Brain Assassin » technology

PlayStation Plus: What Is It Worth?

JC — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:25:24 +0000

PlayStation Plus
© 2010, Sony

During E3 Sony announced that it will launch a new premium subscription service called PlayStation Plus on June 29th. The PlayStation Network as we know it will still be free to join and all the current features will remain free. PlayStation Plus expands on the service already in place and offers loads of content to subscribers. Starting on June 29th Sony will offer a one year or 90-day membership from PlayStation Store.

As an incentive they throw in a full copy of LittleBigPlanet if you sign up for a one year membership between June 29th and August 3rd. The one year subscription will be available for €49.99 while three months will cost you €14.99. What do we get for our money?

Sony says that members will get their hands on at least four games a month at no extra charge. That sounds good but the four games will be comprised of one PSN game, two minis and one PS one classics. Subscribers also get premium avatars and dynamic themes each month as well as discounts on loads of PlayStation Store content. The discounts will change each month as well.

The premium feature also allows for full game trials. Members can download a full copy of a game and play it for a certain amount of time as if they owned it. The timeframe depends on the game but you should have approximately one hour to check out the game. If you decide to buy the game, your progress and trophies will all be unlocked so there’s no need to start again.

The most useful perk, however, seems to be what Sony calls automatic download. Subscribers can set their PS3 to automatically receive game and firmware updates, and download game demos. All you have to do is to set the time when you want to receive them and your PS3 will wake up and download everything. That sounds really useful to me.

Check out PlayStation Plus and see for yourself. You need at least version 3.40 of the PS3 system software to make it work. I think that’s just what I need. Perhaps updates will get a bit faster then.

Algorithm Detects Sarcasm

JC — Fri, 21 May 2010 07:05:44 +0000

An Israeli research team has developed a machine algorithm that can recognize sarcasm. Tested on Amazon, SASI (Semi-supervised Algorithm for Sarcasm Identification) can detect sarcastic sentences in product reviews with 77 percent precision. The results are even better on Twitter where SASI identified sarcasm with 94 percent precision. Basically, the researchers had human annotators tagging sentences for sarcasm. The team then identified certain sarcastic patterns and created a classification algorithm that puts each statement into a sarcastic class.

The algorithm were then trained and turned loose on an evaluation seet. Considering the overall precision SASI scored, that’s not a bad shot at interpreting the human sense of humor. It almost immediately reminded me of a project called StupidFilter. If they could incorporate this algorithm … but then, they haven’t updated their website for nearly two years. Too bad. Anyway, if you really want to know more about how the algorithm works, you should check out this PDF (~93 kB).

So what’s the use of recognizing sarcastic statements? The researchers believe that SASI could be instrumental in generating better personalized content and make better recommendations to human users. They also think that the algorithm could benefit opinion-mining systems.

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Who Needs an iPad?

JC — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:06:24 +0000

Question of the day: Who needs an iPad? I sure don’t. I mean, what’s it gonna be? An eBook reader? Just a bigger iPod Touch? It’s too big to take with you on a whim, it’s too energy hungry to use it as an eBook reader, and it sucks way too much to use the built-in virtual keyboard. So what exactly does the iPad do? Well, I’m not here to tell you that.

I do like the display, though, which is using liquid crystal display technology. The IPS LCD offers a very wide viewing angle – up to 178 degrees – and brilliant color. It uses a 4:3 aspect ratio with a 1.024 × 768 display resolution. Ah, yes, I almost forgot the wonderful fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating which Apple had introduced in the iPhone 3G S. Anyway, even though the IPS panel is quite good, it’s still not enough to turn the iPad into a good eBook reading device.

LCD screens get washed out in bright sunlight. Try to turn on the backlight to improve contrast and you’re sure to drain the batteries much faster than the LCD already does. Also, staring into a light source only produces more strain on the eye than reading words by reflected light.

Apple has already formed a content partnership with Hachette, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon and Schuster to offer initial eBooks in its iBooks store – in the U. S. only, of course. What a waste. Just as well that I discovered an interesting survey today. Just look at the chart. Do I see some light at the end of the tunnel?

http://www.retrevo.com/content/blog/2010/02/apple-ipad-hoopla-fails-convince-buyers

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Minority Report is on the Way

JC — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:59:15 +0000

In the movie Minority Report, based on the short story The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick, a specialized police department apprehends criminals before they even break the law. Three psychics called “precogs”, mutated humans with precognition abilities, generate future visions which allow the special police unit “Precrime” to take the future criminals into custody even before they themselves know that they will break the law. As such the movie heavily touches the philosophic questions surrounding foreknowledge and free will vs. determinism.

