Binary Expressions

I’ve been meaning to blog about my favorite podcasts and video shows I watch/listen online. Since I’ve become quite a big fan of these types of broadcasts for entertainment and learning I thought I should pass this along to as many people I can. Podcast or podcasting in general is a way of publishing audio files via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new audio files automatically using a podcast application. For a good in depth explanation of what a podcast is check out Wikipedia on Podcasting. Video shows or Internet TV or dot TV are just shows done by the general public and released via the Internet for free to watch. Here’s my favorites that I check on a regular bases. Heck this content is better then any content you’ll find on television or the radio at least from my perspective.

Favorite Podcasts

Note: Each podcast is usually provided in MP3 format and provided for download via direct download or via BitTorrent. Therefore you will require a media player such as Winamp and a BitTorrent client such as Azureus. Additional application to help manage and subscribe to podcasts you can use a podcast client such as iPodder.

This Week in Tech (TWiT)

Former G4/TechTV hosts Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, Patrick Norton, Robert Heron, John C. Dvora, David Prager, Roger Chang, Yoshi and many others in a round table discussion of the week’s big tech stories recorded via voIP. You can interact with the show by submitting questions in audio only. Contests are also in the works. The show is entertaining, humours and informative. You never seem to know what will happen in each episode, highly recommend.

The Laporte Report (audio edition)

Daily tech news updates from Leo Laporte. Quite informative.

Leo Laporte’s KFI Airchecks

A technology-oriented talk radio show on station KFI AM in southern California. Tune in Saturday and Sunday, noon-3p Pacific on KFI 640 AM via broadcast and Internet from Los Angeles.

You can find more podcast by using podcast directories such as PodcastAlley.com and CanadaPodcasts.ca.

Favorite Video Shows

Note: Each show provides a email newsletter to keep you informed of new episodes and news for those that wish to subscribe. Videos are usually provided encoded in Divx or Xvid and in some casts are only provided for download via BitTorrent. Therefore you will require Divx (download link) or Xvid (download link) codec installed, media player such as Winamp and a BitTorrent client such as Azureus to watch the below shows.

Thebroken

The first technology/hacker video show I watched. I was instantly hooked. Thebroken is hosted by Kevin Rose and Dan Huard. The show is an on the edge of legal, showcasing technology, tech toys, social engineering and general all around hacking. They have also done interviews of hackers in the community. Even such people as Kevin Mitnick. Doing what hackers do best, exploring and learning.

Systm

Systm is a recently new production done by the crew of The Broken and hosted again by Kevin Rose and Dan Huard (former hosts of G4/TechTV’s The Screen Savers, may TSS rest in peace). Since it’s so recent and no explicit explanation of what this show focus is I will try to give a general synopsis. Systm is similar as The Broken however I believe it’s more focused specifically on how to technology projects and how one should keep themselves safe and secure. Systm is quite professionally done.

From The Shadows

I believe this video show is Los Angeles based (I’m two episodes behind) pushing technology limits and show casing new technology. Learn what technology can do and how far they can take it. Quite a unique show, worthy to watch!

exitFrame

Inspired by thebroken, exitFrame has come together to form a videozine that will demonstrate various methods of hacking, phreaking, and social engineering. This show looks like it has some potential but yet to see any new episodes past episode 1. I would like to warn though that this show may contain material and information that is illegal and maybe offensive. You’ve been warned.

Hey guys I’m back sorry for not writing any blogs but I’ve been really busy with my new computer and playing Battlefield 1942. I just found out that there is a new Battlefield coming out on June 21, 2005. I got to say from looking at the screen shots its pretty good graphics. Now you have to know that it is not an expansion for Battlefield 1942. Its just a continuation of Battlefield 1942. The name of it is Battlefield 2 and for you people that are not familiar with this computer (only) game. It is a war strategy game set in the WW II. Battlefield 2 is about a hypothetical war in the near future between three powerful factions which are the United States, China, and the fictional Middle Eastern Coalition. The armies use modern weapons. The new feature for BF2 are new game play engine, realistic physics and dynamic lighting, material penetration and destructible environments. Server admins can set maps to use 16, 32 or 64 player versions to provide the ideal vehicle-to-player ratio. Custom maps can be made to scale to fit any number of players. Now I bet your thinking what about the vehicles, are there new ones. Well there is 40 new vehicles to choose from. If you want to look at them go to Wikipedia - Battlefield 2. There is also mods, some of them are: Battlefield Advanced, Battlefield Firefighter, Battlefield Apocalypse, Final Front, Flashpoint Balkan, Generals of Battlefield, Kuril Island Conflict and more. If any of you want to find more info on Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 1942 just go to Wikipedia - Battlefield 1942 and Wikipedia - Battlefield 2. I would really recommend it. Its really fun and I myself can’t wait until Battlefield 2 is released.

It’s been awhile since I was able to work on my project of taking an existing site and converting it over to Midgard CMS along with web site improvements. I was put on to other projects temporally. Now I’m back on working with Midgard CMS. I’ve completed updating Midgard CMS and MidCOM. I’ve started to document my upgrading experience in my Midgard CMS Installation Guide for OpenBSD. You should soon seen an updated release of this guide shortly. Starting next week I will continue my development and on going documentation. I’m going to document as much as possible.

In my spare time I’ve started working on user interface concept designs for Midgard Administrative Interface System (AIS). I’ve pretty much completed one concept design and I want to complete one more before I release anything. I’m creating these user interface concept designs in Photoshop CS so I will be posting the concepts in jpeg (800px x 600px) once I’m completed. The design concepts will be standard compliant using XHTML/CSS/WCAG and fluid to fit any video resolution or browser window size. Let’s see lots of feedback people, I want to get these UIs perfect.

