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Networking

HDBaseT Supporters Hope To Kiss HDMI Goodbye 336

Posted by timothy from the rj-45-rocks dept.
arcticstoat writes "HDMI's short-lived reign over the TV cable racks could soon be over, thanks to a new usurper that combines several connections into a standard Cat5e/6 network cable with an RJ-45 connector. Designed by a coalition of consumer electronics manufacturers called the HDBaseT Alliance, which includes Sony, Samsung, LG and Valens, HDBaseT promises to not only carry video and audio signals, but also provide a network connection, a USB signal and even electricity using a single cable. The Alliance predicts that we'll start seeing the first HDBaseT equipment creeping into the shops later this year, but says the bigger wave of adoption will occur later in 2011."

Comment Re:Good riddance (Score 1) 435

by ICLKennyG (#32757542) Attached to: Apple, AT&T Sued Over iPhone 4 Antennas
To be fair, Apple lets you have porn on the iPhone too. They just want to protect you from paying for porn. News flash, there is a lot of free porn on the internet. There is even more 'free' porn if you know where to get it and don't care about copyright infringement.

/Ret con.

Comment Re:Irony (Score 1) 507

by ICLKennyG (#32755600) Attached to: Fark Creator Slams 'the Wisdom of Crowds'

How About "The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nation" It is a nice counter to Charles Mackay. It's funny how people like to say crowds are morons and then try to prove it Scientifically like Francis Galton did with his Ox Experiment. If a crowd is so stupid why is the Mean of Francis' experiment within 1 pound of the weight of the Ox? From what Fark is ranting about he seems more irked about his crowd not self organizing when he wants it to. Wikipedia and Youtube self organize not just because of leadership but because the crowd wants to organize. If you have a meaningless concept that doesn't have the interest of the crowd then it wont self organize. And just because a group of people can be tricked like in the many witch burnings doesn't mean they have more or less wisdom then the individual since I've seen individuals go far more mad than that.

I wish I had a [blink] tag. Selection bias. You run a site about inane bs. perhaps those who comment about the inane bs will be commenting... inane bs!

Comment Re:Shit! (Score 1) 144

by ICLKennyG (#32742602) Attached to: USPTO Grants Bezos Patent On '60s-Era Chargebacks
You are aware that that is basically how the patent system works.

You pay based on your application and the calculated prosecution complexity. You get so many claims for a fee and the more complex above that basic level you pay more. Then if (or more likely when) your application gets rejected you file a response. When you screw that up, you pay more money and file some more. The examiners also get paid for doing rejections.

The reason shit like this gets through is largely in part due to the fact that because of the backlog the PTO had billions in cash sitting around. What happens when a government organization has billions in cash reserves? Other government agencies borrow from it to meet their budgeting shortfalls. So, as filings have rocketed up, the backlog has gotten worse because they don't have enough money to get new examiners and are grossly overloaded. The response should be to give the patent office MORE money, not less. MORE money might actually allow them to spend more than 45 minutes looking for prior art.

Comment Re:Transparency (Score 0, Offtopic) 344

by ICLKennyG (#32742398) Attached to: UK Police Threaten Teenage Photojournalist
The (free) press has already been asaulted by the bankruptcy laws. I don't mean to be overly 'Rupert Murdoch owns everything and is using it for Faux News' but more of a practical argument that the idea of a healthy and effective press has long since been an ideal not based in reality.

Even discounting the TMZ effect of publishing trash instead of news, the financial realities of the traditional media and the practicalities of the new media have simply diluted the ability of people to hear a message and organize change. The press corps of one have caused so much fragmentation that stories aren't able to gain the critical mass to affect change. This (public photography) has been a big internet WAAAAAAAMBULANCE issue since about 2002, yet it seems from the discussion here that even the generally liberal crowd on here hasn't even heard about this yet.

If you think TFA was bad, take your camera to a public park and take pictures of kids playing in that public place. Bonus points if you do it with a trench coat and a big white Canon 300mm F/2.8L
Censorship

UK Police Threaten Teenage Photojournalist 344

Posted by kdawson from the mightier-than-the-truncheon dept.
IonOtter writes "In what seems to be a common occurrence, and now a costly one, Metropolitan Police in the UK still don't seem to be getting the message that assaulting photographers is a bad idea. UK press photographer Jules Matteson details the event in his blog, titled The Romford Incident. The incident has already been picked up by The Register, The Independent, and the British Journal of Photography, which contains an official statement from the Metropolitan Police."
Handhelds

