Mike Slocombe

Google Blog Search Launches
Google’s virtual world domination plans continue afoot with the beta launch of their new blog search service, making the company the first major search engine to offer comprehensive blog and feed search capabilities.
After snapping up Pyra Labs – the folks behind the hugely popular Blogging publishing service – over two years ago, bloggers have been waiting patiently for Google to implement their promised blog search.
Although Google’s current Web search lets users rummage around blog formats such as RSS and XML, the new search facility aims to include all blogs that publish a site feed (either RSS or Atom).
According to Jason Goldman, Google product manager for blog search, their shiny new search engine scans content posted to blogs and feeds in virtually real-time.
“We look for sites that update pinging services, and then we crawl in real-time so that we can serve up search results that are as fresh as we can,” said Goldman.
Google’s new service (sporting its trademark, no-frills interface) can be found at google.com/blogsearch and at www.search.blogger.com with a Blogger branded design.
How the searching works
The Google Blog Search works exactly the same as the regular Google search with results being sorted by date and recent posts appearing at the top of the list.
Results can also be searched by relevance, using a technology based on Google’s Web search ranking algorithms.
An advanced search interface is available with options to specify titles, authors, languages and more.
The Blogger version comes with a branded interface with an extra “use search options” link giving access to most common search advanced options, like searching in specific posts, entire blogs or specifying a date range to search within.
Results can also be limited to a specific language, with the option to apply the Safe Search filter to results.
You can discover who’s linking to a post or blog using the link: command, and blog searches can be saved as an alert that gets updated any time new content is posted matching you query.
Getting your blog listed
You can’t manually submit your site at present, but Google say that they’ll be introducing the feature shortly.
Currently, Blogs that publish a site feed in any format which automatically pings an updating service (such as Weblogs.com), should be picked up.
Google Blog Search is available in English as well as Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Korean, Russian, and Spanish, with additional languages on the way.
google.com/blogsearch
www.search.blogger.com
Google Blog Search FAQ
14 September, 2005
Samsung CEO: NAND Flash Will Replace Hard Drives
Hard drives are soon to go the way of 8 track cartridges and steam powered radios according to Samsung’s semi-conductor CEO Dr. Chang Gyu Hwang.
Coming hot on the heels of the launch of their 16Gb NAND flash chip using 50nm technology, Hwang reckoned that all the hep cats would soon be dumping their unfashionable hard drives and hanging out with the solid-state flash memory crew.
“NAND flash technology development continues to double density growth on an average of every 12 months,” Hwang observed, while quietly giving a nearby hard drive a few hard kicks.
A dimly-lit colleague stroking a white cat added, “This year, it appears clear that NAND will surpass NOR as the most popular flash memory.”
NAND flash memory is currently widely used in digital cameras, mobile phones, USB flash drives and portable music players such as Apple Computer’s groovy new iPod Nano.
With a cackle in his voice and a size nine sending a RAID array skywards, Hwang reckons that we’ll soon be seeing laptop memory cards with 32GB of memory, based on multiple 16Gb flash chips.
NAND flash uses a 50nm process which shrinks the flash memory to just 0.00625 square microns per bit, 25 per cent down on the previous 60nm process.
Forcing a rough screwdriver into a helpless hard drive, Hwang predicted that these mega-chips will appear late in 2006 or in 2007, based on mass production of the new Samsung chips in the second part of 2006.
If the HD-torturing Samsung head honcho is right, we can expect to see a 32Gb NAND chip this year, enabling hefty 64GB memory cards, followed by 128GB memory cards next year.
With this kind of NAND flash storage capacity, Samsung’s plans to ruthlessly wipe hard drives off the face off the earth could begin to take shape.
A big advantage of using flash memory in notebooks is that the technology is resistant to the sort of mechanical shocks that can often knacker a hard drive.
But the technology isn’t perfect, with flash chips having a finite life in read/write cycle terms and increased memory card costs and power consumption.
With analysts predicting $1.7bn (£930m, €1.38m) in revenues for NAND memory this year, global NAND flash memory revenues are expected to reach $9.4bn (£5.15m, €7.65m) and Samsung is looking to cut themselves a large slice of that lucrative pie.
In another part of their south-Korean HQ, Samsung unveiled a new 7.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor for high-end digital pictures and fusion semiconductors for next-generation smartphones and PDAs.
Samsung
14 September, 2005
3 UK Announces Mobile Internet Packages
Mobile network 3 has announced two new content packages aimed at getting more customers logging on to its mobile Internet services.
