2007 February « Tech-Me – Blogging my thoughts on gadgets, techology and web based media

Archive for February, 2007

Special: Tech Abuse

February 23, 2007

FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“e542f5e7-44d2-44c8-affb-8dd3c0a29744″, ‘\x3cembed style\x3d\x22font-family\x3aVerdana,Geneva,Arial,Sans-serif\x22 src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fembed.break.com\x2fMjI2Mjcy\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
This clip made me squeamish, I really like technology and the only thing that takes away the impact is that the screen was already broken. The way that it looked at the beginning reminded me of a screen that I saw in an electrical store that had a broken screen and switched on with a sign in front promoting their warranties. In fact, I actually found that I was amused after watching the video so I set off to find similar videos. The Wii has caused many a damage to other things so I think it’s time for vengeance.
FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“cf3468cc-7eea-42b5-885e-19b6fe3272a7″, ‘\x3cembed src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2f2sbU4sSlu7I\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
OK, this isn’t actually breaking anything but this is one nice customisation job, hats off to Ben Heckendorn from Engadget.

FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“e96336e5-db88-4066-b9fb-1f70f48228d1″, ‘\x3cembed style\x3d\x22font-family\x3aVerdana,Geneva,Arial,Sans-serif\x22 src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2fRtLzo6XLe_0\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
Home of Nokia and the mobile phone throwing event is Finland. I know it’s a promotional video and probably great fun to throw away that old brick but it felt like a daytime TV show and didn’t show much hardcore tech brutality. The search continues.

FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“3b5f127d-d43f-423e-9325-c1a66a253347″, ‘\x3cembed style\x3d\x22font-family\x3aVerdana,Geneva,Arial,Sans-serif\x22 src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2fhMfV5R3DK5I\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
OK, I’ve never really liked the iPod (poor battery life, slowly getting better) so this had to find its way in here somehow. The 3G iPod is the one shown in the video and although it took a severe pounding from the hammer, the case was already opened, to maximise the visual appeal probably.
FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“7ea56a2c-6f60-438c-b76a-121203edffa5″, ‘\x3cembed style\x3d\x22font-family\x3aVerdana,Geneva,Arial,Sans-serif\x22 src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2fNGb98QXyHII\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
Ah, the first Playstation, capable of 3D graphics that would look out of place in today’s high definition visual landscape. And it still works! Well it did.
FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“0c9b75bc-8968-4378-bd5b-4ba08272fbc0″, ‘\x3cembed style\x3d\x22font-family\x3aVerdana,Geneva,Arial,Sans-serif\x22 src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2fG9-Uv7dra7E\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
I know I’ve featured one iPod but this ones a nano. iPod nano + microwave = fire! They seem fairly surprised that it doesn’t work, even after being on fire and doused in water.
FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“7bb07e41-dc02-4395-bd04-1458c1fdd919″, ‘\x3cembed style\x3d\x22font-family\x3aVerdana,Geneva,Arial,Sans-serif\x22 src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2fOWJ7f6VQXHY\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
Bang bang, shot you down, bang, bang, that awful sound. Or at least it would be to a PSP fan, go on, make them watch it.
FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“df0f2b22-718e-47cf-a3da-7548197f92ac”, ‘\x3cembed style\x3d\x22font-family\x3aVerdana,Geneva,Arial,Sans-serif\x22 src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2frB5BitDCzyM\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
Surely the first, stylish, anorexic, popular fashion phone, the V3 wasn’t the best specced phone, but it was the slimmest and made people look cool. Ouch, the sound of the clamshell being ripped apart was extremely disturbing, almost like watching someone break their leg.
FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“af0b0ae7-8208-4711-a82d-04165c9aa5aa”, ‘\x3cembed style\x3d\x22font-family\x3aVerdana,Geneva,Arial,Sans-serif\x22 src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2fhJklgDtSwbE\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);
And finally, I couldn’t leave out an Apple Mac and this video shows the reaction of an Apple store employee after seeing the laptop smashed, right in front of him. His reaction said it all, he obviously adored Apple products and looked absolutely devastated to see the damage. He tried to recycle it since it couldn’t be fixed, a moral attempt at saving the planet from the almighty Apple? Well he tried … and failed, well he kept the battery but lost the iBook.

