According to Wired the Boeing 787 Dreamliner connected the networks for passenger services to critical flight systems:

The computer network in the Dreamliner’s passenger compartment, designed to give passengers in-flight internet access, is connected to the plane’s control, navigation and communication systems, an FAA report reveals.

Here’s what a Boeing spokesperson had to say:

…it is employing a combination of solutions that involves some physical separation of the networks, known as “air gaps,” and software firewalls. Gunter also mentioned other technical solutions, which she said are proprietary and didn’t want to discuss in public.

Would it really be that much more costly to create 2 networks. One for the important stuff like navigation and control systems, and another completely independent network for passengers to download porn? Networking gear isn’t that expensive. Internet access at 35,000 feet is high latency anyway.

I’m really not so sure I’d feel comfortable knowing that the same network that’s carrying a Rob Schneider movie to the guy in 11F is also carrying packets intended for the horizontal stabilizer.

Maybe I’m just paranoid. After all, I’m not to comfortable with the Airbus A380 apparently running windows in the cockpit.

Hopefully they get it all figured out quickly.

We start the year in Britain with a challenge to our essential nature, for 2008 might turn out to be the year when we decide to rip up the Magna Carta.

Video: Phil Booth on what the Government isn’t telling us

Among the basic civil rights in this country, there has always been, at least in theory, an inclination towards liberal democracy, which includes a tolerance of an individual’s right to privacy.
We are born free and have the right to decide what freedom means, each for ourselves, and to have control over our outward existence, yet that will no longer be the case if we agree to identity cards.

Britain is already the most self-watching country in the world, with the largest network of security cameras; a new study suggests we are now every bit as poor at protecting privacy as Russia, China and America.

But surveillance cameras and lost data will prove minuscule problems next to ID cards, which will obliterate the fundamental right to walk around in society as an unknown.

Some of you may have taken that freedom so much for granted that you forget how basic and important it is, but in every country where ID cards have ever been introduced, they have changed the relation between the individual and the state in a way that has not proved beneficial to the individual. I am not just talking Nazi Germany, but everywhere.

It is also a spiritual matter: a person’s identity is for him or her to decide and to control, and if someone decides to invest the details of their person in a higher authority, then it should not be the Home Office.

The compulsory ID card scheme is a sickness born of too much suspicion and too little regard for the meaning of tolerance and privacy in modern life.

Hooking individuals up to a system of instantly accessible data is an obscenity - not only a system waiting to be abused, but a system already abusing.

Though we don’t pay much attention to moral philosophy in the mass media now - Bertrand Russell having long been exchanged for the Jeremy Kyle Show - it may be worth remembering that Britain has a tradition of excellence when it comes to distinguishing and upholding basic rights and laws in the face of excessive power.

The ID cards issue should be raising the most stimulating arguments about who we are and how we are - but no, it is not: we nose the grass like sheep and prepare to be herded once again.

It seems the only person speaking up with a broad sense of what this all means is Nick Clegg, the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, who has devoted much of his new year message to underlining the sheer horribleness of the scheme.

He has said he will go to jail rather than bow to this “expensive, invasive and unnecessary” affront to “our natural liberal tendencies”.

I have to say I cheered when I heard this, not only because I agree, but because it is entirely salutary, in these sheepish times, to see a British politician express his personal feelings so strongly.

Many people on the other side of the argument make what might be called a category mistake when they say: “If you’ve nothing to hide, why object to carrying a card?”

Making it compulsory to prove oneself, in advance, not to be a threat to society is an insult to one’s right not to be pre-judged or vetted.

Our system of justice is based on evidence, not on prior selection, and the onus on proving criminality is a matter for the justice system, where proof is of the essence.

Many regrettable things occur as a result of freedom - some teenage girls get pregnant, some businessmen steal from their shareholders, some soldiers torture their enemies, some priests exploit children - but these cases would not, in a liberal society, require us to end the private existence of all people just in case.

If the existence of terrorists, these few desperate extremists, makes it necessary for everybody in Britain to carry an ID card then it is a price too high.

It is more than a price, it is a defeat, and one that we will repent at our leisure. Challenges to security should, in fact, make us more protective of our basic freedoms; it should, indeed, make us warm to our rights.