From mid-September, subscribers to 3’s network will be able to sign up to ‘Mobile Web’ and ‘Wireless Web’ content options.
The new Mobile service works out at £2.50 ($4.50, €3.70) a month and lets punters download up to 5MB of content from the Mobile Web.3
Although the deal lets users break out from 3’s previous “walled garden” of accessible sites, the service will still not permit unrestricted access to the Web.
Instead, 3 is limiting the available sites to ones that they feel have been “optimised for viewing on compatible video mobiles” – this means that sites like BBC, eBay and Amazon will be viewable, but perhaps not ‘Bumper Big Boobies Online’.
The network asserts that this limitation is to ensure that customers “can be sure that both front pages and sub-pages are viewable, that the speed of download is high and that all the site’s key activities are available”.
Gareth Jones, 3 COO claimed that “only a fraction of the internet works well on mobile” but insisted that the mobile operator is “committed to extending the choice of high-quality video mobile services”.
Jonesy boy expects the number of sites available through 3’s Mobile Web to grow quickly, with customers invited to nominate sites they’d like to access from their mobiles (so maybe they will get ‘Bumper Big Boobies Online’ after all).
Elsewhere, 3 will continue to serve up content and services through its ‘Today on 3’ entertainment channel and via its partner sites like lastminute.com and FHM.
The second new service, ‘Wireless Web’ will provide full Internet access for customers connecting to the Internet via a laptop and using their 3 handset as a modem.
Punters will be charged a flat rate of £45 per month ($82, €67), with a download limit of 512MB of data.
3 UK
13 September, 2005
O2 Xda Exec Mobile PDA With 3G Launched
O2 has announced the launch of the o2 Xda Exec, the first PDA and mobile phone combo device to feature 3G.
Touted as a laptop replacement with a built-in 62-key QWERTY thumb keyboard, the handheld is also the first to incorporate the brand spanking new Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.
Manufactured by the Taiwan based HTC, the phone is also sold as the HTC Universal, T-Mobile MDA IV, Vodafone VPA IV, Orange SPV M5000 and Q-Tek 4040.
Bedecked in a custom smart black finish, the o2 Xda Exec sports a large 3.6″ 640×480 65k transflective colour backlit LCD which can be swiveled around to let the device be used as tablet or as a mini laptop.
Reflecting its business focus, the phone comes with Pocket Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF viewers pre-installed and offers Bluetooth, Wireless LAN, 3G and tri-band GPRS connectivity.
There’s a 1.3 megapixel camera (1280 x 960) with built in flash onboard and a second CIF camera for videocalls.
Russ Shaw, Marketing Director at O2 was ready to froth up the product: “The O2 Xda Exec takes the Xda range to the next level, giving busy professionals the ultimate mobile experience.
The laptop style keyboard combined with the responsive and intuitive operating environment make this device easy to use and an effective laptop replacement for when people are out and about.
Combined with our service bundle, we believe that the O2 Xda Exec will build on the success of the Xda range, extending our market share still further into 2006.”
Much as we’d love to enjoy the “ultimate mobile experience”, the o2 Xda Exec doesn’t quite do it for us.
Sure, it sports a mouth-watering feature list and looks way cool in its super-sleek black finish, but that trouser-bulging bulk means we’ll be sticking with our less capable iMate JAM for now (but, there again, we’re not the swivel-action execs that the phone is aimed at.)
The o2 Xda Exec is available from £399.99 (~$730, ~€593) for pay monthly contract customers and will be available in UK O2 stores and other leading distributors.
Technical stuff:
- OS: Windows Mobile 5.0
- Intel XScale PXA272 520MHz
- 128MB Flash ROM, 64MB RAM
- 3.6″ 640×480 65k transflective colour backlit LCD
- up t8/4/15/250 GSM Talk/3G Talk/PDA/Standby time
- GSM Tri-band (900/1800/1900), UMTS Single-band (2100)
- GPRS class 10, UMTS 64/384
- Bluetooth 1.2, Infrared and mini-USB connector
- Wireless LAN 802.11b
- SDIslot
- 3.5mm AudiConnector
- StereSpeakers
- Integrated camera (resolution 1280 x 960) with LED flash, 2nd CIF camera for videcalls
- Integrated antenna
- 15 buttons (Answer, Hangup, Backlight on/off, OK, Start, Camera, Power, VoiceRecord, 5-way navigation pad
- 62-key QWERTY keyboard with light sensor tauto-adjust the screen and keyboard backlight
- Removable battery (1620mah)
- Weight: 285 grams
o2
13 September, 2005
France Telecom Announces Ultra Fast VDSL2 Broadband
After demonstrating that high-definition television over copper was achievable through networks with increased bandwidth capabilities and compression techniques, France Telecom is looking to develop the technology and is currently testing VDSL2 transmission systems in its R&D Laboratories.
