Tune Up! - problem?

PirateBrowser Hits 500,000 Downloads, Tor Traffic Surges

Reported by Torrent news site Torrent Freak:

http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-browser-hits-500000-downloads-130830/

INFINITE LOOP / THE APPLE ECOSYSTEM Rendering bug crashes OS X, iOS apps with string of Arabic characters.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/08/rendering-bug-crashes-os-x-and-ios-apps-with-string-of-arabic-characters/

And for another recent OSX sudo issue see:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/08/unpatched-mac-bug-gives-attackers-super-user-status-by-going-back-in-time/

Not a good time for Apple devices! Although this won't help I always recommend Mac users use a anit-virus package. There is no excuse really as there are free ones out there such as Avast's: http://www.avast.com/en-gb/free-antivirus-mac . I also recommend their Android security software which is awesome and much better than Apples built in 'find my phone' feature set.

O2 bag the LTE Google nexus 7 exclusive in the UK

The wait is over for folks in the UK who want to get their hands on the new Nexus 7. The tablet, which was launched just over a month ago, can now be purchased for £199.99 (16GB Wi-fi only version) and £239.99 for the 32GB version.

There's also an LTE version priced at £319.99 on offer at O2 for those needing the cellular availability add in, but that won't be available for a couple of weeks. The N7 can also be picked up in Germany, France, Spain, and Japan from today.

The updated N7 features a 7-inch HD screen with a 1920 x 1200 resolution (323 ppi), the device also packs an Adreno 320 GPU, a 1.5GHz snapdragon processor, 5-megapixel rear-facing  and 1.2-megapixel front-facing cameras. In the U.S. Best Buy is currently taking orders for it with the 16 GB and 32 GB SKUS costing $229 and $269 respectively.

http://www.neowin.net/news/new-nexus-7-now-on-shelves-in-the-uk-starting-at-19999

https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/tablets/google/nexus-7-4g-black/

Parallels Desktop 9 runs Windows on Macs

The video is cheesy as hell but all the new details are in there:

Xbox One delivers premium voice quality via hardware improvements and Skype’s audio codec

Thanks to integration with Skype’s audio codec, which has a proven track record of high-quality voice through billions of hours of use within Skype, as well as dedicated audio processing (for Xbox One conversations via Skype and multiplayer party chats), Xbox One offers higher quality voice chat with the Xbox One Chat Headset compared to Xbox 360—whether you’re chatting in-game or through party chat with Skype on Xbox One.

But the improvements don’t stop there. The Xbox One Wireless Controller’s new expansion port dramatically expands the data transfer rate between the controller and console. Combined with Skype’s audio codec, this enables crystal-clear digital audio with the Xbox One Chat Headset, both capturing and rendering speech at 24 KHz PCM, which is triple the rendering sample rate and a 50 percent capture rate improvement over Xbox 360 headsets. And, as we shared before, the Xbox One Chat Headset comes with every Xbox One console.

http://majornelson.com/2013/08/29/xbox-one-delivers-premium-voice-quality-via-hardware-improvements-and-skypes-audio-codec/

The new Nintendo 2DS.

The next home-networking revolution will be wired

Anything to reduce the amount of cables I have behind my Amp and computer is considered a big step forward!

It has great potential, especially with the built in PoE! You could power, TV's, VoIP phones, games consoles etc with no need for all those separate power cables!

The real plus is for PC's that can function on less than 100W. You eliminate the display / power / network cable and just have one for them all. (I didn't mention audio as HDMI can carry that).

It's doesn't quite match up to DisplayPort's 17.28 Gbit/s transfer rate as it only manages 10.2 Gbit/s bit i'm sure as the standard develops it will catch up. Its good enough for 4K. 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2036527/the-next-home-networking-revolution-will-be-wired.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDBaseT

http://www.hdbaset.org/spec2

After a 900 million write down, Microsoft is building a Surface RT 2

Neowin: http://www.neowin.net/news/after-a-900-million-write-down-microsoft-is-building-a-surface-rt-2

Ballmer to retire as Microsoft CEO

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-08-23-ballmer-to-retire-as-microsoft-ceo

Packet tracer ICMP problem across Cloud-PT - simulating an ISP

OK so I'm trying to simulate the access part of an ISP. Its proving rather difficult though.  I can get all the clients to ping back to the interface on the ISP_EXG_R1 OK. I can dish out IP's to the customers WAN interface of their routers.

