I came across an interesting article on PC World titled "15 Hot New Technologies That Will Change the Everything".
Wow, what a bold title I thought when I first read it. Nevertheless it raises some interesting facts and trends about what we can expect in the near future.
In summary these technologies are:
- Memristor: A Groundbreaking New Circuit
- 32-Core CPUs From Intel and AMD
- Nehalem and Swift Chips Spell the End of Stand-Alone Graphics Boards
- USB 3.0 Speeds Up Performance on External Devices
- Wireless Power Transmission
- 64-Bit Computing Allows for More RAM
- Windows 7: It's Inevitable
- Google's Desktop OS
- Gesture-Based Remote Control
- Radical Simplification Hits the TV Business
- Curtains for DRM
- Use Any Phone on Any Wireless Network
- Your Fingers Do Even More Walking
- Cell Phones Are the New Paper
- Where You At? Ask Your Phone, Not Your Friend
Enjoy!
Source: PC World
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Pushing Legal Boundaries
A few news items caught my eye recently:
Woman Jailed for Murdering Avatar: Turns out that a "...43-year-old Tokyo woman was jailed for murdering her virtual ex-husband's avatar". Although she was not charged with murder, but with "illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data", it raises such questions.
Dutch Court Punishes Theft of Virtual Property: Two kids in the Netherlands were found guilty of robbing "Runescape and giving his assets to the two perpetrators". These "assests" are not real but virtual - they don't exist as tangible property as we would define property.
Real Pilots And 'Virtual Flyers' Go Head-to-head: "Stunt pilots have raced against computer-generated opponents for the first time — in a contest that combines the real and the ‘virtual’ at 250 miles per hour".
So you can see a theme here, it creates a minefield of moral hazards and new challenges for humanity as we sail into (virtually) unchartered territories!
You thoughts and comments welcome.
Woman Jailed for Murdering Avatar: Turns out that a "...43-year-old Tokyo woman was jailed for murdering her virtual ex-husband's avatar". Although she was not charged with murder, but with "illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data", it raises such questions.
Dutch Court Punishes Theft of Virtual Property: Two kids in the Netherlands were found guilty of robbing "Runescape and giving his assets to the two perpetrators". These "assests" are not real but virtual - they don't exist as tangible property as we would define property.
Real Pilots And 'Virtual Flyers' Go Head-to-head: "Stunt pilots have raced against computer-generated opponents for the first time — in a contest that combines the real and the ‘virtual’ at 250 miles per hour".
So you can see a theme here, it creates a minefield of moral hazards and new challenges for humanity as we sail into (virtually) unchartered territories!
You thoughts and comments welcome.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Big Brother Downunder
And I don't mean the seriously crass TV show on Channel 10.
The Australian Government is developing a national firewall under the pretence of preventing "inappropriate" content getting to children. The content filter is enabled by default and users must request sites to be unblocked.
Reminds me of the days when the school librarian would rule the library computers with an iron fist and straight face (that's you Mr. Humphries!). I felt that our greatest liberties were under attack, the knife truly sank home after they blocked access to Hotmail! But that was then and this is now...
News has surfaced that this system will be mandatory across all internet services in Australia. What concerns me is that the Government will decide who goes onto the blacklist, effectively controlling what you can or can't view online. It also raises grave privacy concerns now that they can snoop everybody's traffic. Ok wait... perhaps the only difference now is that we know about it and are AUD $189 m poorer for it.
The Australian Government is developing a national firewall under the pretence of preventing "inappropriate" content getting to children. The content filter is enabled by default and users must request sites to be unblocked.
Reminds me of the days when the school librarian would rule the library computers with an iron fist and straight face (that's you Mr. Humphries!). I felt that our greatest liberties were under attack, the knife truly sank home after they blocked access to Hotmail! But that was then and this is now...
News has surfaced that this system will be mandatory across all internet services in Australia. What concerns me is that the Government will decide who goes onto the blacklist, effectively controlling what you can or can't view online. It also raises grave privacy concerns now that they can snoop everybody's traffic. Ok wait... perhaps the only difference now is that we know about it and are AUD $189 m poorer for it.
Opera Study: 4.13% of the Web is Standards Compliant!