In another age, it was thought sensible to try to understand the hatred in the eyes of our enemies, but now it seems we consider it wiser just to devalue the nature of our citizenship.

What’s more - it won’t work. Nick Clegg has pointed to the gigantic cost and fantastic hubris involved in this scheme, but recent gaffes with personal information have shown just how difficult it is to control and protect data.

A poll of doctors undertaken by doctors.net.uk has today shown that a majority of doctors believe that the National Programme for IT - seeking to contain all the country’s medical records - will not be secure.

In fact, it is causing great worry. Many medical professionals fear that detailed information about each of us will soon be whizzing haphazardly from one place to another, leaving patients at the mercy of the negligent, the nosy, the opportunistic and the exploitative.

“Only people with something to hide will fear the introduction of compulsory ID cards.”

That is what they say, and it sounds perfectly practical. If you think about it for a minute, though, it begins to sound less than practical and more like an affront to the reasonable (and traditional) notion that the state should mind its own business.

In a just society, what you have to hide is your business, until such times as your actions make it the business of others. Infringing people’s rights is not an ethical form of defence against imaginary insult.

You shouldn’t have to tell the government your eye colour if you don’t want to, never mind your maiden name, your height, your personal persuasions in this or that direction, all to be printed up on a laminated card under some compulsory picture, to say you’re one of us.

You weren’t born to be one of us, that is something you choose, and to take the choice out of it is wrong. It marks the end of privacy, the end of civic volition, the end of true citizenship.

The Apple iPhone hype has been so overwhelming that it’s easy to forget that there are other really good phones out there at the moment.

The LG KU990, dubbed Viewty, is a recent favourite of mine. In the same way as the Apple iPhone is instantly appealing, the LG Viewty is beautiful to look at and one of the best-looking phones I’ve seen. It features an impressive 5-megapixel camera complete with auto-focus and xenon flash.

The real star of the show is the 3-inch LCD touchscreen which lets you type text and email messages, view images, browse the web, shoot video and much more. The touchscreen is amazingly responsive and is also set to vibrate when you enter a command, a feature called “haptics“. This gives you a more tactile sense of touching the screen than with standard displays.

The vibrating feature is also useful when typing in a SMS text message or a phone number. The numeric or alphabetic keypad on the touchscreen works in the same way as a standard mobile phone keypad, but without the traditional mechanical buttons.

There’s also a handwriting recognition option which you can use for typing emails and text messages. I found this function slow and fiddly though - it is a lot quicker just tapping the touchscreen keypad.

5 Megapixel Camera

Putting aside for one minute the inclusion of 3G HSDPA and the phone’s fine internet browsing abilities, the LG Viewty’s obvious draw is almost certainly its 5.1 megapixel camera.

As we’ve already mentioned, the lens is made by Schneider Kreuznach, a renowned manufacturer of photographic optics and ample proof that LG understands that the lens is paramount to a camera’s quality and ability; even more so than the number of megapixels on offer.

In camera mode, the Viewty is designed to be held like a conventional camera, with the viewfinder showing a landscape view and the shutter key easily accessible by your right index finger.

When in camera mode, you can bring up all the required camera settings and controls simply by tapping once on the screen with your fingertip or thumb. This gives you access to such staples as photo settings, zoom and flash.

You have two means of controlling the 16x digital zoom on the Viewty; unfortunately, both are a little fiddly. Option one is to use the virtual slide-control on the left of the touch-screen, which requires real thumb dexterity and caused us to drop the camera twice. Option two requires you to rotate the click-wheel positioned around the camera lens on the back of the Viewty. There are two problems with this second means of zooming: it feels clumsy and you’re highly likely to smear the lens with greasy fingerprints. Neither of which will enhance the quality of your photos.

However, for simply pointing and shooting photos on auto-focus, the Viewty feels great. It’s a well-balanced handset with a great viewfinder and the shutter button is in exactly the right place.

Having a dedicated switch for accessing the video camera and video playback is also a nice touch and really sets the phone apart from other run-of-the-mill camera phones.

On the back of the phone, you’ll find the camera’s flash and Schneider Kreuznach lens, which is surrounded by a jog-wheel which operates both the camera’s zoom and the ability to zoom in and out of webpages.

