16493512
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
The BBC is reporting news of project Webinos, an initiative to provide a common platform for web applications that would sidestep current operating systems and allow devs to create web-based apps that would run anywhere — PCs, TVs, cars, mobiles.
The project aims to sidestep operating systems and proprietary app stores by providing a web-based approach.
The idea would enable a given app to work, for example, on a web-ready television, in a car and on a mobile, no matter the makers of the devices... Companies can afford to have an app on two or at most three platforms — they're extremely costly to develop and ensure the user experience..
Makes sense for all, except companies that thrive on having their own, proprietary systems to 'differentiate' themselves from the other proprietary systems.
15387274
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
In a rare turn of events, a Belgian ISP has released figure for its "super users" by bandwidth usage not to demonise them, but to show how good their network and plans are! 1 User downloaded more than 2TB, 7 others hit the 1TB mark.
Its only a matter of time before there's a competition for who can clog this network up with the most traffic :)
8912918
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
The BBC has been granted provisional approval to introduce copy protection for Freeview HD after they resubmitted an amended plan.
Quote:
"In view of the fuller submission provided by the BBC, Ofcom is currently minded to approve its request for a multiplex licence amendment subject to consultation responses, on the basis that in principle, content management is a justified objective which ensures that the broadest range of HD content is made available to citizens and consumers," said Ofcom's statement.
However, its not too late yet — you can submit your comment and tell them you'd like to be able to record broadcast HD TV.
I'm sure the 'content providers' will continue to sell content to the BBC, ITV etc if this is not implemented. They'll still take our licence fee money (or advertising) and sell us the content, but refuse to let us record or copy it, hoping we'll go out and buy the DVD/BluRays as well.
8487062
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
I love stories about new smartphones, it shows the IT market is doing something different than the usual same-old desktop apps, maybe one day we'll all be using super smartphones as our primary computing platforms.
And so, here's Intel's offering: the LG GW990. Running a Moorestown CPU, which gives 'considerably' better energy efficiency than the Atom, it runs Intel's Linux distro — Moblin.
"In some respects, the GW990 — "which has an impressive high-resolution 4.8-inch touchscreen display — "seems more like a MID than a smartphone. It's possible that we won't see x86 phones with truly competitive all-day battery life until the emergence of Medfield, the Moorestown successor that is said to be coming in 2011. It is clear, however, that Intel aims to eventually compete squarely with ARM in the high-end smartphone market."
5079305
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
1. Ogg Theora
2. H.264
3. Quicktime
4. Flash
5. MPEG4
6. NealMedia(tm)
3235685
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
The BBC are reporting that new 'blokes' channel Dave has arranged to make 2 final episodes of the cult classic comedy Red Dwarf, only 21 years after the original launch.
The show has been resurrected by digital channel Dave for a two-part Easter weekend special, which sees the cast finally return to Earth.
Written and directed by Red Dwarf co-creator Doug Naylor, the new show reunites the line-up.
The new two-part series Red Dwarf: Back to Earth will be followed by a "no holds barred" episode without sets, special effects or autocue.
2886439
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
The BBC is reporting on a survey (pdf) by marketing information group TNS which asked 27,522 people aged between 18 and 55 from 16 countries to answer questions about their web use and compared respondents' faith in traditional versus online media.
The survey found that the Chinese spend the largest fraction of their leisure time online, however, UK housewives spend even more than China's average, students and the unemployed at 47%. (students spend 39%, the unemployed 32%)
So, just be careful next time you're thinking of posting that illiterate and rude response to someone on slashdot!
1144839
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
The BBC's readership does hate it when you get you're grammar incorrectly, just as much as the average /. nerd. :)
So, they asked around for grammar rules that readers thought were confusing or flouted and received a long list.
Here's the best top 20, I'm sure we can do better!
1139451
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
Sweet stuff comes along every so often, and this is one: a 40" LCD TV which is pretty nice in its own way, but what I found remarkable is that it is wireless (though that doesn't apply to the power cable) so you can place your other high-end AV kit far away from where you want your TV positioned.