Now, scientists at the University of Darmstadt have developed a similar system called DyRiAS. This acronym stands for Dynamische Risiko Analyse System (Dynamic Risk Analysis System). Allegedly, the software could have accurately predicted every known rampage in the US or Germany, according to Dr. Jens Hoffman. As far as I understand, the program should be used by the police, school psychologists, teachers and similar personnel. The user has to anser questions and the program will provide the user with a profile. There are 32 known factors that indicate a higher risk of a person going postal and DyRiAS will check the answers against these factors.

Since March 2009 the system is being tested in a few schools in Germany. Additionally, it is being tested by the Swiss police in Zurich. There are plans for further versions of the program, especially for marital violence and stalking. According to Dr. Hoffman, this program is only intended for use with conspicuos persons. DyRiAS can only be fed with anonymized data, no personal data will be stored.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? I admit to being a pessimist so I don’t have any qualms whatsoever to predicting that after this piece of software has been established in our society it will be improved and it will get used in more situations. People will be tested when applying for a new job, for instance. Sure, everything is fine, isn’t it? Neither of us wants wo work with a sociopath who might go postal at any moment. I can appreciate that thought. But what if you’re not totally in the clear? Will you be flagged as a potential risk? What’s more important: Will it stick? I don’t believe in data privacy. It’s nice to have, it’s worth to fight for, but it is, ultimately, not to be taken for granted. People still stick to the thought that knowledge is power without realising that knowledge is only powerful if you know why that is.

Anyway, never mind. DyRiAS isn’t used for apprehending a potential criminal. Yet.

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LCD or Plasma?

JC — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:17:21 +0000

Well, this topic came up at work today – twice – so I thought it’s about time to write a few lines about it. Puh, where do I begin? How about this: Don’t even think about a plasma TV if you intend to buy a model with a size of less than 42 inches. It’s simply not worth it. Why? Because manufacturers haven’t yet figured out how to cram millions of pixels on a smaller display. There’s no way you’re going to enjoy HDTV on a screen with so few pixels. Because LCD and plasma TVs are very different in the way they deliver the image to the viewer, the same restriction doesn’t apply to LCD TVs.

So, if you want to buy a 43” or larger flat panel HDTV, there are quite a few things to consider. First, there’s the color. A plasma display covers a far greater area of the visible light spectrum and delivers more dynamic colors than a LCD does. Plus, a plasma display has superior black levels. Good black levels are important to provide a sense of depth. As far as the contrast and the black levels are concerned, the plasma is superior. Color accuracy is not so easily determined, though. That depends on room light, manufacturer and model, but as a rule you can assume that a plasma will prevail in a room with normal or lower lighting. LCDs should perform better in brightly lit rooms. (That happens because plasma TVs have a glass surface where a mirror effect can take place when extremely bright light shines on it.) Then again, your living room shouldn’t be as brightly lit as it is the case with many show-rooms. All in all, the plasma has the advantage.

Second, a plasma TV has better viewing angles. Contrast ratios for a LCD TV drop by a considerable amount if you move off the center. Check it out for yourself: Stand in front of a LCD TV and slowly move sideways. That’s another point for the plasma TV.

Third, there’s clarity of vision. Because of the better viewing angle and really fast response times, the image on a plasma TV will be much clearer than on a LCD TV, if something is moving quickly on across the screen. Think of soccer, football or fast-paced action movies. Granted, LCD TVs have made considerable progress since the early days, but the plasma still has the advantage. Point three for the plasma.

Next, there’s the price. Bigger LCD TVs are mostly more expensive than their plasma counterparts. Don’t get too excited though, the playing field is leveling slowly but surely. There’s another point for the plasma.

As far as the power consumption is concerned, the LCD has the edge over the plasma TV. The plasma manufacturers have gone a long way since the early days but still, the average plasma consumes around a third more power for the same size display. The newest plasmas are pretty good though, and I would expect them to further improve in the future. Here you have it, first point for the LCD TV.

