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• The WiFi service has been promoted totally "Virgin style"! It even reminds me of Virgin Atlantic when they ran music videos during their trans-Atlantic flights in the mid-80s and also reminds me of the Virgin MegaStores. In reply to: "Virgin America plans Wi-Fi launch party in the sky"

  November 19, 2008

  0 replies

• Another issue that needs to be looked at as far as Internet radio is concerned is international broadcasting rights. The UK broadcasters had cut off their Internet streams to people outside that country because of a new broadcasting-rights plan in that country that put international music broadcasting in limbo instead of including it as part of standard broadcast rights. The new Webcaster Settlement Act needs to factor in listenership from other countries via the Internet and preferably se this on a same level as local listenership.
  This may appear to be very thorny in a lot of ways because of factoring in composition rights and phonographic performance rights; and use of the broadcast stream at the destination listening point. This would typically cover the standard scenario rights involving public-performance, re-briadcasting / music-on-hold and personal recording of such streams in the destination country. It may also include whether Internet streaming constitutes parallel marketing or "grey importing" of the content, which can encompass playback of recordings not meant to be marketed in an area occuring in that area.
  This discussion may be worth raising regarding the Internet-radio and Webcasting scenarion and I hope that it can be raised.
  With regards,
  Simon In reply to: "Pandora, Webcasting appear headed for Senate victory"

  September 29, 2008

  0 replies

• Hi all!
  
  What Comcast is doing with their Internet-access allowance is very similar to what most Australian and New Zealand ISPs are doing. They offer differing Internet bandwidth allowance in their tariff plans but offer approximatly 200Mb for the economy plan, approximately 10Gb for the mid-range plans and approximately 25Gb or even 60Gb for the deluxe plans. Some plans may charge a fee of up to AUD$0.15 per megabyte for excess use where others may throttle the speed to a very low rate for the rest of the billing month if you exceed the allowance.
  
  Some people could say that Australia and, perhaps, New Zealand are "trial grounds" for various control practices in the IT sector because of the "she'll be right" attitude in that country and the size of the population in that country, Then the practices could be permeated to other countries.
  
  With regards,
  
  Simon Mackay
  
  http://homenetworking01.spaces.live.com/ In reply to: "Comcast to cap monthly consumer broadband"

  August 30, 2008

  0 replies

• This will certainly be a wake-up call as far as remote control of audiovisual devices deployed in residential, educational, hospitality, display and similar environments is concerned.
  I have read the TV-Be-Gone web page and this device has been promoted as a way of "getting away from" TV ubiquity. This device will be (and, I suspect, is) being used by disruptive students to "black" the screens of TV sets used for showing video material during classes and is used as a way of causing trouble in sports bars by turning off the TVs during a critical event in a sporting fixture. Some people have modified this device by increasing IR emitter output in a focused manner so it's operated in a "sniper" fashion from considerable distance, added IR LEDs so that multiple TVs in a large area are turned off and "potted" it in such things as caps so it's not obvious to TV users about what is going on.
  The audiovisual equipment industry needs to be able to support systems like HDMI-CEC (control of TVs and related peripherals via the HDMI cable) and UPnP AV via Ethernet, especially in the context of volume control and power-state control; plus "authentication" methods for wireless remote control like what is done with Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n or Wireless USB. Here, a set can be configured to work only with user-authorised remote controls rather than responding to particular IR pulse patterns. Other solutions could involve the use of duplex (two-way) IR setups like IRDA with authentication functionality for set control. Bang & Olufsen was the first to use duplex IR for controlling consumer electronics, but this was used so that equipment status can be shown on a display built in to the controller. As far as "mating" controllers to devices is concerned, there is a lot of interest in using simplified methods like "push-push" pairing where you push an identified button or select "Add Device" on a master device, then push an identified button on the slave device; or near-field "Touch and Go" pairing where you touch both devices together to pair them.
  Hopefully, by next CES, the audiovisual electronics industry will start to tackle this issue so as to make life harder for unauthorised remote control activities. In reply to: "Bloggers behaving badly: Gizmodo messes with CES flat screens"

  January 11, 2008

  0 replies

• "Claytons" CEOs
  What I would suspect is a "Claytons" CEO is an employee who thinks that by virtue of their position (usually financial officer or operating officer), they can control what happens in the company. They even think that they can override what the chief executive officer or managing director can do.
  