Unlike most other sources, I’m not going to tell you not to attempt any of what you’ve seen, instead I’m going to promote it. Go ahead, have fun. If I’ve achieved anything, I’ve shown the joy that can be had from technology, even when it is broken. Did you notice the reaction of the kids in the last clip? And people say that young teens stay indoors playing computer games for hours on end. Obviously not those kids, a bit mental, I’ll admit, but so they should be. They’re having fun, something that is often forgotten. I probably wouldn’t recommend the microwave job though or anything new. That is really wrong.
Oh and one last little bit of gadget “magic”:
FlashDetection.handleEmbedCode(“7e992fd6-f76c-41a7-adb9-f3c860bca977″, ‘\x3cembed src\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.youtube.com\x2fv\x2fr-sbmsjL3no\x22 type\x3d\x22application\x2fx-shockwave-flash\x22 wmode\x3dtransparent height\x3d350 width\x3d425 pluginspage\x3d\x22http\x3a\x2f\x2fwww.macromedia.com\x2fgo\x2fgetflashplayer\x22 allowscriptaccess\x3dnever allownetworking\x3dinternal\x3e’);

Posted in Online video | Leave a Comment »

MeToo Tube

February 19, 2007

Video: Simpsons Movie Trailer III
Debuting a new user generated service, this time from Micro$oft. It’s currently in beta, what does that even mean anymore, Google Video has been in “development” for nearly a year now, this is surely just a word that no longer means not quite done yet but instead done but we’re not ready to admit to it just yet. Anyway, I’ve just had a little play around with it and it seems to have very little content, which is probably a given since its in its infancy. MSN Video is nothing new though, I tried it a while back and frankly it was terrible, it was more like add a few from a limited selection to a playlist which included video ads. This seems to be much more like YouTube. As can be seen above, you can embed the videos directly into web pages. Nice but we’ve seen that somewhere before right. An interesting feature that I saw was the embed image link which looks something like this:

Simpsons Movie Trailer III
So nothing entirely new then and a limited video selection. It’s hard to tell whether it will live or die since these things are pretty much determined by the users. But with so much competition can another web 2.0 video platform survive and is it really needed? YouTube is so popular and Google Video is doing fine but there are a lot of others that don’t get reported like iFilm, Blinkx, Break, Metacafe, Video Jug and Revver. But why should they, now Google owns YouTube they’re the big guns and everyone knows about it. YouTube results also now appear in the results of Google Video too, so if you want the widest selection then search Google Video.
Copyright is also becoming a major problem with sites like this. Technically clips aren’t even really meant to be shown but companies don’t mind about that since they promote their content but companies like Fox have major issues with full length material appearing on YouTube, even demanding for the name and whereabouts of the users to sue them. And why shouldn’t they? Well they didn’t get rich by writing a load of cheques and intend to protect their investments. But I find it interesting how its the big movie companies who already make a lot of money are the ones to complain whilst small producers are ripped off, maybe unknowingly. Big companies put a lot more money in and they sure want to get a lot more back out and sites like YouTube aren’t helping. More interestingly is that YouTube stipulate that content shouldn’t be copyrighted yet they still approve the content. If you don’t know, videos are reviewed for suitability, preventing offending material from appearing on the site or being restricted for over 18s only.
So who should be to blame, YouTube for allowing the content to be uploaded or the user for placing the content there?

