Tech Up!: DLNA

Everyday from every side, you come across hundreds of adverts about things you "should" have. From chocolates and ice cream, to the latest perfume from some designer company. But how many of these products do we actually need? How many of these products have you bought and shelved after a few hours use? (Nintendo Wii anyone??) 

Well, Tech UP! will have examples of technology that actually comes in useful, allowing you to be more mobile, more productive and possibly more relaxed

This is the logo you want to be looking for.

First of all, sorry for taking so long to write something else, been a hectic week! Today on Tech Up! we're going to talk about DLNA. I had mentioned this when we spoke about NAS but I think it needs some further explanation. 

When it comes to what technologies to use in our house, the main thing we want to look for, is something that is compatible with a multitude of devices, and is scalable. The idea is that we don't want to get tied down by some manufacturer's own software and end up having to buy every piece of equipment from now on from Sony or Samsung (nothing against them!). We want a "universal" communication language that can speak to any manufacturer's devices as it is a worldwide standard. There are about 250 companies that are using this DLNA protocol, and according to wikipedia by May 2010, there were over 8000 devices working with it. 

So what does DLNA do? Why do we need it? And why should i look for this functionality when i'm shopping for new technology?

I think its fair to say, that for most people, technology is always an afterthought when it comes to buying a house / planning where to put stuff. Noone seems to think about where to pass network cabling, where the computer should go, and how it would connect to your TV / Entertainment system. Actually, most people don't even know that a computer can be hooked up to an entertainment system in the first place! So when the afterthought happens, its usually a case of passing as little cabling as possible to do as much work as possible. But as your computer is next to the kid's room on the second floor and the TV is on the bottom floor on the other side of the house, a direct link between them, or a simple TV-Out cable from the pc's video card wont do it. 

A typical DLNA Setup

This is when DLNA devices come in handy. First of all, I hope you all remember when we spoke about the NAS. If you dont have a NAS yet, a computer running Windows XP / 7 / and if you must, Vista, (Vista is shit, if you have it, get rid of it) you can easily create a media server. Apple took the usual holier-than-though attitude and refused to work with a worldwide protocol, making MAC users have to install 3rd party software (that isn't free) to get their devices to talk to DLNA products. Once your media server is set up, then your DLNA stereo / TV / and even printer can all hook up to it to see your shared media. So from a completely different room in the house (as long as it is networked) you can access your music, photos, and movies that are shared by your server. This also means that you don't need multiple copies of the same media on different machines, but you can have 1 machine that is your media "server" and everything else can connect and share with it. 


So those movies you downloaded? You don't have to burn them to DVD anymore to watch them on your TV. Those mp3's you have, you don't need to run around with your ipod & speakers anymore to have some music in the other room. The bigger the household, the more people make use of digital media, the more sense it makes to invest in a similar system. Just make sure your network can keep up with all the traffic, and no, wifi CANNOT stream 1080p movies comfortably to multiple sources at once.


But we'll speak about networking another day.


Thanks for reading

DRM - The reality

DRM, also known as Digital Rights Management, has been around a long time. And because most people start a business to make money, i think its here to stay. But what has history taught us about prohibition? 

...this is not the Heimlich maneuver

Back in the early 20th century, Piano Player rolls were the new big thing. It was this amazing technology that worked with the most basic of elements - air. Air is free, but the time and effort that it took to make one of these rolls was definitely not. And this is when someone decided to make sure that no one should be able to just "copy" these rolls of perforated paper. The idea of DRM is born, and things have gotten ugly ever since then.

Most people over 25 should remember what a cassette tape looks like, and if you do, then you probably also remember how to press play & record at the same time. Since the digital age really kicked in, piracy has been flourishing. Mp3 technology, high internet speeds and huge capacity hard drives has made it very easy for people to copy and share their legally or illegally downloaded music & film. Some companies like Apple ( to be expected ) implemented an incredibly strict regime of anti piracy through their Itunes / Ipod platforms, but people have found a way around them too.

As the digital age evolved, so did technologies to create DRM, and obviously to break through DRM. The games industry has also been doing their best to make sure their IP is kept safe and makes them as much money as possible. But this is a cold war between corporations that want to make the money, and the millions of people that want the product to be theirs to do what they want with it. 

The problem with DRM is that in most cases, it becomes incredibly difficult and frustrating for the legitimate user to be able to use his / her digital media comfortably. Does anyone remember the Lenslok? A simple example: I have a pc and a laptop. My pc is my main machine, but i use my laptop to run around. I legally bought a game / mp3 with DRM on my pc. I installed / played it on that pc. I would like to put it on my laptop so that i can go wherever and do whatever i want with it in my own time. DRM says i cant. But, i paid money for it, and in most cases, quite a lot of money. But yet it feels like i don't actually own the product as I have to use it within incredibly tight restrictions. 

