Writers who have submitted stories to Futurismic and are still awaiting replies shoud swing by my largely neglected TTA message board for an update on the slushpile.

There’s a way to get bugs in Microsoft products patched more than once a month – all you have to do is be a content business that uses their DRM systems. Last week’s release of software that strips the DRM from Windows Media Player files prompted a patch from Redmond within three days. Bruce Schneier points out that it’s a bit cheeky to quickly patch flaws that don’t affect your actual user-base negatively, but insist that they wait a month for solutions to problems that could damage or destroy their hardware. The copyright holder’s profits are more important than your security, you see.

Mobile payment systems are a relatively new scene, and have yet to really blow up despite Paypal’s early adoption. Some businesses can see the potential though – an Australian firm is teaming up with bars and other drinking venues to enable you to buy another person a drink via SMS. The recipient will get a code in the message that they can redeem at the bar for their beverage, which will be accompanied by a multimedia message of the buyer’s choice. The novelty value alone is sure to get some interest, but it looks like the focus is on purchase-data gathering than customer satisfaction.

No, not that sort of wireless (though that will surely follow). Kawasaki HI are getting ready to unveil streetcars that will run on rechargable batteries instead of drawing their juice from overhead cables. The nickel hydride batteries are ‘old tech’, a tried and tested workhorse, meaning that there’s no conceptual vaporware involved in this project to stall its progress. Of course the electricity to recharge it will still have to come from somewhere, but cutting down on urban emissions is still a good step forward.

I don’t know about you, but I must be approaching a roster of over fifty passwords that I need to remember for various websites, blogs, and devices – and I’ve never been too hot with remembering numbers. So I sincerely hope that this newly patented idea for using shapes in a numerical grid as passwords comes to fruition – it’ll mean I can ditch the big tatty piece of folded paper that lives in my top pocket from day to day, if nothing else.