Does Moore’s Law apply to memory cards?

Samsung announced it has created an 8GB microSD card. It has doubled the known max microSD card announced by SanDisk last February, which in turn was an upgrade to the 2GB microSD (released August 2006).

Wow. Fifteen years ago, 3.5 inch, 1.44MB floppy disks were state of the art. Now, 15 mm × 11 mm × 0.7 mm cards rule. No wonder floppy disks are dead. I am really that old. And don’t even get me started on monochrome green monitors!

At Day 2 of iBlog 3, a talk entitled “The New Prosumer” was scheduled. Norman Agatep of ad agency Euro4d delivered the talk, and here he talked of a kind of marketing strategy. As the event was about blogging, Mr. Agatep’s talk must be out-of-scope at first glance. But his idea makes sense.

Despite hyping on the specs of their consoles, Microsoft and Sony are still playing catchup on Nintendo in the latest console wars. Despite someone calling the Wii as two duct-taped GameCubes, it is still the console to beat.

Information Arbitrage explains why:

Nintendo and Apple products are being effectively pushed by evangelists. Sure, slick advertising augments these more organic efforts, but make no mistake: in general, people that own Apple products love them and talk about them. Frequently. The same with Nintendo and the Wii. I just can’t get people to shut up about these products. But I can’t say the same for Microsoft and Sony, notwithstanding how cool or slick their graphics are or how many features and functions their consoles have. Either I don’t know the people that are the evangelists (notwithstanding the fact that I know dozens of people that have the Xbox 360 and the PS3, yet never evangelize to me about them) or they are just not into spreading the gospel. And this is a problem. And raises risk. The holy grail is to have millions of evangelists out there pounding the pavement for you, completely unpaid. They are the best sales, marketing and PR force money can’t buy.

They are the prosumers.

How can this happen for Nintendo? Simple. Someone gets a Wii, invites his friends over, then play Wii Bowling. Friends are impressed, even if they don’t play games, and may want to get one.

And I tell you, Mac users are very good Mac evangelists.

Now, try that with PS3 or Xbox 360. Just read the fanboy blogs/comments.

IGN reports a rumor that Nintendo Power will be either be scuttled, restructured, or printed by a third party. While this is a rumor, I will be saddened by its death.

Back when Nintendo dominated the gaming world with then flagship Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), there is only one official bible for cheats, tips, tricks, and walkthroughs – Nintendo Power. Sure, there are books on these games, nothing beats Nintendo Power – colorful, shiny, glossy, and cheeky.

I have two tattered copies of Nintendo Power, both acquired from a pre-owned book store atop a supermarket in Caloocan. Me and my brother pored on the pages, wishing we could have the games featured on the two issues. (We only got games if our generous aunt in the US sent us cartridges.)

While contemplating its impending death, read the first issue of Nintendo Power in PDF, via Joystiq.

In what appears to be saber rattling (onward to world domination), Microsoft claims that free, open source software (FOSS) violates several of its software patents, and is now starting to take these patent violators to task.

Since it cannot afford to take on FOSS head on (via lawsuits), Microsoft is taking another tack: licensing. You know, we-own-the-patent-to-that-but-we-will-not-sue-you-if-you-pay-us$$$$$$$$$.

Of course, FOSS (specially the Free Software Foundation) isn’t going to take thing sitting down. The GPL license has undergone a new revision to counter Microsoft’s moves; it will be in force this July.

Now, all we have to do is to wait for the legal fireworks (read: lawsuits) to begin.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking of getting a laptop. Comparison shopping gives me headaches; stratospheric prices give me headaches. Using a credit card to get one might bury me in debt, but that’s another story.

Anyway, the cornucopia of specs and techs will make you dizzy:

* Processors – Pentium M, Celeron M, Centrino, Centrino Core Solo, Centrino Core Duo
* Memory – SODIMM, DDR2, DDR
* WiFi – 802.11 a/b/g

And now, there’s Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa, Laguna?

If you are unfamiliar with software/technology companies, they are fond of giving names to their products. For example, the code name for Nintendo Gamecube was Dolphin. So Santa Rosa is just a code name for the third generation of Intel Centrino processors. Go read the Wikipedia entry to make yourself go nauseous – it’s a plethora of code names.

Here’s a simple guide on Santa Rosa and the processors that are under that name.

Since I don’t have the grease to get a new laptop (much more those with Santa Rosa, and I am sure Santa Rosa-powered laptops are not yet available here in the Philippines), maybe I instead should go to that kingdom at Santa Rosa. In Laguna, of course.

It seems it’s follow the leader nowadays.

After Microsoft’s plan to conquer 1.5 billion poor people with not-so-cheap software, now it’s Red Hat’s turn.

