Technolotics #12 – iSuckPod

Technolotics - An antique show about technology

[audio https://garethstack.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/12_technolotics.mp3]

Listen: Episode 12
Feed: RSS

Notes

Why you shouldn’t buy another ipod

The long awaited ipod video has been released, along with the new iMac G5, and iTunes 6 containing the long awaited iTunes video store
Videos are restricted to music and 5 ABC tv series for now, and are two dollars each
This is not making new content available, but monatarising existing free content – e.g.: TV, and music videos
The ipod video only supports H.264 video, Mpeg 4, and *.MOV (quicktime) formats – not the much more common DivX, Xvid or even windows media (Compared to Zen Vision which supports both)
Video playback when fully charged is only 2 hours! (Compared to 4.5 hours on Zen Vision)
Screen is only 2.3′ (Compared to 3.7′ on the Creative Zen Vision)
Only 320×240 videos can be played back – so forget connecting this to your TV or converting your existing videos – although it is possible to rip a DVD specifically for this format [1]
No fastforward or rewind!
Television shows will only be available in the US market! – defeating the entire point of putting them online. Thankyou Steve ‘Sellout’ Jobs

No darkness anymore

New calculations may mean that dark matter, the ‘missing’ substance proposed to account for the rotational speed of galaxies; based on newtonian physics, may not exist at all
A paper published in physics periodical ‘Cern Courier’ asserts that when general relativity is applied to the problem of explaning the speed at which galaxies rotate – the amount of matter infered no longer necessitates the assumption of dark matter

[2]

Western Corporations Help Censor the Net

We’ve talked in the past about how western corporations help repressive Asian regiemes like the Chinese government, to censor the net
A new charity the OpenNet Initiative [3] has been set up to provide detailed information on how technology is being used as a tool of repression
Reports are available already on Burma [4] and Singapore [5]

First post from thegoogleblog.blogspot.com

New correspondent for technolotics [6]
First post [7]]

Recently Google released Google Reader a program that uses RSS feeds to help you view your information faster and better than before. To use it all you have to have is a gmail account and you can subscribe to different feeds like http://www.technolotics.com, and The New York Times. It is very similar to a program called Web Clips which runs in Google Sidebar. For those of you who don’t know about Google Sidebar it is Google Desktop 2.0 and takes up about 2 inches of the right side of the screen. From this you can talk online using Google Talk, view stock prices, read your gmail, customized news, web clips, and even listen to evil DRM encrypted itunes. It can also search your computer for AIM chats, websites, programs, all files and folders. If you have Google sidebar there is no need to use reader because it is kind of slow and it doesn’t automatically update the list of what you read like web clips does. Google Reader also doesn’t work for all sites. I couldn’t get http://www.thegoogleblog.blogspot.com to work and to get technolotics to work I had to try it a few times. Not one of their best programs but it serves its purpose. Since it’s only in its beta I would wait before using it more and stick to just reading the sites or using Web Clips.

Breaking Americas Grip on the Net

The Department of Commerce i.e. the US government has been forced to give up control of the Internets domain name root servers. [8]
At the final preparatory meeting for next month’s World Summit on the Information Society David Hendon representing the EU proposed two changes: a new forum that would decide public policy, and a “cooperation model” comprising governments that would be in overall charge.
The DoC fought the proposed changes but world’s governments are expected to agree a deal to award themselves ultimate control which will be proposed at a UN Summit next month.
The US will likely have to acqueise in the face of internation pressure
However – Proposed changes are vague intent, and ideologically motivated
How the net will ultimately be controlled is still up for debate
EU commission says internet could fall apart [9] if the US retain control

What they mean is that without united centralised control, the net will become fragmented

Why BluRay will win

Playstation 3 = first to market
Larger capacity – starting at 50Gb and possibly rising to 150Gb – space for Hd movies – and potential movie / game combos – although this is unlikely in real world applications
Support of four of 5 Hollywood majors
Includes DRM to completely block copying – hense studio support
Sony has staked its future on this technology
Source: Business Week [10]

Yahoo launch podcast service

Yahoo have created an extremely simple friendly interface [11]
A wide variety of podcasts have been pre-added
They don’t provide hosting space, but they have detailed podcast creation instructions [12]

Climate Meltdown

This summer only 60 miles of ice floes across the Canadian northwest. [13]

Experts fear the Arctic region a destructive cycle leading to glacier melt.
Arctic sea ice this month dipped some 20% below the long term average for September
Melting an an area twice the size of Texas.
If current trends continue, before the end of the century there will truly be a “Northwest Passage” from Europe to Asia
This upsets all previous linear climate models
Could be a tipping point leading to a climate equivalent to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, one of the most rapid and extreme global warming events recorded in geologic history [14] 55 million years ago – which led to mass extinctions – and the dominance of out mamalian ancestors

Siemens Unveil True Electronic Paper

German electronics giant Siemens have revieled what they claim is the first truly practical electronic paper [15]
They claim the cost is low enough to be used on news papers and magazines
The material will probably be used on advertisements first, and then covers and pages as costs drop
Screens should be available by 2007
Amazing as the potential is, digital paper is probably the least revolutionary application of this technology
One square metre of the material costs around £30

Media Pimp

Cory Doctorow on Twit [16]
Netvibes RSS reader [17]
Japanese Porn Vending machines [18]

everything from hentai figurines to artifical vaginas
NOT WORKSAFE strong stomach neeed