TechFluffTV reports on start-up news in Europe and low and behold I'm performing an escalator pitch for Textic.
It's only 30secs and here's the YouTube direct link.
2009/04/14
2009/04/13
Channel 4 - News - Amazon website censorship row
Channel 4 - News - Amazon website censorship row
Amazon US are allegedly censoring goods that have a gay or lesbian theme. If searches are made on the front page, items wont show up at all though they will search up in the sub categories such as books etc, but without seller ratings.
Obviously people are quite upset about this if Amazon are censoring items, though they claim it's a glitch.
There has been a big Twitter backlash against Amazon (using the hashtag #amazonfail) urging people to complain.
Channel 4 News did a piece about it. I was interviewed about the Twitter part which is just before the end of the clip.
Amazon US are allegedly censoring goods that have a gay or lesbian theme. If searches are made on the front page, items wont show up at all though they will search up in the sub categories such as books etc, but without seller ratings.
Obviously people are quite upset about this if Amazon are censoring items, though they claim it's a glitch.
There has been a big Twitter backlash against Amazon (using the hashtag #amazonfail) urging people to complain.
Channel 4 News did a piece about it. I was interviewed about the Twitter part which is just before the end of the clip.
Another kick in the teeth for troubled Tiscali as IPTV subscribers dwindle - Broadband Genie
Another kick in the teeth for troubled Tiscali as IPTV subscribers dwindle - Broadband Genie
It seems Tiscali's IPTV service had reached 100,000 users by the end of 2008, which all sounds pretty good. Unfortunately they were expecting to have 200,000 users which means they only achieved 50% of their target which isn't such a good figure. They may also have lost 64,000'ish broadband customers.
Tiscali UK have been up for sale for a while and this may reduce their chance of a quick sale (or increase their chance of being sold off as a firesale).
It seems Tiscali's IPTV service had reached 100,000 users by the end of 2008, which all sounds pretty good. Unfortunately they were expecting to have 200,000 users which means they only achieved 50% of their target which isn't such a good figure. They may also have lost 64,000'ish broadband customers.
Tiscali UK have been up for sale for a while and this may reduce their chance of a quick sale (or increase their chance of being sold off as a firesale).
2009/04/08
2009/04/06
Netgear releases ReadyNAS NVX
Netgear's ReadyNAS products are really nice home/office shared network resources. The NV+ has been around for a while, then the PRO came out which increased the bay count to 6 (from 4) offered dual network interfaces and faster processors based on Intel chips.
Netgear have now introduced the NVX which is a four bay design but (I guess) also Intel processors. As well as NFS, CIFS, AFS, FTP, http and other network sharing protocols the NVX now supports iSCSI as well.
Mac users have recently had improvements and a ReadyNAS can act as a Time Machine server for network back-ups and restore directly integrating with the Apple Time Machine client which is integrated into MacOS 10.5.
NetVault is a new service introduced by Netgear where ReadyNAS users can back-up their NAS's over the Internet and pay a monthly fee. The pricing seems to be based on whether the back-up is performed by a home user or business.
Currently in beta is Remote, a client which will allow remote users to natively access a ReadyNAS even if it's behind a firewall etc. It sits on Windows or MacOS and the ReadyNAS appears as a local disk.
Retail pricing is about $1,500 for a ReadyNAS NVX including 2TB of disk.
Netgear have now introduced the NVX which is a four bay design but (I guess) also Intel processors. As well as NFS, CIFS, AFS, FTP, http and other network sharing protocols the NVX now supports iSCSI as well.
Mac users have recently had improvements and a ReadyNAS can act as a Time Machine server for network back-ups and restore directly integrating with the Apple Time Machine client which is integrated into MacOS 10.5.
NetVault is a new service introduced by Netgear where ReadyNAS users can back-up their NAS's over the Internet and pay a monthly fee. The pricing seems to be based on whether the back-up is performed by a home user or business.
Currently in beta is Remote, a client which will allow remote users to natively access a ReadyNAS even if it's behind a firewall etc. It sits on Windows or MacOS and the ReadyNAS appears as a local disk.
Retail pricing is about $1,500 for a ReadyNAS NVX including 2TB of disk.
Today is data logging day
The UK law comes into force today (based on an EU directive) that means ISPs and telcos have to keep records of emails and phone calls for up to a year.
