“A simulcast of BBC One or BBC Two, letting UK viewers see programmes on the web at the same time as they go out on TV, is being planned. […] A player to let viewers watch shows on the internet for a week after they have been broadcast on TV is in development. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, [director of TV Jana Bennett] said she hoped to simulcast a channel within the next year. “It’s a great way of getting public service content, which people have already paid for, out to people in a different way,” she said.”
BBC
some links added
Month: August 2005
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BBC plans to put channels on net
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Image Host Advisory
“This is a mostly unverified list of free, sign-up and pay image hosts suggested for use in Photoshop and Farktography contests on the website Fark.com (but also similar contests on sites like MechaPixel and Worth1000).”
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If you bought it, you can sell it… right?
“I paid over $400 for the software last year, and I decided didn’t really like the way the program worked […] So I listed it on eBay complete with the original CD they’d sent me, the key codes for the modules I’d purchased, and the on-disk documentation. I had three days left on the listing and I had a high bid of over $100, which was what I was hoping to receive. That’s when the threatening e-mail started.”
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Criticism of GTalk Criticism
“””Welcome to the Stone Age of instant messaging!” Ken Fisher, a Ph.D. student, wrote at PC resource site Ars Technica. His review deemed Google’s service “Spartan” for its failure to allow file transfers and group chats, and for its lack of emoticons and “skins,” or customized, decorative graphics.”
File transfers: Yes, I definitely think they should add this feature. IM clients are no match for true file transferring methods, but quick transfers (e.g. “take a look at this request box”) during messaging are invaluable for me.
Group chats: I’ve very rarely used the group chat feature (mainly just when testing it out of curiosity), but I know YMMV and I respect that. Can’t quite see though, why not use IRC if you need this feature a lot.
Lack of emoticons and other decorative graphics: Fuck that! I’ve turned emoticons off long ago and have been a lot happier since. Would be even happier if MSN allowed me to strip all “decorative” graphics from it; most of it is entirely useless and annoying. The first thing I liked about Google Talk was the simple looks this guy calls Spartan. Again, I’m not saying nobody should like these features, but, for crying out loud, don’t force it on everybody as default!
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Soneran sähköposti korjattu
“Sonera ilmoitti korjanneensa sähköpostinsa ongelmat. Vika alkoi [varhain] aamulla, ja liikenne palautui normaaliksi kello 13:40. Vika koski koko Suomen aluetta ja ilmeni siten, ettei sähköpostiin kirjautuminen onnistunut, eivätkä käyttäjät voineet sisäänkirjautua Soneran sähköpostipalveluun. Edelleen kuitenkin Soneran datayhteyksiä on poikki Itä-Suomen alueella.”
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Keskuskonevika sotki liikennevalojen yörytmin
Helsingin itäisen kantakaupungin liikennevaloja ohjaava keskuskone kaatui yöllä, eikä varajärjestelmä jostain syystä mennyt päälle automaattisesti, kuten sen kuuluisi. Tämän seurauksena valot aloittivat aamurytmin jo yöllä, joten aamulla valot elivät puolestaan yöaikaa.
Helsingin liikenteenohjaus on siirtymässä hajautettuun järjestelmään, jossa keskuskoneen kaatuminen ei sekoita kaikkia valoja. Tietokoneviasta johtuva kokonaisten kaupunginosien valojen sekoaminen on ensimmäinen laatuaan 15 vuoteen. Keskuskoneen itäisen kantakaupungin liikenteenohjauksen on toimittanut Siemens.
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Ilmatieteen laitokselle laskentatehoa Silicon Graphicsilta
“Ilmatieteen laitos on päättänyt hankkia sääennusteita ja muuta tieteellistä laskentaa varten Silicon Graphicsin laskentatietokoneen. Hankittu tietokone on Suomen tehokkain. Uuden koneen kapasiteetti on Ilmatieteen laitoksen nykyiseen käytössä olevaan kapasiteettiin verrattuna yli 30-kertainen ja sijoittuu myös koko maailman mittakaavassa 400 tehokkaimman koneen joukkoon. […]
Tehokkaamman koneen avulla […] voidaan toteuttaa uudentyyppisiä reaaliaikaisia sovelluksia, koska nykyisen ennustusmallin 54 tunnin sääennusteen vajaan nykyinen tunnin laskenta-aika supistuu alle kolmeen minuuttiin. […] Valitussa Altix 3700 BX2 -sarjan koneessa on yhteensä 304 prosessoria ja 304 gigatavun keskusmuisti. [Koneen kapasiteetin arvioidaan riittävän laitoksen sääennusteiden laskentatarpeisiin noin neljäksi vuodeksi.]”
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Google has an active Jabber server, Google IM coming soon?
“Inquisitive Neowin member Tom Servo, taking a que from member CarlNewton tried to connect to talk.google.com using his Trillian client. What he got was a secure XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, alternatively known as Jabber) server waiting for connections.”
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UK ISP deal with Sony-BMG allows subscribers to share their music
“UK ISP Secures License to Share” by Anthony Patarini:
Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing claims (don’t worry, we believe him) that MSP, a new British ISP, “has secured a license from Sony that allows its customers to legally share any song in the Sony-BMG catalog with any other PlayLouder MSP customer, and to download these tracks from any ISP customer in the entire world.”
Apparently, PlayLouder MSP DSL costs about the same as other DSL offerings in the UK, but subscribers will gain the ability to legally download any music which Sony-BMG holds the copyright to (including “out of print” tracks), to share any of that music with other PlayLouder MSP subscribers, to do so using any file format at any bitrate and using any software. The music can originate from anywhere – P2P, CD, radio recording, etc. MSP is also in talks with several indy labels in an effort negotiate the same deal with them as well.
The system does have its drawbacks, however. As you’ve read, subscribers can only share with other subscribers, and on top of that MSP will be analyzing traffic to try to determine how many Sony-BMG songs are being shared (though this is, according to MSP, only to determine how much they must pay Sony-BMG). Using this technology, they will be actively blocking recognized songs from leaving their network, while allowing unrecognized files to flow like normal.
Although this setup isn’t perfect, it’s certainly the “best thing to happen to the copyfight” in a long time. As Cory points out, this is a lot like the Voluntary Collective Licensing system the EFF has been working towards for years. I personally don’t think that you should need a license to share music non-commercially, so I don’t think that this type of system should even be necessary, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. Hopefully we’ll be seeing many more deals like this in the future.
For those interested, PlayLouder MSP is set to launch at the end of September.
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