Author Archives: iksib

Those Scandinavians and their hacking. First it’s Norwegian über-hacker DVD Jon making headlines (instead of cracking DVDs he’s now working in the States), now it’s some Swedish Master of Science students carrying the “Doom to the iPod” torch a bit further, making it available on the iPod nano. I did play around on their site for a few minutes, watching some vids of the game in action, and I must say that I’m really surprised at how good the framerate is. Then again, Doom was released back in 1993. Keep in mind that iDoom still comes w/o sound and uses controls that aren’t, well, exactly designed for gameplay, but it’s still cool to see this in action. I’m not sure I’m ready to slap this sucker on my ‘pod just yet, but anyone who’s done so is more than welcome to talk a bit about their experience.

[Warning: this is NOT supported by Apple, and installing or attempting to install it will void your warranty. I know, I know…YOU know that already, but maybe some people don’t. Just covering our bases here.]

Truly inventive. The development log indicates that this has been in the works for several months, but a guy/gal/person (TehDiplomat) has created a playable version of Risk using Google Maps. Available with 2 – 6 players (only humans at the moment), go get a few buddies to huddle around your computer and start conquering the world from the likes of the pleasant-tasting, multicolored, do-no-harm Google environment.

ABC is still the only major network making shows available via iTunes, but the other two television giants are being forced to do the same slowly getting in the game. CBS will be partnering with Comcast to offer cable subscribers past episodes of CSI/NCIS/Survivor/The Amazing Race through the provider’s video-on-demand service, while NBC is partnering with DirecTV to offer episodes of Law & Order: SVU/The Office/Monk(from USA Network)/Battlestar Galactica (from the SciFi Channel).

It seems fair to say that we honestly couldn’t expect the networks to go hog wild with their content-on-demand offering, and the distribution partnerships are obviously hamstrung; starting in January, the CBS content will only be available in markets where the network owns the local CBS affiliates (independently-owned affiliates likely whined about how such a service would reduce the pool of those viewing their content). On the flip side, DirecTV subscribers interested in downloading NBC programs will only be able to do so with digital video recorders that go on sale this month.

This is my favorite part of the New York Times article dealing with the announcements:

This is the first time the CBS and NBC broadcast networks have tried to be paid directly for newly broadcast shows rather than just rely on advertising revenue.

Scary. To think that it’s taken a half-century of televised broadcasts to get us to the point where the producers actually make money from the content, rather than by force-feeding advertising down the throats of viewers. Sometimes progress really takes a long time, and there’s still more ground to cover on this one. Sick of hearing from the RIAA about distribution rights/costs/etc.? Get ready, because I’m sure we’ll be able to devote an entire book to the same issues as they apply to TV.

It’s official: WiFi doesn’t stand for anything. Building on a post from last week discussing the fact that the acronym “WiFi” (or Wi-Fi, or 802.11, or whatever you choose to call it) BoingBoing has an interesting follow-up post today that includes a letter from Phil Belanger, a founding member of the WiFi Alliance (responsible for choosing the name):

Wi-Fi doesn’t stand for anything.

It is not an acronym. There is no meaning.

Wi-Fi and the ying yang style logo were invented…We needed something that was a little catchier than “IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence”…

…The only reason that you hear anything about “Wireless Fidelity” is some of my colleagues in the group were afraid. They didn’t understand branding or marketing. They could not imagine using the name “Wi-Fi” without having some sort of literal explanation. So we compromised and agreed to include the tag line “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity” along with the name. This was a mistake and only served to confuse people and dilute the brand…

…”Wireless Fidelity” – what does that mean? Nothing. It was a clumsy attempt to come up with two words that matched Wi and Fi. That’s it.

So we were smart to hire Interbrand to come up with the name and logo. We were dumb to confuse and water down their efforts by adding the meaningless tag line…

*sigh*

To think that some people earn their living promoting completely nonsensical things simply because they sound catchy and will get people to buy a product. It’s that damn marketing jargon again!

It looks like embattled TiVo scored a sweet deal: according to the New York Times, the DVR pioneer is gettin’ chummy with Yahoo!, resulting in some nifty additional features available to TiVo owners. Finally making use of TiVo’s built-in (and until now, largely unused) networking, the first fruit of the partnership lets TiVo owners program their units via the Yahoo! television listings page. Yeah, so this is only a few steps above the gimmick stage, but NYT says it will be followed by the rollout of additional services, including the ability to view images from the Yahoo! Photos site and see local weather/traffic information. I know I’m always willing to endorse ways to facilitate meteorologist avoidance.

At least the NYT mentions the elephant in the room: so where’s the location switching? Yeah yeah, Slingbox and Orb have that down, you say? Y’all know a little more competition makes the party interesting, and with TiVo’s market penetration, the sooner they get to the point where this can be done, the better for them. Combine that with the ability to view online content on your television (sadly, I’m still waiting for my 56-inch widescreen monitor) and you truly have a sweet piece of hardware.

I love this one: it turns out that Sony’s DRM Rootkit that’s been getting people up-in-arms the past few days can actually be used to combat the process scanning software deployed by World of Warcraft maker Blizzard Entertainment. As it turns out, the rootkit can be used to hide your WoW application, making it undetectable by the anti-cheating software developed by Blizzard (cheesily nicknamed “The Warden”).

