The Four-eyed Journal » Technology

Video: The History of the Internet

jhay — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:50:46 +0000

We take it for granted nowadays but do we know how it all began? The Internet that is, well see it all in this video about the history of the Internet.

Hat tip to the great Mike Abundo.

What’s the future of the Internet?

jhay — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:15:42 +0000

2008 is about to end and like tradition in the blogosphere, year-end lists, surveys, and predictions are going to be the staple of almost every blog.

Today, I’ll share some predictions on the future of the Internet courtesy of HASTAC who has a wonderful post about the recently released results of the Elon University/Pew Foundation’s 2008 survey “Imagining the Internet” project.

It’s web-based survey on how people think the internet will be like in the years ahead and how it will impact our lives.

Some 77% said the mobile computing device (the smartphone) with more significant computing power will be 2020′s primary global Internet-connection platform.

64% favored the idea that 2020 user interfaces will offer advanced touch, talk and typing options and some added a fourth “T” – think.
Nearly four out of five respondents (78%) said the original Internet architecture will not be completely replaced by a next-generation ‘net by 2020.

Three out of five respondents (60%) disagreed with the idea that legislatures, courts, the technology industry, and media companies will exercise effective intellectual property control by 2020.

A majority—56%—agreed that in 2020 “few lines (will) divide professional from personal time, and that’s OK.”

56% said while Web 2.0 is bringing some people closer, social tolerance will not be heightened by our new connections

45% agreed and 44% disagreed with the notion that the greater transparency of people and institutions afforded by the Internet will heighten individual integrity and forgiveness.

More than half (55%) agreed that many lives will be touched in 2020 by virtual worlds, mirror worlds, and augmented reality, while 45% disagreed or did not answer the question.

These highlights provide a plethora of issues that are very interesting to look at a little further. What really caught my attention is the fifth point in which people said that by 2020 work and leisure times will become more mixed up than ever. And they’re alright with that!

Imagine that, you could still monitor the world stock markets and do some trading while spending the weekend afternoon with your family without the need for a laptop or mobile device on hand, because by then, your PC could be hard-wired into your house and through voice commands, give you live updates and allow you to do trading in real-time.

And how about us bloggers? It would be interesting to see how Twitter or Plurk would look like in 2020, perhaps we could receive Twits or Plurks directly to our brains thanks to micro-chip implants and wide area Wi-Fi zones. Privacy will really walk out the door for good!

How about you guys? What’s your take on the future of the Internet?

Globe WAP/MMS/Streaming settings for Nokia N95

jhay — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 01:22:54 +0000

A couple of days ago, my aunt once more asked me to help configure her Nokia N95′s WAP/MMS/Streaming settings for Globe.

Like clock work, I called Globe’s Customer Service, gave them the handset unit, my aunt’s mobile number and requested that they send the settings via SMS message which was the easiest way. The other options would be to ask for the settings one-by-one and configure the phone manually, which is very troublesome when done over the phone. The least viable option would be to personally take the phone to a Globe Business Center and have their agents configure it there.

We expected to receive the settings immediately after the call ended, as this is what happened before when we asked for the settings of our earlier phones. Oddly enough, the settings never arrived via SMS, the obligatory 24-48 hours of waiting passed and still no settings have been received.

On the third day of waiting, I decided to call Customer Services again. But the Christmas season may have already caused high traffic on Globe’s networks as my call was dropped three times.

Growing frustrated, but decided not to let loose on the hapless CS agent, I just gave them my email address and requested that they send the settings there instead, so that I could configure the phone manually.

WAP Settings
1. Go to Menu>Tools>Settings>Connection>Access points>Options>New Access point>Use default setting. Enter details for the following parameters.

Connection name: myGlobe CONNECT
Data Bearer: Pocket data
Access point name: www.globe.com.ph
User name:
Prompt password: No
Password:
Authentication: Normal
Homepage: http://www.globe.com.ph/globe.asp

Press Options then select Advance settings. Enter details for the following parameters:

Network type: Ipv4
Proxy serv. address: 203.177.42.214
Proxy Port number: 8080

2. Go back to the main menu, select Web, press Options then Settings. Choose myGlobe CONNECT as the default access point.

