I had an opportunity to play with an iPhone 4 for a week and I loved it. And I'm loving the fact that the recent rash of mobile devices are capable of shooting decent 720p video. Of course, most of them are still outdone in terms of quality by the Flip HD which I had an opportunity to spend a lot of time with recently.
So, which is better? Well, here goes. It depends.
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Friday, July 9, 2010
Monday, August 31, 2009
President May Be Given Emergency Power To Control Internet In Crisis
Here you have it. It's in the title. The President of the United States may be given power to grand or deny Internet use if a Senate bill passes through Congress and is signed into law by President Obama.
Now, like anything controversial, there will be a lot of noise. Everything speaking all at once and the message gets lost. It's the case in the blog world and, unfortunately, traditional news sources are coming down to the level of bloggers in general. That's the situation with Internet reporting now.
So, having said that I want mobile users to be aware of this measure but the bill is in its infancy and by the time it gets out of committee and is voted on, it will be drastically different from its current form.
So, take note and we'll try to go to the meat of the matter. I know this for a fact. There is no death panel in this Internet bill that will pull the plug on granny.
More at CNet News
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Internet Radio Saved For Now
I've used podcasts since it was made available on iTunes. Now, i cannot imagine being without it when I run, work in the yard, at the office.
Since I've got my iPhone and all those neat radio apps, I can't imagine going on without access to Internet radio. Fortunately, the bail-out was not the only thing that concerned Congress as H.R. 7084, Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008, cleared the Senate and is on its way to the President's desk for signing.
The passage does not mean an all clear as it permits negotiation with the Copyright Royalty Board for lower rates. With what it was before, many Internet radio stations would have been wiped out. I'm sure everyone knows about Pandora on your iPhone or other mobile devices. If you use it, you'll know how much you miss it if it's gone.
Involved are not just Internet radio stations and websites but traditional broadcast radio. Airplay is considered promotion for the artists, many radio stations now offer streaming over the Internet. Thus, they are also subject to royalty fees.
The negotiation will be between CRB, SoundExchange and the Digital Media Association. This act came about after the CRB ruled to increase the rates Internet radio broadcaster must pay to artists and labels.
Effectively, negotiation can continue through Feb 15, 2009 and allow Congress to approve any deal reached by the parties.
Folks and Organizations involved:
Digital Media Association
SoundExchange
National Assocation of Broadcasters
Copyright Royalty Board (arm of Library of Congress)
Link:
Since I've got my iPhone and all those neat radio apps, I can't imagine going on without access to Internet radio. Fortunately, the bail-out was not the only thing that concerned Congress as H.R. 7084, Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008, cleared the Senate and is on its way to the President's desk for signing.
The passage does not mean an all clear as it permits negotiation with the Copyright Royalty Board for lower rates. With what it was before, many Internet radio stations would have been wiped out. I'm sure everyone knows about Pandora on your iPhone or other mobile devices. If you use it, you'll know how much you miss it if it's gone.
Involved are not just Internet radio stations and websites but traditional broadcast radio. Airplay is considered promotion for the artists, many radio stations now offer streaming over the Internet. Thus, they are also subject to royalty fees.
The negotiation will be between CRB, SoundExchange and the Digital Media Association. This act came about after the CRB ruled to increase the rates Internet radio broadcaster must pay to artists and labels.
Effectively, negotiation can continue through Feb 15, 2009 and allow Congress to approve any deal reached by the parties.
Folks and Organizations involved:
Digital Media Association
SoundExchange
National Assocation of Broadcasters
Copyright Royalty Board (arm of Library of Congress)
Link:
- Summary of Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008
- Seattle Post Intelligencer
Impact: We'll see but for mobile warriors who use their mobile devices for entertainment, loss of Internet music can really cut off a great and growing source for music.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Mobility Tip: Just Be Smart
Ah, computer virii (though some prefer "viruses"). Trojans. Spyware. A whole industry spawned as a result with anti-virus companies valuing in the billions.
I love computers. Not a geek. They wouldn't have me. Just a geek-wannabe. But I've learned to be smart.
