Archive for the ‘technology’ Category
I live in the UK, and I feel like I’ve been waiting for Google Voice for way too long. I also travel frequently to the US, so I could get some use out of the service as it stands and it’s been frustrating that I couldn’t sign up. Disclaimers Google only offers it’s Voice service […]
Filed under: howto, technology | 1 Comment
Tags: google, google voice, IPkall, sip, SIP sorcery, SIPgate, skype, SkypeIn, SkypeToGo, UK, US, Voice, voip
Shortly before digging into the copy of Cognitive Surplus I bought on Google ebooks the other day I read this piece comparing the relative merits of Google, Amazon and Apple’s offerings. One of the areas of the store/reading experience it didn’t touch on was gifting. Since getting my Kindle I don’t really want any more […]
Filed under: could_do_better, technology, wibble | Leave a Comment
Tags: amazon, apple, content, DRM, ebook, geography, gift card, gifting, google, Google checkout, iBook, payments, publishing
One of the big tech news items today is the launch of the much anticipated Google eBooks. Sadly the service is only available in the US at the moment, so I thought I’d have a poke around and see what the hurdles were. US Browsing Browsing from my regular connection at home I could only see […]
Filed under: howto, technology | 4 Comments
Tags: Adobe, amazon, Amex, Calibre, convert, Digital Editions, DRM, ebook, epub, google, Google books, kindle, mobi, payments, proxy, UK, US
Region locks – My 2¢
Since I started using Amazon EC2 as a web proxy I’ve found that I’m exploiting it pretty regularly. Every time that I see one of those ‘you can’t access that content from your country’ type messages I have a choice. I can give up and move on, or I can fork out 2¢ to spin up […]
Filed under: could_do_better, media, technology | 2 Comments
Tags: amazon, aws, ec2, lock, micro payments, micropayments, payments, proxy, region, region lock, SSH, tunnel, video
My friend Randy posted a few days ago on Grid, Cloud, HPC … What’s the Diff?. I started to make a comment on the blog, but it was getting too long so I moved it here. Randy does a good job of pinning down both performance and scalability, but in my experience productivity trumps both. This […]
Filed under: cloud, technology | 1 Comment
Tags: cloud, grid, MPI, parallel processing, performance, productivity, scalability
It seems that our politicians are easily fooled by the telecos and their regulatory capture. Just yesterday the UK’s Culture minister Ed Vaizey announced his support for a ‘two-speed‘ internet. The idea is superficially attractive – content providers pay a premium to have their stuff delivered faster, and the consumer benefits from improved service. It’s like […]
Filed under: technology | 2 Comments
Tags: broadband, net neutrality, network, neutrality, telco
My Kindle died two days ago :( Thankfully Amazon were pretty prompt in dealing with this. I called their Kindle helpline[1], a new one was sent out, and it arrived this morning :) It didn’t take long for me to restore all of my content, and things like bookmarks seem to be intact :) Unfortunately […]
Filed under: could_do_better, did_do_better, grumble, technology | 4 Comments
Tags: amazon, backup, collections, ebook, export, import, kindle, restore
Is zero weight a feature?
As I’ve spent more time with my Kindle I’ve been paying more attention to eBook prices. My conclusion is that zero weight (or perhaps just the novelty of eBooks) is a feature, and one that the supply chain thinks is worth a premium. Pricing Typical pricing for eBooks seems to be the same (or just […]
Filed under: could_do_better, technology | 4 Comments
Tags: amazon, DRM, ebook, grey market, international, kindle, pricing, second hand, used
When I registered thestateofme.com some years back it was for a project to allow synchronisation of RSS aggregator/reader state across a number of systems. I never wrote any code because things got overtaken by events. Firstly I discovered RSS Bandit, which had a mechanism to sync state via a WebDAV server (and a number of […]
Filed under: cloud, could_do_better, media, technology | 7 Comments
Tags: audiobook, bookmark, cloud, ebook, media, player, reader, state, sync, synchronisation, video
iOS 4 on iPod Touch 2G
I heard quite a few friends whining that iOS 4 wasn’t a good ‘upgrade’ on their iPhone 3G(S)s, with many reverting back to versions of 3.x that were considered faster or more stable. I was therefore somewhat sceptical about upgrading my iPod Touch 2G, and would have left it be if it wasn’t for so many apps […]
Filed under: technology | Leave a Comment
Tags: 2G, 4.x, iOS, ipod, iPod Touch, Touch
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