appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

SCMP Reporter

TECHNOLOGY is such a wonderful thing. The South China Morning Post office at Tai Po is installing spanking new door locks in its spanking new building.

   In future, the doors will be opened by card-carrying members of the staff, quite literally. The idea is common enough in many a James Bond film where a swipe of a card gains access to a secret laboratory.

  Our cards will only give us access to our work areas, but the whole thing sounds terribly adventurous. Well, it almost did.

  It turns out that the software, developed by the American company Andover Controls (and known as the Infinity Security System) will work on any IBM clone, but will not work on the real thing.

   The whole system was, we are told, ready to go when this little fact was discovered.

  The Post, of course, has the genuine article so we must wait until the software people discover why a real IBM PC is in some way or form less than an IBM PC-compatible clone.

  A SINGAPORE taxi company is going electronic by using satellites and computers to allow customers to book a taxi.

  The company, Tibs Taxis, will set its system up so that a driver will be able to see on a computer screen a map of where the caller has made the call. It will tell the driver how to get there to collect his fare. We are told the scheme will be able to handle 1,000 calls an hour.

  There are 760 taxis in the present Tibs fleet.

  AS everybody now knows, or at least everybody who cares, William H. Gates, Esq., will be in Hong Kong at the end of the week.

   He will give a couple of interviews and jump back on his plane for an economy-class ride back to Redmond, where he can continue to be the idol of his Microserfs.

  Mr Gates is, of course, one of the great journalistic targets in the world today. Eye-teeth are to found on the floors of many a publication in the world where journalists have tried everything to secure an interview with the Meister of Microsoft, the Wizard of Windows, the Corleone of Code, the . . . well, the point has been made.

  A certain journalist was told she could interview the great man and was asked to submit her questions in advance.

   That is not such an unusual request. But, as we understand it, she was also asked to show up for a rehearsal. This is somewhat less than usual. In this context, what exactly is a rehearsal? Will the tone and intonation be judged? Is sarcasm not allowed?     Is Mr Gates unable to handle the spontaneous questions of a single journalist, let alone a whole pack of newshounds? Even Baroness Thatcher was able, at the height of her powers, to stand up to the challenge of a few million listeners on the BBC World Service.

  Surely the CEO of Microsoft is as robust as the operating systems he creates? 



Door 'key' card hit by software snag