IE9 won’t play with Windows XP
While the Windows XP may be aging and slowly being pushed out the door, many of us still hold onto it as the OS has proven itself to be stable over the years. I myself still have copies of XP running, because some oldie but goodie programs I have require XP. XP works well with Apple’s Fusion software for the virtual machine. When Vista came out I passed. The only reason I have Windows 7 is because that is what my new PC shipped with…but I have the XP emulator running as well for my favorite programs…but I digress.
It has been known for a while, since Windows 7 was announced that Microsoft would stop supporting XP, and in fact it has become very hard to find store copies to purchase and you have to use the Microsoft website these days if you do want a copy. But soon that option will be gone as well. For people who use Internet Explorer (I prefer Firefox and run it on both my Mac and PC machines), and are attached to it, and are just as attached to Windows XP, I am sorry to say that when IE9 comes out, you will have to give up your old trusted friend.
Microsoft announced yesterday that XP will not be supported by IE9, the browser will depend on integrated technologies of hardware acceleration that aren’t available in XP. As the announcement was made yesterday, several sites pointed out that this is a potentially bad move. Arstechnica posted “ Hachamovitch stopped short of explicitly saying that XP would not be supported, but said that building a “modern browser” required a “modern operating system.” IE9 will be heavily dependent on hardware acceleration, courtesy of its use of Direct2D and DirectWrite; neither API is available on Windows XP.”
While some of this may be mumbo jumbo to us, what it boils down to is that they are making it prettier and sleeker, Microsoft by choosing to not support the XP OS any longer is potentially cutting off millions if not billions of their customers, forcing them to upgrade their OS to continue to use Internet Explorer. Not how one keeps their customer base.
FCC releases plan to give 90 percent of Americans high speed internet access by 2020
Yesterday, the United States Federal Communications Commission released it’s plan to improve US web access saying it will boost the economy. The plan aims to extend fiber-optic internet cables into areas of rural America where broadband is either unavailable or too costly. They also aim to target schools and educate children of the importance of the web and why they need to know how to use it. They claim in today’s digital society Americans who are out of work need to have not only the knowledge but the access to stay connected with companies and recruitment agencies who mostly work online in the hiring process. This all seems like a great idea, it will create jobs, educate people, but will it really provide lower cost high speed internet and will people really be able to afford it? Is there plan to regulate companies such as Verizon and Comcast and prevent them for charging large fees for high speed internet? According to James Losey of Open Technology Initative “The United States needs to step it up and see what’s been going on around the world….the challenge is, we don’t have competition: Most markets are duopolies. U.S. Internet connections generally are slower and more expensive than those in other developed countries.” This is really surprising considering the internet was developed in the US and now it trails 18th behind countries such as South Korea who have 14.6 megabit-per second data transfer rate while the US is much slower. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/16/-national.broadband.plan/index.html
What was even more ironic about this news was the news story that was posted underneath it. “The webmaster without the high-speed web” It tells the story of a woman living in rural Oklahoma who works as a webmaster but doesn’t have broadband internet at home. She struggles with a dial up connection which is extremely slow. She simply does not have the money to pay for broadband connection. The slow connection causes problems for her two children who need to access the internet for homework projects. This is a clear example of how difficult it can be for American’s to get online with affordable high speed internet and as the economy gets worse more and more Americans are remaining isolated while offline. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/16/life.-without.broadband/index.html
Speek now or forever hold your peace
In 2006, after selling my first company, I started Speek.
Speek is a cloud-based application that replaces your traditional conference bridge service.
What’s different about Speek you may ask?
Two things:
1. Speek calls you rather than making you dial some annoying dial-in phone number, bridge ID and pin to join a call.
2. Speek works on more than just phones – it will call you on skype, google talk, empathy, SIP, pure VoIP and more!
How does it work?
Speek works in a few rather unique ways.
1. The Cloud – Speek resides on Amazon EC2 rather than old fashioned, traditional data centers. This ensures almost unlimited scalability and quality due to lack of reliance on physical servers and other infrastructure.
2. VoIP – Because Speek resides on the cloud it does not rely on physical phone connections. This is what enables it to “find you” using not just phone numbers but also skype, google talk, SIP and other Voice over IP means.
3. Software – Because Speek is a software application, rather than a physical device, it can do some pretty powerful things once you connect to a conference call. It can record the call. It can transcribe the call. Best yet – it has an open RESTful API that let’s you reuse any of Speek’s technology in your own products! See http://developer.speek.com for details.
