Technology

Google OS… Lives!

Some fairly big news today!

Google has announced that it’s going to compete with Microsoft in the OS wars. Their long-denied Linux-based Google OS is due to be released next year.

Is 2010 the year of the Linux desktop?

TechCrunch has an analysis here and, as usual, quality work from Ars.Technica.

Some interesting tidbits:

Google says the software architecture will basically be the current Chrome browser running inside “a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.” So in other words, it basically is the web as an OS.

You may not remember… but Microsoft actually tried this with Active Desktop and IE4. You don’t need to be told that it failed miserably, but if anybody can make it work I think it’s Google. Also interesting to note that this is the way that Palm has gone with their WebOS based smartphone, the Palm Pre. The proof will be in the pudding.

I think what’s going to make all this possible is the standardisation of HTML5. HTML5 has fairly extensive provisions for offline work in web applications (Web Storage) which Google also has in Gears. They also say that any application developed for the new Chrome OS will work on any standards-compliant browser. Microsoft seriously better pull finger with their HTML5 support or they will run the very real risk of being left behind…

All and all, a great development. Lets see where it goes.

New Server

Moved Nevermind to a new server in the US – because it’s cheaper, of course! Basic VPS so I can run some Rails apps I’ve been hacking on.Also has a decent control panel and DNS manager.

Some weirdness… hopefully not too much, let me know if you find anything strange…

Next step: Setting up automatic installs for the wordpress upgrade and plugins!

To Do: Die (maybe)

photo credit: poluz

Reminder: Have Sex, Don’t do your home work, because the world ends tomorrow.

Remember CERN’s Large Hadron Collider that probably won’t form a black hole and envelop the Earth? Yeah. They’re turning it on in less than 24 hours…

So prepare for the end, prepare for physics class to get a whole lot easier under the Grand Unified Theory or prepare perhaps to see relatives from the far future. Nobody’s really sure…

Update: So I woke up today in normal space and time. Wondering what had gone wrong (or right) I see that the apocalypse has been postponed until October 21st. As you were.

iPhone and Vodafone Data Plans…

and the rip-off that they entail.

As you might know, if you try and use an existing youChoose connection with iPhone, Vodafone will tell you to sign up to the iPhone-only data plans with a mandatory 24-month term. Not really surprising for a company who will start charging prepay customer $1 to call the customer care help center.

That is, even if you already have their Mobile Broadband (200Mb/1Gb) plans assigned to your account. With these “mobile broadband” plans it’s possible to pay slightly more per month, $10, to not be locked into a term.

That option isn’t available with the iPhone mobile data plans. And Vodafone will also tell you there’s no way to use your iPhone on the “mobile broadband” data plans.

They’re lying.

With that site it’s possible to configure your iPhone to use the generic mobile data APN (access point) and not the iPhone only plans. You can use the casual data rate or any other data plans you want. It’s also completely reversable and seemingly undetectable.

Vodafone do not want you to have a fully functional iPhone without signing a 24-month contract. Too bad!

Happy Hacking!

Rogers Caves to Angry iPhone Canucks

Rogers, Canada’s sole iPhone provider, released it’s plans some time ago to screams of protest, horror and mostly, rage.

Their plans were so upsetting to Canadians who had to sit out of the iPhone launch while their brothers to the south (and west) rubbed their noses in it. The announcement spawned websites, petitions and blog posts across the internet.

It’s even rumored to have drawn the ire of Apple itself who are said to have made a power play to divert a majority of stock destined for Canada to Europe. They also have said that Canadian Apple stores will not be selling the device on launch day.

However, it seems that they have been heard by Rogers, who have decided to release a better value data portion to their plans raising the cap up to 6GB. Still not the unlimited plans that AT&T are offering but a huge improvement.

Will Apple ding Vodafone NZ for their behavior? Will Vodafone NZ listen to it’s customers? Don’t hold your breath.

Hey Canada, You Think Your iPhone Deal Sucks?

I feel a bit sorry at the moment, watching Mark Rushworth squirm on Campbell Live trying to defend an indefensible position. Unfortunately, I can only hear the phrase “our plans provide great value” so often before I switch off.

For those new to the game, iPhone 3G is a new device produced by Apple. It’s a second generation product but it’s the first time that Kiwis will be able to get their hands on it fully supported by a telco. In NZ, that telco is Vodafone. The offending plans are here. A run-down on other countries far more reasonable plans are here. Sweaty geek outrage can be found here.