When you’re done shooting you can view your photos in the photo viewer which displays pictures as if you’d laid them out on a table. You can flick through them with your finger - a bit like you use the Cover Flow option in iTunes - or view in the standard mode, all lined up next to each other. You can zoom in on, or open up, a photo by resting your finger on the picture for a couple of seconds.

The real draw is the LG Viewty’s photo-editing functionalities, which is one of the best I’ve seen on a phone. You can quickly add text, music, and morphing effects to your photos. Our photos turned out well when viewing on a computer screen, and looked great when printed out.

Navigating the Phone

The usability issues that afflict the Viewty’s web browsing and camera zooming don’t overly sully a phone which has a lot of tricks hidden beneath its glossy exterior.
The touch-screen operation is the best I’ve enjoyed to date for making calls, sending texts and email and navigating through the Viewty’s icon-based menu. The vibration response really does improve the touch-screen experience and the overall simplicity of the Viewty’s operating system is also a major plus.

There are 24 icon-based menu options, which are divided into four key menu categories – each represented by a symbol. It would help if the four key categories were named, however. The first menu category is represented by a phone symbol and here you’ll find the relevant call, contacts and messaging options.

Beneath the movie clipboard icon (at least, that’s what we think it is) you’ll find the fun multimedia stuff like camera, movie studio, games, FM radio, music and video playlist. Under the filofax/clock icon, you’ll find the phone’s organisational tools like calendar, memo and alarm, plus the internet browser. And by clicking on the menu graphic that could represent either a flower or a cog, you’ll be taken to the phone’s profiles and settings, plus the Bluetooth connectivity.

It won’t take you long to find out where everything is and you’ll be zipping around the phone’s menu in no time, although some simple labelling would help.

All of the Viewty’s multimedia capabilities, from game playing to watching movie clips and home videos, are enhanced by the phone’s high-resolution screen.

Sliding disc

The camera lens is surrounded by a sliding disc that lets you scroll through menus, zoom in and out on web pages, adjust the call volume, plus zoom in and out in camera mode. It is a useful function but feels a bit fiddly and sometimes doesn’t work as well as I would like.

The LG Viewty also shoots video at 120 frames per second, which allows you to watch it in slow-motion when you play it back. Videos can be uploaded straight to YouTube with just one button. A personal favourite feature of mine is the Viewty’s ability to record video in DivX format - no more converting low quality .mp4 and .3gp files!

The huge screen also makes web browsing ideal; the LG Viewty is one of the best web-enabled handsets I’ve seen. You can view full-size web pages and zoom in on particular sections in the same way you can with the Apple iPhone. The LG Viewty offers HSDPA connectivity so web browsing and downloading was quick and easy. A five-minute music track downloaded in about 20 seconds, for example.

The LG Viewty is well-designed; it is light to carry but its stylish looks would appeal to most. The touchscreen does get messy from fingerprints, and could potentially get scratched if kept in a bag with your keys.

Audio quality

There’s nothing to complain about when it comes to audio quality - it was loud and clear during calls. I also like the video calling functionality, which really comes to life thanks to the large screen. The speaker functionality is also good when playing tunes from the built-in MP3 player.

Accessing the Internet

With mobile broadband (3G HSDPA) and a large display on offer, accessing the internet should be a real pleasure with the Viewty. While it looks the bee’s knees, there are some usability issues which are largely down to the touch-screen. When you access your internet homepage, you’ll notice a series of virtual internet control options that appear at the bottom of the touch-screen.

These are simple shortcuts, which enable you to add to favourites, zoom in and out of the page and alter the view between portrait and landscape. Whichever way you choose to view the pages, they look great. It’s when you come to browsing that you hit trouble. The Viewty is designed to be navigated with your fingertips or using the stylus. You can stroke the webpage up or down as if you are moving a piece of paper – just as you can with the HTC Touch. The functionality is erratic; sometimes the screen scrolls up and down, sometimes it doesn’t. The same applies to the scroller bars on the side and bottom of the phone.