Scare tactics, used way too often

The latest example of horribly thought out DRM for a video game was Ubisoft's approach (this is after their Starforce fiasco). The concept is quite simple: if you want to play a Ubisoft game, you had to be online all the time. The game will only save if you have a connection to the Ubisoft servers, and if this connection is lost, so is your game progress. WTF were they thinking?? I know that today, most people have an "always on" internet connection, but what about occasional drops, what about people who want to take their laptop to some hut in the woods powered by solar energy and play a game over there? What about the fact that if your internet connection is down for whatever reason, you cant play a single player game?? What happens here is that the person that has forked out a lot of money is really and truly getting the bad end of the stick, but the people that pirated  the game and managed to hack it to prevent the DRM kicking in, are actually having a better experience. 

So what should be the motivational factor - besides wanting the game - for people to go out and buy it original? Why should someone hand over their hard earned cash for something that is going to make their life more stressful, especially when it is so easily available from multiple sources! 

Then on the other side of the spectrum you have Blizzard Entertainment which thinks about DRM in a very different way: “We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology.” And i honestly think that this is the way forward. Blizzard know that their development team is extremely limited compared to the gaming community as a whole and even if they spend all their time and effort on DRM, it will be cracked anyway. They decided to look at the problem in a completely different manner as they saw the complete failure of pretty much all video game DRM systems (except the PS3). 

Instead of restricting and wagging their finger in your face as they take your money, they make you want to pay the price to be able to use all the cool features that come with having an original game. Its not about restriction and prohibition, its about incentive and reward. Luckily, Ubisoft have already decided to scrap their current form of DRM and stick with activation over Steam, which makes a lot of people hate Ubisoft a lot less. 

Personally I like trying before buying. I have downloaded games before I bought them, the same way i would take a car for a test drive or try on a pair of jeans before buying them. But if its a game you like, especially if its from an indie developer that probably doesn't have any DRM technology, its only fair that you buy it.I think that Blizzard's way is the way forward, but this is a completely new approach and it might take a while for all publishers to come onboard with it. 

In the meantime, i'm saving up for Fallout: New Vegas ;)

thanks for reading

Mother nature: The Sloth

This blog is mainly about geek stuff. Technology, games, software, hardware, and other stuff on those lines, but every now and then, you come across something mother nature put together that you cannot help but share.


Cute kittens don't do it for me, the sad dog eyes don't do it for me either. Seen them too many times and you kinda know its just evolution making sure these animals find some sucker human being to take them in.

The sloth on the other hand.... i like the sloth.
And after seeing this video, i really want to see one in real life.

Check out this link and watch the video.


Thanks to Asylum

From the Interwebs: Retro adverts for modern software.

From the interwebs is a section about random stuff I find on the internet that are somehow connected to the geek world, and that I thought are worth sharing.

First of all, I just need to say that I absolutely love these type of adverts, mainly because they remind of Fallout 3, but also because it was an era of incredibly loose marketing ideas and blatant lies about whatever product they were trying to sell, in most cases very very politically incorrect to say the least.

In the meantime, from the wide open space of the intertubes, i came across these :)

Couldn't help but share them :)

dot exe: PhoneAble

dot exe is a section that covers software. Mostly software for PC as that is what i own and am fluent with, but i'm sure i'll throw in a bone to the MACs every now and then.

The ipod changed the way we listen to music. There were other mp3 players before the ipod, there will be other mp3 players after the ipod, but their impact on the world is negligible compared.

The problem is, that is really hate Itunes. I am a PC. I run Windows. Windows is all about being able to choose what software you want to use for whatever purpose you want. There is no "you must use this software - and only this software" to do what you want to do. I dont like that. I like to be able to make a choice between equally good pieces of software and decide on whatever basis i want. I hate restrictions.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Apple products, those restrictions are a reality Apple users live by day to day. They might not know that they are in a velvet prison, it might not even make any difference to them as they are perfectly happy using what they are told to use, but for me, its an absolute deal breaker.

The problem I have with Itunes & Ipods is that they restrict you to synchronising with only 1 pc. They say that this is meant to reduce piracy, but what about people that have a home pc AND a laptop and would like their legitimate music on both these machines, by using the ipod to synchronise music between them? Apple doesnt want you to so this. I'm sure those people who have or have had an ipod at some point must have wiped their music by mistake on a couple of occasions.

Frustrating isnt it.

Well, as I mentioned before, I am a PC, and on a PC you get options.

Today i'm bringing PhoneAble to the spotlight. A tint piece of software that easily allows you to do what you've always wanted to do, but not been allowed to do. Following a couple of simple instructions, you will be able to use your Iwhatever to merge music from multiple pc's - as long as they're both running Windows, and not be worried about wiping all your settings by mistake.

Its great having a choice isnt it!

