Tsikbal: from my perspective

Denuvo, a DRM solution, has proven that it can be defeated . Though the crack was patched a couple of days later, that someone managed to defeat kind of makes a point against DRM as a solution for piracy. Let's face it, most of the piracy problem has it's roots on people wanting to share what they love with others. We want to share with others the music, videos, and other content with others. With the advent of computers and the internet, doing so legally speaking has become almost impossible, since the companies who provide such content want to have absolute control on how we share that content. The truth is not the scale, not the fact that the content is shared. While a portion of that sharing is illegal, most of it is just people sharing what they love with others that have the same taste as they do. As such, DRM and other tech that prevent such sharing among peers, comes in the way of people discovering new thing they would be willing to pay for than otherwise the...

Boeing is considering killing the 747 , the aircraft that many consider democratized air travel, while Airbus does the same for it's A380 . They don't seem to be able to compete with more efficient twin engined aircraft like the Boeing's 787 or Airbus' A350 XWB . Both the 787 and the A350 XWB are better fit for airlines, since they have lower operating costs. Most importantly, with turbofan engines becoming more reliable and efficient, and thus allowing longer extended operations( ETOPS ) for twin engine airplanes, seems to have doomed the 747 and the A380 to the graveyards. The decision to ax the 747 or A380 hasn't been made, but that both Boeing and Airbus have made public the decision of doing so is on the table makes it at least likely, since such a choice will have quite a big impact on both companies. As an aviation enthusiast, seeing the 747 or the A380 go is something I don't want to see. The 747 is such an iconic aircraft, and the A380 is...

While the FCC verdict against TP-Link is good news, since it allows users to run the third party firmware of their choice, it also highlights something that worries me. Most often than not, they way rules are set make it easier to close the door to people to do modify their computers and gadgets with the software, or firmware, or their choice. One extreme case of this locking out from working on what we own for our own purposes, is the plight the farmers being unable to fix their own tractors . Regulation makes it illegal for them to access the software than runs on their tractors on their own, which they should be allowed to do since what they want to do is just fix their tractor so they can actually go to work. Farmers should be able to have their own tractors by any party they want to. What worries me the most, is that most laws and regulations are placing the interests of corporations over the interest of the people. This leaves the people vulnerable to whatever corporati...

This podcast on Curious Minds about Richard Stallman & The History of Free Software and Open Source is really good, since it really clarifies it's history and what free software is all about. Free software, and open source software, is not just about the technical aspects, but also a movement about protecting user's freedoms from corporate interests. Users shouldn't need to worry about giving away control of what the things they own, and corporations shouldn't have the ability to take control out of users. Once you pay for something, you should have full control over that item. Even when you subscribe for the use of something, the ultimate control over your personal information should remain yours. The information you disclose to any company should be limited only for internal use, used only for the purposes intended why you shared that information for. One should never have to have to choose between having the latest tech, or giving up our freedoms. O...

As an Ubuntu and Spotify user, I find it quite frustrating that there isn't a supported  native client for Linux. While in general the Linux client works quite well, there are some features missing. The one I miss the most is the ability to minimizing it to the icon tray. In itself, it isn't a big deal. Yet, I'd like to have the option to have Spotify running on the background as I do with the Android client. Yet, I prefer the look and feel of the 1.0.28 version of the client. It feels a lot more modern, and I really thinks it has been a step forward design wise. While I'd like to see Spotify to have a native client that runs on as many Linux distros as possible, it would be nice to see Canonical and the Linux Mint development team working closer with Spotify to have a native client supported for these two distros. The main reason for this is that they are the two most popular distros, and the ones that biggest share of users that would seriously switch to...