Well telcos have already been keeping records of telephone calls because they have to bill calls and billing records have to be kept for seven years anyway.
The story for ISPs is slightly different (and potentially unworkable). If a customer uses their ISPs mail server to send out Email then the ISP has to record the time, the originator and the recipients of the Email. They don't have to log the contents (which would mean huge storage costs).
If a customer sends out their own Email without going through the ISP mail server, it obviously wont be logged. ISPs can force Email traffic to go through their servers (though this can be circumvented too if the customer tries hard enough).
Since most large ISPs (in the UK) are implementing what was known as Cleanfeed (the system that allows ISPs to block content based on an IWF blacklist), they can also use that system to log web requests.
Logging data can be a huge burden for ISPs as the volumes get very large very quickly.
Well telcos have already been keeping records of telephone calls because they have to bill calls and billing records have to be kept for seven years anyway.
The story for ISPs is slightly different (and potentially unworkable). If a customer uses their ISPs mail server to send out Email then the ISP has to record the time, the originator and the recipients of the Email. They don't have to log the contents (which would mean huge storage costs).
If a customer sends out their own Email without going through the ISP mail server, it obviously wont be logged. ISPs can force Email traffic to go through their servers (though this can be circumvented too if the customer tries hard enough).
Since most large ISPs (in the UK) are implementing what was known as Cleanfeed (the system that allows ISPs to block content based on an IWF blacklist), they can also use that system to log web requests.
Logging data can be a huge burden for ISPs as the volumes get very large very quickly.
2009/04/05
iPodRip - Giveaway
iPodRip - Giveaway
iPodRip are giving away some nice iPod prizes.
It's actually a nice program that allows you to get the music off your iPod (i.e. it does the opposite of iTunes).
iPodRip are giving away some nice iPod prizes.
It's actually a nice program that allows you to get the music off your iPod (i.e. it does the opposite of iTunes).
2009/04/03
NVidia releases new graphics card
NVidia has introduced new high end graphics cards, the top end Quadro FX5800 has 240 CUDA parallel processing cores and 4GB of high speed shader RAM it has Displayport and dual-DVI outputs.
This isn't a cheap solution the FX5800 costs around $3,300. The lower end cards start at at £300.
NVidia offer drivers for a variety of operating systems including most varieties of Windows, 32 and 64 bit Linux, Solaris x86/64. Unfortunately no MacOS drivers, so unless Apple do something they wont go into a MacPro (which would seem a logical choice for high end cards).
This isn't a cheap solution the FX5800 costs around $3,300. The lower end cards start at at £300.
NVidia offer drivers for a variety of operating systems including most varieties of Windows, 32 and 64 bit Linux, Solaris x86/64. Unfortunately no MacOS drivers, so unless Apple do something they wont go into a MacPro (which would seem a logical choice for high end cards).
Virgin announce Addict tariff
Virgin's addict tariff is aimed at the mobile Internet user who needs to get their daily fix of social media sites.
£20 gives the user unlimited texts and unlimited data and 10p per minute for phone calls.
It's not quite as good as it sounds though as unlimited of course isn't unlimited as it's 1GB per month for data and 3,000 texts per month - though ignoring the data that means an SMS cost of 1.5p per text (though that's sending 100 texts per day - could be cheap for sending bulk SMS via lots of SIMs).
If a cheaper top-up tariff is chosen i.e. £15/m then there's 600 free texts and for £10/m it's 300 free texts with Internet costing 30p per day limited to 25MB.
It's also worth noting that file sharing and video or voice over Internet calls are not allowed.
Though £20 per month isn't bad for 3,000 text messages and 1GB Internet per month though there are better data deals on other networks.
£20 gives the user unlimited texts and unlimited data and 10p per minute for phone calls.
It's not quite as good as it sounds though as unlimited of course isn't unlimited as it's 1GB per month for data and 3,000 texts per month - though ignoring the data that means an SMS cost of 1.5p per text (though that's sending 100 texts per day - could be cheap for sending bulk SMS via lots of SIMs).
If a cheaper top-up tariff is chosen i.e. £15/m then there's 600 free texts and for £10/m it's 300 free texts with Internet costing 30p per day limited to 25MB.
