Tech In Demand is back in operations. I have restored the content from the old blog. The images are not yet appearing, but I will try to get those back in working order. Other than that, all the content has been properly restored.
I recently had a tooth pulled, and that is why I did not import everything this past weekend, but it is now completed.
Things will be resuming as normal here on Tech In Demand (finally). Thanks for being patient!
Ever see something so amazingly stupid that you just have to sit and think about it for a long time? That is what I'm having to do when it comes to my future purchase of a MacBook. The Apple site surely must have a typo on it! There is no possible way that this can be right.
Well, I was supposed to be writing an entry now explaining the coolness factor of the new site. Unfortunately, that won't be happening. This is the bare minimum of the site. This is kind of like the framework of a house, but it has nothing else with it. Fact is, I still need to add the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, and everything else.
Microsoft is on the move, trying to fix the messes that IE6 and IE7 have brought upon us all as discussions about Internet Explorer 8 intensify. Why anyone would surf the web using anything but Mozilla Firefox is something that baffles me at times. For those of you that are looking forward to a better experience with Internet Explorer, this could be the answer to some of the problems.
YouTube, the most popular video sharing site on the web, is making a roar with news that they will be expanding support for all cell phones enabled with 3G technology. According to YouTube's announcement, this expansion will amount to upwards of 100 million devices that will support the playing, rating, and commenting of videos.
Those who have 3G enabled devices will be able to invest even more time on YouTube soon. The announcement that YouTube will expand support for all 3G compatible devices is another victory for the company. No date was mentioned of when this expansion will be completed.
Members of the YouTube site will be able to not only play videos on their 3G enabled devices, but comment and rate them as well. Most functionality that users have on the desktop is available with YouTube's mobile version of the site. There is also a downloadable application available for a select few Nokia and SonyEricsson devices.
Now, if Google gets aggressive in the 700 MHz auction, people in the U.S. who do not currently have the ability to view YouTube content on their mobile devices could be provided with more affordable options, and Google would become even more rich through mobile advertising; however, it might not work out that way.
[Source: PC World]
Got a blog? Good! BlewSpace is an online application that I came across on another site that allows users to identify their blogs geographically on a Google Map. It is certainly not the most complex web 2.0 application that I have seen, but it does implement a simple idea really well. Bloggers, it is time to put your blog on the map.
A few weeks ago, I signed up for a new service called BlewSpace. It is not very complex with what it tries to accomplish. If I was judging on innovation alone, BlewSpace would not rank very high in my books. However, with that being said, this application allows you to associate a geographical location with your blog. Depending on where you live, this could drive a number of users to your blog who are located nearby.
Tech In Demand is the only blog listed in the entire state of Virginia. Surprisingly, BlewSpace has sent some traffic this way. A few people have subscribed that came from BlewSpace. And while it will never compare to being on the front page of Digg, it is something to consider investing five minutes of your time into.
The team has managed to add a feature that allows you to implement your blog's RSS feed into your listing. This feature is a welcomed addition. There is not really that much you can expect from an application like this.
In the end, there is nothing bad I can say about BlewSpace. The idea is extremely simple; however, I appreciate the work put in by the development team. If you are a blogger, you should add your blog to the map. There are no downsides for doing so, and most bloggers would never turn down the opportunity to add a few subscribers to their feeds.
The numbers from the NPD Group are promising for the game industry. The Wii took the title for selling the most systems in '07. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 came in second and third place respectively. This news is not a shocker to anyone, but I question if the Wii has the lasting power as Microsoft and Sony look to make up ground. This will be another great year for gamers.
Wii
Nintendo is enjoying good times--The Wii and DS Lite are selling well around the world. The company outsold its inventory of Wiis consistently in 2007. Unfortunately, the company screwed itself by not having enough systems made available for the public. That will not factor too much into another issue that people are starting to realize.
The Wii might take a hit because the development of new and fresh titles for the system is slowing down. Thinking off the top of my head, I fail to think of a single title that I might be purchasing for the Wii this year. As far as other systems are concerned, I could name several games that I am looking forward to. This is an issue that gamers will be considering. After all, what is a great system without great games?
Xbox 360
Microsoft faired pretty well with pushing out 1.3 million units. The company holds the biggest share in the next-gen console wars; however, the Wii seems destined take over the Xbox 360 by the end of this year. Xbox Live is the biggest contributing factor to the system's dominance. Great multiplayer connectivity is an area that the PS3 and Wii needs to make great strides in.