I can't for the love of me get the 'customers' public IP's to ping each other. Tracing a packet sees it being dropped on the routers interface where it should send the packet back out.

I have tried a 'ip route' but that did not work. I'm wondering if there is a limitation here. I can mapping multiple modems to one Ethernet cable...

Microsoft explains 3D printing standards in Windows 8.1

Microsoft is pushing its own 3D data format (3MF) in Windows 8.1 that addresses the current's (STL) shortcomings -- most notably its lack of support for different colors and materials.



http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/extremewindows/archive/2013/08/22/3d-printing-support-in-windows-8-1-explained.aspx

Rasp Pi adventures with Smokeping!

So I got a bit side tracked from my ICND2 studying tonight. I need a larger SD card for my Raspberry Pi but I set it up with a 2GB card regardless.

I then wanted to try smokeping which is a tool I haven't used in a while.

After a quick format of the SD card and then using Win 32 disk imager . I slotted the SD card into the Raspberry Pi and plugged in the power.

Next, as I was using the Pi without a monitor or keyboard I had to SSH into it which it is already setup for luckily with Raspbian.

Loaded up Putty and checked my routers GUI page for attached devices (typically 192.168.0.1 on home routers). A nice touch is the Pi presents its hostname as 'raspberrypi' so I didn't need a OUI checker to check all the MACs until I found the Pi.

Once I found the IP I put that into Putty and got a login challenge. By default the username is 'pi' and the passsword is 'raspberry'. As soon as your in I recommend using the 'passwd' command to change the 'pi' usernames password!

Next, it doesn't have a hardware clock. So check the date with.... 'date'.

Then:

Sudo apt-get update - updates the Pi's librarys 

Sudo apt-get upgrade - upgrades any software that needs it. 

sudo apt-get smokeping   - Downloads the Smokeping repositories

From here you basically change directory using:

cd /etc/smokeping/config.d

I had to comment out a line using 'sudo nano /etc/smokeping/config.d/pathnames' as the installer complained about sendmail. 

Then you just need to use 'sudo nano' again with the target and Probe files to get your desired effects. 

I'll go into more detail another time but right now i'm a bit tired! 

End result (Also long as I haven't turn it off / broken the firewall / port forwarding):
alpagot.redirectme.net:8081/cgi-bin/smokeping.cgi

Best charity tennis match ever!

I got an iPad mini - my verdit, fail!

Not massively impressed which is a bit sad.

I got it thinking it'd be a handy device that i'll pass onto the girlfriend when something I want comes along as my commutes have been a lot less interesting since my old Ipad was stolen.

I still fully intend to do that. I had a proper GPS or USB3 which makes it a bit painful...

I got the black 32gb 4G version. I can't believe Apple's cheapness as to not include a pair of earphones and the sim tray..I thought I was going to break the thing pulling it out. What happened to their build quality!

I don't think I'm going to get another tablet for a while. The Nexus 7 looks good but I want to see how people find it after a short while first. Apple will have to pull out all the stops if I'm going to consider them again for a tablet.

The Sims 4

Upcoming Sims 4 features.

Microsoft lists 23 launch-day titles for Xbox One

Here's the current list of games you can expect to see on store shelves (and Xbox Marketplace online displays) when the Xbox One releases sometime in November.

• Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft)
• Battlefield 4 (EA DICE, Electronic Arts)
• Call of Duty: Ghosts (Infinity Ward, Activision)
• Crimson Dragon (Grounding/Land Ho!, Microsoft Studios)
• Dead Rising 3 (Capcom Vancouver, Microsoft Studios)
• FIFA 14 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
• Fighter Within (AMA Ltd., Ubisoft)
• Forza Motorsport 5 (Turn 10 Studios, Microsoft Studios)
• Just Dance 2014 (Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft)
• Killer Instinct (Double Helix, Microsoft Studios)
• Lego Marvel Super Heroes (TT Games, Warner Bros. Interactive)
• Lococycle (Twisted Pixel, Microsoft Studios)
• Madden NFL 25 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
• NBA 2K14 (Visual Concepts, 2K Sports)
• NBA Live 14 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
• Need for Speed Rivals (Ghost Games, Electronic Arts)
• Peggle 2 (PopCap Games, Electronic Arts)
• Powerstar Golf (Zoe Mode, Microsoft Studios)
• Ryse: Son of Rome (Crytek, Microsoft Studios)
• Skylanders: Swap Force (Vicarious Visions, Activision)
• Watch Dogs (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft)
• Zoo Tycoon (Frontier Developments, Microsoft Studios)
• Zumba Fitness: World Party (Zoë Mode, Majesco)

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/08/microsoft-lists-23-launch-day-titles-for-xbox-one/

Want a very expensive custom desk with 2x PC enclosure support

Look no further:

Costs about £1350 for Europe.. 

http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2013/08/12/pre-order-your-red-harbinger-cross-pc-desk/1

CBT MicroNuggets

CBT provide learning resources for a variety of IT related subject. Often they will put out micro nuggets. Well worth checking out.

Protocol analyser:

Covering the new CCNA ciriculum.

Could a new Star Trek series be happening exclusively on Xbox Live?

Totally a rumour mill article but it'd an interesting one. The tactic has certainly worked for Netflix and in an ever increasing market its becoming difficult to complete unless you have a major pulling factor to grab subscribers away from other services. 

http://www.neowin.net/news/other-sci-fi-tv-shows-microsoft-could-revive-for-xbox-live

EE's UK 4G usage stats reveal social media data volumes to grow 10-fold

With upload speed vastly better than ADSL2+ and lower latency than 3G is it really that surprising?

"Two in three say they are using the mobile internet over 4G for at least an hour a day, while 23 percent say they are online via their 4G mobile devices more than three hours a day.

“4G users are intuitively taking advantage of increased upload speeds. We predict data volumes over social media sites will increase tenfold by 2015,” added Karonis.

Over one in three say they download apps, use GPS services and access social media more with 4G than 3G, possibly because 4G users are, on average, five years younger than 3G users."
http://www.eurocomms.com/industry-news/49-online-press/9229-ees-uk-4g-usage-stats-reveal-social-media-data-volumes-to-grow-10-fold

AAISP jumping the BE ship in unsteady waters.

It makes sense. Sky don't really do B2B unless you count The Cloud which is owned by them and Easynet which they have ties to since the purchase of their LLU network.  Sky having no wholesale entity it would make things tricky for AAISP, although O2 were supposed to be keeping their wholesale business going on the LLU platform under which I presume AAISP would have been served.

It'll be a loss in terms of subscriber count but then again AAISP, although very technical in nature are rather expensive so I wonder just how many subscribers that will be in terms of losses.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/08/aaisp-uk-migrating-o2-wholesale-lines-to-talktalk-after-bskyb-concerns.html

BT Make Final Adjustments for Faster FTTC Broadband Vectoring Trial

"VDSL Vectoring is not unlike the noise cancellation technology that you often find in some headphones and works to cancel out crosstalk (interference) on the “last mile” run of copper cable (i.e. between your local street cabinet and home), which could result in a noticeable speed boost.
 
Some have speculated that Vectoring could push BT’s FTTC service beyond 100Mbps and, with the help of a few other tweaks, possibly as high as up to 200Mbps. But BT’s initial focus will not be on raising the headline rate and they instead envisage it being used to improve existing performance to more users; especially for those on longer lines where interference is a big problem.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/08/bt-make-final-adjustments-for-faster-fttc-broadband-vectoring-trial.html

Suggestions for Sky.

Hey Sky! You should totally jump on the MVO bandwagon and do triple-play... Call it 'Air'. You can keep that none, I got loads!

Next up! Satellite broadband! You have the workforce of satellite engineers. With a bit of altering to the dish and LNB's you could fix sattelite broadband for those poor soles out in the sticks..

You could call that service 'Space'..

Then you'd have Sky, The Cloud, Air and Space... marketing genius...