I was going to do a break down of features for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox360 as I did for Nintendo Revolution however since I’ve found an excellent source broken down nicely I’ll reference that. So if you are interested in reading about these next generation consoles but don’t want to have read through paragraphs after paragraphs use the below sources.

Source: Wikipedia - Nintendo Revolution / Nintendo’s Theater (videos)
Source: Wikipedia - PlayStation 3
Source: Wikipedia - Xbox 360

I came across some more short films. This time from the amazing company Pixar Animation Studios. The only down side to these short films online is the fact that they are previews. You’ll have to find the whole short film released on Pixar Animation Studios movies. I’m not aware of any other place to see them in there entirety.

Source: Pixar Animation Studios

Rocket Software produces a security shield for LCD monitors with the use of software and nothing more. The software is called Rocket SecurityShades and I must say this is one of the most unique software applications I’ve come across. At first I was very suspicious of the software archiving what it claims to do by shielding the monitor and only allowing the person directly looking at it see the screen. However I’ve seen this software with my two eyes functioning and working exactly as Rocket Software claims and shows in their screen shots. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to have privacy yet not have to to use those annoying and expensive privacy screens.

Source: Rocket SecurityShades
Screen Shots/Video: Demostration

It’s big, it’s exciting and it’s about time. Nintendo revealed it all when announcing the next up coming Game Boy entitled “Game Boy Micro” and the next generation console, “Nintendo Revolution”. This is the first time I’ve been excited to see and experience these new products since Nintendo first released there Nintendo 8-bit console. Here’s a quick run down on what Nintendo released about the two new products. For exact details read the source links. I’ll keep you posted if I find out any thing more. BTW, feel free to post your comments.

Game Boy Micro Features

• Fits into your jeans pocket.
• Measures an amazing, 4 inches wide, 2 inches tall and 0.7 inches deep.
• Weighs an astonishing 2.8 ounces, or about the weight of 80 paper clips.
• Removable face plate for personal customization.
• 2-inch backlit screen.
• Adjustable screen brightness.
• Built-in, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.
• Supports standard headphones.

Nintendo Revolution Features

• Approximately the size of three standard DVD cases stacked together.
• 512 megabytes of internal flash memory.
• Wireless controllers.
• Two USB 2.0 ports.
• Built-in Wi-Fi access.
• Online gaming via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.
• Backward compatibility for GameCube games.
• Downloadable access to 20 years of fan-favorite titles originally released for Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and even the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
• Stand orientation, vertically or horizontally.
• Expand internal flash memory with SD memory card.
• Option of equipping a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content.

Source 1: Nintendo’s Game Boy Micro Projects Dynamic New Image
Source 2: Nintendo’s Compact Console Will Turn the World of Gaming on Its Side
Bonus: Wikipedia covering Nintendo’s History

A rumour has started and appears to originated from Slashdot that Microsoft might buy Red Hat. Who knows if this is a rumour is false or if it’s true. Frankly I hope it’s false. I can see business reasons but it worries me that yet again Microsoft would just push there weight around and squash Red Hat out of existence or even worse attempt to start developing there own Linux distribution. Oh man that is scary. They can’t get things right in there own OS what would happen if they started playing with Linux or Unix. Time will tell whether this is a rumour or a fact.

Source: More Microsoft/Linux by John Klossner Cartoons
Google News It: Microsoft Buy Red Hat

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about Strong Bad. He’s still around and the creators of Strong Bad are still pumping out new skits. You can check out the latest skit called “Do Over“. It’s pretty good. I like the one previously released more called “Garage Sale“. If you are interested in a good laugh make sure to check out Strong Bad Email on a regular bases.

My wife, Jo was surfing the Internet today and she came across an online Shockwave Flash game call “Beat The Meter”. The objective to the game is to guide the character Stelios to each gas pump before the customer gets up set and to return to the car before the gas pump exceeds £10.00. You get 3 lives and a limited supply of sand to cover up gas spills. Supposedly you could win a 7 day cruise , but from what I can tell it’s not related to the game. Yes the game is an advertisement for easymoney.com but the game is neat and quite addictive. So go and see how much cash you can make :-).

Online game: Beat The Meter

There is a great two page document by TechRepublic.com breaking down the anatomy of CAT5 cables. The document is short and sweet, providing all the details.

Source: Anatomy of CAT5 Cable

Well looks like information is slowly starting to emerge on Microsoft’s next console system Xbox 360. It appears that the name is going to stay. It’s interesting to see that Microsoft has take the step that no one else has. To make a strong commitment to LAN/Internet game play, as Microsoft refers to Xbox Live. One of the long time problems in the gaming community is finding someone to interactive and play your games against. It appears now that Microsoft is potentially going to create a major gaming community with there Xbox Live service. However Nintendo also has indirectly made this commitment as well. Will see what ends up happening once all the next generation consoles and online gaming services are launched. I still say that you can have all the glitz, glamor and amazing console specifications but without having games developed for the console specifications and focus on game play you have nothing. There is a few gaming industry that see this but very few unfortunately. From Nintendo’s statements it appears that they are the one that see this but since Nintendo is tight lipped we will all have to wait and see what they end up doing. Anyways enough is enough, have a read of the below links to learn more about the up coming Xbox 360 console system.

Article: Xbox 360 Official Shots
Article: The Xbox 360
Article: The Xbox 360 Exposed