To protect myself, these are the programs I've got in my PC and habits I've developed over the years that has helped me over the years. It's helped me and I hope it'll help you as well.
I highly recommend these programs. If not for yourself then for someone who is not as savy with the Wild Wild Web as you are. I've done this for my family and I'm going to insist a concoction of the mentioned protections for work.
However, nothing substitute using your head. There's one rule: don't venture anywhere on the Internet you're not familiar with. Don't go down that dark alley. Don't even look! Eyes forward!
Sometimes, that's all it takes for bad elements of the digital society to find you. The lure of naked pictures of Jessica Alba is powerful. I get it! I'm a guy too. But when someone you don't know sends you an e-mail claiming to have them, it's spam. Infested. Delete it!
In life, when you see something on the ground, you don't go picking it up. Same principle on the virtual mean streets of the Web. Free iPhones! Woohoo! Where do I click and sign up?! No! Nothing is free. Just avoid it. No free computers, gas, or Vigra pills. There are no hot girls waiting to chat with you online.
Just be smart. As always, any tips you can share with everyone would be greatly appreciated. Stories too :)
Happy e-mailing, surfing, and chatting!
Note: My fellow mobile warriors, I know you're very smart about such things already. This is more of a rant of something that happened at work. We have a very liberal Internet policy here; as a result, we got an outbreak. It was bound to happen. Always that the bad apple. The one who doesn't listen.
I love computers. Not a geek. They wouldn't have me. Just a geek-wannabe. But I've learned to be smart.
- Ad-Aware 2008: It's one of the most robust spyware software I've used. And it's free. And it does a good enough job where it doesn't interfere with the normal operation of your computer or mine. Did I mention it's free? It may also have background monitoring. I'd have to check to be sure about that.
- Spybot - Search and Destroy: It offer what Ad-Aware does for the most part. Added bonus is that it's got a function that lets the user go through the startup files and decide what gets loaded during startup. I find this just as useful as it's background monitoring system.
- Zonealarm: Best firewall software. Everyone says that. I don't trust the default one that comes with Windows. It offers a two week trial with virus and other Internet protection. While I suggest getting the subscription (I did for my mom's laptop), once the trial period is over, the firewall continues to work. Great work over there at Zonealarm.
- AVG Anti-Virus: Works well enough. I don't have a problem with it. Real-Time protection. There is a professional version with more control if you like that sort of thing. Also check out Avira too. Like AVG Anti-Virus, it is also free.
- Norton Anti-Virus: You get this with your computer when you buy it from Dell or another top tier brand. True to my word, I have this on my computer but once the 90-days protection was up, I switched over to AVG Anti-Virus and Avira. It's not free. Norton offers a two week trial period. Also, there is an option for someone from Symantec to remotely fix your PC. It'll cost you though.
I highly recommend these programs. If not for yourself then for someone who is not as savy with the Wild Wild Web as you are. I've done this for my family and I'm going to insist a concoction of the mentioned protections for work.
However, nothing substitute using your head. There's one rule: don't venture anywhere on the Internet you're not familiar with. Don't go down that dark alley. Don't even look! Eyes forward!
Sometimes, that's all it takes for bad elements of the digital society to find you. The lure of naked pictures of Jessica Alba is powerful. I get it! I'm a guy too. But when someone you don't know sends you an e-mail claiming to have them, it's spam. Infested. Delete it!
In life, when you see something on the ground, you don't go picking it up. Same principle on the virtual mean streets of the Web. Free iPhones! Woohoo! Where do I click and sign up?! No! Nothing is free. Just avoid it. No free computers, gas, or Vigra pills. There are no hot girls waiting to chat with you online.
Just be smart. As always, any tips you can share with everyone would be greatly appreciated. Stories too :)
Happy e-mailing, surfing, and chatting!
Note: My fellow mobile warriors, I know you're very smart about such things already. This is more of a rant of something that happened at work. We have a very liberal Internet policy here; as a result, we got an outbreak. It was bound to happen. Always that the bad apple. The one who doesn't listen.