Microsoft's Windows might be the most used operating system on PCs, but on mobile it's presence is basically non-existent. As such, they aren't going to hit their target of installs by 2018 . According to Microsoft, Windows 10 would hit the 1 billion user mark sometime by 2018, and for that they need to sell about 50 million smartphones a year. That seems to be way to optimistic, since Android and iOS dominate the smartphone market in such a way that its hard to see other players coming along to challenge them. To make things worse for Microsoft, when people go to buy a new smartphone they usually go looking specifically for either an Android or iOS device. There aren't enough people who go looking for a smartphone powered by Windows powered one. Apps are one of the reasons for this, since most developers just focusing their efforts on Android and iOS(with a few just releasing their app on just one of them). It seems that Windows is doomed to either be a ni...

On this day and age, is easy to forget what people want from form public transit services is actually good and reliable service. While having things like charging ports and free WiFi are nice perks to have, they are nice extras to have once users have a reliable public transportation service. People still need to move easily within the city they live, and the public transit is the most efficient way to do so on medium to long distances on urban areas. For most people, I include myself in, public transportation is the best way to move around most of the time. Actually, with a public transportation service that was reliable most people would not need to have a car at all. Urban areas need a reliable public transit more than they need more cars on the road, in order to improve quality of life within cities. We need mass transit that we can count will arrive on time, its affordable and dependable. Lets face it, most people could be better served by a public transit than a car for...

As this article at Wired, some miss CD's, vinyl or cassettes out of nostalgia sake. Specially people, who like me, grew up owing music on the medium having them around is somewhat satisfying. Yet, even younger generations seem to appreciate at least having some MP3 files handy. The thing is, streaming services while being handy way to discovering or accessing music, won't entirely supplant other formats. One of the most important roadblocks, are some right holders simply won't release their music to streaming services. Also there is the fact that people want to have some of their music available in a way that streaming services like Spotify or Apple music wont allow. There are several legal, technical, and sentimental issues that prevent streaming services ever to supplant owning music in the format of your choice. But, it makes it the perfect way to complement it. I used to say I wouldn't have a use for streaming services, yet I found Spotify a nice way t...

When I read that Linux desktop just passed the 2% market share , I had mixed feelings. On one hand, it means that more people are using a Linux distro on their computers. On the other hand, Linux is not as widely used as Windows or OS X. Yet, the fact that Linux has increased it's market share is something to at least to be happy about. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the percentage is actually a bit higher since a large number of installations go unnoticed. Specially since the number of times Linux distros is used to have an idea of how wide the user based is. That number is not all that reliable, since one download could mean several installations on multiple machines. As such, any market share information should always be taken with a grain of salt. But, I feel happy that Linux gets more widely deployed Because this means that more people will be likely to actually used a Linux distro, and see for themselves that Linux can be at least as user friendly a...

If there were any doubts that open-source software is the way to go, the fact that Microsoft just released version 1.0 of .NET Core should go a long dispelling this idea. .NET Core is a open-source cross platform implementation of Microsoft's .NET Framework development environment that runs on OS X and Linux. While it isn't the same thing as Microsoft open-sourcing Windows, its a sign that open-source software is here to stay and its making inroads with a lot more users that many are willing to admit. Not that long ago, Microsoft was an enemy of everything open-source. Now, its embracing it in order to stay relevant. Let's face it, open-source software has never been the problem that Microsoft made it to be, but rather a solution for developers and users for a whole host of problems. Most importantly, it give credence to the idea that open-source software is a valid development tool. This helps both developers and users, since it gives both a better and faste...

Smartphones are one area where I'd like to see more OSes to choose from, that can be used by more OEM. Another thing, is that while apps are relatively easy to keep updated, the OS itself is a whole different story if you're on Android. While I prefer Android over iOS, one of the main things I have against Android and in favor of iOS is the ease of keeping the OS updated. Other than that, Android is by far the mobile OS for me. Yet, I'd like to see a wider selection of mobile OSes and apps that would run on your OS of choice easily. The only reason against this is not a technical one, but because companies prefer to have you locked in on their ecosystem. While that is good for them, is bad for the user. While I don't see hundreds of different OSes, there is space for more than Android and iOS. For one thing, more mobile OSes based on Linux would be great. That would help making the point to create a common standard to create apps that run on them, since all...