When it comes to the internet, it seems more and more like our friends down under have people in charge that either don't know or don't care how it works. From overly aggressive content filtering to low broadband speeds, I didn't think it could get any worse. They love to prove me wrong. They will now be starting trials to block all Bittorrent traffic to and from the nation continent.
Bittorrent is a protocol for transmitting data. Essentially, you have data broken up into pieces and sent to users. In turn, each user transmits a portion of the data to the next user and so on. It takes the strain of downloading a file and spreads it out over all the people downloading it. A very good method of transporting large files. Unfortunately, it has caught a bad rap because it has become the favorite tool for software and media pirates. Now, the knee jerk reaction for people ignorant of the technology is to marry the protocol with the illegal acts.
So the country of Australia now suffers from lack of knowledge their public servants have regarding the internet. I'm sorry for my friends over there. I can only hope that someone sets them right before the country is irreparbly damaged.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Windows XP lingers on
Looks like XP isn't going anywhere for a bit. It was supposed to have its run end on January 31st but will now be extended to May 30th (great day). Seeing as Windows Vista has had little to no market traction and with Windows 7 is coming out soon, I figure folks will just be upgrading directly to 7. I'm not so sure how much the netbook category will affect it. I will be curious to see how this all plays out.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wii obtained
Thanks to dealspl.us and Amazon, I finally managed to get my hands on a Nintendo Wii for mom. Now I just have to resist telling her or playing with it before I give it to her.
Maybe I could get away with "testing" it...
Maybe I could get away with "testing" it...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Verizon LTE next year?
Verizon CTO Dick Lynch (yeah...) said yesterday that LTE, the next step in wireless broadband, will be starting service sometime next year. Of course, that allows them up to December 31st, 2009 to implement this, but I'm still happy to hear it. And they plan on using the 700 MHz broadcast band they purchased the rights to this year to do it. This will allow the signal to travel through buildings without much impedement.
I have been hoping for this kind widespread broadband connectivity for some time and it looks like 2009 is the year all this will come to fruition. And coupled with Clearwire's WiMAX and the proposed Wi-Fi from the FCC, it looks like there will be a good deal of choice. Now we just have to hope that these services will be competitive with each other pricewise.
Fingers crossed.
I have been hoping for this kind widespread broadband connectivity for some time and it looks like 2009 is the year all this will come to fruition. And coupled with Clearwire's WiMAX and the proposed Wi-Fi from the FCC, it looks like there will be a good deal of choice. Now we just have to hope that these services will be competitive with each other pricewise.
Fingers crossed.
Monday, December 8, 2008
You're killing me, Nintendo!
A few months back, during a family gathering, my mom had her first encounter with the Nintendo Wii. The whole group ended up playing Wii Sports which amounted to me versus everyone else. My mom and I ended up bowling together and she got a real kick out of it. She's been talking about the Wii ever since. For some context, this is the person that thought my Dreamcast was "Dreamcatcher" and thought PlayStation was a Chuck E Cheese's competitor.
Needless to say, I was juiced that my mom liked a video game system, even if it was only the one game. So after she had independently brought it up on multiple occasions, I figure I have the perfect Christmas present lined up. Then started the near impossible mission of tracking one down.
It has been nearly 2 years since Nintendo released the Wii and I would have a much easier time tracking down Bigfoot than I would getting my hands on a Wii. I'm not discounting it's popularity, but this seemingly artificial scarcity is perplexing. Coupling that with the fact that most of the ones you can indeed buy are only available with a bundle makes for a much harder sell. Why spend $100 more on the bundle when the base system has just what I need?
I am not surrendering though. Thankfully, the parents are going to Barbados (I know, right?) and Christmas will be taking place in January. Plenty of time to track one down. I hope.
Needless to say, I was juiced that my mom liked a video game system, even if it was only the one game. So after she had independently brought it up on multiple occasions, I figure I have the perfect Christmas present lined up. Then started the near impossible mission of tracking one down.
It has been nearly 2 years since Nintendo released the Wii and I would have a much easier time tracking down Bigfoot than I would getting my hands on a Wii. I'm not discounting it's popularity, but this seemingly artificial scarcity is perplexing. Coupling that with the fact that most of the ones you can indeed buy are only available with a bundle makes for a much harder sell. Why spend $100 more on the bundle when the base system has just what I need?
I am not surrendering though. Thankfully, the parents are going to Barbados (I know, right?) and Christmas will be taking place in January. Plenty of time to track one down. I hope.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Alright Microsoft, it's time to step up.
The iPhone now has 16% of the smartphone market. They entered this industry a little under 2 years ago. You're going to have to wow us now. Don't keep bringing this miniaturized Windows experience that makes me want to throw a fit when I want to toggle Bluetooth on and off. And don't let HTC, an OEM, trump you on making your own UI useable.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Xohm is dead. Long live Clearwire!
I guess my previous post about the lack of pervasive interwebs got the FCC of their duffs. Sprint's XOHM and Clearwire have been approved to merge. The new company is called Clearwire and will be providing broadband speed WiMAX over the US, starting in major markets.
Initially, I was skeptical about WiMAX. Not as a standard, but most due to the fact that no one in the states had committed to the technology. It's used in a good amount of countries, including South Korea, Russia and Singapore, but it has yet to have a sizable footprint here. Thankfully, Clearwire will be building all their towers here to be upgradable to the LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G wireless standard that everyone seems to be agreeing on. This means that the start of this infrastructure is looking very good indeed.
