78 Classifieds88 Logging OffSAVE A BUNDLESubscribe to Micro Marttoday and save 24% on theshop price.Call 0844 844 0082Basic annual rateUK: 77.50Europe: 185Rest of World: 340Online subscriber serviceChange your address and renew yoursubscription atwww.subsinfo.co.ukEmail:micromart@servicehelpline.co.uk58WhyWont ThePirate Bay Die?E&EO. 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At thetime, I wondered why UK customers couldntexperience these service levels, and after avery long time eventually they did.In 1982, British Telecommunications wasfloated off from the Post Office, and that newBT was subsequently divided into four parts:BT Global Services, BT Business, BT Consumerand Openreach.The really critical part of this newbusiness model was Openreach, becauseit controls the critical communicationsinfrastructure from the homes andbusinesses to the local exchange andbetween there and BT Wholesale/LocalLoop Unbundling (LLU) termination pointslocated in the exchange.By definition, unless you connect to theinternet using a mobile service or directlyusing a fibre service provided by Virgin, atsome point in the chain your connectionbecomes the responsibility of Openreach,even if you dont have a commercialagreement with it or even BT. Which isstrange. And it gets odder when you have aproblem, because this is a business that youcant easily ring up and complain to.UnreachableOpenreachIf youve ever had a phone or internetconnection problem, then you might ringyour supplier, and they might tell you thatsan Openreach issue. Right, you say, put methrough to them so I can get this sorted out!At that point, the conversation will goprecisely nowhere, because Openreachrefuses to have any form of direct customercontact experience. It only deals with theservice providers, the likes of BT, TalkTalk andSky Broadband, among many others.The scope of this power is that 70%of UK broadband customers are usingBT services through Openreach for theirinternet service, regardless of who theyrecontracted with.The silliest complaint conversationsregarding Openreach usually take place withBT customers, because as compelling as thephrase but you are the SAME company is, itwill get you absolutely nowhere.The ISP will pass on the problem toOpenreach, and if its not busy, or havingas siesta, then it will see about fixing it Butwhere things get really difficult is that whoyour ISP is could influence how long it takesto fix, and astonishingly BT customers get abetter service, it seems.That annoys customers, and it upsetsthose providing ISP services who arent BT,Is OpenreachBeyond Reach?MarkPickavance looks at Openreachand if breaking it and BT up is the wholeanswer to getting better UK internetIssue 1371 9BEYOND OPENREACHwho feel quite rightly that they deserve thesame service.Thats a major complaint from thosecompeting businesses, because delays infixing or installing new services reflect onthem, but this isnt their only problem. Thesmall matter of Dark Fibre and who controlsaccess to it is also a major bugbear.Darkest FibreThe expression Dark Fibre seems to implysome magical coloured glass strands that carrymore data than the usual clear ones, but thatsnot the case.When a fibre network is being physicallyrun between two locations, the cables aregenerally much thinner than the copper onesthat previously connected the same paths. Soif the copper is removed (valuable copper),you can usually put a lot more fibre downthere than would be normally needed for thedata required to run along that route.For communications engineers there is acost advantage in oversubscribing the fibrethey put in place, because compared withdigging up roads or pulling cables through,the actual cable is relatively inexpensive.So instead of putting enough for thejob, they put lots more fibre underground,and they wire it up in the exchanges,but unallocated in the system. Thereforeit remains dark and unbothered byquarrelsome data until the company wants touse it to expand its services.Whats frustrating is that if a ISP reseller,like Sky Broadband, for example, is havingcustomers complain that their serviceis slow, they know full well that BT hasunused dark fibre channels that could helpthem improve that.Logically, therefore, youd think thatSky might consider running its own fibre,because theres a nice duct betweenthese two locations that BT created to runits copper/fibre, and theyre usually notanywhere near full. However, BT wont allowSky or anyone else in its ducts, in case theydamage BT cables or fill space that it wouldlike to use later.This row has gone on for some time,especially after OfCom raised the scarypossibility in March of this year that itrwould force BT (and Virgin also) to allow UKwholesale customers access to unused fibrepaths and also available ducts.The BT reaction was predictable, and alongwith Virgin and KCom, it reportedly wrote aletter to OfCom warning that doing so mightcause significant regulatory uncertainty,undermining the return on sunk investmentsand therefore disincentivising futureinfrastructure investments.To paraphrase that for non-speakers ofclassical corporate talk, it warned that ifit wasnt allowed to use dark fibre as aweapon to beat it competitors with, then itmight not play at all.It also threw in a line about letting otherchildren play on its train set: allowingmultiple operators to tamper with thephysical network will cause service faultsfor customers.The big stick of curtailing investment isone that BT likes to wave now and again,forgetting that if it spent less and it wasa more open market, then the smallercompanies would be inclined to spendOpenreach refuses to have any form ofdirect customer contact experienceIssue 1371 10more to improve their market sharein proportion.But those without infrastructure are alsotrying to release the vice-like grip that thosewith it have on their bandwidth, and indirectlytheir customer service levels.Complaints, TheyveHadAFewIf BT, Virgin and KCom are in one camp,then in the other are service resellers likeSky Broadband and TalkTalk. Theyve beenpressing their case to have Openreach takenaway from BT, saying it damages competitionand also penalises the customers with higherthan necessary pricing.In an interview that TalkTalks chiefexecutive, Dido Hardin, did with theGuardian, she reiterated that Ofcom shoulduse the review to end the conflict of interestthat deterred Openreach from meeting itsobligations to BTs competitors.And to the same publication, JeremyDarroch, Skys CEO called for what many inthe industry see as imperative: the BT andOpenreach breakup.Structural separation of Openreach,the UKs only nationwide broadbandinfrastructure, is at the heart of creatingan industry that provides the capacity andincentive to invest whilst also harnessingthe power of multiple competing retailersto drive higher take-up and lower prices forcustomers, he said.And Sky Broadband went even furtherthan just interviews, creating a detailedsubmission to Ofcom regarding the limitedscope for competitors to BT to deliversuperfast broadband services via their owninfrastructure and complaining abouthow poor levels of service that Openreachprovides are damaging Skys reputation withits customers.The key points made by this submissioncentre around how the normal market forcesfor Openreach just dont apply, because asits group operation is the dominant retailprovider there isnt any incentive for itmaking any of the competing businesses anymore competitive.It also provided extensive statistics onhow long it takes Openreach to connect itscustomers versus those of BT, with 420,000Sky customers experiencing delays ofgreater than ten days in the past year.This is something Openreach has beendragged over the coals for before, becausein November last year BBCs consumer showWatchdog flayed it for outrageous delays.In one instance a customer in centralLondon was told that theyd have to waitseven months to be connected, withinweeks of Ofcoms announced intention toimpose new service agreementson Openreach.These rules came into force on July 1st2015 and require Openreach to rectify 70%of faults (rising to 80% by 2016) within twoworking days, achieve new installations thatrequire an engineering visit within 12 daysfor more than half the customers, and reportpublicly on how its doing. Failure to achievethese standards across the board (i.e. notjust for BT customers) could have seriousconsequences for Openreach, though exactlywhat OfCom will do hasnt been spelt out.At this time OfCom isnt committing toeither snap Openreach off BT or open up darkfibre to competitors. Instead its doing what itdoes best, carrying out anoverarching review of thecommunications market, and itspromised to provide an update of theprogress this summer.Final ThoughtsThe thrust of BTs position is that separatingBT and Openreach might have unforeseencircumstances, and in that respect it would bebetter to maintain the status quo.However BT presents this as being the bestscenario for everyone, being able to controlboth much of backbone infrastructure,local loop and the strongest retail serviceis a winning combination. Its a short buteffective vertical market, where OpenreachIts a short but effective verticalmarket, where Openreach can developthe infrastructure so it best advantagesBT, which potentially damaging itscompetitors into the bargain Running fibre underground is what Openreach does, and BT doesntwant it doing it for anyone elseIssue 1371 14can develop the infrastructure where itbest advantages BT, while also potentiallydamaging its competitors into the bargain.If you want to put this in anotherperspective, currently Network Rail controlsthe railways infrastructure, and numerouscommercial service providers