Miscellaneous
IMAP added to Gmail
24/10/2007 01:48 PM
It's taken a few years but Google have
finally added IMAP functionality to their Gmail
service.
Now can Google please product a Google Calendar Java app in the same vein as their Gmail app?
Now can Google please product a Google Calendar Java app in the same vein as their Gmail app?
Pissy Werld scared by Linux
13/08/2007 04:44 PM
Those of you who live in the UK as I
do will be all too familiar with a certain "Pissy Werld" computer store chain.
Well it seems that Linux is one beast too much for those Redmond arse lickers and have deemed it physically capable of cracking a hinge on this poor guy's Acer laptop:
PC World refuse to repair hardware fault, because of Linux
The chain's response only served to add fuel to the fire and is a good reminder that if you want a decent computing experience, "Pissy Werld" is really not the place to go.
One only hopes that he has now been contacted and offered a repair as promised by the deservedly embarrassed chain.
Well it seems that Linux is one beast too much for those Redmond arse lickers and have deemed it physically capable of cracking a hinge on this poor guy's Acer laptop:
PC World refuse to repair hardware fault, because of Linux
The chain's response only served to add fuel to the fire and is a good reminder that if you want a decent computing experience, "Pissy Werld" is really not the place to go.
One only hopes that he has now been contacted and offered a repair as promised by the deservedly embarrassed chain.
Xbox 360 Ring of Death
02/07/2007 09:05 AM
So much for Microsoft's
denial of a hardware problem with the Xbox 360 just over a
month ago:
Repair Firm Won't Service Ring of Death 360s
Perhaps Microsoft should take some advice from Sony & Nintendo regarding console design instead of just trying to milk yet another market without having a damn clue.
Repair Firm Won't Service Ring of Death 360s
Perhaps Microsoft should take some advice from Sony & Nintendo regarding console design instead of just trying to milk yet another market without having a damn clue.
Flash runs faster in Safari for Windows
11/06/2007 11:01 PM
As you have no doubt heard by now,
Apple's Safari browser is now
available for Windows.
Interestingly it also happens to be the fastest browser to run your Flash applications in.
Flash benchmarks follow (fastest first)...
Safari Results (Windows XP)
Opera Results (Windows XP)
Safari Results (Mac OS X)
Internet Explorer Results (Windows XP)
Firefox Results (Mac OS X)
Camino Results (Mac OS X)
Firefox Results (Windows XP)
Notes
Interestingly it also happens to be the fastest browser to run your Flash applications in.
Flash benchmarks follow (fastest first)...
Safari Results (Windows XP)
Opera Results (Windows XP)
Safari Results (Mac OS X)
Internet Explorer Results (Windows XP)
Firefox Results (Mac OS X)
Camino Results (Mac OS X)
Firefox Results (Windows XP)
Notes
- All available system updates and patches were applied to both operating systems and Apple's latest Boot Camp drivers were used for Windows XP.
- The latest versions of each browser were used in all tests.
- The test machine was the latest 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook fitted with 2GB RAM.
- Opera for Mac OS X failed to run the Powerbench test.
Xbox Live Arcade DRM
01/06/2007 05:33 PM
Are you an Xbox 360 owner and thinking
of buying content from the Xbox Live Arcade? Are you also still deluded in
thinking that the Xbox 360 doesn't have any overheating issues even after the launch of the new
Xbox 360 Elite?
Read this forum thread with 2000+ replies over on the official Xbox forums and think again before spending your valuable Microsoft points:
Cant play full versions of Arcade Games
To summarise, any Xbox Live Arcade purchases you make are tied to your console's serial number via your Gamertag. Should your console die and you are given a replacement, or you buy a new console, re-downloading your purchases via your Gamertag on your new console limits you to full versions only whilst you are connected to Xbox Live.
Disconnecting or signing off for any reason, reverts your Xbox Live Arcade purchases to trial versions. The exact same scenario when taking your Xbox 360 hard drive over to your friends house and trying to play your purchases on his or her console.