Another thing to consider is the burn-in. While a burn-in can occur in modern plasmas, the effect is mostly temporary. Many enhancements reduce the risk of a burn-in and it has gotten so much better that it shouldn’t be an issue anymore. Still, it can happen on plasma TVs. Modern plasma TVs do have a few methods to clear a burn-in which should render this issue moot. Anyway, that’s the second point for the LCD TV.

Next, there’s longevity. Most LCD television manufacturers claim that their displays last 50,000 to 60,000 hours on average. Most plasma manufacturers state a half-life of 60,000 hours for their plasma TVs. The half-life is the estimated amount of time you have to spend watching television until the panel brightness is reduced in half. I recall a plasma TV with astonishing 100,000 hours being announced recently but I don’t remember which manufacturer it was. Let’s call it a draw, this time around. And who owns one and the same TV for over 20 years, anyway?

Of course, resolution should also be important. If you’re going to watch HD content, the HD-Ready logo may be enough for you or it may not. In my opinion, if you bother getting a HD-compliant TV you should get a device that’s capable of displaying 1080p. People may refer to it as 1080p24 or Full HD. This provides an image resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. As both PDPs and LCDs are able to provide this resolution, that’s a draw.

Well, I’d say, that’s a clear win for the plasma TV. But wait, you think, I’ve heard something about SEDs and OLEDs. What is wrong with them? SEDs are flat panels providing the quality of cathod-ray tubes (CRTs) at lower power levels than a LCD. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Too bad it’s not there yet. OLEDs need almost no power and they provide a very high contrast, vibrant colors and a wide viewing angle. What’s the catch? Sony’s 11” OLED TV costs more than two grand. Nice, eh?

This is by no means a guide or something resembling it. That’s just what I know – or think to know – of this matter. I hope it’s helpful.

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How to Secure Your Wireless Network

JC — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:43:19 +0000

During my recent vacation I was asked to configure the wireless LAN of a friend. I complied and did as I was asked. At the same time I thought I’d share a few of the most basic things with you. Since the most commonly used routers on the market today are 802.11g/802.11 draft-n routers, I will focus on them. Most of the following information should be applicable to older models (802.11b or 802.11a routers) as well, provided the manufacturer has made the appropriate firmware available. That said, let’s get started.

First thing you should do is to look for a firmware update, especially if you own an older model. After having installed the latest firmware, you should change your default router password which is almost always something along the lines of “admin”, “password”, “changeme”, “public”, “private”, or “1234″. A more comprehensive list of default router passwords can be found at Default Router Passwords. Additionally, most routers come pre-configured with an IP address of 192.168.x.y, where x stands for “0″, “1″, “2″, “8″, “11″, or “15″, and y mostly stands for “1″ or “2″. Note that some routers have an IP address of 10.0.0.z where z often enough stands for “1″ or “2″. A strong password doesn’t really protect your network but it should ensure that nobody will mess with your settings.

Next, forget about hiding the SSID (Service Set Identifier). This is an identification code broadcast by a wireless router. That really doesn’t help you at all. You should change the SSID though, just to make it easier for you to identify your network and for that reason alone. There are many people out there who tell you to disable DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) because it prevents hackers from from entering your network. That is not true. DHCP will make your life easier, particularly if you do have guests a few with notebooks or other MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices).

Filtering MAC addresses is a good idea. In Theory. Truth is, that these addresses are easily detected and faked by anyone using the appropriate software. In addition, it requires you to maintain the list meaning that if you or any of your friends change the NIC (Network Interface Card) or the MID, you will also have to update the MAC address. Sure, you could make sure that the new MAC address is changed to the old and known one but that’s not very convenient.

That means, there’s only one ting left: Encryption. There are quite a few Protocols available for you, so here’s how to pick the one best suited for your purposes. The first wireless security protocol was WEP (Wireless Equivalent Privacy). Unfortunately, WEP is old and not safe. It can be cracked in a few minutes so you shouldn’t even bother using it. Of course, WEP is better than no encryption at all. WEP2 is more secure than WEP, but it doesn’t really improve on any of the inherent weaknesses of the WEP model. If you’ve got no other choice, WEP2 is better than WEP.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is the way to go. It’s a much better security protocol than WEP. There is WPA and then there is WPA2. As with the predecessor the suffix “2″ indicates a better security. Problem is, that WPA2 wasn’t really designed with backwards compatibility in mind, so it might not work on your router. If you have the choice though, you should go with WPA2. WPA2 is the implementation of the approved IEEE 802.11i amendment. Both WPA and WPA2 feature two security levels: WPA Personal (aka WPA-PSK) and WPA Enterprise. You don’t need to bother with the Enterprise solution. Choose WPA(2) Personal and then select the encryption standard (TKIP or AES) supported by your devices. AES is better than TKIP.