The technology is based on DMT modulation, like ADSL and ADSL2+, and was dreamt up in the quest to enable data transmission speeds of up to 100 Mbps using standard telephone cables.
These super fast speeds were achieved by extending the frequency band to 30MHz.
In their quest to bring super fast connections into the home, France Telecom has been working with international DSL standardisation bodies and after evaluating various technologies, they have managed to successfully test VDSL technology.
The company is now conducting lab tests of VDSL2, based on the xDSL family.
The explanation for how this works is way too hard for my hungover head to work out, so I’m sure you’ll excuse me if I quote from the press announcement instead:
“VDSL technology, which is an offspring of the xDSL family, features the possibility of supplying, through a fiber optic connection, the sub-cross-connected equipment with high transmission rates, which are then distributed to customers using cross-connect specific DSLAM equipment and the copper pair.”
All clear on that, now?
The current testing is also intended to evaluate the feasibility of future services for home and business use, and a demonstration scheduled for today will showcase some of the initial applications for this technology.
This will include the simultaneous delivery of two high-definition television streams, i.e. (MPEG-4) and one simple definition stream (MPEG-2), a high definition videophone and an FTP file transfer at the scorchio rate of 40 Mbps.
That FTP transfer rate works out at twice as fast as is possible using currently deployed DSL technologies, and would make it possible for someone to download a 90 minute film in just three minutes.
We should point out that France Telecom were at pains to say that the 90 minute film in question would only be downloaded from “a legally authorised Website” because, as they are compelled to remind us, “Piracy has a damaging effect on artistic creation.”
The company will be presenting this new technology to the media today, at the France Telecom Jardins de l’Innovation at Issy-les-Moulineaux.
13 September, 2005
Mobile TV Looks To Rake In The Revenue Stream
A report by Unstrung Insider claims that Mobile TV is set to become a breakthrough mass-market mobile data service, boosted by pioneering services offered by major global operators such as Orange, Vodafone, and SK Telecom.
The report, entitled Mobile TV: Switching on the Revenue Stream, highlights the growing success of mobile TV over 3G and satellite broadcast networks, with some operators already soaring past the million sessions per month mark.
With commercial services streamed over 3G networks showing signs of success in their own right, the report suggests that the real power of mobile TV will be to act as an “extension” to regular TV services, persuading even the most techno-phobic mobile phone users of the benefits of 3G subscriptions.
Report author and Unstrung Insider Chief Analyst Gabriel Brown was enthusiastic: “There’s a lot of mileage in unicast mobile TV as a lure to attract high- value 3G subscriptions”.
“The power is its simplicity: Everyone already knows how to watch TV,” he added.
Steven Day, corporate affairs director at Virgin Mobile in the U.K agrees, saying that people who wouldn’t consider using, a streaming media application, for example, will warm to the new technology.
Basing his opinion on feedback from the company’s current 1,000-user mobile TV broadcast trial in London, Day praised the ease of use of Mobile TV services, “It’s dead easy. Everyone knows what it is, and what it does”.
Although the simplicity and familiarity of the service will please punters, the report says that mobile TV will need a “sophisticated sales approach” from operators who face a market driven by very low-cost or “free” services, adding that the mass market will only likely pay up to US$10 (~£5,€8~)a month for mobile TV.
The technology
The report comments on the industry expectation that “one-to-many” mass-market mobile TV services may be more efficiently delivered over dedicated mobile broadcast networks using technologies such as DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld), DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcast), and MediaFLO.
Despite DVB-H growing into the leading contender for dedicated mobile broadcast networks (especially in Europe) pesky issues surrounding spectrum allocation in urban areas looks set to slow down the commercialisation of services.
A potential joker in the pack could be Qualcomm’s MediaFLO technology, which has the potential to challenge DVB-H as the automatic mobile broadcast technology choice. Although the technology isn’t as mature as DVB-H, delays to mobile broadcast spectrum allocation can only work to Qualcomm’s advantage.
