Technology Information: May 2010

2010 International Computer Music Conference in NY. I wish I could go!

2010 International Computer Music Conference in NY. I wish I could go!

2010 International Computer Music Conference in NY. I wish I could go!

Posted: 30 May 2010 10:39 AM PDT

I'm usually too busy during the last month or so of the school year to attend conferences.  One I'd really like to attend is the 2010 International Computer Music Conference in N.Y.  Music is an important component of interactive multimedia content, and new technologies have made things a lot easier for musicians who are technologically inclined.  Conferences like ICMC are a great way to see - and hear - what is going on.

Links:
ICMC Paper Schedule 
ICMC 2010 Poster/Demo Schedule
Thomas Erbe's ICMC Workshop:  Pure Data Object Programming
(see bio and plug below)

Intriguing Topics: 
"Gestural Shaping and Transformation in a Universal Space of Structure and Sound"
"SoundCatcher:  explorations in audio-looping and time-freezing using an open-air gestural controller"
"Sense/Stage - low cost, open source wireless sensor infrastructure for live performance and interactive, real-time environments"
"The Four M's:  Music, Mind, Motion, Machines"
"A Wireless, Real-time Social Music Performance System for Mobile Phones"
"Because we are all falling down: Physics, Gestures, and Relative Realities"
"Argos:  An open-source application for building multi-touch musical interfaces"
"Peacock: a non-haptic 3D performance interface"
"Head Tracking for 3D Audio using the Nintendo WII"
"The Avatar Initiative- An Interdisciplinary Approach to Digital Media Research and Education"
"Computer Controlled Video as a Multi-modal Interface in Live Acousmatic Music"
"The Machine Orchestra"
"Eye. Breathe. Music"
"Combining audiovisual mappings for 3D musical interaction"

ICMC Unconference Categories

PdBarCamp
Sensory Interaction in Composition and Performance
Language, Neurology, and Acoustics
Open Scores and Accessible, Consumer Devices
Issues in Computer Music Performance
Computer Music and Society:  Questions of Dissemination

Realistically,  I'd be happy with a bit more time to play my keyboard! 
(The very first class I took when I decided to return to school to take computer classes was computer music technology.)


My plug for Tom Erbe, from the ICMC website 
Instructor Bios:

"Tom Erbe has had an important role in American experimental and electronic music of the last 20 years. In addition to his pioneering and widely used program SoundHack, he has become one of the most sought after and respected sound engineers for contemporary music. In 2004 he rejoined the faculty of UCSD in the Department of Music and serves as Studio Director. Most recently Tom has released SoundHack Spectral Shapers, the first of a planned set of three plugin bundles to bring extreme spectral processing to the VST, AU and RTAS formats."

If you are thinking about experimenting with sound, Tom Erbe's SoundHack freeware is awesome. His spectral shapers are worth every penny.  (I used the +binaural filter to create a 3D effect of racing car sounds for one of the students I work with who has autism and loves racing cars.)

+binaural


This filter places a sound at a specific position around the listener's head. Use it with a reverb to create a virtual environment. When used with it's LFO, +binaural can place various beats or parts of a loop in specific repeatable positions.







SOMEWHAT RELATED
When I get a moment, I'm reading my latest issue of IEEE Multimedia cover-to-cover:
Special Issue:  Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia
April—Jaune 2010 MultiMedia Cover

(The second class I took after I returned to school to take computer classes was Computer and Internet Multimedia.)
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com

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What is difference between Internet Speed & Bandwidth ? - ISP offer bandwidth

What is difference between Internet Speed & Bandwidth ? - ISP offer bandwidth

What is difference between Internet Speed & Bandwidth ? - ISP offer bandwidth

Posted: 30 May 2010 09:30 PM PDT

I never thought these two words Internet bandwidth and Internet speed are so much confusing for regular Internet users before I talk with a CCNA guy. Even though he finished his CCNA while speaking about the ISP packages he refers both terms Internet
speed and Internet bandwidth are same. Like him many Internet users are referring both this speed and bandwidth are same and they never understand these two are different.