  This can manifest in control over access to the company's resources or service providers such as the "advanced" computer or the business's security-service provider. It can also happen with the business going against the grain of what the "real" CEO wants. At worst, the "Claytons" CEO can be very derogatory to the CEO or members of their family or friends who are helping out in the business. In reply to: "Do you have a dysfunctional workplace?"

  August 21, 2007

  0 replies

• Not just for iPods!
  Hi all!
  
  The idea of the 1.8" 100Gb microdrive isn't just for the iPod! I would reckon that this idea could go towards the high-grade high-resolution digital cameras so that there is the ability to acquire more high-resolution movies and digital images.
  
  Another application could be high-capacity secondary storage in PDAs, UMPCs and other "very small form factor" personal computers. This would suit those machines that are pitched as "laptop replacements" for example. To some extent, manufacturers could easily make very small USB external hard drives that road warriors use as a tool for "mirroring" their laptop computer's data.
  
  With regards,
  
  Simon Mackay

  December 5, 2006

  1 reply

• Locking down these computers
  I would suggest the use of 2 good quality hinged hasp and staple such as the Lockwood PA/23/160DP with 2 good quality padlocks as a way to lock these computers down. This can work at least as a deterrent against theft of these or other similar computers. In reply to: "Mini PC in Education"

  May 30, 2006

  0 replies

• The double-edged sword that a service-provider faces
  I was thinking over this issue about what an Internet service provider has to face up to when it sells a desirable Internet service for "a dime a dozen".
  
  They have to think of what way they have to go to meet the demand. If the service is like cable or FTTH, it will also mean having to work out how many trucks that are available to roll out the technology to subscribers.
  
  It may mean that the company may have to go into further debt to raise cash in order to provide the service. It would be an asset if the service is purely standards-based because they may have to have a second supplier "on call" to provide "infrastructure" equipment to meet the demand even if the regular vendor can't satisfy the demand quickly enough.
  
  Thinking of a "waiting-list" scenario may have customers walking out of the special deal and in to the hands of competing service providers because they want it noe.
  
  A good thing for the providers to do is to be able to have demand-satisfaction contingencies in place before they run that rock-bottom deal.
  
  With regards,
  
  Simon Mackay

  February 6, 2006

  0 replies

• The double-edged sword that a service-provider faces
  I was thinking over this issue about what an Internet service provider has to face up to when it sells a desirable Internet service for "a dime a dozen".
  
  They have to think of what way they have to go to meet the demand. If the service is like cable or FTTH, it will also mean having to work out how many trucks that are available to roll out the technology to subscribers.
  
  It may mean that the company may have to go into further debt to raise cash in order to provide the service. It would be an asset if the service is purely standards-based because they may have to have a second supplier "on call" to provide "infrastructure" equipment to meet the demand even if the regular vendor can't satisfy the demand quickly enough.
  
  Thinking of a "waiting-list" scenario may have customers walking out of the special deal and in to the hands of competing service providers because they want it noe.
  
  A good thing for the providers to do is to be able to have demand-satisfaction contingencies in place before they run that rock-bottom deal.
  
  With regards,
  
  Simon Mackay

  February 6, 2006

  0 replies

• Home implementation idea ?
  Hi all!
  
  What we need to do is shoehorn this idea in to a system that could work as an 802.11g WPA extension access point for existing home networks. This could certainly mean that we can certainly have full signal strength outside as well as keeping those pesky mozzies (mosquitoes) and blowies (blowflies) away from us and our food that we have outside.
  
  These units could replace those UV-based bug-zappers and work hand in hand with the outdoor lifestyle which now includes taking that laptop computer outside during summer.
  
  With regards,
  
  Simon Mackay
  
  Australia -- now in summer

  November 21, 2005

  0 replies