Here is a tweaked version of a Google Search engine to use when you are looking for MP3s to download.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Google drops support for IE6 - not a day too soon
Google has announced that it will be withdrawing support for Internet Explorer 6, from March 1st 2010. This follows the highly publicised spat with China over the attack on Chinese Gmail accounts.
It still isn't totally clear where the attacks originated but they were successful enough to cause a big headache for Google and I suspect that part of the motivation for ceasing IE6 support is 'Saving Face'. After all if Google and China are still to continue trading, and it seems they must, then someone has to do something about resolving the disharmony that originated from the attacks.
Microsoft issued a fairly prompt patch for IE6 and I don't envy the developers given that task. Germany and France were instrumental in increasing Microsoft's pain by advising their citizens to switch to other browsers. IE6 is ancient and out of step with the security situation on the internet these days and really shouldn't be in use any more. The close tie in between browser and operating system never was a good idea.
Are you still using this browser or have you switched to Firefox or IE8 already.
Here are some links to assist in finding your alternative browser.
It still isn't totally clear where the attacks originated but they were successful enough to cause a big headache for Google and I suspect that part of the motivation for ceasing IE6 support is 'Saving Face'. After all if Google and China are still to continue trading, and it seems they must, then someone has to do something about resolving the disharmony that originated from the attacks.
Microsoft issued a fairly prompt patch for IE6 and I don't envy the developers given that task. Germany and France were instrumental in increasing Microsoft's pain by advising their citizens to switch to other browsers. IE6 is ancient and out of step with the security situation on the internet these days and really shouldn't be in use any more. The close tie in between browser and operating system never was a good idea.
Are you still using this browser or have you switched to Firefox or IE8 already.
Here are some links to assist in finding your alternative browser.
Friday, 29 January 2010
Is it fair for Apple to lockdown their products?
Apple are very dedicated to maintaining their balance sheets and making sure they make a healthy profit. Could this be why they lock down their products so thoroughly.
What is a lockdown? In computing terms we mean it is a restriction of access to a limited range of features and functions. Generally speaking it will be deliberate.
There are two main reasons why you might lock down a product. Security and enforcing consumer loyalty.
The iPhone and now the iPad are both able to browse the web and allow you to have even more of it and all the time. However you are not able to see any Flash content on the web pages. This is a big problem if you're a Youtube (as one example) fan.
How do you solve this? Very simple, you need an App
Apparently Apple considers Adobe's Flash product to be insecure or have security issues which might cause problems on the iPhone and now the iPad. In reality they could have solved this issue pretty simply with both and allowed a fully functioning browser to operate inside a software 'sandbox'. There isn't so much money in that though.
Apparently Adobe are up in arms about this but I'm not taking sides with them.
My gripe is that the consumer will happily buy into a 'friendly' company like Apple with their shiny innovative gadgets and then they find themselves 'locked in'.
I reckon Apple could open up and still make loads of money... maybe not quite so much though.
What is a lockdown? In computing terms we mean it is a restriction of access to a limited range of features and functions. Generally speaking it will be deliberate.
There are two main reasons why you might lock down a product. Security and enforcing consumer loyalty.
The iPhone and now the iPad are both able to browse the web and allow you to have even more of it and all the time. However you are not able to see any Flash content on the web pages. This is a big problem if you're a Youtube (as one example) fan.
How do you solve this? Very simple, you need an App
Apparently Apple considers Adobe's Flash product to be insecure or have security issues which might cause problems on the iPhone and now the iPad. In reality they could have solved this issue pretty simply with both and allowed a fully functioning browser to operate inside a software 'sandbox'. There isn't so much money in that though.
Apparently Adobe are up in arms about this but I'm not taking sides with them.
My gripe is that the consumer will happily buy into a 'friendly' company like Apple with their shiny innovative gadgets and then they find themselves 'locked in'.
I reckon Apple could open up and still make loads of money... maybe not quite so much though.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Why all the fuss about the Apple iPad?
Apple are well known for producing, and selling innovative products. The Mac, iPod and of course the iPhone are probably the major examples of this.
There is nothing new about a tablet computer. They have been around for a long time which means that Apple are joining a market which already has some activity. No doubt they have done their research as well and I expect their (now) competitors machine are all in bits on an Apple workbench somewhere.