I'm glad this thing seems to finally be getting off the ground. I tend to have a good deal of information stored in the "cloud", and it would be nice to have access to it on an on-demand basis.
Now I just have to wait for it to show up here.
Initially, I was skeptical about WiMAX. Not as a standard, but most due to the fact that no one in the states had committed to the technology. It's used in a good amount of countries, including South Korea, Russia and Singapore, but it has yet to have a sizable footprint here. Thankfully, Clearwire will be building all their towers here to be upgradable to the LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G wireless standard that everyone seems to be agreeing on. This means that the start of this infrastructure is looking very good indeed.
I'm glad this thing seems to finally be getting off the ground. I tend to have a good deal of information stored in the "cloud", and it would be nice to have access to it on an on-demand basis.
Now I just have to wait for it to show up here.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Power and network connectivity are important
Man, we lose both power and the network and we might as well be sitting on our hands at work. Strangest 40 minutes ever.
That got me thinking about battery backups. Nice thing to have, especially when people are working on mission critical stuff and need that 5 minute window to hastily save everything and shutdown the safe way so vast amounts of work aren't lost. Especially when the building you work in is 30 years old and has over 300 high end machine taxing its already limited electrical system. But, barring a massive investment in renovations that will shut down or at least hamper my division, battery backups are the way to the future!
That got me thinking about battery backups. Nice thing to have, especially when people are working on mission critical stuff and need that 5 minute window to hastily save everything and shutdown the safe way so vast amounts of work aren't lost. Especially when the building you work in is 30 years old and has over 300 high end machine taxing its already limited electrical system. But, barring a massive investment in renovations that will shut down or at least hamper my division, battery backups are the way to the future!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
OK, I'll admit it.
I want an iPhone.
For those of you not in the know, this is a big admission for me. It's also a bit of an oversimplification.
When the device first came out, I was interested in it purely for the fact that it was a true video playing iPod. I didn't care about the phone part, as I had a perfectly serviceable phone with a wireless carrier that despite my objections over their business practices, delivered the best coverage.
I was one of many people wondering where the phoneless iPhone was and getting a little annoyed at the foot dragging it took to get here. Once it did show up, I was disappointed (I'm hard to please) that the capacity was so low. I have a 60 GB 5G iPod that has served me well for coming up on 3 years now. First off, I couldn't justify getting a new media device when my old one was perfectly good. Second, I couldn't go from 60 GB to 16 GB. I am a media hoarder and like to have it on me at all times. So paying $400 for a new player, no matter how shiny it was, was out of the question. Even when the capacity was bumped to 32 GB.
That all changed when the Mail and Microsoft Exchange support was added. Once this was added, I knew that it would be a more practical device. I had been talking with Sylvia about this and we ended up getting one for her for Mail and internet access. Once it was set up, it worked wonderfully. This got me more fired up to get an iPod Touch. I have been wanting a PDA for quite some time, and the implementation was nearly perfect. With the additions of apps and the App Store, the ability to have it serve multiple purposed expanded.
The only problem I have is connectivity. The iPhone uses cellular data to allow a connection wherever there is cell reception. The iPod Touch has wifi only, which is fine, but sometimes I find myself wishing that there were a more ubiquitous connection.
That's the only reason I want the iPhone: the constant connection to the internet. The ability to use an ever widening amount of applications dependent on connectivity. I guess I'll hold out until WiMAX comes ashore.
For those of you not in the know, this is a big admission for me. It's also a bit of an oversimplification.
When the device first came out, I was interested in it purely for the fact that it was a true video playing iPod. I didn't care about the phone part, as I had a perfectly serviceable phone with a wireless carrier that despite my objections over their business practices, delivered the best coverage.
I was one of many people wondering where the phoneless iPhone was and getting a little annoyed at the foot dragging it took to get here. Once it did show up, I was disappointed (I'm hard to please) that the capacity was so low. I have a 60 GB 5G iPod that has served me well for coming up on 3 years now. First off, I couldn't justify getting a new media device when my old one was perfectly good. Second, I couldn't go from 60 GB to 16 GB. I am a media hoarder and like to have it on me at all times. So paying $400 for a new player, no matter how shiny it was, was out of the question. Even when the capacity was bumped to 32 GB.
That all changed when the Mail and Microsoft Exchange support was added. Once this was added, I knew that it would be a more practical device. I had been talking with Sylvia about this and we ended up getting one for her for Mail and internet access. Once it was set up, it worked wonderfully. This got me more fired up to get an iPod Touch. I have been wanting a PDA for quite some time, and the implementation was nearly perfect. With the additions of apps and the App Store, the ability to have it serve multiple purposed expanded.
The only problem I have is connectivity. The iPhone uses cellular data to allow a connection wherever there is cell reception. The iPod Touch has wifi only, which is fine, but sometimes I find myself wishing that there were a more ubiquitous connection.
That's the only reason I want the iPhone: the constant connection to the internet. The ability to use an ever widening amount of applications dependent on connectivity. I guess I'll hold out until WiMAX comes ashore.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Go to the phone? No...
Domino's Pizza now has a TiVo app that lets you order and track pizza from your TV. Now we just need Matrix-style bodytubing and we'll be good.
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