Red Hat, known for its enterprise Linux flavor (Red Hat Enterprise Linux, what else?), announced the release of a desktop client, Red Hat Global Desktop.

Like Microsoft’s cheap software initiative, Red Hat Global Desktop targets small businesses and governments in emerging (read: third world/haven of pirates) markets.

Well, me thinks Ubuntu looks better….

(via C-Net News)

iDefense has issued a report about a vulnerability in Symantec‘s Norton Internet Security 2006.

The vulnerability exists in an ActiveX control installed by Norton, which is registered as safe. This control is not designed to be used in an Internet Explorer window; when opened in IE, an error occurs and the browser is left in a “defunct” state. After this, other Symantec ActiveX controls can be created, without the need to be marked as safe.

This can lead for remote code execution if the said controls contain malicious actions or exploitable methods. A remote Web site can host an ActiveX control and it is loaded when the site is visited.

Symantec has issued an advisory to address this issue. Symantec users are advised to use LiveUpdate to be safe from this vulnerability.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and subsidiaries are flexing their financial muscle in their quest for world domination.

MySpace, the popular social networking site acquired by News Corp. (via Fox Interactive media) aeons ago, is setting its sights on Photobucket, one of the popular image hosting sites on the Web, for US$250 million. This comes after MySpace blocks Photobucket’s services from MySpace profiles.

I can hear MySpace telling Photobucket: We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. (Quote from Star Trek: First Contact.)

I have an account at MySpace, but it is not active, so I am not sure what is the impact of this move. I do have a Photobucket account, and most of the images here in this blog are hosted there. I wonder if I need to move to another host.

In a related news, News Corp. sets its sight on Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal. World domination, indeed.

Yesterday (GMT+8), something wonderful/horrible happened. People Power, cyberspace style.

Wow.

In what is undoubtedly a landmark in social news, the Digg Revolt has forced Digg to bring back Dugged items that were taken down due to a cease-and-desist order by the Advanced Access Content System (AACS).

The said letter had called on Digg to delete items that contained a sixteen digit hex code that can be used to decrypt AACS-encrypted HD DVDs. The Digg CEO had explained the reason for the take down.

Not accepting the explanation (and due to the unpopularity of DRM in general), bloggers and Diggers had continued blogging and digging the hex code, to the point that the Digg system was almost threatened by shutdown due to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. It was a clear message to Digg.

The Diggers have spoken. The founder of Digg has heeded the Diggers’ call.

Implications:
1. It is hard to balance free speech with copyright laws.
2. Censorship does not really work, specially in these times.
3. A Web 2.0 app can be taken down by a DDoS, just like any other Web site.
4. There is a thin line that divides legitimate dissent and a simple DDoS.

My View:
Digg could have saved itself the trouble. The AACS key in question applies only to older HD DVDs. Newer ones can have new encryption keys. Besides, if someone can encrypt, another one can decrypt.

DRM is really a contentious issue. It all boils down on how a digital property is used. And the hex code is not the end of the controversy.

The Philippine blogosphere is currently abuzz with a certain news report from The Manila Times (which is not available online). Apparently, the National Telecommunications Commission wants all Philippine Web site owners and bloggers to register.

The justification is rather convoluted, and its logic, astounding in its absurdity. This is not surprising, coming from the same agency that threatened to close down TV stations during the lifetime of Presidential Proclamation 1017.

I should not even comment on this issue, as MLQ3 points out, it might be a trial balloon (or the idea as revenue-generator). Besides, other bloggers of greater and more credible stature had already weighed down on this non-issue. However, there are two points that I do want to expound on.

The first one centers on the comments/reactions of some quarters pointing out the technical complexity of such registration. This is a dangerous exposition of laxity. The presence of such complexity is beside the point. Technical complexities CAN BE OVERCOME by determination, enough resources, and capable talent. It can be done. By a group of people who are very determined to do so. Using any means possible.

The second one is on that draft circular in question. On its face, it’s really centered on telcos’ value added services. There should be no concern at all, you might say. However, the statement by NTC’s Edgardo Cabarrios, plus the use of the word etc in certain provisions of that circular, make the circular dangerous. There’s nothing wrong with registration per se. The money quoted in the circular is rather stiff for non-corporations. The problem is how the government will use the data gathered in the registration. (Et cetera can mean a lot of things; in simplest terms, EVERYTHING NOT MENTIONED.)

There are constitutional and legal aspects on this issue, but they are better left to the lawyers.

This might be just a much ado about nothing. But it is better to err on the side of caution than to err on the side of ignorance. Or apathy.

References:

Philippine Telco Board Wants Sites to Register!
Pinoy Bloggers in Uproar over potential NTC meddling
A Closer Look At The Draft NTC Value-Added Service Rules