Dark times ahead for Bittorrent
Its hard to find any good news in the Bittorrent community these days. Between the sale of The Pirate Bay to the court ordered mass deletion of torrents on Mininova, it seems that nothing can go right for the popular P2P community.
With groups like the RIAA, MPAA, IFPI, BRIEN and countless others constantly harassing every bittorrent site they can find until they shut down, it is no surprise that the P2P scene is seeing some dark days. I'm not saying this is the beginning of the end for bittorrent, but I do think that the actions of the past two months are going to change the community forever.
I predict that with the court ordered mass deletion of torrents on Mininova and the sale of The Pirate Bay (which will immediately be run straight into the ground), this is the end of massive torrent sites. Numerous large trackers have been shut down over the past couple of years but these two are by far the biggest. Generally speaking, the larger the torrent site, the bigger the target is on their back and the greater desire that the groups mentioned above have to shut them down. I think in the future that the biggest torrent sites you will see are near that of the tracker Demonoid.
I believe that in the near future, we will see a number of new, smaller, torrent sites pop up to fill the void left by the larger trackers. When I use bittorrent, I find that the more niche tracker I can find, the better the experience tends to be and I think that this is the trend that is about to get a big boost in the coming months. Arguably, what made sites like Mininova and The Pirate Bay great is their wide range of files, but that has also caused problems in that instead of having just one industry group after you, you have groups after you from a number of industries. It is much easier to stay alive if you only have a few people chasing you rather than a mob of them. The more niche that sites can be, the better experience users will have as well because it will be much easier to find what they are looking for with more seeds and less irrelevant stuff to sift through.
In the end, I think that the current events in the bittorrent community will work out for the best but it is going to be a tough road to get there and things will be much different than they have been in the past. Here is to hoping that the mafia groups don't win!
Amazon’s VOD success depends on distribution deals
Greetings Readers!
The streaming video market has become rather crowded in the last couple of years with services like Hulu and YouTube, but the video service with the most potential is Amazon's VOD service.
Amazon's VOD (Video On Demand) service has been around for a while and has a huge library of tv shows and movies including some of the newest releases yet it has never gained much traction in a world dominated by Netflix. If Amazon hopes to really compete in this market, it needs to do more than advertise its service (which it doesn't do a very good job at anyway). Amazon needs to through its weight behind the service and make sure that everybody is aware of it and it is accessible as possible. How can they make it accessible? Amazon needs more distribution deals with hardware manufactures.
Amazon currently has deals which allow its service to be accessed on Roku boxes, Panasonic Blu-ray players, TiVo DVRs and Sony Bravia TVs, but they have to do much better than that. Amazon needs to push for a deal with every TV manufacture instead of just Sony and their Bravia line. With many people upgrading to new and better TVs after the DTV transition to take advantage of the new HD content, there is a huge opportunity for Amazon if they work to put themselves on all internet connected TVs. Same thing with Blu-ray players, Blu-ray is starting to gain traction and Amazon needs to do its best to get on more than just Panasonic players if it wants to get in on the ground floor before the mass exodus from DVD to Blu-ray begins. As far as TiVo goes, that is a great move for them but they should also work towards being on the DVRs offered by cable and satellite providers.
Amazon has the huge opportunity to grab a huge chunk of the streaming video market if they are willing to do what is necessary to put their service in front of as many people as possible. They have started moving in this direction, but so as Netflix and others, so if they want to put themselves in a dominant position, they must act now!
Finally, I think they need to go mobile with their video on demand service. Apps for the iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and such should be coming too. Many people like to watch videos on their phones, so if you have a way to stream videos to a phone, even if it is over wifi, you are ahead of the competition.
The competition in this space is in its very early stages and Amazon is on the position of either being left behind or taking the lead. The potential for profit is there, will they strike before its too late?
EA is going to kill Command & Conquer with C&C 4
Greetings Readers!
Normally I don't discuss much gaming on here and when I do, I don't make a post about a specific game, but today is a bit different. For the past week, I have felt the need to rant about the horrible death that EA is giving Command & Conquer.
Before I get into the multitude of ways that EA is killing C&C, I want to quickly address the idea of having a loyal fanbase. Like many of my friends, I have been playing C&C games since they came out around 13 years ago (give or take), and while I haven't always agreed with every design decision, I have been loyal enough to buy the games and play them often for the great gameplay and stories. Unfortunately, EA has changed just about everything that has made C&C, C&C all of these years with the upcoming C&C 4. Gone is the gameplay that fans have been used to for over a decade to the point that many of the hardcore C&C fans that I know, and I know many of them from working in the C&C community for many years, have decided to boycott the game, myself included.
