The Truth About Wireless Devices May 29, 2007
Posted by chameeleon in BBC, Funny, Tech.1 comment so far
Following the fallout surrounding last week’s Panorama program about the supposed dangers of WiFi, I’ve found this nice little cartoon which sets the story straight!
Soon cars will have iPod connection August 4, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in Advertising, Apple, Microsoft, Podcasts, Tech.1 comment so far
Apple have done deals in the States with Ford, GM (Vauxhall) and Mazda to have iPod connections installed in new cars. These connections will, obviously, link in with the car’s stereo system, but they will also charge the iPod and allow control via the stero’s controls (including steering column cotrol). I presume this will also go as far as using in-car displays to show the name/artist/duration of tracks.
I see this as a good thing – I listen to my iPod while I’m driving my car. However, I have to use a lead with two 3.5mm headphone jacks and plug one end into my ‘pod and the other into my car stereo (fortunately it has a 3.5mm input on the front). Not ideal, especially as I still have to use the iPod itself to change tracks (only when parked your honour) and it certainly doesn’t charge the thing. A neat socket I can quickly shove my Nano into would be much easier (and neater). I hope this comes to the UK, and that also other car manufacturers follow suit. I can see iPods being bundled with new cars soon.
Apparently in the States the broadcast radio industry is a little worried about this. Radio still rules in most cars but if people start using their iPod to listen to music and podcasts then their audience will obviously decline, reducing the advertising revenue they can generate. This may mean moving into commercial-supported podcasting.
The other issue that crossed my mind is whether other media player manufacturers (read Sony and Microsoft) will try and secure similar deals to retain some share of this market and block Apple. Sony may add some sort of compatability to their car stereos.
You want to help Microsoft? It will cost you! August 4, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in Microsoft, Tech.add a comment
Microsoft are going to charge users $1.50 (£0.80) to download the 2nd beta of Office 2007. Now, correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t these beta testers helping Microsoft? Aren’t we saving them thousands of dollars by testing it for free? Sure, the demand for the beta may be higher than they expected (and lets face it, demand was always gonna be high) and that may have cost them a bit, but they can afford it! Its not like Microsoft are a small startup struggling to make ends meet, they are one of the wealthiest (if not the wealthiest) companies in the world and surely they can afford to carry the cost of the bandwidth to serve these betas. If not, why didnt they set a limit (as they have done previously) and simply stop after it was reached?
OK, lets do the maths – if they serve an extra 100,000 downloads at $1.50 each, thats $150,000 in revenue before the software even hits the shops. I can see why that looks attractive to Microsoft – it helps pays for the constant delays to release dates that they keep fobbing us off with. But the repercussions of this could be far wider. With Microsoft making money from betas (lets face it, they might release another couple of Office betas before it hits the shelves), the drive to finish the software quickly diminishes (although you could argue Microsoft products wouldn’t be any worse off with a couple more testing cycles). Also, will other software companies (especially larger ones) follow suit if they know they can get away with it?
You know you’re using too much Microsoft when… August 2, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in Funny, Microsoft, Tech.add a comment
- You expect the spelling on your hand-written shopping list to be corrected automatically.
- When someone takes the rubbish out at then of the day, you jump in front of them, waving your arms, and ask “Are you sure?”
- You look for an F1 key on the washing machine when you cant work out what program you need for woolens.
- You wonder why your paperclips are inanimate.
- The speed at which your pocket calculator “boots up” amazes you, but you are then confused by the lack of a drop-down menu.
- Your work colleagues are baffled by your filing system with each folder labelled “New Folder”, “New Folder (2)”, “New Folder (3)”, etc. Each are crammed with yet more identically names folders.
- Your car starts going slower so you shut all open windows, turn off the stereo and throw away anything that makes your car look nicer.
- Your alarm clock plays a tune by Brian Eno (click here for an explanation in case you dont get it!)
- You burn your toast and blame it on conflicting patches on the toaster from the last Service Pack.
