The Weekly Round-Up: 01.09.06

Last week the Round-Up bellowed its support for what appeared to be a truly forward bit of thinking from the UK government - the Cabinet Office's decision to put some of its public service videos on YouTube.

The two videos, entitled 'Sharing the Leadership Channel' and 'Transformational Government', lack the drama of 'Crocodile versus Baboon', for example, and as such are unlikely to ever trouble YouTube's top 10 but the sentiment and ambition was truly admirable.

However, the brave new world of wired, forward-looking government came to an inglorious end this week as the content was pulled from the site.

The Transformational Government video is no longer accessible on YouTube. Instead users get a little red text box stating: "This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner COI Television because its content was used without permission."

The rather delicious irony about this debacle is that COI Television is actually part of the Cabinet Office itself. Oh dear, transformational government in action then.

A red-faced Cabinet Office spokeswoman told silicon.com: "We said that this is a small scale trial or experiment. Trials are meant to flush out a whole range of issues precisely such as these. Rights for online distribution are notoriously complex. We are in discussions to rectify the situation."

Reading between the lines this suggests that not only is the right hand not talking to the left hand but one was blissfully unaware of the presence of the other seeing as it seemed to be getting along quite nicely all by itself, thank you very much.

The Round-Up is fortunate enough to have some contact with some of the people struggling through the e-government quagmire.

One such mole told the Round-Up: "Some departments are charged with getting the civil service into the same decade as the rest of the wired world. The government gives them a lot of resources to do so - letting them hire the right staff (often from outside the civil service), giving them some money and letting them do their own marketing.

"Unfortunately, these units are often compartmentalised within larger departments which are still content to live in the gloomy era where 'joined-up government' and 'thinking a bit differently' are positively filthy phrases. Still, you'd have thought they'd have thought this through first."

Indeed, how hard can it be? "Only Connect" as EM Forster once wrote.

The mole adds despondently: "Let's abandon the myth of joined-up government. It doesn't and won't exist - though not for want of trying."

'Joined-up government' - a dream to be realised or just a quixotic crusade? Discuss.

Meanwhile, another video sadly pulled from YouTube and other sites this week due to a cultural clash between some clever people trying to push the boat and 'The Man' was a spoof training video produced by Microsoft featuring Ricky Gervais in his David Brent guise.

Fans of Microsoft and Gervais (and statistically there must be quite a few of them) were in Office heaven this month as the never-released videos finally turned up on video sites, only to be pulled shortly after and replaced with yet another little red text box stating that the content had been removed at the request of the copyright owner.

Long-time Round-Up readers (and statistically there must be at least a couple of you - 'Hi Mum!') may recall this being covered in this column at the time the original news broke (see here if you doubt the Round-Up's good word).

At the time (January 2004) the Round-Up leapt to its feet and applauded the innovative thinking on show at the software giant, proving that there's a first time for everything.

In the videos, Gervais plays Brent, the anti-hero star of The Office (the original one, not the rubbish US version), on a visit to Microsoft UK's offices as a management consultant, to advise and educate its staff, much as he did in a memorable episode of the BBC show.

During one clip, Brent suggests he would make an excellent managing director for Microsoft UK, as long as he could be awarded a salary and company car commensurate with the importance of the role - namely £40,000 per year and a new Mondeo. The Round-Up thinks he may have priced himself out of the job there and can't but wonder if he stood a better chance if he'd aligned himself with the company founder's ethos and asked for a Lexus.

He also warns computer "boffins" of the dangers of hard work, as "too much thinking makes Jack a mental case".

A sentiment that is no doubt not lost on the crazed, howling members of the Windows Vista project management unit...

Moving on, a Finnish man has emerged victorious in the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship this week thereby cementing his home country's position as the world leader in all things mobile-related.

Held in Finland, the local crowd cheered as Lassi Etelatalo beat off stiff international competition to hurl a Nokia handset quite a long way - over 89 metres in fact.

Etelatalo said: "I prepared by javelin throwing, I haven't really practised throwing mobile phones." A small oversight possibly, given the aerodynamic dissimilarities between a javelin and phone but, no matter, the gold medal is his.

According to the brains behind the contest - Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship founder Christine Lund - the event has "an environmentally friendly twist" with all the second-hand phones used being recycled.

She told Reuters: "There are a lot of mobile phones on the second-hand market and we are recycling them."

The Round-Up can't help but wonder which model of phone would fly the furthest. After all, as handsets get smaller and smaller the weight goes down but vulnerability to wind-resistance increases. Would a light, flat phone hurtle further if thrown discus-style? Would little aerials affect the flight path significantly? Are you allowed to throw a phone using its lanyard, much as you’d use a necktie to throw a copper kettle over a pub? (This would only make sense if you've ever watched The Office, if not don't worry, just move onto the next bit.)

Lund helpfully explains: "People choose by size, by colour or by how it fits in the hand... Some believe a heavy model will ensure a long throw, some want a light one."

After due thought, the Motorola Pebl must be a serious contender for any budding phone-throwing athlete. There's its shape, naturally, but given the Round-Ups foibles with the user interface on certain Motorola handsets, a whole load of pent-up frustration among the phone's owners must come in handy for sending the device that extra few metres and into the record books...

And finally this week, the Round-Up brings you a cautionary tale of personal technology causing a full-blown terrorist scare on a plane.

An online gaming geek travelling from the US to Canada apparently forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in Ottawa after an eventful mid-flight trip to the toilet during which he managed to drop more than just his trousers.

According to a report in the Ottawa Citizen: "A suspicious package found in an aircraft washroom on a flight from Chicago on Tuesday afternoon brought out Ottawa police canine and bomb-disposal units. A member of the crew found the package [at] about 4:00PM. The plane landed safely and was isolated away from the terminal. Passengers were taken off the plane and questioned by police while experts investigated the 'package'."

The package turned out to be the hapless gamer's iPod.

According to a post purporting to come from said gamer on a World of Warcraft forum, flight staff investigated the high-tech blockage: "I watched as the stewardess got on her hands and knees in the lavatory and did unfathomable, dirty work."

At this point the Round-Up is ashamed to admit it couldn't resist uttering a childish giggle.

Despite our hero owning up to the blunder, the stewardesses followed the proper procedure and informed the security authorities. The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing at Ottawa, unsurprisingly causing widespread panic among the flight's other travellers.

The gamer was grilled by Canadian officials - which must have been the politest grilling in history - before being released without charge.

Before he left, the story has it that he was offered a green paper bag containing his iPod. In its uncleaned state, naturally. The Round-Up supposes some tasks are beyond the remit of any airport security official...

Until next week, make sure your iPod is securely strapped to your person if you need to answer the call of nature and for goodness sake make sure you're up to date on the biggest stories of the week, here:

• Samsung flashes its 4G
• 'G'day mate': In-flight mobile goes Down Under
• Journalists sued over China iPod claims
• BT kicks off corporate blog
• More cash for road-pricing satellites