Unstrung
12 September, 2005
Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 Released
Mozilla have made their first preview of Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 – code named “Deer Park” – available to early adopters, Web developers and Extension writers.
The highly-rated open source browser already boasts over 80 million users, with its tabbed browsing, built in pop-up blocker and increased security making sizeable inroads into the market dominance of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Firefox 1.5 was originally scheduled for release in March 2005, but a second beta is now expected in the next month, followed by one or two release candidates before a full release “sometime before the end of the year”.
Chris Beard, products and marketing manager for Mozilla Corp, explained that the delay was due to the unexpected number of new features added to the browser.
“This ended up being a much bigger release than we originally planned,” he added.
The beta serves up several new features and improvements of existing tools, but Firefox are describing the new automatic updating as the “premier addition to 1.5”.
Much like Microsoft’s Automatic Update, Firefox 1.5 will automatically fetch program and security updates in the background and install them without user intervention. Naturally, this feature can be disabled, or users can specify that they are notified before installing patches.
Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla’s director of engineering said that automatic updating will reduce the size of patches by 10 to 20 times, explaining that the feature will remove the current requirement for users to download the entire browser to obtain fixes.
Firefox also promises faster browser navigation with improvements to back and forward button performance, the ability to re-arrange browser icons by drag-and-drop and more pop-up blocking options.
There’s improved security too, with a Clear Private Data feature making it easier for surreptitious surfers to quickly remove personal data through a menu item or keyboard shortcut.
Engineers at Firefox have ensured that the latest version of the browser is open-standard friendly, offering support for SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) 2 and 3, DHTML (Dynamic HTML) and JavaScript 1.6.
We were impressed with the improvements in the latest version, but it’s worth bearing in mind that as an early beta release there’s bound to be a few rough edges on display.
Anyone with a lot of Extensions installed, for example, may want to hold back for a while as many are currently incompatible with 1.5.
Mozilla has said that it will be providing up-to-date listing of developer extensions as they become compatible with Firefox 1.5 beta 1 at addons.mozilla.org . Mozilla were also forced to release a critical Firefox patch after a security vulnerability affecting all versions of Mozilla Firefox and the Mozilla Suite were publicly disclosed.
Firefox beta
You can download the patch from here
12 September, 2005
Toshiba RD-XS54 DVD Recorder Offers Email Programming
Toshiba has unveiled its new DVD recorder with the handy ability to set up and record TV programmes via email.
The RD-XS54 Multi-Drive (DVD-Ram, DVD-R and DVD-RW) can be connected to other devices over a home Ethernet network.
This means that the RD-XS54 can be connected to a PC, allowing users to share the machine and stream recorded content or live programming to the computer.
With the added connectivity, users can add and edit title information to personal home videos from a PC, upload custom Menu backgrounds for creating DVD-R/RW discs, receive automatic software upgrades and, of course, remotely schedule recordings via email. We like that bit.
The DVD recorder, which ships with a 250GB hard disc drive, also includes a High-Definition Multimedia Interface with “up-conversion” capability to 720p or 1080i.
This conversion will be performed for all sources whether they are playing back content encoded on a DVD or the hard disk, including the tuner and inputs.
“Home networks are rapidly increasing,” said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing at Toshiba’s America Consumer Products Digital A/V Group.
“With our network-capable DVD recorder we enhance the functionality of the unit. Whether it is being able to schedule a recording via email or by using your home PC to program new recordings, the RD-XS54 makes recording and playback easier and more flexible for consumers”.
The built-in DV input also allows the transfer of camcorder recordings directly onto DVD media, with the unit supporting high speed copying from the HDD to recordable disc, at 12x speed for transferring to DVD-RAM, and 24x for DVD-R.
The RD-XS54 comes with Toshiba’s EASY NAVI menu and the TV Guide On Screen Interactive Program Guide for simple, easy-peasy channel navigation and recording scheduling.
The RD-XS54 has begun shipping in the US with a retail price of US$699.99 (~£385,€570~).
