10 Types Of People

You may have heard that Sony’s lawsuit against GeoHot and failoverflow was made official today (although, we knew it was coming when they took out that restraining order, lets be honest). If you don’t know whats happened, let me explain in layman’s terms. Essentially, to run any game or program on a PS3, it must be “signed” with a private key, which is essentially a long string of characters that encrypts the game or program. Then, each console has its own key, which is similar, and can be used to decrypt the game, therefore proving it is an official game. The reason that no one has managed to run anything on a PS3 before last week is because no one had this key, as it was kept in a secure Sony facility.

However (and this is where my knowledge of what exactly happened gets a bit sketchy), a group called failoverflow managed to figure out how to do something with the PS3′s key system, and then the next week, GeoHot (a famous iOS and PS3 hacker) managed to use the same method to figure out the master private key. This would theoretically allow anyone to install whatever they want on their PS3, therefore leading to the inevitable end of people finally getting Linux back on their PS3s (which, btw, we paid for in the first place). This is fantastic news for people like me (hackers and computer scientists) because it means we can use our consoles to the full potential. The cell processor can do a lot more than people are doing just now with games and stuff, and this is great. Geohot actually posted a video showing him running a homebrew program on his PS3.

However, today, Sony filed a lawsuit against Geohot and the members of failoverflow, basically suing the living daylights out of them. Apart from my anger towards Sony, there are a few things we can take from this:

1. This is a permanent hack – if Sony could fix this with a software update, they would. They didn’t bother trying to sue GeoHot when they could fix what he did with a software update, therefore they are screwed with this. There is nothing they can do, so they decide to sue.
2. They are obviously not releasing the PS4 anytime soon. This lawsuit will cost them time and money, and if they were going to be announcing the PS4 in June at E3, then they wouldn’t go to all this expense and bother.

Now, before you start harping on about software piracy, this is nothing to do with that. Yes, sure, some people will use it to clone games, but you can’t get away from that fact, and I don’t care, because thats not what I, and most people, want to do with this software. I want to install linux, I want to write small programs for my PS3, and I want to be able to play indie games, and have random little Open Source programs that people make for it. This is what I want, not to rip games and play them without buying them. Most of us aren’t like that. The people involved with this hack want openness and want to be able to use their consoles to the full potential that they can. Nothing more.

Do you stop something because someone might use it for bad? No. Unless the majority uses it for bad, then you just deal with individual people. You don’t ban cars because occasionally people use them to run people down deliberately. And this isn’t even killing anyone if people do it.

I am not for piracy, I am for openness and being able to use my console to its full potential, and in 1 case actually being able to use 1 of the features I bought with it (linux support) which Sony took away. Ironically, to stop this happening

1 last point…I just hope that Apple’s jailbreaking case loss is enough within case law to warrant this being legal as well. If you look at the list of laws that are supposodly broken with this, it seems to be a load of rubbish. I’m obviously not a lawyer, but I’m sure using my PS3 for what I want does not count as “accessing computers without authorization”. Erm, its my computer…

The worry for me, is that if Sony wins, then suddenly we have Apple, and many other companies, trying to stop us using our computers and phones fully. I hacked the bootloader on my phone so I could run modified software on it. I’m not breaking any laws, so why shouldn’t I be able to do that? Its pretty much the same issue.

P.s – The PS3 logo is a registered trademark of Sony…blah blah blah…you know the drill, right?

You may have heard that Sony's lawsuit against GeoHot and failoverflow was made official today (although, we knew it was coming when they took out that restraining order, lets be honest). If you don't know whats happened, let me explain in layman's terms. Essentially, to run any game or program on a PS3, it ...

I’ve been thinking a lot about tablets recently. My dad got an iPad recently and seems to absolutely love it. You can read about his thoughts on it on http://gordonsramblings.blogspot.com/. Now, he recently took it to a camp we were involved in, and used it for notes, timetables, etc and it got me thinking. In a paperless world, do we need tablets?