run its stockand carry passengers on its rails. Imagine ifNetwork Rail was also a rail carrier, competingwith Virgin and their like on the same piecesof local branch track? Track that it mightschedule repairs on at times when otherproviders trains run or at prices that arentthe same as it charges itself?On that basis, few companies would comeforward to run a service, because theyre notcompeting on a level playing field.No wonder the companies trying to sellbroadband in this country are complaining,because from a commercial perspective thisgame is almost certainly rigged against them.If it wasnt, then BT wouldnt be desperatelytrying to stop Openreach being cut loose.What ISPs would really like would beaccess to the dark fibre network and theconduits that Openreach keeps exclusively forBT use, and its no longer acceptable that itswithholding that facility.This is as important as getting BT andOpenreach apart, because theyve becomea roadblock to many wanting faster service,better customer responses and more costeffective internet access.But the question is whether Ofcom willactually do anything about this or if, as itsdone repeatedly in the past, it will kick it intothe long grass.Its the opinion of this writer that as aregulator Ofcoms track record is at bestwoeful, and at times it has been abysmal.Its meant to help customers, yet 33 yearsafter BT was split from the Post Office, its stillan effective monopoly in many parts of thecountry, with the lions share of all business.While Openreach is theoretically ringfenced, its still a wholly owned subsidiaryof British Telecommunications plc, andits board members report to the BT chiefexecutive. Prior to 2005 it wasnt even thatsegmented, and it only changed becauseOfcom and BT did a cosy deal that changedlittle in commercial terms, but gave both sidesplausible deniability.After the debacle where the governmentoffered hundreds of millions of support grantsto get rural areas better connected to theinternet and BT ended up with all the money,those running Ofcom should have resigned,but didnt.What we have now is a situation wherewhen a customer complains, BT hides behindthe thats an Openreach problem, so we canthelp you line. And when financial results arein, oddly Openreach is a major contributor tothe bottom line of BT.So far for the first six months of 2015,thats to the tune of 1.25bn, representing29% of BTs total revenue for that period.Its about time that OfCom actuallystarted to live up to its mandate, stoppedtaking the guff that BT hands out andsplit Openreach from the rest of BT, onceand for all. And then it should alloweither another company to complete withOpenreach or let ISPs have access to fibre,poles and trunking. As it is, the continuingsituation has been great for maintainingBTs market share but highly detrimental toall the other stakeholders in the UK.If OfCom refuses to deliver this to UKcustomers and independent ISPs, thenperhaps it needs replacing with anotherorganisation with enough steel to do itsjob properly. mmEEAndBTIf the trouble over Openreach wasnt enough, BT recently signalled its intentionto go back into mobile services by merging with mobile network EE. This 12.5bndeal was greeted by many of the other mobile providers demanding that theCompetition and Market Authorities reject the merger on the basis of reducedcompetition that wouldnt be in the UK consumers interest.With its previous move into TV with its new sport services (and EPSN UK),BT is determined to make a multi-pronged attack on the media sector in bothdistribution and content.Should the EE merger go ahead, it will boost BTs share of the mobile marketfrom 31% to 34%, edging closer to the 40% that would automatically trigger theregulator to intervene. In terms of revenue, not customers, it would hit that magic40% level with EE.As if to underline EEs suitability to be part of BT, its just been fined 1mfor failing to provide its customers with the full complaint resolutioninformation that its obliged to. It also misinformed customers inregards to deadlock letters and failed to include in its customercomplaints code any reference to this potential avenue. BBCs Watchdog wasnt impressed with Openreach, a company that employs more than 25,000engineers but seemingly refuses to talk to customers Jeremy Darroch is the senior executive at SkyBroadband and wants to see Openreach and BTsent to different cornersIssue 1371 16Aone of the globes most successful gaming franchises,Minecraft has been downloaded more than 60 milliontimes. It has become so popular, that videos on YouTubewhich discuss the game attracted an estimated 4.1 billion viewsin May of this year alone. It is a flexible entity allowing those whoplay it to unleash their creativity, but there is no way that MarcusPersson could have known what he was unleashing when he firstbegan to code it one weekend back in 2009.For what started off as a mere game albeit one without levels,points or a story, set in a vast, free virtual world has become somuch more. Its use has developed into something very relevantin real life and it has been adopted as a tool to achieve so manydifferent ends. On July 4th and 5th, thousands of people turned upat Londons ExCeL for MineCon in order to find out more about thegames diverse nature and over the next few pages, well take alook at some of the exciting ways Minecraft has come to be used.Six WaysMinecraftIs ChangingThe WorldMore than just a game may be a cliche, but in the case of Minecraft itsprobably true, as David Crookes found outIssue 1371 17MINECRAFTMinecraft As ArtRunning until the end of August, the exhibitionTate Worlds bills itself as Art Reimagined forMinecraft. It takes traditional and famouspaintings and recreates them within the game,combining art, history and adventure in theprocess. There are currently eight Minecraft artworlds, each inspired by artwork or a painting.The Pool of London, for example, letsvisitors explore Englands capital along theThames just as painter Andr Derain did in1906. The Toy Shop let players explore a worldinspired by the Peter Blake artwork of thesame name. The digital re-imaginations allowfor multiple player interactions, and are allavailable to download at tate.org.uk.Producer Tony Guillan who turned the traintracks in Christopher Nevinsons Soul of theSoulless City into a playable Minecraft roller-coaster ride around New York. Tells us more.Micro Mart: Why use Minecraft in this way what does Minecraft bring that traditionalmethods of exploring art do not?Tony Guillan: Minecraft is hugely popularwith millions of children and young people allaround the world. One of our missions as a teamis to engage new audiences with our wonderfulcollection of art so if youre looking for aplace where young people spend lots of timebeing creative, Minecraft is a very good place toinvestigate. When thinking about our mission oftelling the story of art, Minecraft offers a reallyinnovative way to explore the stories, ideas orthemes behind individual artworks in a way thatis genuinely fun and interesting to young people.MM: How can help Minecraft bring art to life?TG: Were trying to make young peoplemore aware of works of art but we cant justparachute information into what is a veryexciting gaming platform. We realised we had togo with the conventions of the platform andMinecraft worlds have many typical elementswhen it comes to what people expect fromgames. Young people play adventure mapsbecause they are exciting and playful, so ininterpreting the themes of artworks, we had tocome up with genuinely exciting activities thatexplored these themes in a not too formal way.Take our map inspired by Andre Derainspainting The Pool of London (1906) what didwe want young people to find out about this,other than it is a painting of London along theriver Thames? Well, its a fauvist painting, andfauvist artists were primarily concerned withusing bold colours, so we decided to focus onthe colours used in the painting and created anadventure round London where players searchfor the pigments used to create these colours.MM: What has the reaction been from visitors?TG: The response to Tate Worlds has sofar been really exciting, with thousands ofMinecraft users from different parts of theworld downloading the maps. Its also beenencouraging to receive feedback from closerto home, with several parents contacting usto say how much their children have enjoyedplaying the maps, stimulating an interest inthe artworks. For this reason, we plan tocreate ways that young people can find outmore about each artwork online. Artworksare there to be enjoyed and are not just visualencapsulations of facts.Our map inspired by Christopher Nevinsonspainting of New York using a little creativelicense, we turned the train tracks in the paintinginto a roller-coaster ride (a common featurein Minecraft referred to as minecarts) aroundNew York where you pass through a fast pacedcity. We hope that the dynamism of our gamereflects the New York that inspired the painting,giving players a more instinctual understandingof the artwork. Hopefully players will take awayan appreciation of artworks in terms of thestories they tell, or how they express feelings orexperiences that they too can then investigate.By making the activities fun, we hope to inspireyoung people to want to find out more.Issue 1371 18Helping Children With AutismJournalist Keith Stuart has long praised Minecraft for itsability to give his son a voice. Thats because the Guardianwriters six-year-old son has autism, which means he has fallenbehind in his language development and become sociallyawkward and withdrawn. Minecraft, though, has helped himto develop. It was like a light switching on, he wrote in