Practical Technology

for practical people.

February 11, 2011
by sjvn01
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Nokia jumps from one burning platform to another with Windows Phone 7

Well, I guess you can take the Microsoft executive out of Microsoft but you can’t take the Microsoft out of the executive. In what will prove Nokia’s final strategic blunder, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft senior executive, announced, with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer grinning over his shoulder, that Nokia would be using Windows Phone 7 (WP7) for its smartphones.

If you looked closely, you could almost say Ballmer’s lips moving as Elop mouthed, “The game has changed from a war of devices to a war of ecosystems. We have an opportunity to disrupt the trajectory in the mobile ecosystem. Together we will deliver great mobile products.”

Yeah. Right. Sure. Once upon a time Nokia delivered great products. In technology years that’s decades ago. Since then, first RIM’s BlackBerries, then Apple’s iPhones, and now a variety of Google’s Android phones have left Nokia eating their dust.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has always been a mobile operating system failure. Unable to squeeze out its enemies on phones with the strong-arm tactics that proved so successful on the desktop, it was forced to compete on features and quality on phones and Microsoft failed, and then failed again, and it’s still failing today with Windows Phone 7.

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February 10, 2011
by sjvn01
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Internet TV still isn’t ready for prime-time

I’ve been watching TV over the Internet since its very early days. Today, I own, and use, an Apple TV, a network capable Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc Player, and a Roku KDS. I also subscribe to Hulu Plus and Netflix. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I know, like and watch TV over the Internet all the time

That’s why I’m not happy to report that for many people, TV over the Internet still isn’t good enough. Oh, it’s not the video quality. With a high-speed connection, like my own Charter cable 25Mbps (Megabits per second) connection, 720p HD video comes in just fine. Oh, in the future, it may be another story. There’s not enough Internet to go around for everyone to watch TV over the net. Even now, Netflix alone is taking up an insane amount of available Internet bandwidth, but that’s not the problem I see most people having with the currently generation of video streaming services.

No, the real problem is in content. As most of you know, most sports aren’t available over the Internet. There are some exceptions, such as ESPN3, which I see is now showing—I’m not making this up—high school field hockey. And, as a baseball fan, I like that I can watch baseball both on my PC and on my Roku via MLB.TV. Past that though, the pickings get scarce.

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February 10, 2011
by sjvn01
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Lies, damned lies and search engines

Bad Microsoft! Bad! No biscuit for you!

If Microsoft were a dog, I’d be scolding it for its latest foolishness. It turns out that rather than searching the Internet on its own, it’s been riding the coattails of Google. This isn’t just a theory. Google set up a clever trap, and Microsoft’s search engineers fell right into it.

It’s an interesting little story, and I’ll get into the juicy details in a minute. But the affair also leads me to ask the general public whether they have ever recognized that the results that search engines supply are inherently prone to bias and incompleteness. The extent to which that is true is something that every Web user should grapple with.

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February 10, 2011
by sjvn01
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Canonical releases Component Catalog for Ubuntu & Linux

“But will it work with Linux?” That’s a question that many end-users has asked over the years about PC components and peripherals. Lately, the answer is usually yes. Thanks to vendors like Dell and the efforts of the Linux Driver Project, very few devices and components won’t work at all with Linux. At the same time, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have faced the same problem at a lower level. Now, Canonical, Ubuntu Linux’s parent company, has announced that it’s opening up its complete database of certified components for Ubuntu and Linux.

That’s good news. It means Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) working on Ubuntu or Linux notebooks and PCs can much more quickly design systems that they can be sure will work with Linux and Ubuntu in particular.

The catalog presents ODMs and OEMs with a selection of over 1,300 certified components from 161 manufacturers. The database laid out both by vendor, and by type of component. With the former you can quickly see, for example, what ATI, NIVIDIA, and Broadcom have to offer, and with the latter you can find out who’s offering Linux-certified Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE), USB and touch interfaces. You can also search the catalog for specific equipment.

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February 9, 2011
by sjvn01
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WebOS could be a Contender

I liked what I’ve seen of HP’s Linux-based webOS. Still I did think, given Apple and Android’s leading in cutting edge smartphones and tablets, that webOS had much of a shot. Maybe I was wrong. I’m not the only doubter who after HP’s latest webOS presentation now thinks that HP’s webOS devices may yet find a place in the fast red-hot smartphone and tablet markets.

The devices, including the tiny HP Veer smartphone; the Pre 3 with its HD video recording and powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm CPU, and the 9.7-inch TouchPad with its Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 1.2-GHz processor and 16 to 32GBs of RAM all sounded and looked great at HP’s great webOS device unveiling party.

What I found most interesting though was that HP is planning on taking webOS 3.0 to laptops and desktops as well. What’s this!? HP wants to get into the Linux-based desktop operating system business!? As my buddy from the Washington Post, Rob Pegoraro put it, “‘We’re going to bring webOS to PCs’” almost two hours into a keynote raises the bar on burying the lede.”

I wonder what Microsoft thinks about one of their more faithful partners going into direct competition with them on the desktop?

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February 7, 2011
by sjvn01
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Debian Linux was important: Will it continue to be?

When I asked the rhetorical question, “Is Debian Linux still relevant?” I knew I’d cause a ruckus. But, I also felt the question needed to be asked: For Debian’s own good.

Seriously.

Not everyone, to no surprise, agrees with me. My buddy Joe “Zonker” Brockmeier wrote, “Debian has never been a user-friendly distribution, or one that was really targeted at a mainstream audience. Debian 6.0 continues a long tradition of shipping a brand-new stable release that is already outdated, with little to appeal to new users.”

Really? That’s not how I see it. Debian has always tried to stay true to its Social Contract, but it community of developers have also strived to make it a popular distribution as well. To quote from Debian 6.0’s news release, “Debian once again stays true to its goal of being the universal operating system. It sounds to me like they want both old and new users.

It’s getting those new users that’s one of my main concerns.

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