In all seriousness it is weird that they are not looking at becoming an MVO. EE are pushing in the fixed line FTTx space and BT have some 4G spectrum and are encroaching on the TV sport space.

Ah the joys of Apple products...

I cannot for the life of me find my Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter... sad times... They are like £25 as well!

The search continues...

Update: found!

parents get a fibre line before me *sad face*

Parents just got fibre on their business line. This was taken via and RDP to the desktop so throughput speeds will be slower. I'm still jealous!

The Humble 'Origin' Bundle - Has steam keys too.

Actually a very good deal. Supports charities which you can customize to support the ones you prefer.  Above average was $4.76 at the time of my purchase.Some great games in there so go and have a look!



Pay more than the average and you'll also get Battlefield 3 and The Sims 3 plus some DLC while helping charity. Pay what you want for Mirror's Edge, Dead Space 3, Dead Space, Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box, Crysis 2 Maximum Edition and Medal of Honor plus some soundtracks. Origin is sending what would be their share to The Human Rights Campaign, The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, The American Red Cross, The American Cancer Society and Watsi. This promotion only last 2 weeks so check it out now at https://www.humblebundle.com/
 

Intel proposes new standard to light up data transfers

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2046676/intel-proposes-new-standard-to-light-up-data-transfers.html#tk.rss_all

Former Valve business head now at Microsoft to lead PC gaming division

 Lets hope he gets the support he needs. Microsoft have never really been good at pushing the PC as a serious gaming platform (apart from all their work on DirectX). Its weird as this is where some of the biggests RTS's and MMO's are and generally the platform pushes graphics forwards in the later years of the console markets life-cycles.

http://www.neowin.net/news/former-valve-business-head-now-at-microsoft-to-lead-pc-gaming-division

In Theory: Can Xbox One multi-platform games compete with PlayStation 4?

 Good article. PS4 comes out on top but i'm starting to sway back to the Xbox One with all the expected U-turns.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-can-xbox-one-multi-platform-games-compete-with-ps4

BT Sport attracts one million customers, says its strategy is working

I don't get this. The numbers seem low to me given how many broadband customers they have. 

I did want to see the Emirates cup but I soon gave up looking for just a day pass to the service.

http://www.eurocomms.com/industry-news/49-online-press/9216-bt-sport-attracts-one-million-customers-says-its-strategy-is-working

Thinkbroadbamd speedtester

I quite like the new style of thinkbroadbands speedtester although its missing jitter and latency on their buttons currently.



http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html?id=137625054038153321796

Twitter looks to be the new battleground for UK ISP support.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/08/which-uk-broadband-isp-and-mobile-operator-gives-the-best-twitter-support.html

Xbox One controller to get PC support

Good to see they are making an effort with the PC support. Its a good platform in the later years of a control cycle for testing new graphics APIs and a fair amount of PC gamers are starting to use controllers with the likes of SteamPlay.

http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-xbox-one-controller-will-work-on-pcs--in-2014

A new major release of FreeNAS is out!

First link for the news, second for the user manual.

http://www.freenas.org/whats-new/2013/08/ixsystems-announces-revolutionary-freenas-9-1-0-release.html

http://www.freenas.org/images/resources/freenas9.1.0/freenas9.1.0_guide.pdf

F1 2013 game gets new ‘Hungaroring’ trailer, October 4 release date

I haven't actually played the F1 games yet (although I love watching PC). Keep telling myself it would be pointless without a wheel. Any recommendations?! Logitech seem expensive these days for wheels!

It's a shame theres no Mac version as well!

Cisco Live US 2013 Keynote Demo: Internet of Everything

Didn't expect the cannabis joke but hey ho... The keynote is quite interesting but nothing that sounds overly revolutionary.

SATA gets updated, about time to!

The interface really was starting to get left by the wayside with harddrive manufacturers really pushing into the PCI express market with performance drives (OCZ for example). Good to see M.2 standard finalised which should make upgrading laptops still a relevant possibility (take note Apple, Not happy with the limitations of this MacBook pro!).

http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/09/sata-3-2-ratified/#continued

Windows Phone update in testing, includes rotation lock and text syncing to PCs

About time for the rotation lock. That was so annoying I gave up on the platform. What a pain trying to check your emails in bed when you woke up.