Monday, July 21, 2008
$200 Tablet From TechCrunch - Hopefully...
A friend and I have been going back and forth talking about tablets and what a good price should be for a tablet that can surf the web, doing something day-to-day tasks, and act as an ebook reader. He settled on $200. Well, guess what, dude?
Frustrated by a lack of innovation in the tablet market and the ultimate failure of the UMPC thus far, Techcrunch's Michael Arrington is taking matters into his own hands and has commissioned a task force of sort to work out the specs and all the nitty-gritty details on make this happen.
Calling it the Techcrunch Web Tablet Project, it will run Linux, have a multi-touch screen (I'm sure Apple will be keeping an eye on their IPs), Gears, Flash, and a media player. Of course, WiFi connection. So far the following are specs Techcrunch has mentioned. It's more of a wish list:
Personally, I think this is could well be how future computing is going to like for some people. With the proliferation of cloud storage/computing, devices may not need to have their computing powers grow exponentially every couple of years. With adequate hardware and steamlined software, we can leave the heavy lifting to farms of CPUs operated in the cloud. Let Google's farms crunch your spreadsheets for you. And store every picture you've ever take on Flickr. Lots of folks are doing that already. Even Microsoft with Live Mesh is a believer as well.
Thanks, Dave for bring this to our attention. Mobile warriors, when you're done reading TechCrunch's proposal, make sure you mop up your drool.
Yes, I want a $200 tablet. Thank you so much, Mike! Ah. sir. Mr. Arrington, sir. Best of luck. We'll be keeping an eye out on this one!
IMPACT ON MOBILITY: This will create some buzz. We won't know what kind of momentum this will have and who might be involved. Android has the backing of Google and even its success is not a lock. However, Techcrunch is articulating what a lot of mobile users want. We don't need a $2500 tablet. We want a tablet that let us stay connected and let us do our business. At a cost of only $200 (I saw $300 sneaked into TechCrunch's article though).
We're not going to see billions of investment pledged by Nokia or HTC tomorrow because of this. But let hope it's the first match to be lit under these guys' feet.
I wrote a bit about what I would like to see eventually in mobile convergence. Let me know what you think. We'll pass it along to TechCrunch.
Frustrated by a lack of innovation in the tablet market and the ultimate failure of the UMPC thus far, Techcrunch's Michael Arrington is taking matters into his own hands and has commissioned a task force of sort to work out the specs and all the nitty-gritty details on make this happen.
Calling it the Techcrunch Web Tablet Project, it will run Linux, have a multi-touch screen (I'm sure Apple will be keeping an eye on their IPs), Gears, Flash, and a media player. Of course, WiFi connection. So far the following are specs Techcrunch has mentioned. It's more of a wish list:
- 512MB of RAM, 4GB of Flash memory.
- USB, speakers and microphone.
- Built in battery (I'm surprised here. He means like the MacBook Air.)
- Linux and Firefox, Gears, Flash
- Multi-Touch
- VOIP -specifically mentioned Skype but but I think it's too proprietary for the open source crowd.
Personally, I think this is could well be how future computing is going to like for some people. With the proliferation of cloud storage/computing, devices may not need to have their computing powers grow exponentially every couple of years. With adequate hardware and steamlined software, we can leave the heavy lifting to farms of CPUs operated in the cloud. Let Google's farms crunch your spreadsheets for you. And store every picture you've ever take on Flickr. Lots of folks are doing that already. Even Microsoft with Live Mesh is a believer as well.
Thanks, Dave for bring this to our attention. Mobile warriors, when you're done reading TechCrunch's proposal, make sure you mop up your drool.
Yes, I want a $200 tablet. Thank you so much, Mike! Ah. sir. Mr. Arrington, sir. Best of luck. We'll be keeping an eye out on this one!
IMPACT ON MOBILITY: This will create some buzz. We won't know what kind of momentum this will have and who might be involved. Android has the backing of Google and even its success is not a lock. However, Techcrunch is articulating what a lot of mobile users want. We don't need a $2500 tablet. We want a tablet that let us stay connected and let us do our business. At a cost of only $200 (I saw $300 sneaked into TechCrunch's article though).