It's also worth noting that file sharing and video or voice over Internet calls are not allowed.
Though £20 per month isn't bad for 3,000 text messages and 1GB Internet per month though there are better data deals on other networks.
Fonera v2 coming out 29th April
FON is a service that allows broadband users to share their Internet connection with other FON users (or with the general public). Registered FON users then also get access through any other FON device when they're away from their own premise.
The new Fonera v2 WiFi router has 2 LAN ports and a USB port that may be connected to any USB2.0 device or several through a hub.
The system will then share various USB devices like cameras and scanners and act a print server for connected printers. If disks are connected then these can also be shared, but there's also a bittorrent client built-in to the Fonera so that downloads can be left overnight and be ready in the morning. Disks can be traditional USB hard disks or even pen drives. If the disk contains photos these can automatically be uploaded to Flickr and other sites and videos automatically sent to YouTube.
The Fonera 2 unit will cost 49 Euros.
The new Fonera v2 WiFi router has 2 LAN ports and a USB port that may be connected to any USB2.0 device or several through a hub.
The system will then share various USB devices like cameras and scanners and act a print server for connected printers. If disks are connected then these can also be shared, but there's also a bittorrent client built-in to the Fonera so that downloads can be left overnight and be ready in the morning. Disks can be traditional USB hard disks or even pen drives. If the disk contains photos these can automatically be uploaded to Flickr and other sites and videos automatically sent to YouTube.
The Fonera 2 unit will cost 49 Euros.
Ofcom sets mobile termination rates
Ofcom has published mobile termination rates for the mobile networks
The rates below are for Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4
Vodafone and O2 5.40 5.09 4.71 TBC
T-Mobile and Orange 5.90 5.39 4.84 TBC
H3G 9.10 7.29 5.83 TBC
The mobile networks are having there revenues reduces severely (but this is in-line with a recent dispute with UK01 a new mobile entrant who also have a rate set which was 3.3p) but it's good for the consumer. Mobile rates have reduced significantly from a few years ago when they were charging 33p per minute.
The rates below are for Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4
Vodafone and O2 5.40 5.09 4.71 TBC
T-Mobile and Orange 5.90 5.39 4.84 TBC
H3G 9.10 7.29 5.83 TBC
The mobile networks are having there revenues reduces severely (but this is in-line with a recent dispute with UK01 a new mobile entrant who also have a rate set which was 3.3p) but it's good for the consumer. Mobile rates have reduced significantly from a few years ago when they were charging 33p per minute.
2009/04/02
Breakfasst with Jeff Pulver and Paul Walsh
This morning's breakfast with Jeff Pulver and Paul Walsh was a lively affair with lots of social networking taking place.
The bacon sandwiches may not have been the best idea, but overall a good event.
The bacon sandwiches may not have been the best idea, but overall a good event.
Thunderbird - actually a reasonable email client
Reading email can be a pain. Mutt is my preferred Email client, it's text based runs on UN*X/Linux, is fast and just works and is also available from anywhere by ssh'ing into the bix where the mail is stored.
Being text based, it's really good for scanning Email and deleting the rubbish. Emails can also be read and actioned, however being text based it's not good when people send pure HTML Email or Emails with nice attachments.
Being a Linux user (Fedora Core 10 at the moment) which also acts as a mail server (and file server as well as various other things), it means the system is on all the time. Outlook is a fine Email program as is Mail.app, but they mean booting a Windows or Apple machine.
So though the Linux box was on all the time, it was only really used for reading text Email through Mutt.
Then Thunderbird was suggested, it's an Email client from the Mozilla folks and it works. It''s actually quite similar to Outlook in the way it does certain things and if you're used to Outlook it will be relatively painless to use (though setting up Email accounts may not be so easy).
Now attachments are there and can be viewed as can HTML Email (rendered through Firefox or at least its libraries).
Thunderbird is a pretty good Email client for POP3/IMAP Email accounts.
Being text based, it's really good for scanning Email and deleting the rubbish. Emails can also be read and actioned, however being text based it's not good when people send pure HTML Email or Emails with nice attachments.
Being a Linux user (Fedora Core 10 at the moment) which also acts as a mail server (and file server as well as various other things), it means the system is on all the time. Outlook is a fine Email program as is Mail.app, but they mean booting a Windows or Apple machine.