Difference between Internet speed and bandwidth


Internet speed and bandwidth are technically different. Bandwidth is referring the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time through the network while speed is the time taken to reach the data (in form of packets) from source to destination. So we can see bandwidth is a fixed one while network speed can vary. Network speed depends on many factors like the protocol using to send data, server efficiency ,network conjunction etc. In practical life a
user feels the Internet speed by downloading certain files from server to his computer. Yes it is true high bandwidth really helps to download the file faster but there are some other factors are there. If he is downloading the file (consider a big
file like video) from a slow server, he feels his Internet speed is very less. Actually his Internet bandwidth is good enough but the speed of data transfer is limited by the response delay of the remote server.

Another factor really affect the Internet speed is the kind of protocol they use. The speed of data transfer vary depends on whether this connection is using a connection oriented protocol (TCP) or connection less protocol (UDP). As there is no error detection and synchronizing ,data transfer using UDP is always faster than the same in TCP. Here Internet bandwidth is a constant but the Internet speed vary.


So in a nutshell Internet speed and Internet bandwidth are different. Internet bandwidth is the one which is assigned by your ISP and which is a constant (as long as your ISP keeps its promise) while Internet speed vary with remote server and the
protocol they use to send data.


Home

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Raymond.CC Blog: “10 AntiRootkits Tested to Detect and Remove a Hidden Rootkit” plus 1 more

Raymond.CC Blog: “10 AntiRootkits Tested to Detect and Remove a Hidden Rootkit” plus 1 more

10 AntiRootkits Tested to Detect and Remove a Hidden Rootkit

Posted: 31 May 2010 12:00 AM PDT


Last week I had a few articles that mentioned about rootkit and it is made to be totally hidden unless you use some special tool that detects them. Most of the time rootkits are used to gain administrative level on the computer without being detected. If you use any normal Task Manager software such as [...]

Why I test my Linux distros on a real machine and not a VM

Posted: 30 May 2010 07:30 PM PDT


When I posted my review of OpenSUSE, it was suggested to use a Virtual PC by a few people on the comments, which to many people, might be a very sound idea. In reality, however, it is never a good good idea, let alone an idea that should be used unless you have no official [...]

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Preview: Update on Touch & Multitouch Technologies, Websites, and Touch-Interactive Multimedia Apps

Preview: Update on Touch & Multitouch Technologies, Websites, and Touch-Interactive Multimedia Apps

Preview: Update on Touch & Multitouch Technologies, Websites, and Touch-Interactive Multimedia Apps

Posted: 29 May 2010 04:39 AM PDT

Its about time for an update about touch/gesture- interactive technologies.

I've been researching the latest in "touch" screens and new developments in interactive multi-media content.  In just one year, a multitude of websites have been transformed from static to interactive. 

Although the initial objective for some of these websites was to optimize the interface and navigation for people accessing websites via touch-screen cell phones,  some are ideal for use on touch-enabled slates, the iPad, and even larger touch screen displays and surfaces.   

Convergence seems to be the buzz word of the day.   Interactive TV.  Game sets with Internet access.  Movies on your cell phone.  Touch screen Coke machines displaying movie trailers.  What's happening now, and what is next?

I welcome input from my readers in the form of links to websites, university labs with grad students and professors who are obsessed with emerging interactive technologies, proof-of-concept video clips, video clips of related technologies that are new-to-market, etc.   

I will add video clips to the following playlist:


FYI: I'm also in the middle of writing a series of posts about 3D television technologies for the Innovative Interactivity blog, and welcome input from my readers about this topic.