Sony’s copy protection software apparently hides the app by adding the prefix “$sys$” to file names (complicated, I know), giving those with illegal copies of World of Warcraft a ingenious new way of providing more time to get their game on without having to hide their tracks. As an aside, I don’t really understand why people hack subscription-based games; any time you’re online for an extended period of time you continually increase your chances of being caught. Given the quantity of time these people likely spend playing the game, you’d think they’d reach a point where they realize that they’re better off paying, but go figure.

Bottom line: So, [name of company releasing spyware/DRM software], see what happens when you release secret apps? See?

[Cheers to BoingBoing]

First of the major networks, that is – starting next Monday you’ll be able to watch NBC Nightly News each night as a webcast, available after 10 pm EST.

No info on the format, but we’ll see how many enterprising souls get the gloriously superficial, infographic-laden newscasts on their video iPods ≤5 minutes after they’re available. Nothing more to see here, people. Keep moving.

As far as I’m concerned, most casemods can be described using three words: Clear plastic. Lights. Amateurish jobs exposing frankenstein innards riddled with LEDs and tubing snaking throughout, I generally throw them into the category of “simple people entertained by pretty lights.”

No more.

As you can see in the image of the left, there are people out there who take case modding to the extreme. As far as I’m concerned, in this instance it’s art. Seriously, this Borg PC is phenomenal. Start Trek: TNG afficionados rejoice, but also people with an appreciation for any lovingly crafted piece of tech geek art.

Red Herring reports today on an exclusive partnership between underdog web browser Opera and Thales, a company specializing in in-flight entertainment systems. As part of the agreement, Opera’s browser will be included in Thales’ TopSeries system currently being used by some 15 airlines. Key to the partnership, which will run for a year, is likely Opera’s internationalization features, which make globalization much simpler because of the software’s support for multiple languages. As RH points out, this partnership is a clear indication of Opera’s desire to move beyond the traditional (i.e. home or office) market, moving into embedded devices as a source of additional revenue. Considering the fact that Opera’s basically been a perennial “also ran” in the browser wars (out since 1995, it still commands an estimated 1 percent of the market). According to the article, nearly two-thirds of the company’s revenue already comes from embedded devices, and with its recent decision to offer the product for free, this path is likely a clear indicator of the way things are going for the company. With the ongoing proliferation of mobile devices able to browse the web, I can’t help but agree with Opera’s decision to place a high level of emphasis on this, but when the day is done I still enjoy my computer and a screen bigger than 2.5 inches. Then again, I’m sure there’s plenty of room for both.

So you’re a tough guy, right? You’re the one they’re talking to in those “Built Ford Tough” commercials, keen on getting yourself the biggest, baddest set of wheels able to swill gas like a kid guzzling soda tackle the toughest terrain out there. Seriously, though; today Ford announced a partnership with California Custom Sport Trucks to produce a special version of its Super Duty pickup, available next year.

Targeted at construction contractors, the modded truck will come outfitted with a touchscreen PC running Windows XP Pro, broadband wireless capability and digital camera connectivity (PCMCIA/CompactFlash slots). No sweet specs for you hardware geeks (it’s meant to process invoices, people!) – 4GB of flash memory, 256MB RAM, 1 GHz Crusoe processor. Still, mobile ‘net is tasty, no matter how you slice it. Hacker community, prepare thyselves (and cheers to someone who buys one of these pickups just to have a tablet pc to play with).

Props to Sprint for a few news items: yesterday they became the first U.S. company to offer music downloads over a cellular network, besting the Apple/Motorola ROKR’s circuitous “iTunes-to-pc-to-phone” route. Puh-leeze. The dilly: at launch, subscribers have access to some 250k songs from the stables of EMI, Sony/BMG, Warner and Vivendi’s Universal; for $2.50 you get two copies of the song (read: a tinny phone version and one for your PC). Downloads are available to those with EV-DO phones (i.e. those with wireless broadband), which at the moment are only Samsung’s MM-A940 and Sanyo’s MM-9000 phones. With the record labels continually fighting with Steve Jobs over iTunes’ $.99 song price, I’m sure some execs are smiling about Sprint charging $2.50 for a single song (get real – the phone version doesn’t count). With a very small user base and a pricing structure 2.5x greater than the market leader, this has some hurdles to overcome, but Sprint is the first one out there. Check this review of the Sprint Music Store (Laptop Magazine) for more. Their rating? 3/5 stars.

Second morsel: speaking of EV-DO, Sprint’s getting serious about competing with Verizon, offering several data plans that, I must admit, are very tempting. Where’s my PPC-6700, you ask? Puh-leeze. Mere details! Plans are as follows:

• $15/month gets you the basic Power Vision Access Pack, including an unlimited supply of tasty EV-DO and streaming news and music.
• $20/month for the Power Vision Plus Pack, which includes unlimited messaging and Sprint TV (content from ABC, Fox News/Sports, etc.).
• $25/month for the Power Vision Ultimate Pack includes everything above plus more channels.

I’m waiting for the Power Vision Super Duper Better Than Anything Else Pack! Damn marketing jargon. Yeesh.