The problem is, although the Viewty’s display is large by mobile standards, you can only ever see part of a page, which makes scrolling essential. And if the scrolling mechanism is erratic, you’ll simply stop browsing. This is a real problem. A side-mounted jog-dial might help, or simple navigation keys beneath the phone’s display.

Similarly, the jog-wheel which controls the camera’s zoom can also be employed to zoom in and out of the internet pages and to control the volume of voice calls.Battery life is good - an average user could easily make the battery last well over two days but if you tend to take lots of photos and surf the web a lot, then a daily charge is probably recommended.

Conclusion

I think this is one of the best phones around at the moment, and a definitive challenger to the Apple iPhone. The impressive camera, responsive and easy-to-use touchscreen and high-speed internet connectivity, all crammed in to a very stylish body, makes this one of LG’s best ever phones.

The LG KU990 Viewty is available now on all major networks, from free on some monthly contracts.

The most interesting and unexpected facts can emerge from the daily news stories. To kick off 2008, here are some of the best of last year.

1. Coach travel is the safest form of road transport in the country.
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2. Saddam Hussein’s codename while in US custody in 2004/5 was “Victor”.
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3. Adding milk to tea negates the health-giving effects of a hot brew.
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4. The word “jaywalking” came from the US slang “jay”, a term popular in the early 20th Century meaning a rustic newcomer unfamiliar with city ways.
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5. Cloudy apple juice is healthier than clear, containing almost double the antioxidants which protect against heart disease and cancer.
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6. Dishcloths are purged of 99% of their bacteria during two minutes in a microwave.
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7. A haddock’s mating call starts as a slow knocking sound, before turning into a quicker hum similar to a small motorcycle revving its engine.
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8. Newcastle is the noisiest place in England.
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9. The people who built Stonehenge lived at an ancient village in Durrington Walls.
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10. Brazil nuts are seeds encased in an outer shell that weighs more than 1kg.
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11. Astronauts wear nappies during launch and re-entry because they can’t stop what they’re doing should they need to urinate.
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12. Georgic is a punishment dished out to Eton pupils which involves the copying out of hundreds of lines of Latin.
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13. Tony Blair does not keep a personal diary.
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14. Antony and Cleopatra were ugly.
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15. 10% of university work from across the UK is plagiarised.
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16. Chimpanzees make their own spears for hunting.
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17. Two cups of spearmint tea a day is thought to control excessive hair growth for women.
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18. Burglar alarms, traffic wardens and crowded buses are good news for home owners, signalling an area is on the up.
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19. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosts a daily radio phone-in show.
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20. More than half (52%) of smokers haven’t told their parents about their habit.
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21. Only about half of China’s population can speak the national language, Mandarin.
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22. The brief flowering of the cherry blossom tree is taken so seriously in Japan that forecasts are used to plan festivals, and travel agents use them to plan tours.
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23. To be found attractive, women should sway their hips and men their shoulders (although researchers call this a “shoulder swagger”).
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24. The are 30,000 wild parakeets in London.
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25. Martina Navratilova has spent four years secretly working as an artist.
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26. Harvesting rhubarb in candlelight helps preserve its flavour.
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27. Drinking, drug-taking teenagers are in the decline, according to a survey by the Information Centre.
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28. Designer discount retailer TK Maxx is called TJ Maxx in the US.
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29. The average duvet is home to 20,000 live dust mites.
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30. Serving anything more than tea and biscuits at a political meeting is an offence called “treating” and punishable by a year in prison or an unlimited fine, under the the Representation of the People Act 1893.
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31. There is mobile phone reception from the summit of Mount Everest.
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32. Anti-Americanism began in Paris in the 18th Century.
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33. Female civil servants in India are questioned about their menstrual cycle as part of their appraisal.
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34. Kryptonite exists.
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35. Denmark is the happiest country in Europe; Italy the unhappiest. (The UK was 9th out of 15.)
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36. A water-tight denial by a politician – as opposed to one that leaves room for later manoeuvre - is known as a Sherman pledge. The other sort is called a non-denial denial.
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37. Spiralling obesity rates are forcing councils to upgrade their crematoria, to take wider coffins.
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38. Gerry Adams doesn’t own a credit card, so gets a friend to download songs from the internet.
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39. The secret to happiness is accepting misery.
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40. A new three-bedroom house must have at least 38 plug sockets.
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41. There are 1,200 exhumations every year in the UK, but not all of those are part of criminal cases.
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42. Nearly seven out of 10 (69%) of adults are still in touch with at least one childhood friend.