Posted in Online video | Leave a Comment »

Future Blockbuster

February 13, 2007

The future of movies could be in jeopardy since HD-DVD and blu-ray have been “cracked”. You might think that this isn’t new since Serenity (HD-DVD) and Ice Age 2 (blu-ray) have already been copied and appeared on movie download sites but that was just those titles that were vulnerable. Basically every HD-DVD and blu-ray use the same form of copy protection but each have a different key. Now though, the processing key has been discovered, therefore all HD titles that have already been released are vulnerable. OK, not that many then but if you do want to see the growing number of protection keys, click here.
Apparently, George Lucas has said that he won’t ever make another feature length movie. But is this such a bad thing? Well it might be if more producers, directors and actors follow in his plans to make TV shows instead.
So is the movie industry at risk? Well it’s hard to tell, the music industry went through a similar spell and resulted, most famously in Napster being closed down, before re-opening as a legal store. I personally think that downloading content, or at least streaming would be a much better idea than a disc format. But there’s one huge flaw with this, HD movies will take a long time to download due to their large file sizes. And what would you do with them once your HDD is full of HD content? Then you’d still need a format to choose from. But this would be a good thing since then it would only be your choice and not be at the mercy of the movie distributors. The same thing happened between DVD-R and DVD+R and neither won out. The problem with this theory is that if movie downloads were to become legal, distributors would be just as keen as the music industry to place DRM on movies.
Of course the movie companies will try their best to fight the pirates. But what will they choose? HD-DVD/blu-ray, already a potential failure or more likely a new system would be implemented into future discs. Possibly downloads, but that has the flaw of storage and length of time to download. There is a third, unlikely possibility, movie budgets become lower, resulting in lower salaries and increased ticket prices to see underated movies. There is one bit that is certain, it will be the honest movie lover who is punished for the pirates actions.

Posted in Home Entertainment, digital media | Leave a Comment »

Let it Be

February 10, 2007

Did you know that Apple was named Apple because he named them after the record label of his favourite band? Perhaps not, but surely you’ve heard about the issues that he has had with the other Apple. The Apple that manages the Beatles as Jobs said that he was only going to make computers and operating systems. Then came the iPod and iTunes. Which didn’t sound very nice to music Apple.
However, Jobs (CEO and founder of Apple) played sample tracks of his favourite band at his keynote in January. This was surely a clue to what could and is happening. Yes that’s right, the Beatles have never appeared for downloading from the net, that is until now (or at least soon). iTunes will be the place to head if you want DRMd AAC low bit rate versions of the original, cough, masterpieces, cough. And because the singles chart is now allowing downloaded content in and even songs that aren’t available in stores anymore, the Beatles could find their way into the top ten singles without even making any more songs or a CD.
So what if they’re available from the EU illegal site anyway? Who’s going to buy them? People who liked the Beatles will surely already have them on LP, cassette and CD so why would they want to buy them in a lossy format. Well they’d be able to put them onto their media players. Sure but they could already do that with their CDs once they’ve installed a little freeware. If they’re tech savvy enough to log onto iTunes and buy the music, surely they can rip a few CDs. So the market for this is people who didn’t buy the record, cassette or CD but own a media player. Maybe they’re hoping that a new Beatles loving audience will emerge in the younger generation?

Posted in Apple, copyright, future, iPod, iTunes | Leave a Comment »

My way or the iWay

February 7, 2007

Uisng a mobile phone whilst driving is illegal, at least in the UK, and I can’t help but agree. The driving is evidently affected but people continue to use their phones whilst driving. I also think that people should have to leave their sat-nav alone once they’ve begun they’re journey. It’s not necessary once the device has been set yet people continue to fiddle with it as they’re in the middle of the road. I’ve even seen some stop at junctions when they couldn’t make up they’re mind whether they should’ve turned or not. But you have to draw the line somewhere and that should be long before prohibiting pedestrians from listening to their media player or talking on their mobile phones.
Unfortunately, I don’t jest, this is exactly what is being proposed to be enforced in the big Apple. Despite sharing a similar name to Jobs company, New York government obviously don’t like Apple’s then? No of course not. The reason for such drastic measures is that two people have died while crossing the street. And one was wearing an iPod. So this person was jay walking across one of the widest streets in the world without even looking for traffic? So what does this mean for the sane person walking down the street? They have to pause their conversation or the track that they’re listening to while they cross the street? And this will lessen the number of people hit by cars? I think not. Instead, how about people develop some common sense and realise that it would be a great idea to check if theres anything coming before stepping out or maybe even use a crossing. I seriously hope that this isn’t enforced (despite it not affecting me in the slightest), people don’t need to be protected from everyday things. I can’t even see how the (probably many) offences could be caught in a city where it’s hard to punish people for jay-walking anyway.