There is currently no official solution from Microsoft on re-establishing full rights to your purchases on your new console.
For all the flack that Sony's PlayStation 3 has received, online purchases/downloads have at the very least been implemented the right and fair way.
Read this forum thread with 2000+ replies over on the official Xbox forums and think again before spending your valuable Microsoft points:
Cant play full versions of Arcade Games
To summarise, any Xbox Live Arcade purchases you make are tied to your console's serial number via your Gamertag. Should your console die and you are given a replacement, or you buy a new console, re-downloading your purchases via your Gamertag on your new console limits you to full versions only whilst you are connected to Xbox Live.
Disconnecting or signing off for any reason, reverts your Xbox Live Arcade purchases to trial versions. The exact same scenario when taking your Xbox 360 hard drive over to your friends house and trying to play your purchases on his or her console.
There is currently no official solution from Microsoft on re-establishing full rights to your purchases on your new console.
For all the flack that Sony's PlayStation 3 has received, online purchases/downloads have at the very least been implemented the right and fair way.
Logo Theft
23/03/2007 08:34 AM
What do you do if you fancy setting up
a stock logo site and are a little short on design ideas?
Well it appears that you just copy the logos of others and then some:
http://flickr.com/photos/simplebitsdan/429265591/
http://daringfireball.net/2007/03/logomaid_rip_off
http://digg.com/design/LogoMaid_steals_logo_from_SimpleBits
Copying really is the sincerest form of flattery.
Well it appears that you just copy the logos of others and then some:
http://flickr.com/photos/simplebitsdan/429265591/
http://daringfireball.net/2007/03/logomaid_rip_off
http://digg.com/design/LogoMaid_steals_logo_from_SimpleBits
Copying really is the sincerest form of flattery.
Paul Thurrott
08/03/2007 05:14 PM
Paul Thurrott once again reminds the
world why nobody should ever take him seriously:
"Passing up an opportunity to comment on a Paul Thurrott rant is like driving past paramedics at the scene of an accident. I know I should just keep driving and not hold up traffic, but there's an instinctive need to find out how truly awful things are and to determine what could have happened to cause such a disaster."
Paul Thurrott's Merciless Attack on Artie McStrawman
Well done Paul. I can see you're never one to change your "Speak First, Think Later" philosophy.
"Passing up an opportunity to comment on a Paul Thurrott rant is like driving past paramedics at the scene of an accident. I know I should just keep driving and not hold up traffic, but there's an instinctive need to find out how truly awful things are and to determine what could have happened to cause such a disaster."
Paul Thurrott's Merciless Attack on Artie McStrawman
Well done Paul. I can see you're never one to change your "Speak First, Think Later" philosophy.
Joost Beta
28/02/2007 08:00 PM
I've been beta testing Joost for
a while now and just as Skype changed the entire
telecommunications industry, Joost is about to do the same for
television.
Sky, Virgin Media and the BBC have all been prattling on about how each company will change the face of television as we know it in the UK. These grandiose claims all seem to refer to the introduction of advanced VOD features that add to their existing services and nothing more.
Sky are about to launch a revised Anytime service that will grow beyond its limited Windows Media PC incarnation and expand to a pseudo VOD service for Sky + and Sky HD owners. I say pseudo VOD because the choice of content is selected for you from Sky's existing content by some anonymous individual who has no clue what your viewing preferences are. If you want real VOD via Sky you'll be waiting for a long time.
Virgin Media will offer VOD via their national digital cable network formed by the recent NTL and Telewest merger. The general cable service is fine but when you compare Virgin Media's selection of channels to those offered by Sky, choice is definitely lacking especially if you're after some decent HD content. Which leaves you with the VOD service that has some HD content but otherwise offers you pretty much the same selection of content that you will find rotated on Sky's Box Office service. Oh and it's limited to a cable box. No computer based television viewing via Virgin Media despite their revolutionary TV claims.
