Monday is the beginning…

  • 15 Aug
  • 2009
Posted by: Rory

OF THE END!!!! No, only joking, but have a guess as to what it could be? Yep, it’s the beginning of my mobile broadband experiment, sponsored by Vodafone. There have been some questions about this, which I will come to later in the post.

I received a package yesterday morning, I’m quite used to packages because I do order quite a bit off the net, so it wasn’t really that much of a surprise – name, address and a little blue sticker on it. I knew it was something I’d been waiting a while for, my dongle.

There’s only 5 things in the box it comes in:

  1. The dongle itself
  2. An extension cable, so if you’re like me and your USB ports are arranged silly you can still have two things in at once.
  3. A user manual
  4. A Safety Manual
  5. A disc for Windows Users containing drivers.

It was quite an easy install really, pop the modem into the Mac, run an installer and then badaboom! I’m done, though I expect on Windows you need to put the CD in, instead. I did need to get used to it a bit before I start my experiment properly, so I decided that I’d have a quick play on it and see what it’s like. It wasn’t working at first, but a restart of the Mac gave it the kick it needed – looking back, the installer did say it wouldn’t work without a restart. (more…)

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Categories: Internet, Mobile
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Broadband Freedom

  • 11 Aug
  • 2009
Posted by: Rory
Mobile Broadband for a whole week, sponsored by Vodafone.

Mobile Broadband for a whole week, sponsored by Vodafone.

Back in the day of my old blog I tried to do an experiment to see if mobile broadband could withstand the usage of an Internet junkie like myself and was getting some pretty positive results. The experiment was to see if I could use Mobile Broadband as my primary internet connection for a month.

Unfortunately the experiment was never completed, so now I’m going to try it again. After evaluating the last attempt, I think that initially a month is far too long to try to use Mobile Broadband exclusively. So instead I’m going to try for a week initially and slowly build up over the course of the year – I reckon that if I get used to it I could use it full time.

Also, this time I’m going to keep a log book of the sorts of things that comes through my connection, so for example if I go on webcam, or if I watch a show on the iPlayer or even watch a YouTube video, I will record it.

To help me with this task I’ve teamed up with Vodafone who have provided me with the Mobile Broadband coverage. If you want to get involved with the experiment or decide that you want to go mobile, then head over the Vodafone store and get it.

The test starts very soon, so wish me luck!

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Categories: Internet
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Chrome OS

  • 10 Jul
  • 2009
Posted by: Rory

Some of the biggest news to hit the technology world in a while just seemed to appear out of nowhere the other day, when Google announced the inevitable: they’re making an operating system. It’d been rumoured for a while, but Google are quite good at keeping secrets, so there was no real evidence that it was going to happen, until they made the announcement on their blog the other day. The name? (Google) Chrome OS.

Google announce their Chrome OS

Google announce their Chrome OS

In the days of the rumours, some even went so far as to make a Linux flavour that worked with a Mac Style Dock and only performed internet based tasks. The name of it was gOS. The website never made it very clear what the “g” in gOS was meant to stand for until just a tiny bit of disclaimer at the bottom of the website popped up, claiming that the “g” stood for “good”, crushing the rumours.

Back to the real Google OS. They’re are a web based company, so basing the operating system on the internet seems like a very smart move, which does beg the question: what if I’m not connected to the internet? Does the entire system buckle?

A few days after the press release, Google also announced a list of hardware partners who were prepared to make devices that would work with Chrome OS. Among those, was the chip maker ARM, British company who are just about the Intel of mobile computing. A lot of chips that go into mobile devices such as the iPhone are ARM chips. So announcing them as a hardware partner could mean one major thing that tackles the problem of always being connected to the web: an always on internet connection using mobile networks. (more…)

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Categories: Internet
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Click and Steal

Posted by: Rory

Ok I’ll admit it, I have illegally download music in the past. Although that isn’t really surprising for a 16 year old lad, or just about any teenager these days. To say that anyone who downloads music illegally is a thief then we have a generation of thieves on our hands, myself included.

Since around Christmas time I don’t actually think I’ve illegaly downloaded music unless I couldn’t actually buy it elsewhere. This is mainly because I discovered just how easy it is to buy songs from iTunes, literally just a click and buy. What’s even better though is the fact that I can also buy music from my iPod. Perfect. It’s not that I didn’t know how iTunes worked but more the fact I never realised how appealing the click buy system is.

I don’t agree that music sharing should stop completely becuase if it weren’t for music sharing then a lot of artists probaby wouldn’t get noticed to the level that they do. For example if you go to a gig where there’s an artist that formed in the 21st century, you’ll find that most of the people there first discovered the artist, not through buying their CD, but by searching Limewire or some other file sharing program. Seriously.

Digital Britain is clamping down on Internet piracy.

Digital Britain is clamping down on Internet piracy.

Internet Service Providers have been battling with sharers for the past 3 or 4 years but have hardly managed to dint sharing habits, of users. They’ve tried spying, cutting off and even sending threatening letters to innocent customers, none which have really worked. Digital Britain has proposed a new tactic though, slow down the speeds of repeat offenders so that downloading large amounts of music is difficult and lengthly. To be fair it’s a good idea in theory, but the choice between waiting a bit longer to download a song or spending a quid won’t really sway many users.

(more…)

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Categories: Internet, Music
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