newVideoPlayer("time_machine_airport_disk_3.flv", 475, 376,"");
We happen to use an 802.11n AirPort Extreme as our router, so we put today’s new firmware upgrade to the test to see if TIme Machine really does work with AirPort Disk. As expected, it works and only requires a few simple steps…
The BBC Radio World Service has been running a fascinating documentary series on piracy through the ages, and the third part of the series covers modern piracy — that is, digital piracy. It features extensive quotes from The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde, including the one in the above headline (The Pirate Bay is the world’s largest — and most unapologetic — BitTorrent tracker). It’s very much worth a listen if you’re interested in copyright issues in the digital age. You can find a link to the story and the podcast here. [BBC Radio World Service via TorrentFreak]
The New York Tiimes’ Saul Hansell backs up the Financial Times report that Apple’s looking at all-you-can-eat downloads for iTunes. According to his source, Apple is sitting down with the studios next week for an undoubtedly tense poker-faced showdown.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has certainly been chatty lately. The Australian (which has really been on top of the broadband issue) is reporting today that the minister has come out and admitted that broadband in Australia is too expensive and revealed that a Senate inquity into the issue will be held later this year. He also recognised that Australia is one of the few countries in which ISPs meter broadband usage.
While this may all sound like it comes from the Department of Duh!, it’s actually nice to know that government is aware of these issues and thinking about them, which is rather more than could be said of the previous Coalition government.
Labor has even opened up the development of the FTTN to public commentary, as reported by our own Angus Kidman in APC — although weirdly they’re only accepting written comments and not online submissions. I guess that they want to winnow out the more hysterical online forum attendees. [The Australian and APC]
It’s official: BitTorrent isn’t just for pirates anymore. Canadian broadcaster CBC is planning to use the peer to peer technology to distribute a DRM-free episode of “Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister” to the world. It’s very much an experiment on the part of CBC — it only intends to release one episode of one show for now, but hey, you have to start somewhere. [Ars Technica]
I think most will agree that Yassir Ballemans “Beautiful Times” clock is, in fact, beautiful. To be quite honest, that would have been enough. However, Ballmans took it a ridiculous step further by programing the clock to only display the times that he finds attractive.
When is Vista Sideshow not Vista Sideshow? When it does the same thing as Sideshow—display little widgets on an external device—but doesn’t use Vista’s Gadgets. The USB Gadget Display does look like a little 2-inch LCD display, which shows clocks and various other things like CPU and RAM usage (but mostly clocks) outside of your machine, but it works with Windows XP, something Sideshow can’t claim. Though, looking at the quality of these widgets, it might be worth it for you to upgrade to Vista. [Everything USB]
Apple issued a firmware update for the Airport Extreme today that allows any USB hard drive connected to the router to function with Time Machine. It’s nice for those with MacBooks and external HDDs who find it troublesome to have to plug and unplug their drive everytime they take their lappy on the go. [TUAW]
The Pix-L UMPC concept from Jean Hong is designed primarily for those who feel compelled to hit the internet first thing in the morning and just before they go to sleep. It even features an alarm clock dock and a design that allows you to flip the device over for easy browsing while lying on your stomach. I don’t know if the execs at Microsoft will be clamoring for this design anytime soon, but the idea of integrating the mobile PC into our daily lives in this way is intriguing. Additional pic after the break.
I had no idea this is how the system works at petrol stations. This’ll probably make you think twice before smoking a cigarette while filling your tank next time you’re at the pump. Now if only there was some way to trigger it from afar… [Glumbert]