What makes this game so horrible that even fans that have been following the series for over a decade would boycott it? In short, everything. If you have played C&C at all for the past 13 years, you have a good idea of what the gameplay is like with base building, resource collecting, armies of varying units based on their strengths and weaknesses among other things like FMVs and music mainly from the awesome composer Frank Klepacki. Of that short list of things that are still going to be included in C&C 4 is just the FMVs. There will be no Frank Klepacki doing the music, no harvesting and no basebuilding. Essentially 90% of what made C&C itself, is now gone. Think those are the only changes? In the words of Billy Mays, "Wait! There is more!"
In what sounds like a move away from RTS, there is some kind of leveling system that will allow you to get new units and stuff through experience through both online and offline playing. While I will say this sounds kind of interesting, they say that there won't be any real advantage to the units you earn, they can just compliment your strategy. To me, it sounds like a balance nightmare. The whole idea of a respawning mobile base seems to be quite dumb. How exactly are you supposed to win if the base keeps respawning at the edge of the screen? And the most annoying thing of all, an online connection is mandatory!
With gamers constantly complaining about DRM, EA has decided to scrap their traditional DRM in favor of an always online model to fight piracy. At first, I wanted to celebrate the lack of DRM until I realized that this solution is just as bad if not worse. Now, gamers will be unable to play the game if they don't have an internet connection. Waiting for the cable guy to fix your internet connection? You won't be playing C&C4 to pass the time. Of course if the servers ever go offline and eventually they will, you are screwed completely. They try to hide this horrible idea behind the idea that being online will allow you to get credit for the time you spend playing so that you can get upgrades to different units but in reality, it is just their way of making everybody get online so that they know if you have pirated the game. Personally, I would prefer having the DRM back over this horrible idea.
The truly sad thing about this is that we still don't know all of the details, but as they surface in magazines, they keep getting worse and worse. The changes that they are making are a disgrace to C&C and a spitting on the grave of Westwood (The original creators of the series). I honestly think it is probably a good idea that they are saying this is the last game in the Tiberium storyline because they are screwing the game up so much in the name of attracting the casual gamer that nobody will want to purchase any future titles anyway.
Follow Global Geek News on Twitter and listen to the latest Global Geek News Podacast!
For Android to thrive, Google must do more
For months, I have been toying around with the Android SDK. There are a number of reasons that I have decided to being creating Android applications that range from the potential money I could make to the fact that it is an open source OS and I don't have the money or time to invest in a Mac and learning Obj-C just so I can make iPhone apps. Along the way, I have come to realize just why android isn't an iPhone killer or at least not at this stage in the game and that reason is Google.
I will admit that for the most part, I am a big Google fan (not a fanboy), I believe that they aren't doing what they could be to really help their products, specifically, Android. As I am sure you are aware by this point, Android is Google's mobile operating system. While it certainly has its its drawbacks, I am sticking to my belief that in the end, it will wipe the floor with the iPhone OS primarily because it is open and designed to work on many different phones. There are supposed to be at least 20 android phones available by the end of this year alone (the main reason I think it will eventually beat the iPhone). Unfortunately, the biggest obstacle to achieving this goal is android's creators, Google.
There are a couple of big obstacles that Google is creating that aren't making things better for them. The main obstacle is applications. There are some amazing applications for android that are far and above many iPhone applications but there is a big problem, there aren't very many of them. Last I heard, the iPhone had over 50,000 apps and growing rapidly. How many apps does Android have? The last I heard was around 5000. Unfortunately, I believe that is Google's fault. Why is that Google's fault? One word: documentation.
In my months of playing with the Android SDK, I have discovered the documentation in many places are terrible! In many places, there are examples using code that has long since been removed from the SDK, other lines of code that just don't work and even some that are not necessary. This is especially true if you want to do anything with multimedia. Want to record audio? You are in for many hours of headaches if you are going by the examples in the android dev guide (trust me on this). The bottom line is that if Google expects to have more applications and be a real competitor for the iPhone, it needs to do all it can for developers and that includes keeping documentation up to date.
The one other big issues I have is with advertising. It wasn't until recently that Google finally announced the ability to put ads in mobile applications and even that is reserved for a select few that meet the various requirements including 100,000 impressions. Having such a small group of people able to take advantage of it is bad, especially for those that want ad supported applications so they can give away their applications. Free applications attract far more customers than paid ones, but developers still need to make money for their time and effort. Without advertising, this won't happen like it should. Considering the fact that Google is in the ad business, you would think that they would have had this out and ready to go the second android launched. Clearly, Google lacks focus and dedication to Android.
If Google became truly focused and dedicated to Android, I think that within a year, it could be ahead of the iPhone, but until that happens, the only advantage they have is the ability to put their OS on many phones. Wake up Google!
Wifi is everywhere but I can’t get online
Like many geeks, one of my favorite hobbies is to go war driving. For years, I occasionally drive around town and even other towns just to see where and how many wi-fi signals I can get, but it isn't as entertaining as useful as it used to be.
There are two main things I enjoy about looking for wifi, seeing all of the strange and unique names that people set as their SSID and finding open wifi networks so that should the need for one ever arise, I know where I can find one. While I still enjoy the first, the latter has become much harder.