Since founding Speek in 2006 we have raised just north of $2mm in venture capital. We have generated around $6mm in revenue. We have developed 2 release candidates. We have over 500,000 registered users.
HTML5
http://developedbymiche.com/blog/2007/10/06/html-5
I have been hearing bits and pieces about HTML5 lately, and I figured now would be a good time to catch up with some research on this major revision to HTML. This is especially interesting in light of the announcement that Apple’s iPad will be not be supporting Flash but will be using HTML5 instead to display videos.
First off, a little history: HTML was originally for use for the transmission of scientific data. However, as more people began using the internet, HTML was put to use in ways that it wasn’t created for. As web applications become more popular, it became apparent that HTML was being stretched to do work that it wasn’t meant to do.
The purpose of HTML5 is to update it to be easier to use for web applications. These include changes that make HTML cleaner and easier to organize, new tags to make adding audio and video easier, and elements to improve user interactivity. For example, the following is an example of code that was used to include a video:
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oHg5SJYRHA0&hl=en&fs=1&" /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oHg5SJYRHA0&hl=en&fs=1&" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"> </embed> </object>
With the new <video> element in HTML5, video is put up with the following code:
<video width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/demo/google_main.mp4" controls autobuffer> <p> Try this page in Safari 4! Or you can <a href="http://www.youtube.com/demo/google_main.mp4">download the video</a> instead.</p> </video>
This example was taken from www.html5doctor.com, which is a great resource for learning how to implement HTML5.
The Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) is working on the specification and is keeping the public informed on their wiki. Also, here is a list of some more resources about HTML5, including a link to a gallery of websites that are already using HTML5.
Web developers everywhere, whether they believe it’s all just hype or not, certainly have their eyes glued on what’s going on with HTML5.
P.S.: I have just been informed that I have inadvertently rickrolled you. I do not apologize.
Cable for free?
I found this article about people who stopped subscribing to cable and instead watched their TV shows on the internet for free! While I am sure that you can’t see everything you want over the internet, technology is making it easier and easier to watch many things without a TV. Netflix allows you to download videos on your computer. You can listen to radio on the computer. There are even websites like ch131.com that have archives of TV shows and movies for you to watch from the comfort of your computer screen. I am not sure that I am ready to drop my cable to sit in front of my computer screen for longer than I normally do, but I have watched a few shows on the computer. Some of you may have heard of the briefly broadcast ABC show “Defying Gravity”. They annoyingly canceled it 8 or 9 episodes into its first season. A TV station in Canada continued to air the remaining 3-4 episodes of the season and I was able to finish off the season using ch131.com and my home computer!
HP Slate…iPad Killer? Maybe
First, I must offer my apologies for continuing the trend of blogging about the iPad and its potential competitors but I couldn’t help myself when I saw the HP Slate. Regardless of being a huge iPod Touch the iPad does have its good points but it’s definitely for a different kind of user, more of a multimedia user in my opinion. What about those who want to use a tablet as a productivity device? Or maybe use a Microsoft Office product on it? In comes the HP Slate, I admit to being a PC, and beyond that I have a special affinity toward HP. The new Slate coming before the end of 2010 is operating on Windows 7 and guess what? It supports Adobe Flash. Ok, now I’m excited. Some are trying to downplay the importance of Adobe Flash because the iPad doesn’t support it, but look at these numbers, 85 percent of the top 100 Web sites (according to Alexa.com) use Adobe Flash, and that 75 percent of all video on the Web relies on Flash technology. Those are pretty convincing statistics. The Slate’s price point is said to be “under $1,000,” which means probably $999.99 but I will worry about that later. I’ve gone on long enough, check this out for yourself. Let me know what you think.
25yearsof.com
.com Turns 25 Years Old, March 15, 2010
…1985’s most lasting contribution turned out to
be three letters and a punctuation mark
Reference and thumb nail image: www.25yearsof.com
History of .com
Dot com may be the most popular of those three little fragments that helped reshape the world, but the first registered name occurred without fanfare. A computer manufacturer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts called Symbolics, Inc. was the first to stake a claim in .com on March 15, 1985. What followed was hardly a gold rush: that year only five other companies signed up a name. Reference:www.25yearsof.com
The dot com and TLD’s have come a long way in the past 25 years. There is now an organization ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) headquarters in Marina Del Ray, California, United States. One of it’s primary responsibilities is that it oversees and manages the assignment of domain names including TLDs.
This week, March 9 – 12, 2010, ICANN is holding a conference in Nairobi, Kenya and a few controversial TLDs are being discussed for approval include .xxx for adult sites, .sex, .God and .gay.