And then we come to the BBC who will be launching their iPlayer service later this year as a result of their recent iMP trials. iPlayer is a computer based VOD service that will grant you access to a select amount of BBC content. Unfortunately this is yet another over-hyped Windows Media crippled service which I'm sure will anger TV Licence paying Mac/Linux users (like me) everywhere. If you feel strongly enough to complain about it, the BBC Trust is accepting public input on the matter.
Which returns us nicely to Joost, an online VOD service created by Skype's founders and seemingly capable of doing the one thing Sky's Anytime and the BBC's iPlayer have so far failed to do - run on multiple platforms (a Linux version is promised soon).
Joost has been in beta for quite a while now (it previously used the codename The Venice Project) and is shaping up to be everything you expect from a computer based VOD service. A variety of 'channels' are available with a selection of episodes available to watch under each channel.
To begin you require a login that you can obtain once you have been invited into the Joost beta. Prepare to wait quite a while as the waiting list for beta invites is a long one. If you happen to know someone already taking part in the Joost beta, go ahead and pester them (not me) for a login. You'll find this might be the quickest way to obtain one.
Once you have your login, this is the screen that will present itself each time you start Joost:
Once you have logged in, the main Joost interface will appear:
The interface is very cleanly laid out and unobtrusive. You'll find My Channels to your left, the channel ident at the top, My Joost (widgets) to the right and the main channel controls at the bottom. Everything is self-explanatory except for the circular icon in the top-right corner. This removes all the interface elements leaving just the television image behind.
Clicking on the My Channels button opens up the channel list:
And clicking on a channel presents you with a list of episodes for that channel:
Selecting an episode returns you to the main screen and your selected episode then starts playing after a few seconds:
As I said it's all very logical and works well. No over complicated interface to annoy you and it nicely fades out after a few seconds to let you enjoy your viewing.
At the moment the selection of channels is fairly limited but those that are present seem to be of good visual quality (pretty much the same quality as that of a TV card) which serves to give you a good idea of Joost's potential. No HD content is available yet but the use of the CoreAVC codec hints at that content making an appearance sometime soon.
One of Joost's greatest features is widgets. These can be accessed via the My Joost button and currently offers a selection of widgets that allow you to do everything from chatting with others about the channel you are watching to rating episodes, instant message or even catch up with news posted by the Joost operators:
Further widgets are planned so it'll be worthwhile keeping an eye out for them.
Returning to the main screen and clicking on the preferences button in the channel control panel reveals a limited set of preferences:
At a guess these will expand with Joost's final release and be a little more user friendly.
You may be wondering how Joost works. Joost operates much like Skype and the current Sky Anytime service in that they are all peer-to-peer applications. This implies that some of your bandwidth will be used to distribute content to others on demand who then further distribute that content on to other Joost users.
While the peer-to-peer backend enables Joost to work well on moderate broadband connections, it also forces your internet connection to be in constant use whilst Joost is running. It also limits your ability to record any of the content available to view. That said this isn't a major issue given that it's a true instant VOD service and similar limitations exist with all the other computer based VOD services outlined earlier.
Unfortunately, the current beta appears to sap quite a bit of CPU time as a result of this peer-to-peer activity. I witnessed between 10-20% CPU usage when Joost was sitting in the system tray doing nothing (standby mode). Hopefully this is something that will be optimised for the final release.
Mac users may be wondering what is different in the Mac client. I'm happy to say nothing that I can find. All the same functionality is present in the Mac client even if it is limited to Intel only Macs for technical reasons. The expected Linux client will also be identical in functionality when it finally makes an appearance.
Joost is highly recommended to television fanatics who want a little more control over their viewing. With recent Viacom content agreements expect to see the channel list and content expand further as more content providers sign on.
It's time for Sky, Virgin Media and the BBC to take note. This is how user controlled television should be done.
