Super-3G, 3G, HSDPA

http://www.digi.no/814586/mange-kobler-pc-en-til-mobilt-bredbaand

HSPA har blitt et reelt alternativ til ADSL for mange europeere.

For meg også ;P Bruker mitt NetCom Huawei USB modem både her og der.

Stabiliteten kan nå diskuteres, men sånn generelt holder det til å kunne lese epost, nyheter, chatte, surfe og se på flash-videoer.

Oppsiktsvekkende samarbeid

http://www.digi.no/813870/linux-foundation-i-seng-med-%ABfienden%BB

At Microsoft og Linux Foundation skulle samarbeide om et felles mål var nok ikke i tankene til folk for tiden. Hverken i Linux-miljøet eller hos programvare-giganten Microsoft.

Samarbeidet skyldes et lovforslag som skal legges frem i USA som omhandler programvarekontrakter.

Lovforslaget foreslår bl.a. at det innføres en garanti-ordning hvor programvare leveres uten materielle defekter.

Dette motstrider mange programvare lisenser som brukes av både Microsoft og Linux-miljøet, og de har derfor skrevet et brev sammen til ALI (American Law Institute), som kan lastes ned her.

Poenget Microsoft og Linux Foundation vil få frem er at hvis underforståtte garantier innføres, vil det føre til unødvendig mange rettstvister som kan ødelegge for deling av teknologi.

I-og-med alle rettsakene rundt IT de siste årene virker ikke dette urealistisk, og vil garantert ødelegge mer for IT industrien enn det vil hjelpe.

N.B.: I åpen kildekode miljøet slår dette ut på selve GPL-lisensen, fordi den avkaster alle garantier og gir brukeren av nevnt lisens rettigheter og valgmuligheter til å bestemme selv. Microsoft og andre aktører innen kommersiell datavirksomhet taper også på dette, fordi de ikke kan bruke programvare/kode gitt ut under slike lisenser, hverken for å forbedre på teknologien og gi tilbake, eller tjene penger på det. Lovforslaget reflekterer ikke realistiske virkninger på normale kommersielle lover i bruk idag

Galaxy Game

Galaxy Game was one of the first coin-operated game-machines around (now known primarily as arcade-games).

It was developed by a Stanford University grad named Bill Pitts and his highschool friend Hugh Tuck. They based the game on Spacewar!, which was developed in 1961 for the PDP-1 and later ported to a variety of other platforms, while Galaxy Game was developed on a PDP-11/20 with a vector display.

I read an article about the game featured on Google Blog, which then inspired me to write about it since I'm quite fond of antique computer games and/or programs.

If you want to know more about this inspiring game, read this article from the infolab@Stanford.

On a side-note: arcade-games have evolved exponentially over the years since the 1970's. Arcade-games in the 70's were mostly nothing more than flat computer-programs designed to entertain people.

To give an example, most games in that era were simple (not as in "non-complex" though) 2d graphical interactive computer applications, like "PacMan" or "Galaga" (allthough Galaga didn't appear until the beginning of the 80's, it still resembled games from the 70's), while as arcade-games in our day and age are usually *NOT* simple and *NOT* 2d-based. But rather, they are powered by complex 3D computations, complex audio modulation and some even contain libraries to emulate physical environments to appear more realistic to the gamers. To achieve this realism, arcade-vendors now have to design and implement accelerated hardware into their arcade-game machines, which, given the current economic status of the world, is quite an expense.

I basically foresee that the arcade-market is going to slow down the coming years, which is kind of sad in my opinion. Arcade-games have been the gaming industry's testpads for upcoming game-features since the late 80's. But since we now have the Internet, there is no longer a strong demand for physical gaming machines.

Instead we have emulators, virtual machines and high bandwidth for which to connect the core-software to the game-data online, or locally. The possibilities are endless.

All your SLACK are belong to us

This and more.., at Church of the Subgenius' "Graphics Orgy".

The Prodigy - vintage ant logo t-shirt

HTC Magic til Norge!

http://www.digi.no/813241/htcs-nyeste-android-mobil-til-norge

HTC har nå bekreftet at de vil være den første leverandøren av smart-telefoner basert på Android-plattformen i Norge. Dette gleder meg noe helt sinnsykt, da gjenstår bare å se hvilke operatører som subsidierer innkjøp og salg av enheten(e). Har selv NetCom som tilbyder, så håper de ikke har brukt opp alle ressurser på iPhone-kampanjen.

RedBull

http://www.dinside.no/813157/dette-blir-den-%ABnorske%BB-red-bull

Jeg syns det var på tide at konsentrerte energi-drikker fjernes av listen over ulovlige varer her til lands. Dinside.no har skrevet en artikkel om hvordan RedBull vil markedsføres/produseres for det norske markedet, og det er det vanlige med at vitamin-tilskudd i dagligvarer må reguleres (vitamin B6 i RedBull), men koffein er ikke lenger klassifisert som et norsk legemiddel, som igjen har gjort det mulig å selge RedBull på det norske markedet.

Utdrag fra dinside.no-artikkel:

drikken vil inneholde lavere verdier av vitamin B6 i Norge enn i andre land. Innholdet av koffein og øvrige ingredienser vil være det samme. Teksten på emballasjen skal i tillegg være på norsk.

Så nå gjenstår det å se hvilke andre utenlandske produkter som finner veien til norske butikker i tiden fremover. Har jo sett utvikling på dette området tidligere. Som f.eks. med "Orio's" (sjokolade-cookies med vanilje-krem i midten), og diverse andre amerikanske/britiske produkter hos kjeden "Ultra".