anarticle on a subject. He just got it.Indeed, Minecraft has been helping scores of childrenwith autism. Much of that is thanks to Stuart Duncan whoseson has an autism spectrum disorder known as PDD-NOS(pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified).He set up a Minecraft server called Autcraft that only allowschildren with autism to join. More than 5,000 are enrolledand it become a major success.I have been writing about autism both on my blog andfor various organisations for almost five years now, hesays. I noticed more and more parents taking to socialmedia in order to find other parents that have Minecraft-addicted children that they can pair up their children with.As it turned out, because their children have autism, theywere being bullied on virtually every Minecraft server theytried to play on. People killed them repeatedly, stole fromthem, destroyed their builds and worst of all, said the mostcruel things imaginable.This was a major problem, denting the confidence ofchildren who desperately wanted to play. With their parentsfeeling helpless, Mr Duncan decided to step in. I set up aserver where my children and their children could all playtogether where bullies couldnt get in, and if they did find away in, would be removed quickly, he continues. I made ita whitelist system where you have to apply and picked otherautism parents and adults with autism to help me managethe server.Word spread like crazy. In just two days, he receivedmore than 750 emails. Since then, weve heard from manyparents who say that their children are reading and writingbetter, theyre talking for the first time ever, theyre makingfriends for the first time ever and they generally have muchmore self confidence.Autcraft encourages players to help each other and toshare resources, build together and support each other asthey play. The aim is that no player one ever tease another or tries to make someone else feel bad. Mr Duncan addsthat Autcraft protects all of the players properties so that noone can do any damage and we log everything on the serverincluding who places what where and who breaks thingstoo. Those that are willing to be friends to other players thatare lonely or needing a friend are given the rank of Buddy,which grants them special permissions to do things like healand feed each other with just a command. Those who doeven more and are truly helpful to one and all are given aHelper rank which grants them even more permissions suchas teleporting or even muting those that might be causing adisturbance in chat.There is no doubting the high regard Mr Duncan has forMinecraft and the difference it has made to his child andothers. Minecraft is a very valuable learning tool for justabout any child, but it lends itself well to children with autismbecause there are no limitations. There is no storyline thatyou must stick to, no levelling up orgetting stronger, no bosses to beatto get to the next level. You just playhow ever you want to play. You canbuild, explore, fight and you canmake castles or starships or recreateRome if you want. This means thatno one can ever tell you that youredoing it wrong or that you have tostop obsessing over that one thingthat you want to spend all your timedoing. Youre free to do just aboutanything you want.Saving ChildrenIn July last year, the charity Save the Children launched a fundraising initia-tive that encouraged people to create virtual medical centres in Minecraftand gain sponsorship for doing so. The project, dubbed Clinic Craft, aimedto use that sponsorship money to build six new real world clinics in Liberia,a country where roadside births are common because pregnant womenoften have to walk for hours for medical attention.To encourage people to take part and download a clinic blueprint to startwork on, the campaign ran on the lines of a competition and, as such, of-fered a range of toys, mugs, t-shirts and much more as prizes to those whotook the time and effort to take part. It was so successful as a fundrais-ing and awareness campaign that it took prize in the Internet AdvertisingBureau Creative Showcase Awards, and it earned a big pat on the back forvideogame personality Dan Maher and Minecrafter Chris Doney who hadcome up with the innovative idea.Issue 1371 20TeachingThe WorldMany teachers have integrated Minecraft into lessons, havingcome to understand the flexibility and lure of the game. Scienceteachers have used it to produce 3D models of cells and artteachers have explored pixel art. History teachers have recreatedancient worlds too.Much of this is due to TeacherGaming, an America-basedorganisation thats created a school-ready version of Minecraftcalled MinecraftEdu. Accompanying it is a library that lets teachersselect worlds best suited to arts, English, foreign languages,health, maths, science, social studies and technology for all sortsof age groups. There are adventure, exploration, mission-based,observation, puzzle and story packs.Micro Mart: Why use Minecraft in this way what doesMinecraft bring that traditional methods of teaching do not?TeacherGaming co-founder Joel Levin: Minecraft givesteachers a powerful tool to use in the classroom. Kids are crazyabout the game, instantly engaged and eager to participate in thelesson. Once they are in the game world, there is no limit to thetypes of experiences they can have. Anything from collaborativebuilding, to roleplaying, to simulations. One of Minecraftskeys to success has been its flexibility to be customised. WithMinecraftEdu weve taken advantage of that to add features thatteachers and students would find useful.MM: Where did the idea come from?JL: As an educator, Ive always looked for games to bring into myclassroom, but most traditional learning games fell short of myexpectations. They just werent very fun!It always made more sense to me to find games designed asentertainment that also offered an enriching experiences. WhenMinecraft came along I realised that I could shape the core gameexperience to fit my lessons and curriculum perfectly. It wasvery shortly thereafter that I realised, with a bit more tweaking,Minecraft could be shaped into a platform that let ANY teacherbuild experiences for their needs. Thus MinecraftEdu was born.MM: To what extent can Minecraft be used in teaching?JL: Minecraft is being used in virtually all subject areas, acrossall age groups from kindergarten to university. Thats not anexaggeration. Science teachers have asked students to designexperiments, technology teachers have taught students to writecode using mods that add programmable computers to the gameworld, and elementary teachers have had students explore typesof communities and governments through play.Perhaps the most effective experiences come when teachersget out of the way and letting the students play organically. Thistypes of experience can lead to amazing conversations aboutdigital citizenship, online identity and responsibility.MM: And what has the reaction been from pupils?JL: Overwhelmingly positive. I dont think its simply because theyare getting to play theyre favourite game. Bringing games intothe classroom adds a relevancy to school. The current generationof kids spends an incredible amount of time consuming gamesas a medium. And that has lead to sophisticated literacies thatare often overlooked by the adults in their lives. Allowing them tobring these skills and passions into their classrooms can be a sucha powerful and validating experience for kids.Issue 1371 21MINECRAFTMapping The WorldThose who have used Minecraft for mappinghave been very ambitious indeed. Take theDanish government, which comissioned therecreation of 16,062 square miles of Denmark, orour own Ordnance Survey, which used 83 billionvirtual blocks to represent a whopping 85,000square miles of the UK.Such is the flexibility of Minecraft, though,that it also lends itself to geology, which is wherethe British Geological Survey (BGS) comes in.One of the key roles of the BritishGeological Survey is to make our data moreaccessible and understandable to the generalpublic, so by using a gaming platform likeMinecraft we are able to raise the profile ofwho we are and what we do to a whole newaudience, says Steve Richardson, geospatialapplications developer at the BGS. The gameis familiar, understandable and intuitive, soplayers can get straight in and exploring theworld we created rather than having to learnhow to use the software in the first place.By incorporating real world geology intoMinecraft, users can engage with geology, askquestions and learn more about where andwhy it varies across the country. For example,in its Minecraft world the Isle of Skye is full ofObsidian blocks, which represents the largeamounts of basalt from past volcanic activity.It helps that Minecraft is three-dimensionalsince geological maps are two-dimensionalrepresentations of three-dimensional real-worldconcepts. Geological maps are technical paperdocuments that require an understanding andlevel of geological knowledge which mostpeople do not have, says Mr Richardson.When you look at a geological map of theUK you can see how the geology is laid outwhen looking from above, after youve strippedaway surface features like forests, buildings orroads, but it takes a deeper understanding ofgeological processes and concepts to re-interpretin your mind how the different layers of rockjoin, fold, overlap, fault or dissect each other.By using three dimensional models andallowing people to see the geology from allangles Mr Richardson says it lets you visualiseand start to understand what it really going onbeneath the surface. Minecraft is a fantastictool because you dont need to do any mentalcalculations the rocks are right there