Sky, Virgin Media and the BBC have all been prattling on about how each company will change the face of television as we know it in the UK. These grandiose claims all seem to refer to the introduction of advanced VOD features that add to their existing services and nothing more.
Sky are about to launch a revised Anytime service that will grow beyond its limited Windows Media PC incarnation and expand to a pseudo VOD service for Sky + and Sky HD owners. I say pseudo VOD because the choice of content is selected for you from Sky's existing content by some anonymous individual who has no clue what your viewing preferences are. If you want real VOD via Sky you'll be waiting for a long time.
Virgin Media will offer VOD via their national digital cable network formed by the recent NTL and Telewest merger. The general cable service is fine but when you compare Virgin Media's selection of channels to those offered by Sky, choice is definitely lacking especially if you're after some decent HD content. Which leaves you with the VOD service that has some HD content but otherwise offers you pretty much the same selection of content that you will find rotated on Sky's Box Office service. Oh and it's limited to a cable box. No computer based television viewing via Virgin Media despite their revolutionary TV claims.
And then we come to the BBC who will be launching their iPlayer service later this year as a result of their recent iMP trials. iPlayer is a computer based VOD service that will grant you access to a select amount of BBC content. Unfortunately this is yet another over-hyped Windows Media crippled service which I'm sure will anger TV Licence paying Mac/Linux users (like me) everywhere. If you feel strongly enough to complain about it, the BBC Trust is accepting public input on the matter.
Which returns us nicely to Joost, an online VOD service created by Skype's founders and seemingly capable of doing the one thing Sky's Anytime and the BBC's iPlayer have so far failed to do - run on multiple platforms (a Linux version is promised soon).
Joost has been in beta for quite a while now (it previously used the codename The Venice Project) and is shaping up to be everything you expect from a computer based VOD service. A variety of 'channels' are available with a selection of episodes available to watch under each channel.
To begin you require a login that you can obtain once you have been invited into the Joost beta. Prepare to wait quite a while as the waiting list for beta invites is a long one. If you happen to know someone already taking part in the Joost beta, go ahead and pester them (not me) for a login. You'll find this might be the quickest way to obtain one.
Once you have your login, this is the screen that will present itself each time you start Joost:
Once you have logged in, the main Joost interface will appear:
The interface is very cleanly laid out and unobtrusive. You'll find My Channels to your left, the channel ident at the top, My Joost (widgets) to the right and the main channel controls at the bottom. Everything is self-explanatory except for the circular icon in the top-right corner. This removes all the interface elements leaving just the television image behind.
Clicking on the My Channels button opens up the channel list:
And clicking on a channel presents you with a list of episodes for that channel:
Selecting an episode returns you to the main screen and your selected episode then starts playing after a few seconds:
As I said it's all very logical and works well. No over complicated interface to annoy you and it nicely fades out after a few seconds to let you enjoy your viewing.
At the moment the selection of channels is fairly limited but those that are present seem to be of good visual quality (pretty much the same quality as that of a TV card) which serves to give you a good idea of Joost's potential. No HD content is available yet but the use of the CoreAVC codec hints at that content making an appearance sometime soon.
One of Joost's greatest features is widgets. These can be accessed via the My Joost button and currently offers a selection of widgets that allow you to do everything from chatting with others about the channel you are watching to rating episodes, instant message or even catch up with news posted by the Joost operators:
Further widgets are planned so it'll be worthwhile keeping an eye out for them.
Returning to the main screen and clicking on the preferences button in the channel control panel reveals a limited set of preferences:
At a guess these will expand with Joost's final release and be a little more user friendly.
You may be wondering how Joost works. Joost operates much like Skype and the current Sky Anytime service in that they are all peer-to-peer applications. This implies that some of your bandwidth will be used to distribute content to others on demand who then further distribute that content on to other Joost users.
While the peer-to-peer backend enables Joost to work well on moderate broadband connections, it also forces your internet connection to be in constant use whilst Joost is running. It also limits your ability to record any of the content available to view. That said this isn't a major issue given that it's a true instant VOD service and similar limitations exist with all the other computer based VOD services outlined earlier.
