Headworx

I wonder how many of you used to be programmers... Remember how it all started? In my case it was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1983. Wonderful machine, programming it was so close to the metal... or silicon should I say. It was cold booting in 2 seconds and ready to execute statements you typed in. Like PRINT 2+2 (that yielded 4 in the upper left corner). Or PLOT (50, 50) to place a black pixel on the screen. Actually you could type a few lines and watch the computer executing your program instantaneously. It used to be so beautifully simple to feel what a computer program is in fact - a sequence of commands that are executed by the machine one by one. And today? You cold boot your gigahertz/gigabyte/gigaflop PC in 2 minutes flat and find yourself at the mercy of a START button. You can fire a Notepad to type a series of words that do nothing. Probably the closest thing you can do is to launch an Internet browser, go to google.com and type 2+2 in the search box. Yes, you will get that 4...

T oday I would like to touch one of the most underestimated problems we face today. The Metadata problem. Or a challenge, if you like. First, let us define what we mean (we can use Google for that). In short metadata is "data that is used to describe other data". Examples? Links and bookmarks or favorites in your Internet browser. Or iPod playlists. Or picture slideshows defining the order and transition between pictures. I magine your computer today. What has taken most of your effort in configuring it when it arrived from a factory? Aha... metadata. It is easy to set up Windows or install Office or copy your music over from CDs or a backup USB drive. But then you spend hours, if not days configuring. Setting up the internet bookmarks, arranging music into playlists and rating the songs, configuring the UI preferences. Very hard work, fortunately you do that only once a year or two. N ow imagine you buy a second computer. Say you have a desktop PC and you have fallen in lov...

T he latest (May'06) copy of T3 has just arrived. But this time I was faster... I had got my Squeezebox v3 BEFORE I read the review. They give it 5 stars. I would add more... T oday I have installed the SlimServer software on my home audio server (I promise more on the home audio machine project soon). The installation again went without a glitch and the SlimServer promptly discovered the Squeezebox player over WiFi. Without any restart procedure the Squeezebox activated its "Browse music" menu and suddenly became a home media streamer. The concept is simple. Have your MP3s (or other music files) somewhere on a PC (if it is a noisy PC, it can even sit in your basement) and a Squeezebox in your living room (or a kitchen or wherever you like it). Instead of connecting to Pandora or other Internet radio stations, Squeezebox connects to your local SlimServer (can be in a basement if noisy...) and streams music. I t definitely looks like WiFi is becoming a mandatory option ...

S o many stories to tell this week... I am still shocked and amazed by the Pandora . I created my account on Tuesday and have spent almost all my time since then listening to my radio stations. Actually this is what I am doing at the moment, writing this post - Pandora fills the air. I signed for the ad-sponsored Pandora and... clicked on the first one that appeared. It led me to the Slim Devices website unveiling the Squeezebox. Being in trance, without a hesitation, I ordered one immediately (sometimes web shopping is far too easy...). I t has arrived today. What a wonderful piece of design and engineering! I was blown away by the Pandora concept and implementation. Similarly I was blown away by the Squeezebox. The looks are matching the iPod's. Ease of use is flattering. It was up and running in under two minutes, connected to my home WiFi network (all I needed was a wep password). Then one more step to "match" the Squeezebox with my Pandora account and hey, it showed...

I t is not easy to surprise me these days. We are all used to billion-transistor chipsets from Intel and light speed cruises around the Net in Google capsule. Entertainment from iTunes, and information from customized RSS feeds via Google Reader . But when Pete sent me the http://www.pandora.com/ link a couple of days ago, what I saw after it opened, simply blew me away. I marked the day on my calendar. The day that was the harbinger of death for traditional music distribution channels, iTunes included. Now continue to read or go there immediately and open your own Pandora box. S o far we have been purchasing records (CD's) or individual tunes (iTunes) and the latter seemed to be the new, unconventional wave of music distribution. No longer. With Pandora you will be purchasing entire radio stations. And they will be your very personal radio stations. Created for you and only for you. Adjusting to your moods and preferences. W hen you navigate to Pandora web site, a smart Flash-bas...

W hat is inside a handset? Originally there used to be a microphone and an earphone and a coiled wire... Then mobile phones arrived and started pushing the limits. Is a handset still a handset? or a multifunction computer-based personal device, we use for various forms of communications (calls, conferences, messaging, email, web browsing) and for pleasure (games, photos, music)? What is ahead of us, how will future handsets look like? Well... short term the question is not that difficult to answer. It is enough to look at the latest chipset (an intelligent form of silicon that sits inside a handset). S o let us examine the latest MSM7200 , that has just started sampling. A chipset developed by Qualcomm , the company that invented CDMA, technology that powers all of the third-generation (3G) mobile networks around the world (UMTS included). Handsets based on the MSM7200 should be available within a year (that is the time it usually takes to design and build a handset around a new chips...

C hris Anderson has been famous for his long tail. Well, Chris does not really have a tail [:))], but he was first to notice the Internet phenomena, he called The Long Tail . The Long Tail Theory is really simple. Before the Internet we used to live in the hits economy. Pareto rule was everywhere. 80:20. Pick the 20 percent of hits that generate 80 percent of your income. From Wal-Mart to Hollywood and music producers, everybody obeyed the rule. The reason was simple - costs generated by manufacturing, storage and distribution. So if something was not a hit (it did not sell, and did not sell quickly), the costs generated by simply storing something on a shelf killed any potential profits. So every business was going after the hits. Things that were selling quickly and thus the storage cost per item was kept at the minimum possible level. And all this was about to change... W ith the proliferation of the Internet we have gone from atoms to bits. Take music for example. What is music? I...

Y esterday Qualcomm and Nortel issued a press release confirming 7.2Mbps category 8 HSDPA data calls using test terminals based on QUALCOMM’s Mobile Station Modem (MSM) MSM6280 solution and HSDPA network equipment from Nortel. Imagine that - 7 Megs down to a 3G handset!!! W hile HSDPA Tsunami takes mobile connectivity by storm, the hype still seems to be on the WiMax side. I keep on getting the mobile WiMax questions every now and then. But it will not happen. With 7 Mbps HSDPA, just by upgrading software in existing 3G base stations, with global roaming, terminals (handsets) compatible down to plain UMTS and even GPRS, Qualcomm has been victorious again. L ast Thursday I listened carefully to Craig Barrett , as he visited Poland on his never-ending tour around the world. Intel does not say a word about mobile WiMax. Looks like the game is over here. WiMax obviously will be very important in other areas, especially in the last mile fixed broadband access. M ay be one day in future w...