Sounds par for the course from Sony.
Some players will not play the new disks at all, and others take over two minutes to run the disks.
Target firmly painted on foot, Sony scores again.
Category: technology
Mynummo.com May Need to Place a Consumer Warning on Their Web Page
One very stupid, and very lucky man disrupted the decorum of a magistrates court in Australia when his cell phone rang. The ringtone was of a Woman moaning: “Oh, yeah … yeah … oh, yeah … do it to me.”
Were I the judge, he’d have at least have his cell phone confiscated, but the Magistrate was feeling charitable that day.
This is Our Future Dystopia
Larry Magid, of Siliconvalley.com, had a dystopian vision a couple of weeks ago, September 26 to be specific.
Two things happened that day:
- Verizon refused to allow the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) to send out alerts to people who had requested them, because the content was deemed to be, “controversial or unsavory”. (They later reversed themselves)
- Pudding Media demonstrated an ad supported VOIP system, where voice recognition is used to provide ads that are appropriate to the conversation’s context.
His vision, and one that I also fear, is one where the wireless carriers, using voice recognition, choose to allow only those communications that they choose over their networks.
When it comes to the two events of Sept. 26, I worry about the misuse of technology similar to what Pudding Media is using. Not only would it be easy to provide transcripts of our calls to authorities, but all calls could be parsed in real time. Say the wrong thing and your call could be interrupted or you could get an immediate visit from some guys with guns in a big sport-utility vehicle.
Such a scenario would not be in the interest of phone companies, and it certainly wouldn’t be tolerated by civil-liberties minded Americans. But based on what I’ve seen since 9/11, I have no doubt some in government and the private sector would love to see this happen.
The mere thought of it is creepy.
It’s more than creepy. It is very, very likely. It’s like some vision of George Orwell or William Gibson, and it’s closer than most of us would like to think.
Even more than its use to arrest dissenters, is its use by folks like Bush and His Evil Minions&trade to blackmail political opponents. It’s Karl Rove’s wet dream, and it’s Verizon’s wet dream too, because they can use the tech to become the advertising conduit for everything.
If property rights for private operators trump civil rights for people, we are already 90% of the way there.
I’d scream, but I have laryngitis (really…chest cold).
Telco Consolidation
Clickable image courtesy of Wiki. It’s a great illustration of how the monopoly has been recreated, this time with fewer consumer protections.
An Interesting, If Flawed Analysis of the Israeli Airstrike
His analysis is that the Israelis used an electronic warfare system equivalent to BAE Systems SUTER to invade the Syrian air defense network, and misdirect it.
Honestly, I think that it was something more basic. They determined where the air defense sites were, when shifts changed, and things like that, and then they launched the attack to take advantage of this.
The high tech solution is sexier, but you have to remember that basic mission planning is more than 90% of the game. That F-117 was shot down in Yugoslavia because it ran the same route, at the same time, for 3 days straight.
AT&T threatens to disconnect subscribers who criticize the company
What Jesse Wendel Said.
Jesse Wendle of The Group News blog has this post on the Amry’s new “Pain Ray”. I read about it a while back, and filed it under, “Mildly interesting”, wait for a slow news day.
Boy, was I wrong. Jesse makes it clear what this is all about, and I, in my tech geekiness, missed the big picture:
This will be used to torture.
It isn’t up for debate. It isn’t open for question. No matter how many safeguards we put on their sale.This will be used to torture. As the article goes on to say, quoting a goddamn Ph.D. biologist who specializes in how the brain perceives pain, “They are so obviously useful as torture instruments.“
….
There are worse things than dying. Being burned alive is one of them. Being burned alive over and over again and never being able to escape… Don’t talk to me about humane weapons which burn people without burning them till you’ve gone on a run with me and seen what teenager sisters look, feel, sound and smell like who’ve been burned to death but are still talking to each other because they just don’t fucking know they’re already dead.
This box is a torture device. It’s morally wrong and an abomination upon the face of the earth.
All emphasis is mine.
Apple iPhone: Sue Different
It’s about Apple “bricking” iPhones that have been modified.
There are some problems for Apple:
- This is clearly deliberately malicious code.
- They have bricked some unmodified iPhones as a result.
- They have worked as a corporation to do this, which means that they are likely covered by the RICO statutes.
That being said, I don’t want an iPhone. I want a phone that works first as a phone, these hard to talk on square bricks as PDAs don’t cut it for me.
If I want a PDA phone (maybe when it gets cheap enough on EBay), I’ll get something like the Samsung SPH-I500.
It’s marginally larger than any clamshell phone, and it has a Graffiti™ pad right above the real phone buttons.
It’s not in production any more.
Why We Need Open Access
Verizon decided not to carry text message updates sent by NARAL, though they subsequently reversed themselves.
This is why we need open access. They are using public airwaves, and as such, they should function as common carriers for all communications.
NASA Launches Dawn Probe to Asteroid Belt
The Dawn mission to Ceres and Vesta has been launched.
It’s the first mission to renedez vous with more than one body, and an ambitious application of ion drive technology.
For more on the tech, see here
9104.98 Smoots to Work as the Crow Flies
Well, those wacky folks at Google Maps have added a new feature, you can measure straight line distances by almost any unit you can imagine.
Just go to “My Maps”, then “Distance Measurement Tool” followed by “I’m feeling geeky” and select from the drop-down menu.