The Prodigy

De lever ennå, og pumper ut hardcore dance så det hviner etter ;P
Ja, det er ett av favoritt-bandene mine ;D

Gleder meg VILT til Hovefestivalen, blir første gang jeg ser dem live (grunnet tidligere økonomi og fridager).

N.B.: I dag slippes faktisk singelen "Warrior's Dance" ;) som jeg faktisk har liggende som pre-order ;P

Ledelsen i "Mininova" skremt...

Nå skal piratfilmene bort fra Mininova

Ledelsen i Mininova er åpenbart skremt av dommen i The Pirate Bay-saken, og holder nå på å "filtrere" bort ulovlig materiale. Selv om Mininova ikke har egen "tracker" slik som The Pirate Bay, skal altså alt ulovlig materiell filtreres bort ved hjelp av et skreddersydd innholds-filter.

Systemet som filtrerer er utviklet og godkjent av film- og platebransjen. Men hvor effektivt det kommer til å bli gjenstår å se, for i skrivende øyeblikk kommer et raskt søk på det nyeste av film og musikk fort frem med resultater (systemet har bare vært i aksjon siden onsdag sist uke).

http://www.itavisen.no/812958/naa-skal-piratfilmene-bort-fra-mininova

Satellite-TV

OK. This post should not surprise anyone following my blog.

I'm elaborating on my knowledge of geostationary communication devices.

i.e. satellites

First off, satellites orbit a space-region known as the "Clarke Belt", approx. 22.300 miles (35.888 km) above the equator. Each satellite has a number of 'transponders' (transmitter-responder), and each of these transponders carry a signal back to earth. These signals are carried either on "C band", "Ku Band" or "Ka Band" which signifes what frequency is used to transmit the signal. After travelling through our atmosphere, over 20.000 miles, a dish is able to recieve them.

A satellite-dish can be everything from 18" (inches) to 9' (feet) across. It's main purpose is to be a collector/reflector to catch a microwave-satellite-signal, and aim it towards the 'feedhorn'. The feedhorn recieves the signal and sends it to the 'LNB' (Low Noise Block). The LNB amplifies the signal, and converts it to a frequency more suitable for transmission over a cable, also known as an 'IFL' (Intra-Facility Link). The IFL then carries the signal to the satellite reciever/decoder.

In cases where the signal is digital video broadcasting (DVB), it is usually digitally encoded, and the reciever/decoder has to decode the signal before it can be viewed/used. This also enables satellite-feed vendors to offer more channels over the same bandwidth as used in analogue systems where the channel-capacity is limited by actual transmission-capacity.

The standard audio/visual encoding used in DVB is one of either MPEG2 or MPEG4.

Links:

http://www.tech-faq.com

Just a little side-note on the 'smartcards' used in DVB-transmission and decoding. Smartcards have always, since the beginning of satellite-TV, been the authentication-token used to retrieve encryption-keys for encrypted streams, or simply as an identification-device to identify the recieving party as a valid customer.

Early in the race, these cards were merely electronic storage-chips used for ID information. But after years of development, they incorporate a range of security technologies of which the card-vendors have licensed as  proprietary intellectual property.

Canal Digital

Oh yeah ;-) I am now a proud consumer of satellite-tv streams. I figured since broadcasts in Scandinavia are all DVB-based, a dish-setup would be the way to go. I chose the vendor Canal Digital because I've watched, and favoured their channel-content and service quality since the mid-90s (when they were known as "Filmnet", and thanks for that reference Olti, I had totally forgotten about them ;).

Our local electro-company distributes fiber-based DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting), but they limit every household to just 4 DVB set-top boxes (because of transmission capacity issues, and the fact they deliver fiber-Internet through the same cable-system). This did not favour me much, since I am household member No.5 (typical). So, I basically had to research alternative tv-broadcasting access solutions.

I have always been a fan of satellite-tv, but then again, I didn't like the broadcast quality because it varied quite much from vendor to vendor a few years ago. But the recent introduction of DVB on a national scale (Norway) led me to believe satellite-tv would have gained enormous capabilities because of their wide broadcasting bands, they would not suffer from cable-fatigue, wiring errors or general network failures. AND, Canal Digital was the first satellite-vendor to introduce DVB-based content via satellite in Europe.

Satellite technology only suffer from environmental variables (fog, rain, snow), and this can even be prevented (somewhat) with supplemental satellite-dish equipment. But there is also a more simplified solution to DVB-access here in Norway, which is more intended for non-technical individuals, and it centers around normal tv-antennas with the addition of a smartcard-based DVB set-top box. But this solution has it's own kind of limitations over both satellite-tv and fiber. It relies on normal tv-broadcasting technology (modulated transmissions) with encrypted, encapsulated DVB-streams (MPEG). Thereby, this technology has very limited channel capacity. Whereas fiber+satellite has enormous channel capacity because they have limited signal-compression and stream-encryption.

To sum up my post a little better without all the technical mumbo-jumbo. I really love satellite-tv. Instead of having just the selected big-name channels provided through land-based vendors, I have a plethora of national and international high-def, high quality channel ranges.

Or, seen from another perspective: I have over 117 120* standard channels in my EPG (Electronic Program Guide), compared to fiber (50+) or the modulated transmission solution (10+), without any significant drops in performance and/or quality.

* = Corrected 11.05.2009 10:35 GMT+1