The system is solid and stable, well, with the exception of those who have received the "red ring of death." Reliability issues aside, the gaming division at Microsoft have a lot to be proud of with their performance in 2007. Top notch games are sure to come in the late first and entire second quarters 2008, and the system will maintain healthy numbers throughout.
PlayStation 3
The 2008 year is do or die time for Sony's PlayStation 3. The company managed to put 800,000 consoles in the homes of gamers. This has left Sony in last place with around 16% of the market share; disappointing at best. Sony does have that awesome "Universe of Entertainment" commercial with rockin' music by Saliva, but a commercial can only go far. This could potentially be the year that the Play Station 3 bites the dust.
Not all is gloom and doom at the Sony camp as the PlayStation 3 does have a few important things going for it. First off, being the most recent news, the Blu-ray disc format has pretty much sealed the deal in the physical format wars, and thus the console will benefit from those who are going to view high-def content on their HDTVs. Next, the PlayStation 3 will receiving the most impressive lineup of games since its incarnation. Last, but not least, the do or die attitude will have to motivate Sony to work hard for their current and potential new console owners.
A Look Ahead At The 2008 Console Wars
The Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 are going to mix it up for another year: The Wii needs a killer title, the Xbox 360 needs to avoid the red (ring of death), and the PlayStation 3 just needs everything to go right. The one thing in common with the three systems it that they all have have room for improvement.
It is going to be a great ride for gamers worldwide this year. The competition is getting fast and furious. To put it simply--there has never been a better time to get your game on.
If you want to be a winner in my mind, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed for Tech In Demand.
I will be first to admit that I use an impressive amount of bandwidth from my internet service provider. Making heavy use of BitTorrent, streaming media, and live communication services is not a great deal of concern to me. I am willing to bet that I suck up the most data streams in my entire town. Does that mean I should be required to pay more than everyone else?
Maybe I should be the first to say yes, but there is no way that it will ever come from my mouth. I am not stupid, and none of my subscribers are either. We know when once you give some companies unregulated powers that they will exploit their customers. That is happening now.
Time Warner Cable, the 2nd largest cable internet provider in the U.S., has been exploring the option of tiered internet pricing schemes. Time Warner has confirmed to Reuters that the company will have bandwidth caps set at 5GB, 10GB, 20GB, and 40GB for the various plans.
I am currently measuring my bandwidth for an article that I will be writing next month on data usage, and I have already been given estimates of 100GB of transfer for the month! I am nearing 3GB of transfer for today alone. Note that this is a medium usage day. That number will go up with the remaining time. People can easily transfer well over a gigabyte in a single day.
How the hell does one respond when he/she has a notification pop up on their desktop stating that this person is out of bandwidth for the month? Pay more or don't use the internet? It is almost impossible for me to understand why people in other countries put up with it. From what I have read on user forums, ISPs in the UK have dropped tiered internet offerings because the people hated it so much.
The web is rapidly expanding with many rich media options. Faster internet speeds and streaming video services will result in heavy usage of bandwidth. Placing a cap on it hurts everyone. Why can't telecommunication and cable companies see this? I will bet that a company like Google, which needs users to surf the web for their AdSense and AdWords programs, is not too pleased with this idea either.
The irony is that ISPs would be glad to provide higher connection speeds with the hope that their users download plenty of data resulting in the payment of fees for exceeding the limit. I am not sure about most people, but if I had 10Mbps service (or higher), the temptation to download movies, streaming video, games, and music left and right would be great within.
ISPs could possibly manipulate the offered speeds in order to influence your usage. Would an ISP dare to juice up your connection nearing the end of the month in the hopes that you go over? If I put myself in charge of running an ISP, it does not sound like a bad plan. It just opens up so many ways for providers to play mind games with people. I do not like the idea one bit.
There are far more concerns with what could happen. Will overage rates be variable or fixed? It would be annoying to pay $1.00 per gigabyte one month, and then pay $1.25 per gigabyte the next month. What if someone else happens to be using my connection legally or illegally? Does this mean we will see large amounts of court cases over internet service charges?