All Shapes & Sizes: Torchlight II

.. there was only space for one of us on that bridge. I tried to ask nicely.

All Shapes & Sizes is a section about games of all types, formats, shapes and sizes. I'll be talking about anything from board games, to hardcore genres on consoles trying to cover everyone's tastes.

13 years ago, an Isometric Action Hack & Slash RPG called Diablo was released to the gamer community. A community much smaller than today's. When gaming was exclusive to geekdom. Where the difficulty of configuring sound card IRQs was on par with building a space shuttle. Where having a hard drive of 400MB was some serious space, because mp3's weren't really the norm yet, and you did most of your research using M'soft Encarta, because the internet was still in its infancy.

13 years ago, Blizzard released Diablo to the gaming community, and things would never be the same. 3 years after, the much anticipated Diablo II was released, and it took 8 years after that to announce Diablo III which was revealed in June 2008, but as all Blizzard games - "it will be released when its ready". Something Blizzard fans have come to accept, for they know that once released, the game will be as close to perfect as humanly possible. But, that doesn't make the wait any less painful.

Luckily for us, in October 2009 Runic Games (founded by some ex - Diablo designers / creators) popped out of nowhere with an incredibly well thought out game called Torchlight, that seems to be a more colourful, somewhat cheerier version of the incredibly popular Diablo franchise. In simple terms, since launch, this game simply exploded and sold 50,000 copies in a matter of weeks, which is not to be taken lightly when you think that this is an indie developer with no DRM system of any sort for their games.

More levels bring more abilities, which bring more fun

Torchlight was awarded RPG of the year, game developers choice award, and even best debut game for 2009. Now, some of you might be asking, that was last year, why are you bringing this up now? Well, after its explosion onto the gaming scene, and 500,000 sold copies later, Runic Games was bought up by Perfect World, a publisher that is huge on free to play (F2P) and micro transaction based MMO's. Which means, a Torchlight MMO is in the works, which is an amazing concept if they keep the feel of the original game, and also because Torchlight II has been announced, and is to be released in Spring 2011.

This second iteration of this jewel of a game, is adding a few things that the community has been screaming for at the top of their lungs. Mainly, multiplayer: Online, or LAN (which is a nice treat considering so many big publishers are taking away LAN play from pc games). There are other features that include a bigger world to explore, day / night cycles, and even player customisation - which was a bit lacking in the first game.

While Diablo III is looking absolutely amazing its taking its sweet time, and there is no concrete release date announced yet. So i have a feeling that before we get our thirst for Diablo quenched, we can have a good time playing Torchlight II amongst friends.

In the meantime, you should give the original game a go and see how good it is for yourself.

You can find a review of the original here

Support indie developers!!

thanks for reading

Tech Up! :NAS

Everyday from every side, you come across hundreds of adverts about things you "should" have. From chocolates and ice cream, to the latest perfume from some designer company. But how many of these products do we actually need? How many of these products have you bought and shelved after a few hours use? (Nintendo Wii anyone??)

Well, Tech UP! will have examples of technology that actually comes in useful, allowing you to be more mobile, more productive and possibly more relaxed.

Today's article is going to talk about something that is useful for anyone that has a digital life. Do you have multiple mp3's and movies on your computer at home? Do you have multiple computers that have the same copies of movies / mp3 stored on their drives, technically wasting precious space? Wouldnt it be nice if you had a backup system that would automatically make a second copy of all your photos and documents so that you dont have to worry about them even if your computer instantly detonates??

Well, luckily for us, something like that exists, and its called a Network Attached Storage (NAS). First of all, you must make sure you have a network already set up at your house, but most people with a digital life already have one, in spite of them not knowing :P So thats not something you need to worry about. The picture above shows a basic home NAS that should do the trick for most casual users. What happens is, that once you hook up the device to your network and follow some simple instructions on how to set it up, you have a virtual drive show up on your computer. Once there, you can transfer all your media to it, and it will be instantly available to anyone else on the network. That way sharing between computers and other DLNA devices (i will go into that another time) will be instant and effortless. There are advance features allowing for security and permissions for separate folders giving privacy for stuff you don't want to share. You can even set the NAS to download your torrents so you dont have to keep your pc on all night.

Other features of entry level NAS's include acting as a print server, so even printers can be shared through all pc's, a remote login system for people who need access to their data when they're away from home (great for laptop users), although the speed of that is limited to your internet connection uplink, which could make it a bit slow for larger files. And to top it all off, you can even hook up network security cameras to it, so it can monitor, record and even playback.

I hope that made you start to imagine the possibilities with how easy it can be to make your digital life slightly easier on you. As i post more things on Tech Up! i'm sure i'll be adding more devices that can make use of the NAS, adding you all empowering feeling of having technology do the work for you, and not vice versa.