Posted in future | Leave a Comment »

Vista: Cancel or Allow?

February 7, 2007

I’ve blogged quite a lot about how I think that Microsoft’s promise of improved security will be about as much use as their promises about Windows 98 being able to easily work with USB devices using plug ‘n’ play without having to restart or even the one about XP being crash proof. Over promise, under deliver is something that we’ve come to expect from Microsoft, so why should we stick with an office machine in the home. OK, I’ve seen a lot of the Mac ads with Mitchell and Web now; “I was designed for the Office”, “I was designed for the home”, yeah you know the ones. Apart from the iPod ads, I don’t think I’ve seen Apple campaign so much. They must be feeling a little betrayed since Vista’s “new” features have been pleasing many a Mac head for some time now. Or maybe they’re preparing us for their codenamed Leopard release. Rumours still speculate that another Jobs keynote is coming soon for him to amaze the world once more. What’ll make the Mac an even more appealing alternative to Windows is that it’ll soon support games. Yeah, just the reason that you were clutching onto Windows. This news comes as TransGaming is working toward creating a DirectX 3D like graphics application with graphics card giant Nvidea. That means that the increasing number of Mac users will soon be able to rush out to meet those Windows users queuing up for the next big game.

At the iPhone keynote he sampled Beatles tracks that have famously been unavailable on iTunes due to a dispute with the Beatles record label which shares the name Apple. Now though, the Beatles tracks will be available via iTunes. I don’t think that anyone who knew that he played those songs didn’t at least consider that it was a clue to unspeakable news. Apparently Jobs named his company after the record company of his favourite band. Hey, if he launched the company now, would Apple be called U2 Inc.? Today though, Jobs has claimed that he wants to see an end to DRM restrictions on music from iTunes. Maybe he wants to get the law courts off his back over the iTunes issues of late in Europe. (They want other players to be able to play content purchased from the iTunes store – and now iTunes is technically illegal). I really didn’t see this coming, as I thought that Apple would want to keep the store as it is and tie people in. But then again, he’s not going to want to take on the justice system across several European countries.

Posted in Apple, Microsoft, windows | Leave a Comment »

Is Bush a Miserable Failure?

February 6, 2007

Google bombing, the wonderful art of web masters misleading their visitors by describing images by irrelevant names like MISERABLE FAILURE has finally made the news. Ooh, big wow. But what’s interesting is that prior to me publishing this blog, George Bush’s biography was the number one result. Yeah, that’s right, the current president of America. Google has decided to combat this by creating measures to eliminate such pranks. This contrasts greatly from their previous approach of reflecting the search results as they’re now concerned that people might think that the results will reflect their opinions rather than the web.
What I want to know is why Bush’s biography contains miserable failure. Has he included secret info that is about world war three that he’s been hiding for the past few years? More amusing than that though, is that Google’s attempt to stop this problem can’t possibly happen now since lots of news organisations and blogs have been included in the search results from MISERABLE FAILURE. Maybe this blog will end up in the results; if you found this entry by searching for MISERABLE FAILURE, please leave a comment below.
Below is Google’s official line on the happenings, directly from the Google blog:
“Google’s search results are generated by computer programs that rank web pages in large part by examining the number and relative popularity of the sites that link to them. By using a practice called googlebombing, however, determined pranksters can occasionally produce odd results. In this case, a number of webmasters use the phrases [failure] and [miserable failure] to describe and link to President Bush’s website, thus pushing it to the top of searches for those phrases. We don’t condone the practice of googlebombing, or any other action that seeks to affect the integrity of our search results, but we’re also reluctant to alter our results by hand in order to prevent such items from showing up. Pranks like this may be distracting to some, but they don’t affect the overall quality of our search service, whose objectivity, as always, remains the core of our mission.”

