Tag: Geek Stuff

Native Development Comes to WebOS

Yeah I’m still a fan of Palm even though I lack a physical WebOS device (I have the emulator though). Well something that’s been a long time coming has finally come, native development for WebOS in the form of C and C++ plugins.

This is advantageous because it gives direct access to the hardware (Needed for things like 3D games) and allows developers with applications already written in C or C++ to port their application over easier. I really need to just get a Palm Pre at this point.

In other news WebOS will have an update that allows recording video and utilizing *shudders* Flash. OK in my opinion the first is a feature and the second is a bug.

Digital “Rights” Management Proven Useless Again

I’ve always found the term digital rights management to be an idiotic one. You don’t need your rights managed. But alas that’s the name that became popular and many companies used it. For instance Amazon uses it on downloaded e-books for their Kindle. Its use is an attempt to prevent copying of the material but alas an ingenious hacker has cracked it.

I have no problem paying for e-books so why do I care about this? Because I want to be able to use my documents on other devices. Maybe somebody in the future will build an e-reader that I like better than the Kindle. What will I do? Re-purchase all my books for the new platform? Well that’s the only option unless the Kindle’s DRM gets cracked, which it just did. I’ll try out the tool and report back on it this weekend (not a copy is available at the link, get it before Amazon pulls a DMCA notice and gets it removed).

Oh and here is a link to the blog of the person doing the fine work.

And for the sake a clarity I just want to make it clear that this tool allows breaking Kindle books obtained via Kindle for the PC. Cracking Kindle books on a Kindle has been possible for quite a while now.

Palm Ares

OK this is cool. I just got notification that Palm Ares has entered public beta. This is certainly a geeks only thing. Ares is Palms WebOS development environment that runs in your web browser. Think of it as Eclipse, Visual Studio, or Xcode in the web browser and you’ll have a decent idea of what Ares is.

This means WebOS developers can not write software for Palm’s new phones without having to actually install anything on their computer. I’ve only played with it for a short while so far but will admit it’s pretty cool. Of course I’m still a fan of having my stuff on my computer with my tools so if I don’t have an Internet connection I can still work. But if you’re into this whole cloud computing thing and want to write WebOS projects this could be for you.

Security, It’s Important

File this story under hilarious. Apparently some Shiite fighters in Iraq have managed to obtain video feeds from some United States drones. It seems little effort was required as the communication link from the drone back to home base lacks any form of encryption. When designing any piece of software security needs to be baked in from the get go. This goes double for a machine meant to be flown around in a war zone.

I Have My Doubts

Well the 802.11n protocol was finally ratified a while ago so that means it’s time for engineers to work on the next great thing. In this article they are talking about the next standard which is to be dubbed 802.11ac. They are claiming this next standard will support speeds up to 1Gbps.

But it’s their second claim I find doubtful, that this new protocol will be out by 2012. If anybody followed the 802.11n fiasco you’ll know it took them forever to finally ratify the standard and get it out the door. I highly doubt they will get the next version out in two years.

The E-Book Wars Continue, A Barnes and Nobel Nook Review

No not a review by me, but by Engadget. So much like the first Kindle the Nook appears to be very 1.0. In other words it’s a valiant initial effort but needs improvement.

The main criticism made by Engadget deals with the software. Navigation on the Nook appears to be a slight mess with an amalgamation of submenus inside of other submenus which in turn are inside of main menus. Furthermore due to the slowness of the E Ink display’s refresh there are often periods where the LCD and E Ink are synced up leading to apparent frustrations. Overall the entire software stack is sluggish according to the review.

Engadget also mentioned the backlit LCD screen is quite unpleasant when it’s on full brightness and you’re reading the E Ink display. Apparently if you’re using the Nook to play music the LCD screen comes on every time the song changes, something that I would find annoying.

The buying experience on the device appears to be quite a bit better than that on the Kindle. Also if you’re using the Nook in a Barnes and Nobel store you can read through entire books while there. Well you can read entire books for up to an hour a day at least. This feature seems rather meaningless to me since if you’re in the store already you can go grab any book there and read through it for as long as you please while there. Still it’s an interesting feature to note.

Hearing all of this I can honestly say I’ll be staying with the Kindle (not that I was planning to change). But it’s good to see some major competition coming down the pipe from another company that knows books and book selling (as opposed to a company like Sony who traditionally isn’t in the book industry). Many I love the gadget industry, there is just so much competition.

Great Kindle Update

It’s no secret to anybody that knows me that I read, a lot. To this end I jumped on board the Amazon Kindle shortly after the release of the original unit. Sadly due to a slight handling problem with certain entities at airport security who’s organization’s initials happen to contain a T, S, and A my original Kindle has a non-functional screen.

So I overnighted a new Kindle 2. After first I was rather disappointed about having to do so since there was never really any feature on the Kindle 2 that justified the upgrade in my book. Well that all changed with the latest software update released for the Kindle 2 (both GSM and CDMA versions) and Kindle DX.

Although the Kindle DX included native PDF support from day one the other models lacked this feature. This update brings native PDF support to the line (except the original unit). The Kindle has always had the option of reading converted PDF files but I’ve not had good luck with conversions of any document that was even remotely complex.

But reading a PDF on such a small device is rather impossible unless you could change the screen orientation to landscape mode. Guess what the new software update adds that feature as well.

I’ve been running the update for a week now and feel I can give a good review of it. The native PDF support is great. So long as you read the PDFs in landscape mode that is. In portrait orientation the PDFs are scaled to the screen making everything too small to actually read. I’m not surprised about that nor do I think it’s a problem. I’ve read several complex PDF files including the IEEE specification for 802.3at and they render perfectly on the Kindle. Loading PDFs doesn’t take dreadfully long and switching pages is no slower than native Kindle files. Overall it’s a great addition.

The update was also supposed to increase the battery life when wireless is enabled. I only turn the wireless on long enough to purchase and download new books so I don’t know what difference this update made in that realm.

But this update, in my opinion, brings the Kindle from a 1.0 device to a device ready for the mainstream. Booyah.

Google Chrome OS Revealed

Well Google revealed their Google Chrome OS. My take? Meh. It’s a web browser running on Linux. So if you have no Internet connection you have no usable computer.

It would be great for somebody like my Grandma whom would only need a web browser. But I certainly wouldn’t be too happy using it. Fortunately Google admits I’m not the target audience so I’m not going to say much.

Awesome Japanese Submarine Found

There is something about submarines that fascinate me. Therefore when I hear interesting news about them I read away with impunity. Well researchers have found the purposely sunk I-201 submarine.

The I-201 was a Japanese submersible aircraft carrier. Since cruise missiles didn’t exist during World War II the only really effective way to bomb something by delivering those explosives via airplane. Of course anybody can see a massive aircraft carrier approaching a coast line, but few can see underwater. The idea of these submarines was to deliver bombers stealthily to enemy targets and within minutes surface and launch a surprising bombing.

Of course the war ended before the Japanese could use the I-201 so it ended up in the hands of the United States Navy. The Navy studied it and her sister ship then sunk the shit out of them when the Soviet demanded access to them.

Anyways just some cool shit.