Specs:
Playback compatibility: DVD-Video – CD-Audio – CD-R/RW – SVCD – VCD – DVD-R – DVD-RW – JPEG Picture Disc – WMA – MP3
Record compatibility: DVD-RAM and DVD-R/W
Hard Disc Drive stores up to 250GB Audio and Video
10-Bit / 54Hz Video D/A
Component Video Output: ColorStream Pro Progressive Scan
3:2 Pulldown: Digital Cinema Progressive
181-Channel Tuner
3-D Y/C Comb Filter
Black Level Expansion
3D-DNR Digital Video Noise Reduction Recording
Block and Mosquito DNR Digital Video Noise Reduction Playback
Time Slip Recording / Playback
Pause Live TV / Channel Playback
Time Base Correction
Instant Replay — Instant Skip
VCR Plus+
Inputs: S-Video, Composite, IEEE-1394 (FireWire), RF
Outputs: Component, S-Video, Composite, Optical, RF (Tuner Pass-Through)
Offers HDMI direct digital connection with an HD-ready TV
Toshiba
12 September, 2005
eBay Buys Skype
In a feast of conglomeration and convergence, Internet auctioneer giants eBay are swallowing up Luxembourg-based Skype, the world’s leader in Internet phone services.
The deal involves eBay slapping $2.6 billion (£1.42bn, €2.8bn) in cash on the table, with potential future payments of up to $1.5 billion (~£823m, €1.2bn~) in cash or stock if Skype hits certain targets.
Although only three years old, Skype has rapidly grown to become one of the fastest growing companies of any kind in the world, already boasting 54 million users.
The press statement revealed that Skype generated $7 million (~£4m, €6m~) in revenue in 2004 and was expected to rake in $60 million (~33m, €49~) this year, rising to $200 million (~£200m, €163m) in 2006.
Skype’s hefty price tag reflects the intense competition in the burgeoning VoIP market, and today’s deal sees eBay barging their way to the Numero Uno slot ahead of Microsoft, Yahoo and Google who are all frantically adding similar services.
Although large cable and telephone companies are already moving into voice over Internet services, these typically charge a monthly fee for unlimited local/national calls.
Skype’s service and technology, on the other hand, offers completely free calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world.
The company generates revenue by charging small fees for calls to non-Skype users and for Skype users to receive calls from callers not using the software. Skype also charge a fee to provide a voice mail service.
“Communications is at the heart of e-commerce and community,” snapped eBay chief executive Meg Whitman.
“By combining the two leading e-commerce franchises, eBay and PayPal, with the leader in Internet voice communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the Net,” she added.
With pockets bulging from today’s monster cash bonanza, Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom said that his vision was always “to build the world’s largest communications business and revolutionize the ease with which people can communicate through the Internet. We can’t think of a better platform . . . than with eBay and Paypal.”
Skype was founded by Zennstrom of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark who started the popular online free file-sharing service Kazaa.
After selling off Kazaa in 2002, the two hotshots built Skype, and according to today’s announcement, they will continue heading up the VoIP service, which will be run as a separate business under the eBay umbrella.
Skype
12 September, 2005
Nikon Coolpix P1 and Coolpix P2 Cameras Offer Wi-Fi: IFA
Although on the surface Nikon’s brand new Coolpix P1 and the Coolpix P2 cameras look like standard fare from the photo giant, they’ve got a trick up their sleeve – they both offer Wireless LAN support (IEEE802.11b/g).
In a first for compact digital cameras, Nikon’s new cameras sport a built-in 802.11b/g WiFi module which enables images to be transmitted to a Wi-Fi enabled computer or printer without the need for pesky wires and cables.
This wireless connection lets users transfer images off the camera’s storage card or transmit them ‘live’ as they’re snapped directly to Nikon’s PictureProject software.
Unfortunately, the P1 and P2 will only transmit pictures to the PictureProject application and isn’t able to directly upload images to the Internet or to FTP servers which we would have found far more useful – and much more fun.
As for the Coolpix P1 and P2 cameras, there’s nothing much to get too excited about, with the two identical cameras offering 8.0 and 5.1 Megapixels respectively with a 3.5x optical zoom (36-126mm equivalent, f2.7 – 5.2).
There’s the usual shedload of scene modes on offer (16 in total) for snapping in a wide range of common situations, with some advanced scene modes for the adventurous, and an aperture-priority auto mode with 10-step manual control over aperture settings in 1/3EV increments.
Both cameras support video and sound recording up to 30fps, with seven movie modes to choose from – including a natty time-lapse mode. We like them.
Framing and viewing images is taken care of with a sizeable 110,000 pixels 2.5″ TFT LCD screen and there’s a SD slot and USB 2.0 connectivity onboard.
Both cameras will be available at the end of the month, with the P1 priced at £294 (~$532~€429) and the P2 being knocked out for £225 (~$408~ €329).
Nikon
9 September, 2005