and youare able to dig through them, mine out areasand explore the geology first-hand. Anyonewith access to the game can learn about therocks beneath their feet in an intuitive andimmediately apparent way.That said, the map the BGS has released isnot a true 3D representation of the geologyacross Great Britain we have not included thelayers of the cake but instead shows the soilparent material classification. This is why weare excited to be working on 3D models, whichshow how the different layers sit in real life, toreally extend and enhance the way that we canvisualise the fascinating geology of the UK.The BGS is working with an educationalgroup called GeoCraft which is directly involvedin using Minecraft within schools for teachingchildren about a wide variety of environmentalissues. We are currently developing a system toincorporating more accurate geological modelsshowing the different layers of geology into theirMinecraft worlds, to make their scenarios takeinto account what is below the ground as wellas above it.Issue 1371 22MakingHistorical MapsMinecraft is brilliant for gaining a glimpse into the past. TheNew York Public Library has transformed an 1860 map of FortWashington a fortified position at the north end of Manhattan into a 3D Minecraft world. Developer Paul Beaudoin and colleagueLeonard Richardson talk to us.Micro Mart: What was your intention with this project?Paul Beaudoin: The idea to generate Minecraft maps from ourown historical maps had been kicked around at NYPL for a while particularly following the Ordnance Surveys stunning work togenerate a map of the entire UK from contemporary data. Whenan opportunity came up last year to work on an open project,our colleague Sean Redmond added historical maps in Minecraftto the roster of suggested projects. Sean ended up working onsomething else. I registered interest in the historical Minecraft ideaand was very fortunate that Leonard also showed interest.MM: How does the process work?PB: We produce high-res scans of our historical documentsas a first step, but I think it can also be important to make aninitial effort at information extraction to move beyond thebitmap and identify the essential data points the documentrepresents. Digitisation of scanned text documents may includetext extraction, for example. In maps, there are several thingsyou might want to extract: political boundaries, buildings, text,and so on. The information inside the Fort Washington mapincludes buildings, bodies of water, pathways, and elevation all of which map readily to Minecraft. I wanted to representthat information in Minecraft so that I could walk around in itfor myself an especially appealing prospect considering thearea of Manhattan depicted in the map is now mostly buriedunder brick and concrete.MM: Leonard, what was your reaction to the approach and theuse of an historical map in particular?Leonard Richardson: A historical map is one of the mostinteresting things you can put into Minecraft because it showsyou a place that doesnt exist anymore. And because Minecraftis lo-fi theres no expectation that everything be smooth and aperfect representation of reality. The Minecraft world cuts off atthe edges because thats where the map cuts off. A contour mapis already blocky in one dimension (height), so even if you made aperfect 3D representation of the map, it would still look a bit likea Minecraft world.MM: What can people who visit the map learn from it?PB: Minecraft is famously blocky but the game can producesurprisingly immersive worlds in spite of itself. Our mindssomehow convert this impossible, jagged environment intosomething cohesive and intuitively navigable. So I think aMinecraft rendering of an historical topo[graphic] map promisesthat at least: A lo-fi way to inhabit a space that no longerexists. Also, the particular map we chose contains a numberof human-made structures, roads, and bodies of water, whichare best understood with reference to the local elevation.Squinting at the annotated contour lines of a topo map gets yousome of the way there, but you really have to read it closely tounderstand the logic behind certain features. When you enterthe Minecraft Fort Washington map, its immediately clear thatthe winding pathway follows the shape of the hill into which itscut. Similarly, it wasnt until I stood on the Fort Washington sitefor myself that the logic of the position became clear; The fortdidnt occupy the highest position, but it was placed on a cropof rock with a uniquely steep approach.MM: Can Minecraft inspire interest in historical maps amongthose who would otherwise be disinterested?LR: Yes, absolutely. Weve shown this project to grade school kidsand when we say Who likes to play Minecraft? pretty muchevery hand goes up.MM: Without contours, would the translation have worked aswell as it did?PB: I think you really need the contour lines or *something*that indicates a few points of elevation - to generate aninteresting Minecraft map. The rise and fall of elevation is a bigpart of the aesthetic and play experience.MM: How large a task was this to complete?Leonard Richardson: About two days, and then a few morehours to write it up for the NYPL blog. The main thing I got outof it was an invaluable knowledge of the file format used to storeMinecraft worlds, which Ive used in other projects.Issue 1371 24MarkOakley looks at howgaming has gone from thebedroom to the arenaWhat were you doing on Sunday 29th March 2015?Personally, I was most likely keeping an eye on my twokids, trying my best to stop them from arguing. Again.Perhaps you were enjoying a Sunday roast, or perhaps you wereplaying some games on your PC, or maybe even working.Four young men in Los Angeles were playing some games onthat very Sunday. They were also working, in a way, earning ajoint prize of $400,000 for their efforts.Welcome to the world of e-sports.The men in this particular instance were members of TeamDenial, a pro team backed by an international professionalgaming organisation based in the United States. Denial eSportshas sponsored teams in various pro gaming events across theglobe, with the line-up of players changing as and when required.Denial eSports has been putting forward teams for variousgaming events for a few years now, taking in titles including Halo,League of Legends and, in this latest victory, Call of Duty.The exact location of this big win was the Call of Duty WorldChampionships, held over a long weekend in Los Angeles, and 32teams were competing against each other for a shot at that grandprize. Team Denials backstory is much like the others in attendancethat day. The only difference is that on this occasion, Denial won.This is a world where button mashing, quick-thinking andteamwork really does win the day. For all those people who toldyou that sitting in front of your computer for hours on end didyou no good, Team Denial and the other e-sports outfits are thecounter argument. Events are now streamed on the internet andtelevised over in the States. In many respects, professional gaminghas become as big as many other sports. There are packed arenas,pulse-racing encounters and even big-name signings.Its also backed by real money. At the beginning of July,a Swedish media outlet bought ESL (the Electronic SportsThumbs Up: TheRiseOfProfessionalGamingIssue 1371 25PROFESSIONALGAMINGLeague), the largest e-sports organisation in the world, for a notinsubstantial 78 million, giving it a majority stake in its financialholdings. In the first acquisition of its kind by a traditionalmedia company, this marks a significant step in the continuingrecognition of e-sports as a major industry.According to community website e-Sports Earnings, this yearhas recorded $19.2m in prize money and rising so far, and thetop-earning player of the year has earned over $288,000. In total,recorded prize money for e-sports events stands at over $133m.All this money rolling about the place begs the question: howdid e-sports become such a big deal?Not Just A GameE-sports is defined at dictionary.com as competitive tournamentsof video games, especially among professional gamers. Thepreserve of professional gamers, were talking about peoplemaking money from playing games. And these gamers are young,sometimes teenagers.Competitive, professional gaming really took off with the riseof broadband internet, as organisations such as Americas MajorLeague Gaming took note of the financial opportunities thatgaming provided. Organisations like the MLG and the ElectronicSports League saw the vast potential of the gaming marketplace,a potential which has only further increased as technology hasimproved beyond recognition from those early days of pro gaming.The Electronic Sports League is arguably the biggest reasonwhy e-sports has developed at the scale it has, certainly outside ofAmerica. This oldest e-sports league in the world is self-styled bydigital entertainment company and holding company for the ESL,Turtle Entertainment, as the global e-sports leader. With over fivemillion registered gamers, over a million teams and millions andmillions of games played, its fair to say that the ESL is a major,major player in pro gaming circles.Outsideoftheworkputinbythetournamentorganisersandsponsorsthemselves,theindustryneededaplatformtoCompetitive, professionalgaming really took off with therise of broadband internetWhere Do I Sign Up?If youre interested in professional gaming, thereare some fairly obvious but very important points toconsider.Professional gaming is very much like any sport.Youll first have to pick your game, then get to knowit inside out, and study and practise like never before.This isnt for the keen gamer who enjoys playingevery evening; this