Linked by Kroc Camen on Thu 29th Apr 2010 23:04 UTC
I am almost flabbergasted by the spin and blunt-face upon which this news is delivered. We were just discussing the pot calling the kettle black with Apple / Adobe and now Microsoft have also come out in favour of a closed video format for an open web--IE9's HTML5 video support will allow H264 only. Update Now that the initial shock is over, I've rewritten the article to actually represent news rather than something on Twitter.
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RE[2]: Comment by kaiwai
by nt_jerkface on Fri 30th Apr 2010 09:08
in reply to "RE: Comment by kaiwai"
Member since:2009-08-26
What if Google do release VP8 as free, how are they going to support IE9 users? With a plugin to install? We’ve gone right back to 2000 again.
Microsoft’s decision will affect every person who uses the web for the next 10 years.
Decision to not include VP8? I thought the issue was Theora.
Who has the #1 video site and can push any codec? MS or Google?
Anyone else notice how long Chrome for Linux has been in Beta?
The FOSS crowd really needs to stop buying into Google's pillow talk.
Member since:2005-07-06
Except that the reason Microsoft are allowing H264 _only_ is because it directly channels money into their back pocket through the MPEG-LA. It’s fraud, that’s the only way I can see it.
What if Google do release VP8 as free, how are they going to support IE9 users? With a plugin to install? We’ve gone right back to 2000 again.
Microsoft’s decision will affect every person who uses the web for the next 10 years. It will stifle innovation, keep the megacorops busy with lawsuits against small companies and individuals for an eternity and prevent all new types of business models from springing up around video.
YouTube would have _never_ taken off if they had to pay for every video that was being viewed. YouTube is now a cornerstone of the Internet. That is the kind of change Microsoft have just killed off. I’m sickened by their choice here.
What if Google do release VP8 as free, how are they going to support IE9 users? With a plugin to install? We’ve gone right back to 2000 again.
Microsoft’s decision will affect every person who uses the web for the next 10 years. It will stifle innovation, keep the megacorops busy with lawsuits against small companies and individuals for an eternity and prevent all new types of business models from springing up around video.
YouTube would have _never_ taken off if they had to pay for every video that was being viewed. YouTube is now a cornerstone of the Internet. That is the kind of change Microsoft have just killed off. I’m sickened by their choice here.
Assuming that VP8 is open sourced there is nothing stopping Google from creating a VP8 DirectShow and QuickTime plugins for Windows and Mac OS X respectively. The cold hard reality is that so far the Theora developers have refused to provide a CODEC for DirectShow and QuickTime that not only decodes but also encodes video using easy to use video encoding software. Tell me when I can go "save as' within QuickTime and then export it as a Theora video, then I might remotely give a flying continental about Theora.
Btw, it wouldn't be a browser plugin, it would be a plugin for DirectShow and QuickTime; if people can download and install Chrome, can download and install Flash, christ, if they can download and install any number of applications then I think they can download and install a 1MB CODEC.
Edited 2010-04-30 09:39 UTC
Member since:2005-11-10
Uh, http://xiph.org/quicktime/
I’ve been ragging on about the QT component being a year out of date, but nethertheless, it exists and you can save-as to OGG in OS X.
Microsoft won’t allow any other codec than H264 so a VP8 directshow component will be useless. Google will have to get users to install ChromeFrame or an ActiveX control.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2005-11-10
Except that the reason Microsoft are allowing H264 _only_ is because it directly channels money into their back pocket through the MPEG-LA. It’s fraud, that’s the only way I can see it.
What if Google do release VP8 as free, how are they going to support IE9 users? With a plugin to install? We’ve gone right back to 2000 again.
Microsoft’s decision will affect every person who uses the web for the next 10 years. It will stifle innovation, keep the megacorops busy with lawsuits against small companies and individuals for an eternity and prevent all new types of business models from springing up around video.
YouTube would have _never_ taken off if they had to pay for every video that was being viewed. YouTube is now a cornerstone of the Internet. That is the kind of change Microsoft have just killed off. I’m sickened by their choice here.