If you have any questions, feel free to post below, and i'll be glad to share the knowledge :)

thanks for reading

All Shapes & Sizes: Machinarium

All Shapes & Sizes is a section about games of all types, formats, shapes and sizes. I'll be talking about anything from board games, to hardcore genres on consoles trying to cover everyone's tastes.

As i've mentioned previously, i'm a gamer. I like games of all shapes and sizes, as long as they have heart. And this game i'm about to tell you about, is all about heart.

It was created by a tiny Czech company called Amanita Design that were the ones that brought us the cutest little flash games called Samorost and Samorost 2. Both of them were old school Point & Click games with astounding artwork and beautiful atmospheric music.

They took a system that works, and created Machinarium. Its the tale of a cute little robot as he tries to rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of a gang of wrongdoers. With some nerve wrecking puzzles and amazing atmosphere, i really think that this is a game everyone should try, but not everyone might have the patience to finish.

Well, if you're intrigued, you can try there game here, and if you like it, it is on sale for only 5$ till the 12th of August, and as a bonus you even get the whole soundtrack!

I really like supporting Indie Developers, as they are the ones that are not bound to push out mindless sequels just to cash in on the name of a product instead of making creative and different new ideas for games. So with your help, you could make a difference by keeping this little gem of a developer alive.

hope you enjoy it!

Webcomics & Webseries

The internet is truly a wonderful place, and I honestly think it gives so much opportunity to people who wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to be published or seen by a large audience. Today its pretty common to hear of people that started something as an idea between friends or a small school project, and it ended up becoming a household name around the world, some examples - facebook - southpark - google. So when i come across something i like, i enjoy sharing it with others :)

A website I visit pretty often has to be The Escapist. Most gamers would know of this site, but there still are a lot of people out there who simply never heard of it. Besides the articles and the polls and the general game banter that goes on, my favourite 2 segments must be: Zero Punctuation by the world famous Yahtzee, and something i really look forward to seeing is Doraleous and Associates.

Zero punctuation is something for gamers, as they would really understand what he's talking about, anyone else would just be really confused in a real short time. Doraleous however is something anyone can follow, and is an incredibly entertaining story.

Another absolutely fantastic webseries must be The Legend of Niel. This is a really funny and brilliantly made Zelda parody that has just started season 3. So if you have half an hour to spare, you could probably watch them all and get up to date.

For those who prefer reading than watching and listening, i really enjoy following the story of Looking for Group. I fell in love with this series as it is loosely based on WoW and it also tickles my dark sinister side with Richard's humour. Its been going on for a while, and the story is getting better and better.

Now, for all those chauvinistic men out there, i got the perfect comic for you :). Its called Least I Could Do. I must warn you, if anyone gets offended easily by sexist jokes, this is not the comic for you, and its been going on since 2003, so there is a lot to read :)

And last but not least, some NSFW content ;) Oglaf is something by adults for adults. There is no recurring theme, no real plot, just a sunday evening treat :)

Thats if for now. There are some other webcomics i follow, but i'll give them a mention some other day :)

My new blog

So i've been wanting to do this for a while, but it has been shelved alongside many other ideas i wanted to get to work on. Today is the first day.

I'm not sure what this blog will consist of entirely, or if there will be a certain theme to it, but i will start it nonetheless.

Now for an introduction:

My name is Graham, and i'm a geek :)

I'm not the typical loner, acne faced, no social skills, never had a girlfriend, only watches Star Wars type of geek, i'm more the type of person that makes technology work for me. I like gadgets, and blinking LED's. I like keeping up with the phone wars, format wars, and console wars. I am a PC, Windows 7 was my idea. I am also an Android fan. I DO NOT like Apple's velvet prison. I am also a gamer. I do play WoW, and yes, spending a weekend at a LAN Party IS better than a weekend drinking.

But thats just me.

I work as a System's Administrator for EC English Language Centres, and its probably one of the best jobs i've had. I'm really lucky to have a great boss and a fantastic team to work with. We are based in Malta, and remotely take care of all our centres in Europe, South Africa and the US. Its not an easy job, but we get to play with the latest of technologies and really push the envelope when it comes to making stuff work for our incredibly demanding users. I've been here for just under 4 years, and have a feeling i'll be here for a while longer.

The other part of my lifestyle is my bike. I love 2 wheels. I really do. I think riding a bike is the closest you can feel to flying without actually being in the air. Its about the freedom. Its about not living in a box all the time. Its about taking chances and being alert. I must admit, riding a bike in Malta is probably more dangerous than Bruce Willis' scene with the placard in Die Hard. I have nothing against black people!! But the roads in Malta are terrible, the driving in Malta is even worse. So everyday brings new challenges and some very close calls that would be easily placed in one of those "horrible accidents caught on camera" videos on youtube :P

Well, i think thats enough of an introduction for now, i'll do my best to keep this blog alive!

See you soon :)