Also I welcome the feature that we had BACK ON WINDOWS MOBILE CE, which was to be able to send SMS from a PC. It'd be better if we could have it emulate the display like we used to. (With the MobileMe app (program as they were known back then)).

If it gets swype / Swift key then I might even go back to the platform, dodging Nokia unless they have a think high spec model that doesn't fall over at the sight of a bit of dust.

I tried to love the platform.... see historic posts. It just didn't love me... 

http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/9/4604990/windows-phone-update-rotation-lock-text-sync-features

Xbox One unboxing

So does it have wireless power... We didn't see him plug it in, did we?

AnandTech | Khronos @ SIGGRAPH 2013: OpenGL 4.4, OpenCL 2.0, & OpenCL 1.2 SPIR Announced

AnandTech | Khronos @ SIGGRAPH 2013: OpenGL 4.4, OpenCL 2.0, & OpenCL 1.2 SPIR Announced

Skyrmion breakthrough could boost hard drive capacities

Potentially this might lead to vastly increased storage sizes:
Skyrmion breakthrough could boost hard drive capacities

Got your own CDN's to host Netflix's content. The you could have SuperHD streams.

See link: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/07/netflix-superhd-3d-comcast/

Alphasat: to start in-orbit tests

Good news for the UK and some Satellite broadband suppliers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23570959

AMD opens new SoC design centre

AMD opens new SoC design centre

Dvorak keyboards

Hmmm,

I got talking to a colleague about RSI today. We covered mice first of all. I'm a big fan of the un-ambidextrous Logitech mice where my thumb can easily rest on the side.

Then we moved onto keyboards. I don't think I've found the best keyboard yet. I use a Logitech G510 / Apple MacBook Pro and a standard dell keyboard mainly. None of which are perfect.

The Logitech keys feel a bit soft. The Mac a bit flaky for gaming and the work one is OK for typing but a bit uncomfortable.

We then we got onto different input methods... Swype (Android phone app where you don't need to raise your fingers) would be great on say a tablet sized keyboard.

I've never tried a Dvorak keyboard and that was mentioned. From a quick Google search it doesn't look like there are many good options at all. Are there? I couldn't see any 'gaming' ones or an Apple one.. It does sound like something worth trying though as the logic seems sound. place the most often used keys closer together so you fingers have to travel less.

Let me know in the comments what you use / would recommend!

NowTV by Sky unboxing

For £10 it's a bloody good deal.  I don't  even think you can get a HDMI cable from Maplins for that!

 

A 720p iPlayer box essentially for me. I have Sky and multiroom so won't need to pay for the NowTV content. It only has WiFi connectivity so make sure its located within a decent signal range from the router. The quality is pretty good and had no issues on a 20Mbps DSL connection two rooms away.Its worth noting I could say easily take it to a mates, pay £10 and watch sprots events with a day pass etc. That might come in handy!

Microsoft reveals Xbox One reputation system

Bullying the bully?

Microsoft reveals Xbox One reputation system

Nokia blames Microsoft for poor Windows Phone app selection- The Inquirer

Good to see someone trying to give them a kick up the ass. I'm not going back until there is a decent rotation lock and the high end Nokia phones don't kamikaze them selves at the sight of a bit of dust near the ear piece.  

Nokia blames Microsoft for poor Windows Phone app selection- The Inquirer

Microsoft must rename Skydrive following legal battle with BSkyB- The Inquirer

Remember that Kickstarter Skydog router that I talked about a while back... I bet thats next...

Microsoft must rename Skydrive following legal battle with BSkyB- The Inquirer

BT - the next OTT provider thanks to 4G - The Full Spectrum

Very interesting. Do BT have something like Vodafone's SureSignal in a USB form to connect their routers to customers local mobile phones.

FON doesn't really work well in my opinion but if the range was good on these add ons and BT was to give them out free or dead cheap they could build a pretty big (although patchy) 4G network pretty fast. Combine that with a spectrum sharing agreement with another 4G supplier and there are some interesting concepts to explore for all parties involved!

BT - the next OTT provider thanks to 4G - The Full Spectrum