 | Nokia Versus OGG December 11, 2007 6:55am in tech |
I was reading this article about Nokia and Ogg music/video codec. For those of you who don't know, Ogg is an open source music/video codec. Nokia is petitioning to the W3C, (the World Wide Web Consortium) who makes the standards for web languages like CSS and HTML, not to include Ogg in the HTML v5 standard. Their reason? Ogg is proprietary and DRM is neccessary. First off, Ogg is NOT proprietary. It is open source. Second DRM is a horrible idea in itself, and the idea gets even worse on the web. DRM is prorprietary as well and the web should not become such. The proprietary format of DRM is the primary reason DRM should be excluded from standards. Fortunately, the W3C is known to be very much against proprietary standards so whether they will actually listen to such an argument from Nokia is very much debatable. The W3C insistance on anti-propietary standards as well as not licensing its standards is admirable in my opinion. If only more companies and groups could follow the same base. Standards should be based on the format's merits, not to please Nokia, Hollywood, etc. Ironically, Nokia also produces a Linux TabletPC...wait, isn't Linux open source? Nokia to W3C: Ogg is proprietary, we need DRM on the Web [boingboing.net]
UPDATE: Sadly, the W3C seems to have given into the pressure and removed Ogg from HTML v5. Removal of Ogg Vorbis and Theora from HTML5: An Outrageous Disaster [rudd-o.com] Ogg Vorbis / Theora Language Removed from HTML5 Spec [slashdot.org] |
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| Google Adds AIM to Gmail December 04, 2007 9:49pm in tech |
Google has just announced that it has integrated AIM into GMAIL. What does this mean? It means that from GMAIL, you can access and talk to your contacts on AIM from the side chat menu. This is pretty big news as it is I believe that first real integration between the IM companies (AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, & Google). I mean there are the multiple protocol clients like Adium, Trillian, Pidgin, & even the web clients like Meebo.com, but never done before by the service company. I tried it out, and it runs just like Google Talk. With everything that Google has done to GMAIL lately, I'd be curious to see where else they go. UPDATE: I also just happened to notice that the chat feature in GMAIL now works on Safari, which is great because Safari is my primary browser on my Mac and once the final version is released for Windows, it may very well become my primary brower there too.
Google Integrates AIM into GMAIL [macworld.com] |
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| MPAA University Toolkit Hit with DMCA Takedown Notice December 04, 2007 9:09am in tech |
The MPAA has pretty much been beaten at their own game. The controversial toolkit that they were trying to push for Universities to use to help combat piracy has been hit with a Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice. Why? They decided somehow that the GPL did not apply to them. The toolkit was based off of Ubuntu, and the GPL states that if they use code licensed by the open-source GPL license, they must make the source code publicly available. The MPAA seems to have decided that they didn't have to follow this as the source was never released. Ubuntu Technical Board Member Matthew Garret sent the takedown notice and as of this morning, the toolkit seems to be no longer available for download from their site. This toolkit was being pushed to try to get colleges and universities to install on their network to help monitor the students and track those who might be downloading movies, music, etc. MPAA's University Toolkit hit with DMCA takedown notice after GPL violation [arstechnica.com] |
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| Best (and most irritating) Way to Pay at the Bar November 29, 2007 12:23am in videos |
I found this video through Digg and I had to share, made me laugn. The Best Way to Pay at a Bar [5min.com] |
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| Ubuntu Wedges Itself in Further with Dell November 15, 2007 12:10pm in tech |
LinuxWatch.com reports that beginning in First Quarter 08, Dell should be offering Ubuntu on it's servers for those interested. Much has been said lately with the failure of Windows Vista to really grab the market, that Linux might end up seeing a gradual rise in use. This is not suprising with how bloated Vista is and how high the optimal system requirements are that people might not want to spend that kind of money on a new machine just to get Microsoft's latest and greatest operating system. Dell has been offering Ubuntu on some of its laptops and desktops for a little while and now it looks like some of Dell's servers will get the same treatment. This is good news because Linux is definitely starting to become a viable alternative to Windows, and with the distributions I've used (Slackware, Fedora, Debian, SUSE, Ubuntu, Mandriva), Ubuntu is still by far the easiest to get the feel for. There might be other easier distributions to learn on too, but I still think Ubuntu is a good overall choice for someone's first taste of Linux. So hopefully this news proves true and we will see Dell servers shipping with Ubuntu on them. I will say I'm not a big fan of Dell Computers, I think some of that comes from my desire to custom build as well as my fondness towards Macs, but kudos to Dell for teaming up with Ubuntu to help get Linux out there for consumers. From what I understand, the Dell computers that come with Ubuntu are already set up and the hardware is all compatible which helps ease headaches, particularly those new to Linux who might not yet have the experience neccessary to fully troubleshoot problems. Ubuntu Scores First Major Pre-Installed Server Win [linux-watch.com] |
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