RELATED (Previous posts)
(the above post includes links to various multi-touch developer kits and resources)




http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com

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Lubuntu 10.04 - Distro Review

Lubuntu 10.04 - Distro Review

Lubuntu 10.04 - Distro Review

Posted: 29 May 2010 09:02 PM PDT

Lubuntu is now an official Ubuntu derivative as of 10.04, it is the LXDE version of Ubuntu just as Kubuntu is a KDE edition or Xubuntu is an XFCE variation. Since I just recently acquired my T101MT I was looking for a solid lightweight distro to run on that would still provide we with the power and flexibility I was used to from Ubuntu, thus it is only natural that I should choose an Ubuntu derivative.

Downloading:
The first thing you will notice about Lubuntu is that unlike most distros that have to cram every megabyte they can into their LiveCDs, the Lubuntu ISO download is only 521 megs. The ISO loaded right up onto my USB drive thanks to unetbootin and I was soon installing Lubuntu on my tablet.

Installation:
The installation of Lubuntu is decently standard. It is the same installer Ubuntu uses. It provides the option to install along side an existing operating, using the entire drive, or setting up a custom layout - all using gParted. About ten minutes later I had Lubuntu up and running on my hardware (I love USB installations).


Usage:
I really like the default software the Lubuntu team has chosen to include. The first thing you will notice is that the stock webrowser is Chromium, this is a change I think we will be seeing a lot more in light-weight distros. Don't get me wrong - I like firefox, but compared to Chromium it is a snail at best (and a bit of a resource hog). Pidgin is the default messaging client, xchat is included for IRC usage, and transmission is there for all of your torrenting need.

In respect to office software Lubuntu ships with abiword for word processing and gnumeric for creating spreadsheets, a refreshing change from the bloated OpenOffice that ships with most distros by default. In terms of media Lubuntu comes stock with Gnome MPlayer (my favorite media player), Cheese Webcam booth, Aqualung, and Xfburn.

For system tools the Lubuntu team has taken their pick of various gnome and xfce applications. From Gnome Lubuntu uses their sound applet, wifi applet, gdebi, and power manager. From xfce comes the task-manager and pyneighborhood (network browser).

Final Thoughts:
Lubuntu has come a long way from it's first release with 9.10 just last year. This 10.04 release is a fantastic addition to the world of light weight Linux distros and just like the others in the *buntu family I have no doubt it will adopted by many for use on slower/older computers.

~Jeff Hoogland

T91MT vs T101MT - Hands on Review

Posted: 29 May 2010 07:43 AM PDT

Earlier this month I talked about why I feel Asus's T91MT is a better computer than Apple's iPad. What I failed to mention in that posting is that in addition to the T91MT Asus also has a T101MT netbook/tablet hybrid. If you are in the market for a tiny tablet computer you might be like I was, torn between which of these two netbooks to buy - they are fairly close in price! After having owned both a T91MT and the T101MT I have put together the following compare and contrast of the two tablets that will hopefully help you decided which of the two to purchase.

Size and Weight -
Lets start with the obvious - how big these devices are. The average consumer will first notice that the T91MT is an 8.9" tablet that weights in at 2.1 pounds while the T101MT is 10.1" that weights in at 2.86 pounds. Which of these is better? Its a personal choice really.

Keyboard -
The T91MT has a flat key board while the T101MT has a chiclet keyboard (some space inbetween the keys). Coming from my old EEE 900A model/normal laptop the chiclet keyboard took some getting used to, but after a few days I was typing away on it with no issues. The image below is the T91MT keyboard on the left and the T101MT keyboard on the right:


Track Pad -
The track back on both the devices is essentially the same. Same look and feel, same silver mouse button. Neither supports multi-touch on the track pad and both support scrolling on the right side.

Screen Resolution/Design/Finish -
Both the netbooks contain the fairly standard 1024x600 resolution netbook panel. Both panels fully support multi-touch. For some reason though the touch layer is much more noticeable on the T101MT than it is on the T91MT. If you look at the screen from the wrong angle the contents appear blurry almost. Another thing you will notice right away between the two laptops is that the T91MT has a shiny finish on the back of it's screen - meaning it is a giant finger print magnet. The T101MT has a matted finish that tends to stay much cleaner.