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43. Bernard Manning worked as an armed guard watching over senior Nazis locked up in Berlin’s Spandau prison.
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44. Europe has a vodka belt comprising Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, although the drink is also made in countries such as Britain, France, Italy and Spain.
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45. Domestic cats can trace their descent to the Middle East.
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46. Peanuts can be made into diamonds.
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47. The prime ministerial Jaguar is called Pegasus.
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48. You can be arrested for using someone’s wi-fi network without permission.
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49. CDs were nearly called mini-racks.
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50. Left-handed people are called sinistral.
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51. Nick Clegg, the Lib Dems’ new leader, once took a road trip across the US with his friend Louis Theroux.
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52. There are 17 surviving versions of the Magna Carta - or 17 Magnae Cartae.
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53. Renowned atheist Professor Richard Dawkins likes singing Christmas carols.
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54. The Australian town of Eucla has its own time zone.
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55. Books used to be bound in human skin.
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56. Eddie Irvine is Britain’s wealthiest sports star – beating the Beckhams into second place by £30m.
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57. Sleeping on the job is tolerated in Japanese work culture, as long as you remain upright and obey certain other rules. It’s called inemuri.
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58. The Romans had roadmaps.
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59. The word Blighty comes from “bilayti”, the Urdu for homeland.
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60. The Queen took her corgi on honeymoon.
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61. Janet and John were named Alice and Jerry in the United States.
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62. Until the late 1990s, the RAF’s nuclear bombs could be activated using a bicycle lock key.
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63. Cats can be police constables.
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64. King Tut had buck teeth.
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65. The Italian Mafia have commandments.
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66. Gun ownership per person in Finland is the third highest in the world.
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67. The brain can turn down its ability to see in order to listen to complex sounds like music.
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68. Of the waste in UK landfills, 0.1% is plastic carrier bags.
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69. Dogs occasionally shoot their owners in the US.
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70. IP addresses will run out in 2010.
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71. An ai is a three-toed sloth from South America (and the word that clinched Paul Allan the title of national Scrabble champion).
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72. Dumbledore is gay.
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73. UN population projections go as far as 2300.
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74. Sheffield FC is the world’s oldest football club.
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75. CO2 emissions from shipping are twice the level of aviation.
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76. George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan have had Bell’s Palsy - a nerve condition that can result in paralysis on one side of the face.
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77. Leeches are used as treatment for cauliflower ears.
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78. A bdelloid rotifer is a pond-dwelling organism that has survived 80 million years without sex.
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79. Woodwork lessons are known as “resistant materials” in schools.
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80. Adults use maths skills 14 times daily on average and literacy skills 23 times a day.
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81. The opening bars to the theme tune of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em spelt the title of the series in Morse code.
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82. The children who sang on Pink Floyd’s number one hit Another Brick in the Wall (Pt 2) couldn’t appear in the video because they didn’t hold Equity cards.
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83. Jack Straw has intervened in alleged crimes four times, apprehending a person on three occasions.
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84. On average a UK commuter travels the equivalent of two-and-a-half times around the globe over a full working career.
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85. A 23.8lb baby was born in the US in 1879, but it only survived 11 hours.
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86. There is a monastery in every village in Burma.
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87. Relocating crocodiles doesn’t work - they come back.
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88. Deep-voiced men have more children.
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89. Being born without an ear is called microtia.
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90. Chickens can be diagnosed with depression.
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91. In Iceland, 96% of women go to university.
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92. Zsa Zsa Gabor is related to Paris Hilton.
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93. Dinosaurs had creches.
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94. Osama Bin Laden is known to fellow jihadists as Abu Abdullah.
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95. In Ethiopia the start of the year 2000 was celebrated in September.
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96. Bees can detect explosives.
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97. There have been at least two children given the name “Superman” in the UK since 1984.
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98. Prison officers are on average assaulted eight times a day.
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99. Each slug eats twice its body weight a day.
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100. Dogs can have two noses.
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