We're not going to see billions of investment pledged by Nokia or HTC tomorrow because of this. But let hope it's the first match to be lit under these guys' feet.
I wrote a bit about what I would like to see eventually in mobile convergence. Let me know what you think. We'll pass it along to TechCrunch.
Internet Radio
I used to listened to KIIS FM in LA when Rick Dees was anchoring the morning show. It's what we all listened in the morning from about eight until ten. For me it started early on my drive on the 405. Everyone in the lab was addicted to KIIS in the morning.
Then a friend of mine moved overseas and one thing that he kept bring up was how he missed the morning radio shows. Then someone told him that he could get the show streamed to him over the Internet. Then life was good again. That is until KIIS blocked access to overseas.
I have been listen to Internet radio for years now. My question is should we call this Internet radio or radio over the Internet? Or something like LivePods? Back in the early days when Real Audio dominated the Internet, it was a great software not only because it brought audio to the mass over the Internet but it bundled together a small list of radio stations for easy access.
These days like the iTunes, Windows Media, and AOL Radio, to name a couple applications, has hundreds if not thousands of stations only clicks away. And with greater and faster Internet access, you only need your browser. Here are a few of the major sites that provide radio access over the Internet:
What will happen to the radio now? It's still going strong and does not seem to be in as much trouble as broadcast television. And while HD radio has not picked up, radio remains one of the most widely used entertainment avenue in the world.
I do wonder how much more traction podcasts and Internet Radio like Last.fm are likely to gain when mobility increases? And what of satellite radio? I have limited experience with satellite radio (mainly because of having to pay for a device and monthly fees), but I have extensive exposure to podcasts. I have to say the ability to download and listen to programs at my leisure is very compelling (I just don't want to spend Friday nights at home listening to Science Friday on NPR).
So whether you're at coffee shop, work, or home, access to a wide range of original programming and music is available on your iPhone (I finally installed 2.0 last night and I'm loving the radio apps from iTunes), laptop, or PC.
As a mobile warrior who likes some distraction at times, the Internet radio app is indispensable. I like to know what others are doing to get their feeds.
Have a great Monday!
Then a friend of mine moved overseas and one thing that he kept bring up was how he missed the morning radio shows. Then someone told him that he could get the show streamed to him over the Internet. Then life was good again. That is until KIIS blocked access to overseas.
I have been listen to Internet radio for years now. My question is should we call this Internet radio or radio over the Internet? Or something like LivePods? Back in the early days when Real Audio dominated the Internet, it was a great software not only because it brought audio to the mass over the Internet but it bundled together a small list of radio stations for easy access.
These days like the iTunes, Windows Media, and AOL Radio, to name a couple applications, has hundreds if not thousands of stations only clicks away. And with greater and faster Internet access, you only need your browser. Here are a few of the major sites that provide radio access over the Internet:
Of the five Internet sites, Last.fm is what I consider truly Internet radio because the listener gets to tag what he or she is listen to. As for selection, these five and others like it provide listeners of music, news, or talk a wide selection from all over the world.
What will happen to the radio now? It's still going strong and does not seem to be in as much trouble as broadcast television. And while HD radio has not picked up, radio remains one of the most widely used entertainment avenue in the world.
I do wonder how much more traction podcasts and Internet Radio like Last.fm are likely to gain when mobility increases? And what of satellite radio? I have limited experience with satellite radio (mainly because of having to pay for a device and monthly fees), but I have extensive exposure to podcasts. I have to say the ability to download and listen to programs at my leisure is very compelling (I just don't want to spend Friday nights at home listening to Science Friday on NPR).
So whether you're at coffee shop, work, or home, access to a wide range of original programming and music is available on your iPhone (I finally installed 2.0 last night and I'm loving the radio apps from iTunes), laptop, or PC.
As a mobile warrior who likes some distraction at times, the Internet radio app is indispensable. I like to know what others are doing to get their feeds.
Have a great Monday!
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