In the future, these things are going to be on the mind of all internet users. It already feels like dealing with a mobile service provider. There are so many hidden fees and catches. The contract has so many ways of squeezing money out of their customers, and keeping them locked in. Unfortunately, this business model works in the United States. Typical consumers are, unfortunately, stupid when it comes to these things. I can only hope that the internet will spread the word of what it might become.
Hulu, the company that was, at first, publicly ridiculed because of its name is now making big strides with video on-demand. Not only has Hulu given internet TV the justice that it has deserved for so long, but it has forever changed the future of the television broadcast industry. Big networks are taking notice. This is Tech In Demand's review of Hulu.
The Great Stuff
The greatest thing about Hulu is that users can now access some of their favorite shows that are being watched on the tube, now via internet on-demand. It was such an obvious direction for broadcast networks to take, yet their hesitancy probably cost them huge bucks; Hulu is making up for it though.
The one thing that impresses me most is the video quality that Hulu provides. If any user's computer has enough processing power, some shows offer a beautiful 16:9 picture that is suitable for full-screen use. Unfortunately, like Family Guy, not all shows offer this quality, but it is more than acceptable. YouTube users will certainly be impressed.
Making these shows is not cheap, and that is why they have advertisers, of course. Hulu places 5 to 15 second advertisements throughout the videos in logical locations (where the shows would normally take commercial breaks on cable/satellite). Most videos contain anywhere from 3 to 5 advertisements per video. However, I must say that I honestly do not mind the advertisements in Hulu, and they are done really well--I can't believe I just said that.
The Not So Great Stuff
As we all know, there is no such thing as a perfect world, and there are a few strikes against Hulu; however, these issues could easily be fixed without much effort from the developers. With future updates, I expect that these will be fixed in time.
My first complaint is that the site design--while good in general--is not so good in the way it organizes its content, and in some ways the site lacks critical organization. For example, only by navigating to the recent video RSS feed (for the entire site) or the individual show's RSS feeds or the show's homepage can users see the latest shows available on the site. Something relatively close to YouTube's subscription system, which shows recent videos on the homepage, would be sufficient for me.
I have yet to try embedding any video, so I will begin by posting one here on Tech In Demand. What I hear from other users is that videos will stop functioning after they are restricted/removed on Hulu's website--which is unfortunate if true.
My Thoughts
My only concern with Hulu is that NBC and News Corp. will likely prevent other networks from using their service. While most competition will not rely on Hulu itself, which will ultimately result in competing services like it, smaller competing networks may be interested in the advertising revenue that Hulu could offer.
I use several services for receiving video content that get the job done: Netflix, YouTube, Miro, BitTorrent, basic cable, and now Hulu. While I could say which one is my favorite, I must admit that all of them work well in providing me with a plethora of entertainment. I will say that Hulu is a serious contender, and it offers quality content.
Hulu is currently in private beta. No word yet on when it will be releasing to the public, but I doubt it will be too much longer with the success it appears to be having.
The 700MHz auction has been receiving an amazing amount of coverage in the press lately. That is warranted because this auction will affect the future of wireless internet and wireless services for all of us. Some companies have the power to influence all telecommunication, cable, and internet providers. Unquestionably, the next few weeks will be crucial in determining the path that wireless services travel.
The auction will take place on January 24th, 2008, and 214 total bidders of the 266 initial applicants will be fighting it out for wireless spectrum. You have the big telecommunication companies, which are going to be bidding hard, but you also have smaller companies that will be bidding on blocks as well.
I am sure that some of you have seen the commercial in which they explain that people are pretty much going to be screwed in February 2009 if you still use an antenna to watch television. All the news is about the 700Mhz spectrum auction. That vacated portion of the spectrum is exactly what is being auctioned off.
Many people do not understand the true impact that this auction will have. Let's say that there is a person who lives in a neighborhood where there is only one provider of internet services, and the ISP is charging very high prices for the services. This auction might give smaller but able competition the chance to offer the same person those services for cheaper. It is all about creating competition.
The auction has been split off into five separate blocks. The A, B, and E blocks will be valuable to smaller companies which will be offering services in regional areas. The C and D blocks will draw much more of a crowd because these allow a nationwide network, and the likes of Google, Verizon, and AT&T will be pouncing on those.
Essentially, this is an important time in shaping the future of wireless services. While larger companies like Google could shake up all the telecommunication companies, smaller companies can get their legs in the door to be competitive. I hope that this brings lower prices and competitiveness to all potential customers.
[Source: Ars Technica]