I love the idea of a paperless world. Anyone who knows me will recognise this. I hate paper so much. I look over at the other side of this room, and there is so much wasted space with loads of paper. But, do current computers really cut it? I don’t think so. I think, in a world with no papers, we need tablets/e-reader type devices. I’ve not totally decided what a device to completely get rid of paper would be, but it certanarily wouldn’t be an e-reader, an ipad or many other of the tablets that exist at this moment in time. It would have to have either a screen that is very very low powered, can be seen in bright sunlight, be nice on the eyes, and still be able to view videos and other colour, and fast-refreshing items (possibly like a colour e-ink screen that has a fast refresh rate), or a screen like a pixel qi screen. I have talked before about pixel qi screens which are used in devices such as the olpc XO laptop, and the Notion ink adam. But, as I said, I’m still not sure which would be best.

Then, of course, we come to the question of input devices, and whether typing on a virtual (or physical) keyboard, or using handwriting recognition, or just allowing freeform writing (so that its like paper) would be best. For the 2nd, we would need better algorithms and for the 3rd we would need nicer screens that would allow pressure sensitivity etc, but I don’t think these are that far off.

Obviously, there are many, many questions that there are during thinking about tablets etc, but the point of this article is to say that I think that we need tablet/e-reader/ipad-like devices to enter the paperless world (and also a change of attitude from some people…but that is a different story).

I've been thinking a lot about tablets recently. My dad got an iPad recently and seems to absolutely love it. You can read about his thoughts on it on http://gordonsramblings.blogspot.com/. Now, he recently took it to a camp we were involved in, and used it for notes, timetables, etc and it got me thinking. ...

These words may seem like big words to some people. Hey, to me they are even large ones. So, I’ll very quickly explain both of them.

• Federation

There are many definitions of this. The best one, IMHO, comes from dictionary.com – “a federated body formed by a number of nations, states, societies, unions, etc., each retaining control of its own internal affairs.” So, in terms of software (which is what i’m going to talk about today) means a bunch of programs (desktop or web etc) that all work together but can still be different internally.

• Segregation

This one is more obvious. “The policy or practice of separating people of different races, classes, or ethnic groups, as in schools, housing, and public or commercial facilities, especially as a form of discrimination”. So, again in terms of software, this is when different programs that are similar are split up and don’t work together, and sometimes don’t even know that the others exist.

Well, why am I talking about these? Well, I’m thinking about things in terms of social networking services just now. Facebook is huge. Noone knows exactly, but its probably between 350 and 500 million people. Lets be honest, the biggest social network in the history of the internet. However, they are having a huge backlash just now on their privacy settings, and a number of people are leaving it. Now, obviously a few people leaving it won’t change it much, but what happens when those people leave facebook? What do they do? Where do they go?

This is the horrible situation we have just now. Web apps are mostly segregated. They don’t work together, infact sometimes they work AGAINST each other, actively seperating themselves. Facebook is facebook, twitter is twitter, etc etc.

Well, this is where federation comes in. Let us take status.net into consideration. You can have any status.net instance (identica, or your own instance) and follow anyone on any other Ostatus federated web service. So, say twitter because Ostatus federated. this would mean that I could have 1 identi.ca account and follow anyone on identi.ca, twitter, twitarmy or any other status.net instance. And then, say facebook used Ostatus on their news feed? That would mean that I could have an identi.ca account (or twitter, facebook, or status.net account) and follow anyone on identica, twitter, facebook, or any other status.net instance. That is practically everyone on the internet, isn’t it.

So, the point of what I’m saying is that you could federate any part of a social network. This would mean that a new service (like diaspre) or an old service (like facebook or twitter) could implement these features as well, and then anyone could have 1 account on any of these services, and follow/be friends with anyone on any of these services. No more having 3/4 accounts on different services. Makes everything so much simpler and more open, and stops 1 service having a huge monopoly like facebook does just now.

So, yeah, federation, not segregation…

These words may seem like big words to some people. Hey, to me they are even large ones. So, I'll very quickly explain both of them. Federation There are many definitions of this. The best one, IMHO, comes from dictionary.com - "a federated body formed by a number of nations, states, societies, unions, etc., each ...

Nothing really can be said…

Nothing really can be said...

Theres not much to say about this video. 1 sentence:

best…promo…video…ever

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Theres not much to say about this video. 1 sentence: best...promo...video...ever

Thought I would do another blog post with lots of exciting tech news. So, here is what I’ve been seeing over the past few days.