is for the kind of gamer whoenjoys learning the subtleties of the game, learningits intricacies and tricks, knowing the very make-up ofthe game. This is for real money, and its a short career typically three or four years. For those who make it,though, the rewards can be great.Youll also need to find a team, as this is a teamsport. You can go into events as a solo free agent orwith a ready-made or partially made team of your own.Either way, you wont get anywhere on your own.As for where to sign, you could register your interestat the ESL website play.eslgaming.com/uk. Pick theleague you want to play in and sign up. If you wantto register a team of you and your mates, get all ofthem to sign up and register for whatever league youwant to play in. From there, its a case of playing invarious Ladders or amateur tournaments and honingyour skills. Gain exposure within the community andget online, and you might be lucky enough to becontacted by a pro team. Essentially, as a free agent,its all about putting yourself out there and using theonline community and the likes of YouTube and socialmedia to showcase your gaming skills.In terms of financial rewards, while the bigtournaments do indeed pay big, there are lots ofother tournaments still offering decent prizes withinthe major e-sports leagues. For example, here in theUK the ESL UK Premiership for Counter-Strike: GlobalOffensive and League of Legends is a competitionopen to all UK residents with a competitive qualifyingstructure to get yourself on board. The event will bestreamed live on Twitch, and the prize pot is 10,000,which is not too shabby.Away from the ESL, you can also take part inGfinitys line-up of tournaments by signing up on itswebsite at www.gfinity.net. With over 100 onlinetournaments every month, there are cash prizes to bewon if youre good enough.Asforgettingbigsponsorship,thatsreallyagainacaseofgettinggoodatitandgettingyournameoutthere.Bottomlineisthatsponsorswillcomecallingifyouandyourteammakewavesinthegamingworld.Themorenoiseyouremaking,themorelikelyyouregoingtobeheard.Playlots,winbig,workyourwayupthecommunityandthenmaybeyoullbeinwithachance.Just be aware, it might not be all sunshineand roses. Its really, really difficult to get truly,competitively great at gaming. As in any sport, longhours and the pressures of remaining competitive arepar for the course.Issue 1371 26havethegamingseenbyawideraudience.StepforwardTwitch.Whenitwaslaunchedin2011,itsdedicationtolivegamestreamingmeantthatgamingtournamentshavehelpeditsownpopularitytogrowalongsideit.Byreachingareadyandwillingaudience,e-sportshavesimplygrownfromstrengthtostrength.Its undoubtedly more of a phenomenon in Asia and the UnitedStates, but while weve taken a while to catch up, we have alsorecognised the need to take it seriously here in the UK.Gnity Steps UpGfinity has become a big name in UK e-sports since it converteda section of Fulham Broadways Vue Cinema into a dedicated600-person e-sports arena earlier this year.Since March, Gfinity has been running its 2015 Championshipwith streaming of the gaming action featured on Twitch andat the Major League Gaming online channel. With a total prizefund of over $500,000 for the full calendar of events, thismajor competition will culminate in the end of season finale inSeptember, and its become a hugely popular season, with over30m online views across 25 countries at its halfway point.More recently, the Arena has begun its hosting of the Call ofDuty EU Pro League season, mimicking a similar event held forAmerican gamers and pitting eight of the best Call of Duty teamsin Europe against each other.TheintroductionoftheGfinityArenawasahugestepfortake-upofprogamingintheUK,anditsfurtherproofofourincreasedrecognitionofjusthowfargaminghascomeinrecentyears.mmE-sports ScandalsJust like in other sports, e-sports hasnt been without itsfair share of scandals.In 2010, several players of StarCraft were foundguilty of fixing matches for financial gain. They werefined and banned from gaming.Collusion has been found to happen elsewhere,most notably at the Major League Gaming SummerChampionship in 2012, where some teams were toldthat they couldnt have their prize money because oftheir colluding.Over the years, Valve has been forced to ban variouspro CounterStrike players found of fixing matches forfinancial gain. And in one of the most high-profilestories surrounding wrongdoing in League of Legends,South Korea gamer Min-Ki attempted suicide after headmitting to match fixing in 2014.TheGamesAndTheStarsIn terms of the games that are most often played,theres very much a common theme. Shooters, such asCall of Duty and CounterStrike, take place alongsidemultiplayer online battle arena titles, such as thefrighteningly popular League of Legends and morerecently Dota 2.Dota 2 has become a very big deal indeed, with prizemoney for this years The International event sitting at aridiculous $15m Valve has smartly used crowdfunding ofa compendium of in-game items to build up the pot. Thetournament itself will be taking place this August in Seattleand will see 16 invited teams do their stuff on the big stage.Some of those teams will include Europes TeamSecret, topping the Dota 2 league table at the timeof writing and recent winners of a major ESL Dota 2tournament in Frankfurt.Team Invictus is another big name in Dota 2 circles,having won the $1m prize pot in 2012. The individualrosters of these teams change over time, but Team Invictusstill has some of the big players in the game, includingBurNIng Zhilei Xu, described as one of the best, mostexperienced Dota 2 gamers in the world with severalawards to his name.In League of Legends, Faker is a name that is reveredthe world over. The 19-year-old Korean became a legendhimself when he was featured in ESPNs first ever e-sportsissue of its magazine. He has dominated the sport inrecent years, becoming a global e-sports phenomenon inhis own right.Then theres Manuel Grubby Schenkhuizen, a Dutche-sports icon who has won multiple Warcraft 3 worldchampionships in becoming one of most famous pro players Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft are typically popular e-sports titlesThe industry needed aplatform to have the gamingseen by a wider audience. Stepforward TwitchIssue 1371 28When we recall the DOS days,its often with a rose-tintedhue. However, while it wasless complicated than amodern operating system, it wasnt quite asstraight forward as we often give it credit for.For one, getting a game to work often meanthaving to play around with the two mostimportant files on a DOS-driven PC: Autoexec.bat and Config.sys. These files defined howthe environment started up, what driverswere loaded, what the temp directorywas, the Path statement and where othercommands could be accessed.Autoexec.bat loaded the drivers, setthings like the Sound Blaster card IRQ andDMA values and offered the ability to loadcertain drivers into the high memory areaand the UMB (Upper Memory Block) to freeup valuable conventional memory (the first640KB) for running of games and programs.Config.sys was the main configuration filefor DOS, and allowed you to assign certainvalues to device and memory parameters. Youcould specify disk buffers (loading them highwith BUFFERSHIGH=), and load up drivers forHIMEM, EMM386, and ANSI.sys.Compared to today, it sounds terriblycomplicated, but we got the hang of it andin the end we could either own a selection ofDOS boot floppy disks that served a certainpurpose, such as high memory loading, more640KB for a game, loading up the CD-Drivedriver, and so on. Or we could create a longand elaborate set of files that loaded stuff updepending on what menu options we definedwithin the Autoexec.bat file.The HistoryThe Autoexec.bat and Config.sys filesappeared around the DOS 2.0 stage, whenthe need for loading peripheral driversbecame the norm. The PC was beginningto grow, as were the number of differentuses for it.It no longer belonged exclusively to theoffice; home users also had PCs and, as aresult, peripheral makers started to expandtheir catalogue of products. The PC was alsostarting to become a formidable gamingplatform, and with that came devices suchas soundcards, joysticks, ever more powerfulgraphics cards, and so on.With more devices now available, theconventional memory limit was starting toget a little tight. Soon, third party memorymanagers such as QEMM became available,which offered more available conventionalmemory by auto-analysing your Autoexecand Config files and creating its ownversion of each.The Autoexec and Config files lasted all theway up to DOS version 7, for Windows 95,98 and Windows ME. Although by then theywere rapidly losing their ability to make anysignificant change to the way the system wasdefined at startup.TheGoodYou could have a collection of boot states,that gave you more conventional memory,loaded up certain drivers, even some thatauto-ran virus scanners and connected to anetwork for installing DOS and Windows 3.11onto a client PC.TheBadThey could get quite confusing, and youdoften end up wasting many hours trying tofree up that extra 1KB of memory to get StarTrek: 25th Anniversary running.ConclusionAutoexec.bat and Config.sys once ruled thePC in a way that no other two files have evermanaged since. They were the most powerfultext files, and if you could master them thenthe operating system and the hardware withinthe PC was yours to command.David Hayward reflects on the two most important files used in DOSRememberingAutoexec.bat and Config.sysDidYou Know? If you installed Windows 95 overDOS and Windows 3.11, thenthe Autoexec and Config fileswere auto renamed to allow dualbooting into both environments. The Toshiba CD driver wassmaller