Opinion and Analysis

The Future of Plasma Television

By Guest Writer on July 11th, 2010 1 Comment

ANALYSIS: Talking about the decline of any product would be as hard as talking about its success in the market. There cannot be any product in the market that is launched predicting its downfall. Every new launch is made after a thorough study, design, testing and other necessary routines.

However recent reports reveal that the end of the plasma displays is at its closer end. At the same instance, other reports simultaneously explain about its success in the market. Hence the future of Plasma Televisions is at times hard to be anticipated and a final conclusion about the fall of plasma displays cannot be drawn.

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Ever wondered where computer viruses get their names from?

By Guest Writer on July 7th, 2010 1 Comment

This article is part of Security Month, a month-long TECHGEEK.com.au initiative to have a look at the security industry and the entire subject as a whole.

This guest post was written by Catalin Cosoi, BitDefender senior antispam researcher.

Anyone who has ever created something new is granted the right to name it. However, given that computer viruses are born with the purpose of underhand destruction and disruption, they are perhaps an exception to the norm. Why would any virus creator in their right mind want to drop any hints via their virus’s name that may incriminate them? Further, why would we want to give them the glory or the limelight?

Which begs the question, how do computer viruses get their names? The short answer: there is no unanimous way to classify viruses and their names but in order to raise the general awareness of viruses, more familiar terms are often chosen.

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Mac OS X to become iOS Desktop?

By James Wilson on June 26th, 2010 1 Comment

Scary as this may sound, Mac site Hardmac (hardmac.com) has posted quick article that brings to light a very sad, yet very exciting idea that is bobbing around with the heads of the Apple. According to the article, Apple appears to be interested in a complete ‘iOS’ marketing range that comes in different ‘flavours’ (Unix grass roots anyone?). Such a move could create flavours of iOS Desktop, iOS Server and iOS Mobile. While the letter ‘i’ has been long associated (ok, twelve years maybe) with Apple, such a move could prove fatal towards die-hard Mac fans (from which Mac comes from).

What are your thoughts on the matter? Would you like to see Apple rename Mac OS X to iOS Desktop?

Chinese Newspaper: Uncensored Internet “attempt to impose” values

By Terence Huynh on January 23rd, 2010 No Comments

A Chinese Newspaper has written a critical editorial about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her speech about the freedom to access information on the Internet. The newspaper, the Global Times, labelled her speech as a “disguised attempt to impose its values on other cultures in the name of democracy”.

“The online freedom of unrestricted access is, thus, only one-way traffic, contrary to the spirit of democracy and calculated to strengthen a monopoly,” the newspaper wrote in its editorial.

“The online freedom of unrestricted access is, thus, only one-way traffic, contrary to the spirit of democracy and calculated to strengthen a monopoly. These facts about the difficulties of developing nations, though understood by politicians like Clinton, are not communicated to the people of Western countries. Instead, those politicians publicise and pursue their claims purely from a Western standpoint.”

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Nintendo’s anti-piracy measures, have they gone too far?

By Shane Luckman on September 19th, 2009 No Comments

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OPINION: ROMs. We all know about them, the computer files which contain a copy of data from a read only memory chip (most being Video Game data). They can be played through a piece of software called an Emulator, or run through a flashcard, but what do you really know about ROMs and the anti-piracy measures Nintendo has against them?

According to the American and Australian Law, ROMs can only be obtained and played if you already own the game, have a license to the game or are part of a commercial marketing company. This seems fine until you notice that your gameplay is disrupted from built-in anti-piracy software, programmed by Nintendo to stop you from allegedly playing it illegally.

Games that have recently made this point are the recently released Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, and the Japanese Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. The first game uses the software to freeze the ROM at the title screen, and if hackers get any further; all the bosses in the game. The second using the software to freeze at certain points in the game (i.e. buildings, town entries, battles), plus freezing every 7 or so minutes.

Sure this could be looked at as a good way to stop people who do not own the game to play it but what about the ones who do. Why should they be left in the dark while other game companies let their customer’s play them?

Marketing companies tend to use DS ROM’s in advertisements for the game,  because it can be filmed well without seeing any persons body parts getting in the way of gameplay. They are supposed to help market the companies game and make them earn money, this is a major loss to Nintendo’s profit and shows that Nintendo are not competent game advertisements.

What’s next in store for Nintendo’s games? Will Nintendo become more strict towards anti-piracy or will they take out their software? Have your say by writing a comment.

The views represented in this article do not necessarily mean the views of TECHGEEK.com.au or its parent company.

This is why Twitter is drifting me away

By Terence Huynh on May 31st, 2009 No Comments

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OPINION: Twitter used to be a place where geeks can tweet to other technology geeks, and then we would get some celebrities – but they would only use it because they tend to know the geekiness of the site. But now, Twitter has gone from being that to being mainstream – and I don’t blame the media… I blame the pre-teen girls addicted to Disney.

OK, while I may be a teenager, it is still positively horrendous that the top topics are not breaking news, or tech related subjects; but they are this #jonaswebcast piece of crap. I mean, come on, do we really need this to keep on going – it is getting pretty stupid.

