...more recent posts
Argo aims guns at more than iPod
I think this is very bad news for Apple. As technology develops, there's a certain gravity towards "integration points". The "office suite" absorbs word processing, spreadsheets, etc., etc. The DSL settop becomes a network gateway. The cell phone subsumes the PDA, a camera, an MP3 player, etc. The portable media/game player seems like another integration point. The iPod is pretty cool, but will this MP3 player niche remain a stand-alone product? Only as a commodity would be my bet.
I'm trying to get worked up about this network neutrality stuff. I firmly believe the big telcos will try to screw the small guy if they can. Discriminating against VOIP clients - by introducing jitter, or whatever - seems to be the common example since obviously the telcos don't want you making free VOIP phone calls over their lines. But in that case we'll just encrypt our VOIP streams and run them on non standard ports. This is exactly what BitTorrent users are now doing to fight ISPs starting to throttle BT traffic. And given the robustness of client CPU power, encrypting all our communication streams would be very easy. It would also have all sorts of follow on advantages for the user in terms of security.
But maybe I'm wrong on this? Can the telcos somehow still discriminate against types of services if all traffic is encrypted? Probably I'm missing something, but this just sounds like another arms race that the forces of control will never win. I'd like to have some law protecting us, but I'm skeptical that we really need it.
Unless they outlaw encryption? Seems pretty unlikely. Or what am I missing?
Intel aims for 32 cores by 2010
Multicore/multithread approaches are common among processor startups. Many are taking the approach of having a large array of very lightweight processors. This sometimes goes by the name of stream-processing, as the programming model is to stream data from processor to processor. Intel is taking the less radical approach of using a smaller array of their CISC processors.
Three weeks after being let go by CBS, the former anchor has agreed to launch a program called "Dan Rather Presents" on HDNet, the high-definition channel owned by billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.
Optical device could help read most disk formats
Via shrinks chipset for Ultra Mobile PCs
Korea Rising ... I'm shopping to replace a dead Panasonic DVD player, and a Samsung DVD/VHS recorder has risen to the top of the heap. While DVD recorders have gotten dirt cheap, huge feature gaps remain. The Samsung unit works with every DVD format (except DVD Audio). Why is that so frickin' hard, Philips, Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba? I'm hoping this is the last SD-only DVD gizmo I ever have to get.
Gadget uses Skype to send TV anywhere
Vodafone looks to Sky for mobile TV
Telecom industry blogs I read:
GigaOm
telepocalypse
Copy protection hole in Blu-ray and HD DVD movies
Net Neutrality Has a Spokesperson
Future Bright For Home Media, Analysts Say
Two separate analyst reports released Thursday paint a rosy future for home media servers and the networks that they will use to pipe content around the home.
Rising China TV spec may sink DVB-H
Mike Clendenin
EE Times
(07/03/2006 9:00 AM EDT)
Shanghai, China -- As China prepares a digital terrestrial TV standard suitable for fixed and mobile terminals, uncertainty is growing over the future of rival mobile-TV standards here.
China has been experimenting with two competing mobile-TV broadcast standards: Digital Video Broadcast-based DVB-Handheld and a South Korean derivative of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) known as Terrestrial-Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. However, now that China's own digital TV standard is close to finished, authorities here are giving it priority, threatening the viability of European-invented DVB-H and DAB-based T-DMB.
After Delays, Wireless Web Comes to [NYC] Parks
Look Out, iPod: Microsoft Developing Portable Player With WiFi Feature
internet, circa 1998
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