and used less memorythan the Oakcdrom.sys driverloaded in Config.sys Smartdrv was one of the mainissues with loading games.Although it worked well for diskcaching for optical drives, andfor loading up games quickly, itoften conflicted with the gamelater on and chewed up a lot ofconventional memory. CTMouse often worked better,and with less memory used whenloaded high in Config.sys Config.sys, often more confusing as Autoexec.bat but just as powerful An example Autoexec.bat file, loading high the CD-ROM driver and mouse30 Issue 1371ComponentWatchAlthough a lot of people like the idea of replacing theirlaptop with a tablet, the truth is that its usually notpossible. Not because tablets are low-power (althoughthey often are that) but because most of them simplywont run the software you want to put on them. If you do anysort of work, theres a good chance you have to use proprietarysoftware or third-party applications that need Windows to work. Sowith that in mind how about a Windows tablet? And if thatsounds like a good idea, here are the best prices you can find.Deal1:HPElitePad1000G2RRP:1,100/DealPrice:1,040This is the version ofthe ElitePad 1000 G2with slightly less storage 64GB rather than128GB but even thenits batting way above theaverage of most tablets.Powered by an Intel AtomZ3975 running at 1.6GHzwith 4GB of RAM, itsan excellent performer.10.1 1920 x 1200screen, two cameras and built-in 4G mean its clearly aimed atthe productivity end of the market and priced as such. This isntmuch of a discount, but when youre paying this much, everypenny you save seems worth it.Where to get it: eBuyer bit.ly/1HgyvYcDeal2:LenovoThinkpad10RRP:799/DealPrice:726.73If you want similarcapabilities but at a muchlower price, the ThinkPad10 has the same CPU,same amount of RAM andsame mobile 4G capabilitiesas the ElitePad, as well asa full 128GB of storage. Italso has a slightly worse10.1 1920 x 1080 screen,slightly worse front camera,and slightly less connectivity. But for 300 less, its a surprisinglyclose second place. We dont think youd notice the difference.Where to get it: CCL bit.ly/1JQ4xhxDeal3:ASUSTransformerBookT100TAMDK024PRRP:399/DealPrice:335.67If laptop-replacement is your plan,you could do much worse thanthis Asus Transformer, which is aconvertible tablet that comes withits own hardware keyboard dockingstation. Ideal for workers of anykind. The specs arent great a1.46GHz Intel Atom Z3775. only2GB of RAM, no 4G and a 1366x 768 10.1 screen and only one1.2MP front camera, but at thisprice its still not a bad buy. Itsaimed at office work rather than all-singing, all-dancing gaming andmedia, and for the money you spend, its still a very good deal if awork system is what youre after.Where to get it: Dabs bit.ly/1JQ4JNZDeal 4: Acer Iconia W4-821PRRP: 399 / Deal Price: 316.26The 8 Acer Iconia W4-821P has a fasterCPU than the Asus system an Intel AtomZ3740 at 1.8GHz but the price is lowerbecause it lacks its hardware keyboard andlarge-format screen. Other specs are similar(2GB RAM and 64GB storage), and othersare better two cameras and built-in 3G), butultimately if youre looking for a productivitydevice, this is a lot more casual. Good if youwant to replace your phone with something more capable. Maybenot for replacing a laptop.Where to get it: CCL bit.ly/1TmlyS9Deal 5: Linx 8RRP: 119.99 / Deal Price: 98.34Basically the cheapest Windows 8.1 tabletaround, the Linx 8 has a 1280 x 800 8screen and Intel Atom Z3735F CPU at1.33GHz. With 16GB storage and 1GB ofRAM its not going to set the world alight,but at this price you could kit out a wholeteam for the price it takes to buy one ElitePad and itll do basically the same stuff as that,if slightly slower. For less than 100, its hard to be too upset!Where to get it: Misco bit.ly/1HceT5eComponent WatchAndroid and iOS may get most of the headlines, but there are somedecent Windows tablet deals too32 Issue 1371EE SlappedBy OfcomQUICKBITS... The Pebble Time smartwatch is now available to pre-order in the UKSmartphone app takes a good look at you for online purchasesReports of impending robot apocalypse unfoundedMastercard TrialsFacial RecognitionUS Drone KnocksDown WomanFinancial services firmMastercard is looking rightat you with a trial of facialrecognition technology forverification of online purchases.CNNreportedonthenews,withasecurityexpertforthecompanystatingthattheSelfiegenerationwouldfinditcool.Nodoubt,butisthisatechnologythatcanreallygetofftheground?GoogledroppedfacialrecognitiononGoogleGlasswithoutstrongsecurityinplace,soMastercardwill havetoprovethatthisisasecurewayofgoingaboutthingsbeforeitstrulyagoer.Interestingdevelopment,nonetheless.To America we go now where a drone actually knockeda woman unconscious after it first crashed into abuilding and then fell on her.TheunfortunateincidenthappenedatthegayprideparadeinSeattleoverthelastweekendinJune,andthemanwhopilotedthedronehasfesseduptolocal police.Thedronewasaweightyfellaattwopoundsandcostaround$1,200,accordingtoreports,andfortunatelythewomanissaidtobeabsolutelyfinenow.The incident does raise many a question about the use ofdrones in everyday life, however, and if peoples safety is at risk inany way, you can expect those questions to keep on coming.Not literally, thoughIssue 1371 33Reddit SaysSorry ForSackingIf someone told you thatyou had to work for freefor the rest of your life,you probably wouldnt betoo pleased. Yet thatsexactly what pro-piracygroups are asking contentcreators to do.The fact is that piracy iswrong and it hurts theindustries it affects andthose who work in them.We all know that, though,dont we? So why do somany of us still head tosites like the Pirate Bay?Thats what the mediaindustries need to askthemselves, rather thanchasing after piracywebsites and downloaders.Nothing theyve donehas managed to take downthe Pirate Bay ordiscourage those who useit, but as Mark Pickavancepoints out this week, thereare a few things theyhavent yet tried. But willthey ever try them? I hopeso, for the sake ofeveryone involved.Until next time,EditorAnthonyTheUKslargestmobileoperator,EE,hasbeenfined1millionbyOfcomforbreachingitsrulesonhandlingcustomercomplaints.Theindustryregulatorsaidthatfrom2011to2014,EEdidntgivecertaincustomersadequateinformationontheirrightstotaketheircomplaintstoanindependentbody.Asitdidntinformcustomersinwritingofthefact,Ofcomhasdecidedtolaydownthisprettysignificantfine.EEhassincestatedthatithasmadesignificantimprovementssincetheperiodintimethatthisfinerelatesto.Redditbosseshaveapologisedtousersoverthesackingofanemployee,withtheRedditcommunityhavingitscollectiveangryvoiceheard.Victoria Taylor was fired, which led to varioussub-reddits being shut down in protest. Taylor wasresponsible, among other things, for overseeing RedditsAsk Me Anything section, which basically allows usersto ask questions of celebrities, politicians and the like.With little information forthcoming about her sacking,the Reddit community voiced its angry opinion and alsospoke with its fingers, shutting down around 100 sub-reddits in protest.Now, Reddit bosses have said sorry as they haveclearly realised that its not good business to annoy thecommunity that keeps it going. So why was she sacked?Who knows, and well likely never know for sure.Community reacts with ire over employee ousting34 Issue 1371If you have ever taken time to consider what a tenuousthread modern civilisation hangs by, last week was asalutary reminder that your musing may not be misplaced.Were talking, of course, about the three significant techfailures involving American Airlines (tinyurl.com/MMnet71a),the New York Stock Exchange (tinyurl.com/MMnet71b), andthe Wall Street Journal (tinyurl.com/MMnet71c) that came inquick succession and seemed to immediately send the US-basedonline press into a downward spiral of doom-mongering(tinyurl.com/MMnet71d) and Stephen Colbert running to hispost-apocalypse hidey-hole (tinyurl.com/MMnet71e).All three and the US government were quick to assurethat none of the outages were due to an attack on theirsystems. American Airlines blamed router failure (tinyurl.com/MMnet71f), the NYSE a software update (tinyurl.com/MMnet71g), and the FBI implied that the WSJ outage was dueto overload caused by the rush for news of the stock exchangeoutage. However, its fair to say that not everyones buying it(tinyurl.com/MMnet71h), and speculation continues unabated(tinyurl.com/MMnet71i).Its not surprising really, considering that theres form forairlines being hacked to the ground recently (tinyurl.com/MMnet71j), and its the third time technical issues havedowned planes this year (tinyurl.com/MMnet71k). Thenyou have Hilary Clinton telling supporters that China hackseverything that doesnt move (tinyurl.com/MMnet71l),which isnt exactly confidence-inspiring, especially at a timewhen mind-bogglingly large numbers of US citizens are findingthemselves caught within the ever-widening blast radius of themassive Office of Personnel Management hack we covered amonth or so ago (goo.gl/uedWH4), which now appears tohave affected 21.5 million people (tinyurl.com/MMnet71m).Then, when you also consider that even the so-called cyber-security experts sometimes find themselves on the receiving endof embarrassing incursions (tinyurl.com/MMnet71n), it maysoon come a time when youll be wanting a tin foil hat... or not,depending on whom you believe.Oh, and by the way, if you were hoping the collectivebrains of North Americas tech elite would helpride out this storm, wed like to point out that itscollective planning skills just led to a whole continent runningout of IP addresses (tinyurl.com/MMnet71o). Sleep tighteveryone!Of course, if you think thats bad, Europe ran out ofallocatable IPv4 space way back in 2012 (tinyurl.com/MMnet71r). Luckily weve got BT forging the way (tinyurl.com/MMnet71p). What could possibly go wrong? Well,quite a bit, apparently (tinyurl.com/MMnet71q)... But its aproblem that needs fixing, fast.Over in the US, last week saw San Diego host themassive Comic-Con event. Its usually the source ofa slew of viral videos (tinyurl.com/MMnet71s),courtesy of both the film studios and TV channels that useit to flog their latest wares and the eager fans who recordthe Q&A sessions with their favourite stars (tinyurl.com/MMnet71t). However, this year the whole event has anew medium that could throw a spanner into some verycoordinated PR campaigns: live streaming; especially viaPeriscope and Meekat.A cursory search across Twitter will reveal that, despitecontinual warnings before big panel events at the event,many of the sessions have been streamed live by keen, tech-savvy fans (tinyurl.com/MMnet71u). Indeed, telling themnot to, and hoping they wouldnt, seems to have been folly.Well know for sure just how prevalent the whole thing iswhen the Star Wars event begins in Hall H shortly after thismagazine goes to the presses because, if theres a newtrend in fandom, Star Wars is often the biggest manifestationof it, and because you can pretty much guarantee thatDisney will be doing all it can to shut it down... Its certainlyknown for protecting its properties. Just ask the UK toy storethats now been stripped of its starwars.co.uk web address(tinyurl.com/MMnet71v) though, in that case, you canprobably see Disneys point...Whether or not the digital world is making ussmarter or dumber is an interesting question.While the connected world puts more andmore information at our fingertips, its also accused ofdumbing down delivery and shortening our attentionspans. The differences between our paper and digitalreading habits (tinyurl.com/MMnet71w) seems to hintthat we have shorter attention spans when reading ona screen as we quickly become distracted by links andother media or set adrift by the uncertainty of exactlywhat it is were reading (i.e. a long- or short-form piece).However, whether or not we retain informationbetter via traditional or digital media is a very differentquestion and not one with a simple answer, asdifferent people respond in very different ways.Meanwhile...On The Internet...No piece of video weve seen this week has elicited biggersmiles from Team Meanwhile than the one that mashes uptwo of our very favourite pieces of animation. Though youmay consider Akira and The Simpsons to occupy oppositeends of the artforms spectrum, somehow like, say, chilliand chocolate for some reason they go together so well.To wit: Bartkira (tinyurl.com/MMnet71x), a fan-made mocktrailer that blends both to brillliant effect..AVWhy?Videos For Your Eyes...Not Necessarily For Your BrainQUICKBITS... Apple Pay has been widely reported to be landing in the UK on July 14thprobably see Disney s point...Issue 1371 35Quick fact: we hate spiders. So were not quite sure why we chosethis as the picture for the caption competition. Never mind. Lets seeyour captions, so we dont have to look at the big scary arachnidany more: JayCeeDee: If I study hard with my Mavis Beacon TypingCourse Ill easily manage 500 words a minute when I growup. stevenfr: They said press Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Del, Page Up, F1,F11 And F12. Still no web! The Duke: Pack a bag, were moving! Nigel Palmer: Blimey, I have been spending too muchtime on Spider! Nigel Palmer: I had to call in a web building expert. Thomas Turnbull: Someone said this was the quickestway to the web but I cant find it. Htst: Where abouts is this world wide web everyonestalking about? Leigh Spriggs: Building up Spider Silk Road. Gary Bore: Eight legs and I still cant find the Any key! Robert Wheelhouse: Foolproof way to stop youdrunkenly emailing your boss at 1am.Thanks to everyone who entered. And congrats todoctoryorkie, who came up with Web expert: cant evenpress Ctrl + Alt + Delete.To enter this week, head to the Other Stuff section of ourforum (forum.micromart.co.uk) and say something funny (butnot too rude) about the picture below or email us via caption@micromart.co.uk.CaptionCompetitionk ff tt hht id S t it h hWeb expert: canteven press Ctrl + Alt +DeleteCCCCCaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap nIsyournamePhilMcKay?Isthisyou,readingacopyofMicroMart?Ifitis,thenhappybirthdayfromeveryonehereandfromSheriewhokindlysentinthisphoto.Now, readers, if any MMfans you know are celebratinga birthday soon, write in andlet us know, and well gladlysurprise them right here because were nice like that.Have an awesome dayHappyBirthday,Phil McKay!DixonsCarphone SignsWith SprintUS-bound stores could lead to Britishinvasion in timeDixons Carphone(we still cant getused to sayingthat) has signed adeal with US telecoms outfitSprint to open up 20 Sprint-branded stores in America.The pilot programme couldeventually see the British firmopening up 500 stores, withDixons Carphone investing upto 20 million for a 50% stake,and this is a major expansiondeal for the company followinglast years merger.Incaseyoudidntknow,SprintisoneofAmericaslargestmobilecarriers,sothisispotentiallyamajorbreakthroughintotheStatesforDixonsCarphone.Nowonderthefirmsdeputychiefexecutive,AndrewHarrison,referredtothemoveasaveryexcitingventureforus...asignificantstepingrowingourbusinessintheUS.Thefirmssharesdidokayfollowingtheannouncementtoo.36 Issue 1371 36 Issue 1371Snippets!New Zealand MakesTrolling A CrimeNew Zealand has approved anew piece of legislation thatmakes trolling an actual crime.The Harmful DigitalCommunications Bill wasapproved by parliament andmeans that the act of trollingonline could result in theperpetrators being fined oreven sent to prison, all for usingdeliberately harmful, threateningor offensive language.In order to enforce the law,agencies will work alongsidethe likes of Facebook, Googleand Twitter to remove any suchtrolling content.Pirated Software UpBy A QuarterAccording to a new study fromapplication protection firmArxan, pirated software andcontent online has increased bynearly a quarter over the pastthree years.Its State of ApplicationSecurity report details thatthe cost of keeping up withhacking is considerable, withenterprises having to spendthe best part of $500bn due tomalware associated with piratedsoftware. Wow.Facebook Rolls OutMessenger PaymentService Across USFacebooks payment servicebetween Messenger users isnow available across the entireUSA. The service is completelyfree and allows users to sendmoney to each other, via theiraccounts which are linked to adebit card. The system requiresthe Messenger app to use, andmoving money to a friend isas simple as tapping on the $icon within a conversation. Typein the amount, the recipientconfirms receipt, and within afew days the money shouldbe there.Were not sure whether ornot Facebook will be looking toroll this out to other countriesfollowing the US launch.Presumably, its going to seehow it fares in the US first.36 Issue 1371One-Hour Service ForLondon Prime UsersAmazon has launched its Prime Nowservice outside of the US for the firsttime, giving Londoners the chance totake advantage of a one-hour deliverytime on items.There are various caveats to this service. First ofall, deliveries need to have a minimum order totalof 20 per order. Second, the one-hour servicecosts 6.99 per order, otherwise customers can gofor a free, two-hour same-day delivery slot. Thirdly,its only available in certain areas of the capital tobegin with, with the service expanding to all ofLondon and other UK cities on top of that by theend of the year.If youre particularly impressed with the delivery,you can also leave a tip, which all goes to thedelivery person, according to Amazon. Yes, we cantsee that happening a lot in the UK either.At a private auctionin California, anAmerican chaphas snapped upthree business cards belongingto the late Steve Jobs.This actually happened lastmonth but passed us by atthe time, were afraid, TheApple boss cards sold for$10.5k. Donated by a familythat used to do catering forJobs, the cards were usedduring his time as presidentof NeXt and his days at Appleand Pixar. As for Knowleshimself, he said of his newpurchase, If there was ever abusiness card to have in yourrolodex, it would be Steves we wouldnt be doing whatwe are doing right now if itwasnt for him!With the opening bidcoming in at just $600,Knowles must have reallywanted these bad.We cannotclaim to beconnoisseursof art, butthis particular project is surelythe very definition of a labourof love for the artist involved.Michael Mandiberg hasconverted Wikipedias 11.5million entries into a print-friendly format, with theprinted version available tobuy for $500,000. Mandibergis a regular editor himselfhaving updated many pagesto the site, and this projecthas been laid across 7,600volumes with a contentsection alone covering 63,372pages across 91 volumes. Thefinal edition has been madeavailable via self-publishingsite Lulu.com, where youcan also purchase individualvolumes for just $80.If youre thinking of doingsomething similar yourself, justbe aware that youll have todevote three years of your lifeas Mandiberg did. Good grief.Prime Now comes to UKQUICKBITS... Online collectables marketplace Rareburg.com has launched a free online appraisalsJobs Business CardsSell For $10,500Wikipedia Now In PrintAmerican pays out big for Apple mans cardsYours for half a million dollarsIssue 1371 37Possible PrisonFor Laser PointerMineconComes ToLondonAMDStruggles AsPC Demand