- You promise to cook for your other half. Ten minutes before its due to be served you say there has been a delay and that it wont actually be ready for another thirty minutes. Repeat four or five times.
Feel free to add your own!
Spiceworks – The Free IT Desktop July 25, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in Advertising, Google, Tech.add a comment
In my last job (and to a lesser extent, in my current job) I was working with a limited budget and resources. Therefore I was always on the lookout for good quality, low cost (i.e. free!) software tools. I found quite a few (and occassionally use them for testing in certain circumstances) and I may post a list on here if there is enough demand. Today I’m just spreading the word about Spiceworks. Its curious not only because its a browser-based, network admin tool but because it displays Google ads alongside the application in the browser – and this is how its funded. I can see larger companies disregarding Spiceworks because they already use Microsoft’s Systems Management Server, or another third party tool, but for SMEs, organisations and charities with smaller budgets I can see a home. I’m hoping Spiceworks is the first of many Google ad-supported apps we will see (if you’re reading this guys then an easy-install-and-use Intranet would be great!), especially with Ajax and other web2.0 technologies extending what is practical and achievable in a web browser.
Cheap as chips – low cost microprocessors? June 30, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in BBC, Tech.add a comment
BBC News is reporting that a new method of creating silicon dioxide, which is prominently used in the manufacture of microchips, has been discovered. This method uses UV light and operates at room temperatures, which contrasts to the current methods which uses temperatures that run at over 1000°C. It is predicted that the savings in energy costs could lead to cheaper chips.
MySpace used for US mugging June 30, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in Tech.add a comment
Just found this incredible story about two girls in the US (only 13 and 14 years old!) using MySpace to lure men to meet up and then mugging them!
Wow! 50x speed Internet cafe – but why? June 28, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in Tech.add a comment
The BBC news website reports that in Cornwall an Internet cafe can offer download speeds up to 50 times faster than a standards internet connection. These are speeds similar to that of a standard network card on a local area network, 100Mbps.
Adrian Hosford of BT said: “It would be possible to use the cafe’s computers to download in less than 15 minutes a file the equivalent size of the DVD version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, with its 19,000 illustrations, 629 audio and video clips and 100,000 articles.
“A standard broadband connection would typically take in excess of five hours.”
Great! But I dont understand the market for these sorts of speeds in an internet cafe. Surely the majority of patrons are there because they dont have an internet connection and computer available. Maybe they’re from out of the area, or just want to check an email while in town, or they simply dont own a computer. These casual browsers are only looking at news website, webmail, possibly social networking site, which generally dont need a great deal of bandwidth – a 1-2Mbps connection would suffice.
The services that would benefit the most from high bandwidth availability are things like high-quality VOIP/video calls, TV/video over the Internet and, as suggested by the article, downloading of large files. Once you download a file you need to move it somewhere (perhaps on a DVD-R or USB memory stick/drive), but this leads to problems with downloading illegal content.
I welcome speed increases for any Internet connection, after all the Internet as a whole is only as fast as its slowest connection, so as the average connection gets faster, the Internet experience should improve for all of us. I just question the reasoning behind putting a very fast connection into a public Internet cafe?
Google to challenge PayPal June 27, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in Google, Tech.add a comment
CNN are reporting that Google are about to launch their own system of making online payments. Purported to be similar to PayPal, gBuy will offer customers rebates for purchases.
Now, I’m not sure if this is going to be a PayPal killer, but its going to be another stream of revenue for Google. No details have been announced on which vendors will support this directly, but I assume payments between two individuals will also be supported (having a Google account is becoming a must nowadays!) It will be interesting to see if they will tie gBuy up with Froogle and even Google Calendar to show when payments are scheduled.
Channel 4 puts programmes online June 24, 2006
Posted by chameeleon in TV, Tech.add a comment
From the end of July, Channel 4 will simultaneously stream some shows online as well as broadcast them via more traditional methods. Whilst this isnt video-on-demand, its a step closer, especially seeing as BBC are practically there (with the iMP) and ITV are about to become a VOD player.