Obviously, Vodafone have the freedom to take their iPhone resale privilege wherever they like, although it seems that Apple did not look to kindly on providers who upset their customers over the much drooled-over device. So in this instance, if the Herald “Your Views” section is to be believed, Vodafone has used their freedom to walk off a cliff and spell the end of their business (Isn’t the crowd a fickle beast? Hard right when it suits them, socialist comrades when it’s something they want, plain frothing insanity the rest of the time).
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iYomu Shuts It’s Doors

iYomu, the “Social Network for Grown Ups” has gone the way of almost every other social network – tits up. A promising New Zealand startup made the fatal mistake of Web 2.0 – do not exclude.

The site was only available to those over 18, but it turns out that adults didn’t want their own exclusive social network and even their million dollar bribe didn’t muster up enough hits on the site to keep it alive.

Although boasting a healthy 100,000 members, the concept and execution suffered several flaws. Apart from excluding the most internet-active generation, the site was completely flash-based, inaccessible on mobile platforms and at times very difficult to navigate.

So another internet startup chalks up failure, not big news but the site and founders were New Zealand based so I thought it worth mentioning.

TechTidBit: Try the New Firefox 3.0

Today is Download Day for Mozilla’s new release of Firefox, the big 3.0. Mozilla touts over 15,000 improvements with this new version over Firefox 2 and label this the fastest, most secure browser yet and absolute gold for power users

And having used the beta and release candidate versions for a while now, they might just be right…

With this release, Mozilla hope to reach a new world record of software downloaded in a 24 hour period. We’re almost 8 hours into it so far and have almost 2.5 million downloads, about half of the 5 million they hope to achieve. You can track the progress here although their counter is not quite up to date. Also, their site is taking an absolute hammering at the moment so you might need to be patient.

I have to say that Mozilla has done an excellent job marketing Firefox, from sponsoring events to a full grassroots campaign named SpreadFireFox they are actually taking back the web and showing how things can be done in the nu-media. With valuable partnerships with companies such as Google, it goes to show that even free software can make great money!

If you want to give it a shot, and you should especially if you’re still using Internet Exploder, you can grab it here. If you like Firefox, You might also be interested in their mail application Thunderbird.

We Want PlayTV – Freeview For Your PS3

photo credit: yngrich

There’s a lot of buzz about Freeview at the moment. They’re almost through their DVB-T rollout. DVB-T means Digital Video Broadcast and differs from Sky and the current Freeview implementation in that it doesn’t require a satellite to recieve broadcasts, it uses the bog-standard UHF arial almost ubiquitously installed across New Zealand. Difference is, the broadcast is digital and will enable broadcasters to, finally, broadcast shows in full 1080p HD.

I know a few people that have gotten their grubby little mitts on Freeview set top boxes (Interested? Head down to Eastern Hi-Fi with a few hundred bucks and see what happens!) that realise this new standard and the feedback that I’ve heard from them is absolutely stellar.

All well and good, but for the love of God I don’t want another set-top box. What I want is a PlayTV. It’s a dual-tuner, well integrated little box for your Playstation 3 thats incredibly easy to use and integrates with the rest of my devices (UPnp NAS, PSP, HDTV). For those who are interested – here’s a little video showing off some of what it can do.

I don’t want Sky anymore. I don’t want their re-hashed movie channels, their proprietary access methods and all the buggy firmware to go with them, I don’t want to pay them for MySky for their half-baked PVR and I don’t want to pay them again to upgrade to HD.

If Sony gets their act together and releases this product here as soon as possible, they can quite easily position the PS3 as the gadget to have for all AV setups. They’ve also recently announced that they’ll be hosting a “Video On Demand” service – basically streaming High Definition movie downloads from the Playstation Store over your broadband connection. So between gaming, Bluray, HDTV PVR and video on demand it will become an impressive centerpiece for any living room.

Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Bill

photo credit: hugh07

Well, it seems this one flew in just under my radar…

New Zealand has passed an amendment to the Copyright Bill to include “New Technologies”, which refers to the digital medium.

Most alarming in this bill is the inclusion of the DMCA-like offence of owning “Digital lockpicks” to free the data which you already own. The new clause makes it illegal to circumvent a copyright protection, even for personal use such as format-shifting (although there are limited format-shifting provisions in the bill). Since I can’t seem to find a copy of the actual text, it’s unknown how this will affect products such as region-free DVD players and the like.

Considering I have personally circumvented copyright protection using a black marker, a shift key and a line out in the past we shall see if this law is as “effective” as the USA’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act. At the same time, I’m happy they didn’t take some of the more draconian provisions from the DMCA such as the infamous “takedown notice”.

Hopefully I can get a look at it shortly.

Update: It’s worse than I thought, Notice & Takedown provisions are there in full force. Herald.