Unfortunately, the current beta appears to sap quite a bit of CPU time as a result of this peer-to-peer activity. I witnessed between 10-20% CPU usage when Joost was sitting in the system tray doing nothing (standby mode). Hopefully this is something that will be optimised for the final release.
Mac users may be wondering what is different in the Mac client. I'm happy to say nothing that I can find. All the same functionality is present in the Mac client even if it is limited to Intel only Macs for technical reasons. The expected Linux client will also be identical in functionality when it finally makes an appearance.
Joost is highly recommended to television fanatics who want a little more control over their viewing. With recent Viacom content agreements expect to see the channel list and content expand further as more content providers sign on.
It's time for Sky, Virgin Media and the BBC to take note. This is how user controlled television should be done.
The Last Gasp of DRM?
19/02/2007 11:23 AM
It seems that Steve Jobs got under the
skin of quite a few organisations with his Thoughts on Music piece. And as could be
expected many of those same organisations began squealing like pigs
at the mere mention of DRM being scrapped any time soon.
Macrovision, a long time purveyor of such 'quality' DRM, responded to Steve Jobs in an open letter which Daring Fireball has kindly unravelled for us all to read and digest:
Macrovision Translation
Macrovision, a long time purveyor of such 'quality' DRM, responded to Steve Jobs in an open letter which Daring Fireball has kindly unravelled for us all to read and digest:
Macrovision Translation
The Music Industry and DRM
07/02/2007 03:47 PM
Steve Jobs has published a well written piece on
the current state of DRM in the music
industry:
Thoughts on Music
Daring Fireball has published an equally well written response further expanding some of points raised by Jobs:
Reading Between the Lines
Interesting times are most definitely ahead.
Thoughts on Music
Daring Fireball has published an equally well written response further expanding some of points raised by Jobs:
Reading Between the Lines
Interesting times are most definitely ahead.
Windows Vista Launched
30/01/2007 05:23 PM
Well Windows Vista has finally been
launched for all to buy. Having had the 'pleasure' of thoroughly
testing the final release for the past 3 months via an MSDN
license, I really haven't got much to say about it that Charlie
Demerjian over at The Inquirer hasn't already
said:
Vista makes me sad
Any systems administrator worth his salt will stay well and clear of Vista until the first service pack makes its appearance. And going by recent reports that will not be a long wait.
Vista makes me sad
Any systems administrator worth his salt will stay well and clear of Vista until the first service pack makes its appearance. And going by recent reports that will not be a long wait.
John C. Dvorak Just Keeps On Rambling
25/01/2007 12:03 PM
I'm starting to wonder if 'talking
rubbish' should be a national crime punishable by death both here
in the United Kingdom and in the United States.
Whilst we in the UK have had the recent pleasure of trying to avoid Jade Goody's ill-advised use of her mouth on TV, over in the US the esteemed John C. Dvorak once again begs the IT industry to question why this quack is still being paid to write the following diatribe:
A Unified Linux
It's one thing to readily admit to baiting Apple Mac users for the purpose of generating traffic to his badly written articles. It's another to keep on spouting crap such as this and actually think that people will ever (or ever did) take you seriously.
And please don't get me started on Rob Enderle. A lot like London buses, when one peddler of rubbish comes along another isn't too far behind.
Whilst we in the UK have had the recent pleasure of trying to avoid Jade Goody's ill-advised use of her mouth on TV, over in the US the esteemed John C. Dvorak once again begs the IT industry to question why this quack is still being paid to write the following diatribe:
A Unified Linux
It's one thing to readily admit to baiting Apple Mac users for the purpose of generating traffic to his badly written articles. It's another to keep on spouting crap such as this and actually think that people will ever (or ever did) take you seriously.