Yes you read it right, only about 4% of the Web is Standards compliant! That is a staggering less than 1 in 20, certainly much less than what I expected.
Browser maker Opera has published the early results of an ongoing study that aims to provide insight into the structure of Internet content. To conduct this research project, Opera created the Metadata Analysis and Mining Application (MAMA), a tool that crawls the web and indexes the markup and scripting data from approximately 3.5 million pages. Thanks Opera, that's a handy little tool for developers and designers alike.
As much as we develop our sites to W3C Standards, the problem is with specific web browsers as each has its own quirks, bugs and specific features. Ultimately the site must render and behave consistently across browsers, so we develop with this aim.
The Opera study reveals an interesting evolutionary feature of the internet. The good news is that upcoming IE 8.0 will be much more standards compliant, potentially Google's Chrome, with its app-centric design, will change the playing field. Unfortunately, there is the issue of maintaining backwards compatibility.
Read the source article here or direct to Opera's MAMA Key Findings.
Browser maker Opera has published the early results of an ongoing study that aims to provide insight into the structure of Internet content. To conduct this research project, Opera created the Metadata Analysis and Mining Application (MAMA), a tool that crawls the web and indexes the markup and scripting data from approximately 3.5 million pages. Thanks Opera, that's a handy little tool for developers and designers alike.
As much as we develop our sites to W3C Standards, the problem is with specific web browsers as each has its own quirks, bugs and specific features. Ultimately the site must render and behave consistently across browsers, so we develop with this aim.
The Opera study reveals an interesting evolutionary feature of the internet. The good news is that upcoming IE 8.0 will be much more standards compliant, potentially Google's Chrome, with its app-centric design, will change the playing field. Unfortunately, there is the issue of maintaining backwards compatibility.
Read the source article here or direct to Opera's MAMA Key Findings.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Top 10 Most Useless Websites!
There will always be good and bad websites out there. PC World have worked hard to find you the truly annoying and dazzlingly useless ones!
If you're looking for more substance, also check out their article about 100 most useful sites.
AW
If you're looking for more substance, also check out their article about 100 most useful sites.
AW
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Webcaster Settlement Act Passed by US Senate
The U.S. Senate passed the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008, sending it to President Bush’s desk for signature two days after the U.S. House of Representatives okayed the bill.
The bill allows for SoundExchange, on behalf of copyright owners and performers, to negotiate with Internet radio services through 2015 an alternative royalty agreement while Congress is in recess. The negotiations are aimed at setting aside a 2007 decision by the Copyright Royalty Board that set a royalty rate that Internet radio participants said would endanger the fiscal health of webcasting.
If the President signs the bill and new royalty agreements are reached, it would set a royalty rate retroactive to 2006, and allow for a framework that could resolve future disputes through 2015, according to an announcement by the Digital Media Association (DiMA).
“On behalf of DiMA and our Internet radio members, I want to thank Congress for acting quickly to pass the Webcaster Settlement Act,” said DiMA executive director Jonathan Potter, in a statement. “This legislation will enable DiMA and our member companies, and all Internet radio services, to continue negotiating royalty rates with SoundExchange for the years 2006-2015. We are very hopeful of reaching agreement soon, and thereby creating long-term stability that will re-energize the Internet radio business.”
Source: Billboard
The bill allows for SoundExchange, on behalf of copyright owners and performers, to negotiate with Internet radio services through 2015 an alternative royalty agreement while Congress is in recess. The negotiations are aimed at setting aside a 2007 decision by the Copyright Royalty Board that set a royalty rate that Internet radio participants said would endanger the fiscal health of webcasting.
If the President signs the bill and new royalty agreements are reached, it would set a royalty rate retroactive to 2006, and allow for a framework that could resolve future disputes through 2015, according to an announcement by the Digital Media Association (DiMA).
“On behalf of DiMA and our Internet radio members, I want to thank Congress for acting quickly to pass the Webcaster Settlement Act,” said DiMA executive director Jonathan Potter, in a statement. “This legislation will enable DiMA and our member companies, and all Internet radio services, to continue negotiating royalty rates with SoundExchange for the years 2006-2015. We are very hopeful of reaching agreement soon, and thereby creating long-term stability that will re-energize the Internet radio business.”
Source: Billboard
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