Posted in Web | Leave a Comment »

Vista Recognition

February 5, 2007

I purposefully omitted the Vista launch from what you see here. What you didn’t know? Well last Tuesday, the many versions of Vista were launched at an unprepared public. How could I have been excited about something that was late and technically already existed in Mac OSX.
Anyway, I could go on about the widgets, oh sorry Microsoft, I meant gadgets that already appeared in Mac OSX. The sidebar can already be downloaded from everyones favourite search engine. The same is true for instant search, called Spotlight in Mac OSX and even if you’re a Windows user you can always use the Google search feature that can search your desktop after simply hitting Ctrl twice. Everytime that Gates is quizzed by this, his response tends to be, well we have media center (they had that before!!!) and a parental control feature. Ooooh that’s interesting but also not revolutionary, most Internet Security apps can prevent access to websites. Surely this will open it up to be vulnerable.
Another feature that I learned today was a way to delete files using voice recognition. Sound like a neat way to let your granny interact with a shiny OS? Maybe so, but remember to unplug your microphone and speakers as you’re surfing the web. I suggest this because websites could contain audio files that command your computer to delete important files. This surely is the easiest way to irritate a lot of people but could prove to be one of the first flaws of the new OS. Hate to say I told you so. Well actually, you’d need to have your speakers fairly loud and close to your microphone so it’ll probably be overcome by feedback and even after that, you’d still need to have the voice recognition activated. Maybe Vista is safe. For now.
I’ve seen the latest ads from Apple starring Mitchell and Webb, clearly pointing out Apple’s point of view that Microsoft was designed for the office whilst Apple was designed for the home. Need a pie chart, use a PC, order your family to eat at certain times. How about promotion for good behaviour? Apple however has always focussed on media and designed to integrate with the home. I felt that this was a very outdated approach. Especially since Vista Premium comes bundled with media center, obviously Microsoft realised that it’d be a good idea to make the PC integrate with people’s lives. Anyway, if you haven’t seen the commercial, here’s one:

Posted in Microsoft, windows | Leave a Comment »

Secret Pleasure

February 4, 2007

Feeling guilty and want to tell someone what you did? Do you know something that they don’t want to everyone to know? Well the web has the answer in a fairly new blog all about secrets.
The URL that you’ll be needing is Do You Know Anysecrets? and it has a fine mix from how the world would benefit if Google’s home page background colour was black instead of white, people admitting to guilty pleasures like torching woods, pointing out that they’re members of unknown secret services, that one of the towers of the former World Trade Center was blown up and these are growing as people add more to the mix. It’s an online confessional.
Not quite sure why some people feel secure in telling the world their passwords though. Especially when they say that they use a number-letter system that is pretty obvious, for example mine would be Ch4pm4an. I wouldn’t try that, it’s not my password.
The only problem that I can see is that there isn’t any real way on proving whether they’re telling the truth but its still fun to read.
So, do you have any secrets that you just need to tell someone? Go and publish it to the world!

Posted in Web | Leave a Comment »

Coming V Soon

February 4, 2007

Something is coming. Something big. Oh, OK, it’s not as big as say, the iPhone, HDTV or the Internet. It’s more like those things brought to one package. Yep, Virgin Media is the new brand for ntl:Telewest. Bringing their Virgin Mobile to the game, so maybe there is the possibility that you’ll be able to watch your cable TV via mobile. Especially since Virgin already has the Lobster that gives access via DAB. Then it’d be able to compete with Sky Anytime.
From what I’ve read though, it sounds like the same package with a mobile phone company bolted on and a different colour scheme. Is it really that good to have one company for everything? Maybe it’ll save you money but driving out the competition will also reduce the need to compete so prices will either stay the same or increase.
I do have some improvements tha I’d like to see for a start. Speed up the menu interface on TV and extend the EPG (electronic programme guide) to last for around 8 days; like freeview already has, rather than the current one day EPG. Maybe broadband speeds could also be increased to 20mbps for download speeds and 10mbps for uploads? The latter probably wont happen as the ads suggest that they’re going to let us download as much as we want, over a longer period. But don’t we already have that?

Posted in Home Entertainment, digital media, virgin media | Leave a Comment »