And it’s not the only topic that these girls that are sending this down to a MySpace-kind of attitude – the usernames makes we want to barf and the graphics look too “MySpace-y” to be on Twitter. My background is something that I made, no glitter and no crowns to say that “I’m a Disney addict” – unlike the top image.

I am so using this to vent my anger, but Twitter is now more pop-centric, and because of the mainstream media, we are discussing more and more about Twitter everyday – thanks a lot TechCrunch, who has a “Twitter Correspondent”, but they don’t use the term. Maybe I should get a Twitter Correspondent for TECHGEEK.com.au, but what would be the topics – the #3breakupwords that Ms. Veronica Belmont said, or maybe the #liesgirlstell tweet from Anthony Agius.

I will not be surprised if many start to evacuate Twitter – it is has become too mainstream that people are just not interested anymore.

All opinions expressed here may or may not be the views expressed by TECHGEEK.com.au or its parent company.

So, what is the future of television?

By Terence Huynh on May 17th, 2009 No Comments

Digital Television is set to dominate our televisions when 2013 finally comes, when the Government will finally switch off the last analogue television signal in the metropolitan cities – but after the switchover, what will happen next?

We seem to have never asked ourselves what will happen in the future of television. Will it become non-existent because of the Internet, or will it still play a potential role for news? Will we be able to get more channels, or will be there no difference from today?

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Ok, we get the point, you want more money!

By Sean Hyatt on February 14th, 2008 No Comments

It seems that the 14 week long writers strike in Hollywood could be coming to an end. The decision was made by 92.5 percent of the 3775 people who are signed with the Writers Guild of America in a private ballot.

The vote seems to have eased tension with reports saying that some 10,000 writers will be going back to work as soon as Wednesday.

“The strike has certainly go through to the suites in Hollywood” says Michael Smith, a current writer for Back To You. The strike has caused the delay of several shows including Desperate Housewives and the Emmy Awards being cancelled. The strike also threatened to cancel the Academy Awards.

So for you TV nuts out there you can look forward in the next month or two for the flurry of television shows that will be reappearing.

The Strike that halted television

By Terence Huynh on December 3rd, 2007 No Comments

The Writers Strike in America has seen many shows close off production, and has seen some shows taken off the air and replaced by repeats. Now it’s December, and with some shows only have so few episodes to broadcast; how will television in the US cope. Well, they will most likely get reality television in the mix.

Another idea that has plagued my mind, why don’t they just import programming? In Australia, UK and mostly any channel around the world imports programs from the US. Why don’t they do the same? They could import some shows from Australia, UK, New Zealand or any English programs around the world. At least that’s better than watching someone making an idiot out of themselves.

But how will our television channels cope? That’s a different story. Seven and Ten have ‘fast tracked’ some of their popular shows to beat those torrent downloaders, however it has seen a decrease in ratings over at Seven. Prison Break is now under 1 million viewers, as it is placed on a timeslot where The Chasers are on ABC. Heroes has also a decrease, but not as bad as Prison Break.

But, mostly all shows are usually broadcast in February. This is because of the Term Holidays for children, and the Australian Open for Seven. The rating season, however, kicks off in mid-January. So, they will have enough episodes for them to last until March or April.

In Australian Television, we are usually now starting to follow UK Television on producing dramas, with some having a 13 episode series and some can take up an entire rating season, meaning that we produce at least 40 episodes per year.

NBC, being desperate for content, has aquired the broadcasting rights to the MySpace drama Quarterlife. MySpace is owned by News Corp., who also owns FOX and My Network TV. Does this mean that broadcasters are actually looking at the online world for content? Maybe so, but mostly not. Broadcasters will usually get their shows from their production arm of the company, but will also broadcast another company’s production if the execs believe it will be a success. House, for example, is produced by Universal Media Studios (NBC Universal) and is broadcast on FOX.

OK, that’s a lot to digest down, and it maybe doesn’t make any sense. But, let’s have a look at the shows that are finishing in the coming months…

House (FOX) – 3 left scheduled in Jan. 2008, one after Superbowl.
Samantha Who? (ABC) – Six more episodes to go.
Family Guy (FOX) - Repeats and new episodes scheduled in Jan. 2008.
CSI Franchise, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, Cold Case (CBS) – Down to 4 or fewer episodes apiece.
Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, Pushing Daises (ABC) – Each only having 2 episodes left.
Desperate Housewives (ABC) – Airs final episode.
The Office (NBC) – No episode, repeats.
Heroes (NBC) – Airs final episode on December 3.
K-Ville (FOX) – 2 more episodes to go.
Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement (CBS) -No episodes.

Now, let’s see what’s happening with those premiering in Jan. 2008…

Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles - 2 night premiere (Jan 13 & 14). 13 episodes completed.
Medium (NBC) -9 episodes completed.
Jericho (CBS) – 7 episodes.
The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) – 8 episodes.
Cashmere Mafia (ABC) – 7 episodes.

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