DropsACalifornianmanhasbeenconvictedforpointingalaserpointeratanaircraft.Thetwo-daytrialculminatedinhissentencing,andBarryBowserfacesapossiblyveryseriouspunishment.Indeed,Bowsercouldbelandedwithapossiblefineof$250,000andafive-yearprisontermwhenhissentencingtakesplacelaterthisyear.Hewascaughtaspoliceofficersnoticedthelaserwascomingfromhismotorhome,fromwhereheapparentlyaimeditatasheriffshelicopter,temporarilyblindingthepilot,withthepainlastingforhours.Londons Excelconvention centreplayed host toa whole load ofbox believers over the firstweekend in July as Mineconcame to town.A world record for thebiggest convention fora single game, 10,000attendees turned up to talkall things blocks, and therewas all sorts of Minecraft-related goodness on display,including recreated famouspaintings.Alongside the exhibitors,costume contests, Q&As onhow to improve at the gameand interactive attractions,Mojang also laid out variousnew features coming tothe ber-popular title at itsUpcoming Features panel.Talking on areas to improveon, Mojang discussed dualwielding of items and anexpansion of The End, withmore items and locations.We love it when gamingreaches the masses.ChinasShanghaiDailyhasreportedthatSamsungisbeingsuedbecauseofthebloatwareonitsmobilehandsets.A consumer protectiongroup, the Shanghai ConsumerRights Protection Commission,has launched the action sayingthat Samsung made it hardto remove applications thatmany consumers simply didntneed or want. Its launchedthis action now over angerat the increasing number ofconsumer complaints aboutpre-installed applications, withmany consumers unhappy atthe amount of space taken upby the apps and the impact ondata allowances when theseapps were updated.The groups study into theproblem noted the GalaxyNote 3 as an example, with noless than 44 pre-installed apps.The case has certainly shedsome light on the thorny issueof bloatware.AMDs financial resultsshould be out anytime now, and thecompany has alreadywarned investors that its second-quarter results will be worsethan previously expected.Having previously warnedthat revenue would be downcompared with the first quarterresults, AMD has since updatedin a news release that saleshave underperformed its worstestimates. Revenue is expectedto be down 8% from the firstquarter, and this would point toa continuing, slightly troublingtheme for the company, whichhas already seen a year-on-yeardrop comparing first quarters ofover 26%.The reason for all this badnews is that PC demand remainsweaker than expected and thisis clearly starting to bite forAMD, Intel etc. Indeed, this isbecoming a bit of a theme, soperhaps everyone should expectPC demand to remain low forthe foreseeable future?Damn you, tablets!Damn youDont point at aircraft, says judgeWere you there?Legal action over bloatwareTough times for chip makerservice. Check if youre sitting on a Star Wars figurine worth thousands at www.rareburg.com/appraisalSamsung CourtsControversyOver Bloatware38 Issue 1371REVIEWSFeatures Compatible with 4G / LTE download speeds 5.0'' Full HD IPS display Snapdragon Octa-Core processor 16MP low light back camera Dual SIM placementThere are numerous mid-range smartphonesavailable at present,finding one that managesto offer close to top of the rangefeatures at decent price can bequite difficult, though. Archoshas, in the past, tried to bridgethe gap between mid- and top-of-the-range with its products;offering good value for moneywith functional hardware.The Archos 50 Diamond isanother such smartphone, thathas had a lot of attention sincethe company revealed it at theCES. Its not difficult to see whyeither; with a 5" full HD IPSscreen, Qualcomm Snapdragon615 Octa-Core A53 processorrunning at 1.5GHz theindustrys first ever 64-bit chipset an Adreno 405 550MHz GPU,2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB ofinternal storage and runningAndroid 4.4.4 Kitkat, this is aphone that throws down thechallenge to other handsets.In addition to that little lot,Archos has also squeezed into thethin frame of the 50 Diamond apair of micro SIMs, 4G, 3G, NFC,A great smartphone withplenty going for it88QualityValue8OverallArchos 50 DiamondDETAILS Price: 170 Manufacturer:Archos Website:goo.gl/3aZmkV Package contents:Archos 50 Diamond,USB charger, USBcable, hands-free kit,quick start guide,warranty bookA quality sub-200 phone, with farm more expensive featuresmodel we had to test. Hopefullytherell be the opportunity to picka different colour, as lime green(or whatever its supposed to be),wouldnt be our first choice. Still,its certainly eye-catching.The 16 megapixel camerais simply superb and captureshigh details in low light levelsas well as producing someexcellent colours. Its hard tofault it, but if there one thingwe would improve it wouldbe speed at which it takes apicture. It certainly seems a littleslow compared to the likes of aSamsung S5 mini or a Lumia 930for example.Android 4.4.4 runs perfectlywell on the 50 Diamond. Theresponse of the screen is good,with very little lag to show; atleast as the untrained eye candiscern anyway. The combinationof Snapdragon CPU and AdrenoGPU does a good job of keepingthe performance up to scratchtoo. Our CPU-killing Bloons TowerDefence 5 test ran well, buttheres only so much a sub-200phone can handle before theseams begin to tear.The Archos 50 Diamondis a really good mid-rangesmartphone. The company hasdone a great job of crammingit full of worthy features whilestill keeping the price lowerthan the competition withsimilar specifications.mm David HaywardBluetooth, a 16MP rear camera,an 8MP front camera and microUSB. The 2700 mAh battery issimilarly good, lasting a coupleof days with light use and anexcellent seven and half hoursunder heavy use (games, videos,browsing and so on).The build quality is good all-round. Its plastic throughout, butit doesnt feel cheaply made orlacking in any respect. Its a goodweight too, at 140g, and is onlyabout 8mm thick. One thing wewerent too sure over was thechosen colour scheme on theThe colour scheme may look a little out of place, but the phone itself is great The 16MP camera is the icing onthe cake, and all for just 170Issue 1371 39ONTESTReviewsSecurity cameras havebecome so familiar in oursurroundings that webarely notice them thesedays. You could argue that wevebecome a surveillance society,where our every move is beingwatched with close scrutiny. Onthe other hand, maybe wed justrather be safe.A mounted camera, though,isnt just to keep an eye onyour valuables. There are manyother uses, such as viewing thebehaviour of wildlife, or keepingan eye on someone whoselderly and infirm. Regardlessof the situation, finding theright camera with the featuresneeded to make it useful can besomething of a bind.HomeMonitor may have thesolution though in the form ofits HD Pro Y-Cam. This is one ofthree camera models availableand the most feature-laden of thethree, from HomeMonitor withan impressive list of specifications.The HD Pro is a weatherproofencased camera that is designedto be mounted on an externalwall. It records in 720p, hasa FarFocus Lens technologyfor superior outdoors clarity,infrared night vision effectiveup to 15 metres away, amicrophone, wi-fi, Ethernetand a free account to theHomeMonitor Cloud where youcan store unlimited clips for thelast seven days.established network port, butwi-fi is simpler though thesignal can get a little weak ifthe camera is mounted outsidea thick wall. Once fitted,simply create an account withHomeMonitor and youll bepresented with a dashboardview of any connectedcameras, along with buttonsfor controlling the motiondetection, power, alter settingsand motion alarm settings.You can view the footageand control the finer aspects ofthe camera via any browser, buttheres also a dedicated Androidand iOS app, available throughthe relevant app stores and aRoku app.The free HomeMonitor Cloudoption is pretty good. With ittheres aforementioned sevenday saves, plus unlimited liveviews, unlimited downloads andunlimited alerts. If you requiremore than seven days worthof saved footage, then for 30per annum you can upgradethe cloud package to 30-days ofsaved recordings.The HomeMonitor HD Prois a really good setup. It mayseem a little extreme for theaverage home owner, but thatall depends on how you intendto use it and where you live. Itsalso a little pricey at 200, butconsidering what you get in thepackage and what its potentiallyprotecting, then it could well be aworthwhile investment.We were impressed by thequality of the recording, the nightvision and the cloud storage,as well as wi-fi connectivity andeverything else. If its somethinga little less intrusive you need,then wed recommend you viewthe other indoor camera modelsavailable from HomeMonitor.mm David HaywardIn the box you get the cameraitself, already fitted with theweatherproof shell and lensprotector, a wall mount withcable management, a one metreEthernet cable, three metrepower cable, a pair of screws tomount the camera, various toolsfor all wall mounting, a wi-fiantennae and a well laid outquick start guide.Fitting the camera is easyenough if its near an already The HomeMonitor HD Pro is a great outdoor HD camera, with a wealthof features You can access the content anywhere, and save it to the free cloud accessDETAILS Price: 200 Manufacturer:HomeMonitor Website:goo.gl/KfXNQd Requirements: Anymodern browser, wi-802.11 b/g/n, Ethernet,decent broadbandImpressive outdoor security with plenty of featuresA great outdoor securityand network cameraHomeMonitor HD Pro87QualityValue8Overall40 Issue 1371HP Officejet Pro 8610 e-All-in-OneHaving seen a slew ofmultifunction printersrecently, Ive realisedthat the differencesbetween them often comedown to daily running cost, andnot initially outlay. Thats criticalin the typical small officescenario, because a low printvolume printer can get a suddenshock to the system shoul