Lastly the hinge on the T101MT is much smoother than the one on the T91MT. When closing the T101MT (or putting it in tablet mode) it has rubber stoppers that are designed to slip into slits cut into the screen so the keyboard part does not rotate out form under the screen while you are moving the device around. This was a much needed design additive as it always annoyed me that the T91MT screen does not sit straight on when the device is closed.

Processor -
The processors in these two devices are very, very different. The T91MT uses a Z series 520 chip that is clocked at 1.33ghz, while the T101MT sports an N series 450 chip that runs at 1.66ghz. Both chips have hyper-threading technology and of the two only the Z520 supports virtulization (just in case you wanted to run a virtual machine on your netbook). The extra speed of the N450 is decent noticeable. It is much "snappier" when multi-tasking than it's Z520 cousin.

RAM -
Both tablets come with 1gig of DDR2 memory and are upgradable to 2gigs. The only thing worth noting here is that the T91MT has a 1gig stick that you have to replace with a single 2gig stick in order to upgrade it's memory. The T101MT on the other hand has it's default 1gig of memory soldiered to it's mother board - meaning in order to upgrade it's memory you need to purchase a 1gig stick.

Hard Drive -
The T91MT comes stock with a 32gig SSD while the T101MT comes with a 160gig 5400rpm standard laptop drive. The T91MT hard drive uses a PCI mini port to connect - meaning if you want to change the drive in it you are somewhat limited on selection. The T101MT on the other hand uses your standard 2.5" sata hard drive connector so you can drop any mobile drive in it (personally I ordered an SSD with my T101MT, I feel a normal hard drive is just a bad idea in a netbook).

Webcam -
Both the netbooks come with very sad .3 mega-pixel cameras. Good enough to make a video call over Skype, but not a quality image by any means.

Graphics Card -
The T91MT comes with the Intel GMA500 graphics card while the T101MT has the more standard Intel GMA3150 graphics controller. An important thing to note here is that while the GMA500 is a physically faster graphics card, the drivers for it are decently horrid on all platforms (although they are the best under Windows 7). The GMA500 should do 720p video playback however do not expect it to be 100% smooth if this is what you want to play on the device. The driver issue with the GMA500 is largely due to the fact that Intel doesn't actually make the GMA500 chip, they just stamp their name on it.

Operating System -
The T91MT ships by default with Windows 7 Home Premium while the T101MT ships with Windows 7 Starter. Not a big deal right? Actually it is. Windows 7 Starter does not support multi-touch functionality regardless of your hardware. Meaning if you want multi-touch on the T101MT you will need to upgrade/change the Windows version installed on it. Both of the netbooks run Ubuntu quite well with a small bit of hacking (and have multi-touch with kernel > 2.6.33). If you are going to keep Windows 7 on the tablet however, do yourself a favor and make sure to upgrade the RAM to 2gigs.

Bluetooth -
The T91MT has a built in bluetooth controller while the T101MT does not. So if you are needing bluetooth on the larger tablet be sure to pickup a USB bluetooth adapter.

Battery -
The T91MT claims "up to 5 hours" and the T101MT claims "up to 6.5 hours". Off a full charge while streaming audio over the speakers from Pandora the T91MT gets just over three hours and the T101MT gets just under four hours. The T101MT has has a removable battery while the T91MT does not, personally I really like having a removable battery so I can carry a spare.

Follow Up -
I ended up keeping the T101MT and selling the T91MT to a friend. The two main deciding factors for me in this decision was the battery life and graphics card (the GMA500 is a giant pain under Linux). Which of these two tablet is right for you? How would I know! Hopefully if you have been trying to decide between the two of them this article helped you decide on one or the other.