There’s a very interesting summary of the domain name industry showing statistical and analytical research at: http://www.verisign.com/domain-name-services/domain-information-center/industry-brief/index.html
It shows how the number of .com domain registrations has grown to over 80 million over the last 25 years. At the same time Internet usage has grown rapidly as well. The average daily DNS query volume is now more than 52 billion queries a day. (Reference: The Domain Name Industry Brief, Vol.7, Issue 1, February, 2010, p.6.) See low res chart below.
Reference: www.verisign.com
Library of Congress Downloaded in One Second?
According to CNN (see link below), Cisco has just released a new internet technology capable of offering downloads of up to 322 Tbps. This translates, according to their estimates, to download speeds of up to 1 Gbps to populations equal in size to that of San Fransicso.
Correct me if I am wrong, but my mid-term exam notes were quoting FiOS at the high end at around 50 Mbps. It might be time to broaden our understanding of the possibilities of network communication for both businesses and consumers.
Also, you would have to think that this development would put tremendous pressure on technology companies to enhance storage capacity for mobile phones and computers, as it seems to be the only major impediment to utilizing speeds of this magnitude.
Overall, I think it is safe to say that the world is getting smaller and it will be fun to see how this plays out.
Apple Launching Patent War
Last Tuesday, Steve Jobs and Apple announced that it was suing HTC for allegedly infringing on its patents and the implications behind this are huge. When the iPhone was first unveiled, Jobs made a point to note the more than 200 patents Apple had filed regarding iPhone technology. And it seems like he is now doing everything he can to ensure that it remains in the “unique niche in the the market” that its had for the past three years.
Apple most likely chose HTC because it is a relatively young and small company that neither have the capital nor patents to survive an extended legal battle. And any success that Apple has in the lawsuit is significant not in the sense that HTC is being hurt, but rather because it will allow them to provide leverage for future lawsuits and patent battles against much larger competitors such as Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson.
This “Patent War”, in my eyes, is absolutely absurd. Long before the iPhone had been released, HTC was already producing numerous Windows Mobile based smart-phones. The lone significant difference being the touch screen, many were initially writing the iPhone off as a rip-off of the HTC phones. This further highlights the irony of the lawsuit Apple is filing, as it should have been HTC suing Apple for copyright infringement years ago.
Bottom Line: No matter how much I love Apple and their products, Apple is extremely threatened by the expanding smart-phone market and is using tactics no different from what they accused Microsoft of 20 years ago in order to create an iPhone monopoly.
Google Fiber For Communities
“Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. We plan to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.
From now until March 26th, we’re asking interested municipalities to provide us with information about their communities through a Request for information (RFI), which we’ll use to determine where to build our network.”
source: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/
As you may have read, google has announced plans to run a trial of fiber to the home. This would enable much faster internet access than is possible using the copper wiring which composes the majority of Americas communication infrastrucure. According to google, this would allow bandwidth of up to 1Gbit/s , 100 times faster than the current connection of most americans. They also state that this would allow applications to be created which are now impossible due to the much lower bandwidth accessible to most Americans. Google also states that they would share their network with other internet service providers to allow customers more options. Make them squirm.
My city, Worcester Massachusetts has submitted an application for consideration to be the test model. As an Xbox Live gamer, I would love to see this. For me, this would decrease my latency and ping over the xbox network. This would allow me to have a better response time resulting from the increased available bandwidth.
Lately, I have been reconsidering Netflix. They currently have streaming video options. The increased bandwidth allowed by fiber to the home would allow for HD movies to be streamed. I know this already exists but believe that it would allow for even more definition to be broadcast. Downloads / uploads would be faster and of course this would translate to faster web viewing.
I have some questions though. If Google came to my city, would that have to rewire my house and everyone elses as well? I believe so, as the current copper wiring throughout our homes would restrict the bandwith if it say, just came to the outside of our houses.
Would this be free for the city and residents? If Google wanted to rewire my home and provide free fiber ISP, I would love it. However, if I had to spend hundreds on getting this done and pay >$50 a month i’m not sure if it would be worth it. My current bandwidth is <~20MBps. It has proven to be fine for my gaming and streaming TV shows on hulu.com. And I have a package bundle. I also know that cable is, and will continue to be supported. It’s not going to fail like a community experiment may. What would happen to our recently re-wired houses if that was the case?
I’m sure more info will become available when this becomes an option for a lucky city. I’m anctious to hear.
