...more recent posts
BBC: Digital home 'still 10 years off'
more on AVCHD from Sony
Skype Protocol Has Been Cracked -- Popular VOIP technology, recently acquired by EBay. As a side effect, exposing the protocol makes it easier to block.
Interesting article on indecency and net neutrality in TV Technology. (Not online yet.) Frank Beacham conlcudes with this ... "In the old days, journalist like myself were taught to 'follow the money' in order to get to the truth in any story of business or government policy. If you do that in this case, it becomes inescapable that the end result of indecency policies and a lack of network neutrality protections add up to helping create an entirely new media delivery system run by the same gatekeepers who control old media."
Sony, Panasonic Launch AVCHD
New hi-def standard could be an effective competitor to HDV
New consumer video camera recording format, may find it's way into pro equipment. Uses red laser disks that should play back on both types of new HD DVD players. 20 minute record time.
Mtn. View WiFi net being tested by 100 users
GOOGLE SAYS ENTIRE CITY COULD GO ONLINE IN ABOUT TWO MONTHS
Anti-net neutrality types cite systems such as this as evidence of free competition. That's why my arguments focus on high-speed broadband. If the average S. Korean apartment can get 8 Mbps, and has service sufficient to support MPEG-2 SD video, then kinda sorta 1 Mbps under ideal conditions doesn't cut it. This capability is very cool, but should not be taken as evidence for a competitive market for high-speed broadband.
How will YouTube make money?
AD STRATEGY KEY TO TURNING MILLIONS OF CLICKS INTO CASH
TiVo To Go's gone to the PSP, iPod, and Treo
Slight delay for Japan launch of Toshiba HD-DVD recorder
Sony To Distribute Movies On Memory Stick -- PSP movies on a stick
perhaps because PSP movies on disk are going away ...
The dying days of UMD movies are upon us
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