I’m fond of Smoots…I’ve been on the bridge, and seen the original, and the new smoots after the reconstruction.
Microsoft Admits that Vista Sucks Wet Farts from Dead Pigeons
Of course, they don’t say it straight out, but Microsoft is now offering a “rollback to XP” tool for some corporate accounts.
I’m never one for buying Microsoft software until at least a year after it comes out, but this is un-bloody-believable.
Apple Threatens iPhone Users
Apple is now claiming that iPhones that have been hacked to be usable with non AT&T phone services may shut down when the push out their next software update.
“This has nothing to do with proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked,” Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in an interview. “It’s unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software, but Apple cannot be responsible for … those consequences.”
Bull. Apple is threatening its users for what they do to their phones, and just as with the iPods, it’s setting out to break the phones, and the hacks.
How Long Before This is Hacked?
I dunno, 15-20 minutes?
NBC unveils self-destructing, ad-addled anti-iTunes service
Published Thursday 20th September 2007 19:29 GMT“
By Cade Metz in San Francisco
Published Thursday 20th September 2007 19:29 GMTLess than a month after its very public breakup with Apple iTunes (http://www.theregister.com/2007/08/31/apple_and_nbc_go_at_it/), NBC Universal has announced its own rights-restricting video download service.
With the new NBC Direct, due for beta testing sometime in October, you’ll have the power to download shows like “The Office” and “Heroes” immediately after they’re broadcast on national television – without paying a penny. But don’t get too excited. You can’t view these videos on more than one Windows PC. They’re riddled with commercials you can’t skip. And they self-destruct after seven days.
….
You got a love it. Take all the worst features of bloody mindedly stupid DRM, and wrap it all up in one tight package.
Ion Drives for Spy Sats
DARPA is looking at ion-drive spy satellites. Truth be told, this is not surprising.
One of the limiting factors on many spy satellites is the amount of propellant available, and if you can use a very high impulse (rocket fuel economy) for station keeping and scheduled moves, you can either make a lighter vehicle, which means more for the same price, or one with much hhigher flexibility and operational life.
Russians Working on Hybrid Nuclear Submarine?
The Russians haven’t had a secret ship program in years, so this is interesting:
Submarine: Military Secret Shows Up on the Internet – Kommersant Moscow
Municipal authorities in Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod Region, accidentally revealed the design for the latest Russian submarine when it posted an account of a meeting with its commander on its website. The high level of secrecy surrounding the submarine suggests that it is a unique experiment on the part of scientists and the military.
On September 6, the official site of the city of Sarov (www.adm.sarov.ru) reported on a visit to the city by the commander of the submarine Sarov Capt. 1st Rank Sergey Kroshkin. In the text, it stated that the Sarov was still in the stocks at the Severodvinsk but “the chief commander of the Navy has set the task of finishing work by the end of the year.” The number of the submarine project was given: 20120 and its technical and tactical characteristics as well. those data indicate that the new submarine is very similar to the Project 877 Paltus (Halibut) diesel submarine, but its water displacement is greater (3950 vs. 3050 tons).
The article further goes on to surmise that this submarine has a mini-nuclear reactor on board, so that it can function much in the same way as some of the new conventional boats out there that can stay under water for over a month.
It makes sense. While one could not deploy any great distance with a 500-1000 kw reactor, your time underwater once on station wound be nearly limitless (by comparison, the Seawolf is somethere in the 50,000 kw MW range and has a top speed of over 35 kts).
Hybrid PDE-turbine engine
GE is bench testing the concept, which basically involves using a pulse detonation engine (PDE) in place of the high pressure turbine.
Basically, a PDE is a pulse jet, like that of the V-1 “Buzz Bomb”, but instead of igniting the fuel normally, where the flame front front progresses at subsonic speeds, it detonates the fuel (the flame front moves at supersonic speeds).
What I’ve read mostly is its potential to replace high speed turbojets, but this shows that it could be applied to civil high bypass engines by replacing the HP compressor and turbine.
Hush a Boom
The Ar Force is currently deploying bombs with greatly reduced shrapnel effects.
This is identical in concept with the “paper bomb” in Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger, though as an old Bullwinkle fan, I tend to think of the silent explosive that was a major part of one of their story lines.
Chinese Commuter Jet Boasts Novel Aerodynamic Feature
The Chinese commuter airliner, the ARJ21 is using tight integration between the engine and wing to boost aerodynamic performance.
The plane has a DC-9 configuration (see picture below), and they are hoping to get a 1% increase in l/d ratios by integrating the engines airflow and with the wings.
Essentially, this means that the inlet air to the engines will boost the energy of the airflow over the wing.
It’s an interesting concept, but given the fact that if this aircraft achieves even modest success, there will be stretched variants, where the engines will be further from the wing, one wonders if this technique can still work as the gap between engine and wing grows.
Small, Cheap, AESA Radars Available for RPVs.
Truth be told, I could see these entering civil aviation as weather radars too, and with a bit of software, you could put it on a cruise missile, and you could follow terrain, and jam radars searching for you.
The PicoSar(Shown below) weighs less than 25 pounds and is about the size of a toaster.
It has a range of about 12 miles and can track ground targets, and it appears to run cool enough that it does not need liquid cooling.
With some decent software, you could probably gang a bunch of these together for better resolution, or use it for stealthy radar antenna.
I’m waiting for someone to apply a low performance (cheap) version of this technology to satellite TV receivers. It could adjust to gusts in fractions of a second.