So though the Linux box was on all the time, it was only really used for reading text Email through Mutt.
Then Thunderbird was suggested, it's an Email client from the Mozilla folks and it works. It''s actually quite similar to Outlook in the way it does certain things and if you're used to Outlook it will be relatively painless to use (though setting up Email accounts may not be so easy).
Now attachments are there and can be viewed as can HTML Email (rendered through Firefox or at least its libraries).
Thunderbird is a pretty good Email client for POP3/IMAP Email accounts.
2009/04/01
IBM to buy Sun
IBM's potential purchase of Sun has been speculated recently, however it also seems various large company's procurement departments have been told to hold of making any Sun purchases and speak to IBM.
If the purchase does go ahead what will remain of Sun? Sparc will likely die (or just go over to Fujitsu completely), MySQL will drop to the wayside (or at least dropped off IBM's portfolio - they have enough of their own databases), Solaris will just go Open with little involvement from IBM if any at all.
The only thing that IBM definitely want is Java.
$6.5bn is cheap considering the prices paid for Compaq and others in recent times, but manufacturing chips - however good they are is expensive. This could be the end of an era and Sun may be disappearing over the IBM horizon.
If the purchase does go ahead what will remain of Sun? Sparc will likely die (or just go over to Fujitsu completely), MySQL will drop to the wayside (or at least dropped off IBM's portfolio - they have enough of their own databases), Solaris will just go Open with little involvement from IBM if any at all.
The only thing that IBM definitely want is Java.
$6.5bn is cheap considering the prices paid for Compaq and others in recent times, but manufacturing chips - however good they are is expensive. This could be the end of an era and Sun may be disappearing over the IBM horizon.
2009/03/26
UK01 the 6th UK network
UK01 are a new mobile operator in the UK offering localised GSM hotzones. Currently you buy a UK01 SIM (or get one for free) and buy minutes - on-line through the UK01 site or via local outlets (Pazone or epay).
The UK01 rates are very competitive, especially to non UK numbers - though UK rates are too bad, 1p per minute to a landline, 8p to a mobile and text messages cost 3p (though bundle deals are available).
UK01 are planning to offer a SIMless service soon, whereby users have to manually select the UK01 network on the phone. Normally the network doesn't recognise the EMEI and so rejects the connection, however UK01 welcome the EMEI and immediately register it. The phone then receives an SMS with the UK01 phone number (which can immediately receive calls) and tells the user how they can buy credit to make outgoing calls.
Coverage is currently limited to areas within Newham, but UK01 is planning to expand into neighbouring boroughs and even across the whole of London.
UK01 has already sold thousands of SIMs and is generating hundreds of thousands of call minutes per month, which isn't bad for a new operator - especially one that's operating in such a small area.
UK01 are definitely a network to watch, they could be extremely disruptive to the MNOs.
The UK01 rates are very competitive, especially to non UK numbers - though UK rates are too bad, 1p per minute to a landline, 8p to a mobile and text messages cost 3p (though bundle deals are available).
UK01 are planning to offer a SIMless service soon, whereby users have to manually select the UK01 network on the phone. Normally the network doesn't recognise the EMEI and so rejects the connection, however UK01 welcome the EMEI and immediately register it. The phone then receives an SMS with the UK01 phone number (which can immediately receive calls) and tells the user how they can buy credit to make outgoing calls.
Coverage is currently limited to areas within Newham, but UK01 is planning to expand into neighbouring boroughs and even across the whole of London.
UK01 has already sold thousands of SIMs and is generating hundreds of thousands of call minutes per month, which isn't bad for a new operator - especially one that's operating in such a small area.
UK01 are definitely a network to watch, they could be extremely disruptive to the MNOs.
Twitter via SMS in the UK
Vodafone have opened up their network to Twitter users, but only for Vodafone customers.
Twitter users set-up their accounts within the Devices section of their profile, then add their mobile number.
While mobile, send a tweet to 86444 and it will go to your feed.
Messages from Twitter don't cost you anything? While SMS messages to Twitter are charged at standard network rates and included in any bundles and message allowance (though the first few messages don't seem to be counted).
It's likely other UK MNOs will follow suit just to keep the status quo - though maybe this a pre-emptive strike by Vodafone to block other networks or even purchase Twitter.