Thanks to side-mounted LED backlighting the KDL-40ZX1 is only a staggering 9.9mm thick (at its thinnest point) almost replicating the width of the company's 27inch OLED model. There is also no need for wires to clutter the ZX1's svelte aesthetics as the box features Wireless HD, allowing the screen to be fed signals up to 1080p with no cabling.
So now you can place your DVD player next to your chair so you don't even have to get up to change movies. Next — wireless PC monitors please.
817245
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
The Times is running a comment piece about the XO $100 laptop, how its clinging to life and the ways Microsoft and Intel set about trying to stop it from ever being produced. Its an interesting read just for the description of how it came into being and the politics around Negroponte's vision.
Oh yes, Microsoft and Bill Gates comes out quite badly, Linux and the OLPC appears in a very good light in a national newspaper.
"I had wildly underestimated," says Negroponte, "the degree to which commercial entities will go to disrupt a humanitarian project."
804519
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
Congratulatons are in order for a community-build par excellence. Enthusiasts have built the first full-size steam locomotive for 50 years!
The "Peppercorn Class A1 Pacific 60163" Tornado is a brand spanking new steam locomotive, built by more than 100 hands out of the fund-raising efforts of thousands of enthusiasts.
Way back in 1966, the A1s were decommissioned in favour of diesel engines despite them still being considered railworthy for another 25 years of service.
The project received almost no public money, being funded from contributions equal to the price of a beer every week, and the engine was built from original plans held at the National Railway Museum in York.
Now its finished, the 160-tonne, 3,000hp Tornado will soon take to the main lines of Britain, France and Germany, where it will rush trainloads of enthusiasts and others nostalgic for the age of steam at, wherever possible, a steady 90mph.
So how about that for an community-sponsored, open-source (well, drawings) project!
803225
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
Ever thought it was difficult to write software for Linux? For multiple distros? InternetNews reports that the LSB is making a push for their next release (due out later this year) that should help make all that much easier.
Although the LSB has not lived up to expectations, this time round Linux has a higher profile and ISVs are more interested. This is to help persuade them to develop applications that will run on any LSB-compliant Linux distribution. If it gets adopted, LSB 4 could bring a new wave of multidistribution Linux application development.
"It is critically important for Linux to have an easy way for software developers to write to distro 'N,' whether it's Red Hat, Ubuntu or Novell," he said. The reason you need that is because we don't want what happened to Unix to happen to Linux in terms of fragmentation." says Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation
The LSB defines a core set of APIs and libraries, so ISVs can develop and port applications that will work on LSB-certified Linux distributions. Maybe this time they'll make it work with Debian!
792223
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
Ars Technica reports that Microsoft is to sponsor the Apache Foundation to the tune of $100k.
From TFA: "I asked him if this could possibly be the beginning of a broader initiative by Microsoft to increase Apache compatibility with .NET web development technologies, but he says it's still too early to guess Microsoft's future plans for Apache participation."
"He doesn't anticipate a confrontational response from the developers working on individual Apache projects ... The response of the broader open source software community, however, is harder to predict."
So what does the broader community think? Is MS running scared of the increasing relevance of open source software in today's IT world?
(In related news, MS also intends to participate in the RubySpec project)
787231
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
So OpenID is here, and has made a splash amongst those in the know, but soon its about to go mainstream with support from another huge provider — MySpace.
Apparently there are 120 million OpenID accounts in use, MySpace's 100 million users will double that.
Initially support is to use MySpace OpenIDs as providers only — ie you cannot logon to MySpace with an OpenID created elsewhere, but that policy will change in the future.
This should help to make OpenID the de-facto login mechanism for the internet, now if only MicroSoft would support it, there are plenty OSS OpenID libraries available.
743999
submission
gbjbaanb writes:
Whilst crop cirles are nothing new, and usually the work of drunk alie^H^H^H^H engineering students, this time they've gone one better: a crop circle that depicts, apparently, a coded image representing the first ten digits of pi — and even astrophysicists admit they find it "mind-boggling".
Really, its quite cool and keeps the tradition of digging patterns in the grass in Wiltshire since mankind first walked the planet.