• Amazon buys “TouchCo”. Touchscreen kindle in the works? One might wonder if they are going to be using this company for just that. The other question, however, is “If it is made, when will it be available in Britain?”
• Symbian is officially opensource. Symbian^2 (previously S60) is now open-source. It turns out the #symbiancountdown was the number of packages left until Symbian was totally open source. Well done Symbian. Now you need to step up and make sure than Symbian^3 is amazing and it better really step up and do what Symbian^2 hasn’t done. It needs to do a lot to be any good.
• JooJoo near launch. Fixes lots of problems that would make you not want an iPad (except the price).
• With or without you: Arm Ceo to Microsoft. The market will grow with or without Windows arm support. Good news for linux?
• Sonic 4 in production. A blast from the past, in high definition. Thats right, Sonic 4 is being made and will be available in the summer on PS3, xbox and wii. On PS3 and Xbox it will be in 1080p. Thats great!!!
• Apple yet again show how pathetic they are, by turning down an app because it is “not interesting enough”.

So, theres just a few bits of random news that I thought I would share with people. Have a great weekend guys!

Thought I would do another blog post with lots of exciting tech news. So, here is what I've been seeing over the past few days. Amazon buys "TouchCo". Touchscreen kindle in the works? One might wonder if they are going to be using this company for just that. The other question, however, is "If it ...

Just thought I would put a wee blog post out to let people know that I am now officially engaged to Faye (@framemybear on twitter). I will post picture and explain how it happened another time, but I’m kinda busy just now

**EDIT** Spelling mistake – “not” changed to “now”

Just thought I would put a wee blog post out to let people know that I am now officially engaged to Faye (@framemybear on twitter). I will post picture and explain how it happened another time, but I'm kinda busy just now :) **EDIT** Spelling mistake - "not" changed to "now"

Or: “Re-fueling the mono debate.” Or: “I’m bored so I want to see people flame.”

No, but seriously, I did have a few thoughts about the usefulness of mono, and also the openness of it. So, I’ll take some points that have cropped up in the origional mono debate, and tell you what I think about them.

• “Mono isn’t open”

Yes it is. What is open??? Seriously, if implementing something closed in an open way is not open, then we are in a sad sad way. Does that mean that samba isn’t open-source? What about wine? Noone ever says they are closed source. As far as I know, mono is a completely open source language that is compatable with .net. Don’t tell me that mono is not open.

• “Mono is patent encumbered.”

DISCLAIMER: None of this is total facts. I am not a lawyer, and some of this is just my opinion and not fact. It is what I believe to be correct, but there may be something that isn’t.

Do you care about mp3s because of patents? If so, thats fine feel free to moan about mono. If not, then what is the difference? In many countries patents aren’t valid anyway. For example, as far as I know, in Europe, software patents do not count. So, if you aren’t in a country that has software patents then this is a non-argument.

If you are in the US, however, then you might be worried about this. Well, first of all, as far as I know the patents have never been proved. It is one of these patents that Microsoft say they have, but noone outside the company has seen them to prove they exist. Also, Microsoft have said that they won’t sue anyone that does anything with mono. Granted, this is not a legal agreement, but if they then go and sue someone, it won’t exactly look good in court. “So, you say that Microsoft said it was ok that you could use it? But now they are sueing you? How odd.” Patents are all about use. If you don’t work correctly with them they are unlikely to work.

• “Mono is very bulky.”

True. Mono is very large in the sense that it takes a lot of disk space. But, it doesn’t use much ram as far as I can tell. It is not a lightweight programming language, but noone is telling you that you must use it. Most computers nowadays can handle bulky things anyway. Your computer can run firefox, openoffice and compiz but you don’t want to run mono on it? That is a bit silly. What is the difference? The applications themselves don’t take up much space, it is just the language that takes up all the space.

• “There are no good applications built on mono.”

Gnome-do. Thats all I need to say to be honest.

• “Mono is useful for porting applications to linux.”

Tell me 1 application that has been ported to mono. Oh wait, you can’t? I can’t either. Now, I think it would be a fantastic thing to get people to port their applications to mono, for example mathcad would be great on linux, evernote would be fantastic. But, as far as I know nothing big has been ported. Its all very well and good saying that it is really easy to port applications to mono, but until someone big does it, it is not a reason to use mono.

In the end, I would love mono to be the go-to thing to port your .net application over to linux. I would love to have evernote on linux (don’t tell me it runs in wine, the new version doesn’t) and it would really put linux on the map.