Twitter users set-up their accounts within the Devices section of their profile, then add their mobile number.
While mobile, send a tweet to 86444 and it will go to your feed.
Messages from Twitter don't cost you anything? While SMS messages to Twitter are charged at standard network rates and included in any bundles and message allowance (though the first few messages don't seem to be counted).
It's likely other UK MNOs will follow suit just to keep the status quo - though maybe this a pre-emptive strike by Vodafone to block other networks or even purchase Twitter.
Ofcom 2.6GHz spectrum Auction
Though T-Mobile has dropped their intention to take Ofcom to Judicial Review, O2 have now taken Ofcom to Judicial review and are attempting to include T-Mobile's intention even though T-Mobile pulled out. This will occur in April.
It has now also been ported that there is the potential for interference to radars operating in the 2.7GHz band which include airport radar. Therefore at least initially there will need to be coordination between 2.6GHz licensees and radar operators (such as the CAA and some ship types operated by the MoD and others).
At some point in the future the radar systems will be adjusted such that interference from 2.6GHz will be minimised.
Ofcom is still intending to launch the auction as soon as the judicial review has taken place (assuming it goes there way).
It has now also been ported that there is the potential for interference to radars operating in the 2.7GHz band which include airport radar. Therefore at least initially there will need to be coordination between 2.6GHz licensees and radar operators (such as the CAA and some ship types operated by the MoD and others).
At some point in the future the radar systems will be adjusted such that interference from 2.6GHz will be minimised.
Ofcom is still intending to launch the auction as soon as the judicial review has taken place (assuming it goes there way).
2009/03/25
Economist Blames Twitter for Down Economy - Twitter Moratorium
Economist Blames Twitter for Down Economy - Twitter Moratorium
Twitter blamed for global economic downturn, stranger things have happened ...
Twitter blamed for global economic downturn, stranger things have happened ...
2009/03/23
Inkd | Our dashboard for managing your Inkd account.
Inkd | The World's First Market for Original Print Design.
Today Inkd have launched, another creation of Curios Office.
Inkd was originally known as Pressplane who have been very secretive about what they've been doing, now all is revealed.
Inkd is all about designers creating office stationary templates and being able to sell this to companies wanting their own designs, but not being able to afford (or have the resources available) of doing it by themselves. Designers upload their templates and customers download and customise them.
Customers are charged for the templates and designers get a cut of the fee. The more designers that sign-up and upload templates, the more customers will be attracted to the site. All uploaded work is checked by Inkd staff to ensure its quality and meets Inkd's guidelines.
Curious Office launched a successful site for artists/photographers called ImageKind which was sold to Cafe Press.
Kelly Smith is the brains behind Curious Office/ImageKind and Pressplane/Inkd.
Hopefully Inkd will be another successful venture.
Today Inkd have launched, another creation of Curios Office.
Inkd was originally known as Pressplane who have been very secretive about what they've been doing, now all is revealed.
Inkd is all about designers creating office stationary templates and being able to sell this to companies wanting their own designs, but not being able to afford (or have the resources available) of doing it by themselves. Designers upload their templates and customers download and customise them.
Customers are charged for the templates and designers get a cut of the fee. The more designers that sign-up and upload templates, the more customers will be attracted to the site. All uploaded work is checked by Inkd staff to ensure its quality and meets Inkd's guidelines.
Curious Office launched a successful site for artists/photographers called ImageKind which was sold to Cafe Press.
Kelly Smith is the brains behind Curious Office/ImageKind and Pressplane/Inkd.
Hopefully Inkd will be another successful venture.
2009/03/21
The OpenBTS Project
The OpenBTS Project
Great project for an open source GSM basestation.
There's a few legal issues (and lack of spectrum, well usable spectrum anyway) but this could be the solution for rural areas or networks in non 1st world countries. There could also be an interest for some of the low power guard band operators who won licenses in the UK.
It currently uses Asterisk as intelligence for the "back-end".
This project should be supported.
Great project for an open source GSM basestation.
There's a few legal issues (and lack of spectrum, well usable spectrum anyway) but this could be the solution for rural areas or networks in non 1st world countries. There could also be an interest for some of the low power guard band operators who won licenses in the UK.
It currently uses Asterisk as intelligence for the "back-end".
This project should be supported.
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