~Jeff Hoogland

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Raymond.CC Blog - Open Source Gaming – Week Five – Emulation

Raymond.CC Blog - Open Source Gaming – Week Five – Emulation

Open Source Gaming – Week Five – Emulation

Posted: 29 May 2010 07:30 PM PDT


I’m sorry for the lack of my post last night for those that noticed, I’m afraid I got home late last night and with how late it was, I decided not to bother. However, I received an encouraging email from a reader which made me smile. Thank you, you know who you are. As always, it’s [...]

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CNN's Interactive Map and Timeline of Iraq and Afghanistan Casualties "Home and Away"

CNN's Interactive Map and Timeline of Iraq and Afghanistan Casualties "Home and Away"

CNN's Interactive Map and Timeline of Iraq and Afghanistan Casualties "Home and Away"

Posted: 28 May 2010 04:50 PM PDT


Via Flowing Data and CNN

Nathan Yau, of Flowing Data, posted information and a link to CNN's interactive Casualties: Home and Away website. This website allows you to visually explore the casualty statistics of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, beginning with the first of the fallen in 2001. You can zoom into a region and see pictures and names of people.  The website provides a way for friends and family to share memories about their loved ones.

Home and Away also provides a "list view" option, shown in one of the pictures below.  Visitors to the site can sort by name or year of death.  Sliders on the map view provide a way of looking at the pattern of deaths over time.  It is sad, but this website makes us remember that war is real.  Deaths are not simply statistics.










Flowing Data
Home and Away
http://interactivemultimediatechnology.blogspot.com

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Raymond.CC Blog - URLSnooper Displays Full Path of Hidden Remote URL

Raymond.CC Blog - URLSnooper Displays Full Path of Hidden Remote URL

URLSnooper Displays Full Path of Hidden Remote URL

Posted: 29 May 2010 12:00 AM PDT


Akash asked a question in the comment area on yesterday’s post whether is it possible to view the full path of remote URL when computer is secretly downloading files. One example is when a user tries to download Adobe Flash Player, by default they will be asked to download the Adobe Download Manager first and [...]

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N900 Video Call with Skype

N900 Video Call with Skype

N900 Video Call with Skype

Posted: 27 May 2010 10:23 PM PDT

If you have graced my page before then odds are you know I love my N900. This past Wednesday Nokia released the PR 1.2 update for the N900 and one of the features they added was support for the front facing camera to make video calls via the VOIP services Skype and Google Talk. I made my first video call this evening on my N900 and it works quite well! The GUI for Skype video calls is fairly simple and looks as such:

The video feed fails to appear when I use the screen shot function built into the N900, but I marked the locations of where the feeds appear. In order to make a video call simply open the Skype contact and select "Video Call":


You can also start a video call from a normal Skype call by selecting it from the call's menu:


I would like to note that in order for the video call options to appear I had to first receive a video call on my N900. After this I had no trouble initiating a video call from my device.

The quality from the front camera isn't the best, but it is more than enough to do basic video calls with. I recorded a short video that displays a video call between my N900 and a laptop:



Video calls such as this are by far the way of the future! Hopefully we will see more devices follow in the N900's footsteps and start adding this functionality.

~Jeff Hoogland

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Raymond.CC Blog: “Easily Determine If a Specific Software is Secretly Connecting to Internet” plus 1 more

Raymond.CC Blog: “Easily Determine If a Specific Software is Secretly Connecting to Internet” plus 1 more

Easily Determine If a Specific Software is Secretly Connecting to Internet

Posted: 28 May 2010 12:06 AM PDT


A software can be programmed to secretly connect to the internet. This is done in background and is not visible to users unless they know how to check. “Phoning home” is a term that is used to describe a software connecting to its own server probably to send statistical data or even to verify the [...]

OpenSUSE 11.2 Review – GNOME Desktop Environment

Posted: 27 May 2010 07:30 PM PDT


Let me be very frank before I start into today’s review. I was recently listening to a technical podcast which was talking about Linux and what was wrong with it as a desktop operating system. What it basically boiled down to be was lack of user education and resources combined with a fragmented amount of [...]

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