Windows user: “I would love to use Linux but I can’t run ‘application x’ on it, it is written in .net”    Linux user: “Yes you can, it has been ported to mono.”     Windows user: “Ok, I’ll use Linux then.”

Or: "Re-fueling the mono debate." Or: "I'm bored so I want to see people flame." No, but seriously, I did have a few thoughts about the usefulness of mono, and also the openness of it. So, I'll take some points that have cropped up in the origional mono debate, and tell you what I think ...

• Google and China

So, I’m sure you all know the details, so I will spare you the details. I will give you my opinion however. I think this is a great thing for Google to do. Now, I am not saying that it is good that Chinese people won’t be able to use google services. It is a good thing that Google are no longer just doing whatever it takes to get money. I’m not saying that Google are an amazingly moral company, but it is a step in the right direction.

I’m not sure how the Chinese government will take this, but I don’t think they will just ignore it. They won’t change their ways, but it is quite embarassing to have a huge company like Google to just up and leave when they aren’t happy with the terms of what they wanted anymore. It isn’t a huge thing that will make lots of changes in the world, but it might help.

• Gmail https

Looks like Gmail is using https by default now. This is very good. Means that gmail is fully encrypted. Who can say this is a bad thing, except hackers

• Youtube possibly using html5?

Youtube are redesigning there website, and are asking for your opinion. The most popular thing that seems to be dominating the poll is using html5 with ogg instead of the default being flash. Google officially replied to these and said:

We’ve heard a lot of feedback around supporting HTML5 and are working hard to meet your request, so stay tuned. We’ll be following up when we have more information. We’re answering this idea now because there are so many similar HTML5 ideas and we want to give other ideas a chance to be seen.

So, it seems that HTML5 with ogg will be implemented in youtube 2.0. We don’t know if it’ll be the default instead of flash, but at least it’ll be there. It sounds great doesn’t it.

• Nokia 5800 firmware update

Not many people will be interested in this, but the Nokia 5800 firmware has been updated to v40. It has features such as

• kinetic scrolling
• much better homescreen
• better sensitivity
• new screens for calls

So yeah, I can’t wait till I get this update for my phone. At least it’ll make the phone useable for the next few months, until I can get a new phone. It isn’t the best phone ever, but I’ll survive with these cool updates.

So these are just a few things that have happened recently. None of them get a post of their own, as I don’t have that much to say, but I felt that I needed to give them more than just a tweet.

Google and China So, I'm sure you all know the details, so I will spare you the details. I will give you my opinion however. I think this is a great thing for Google to do. Now, I am not saying that it is good that Chinese people won't be able to use google services. ...

Ok, what is the point of patents? Now, here I thought patents were to stop big corporations stealing little peoples ideas and selling more than them and running them out of business. Is that, or is that not, the idea of patents?

Today I heard the news that Kodak are sueing Apple and RIM about image processing and image viewing. I, to be honest, think this is pretty pathetic. How are Apple and RIM doing image processing and viewing that Kodak do in their cameras going to affect kodak??? Would you use a cameraphone over a camera? And if so, would you buy a camera if they didn’t quite process them the same way? No you wouldn’t. How is this going to affect Kodak if they didn’t file this.

Software patents are so pathetic. Can you think of the last time you heard of a patent that was decent? I know that software patents aren’t valid in Europe (citation needed), but they are in general a stupid idea. The fact that you can patent an idea, for example apple getting a patent on docks, an unknown company getting a patent on podcasts and another company getting a patent on an xml-based way of saving word processing documents. Are any of these good? No…they are not. They are all stupid. What happens if I code something that is patented, that I honestly thought up all by myself. Does that mean I shouldn’t be allowed to use it? Really? What gives them the right to use it when I thought of it, just a wee bit later than them.

What do you think, internets? Do you agree?

**Edit** Just to prove my point, turns out apple just applied for a patent to “add a contact to a homescreen.” It probably won’t go through, as android and also symbian, already can do that. But still, it shows the patheticness of patents.

Ok, what is the point of patents? Now, here I thought patents were to stop big corporations stealing little peoples ideas and selling more than them and running them out of business. Is that, or is that not, the idea of patents? Today I heard the news that Kodak are sueing Apple and RIM about ...