And please don't get me started on Rob Enderle. A lot like London buses, when one peddler of rubbish comes along another isn't too far behind.
Honda ASIMO Advert
20/12/2006 11:19 PM
If you've not yet seen the new Honda
ASIMO advert I recommend you do so now:
Honda ASIMO
It's amazing to see just how much progress Honda have been making with their ASIMO project.
Honda ASIMO
It's amazing to see just how much progress Honda have been making with their ASIMO project.
Digital Spy's Early History
30/03/2006 05:15 PM
For those of you who know Digital Spy well, the site offers an official history page which documents the
early formation of the site as well as other more recent
activities.
Unfortunately I must admit to finding their history page more than a little lacking in relation to the period of January 1999 - May 2001 so I thought I would share my own recollection of events during that time with the assistance of old emails, Usenet postings and other fond reminders from days gone by...
17th January 1999
The digiNEWS site is launched by Iain Chapman.
28th February 1999
ONfaq, a site originally run by Chris Butcher, partners with digiNEWS.
21st July 1999
Having become good friends with Iain Chapman via the DALnet #SkyDigital IRC channel and offering to host his site for him, the digiNEWS site moves from its early Freeserve host to a virtual server hosting the new diginews.org domain name. In the same month we also saw the first appearance of the extremely popular digiNEWS forum powered by the extremely buggy Microsoft FrontPage 98 Discussion WebBot.
Note: This was the first of many virtual servers I provided and maintained for the site until June 2001 when growth dictated the necessary move to a dedicated server.
1st November 1999
Cable News UK, a site originally run by Chris Norris, joins digiNEWS and ONfaq in the formation of the digiNEWS Network.
1st March 2000
The first appearance of the Digital Spy brand occurs with the relaunch of the digiNEWS Network forum using Ultimate Bulletin Board v5 as the forum's backend.
3rd April 2000
TVzone, a site originally run by Neil Wilkes, joins the digiNEWS Network.
14th August 2000
dvdnews.co.uk, a site originally run by Mark Hughes, is the final site to join the digiNEWS Network.
19th May 2001
The digiNEWS Network evolves from a collection of micro sites into the new Digital Spy site.
Note: The new site design was powered by RAMS (Remote Access Management System) a content management system that I developed for the site along with the new CSS based design wrapped around RAMS.
Unfortunately I must admit to finding their history page more than a little lacking in relation to the period of January 1999 - May 2001 so I thought I would share my own recollection of events during that time with the assistance of old emails, Usenet postings and other fond reminders from days gone by...
17th January 1999
The digiNEWS site is launched by Iain Chapman.
28th February 1999
ONfaq, a site originally run by Chris Butcher, partners with digiNEWS.
21st July 1999
Having become good friends with Iain Chapman via the DALnet #SkyDigital IRC channel and offering to host his site for him, the digiNEWS site moves from its early Freeserve host to a virtual server hosting the new diginews.org domain name. In the same month we also saw the first appearance of the extremely popular digiNEWS forum powered by the extremely buggy Microsoft FrontPage 98 Discussion WebBot.
Note: This was the first of many virtual servers I provided and maintained for the site until June 2001 when growth dictated the necessary move to a dedicated server.
1st November 1999
Cable News UK, a site originally run by Chris Norris, joins digiNEWS and ONfaq in the formation of the digiNEWS Network.
1st March 2000
The first appearance of the Digital Spy brand occurs with the relaunch of the digiNEWS Network forum using Ultimate Bulletin Board v5 as the forum's backend.
3rd April 2000
TVzone, a site originally run by Neil Wilkes, joins the digiNEWS Network.
14th August 2000
dvdnews.co.uk, a site originally run by Mark Hughes, is the final site to join the digiNEWS Network.
19th May 2001
The digiNEWS Network evolves from a collection of micro sites into the new Digital Spy site.
Note: The new site design was powered by RAMS (Remote Access Management System) a content management system that I developed for the site along with the new CSS based design wrapped around RAMS.