Headworx

I have finally done it. I mean I have installed Linux on my Sony PLAYSTATION3. This was my third attempt (third time lucky :), as they say). And now I am writing this post on the game console within the Firefox browser, using a wireless USB keyboard and the buil-in WiFi connection. The first attempt was to install Ubuntu following the http://psubuntu.com/ page. This basically goes down to downloading and burning a PowerPC - based Ubuntu setup ISO CD. Sony has an option in the System Menu to set up a third party operating system on the console and following the prompts I had Ubuntu running on the PS3 in less than an hour. Unfortunately the WiFi connection was not working... I browsed a few forums and soon found out the only option to connect over WiFi was to go for the Yellow Dog Linux from terrasoftsolutions.com . I ordered an install CD for $50 + P&P and run the setup next weekend after it had arrived. The WiFi did not work again, but then I had no time to spare digging for the ...

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday Google would launch a search service for mobile content. Content - based services are in their infancy now. The reason is - it is still extremely difficult to find content we really like. Take music. You have to know the name of an artist or a song title. Then you go to google.com and search for it. Or go directly to Amazon or iTunes for a purchase. This is the traditional way. Boring... Music is about emotions. How often we hear something on the radio and scream "I want it now". Artist? Title? Don't know and don't want to wait - I like it, give it to me. For a long time Pandora has been the only service close to the above mentioned scenario: I like it, give me more like this, now . But with all due respect, Pandora is hand - made in fact. There are people who listen to songs, classify them into categories - no magic, just hard work. Google announcement does not bring us any closer to a content search we would love to have...

I really enjoy watching various security - related threads on the Internet. It is just amazing how completely blind and insecure we were running our machines back in 1995. Sounds almost like the Flower - Power times. Lots of things have changed since then, but people (both lame users and experienced system designers) are still being caught by hackers and intruders. Here is the recent favorite collection of mine: New attack cracks WEP in record time. WEP is the old wireless network security scheme. Now it takes two minutes using an ordinary laptop to break it. Malware will thrive despite Vista efforts. Mark Russinovich explains why even the latest security measures won't stop malware programs from sniffing your data. Satnav hacking made simple. This story describes how easy it is to inject spoofed information into the real time car navigation systems we all rely on. How credit card data went out wireless door. This is a good one. Actually one of the most successful high profile ...

The world is on hunt for the next killer application for mobile phones and mobile networks. Last week the US went crazy over the iPhone. We talk about mobile Web, mobile video, mobile location - based services, instant text messaging, mobile email, social networks, new generation of mobile games. But let us hold on for a second. What about voice? What do I mean by "voice"? Try to explain... I talk to the handset and the other party can hear me. And she talks to her handset and I can hear her. The method and apparatus patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 , after changing the world forever, is still in use today. The howstuffworks.com site explains in detail how this happens. Important here to note is the quality of the voice conversation. The wired telephones of the past century established a tradeoff between call quality and network economics. To allow more simultaneous calls on the network, the audio bandwidth is limited to about 3,000 hertz. All of the frequencies in...

Recently I have been asked what would come after credit cards. First second I was a little shocked with the question, especially as I was just going through a wallet with several of them in it. Why would we need something else? Aren't credit cards fine? To be honest I do not miss any functionality here - the cards just work. I can pay almost anywhere in the world with a piece of plastic, linked direct or indirect to the bank account. Security? Well may be this is an issue, but if it was a real issue, we would have done something about it already. So I was silent for a few seconds after the question was asked trying to figure out the answer. And then I looked at my mobile phone. Yessss! It is so simple. It will be my next credit card! Then I even reminded myself I blogged on the subject half a year ago :) But it is worth to bring back the conclusions. Mobile phone, evolving towards a personal teleputer , is really going to be the only thing we carry with us. As it becomes a univer...