Cisco To Challenge iPad With Cius 'Business Tablet' 217

Posted by kdawson from the first-into-the-ring dept.
GMGruman and several other readers noted Cisco's announcement of the forthcoming 7-inch Android-based iPad challenger, the Cius, which "... will offer multiple networking capabilities, keyboard and mouse support, and the ability to do videoconferencing. Cisco says it will cost less than $1,000, or about the same as an iPad. The Cius will come with a front-facing high-definition video camera that can record 720p video at 30 frames per second and a 5-megapixel camera at the back that can capture high-quality video and still images. Users will be able to engage in live video calls [most likely via WebEx] when the tablet is docked or being held. Some units will be available this fall, though general availability is not expected until early 2011."
Microsoft

Leaked MS Presentation Shows App Store Plans For Windows 8 339

Posted by Soulskill from the hopping-on-the-bandwagon dept.
FrankNFurter sends word of an internal Microsoft presentation leaked online today that contains details about Windows 8. The slides mention support for 3-D displays, connectivity upgrades, rapid startup times, and an integrated application store. Quoting Neowin: "Consumers will be able to search on the web or locally on a Windows 8 machine to access applications from the store. Microsoft also details plans for application developers to help reach millions of users. One of the goals is to ensure licensing and monetization for developers is flexible with a transparent on-boarding process. It's clear that the 'Windows Store' will be a software service Microsoft provides and hosts fully in the cloud. The company will likely build the distribution model on Windows Azure to lure application developers."
Music

Creative Commons Responds To ASCAP Letter 161

Posted by Soulskill from the you-wouldn't-like-us-when-we're-angry dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Drew Wilson at ZeroPaid has a followup to the story about ASCAP telling its members that organizations like EFF and Creative Commons are undermining copyright. A spokesperson from Creative Commons said, 'It's very sad that ASCAP is falsely claiming that Creative Commons works to undermine copyright. Creative Commons licenses are copyright licenses — plain and simple, without copyright, these tools don't even work.' He also said, 'Many tens of thousands of musicians, including acts like Nine Inch Nails, the Beastie Boys, David Byrne, Radiohead, and Snoop Dogg, have used Creative Commons licenses to share with the public.' Many ASCAP members are already expressing their disappointment with the ASCAP letter over at Mind the Gap. Sounds like ASCAP will be in damage control for a while."
Government

White House Unveils Plans For "Trusted Identities In Cyberspace" 202

Posted by Soulskill from the this-can-only-end-well dept.
Presto Vivace writes with news that the Obama administration's cyber-security coordinater, Howard Schmidt, yesterday unveiled a national plan for "trusted" online identities. Schmidt wrote, "The NSTIC, which is in response to one of the near term action items in the President’s Cyberspace Policy Review, calls for the creation of an online environment, or an Identity Ecosystem as we refer to it in the strategy, where individuals and organizations can complete online transactions with confidence, trusting the identities of each other and the identities of the infrastructure that the transaction runs on. For example, no longer should individuals have to remember an ever-expanding and potentially insecure list of usernames and passwords to login into various online services. Through the strategy we seek to enable a future where individuals can voluntarily choose to obtain a secure, interoperable, and privacy-enhancing credential (e.g., a smart identity card, a digital certificate on their cell phone, etc.) from a variety of service providers — both public and private — to authenticate themselves online for different types of transactions (e.g., online banking, accessing electronic health records, sending email, etc.)." You can read the full draft of the plan (PDF), and the White House is seeking public comments on it as well.
PC Games (Games)

Civ 5 Will Let You Import and Convert Civ 4 Maps 142

Posted by Soulskill from the backward-compatibility dept.
bbretterson writes "From an interview Bitmob conducted with Civilization 5 Lead Designer Jon Shafer: 'You can import Civ 4 maps into the world builder and convert them into Civ 5 maps, including all the units and cities and stuff on it — the conversion process will just do that for you automatically. We're hoping that the first week Civ 5 is out, people will use that function and port all of the Civ 4 stuff over to Civ 5, so everything will be out there already.'"
Networking

Cheap ADSL Holds Up 802.11n Router Design 268

Posted by kdawson from the wouldn't-mind-an-isp-price-plunge dept.
sholto writes "Ever wondered why you can't find the perfect 802.11n router? You know, the one with dual band, great range, USB print server and storage? Australian ISPs used to give away modem routers to consumers with expensive ADSL plans, but competition has forced them to drop the plans' prices so low they can't subsidize the boxes any more. D-Link Australia says R&D into N routers is now becalmed in a Catch-22."

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