One of Apples great strengths as a company is the sheer success of their innovation. I'm not sure they have actually invented anything as such but if you look at the combinations of technology in their product then you can be impressed.
So what about the iPad. The name is fairly predictable so what about the rest?
A Touchscreen, well that's expected in just about any product these days. Even Microsoft cobbled together some touchscreen tech into their Windows 7 offering.
Naturally, Apps will be part of the package and the operating system will be well locked down.
How many people will watch and wait for the inevitable, if it's a success, iPad 4Gs? Or maybe you'll pick up on cheap on eBay after about 6months.
The new iPad is described, by Apple, as 'Magical and Revolutionary'. Only time will tell on that one.
There is nothing new about a tablet computer. They have been around for a long time which means that Apple are joining a market which already has some activity. No doubt they have done their research as well and I expect their (now) competitors machine are all in bits on an Apple workbench somewhere.
One of Apples great strengths as a company is the sheer success of their innovation. I'm not sure they have actually invented anything as such but if you look at the combinations of technology in their product then you can be impressed.
So what about the iPad. The name is fairly predictable so what about the rest?
A Touchscreen, well that's expected in just about any product these days. Even Microsoft cobbled together some touchscreen tech into their Windows 7 offering.
Naturally, Apps will be part of the package and the operating system will be well locked down.
How many people will watch and wait for the inevitable, if it's a success, iPad 4Gs? Or maybe you'll pick up on cheap on eBay after about 6months.
The new iPad is described, by Apple, as 'Magical and Revolutionary'. Only time will tell on that one.
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Review of Avatar3D
Update 18 Jan 2010: Avatar won best film (drama) and James Cameron won Best Director at the golden Globe Awards.
Someone once said that every movie ever made was a 'religious movie'. That covers Avatar to a degree but I'd say it had a strong spiritual element. The visuals are breathtaking but when choosing your seat make sure that you get the best experience by filling your vision with the screen. If your seats are lettered front to back of the cinema then think about getting seats around L,M or N - check first don't rely on my suggestion!
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine, a common enough character in movies, who has been paralysed and is now paraplegic. He takes the place of his dead brother on a mission to a distant moon called Pandora. The name is suggestive of the horrors to be found there. Set about 150 years in our future we gather that Earth is in a poor state and that big business can make a great deal of money from obtaining Unobtanium from Pandora. Jake's mission is to find out how to remove the somewhat angry natives, the Navi, from their home on the prime piece of real estate over the massive Unobtanium mineral deposit. The Avatar of the title refers to a human-navi hybrid created to cross the barriers of culture and allow the humans to interact with the native people. Through some movie science we see that Jake is able to link to his avatar and embark on a wondrous adventure amongst the Navi people.
The story does rely on the viewer to fill in here and there and along with all good movies a few liberties are taken. The visual effects from WETA are totally stunning. A lot of care has gone into crafting a new world. It is no wonder that the film has received many accolades already. The direction is pretty good but you can get a sense that the actors were not totally 'pushed to the line', however they were clearly committed to the film and well supported.
This is a very violent movie as we see the militaristic side of the human race represented by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). He hates the planet and he hates the Navi because they're in his way. He also hates the scientists because they are getting in his way as well. There is a great deal of death and destruction, we're well set up for the time the natives fight back. If only the indigenous people in the Amazon Basin had had the backup of an ex-marine.
In juxtaposition to the military horrors we learn, at a gentle pace, that the planet is an organism and everything on it is linked together. It's a bit like the Gaia hypothesis with extra bits added on.
Jake Sully has to deal with resentment from all sides and gains the respect of the scientists and the Navi, eventually. The ending is none too surprising as we see Jake-avatar battling with Quaritch to the death. The naive death dealing humans are sent away and Jake gets his girl, in the form of Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), and gets to keep his super-duper human-navi body.
Overall well worth seeing. Very exciting and has lots of memorable, enjoyable scenes.
Someone once said that every movie ever made was a 'religious movie'. That covers Avatar to a degree but I'd say it had a strong spiritual element. The visuals are breathtaking but when choosing your seat make sure that you get the best experience by filling your vision with the screen. If your seats are lettered front to back of the cinema then think about getting seats around L,M or N - check first don't rely on my suggestion!
