The End of Free

'Theme week' is turning into 'theme fortnight.'

Last week, I commented on the Google-Verizon thing (death of net neutrality) and the Pay-walls of Jericho (wrong subscription model for the times, sorry, the Times)

Next: the end of the free internet.

If net neutrality is dead, then traffic shaping, bandwidth caps and premium service will be the norm. If you want YouTube high def video, online gaming or real-time social networking, you pay. Your flat-rate monthly fee to your ISP will no longer be enough...

Pay-walls of Jericho

Far be it from me to tell Rupert Murdoch why he's got his business model wrong, I'm going to do it anyway.

Rupert Murdoch objected to everyone linking to his newspaper content for free. I agree that good journalism costs money. Good journalism needs to be paid for. That's not why most newspapers make losses and/or fold (!!). It's the distribution in print publishing that has always been a killer. Paper and trucks and guys standing on street corners. You don't have those on the web. However, in response, News Corp. put its publications behind a pay-wall... 

An Increasingly Expensive Lack of MBPS

As the Google-Verizon deal further indicates, the Internet is in trouble for lack of profitable bandwidth.

The Google-Verizon proposal highlights problems with mobile broadband. I've seen it, it's largely down to the market penetration of smartphones. I've spent this month working in film studios with 500 people, at least half of whom are carrying web-enabled smartphones. These are not necessarily tech-savvy people, nor are they all young people - bear in mind the data plans don't come cheap. The smartphone is becoming a lifestyle accessory... 

Theme week

Owing to (paid) work and lacking any software toys to play with in recent weeks, I'm picking up some outlines I intended to post last month.

Lost amidst the hype of various phones, pads and other sanitary products launching into the technology space, are some disturbing developments which may change the way we use the web. Just as we got used to it the way it is. RC

Forthcoming posts include:

• Pay-walls of Jericho
• End of the free internet
• Not enough bandwidth ever again

On Original Podcasts

Define 'original.'

Tony Whitmore of Ubuntu-UK Podcast had a moment of existential angst  about the crowded linux podcasting space, so we all joined in to discuss what original podcasting means.

It's all been done somewhere, in style and/or content, or concept, going all the way back to 'the Light Programme.' If you're producing a magazine-style podcast, you're going to produce certain sections; the news, the opinion, the features and the 'regular columns.' Most likely in that order. Regardless of subject or expertise level. All you can do is put your own spin on it and have fun. All us 'imitators' make editorial choices and cover different items with our own opinion, entertaining (or not) our audience who may actually like multiple angles on the same subject.

'Similar' does not equal 'same.' Me, Tony and Dan Lynch are not Siamese triplets, thankfully.  RC

Stuck on Dialup

I am working away from home; it's not an IT project.

I am using someone else's PC; it's not running Linux.

I have no local mail client; but I do have webmail.

However, I don't have broadband. I am on dial-up using an old-fashioned modem. It's so 2003...

Full Circle Magazine #39 Out Now

That’s right, Full Circle issue 39 is out!  We’ve got a review of the iRobot iPad Android tablet, talk about virtualizing Fedora, virtual memory, new interviews, and more! (Oh, and we seem to have the recurring theme of ’13′ in our articles) This month:

• Command and Conquer.
• How-To : Program in Python – Part 13, Virtualize – Fedora 13, and Understand Virtual Memory.
• Review – iRobot iPad.
• Top 5 – Documentation Sites.
• plus: MOTU Interview, Ubuntu Games, My Opinion (also on this blog), My Story, and now with all new LoCo and Translation Team interviews!

Download it from the Full Circle Site, as always.

The World Don't Care 'Bout the Gnu...or the Slash

It is true, my friends. The world at large does not care about the GNU or the Slash. Or, in the vast majority, the Linux part either.

We are in what we call the silly season': that slow-news period between the public holidays, of daylight-saving, camping vacations and the lack of any real stories. The time when the anchorman's "and finally..." story is a skate-boarding duck or a dog rescuing a drowning kitten from the bath. In the Open Source world, we usually get another outbreak of the argument for the 'correct' terminology. Yes, my friends, as the purists never tire of telling us, we must refer to our operating system of choice as GNU-slash-Linux.

And here's why you should ignore them...