Over the past couple of years, I have noticed a couple of dramatic shifts when it comes to wifi. When I first started war driving, I noticed that very few people had wifi despite the fact that laptop sales were on the rise. Not long after that, wifi started to become a bit more common to the point that for a good portion of the town, I could detect at least one hotspot. Slowly more started to pop up but I would estimate that only around 20% had any sort of encryption or protection on them at all. Once in a while I would see some WEP encryption or at least a changed SSID but nothing that would keep even the newest of hackers out. Over the past year or so, I have seen a major shift. Not only has the number of wifi hotspots increased dramatically, but the percentage of encrypted access points has jumped to closer to 90%. I find this to be both a good and bad thing.
For years, I have been a proponent of locking down wifi networks mainly with WPA encryption mainly for security purposes, but it seems that my effort has come back to bite me. While stuff like this does help keep the harmful hackers at bay, it hurts those that desperately need wifi but have no ill intent. There have been a number of times in the recent past that I have spent a considerable amount of time searching for an open wifi network or at least a starbucks because I need to get on the internet to find a place on Google maps or to get a bit of information from my email. If I could find open wifi hotspots as much as I can find closed ones, I often wouldn't be forced to drive all over just to get online.
I believe that this could actually lead to more illegal activities than it will stop. Certainly it is harder to get into networks (assuming you use WPA since WEP is useless), but considering the vast majority of encrypted networks that I find are using WEP, cracking into the network for internet access almost becomes an option. I am certainly not recommending this practice since it is illegal (not that that has ever stopped me before, something that the podcast listeners will understand), but I certainly sympathize with those that are forced to do it because they need something and can't find an open access point. I believe that you should be able to get online anywhere at anytime and for a number of reasons, that is not possible anymore.
What do I propose to solve this problem? Businesses should put open wifi in all of their locations for customer convenience. I'm not saying that this should be mandated or that companies should risk the security of their network for a couple of customers, but I do think it is a big benefit for customers. I think that this message applies mainly to restaurants, coffee shops and pretty much everybody that serves some sort of food. Personally, if I find a restaurant with free wifi, I am far more likely to eat there than someplace else because then I can take my laptop or at least my iPod Touch in and get something accomplished while I am waiting for my order. If I am in a jam, need internet access and don't have time to go in, I will still sit in the parking lot and use the wifi, but I always make sure to go back at a later time and go in and purchase something. Providing free wifi will get my business almost every time. The cost of providing free wifi to customers is very little, and for nearly all businesses is likely to pay off, especially when you have customers that would like to get work done while they are at your establishment. I completely believe this will pay for itself many times over, so if you own a business, install wifi for the sake of your customers!
Free wifi for everybody!
Loading ...Blogroll
Buy me a Pizza!
Archives
- March 2010 (5)
- February 2010 (2)
- January 2010 (7)
- December 2009 (3)
- November 2009 (5)
- October 2009 (4)
- September 2009 (7)
- August 2009 (5)
- July 2009 (4)
- June 2009 (17)
- May 2009 (8)
- April 2009 (3)
- March 2009 (3)
- February 2009 (1)
- January 2009 (6)
- December 2008 (10)
- November 2008 (11)
- October 2008 (7)
- September 2008 (13)
- August 2008 (2)
- July 2008 (6)
- June 2008 (13)
- May 2008 (6)
- April 2008 (1)
- March 2008 (8)
- January 2008 (1)
- December 2007 (1)
- October 2007 (2)
- August 2007 (1)
- September 2006 (1)
- July 2006 (4)
- June 2006 (1)
Categories
- Advertising (4)
- Apple (10)
- blogging (21)
- Blu-ray (7)
- computers (3)
- Consumer Electronics (13)
- Desktop (2)
- DVD (3)
- E-mail (1)
- Education (1)
- format wars (1)
- gadgets (4)
- Gaming (21)
- Global Geek News (8)
- Google (1)
- HD-DVD (1)
- high-def (2)
- Hulu (1)
- Internet (33)
- Invites (1)
- Kindle (2)
- Linux (1)
- Microsoft (22)
- MIX 2010 (4)
- mobile OS (3)
- Net Neutrality (1)
- New Media (5)
- Nintendo (4)
- Old Media (2)
- online video (4)
- PDC 2009 (2)
- Personal Branding (5)
- piracy (3)
- Podcasting (5)
- Portable Media (8)
- Productivity (2)
- Red Hat (1)
- retail (7)
- Reviews (1)
- search (3)
- security (4)
- social networking (7)
- Software Development (1)
- Sony (7)
- storage (1)
- Tech Tips (2)
- TechCrunch50 (6)
- The Cloud (2)
- Twitter (15)
- Ubuntu (1)
- Uncategorized (21)
- User Experience (3)
- Viral Videos (1)
- Windows (4)