MMS Settings
1. Go to Menu>Messaging>Options>Settings>Multimedia message>Access point in use>Options>New access point>Use default settings. Enter details for the following parameters

Connection name: myGlobe MMS
Data Bearer: GPRS
Access point name: mms.globe.com.ph
User name:
Prompt password: No
Password:
Authentication: Normal
Homepage: http://192.40.100.22:10021/mmsc

Press Option then select Advance settings. Enter details for the following parameters:

Proxy serv. address: 203.177.042.214
Proxy Port Number: 8080

Stream Settings
2. Go to Menu>Tools>Settings>Connection>Access points>Options>New Access point>Use default setting. Enter details for the following parameters.

Connection name: myGlobe stream
Data Bearer: Packet data
Access point name: real.globe.com.ph
User name:
Prompt password: No
Password:
Authentication: Normal

Press Options then select Advance settings. Enter details for the following parameters:

Network type: Ipv4
Proxy serv. address: None
Proxy Port number: None

3. Go back to the main menu, Find Real Player Application, press Options then Settings. Choose myGlobe Stream as the default access point.

After tinkering around with the Nokia N95, I finally got it working, this is confirmed by sending a test MMS message to my aunt’s number. I even had the spare time to configure the phone to connect to my home Wi-Fi network, so that my aunt could do some web surfing is she so pleases.

I think the same settings would for the Nokia N9x series because the PDF file Globe sent me indicated that it’s the same settings for the Nokia N91.

For others who would like to have their WAP/MMS/Streaming settings configured, simply call Globe’s Customer Service Number 211, and if you can do it manually, simply give them your email address for them to send the configuration settings in PDF format.

Would fuel-cell powered devices increase demand for oil?

jhay — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:34:07 +0000

There’s a story on Reuters hinting that we could be just a couple years away from seeing a more consumer-friendly usage of fuel-cell technologies. It’s main application is to charge the batteries of today’s numerous mobile devices from iPods to dLSRs, from cellphones to laptops.

Fuel cells, in which a tiny amount of fuel flows into a small chip to generate electricity without combustion, would allow users to skip the wall plug and simply swap out a fuel cartridge to continue listening to music or check e-mail.

Bradford thinks products are now truly a year or two away, as electronics manufacturers show more interest and fuel cell makers move beyond trade-show prototypes.

“We are closer, much closer, than even two years ago in terms of the companies’ internal designs, how they’ve met their milestones and just the amount of testing and evaluation that’s going on right now,” Bradford said.

Lilliputian Systems Inc., a Wilmington, Mass., firm founded by former Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers, plans to introduce a portable fuel cell late next year for any device that can be charged via a USB port.

Instead of plugging into a wall socket, fuel-cells simply need to replenish their fuel supply, which according to the news story would come in small canisters of butane or methanol.

Of course, other fuels would also work, including my personal pick, hydrogen, which is far more abundant in supply and produces water as bi-product. However, safely handling hydrogen for consumer-grade fuel-cells are still in the development stage.

For the next couple of years, we would have to make do with butane cartridges once the first wave of consumer-ready fuel-cells become available. Imagine laptops running for days on end without being hooked up to a wall socket? Mobile phones having more talk-time than before? Wouldn’t that be awesome?

I do have one concern though, if the first wave of fuel-cells that could hit shelves in the next two to five years would rely on butane, methanol and other fossil-fuels, would it add more pressure on the demand side for oil, thus further increasing its price?

Ah the bane of consumerism, I do hope hydrogen-based fuel-cells would come out sooner instead.

Coming this weekend – Consumer Electronics Live! 2008

jhay — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:18:34 +0000

As you may have noticed from the banner on top of every post in this blog, this weekend would be a glorious one for all techies and gadget enthusiasts as Consumer Electronics Live! 2008 would be showcasing an exhibit of the latest offerings from the top tech brands in the Philippines.

The event would go on for 3 days from Friday to Sunday (Oct. 24 – 26, 2008) and opens from 10am to 8PM at the SMX Convention Center beside SM Mall of Asia.

According to Yuga, here’s what we could expect in this event:

Sony VAIO Launch and New Alpha Cameras

Canon up to 40% off on selected items

My Screen up to 70% off on selected items

HP – get a free one month subscription of Sun Cellular Broadband for every purchase of HP Laptop or

Personal Computer

Certina – get a free luggage worth P1K for every purchase

Popcorn Hour product launch

Plus, you could win some cool prices like Bose Sound Dock, Nokia and Samsung cellphones in the daily CEL Gadget Give-Away. Wohoo!

PS
Yuga is giving away free passes to 10 bloggers who would blog about the CEL 2008 event. I already registered at the CEL website, though I haven’t heard from them yet, plus there’s a Php50.00 registration fee so winning those free passes would be awesome!