Wednesday, July 7, 2004

The Next Few Years The future of streaming. RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser describes the next few years of streaming video: "We are getting to the point where what we deliver over the internet will in some cases replace television and in other cases augment it," he writes … [Lost Remote: where TV finds the future] [Cinema Minima] 6:47:06 PM

1970 Television Series 'UFO' Me and My S.H.A.D.O. I found myself with a little discretionary income due to an unexpected windfall of cash, so I decided to buy myself something completely unecessary that I've wanted for a long time...the complete boxed DVD set of Gerry Anderson's short-lived, but utterly amazing live-action series, UFO. When I lived in Los Angeles during the early Seventies, UFO was a huge hit. Set in the fantastic future world of 1980 (?!), the show was chockablock with cool hardware, bizarre unisex fashions, foxy Moonbase babes wearing aluminum leotards and purple wigs, and an unbelievably catchy theme song by legendary composer, Barry Gray, that has been indelibly burned into my brain for over 30 years. I watched a couple of episodes last night, I think I'll go watch a couple more right now. [Eye of the Goof] 6:41:11 PM

AXION Handheld TV The World's Smallest Handheld Rechargeable TFT LCD TV. America Action Inc. (AXION) a member of the Action Electronics' Group, announced a new Handheld Rechargeable TFT LCD TV - the ''Minnie'' series.The AXION branded ACN-5327 (MSRP $149) is a 2.5'' TFT LCD handheld TV features built-in rechargeable circuitry, and includes four Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries with an AC adaptor/charger. Axion`s new line of ''truly portable'' handheld TVs focus on delivering convenience for consumers to bring along their favorite TV programs everywhere they go. [unmediated] 6:36:59 PM

On Mesh Networks Do Mesh Networks Scale? Three Views. The head of a mesh company argues mesh networks don't scale -- and one of the folks behind an open-source mesh software project examines the argument: MeshDynamics sells a multiple-radio solution for mesh networking, and the head of the firm wrote a brief article explaining why single-radio mesh networks can't work beyond a very small deployment. I asked Sascha Meinrath of the CUWiN project for his feedback on Francis daCosta's comments. (After this item was posted, Jim Thompson contributed his own extensive thoughts about both daCosta and Sascha's statements, hence the "third" view of the revised title.) Sascha writes: While I do think that Francis daCosta brings up some potential pitfalls to wireless mesh networks, the doomsday picture he presents is based on a flawed understanding of how mesh networking topographies work. I'll explain below: deCosta wrote: 1- Radio is a shared medium and forces everyone to stay silent while one person holds the stage. Wired networks, on the other hand, can and do hold multiple simultaneous conversations. 2- In a single radio ad hoc mesh network, the best you can do is (1/2)^^n at each hop. So in a multi hop mesh network, the Max available bandwidth available to you degrades at the rate of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8. By the time you are 4 hops away the max you can get is 1/16 of the total available bandwidth. This problem exists only when all tranceivers within a mesh topography "see" each other. And herein is the flaw in the argument. Within a mesh network Request To Sends (RTSs) do silence nodes within range; however this degradation moves in waves--so if part of a mesh consisted of 7 nodes (of which G is connected to the Internet): A-----------------> ------B-----------------> ------------C-----------------> | Internet Connection Here's what would happen. A would pass a packet to B; when B passed a packet to C, A couldn't talk--thus the 1/2 reduction in throughput; when C passed it to D, the same problem would occur for both A & B (thus a 1/4 throughput); likewise for D to E (because D would silence A, B, & C), thus a 1/8th throughput. However, when E passes a packet to F, A is unaffected, when F passes a packet to G, both A & B are unaffected. Thus, in this solution, throughput would theoretically max out at 1/8th (which is probably still much more throughput than the... [Wi-Fi Networking News] 6:31:52 PM

Broadband Reports' VoIP Forum Broadband Reports' VoIP Forum: Great Website for Consumer VoIP!. Broadband Reports' VoIP Forum remains one of the best places on the net to check the pulse of the latest/greatest happenings in consumer VoIP. I've been a member of their VoIP Forum since February, 2003 and they remain one of... [The Jeff Pulver Blog] 6:13:58 PM

Via Arizona Daily Star A glass of milk each day may fight colon cancer. WASHINGTON - Drinking at least a glass of milk a day may lower the risk of colorectal cancer, say researchers who pooled some of the world's largest studies on the long-believed link. Calcium, from... [Arizona Daily Star: Front Page] 7:48:57 AM