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine, a common enough character in movies, who has been paralysed and is now paraplegic. He takes the place of his dead brother on a mission to a distant moon called Pandora. The name is suggestive of the horrors to be found there. Set about 150 years in our future we gather that Earth is in a poor state and that big business can make a great deal of money from obtaining Unobtanium from Pandora. Jake's mission is to find out how to remove the somewhat angry natives, the Navi, from their home on the prime piece of real estate over the massive Unobtanium mineral deposit. The Avatar of the title refers to a human-navi hybrid created to cross the barriers of culture and allow the humans to interact with the native people. Through some movie science we see that Jake is able to link to his avatar and embark on a wondrous adventure amongst the Navi people.
The story does rely on the viewer to fill in here and there and along with all good movies a few liberties are taken. The visual effects from WETA are totally stunning. A lot of care has gone into crafting a new world. It is no wonder that the film has received many accolades already. The direction is pretty good but you can get a sense that the actors were not totally 'pushed to the line', however they were clearly committed to the film and well supported.
This is a very violent movie as we see the militaristic side of the human race represented by Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). He hates the planet and he hates the Navi because they're in his way. He also hates the scientists because they are getting in his way as well. There is a great deal of death and destruction, we're well set up for the time the natives fight back. If only the indigenous people in the Amazon Basin had had the backup of an ex-marine.
In juxtaposition to the military horrors we learn, at a gentle pace, that the planet is an organism and everything on it is linked together. It's a bit like the Gaia hypothesis with extra bits added on.
Jake Sully has to deal with resentment from all sides and gains the respect of the scientists and the Navi, eventually. The ending is none too surprising as we see Jake-avatar battling with Quaritch to the death. The naive death dealing humans are sent away and Jake gets his girl, in the form of Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), and gets to keep his super-duper human-navi body.
Overall well worth seeing. Very exciting and has lots of memorable, enjoyable scenes.
My new Samsung SP-30 flash video camera
Lucky me it's my birthday (soon) and I've just got one of these very nifty cameras. It's packed with features normally associated with other higher spec devices. Very easy to learn to use. Very light in weight which counts a little against it for stability. Overall very impressive for the price tag.
Friday, 22 January 2010
Review sports camcorder. The tiny Mini DV 80s - sport - video - gadget
I bought the Mini DV 80s from Maplin as a January treat for myself. It cost me £49.95 which seems to be a lot cheaper than I've seen elsewhere on the web.
The camera is truly tiny and comes with a comprehensive kit so you can attach it to yourself, your body, bike and just about anywhere you want to record from. It comes with a 2GB mini SD card so you don't even need to stock up on those first.
The recording format is AVI and the quality is pretty good. It handles low light conditions quite well although you would expect the images to be grainy in that situation. The battery is a built in rechargeable and you get a charger supplied in the box. There is a sound activation function which can be set to trigger the camera to record as soon as it detects a signal above about 65dB.
The one thing I miss when I look at the features is a waterproof housing. It would be fantastic to be able to go swimming with this on and then playback the results later.
I'd certainly recommend it to sports enthusiasts and even to amateur film makers who want something really super-compact for action shots. You might want to be careful how you look after it as the size means you might lose it easily.
It's on sale at Maplin until 23rd Feb 2010:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=338654&TabID=1&source=3
The camera is truly tiny and comes with a comprehensive kit so you can attach it to yourself, your body, bike and just about anywhere you want to record from. It comes with a 2GB mini SD card so you don't even need to stock up on those first.
The recording format is AVI and the quality is pretty good. It handles low light conditions quite well although you would expect the images to be grainy in that situation. The battery is a built in rechargeable and you get a charger supplied in the box. There is a sound activation function which can be set to trigger the camera to record as soon as it detects a signal above about 65dB.
The one thing I miss when I look at the features is a waterproof housing. It would be fantastic to be able to go swimming with this on and then playback the results later.
I'd certainly recommend it to sports enthusiasts and even to amateur film makers who want something really super-compact for action shots. You might want to be careful how you look after it as the size means you might lose it easily.
It's on sale at Maplin until 23rd Feb 2010:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=338654&TabID=1&source=3
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