That’s it. Quite easy, I’d say. WPA2 (AES) is the best encryption method available right know and you should make use of it if you can. Hiding the SSID, maintaining a filtering list for MAC addresses, or disabling DHCP won’t help you in that regard. These methods only serve to make your life more difficult than it has to be.

That’s What I Call Home Theater!

JC — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:33:10 +0000

I’m quite into movies, you all know that. I don’t own a nice home theater but then I think my 42 inch plasma TV is enough to keep me entertained. 1060i really is an improvement over the good old PAL standard. Throw in a PS3 and you got yourself a pretty default setup. Of course, it’s not what I call a home theater. Today I’ve come across a setup that cost $6 million! That’s insane. Head over to Audio Video Interiors and see for yourselves.

If I had $6 million to spare, I would have done things differently. I don’t know if I could’ve done better but I think $6 million is a waste. To my mind, it’s way too small. I don’t think this guy can accommodate more than four people on that couch. There’s one more important question: What about the power requirements? I mean, holy shit. Watching one movie with this setup probably wastes more energy than my computer does in a whole year. Anyway, it’s impressive nonetheless.

Some PS3 stuff

JC — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:05:00 +0000

Actually, I wanted to post my opinion of The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. Instead, I’m writing about the PS3. First of all, I didn’t encounter any problems at all after my initial experience with the PS3. I did notice though, that a bunch of working colleagues weren’t so lucky (In retrospect, I should probably call them dumbasses but that’s for another story.). Anyway, they have some problems and so I ended up writing this text to get them started. OK guys, let’s tackle your “problems”.

Here’s the official site and they have a working forum. If you can read, stop trying to persuade others to help you out. Check it out for yourself and you may actually learn something new. However, some guys over at the PS3Forums have compiled quite an exhaustive FAQ which should be more than enough for troubleshooting purposes. And there’s a short list of PS3 error codes which can be found here.

As for the guys I’m writing this – you most certainly have a NAT problem. Since the lousy lot of you has disabled UPnP on their wireless routers you have to forward ports manually. Just access your router’s web interface where you should be able to find a topic like Port Forwarding. Here we are. Just forward ports 80, 443, 5223 (TCP) and 3478, 3479 (UDP) to your PS3′s IP address and you’re done. If you like to utilize the wonderful voice chat, you also have to forward 3658 (UDP). Now, everything should work like a charm. You may have to extend this list eventually, depending on the games you play. Don’t ask me next time, look it up somewhere on the net.

Since I’m already writing this for your, here’s how to upgrade your PS3′s firmware. If you absolutely have to perform the update using your PC, get your new firmware here. ATTENTION: Always use the firmware made and provided for your region! After you downloaded the upgrade, copy the firmware to a portable storage device. You have to create a folder called “PS3″ and within that a folder named “UPDATE”. The latter one receives the firmware. Please note, that you absolutely have to use uppercase letters or your Playstation won’t recognize your update! Last but not least, remove all USB devices, start the update process and follow the instructions on the screen.

Mind over matter

JC — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:37:00 +0000

Yesterday I discovered something very interesting. An enterprise called Emotiv Systems introduced some kinda helmet that allows gamers to control games with their mind. Thus, it’s safe to call it a brain/computer interface. The system is called Project Epoc and it can move objects based on gamer’s thoughts, reflect facial expressions, and respond to the excitement or calm the user mentally exerts. The helmet contains lots of sensors which pick up electric signals in the brain. The software part analyzes the signals and wirelessly relays them to a receiver which is plugged into the USB port of a game console or PC.

The developers all share the same vision: to transform the way humans interact with machines. They’re going to develop this technology for use in other industries too, including medicine, security, market research, and interactive television. Currently, the helmet on display at GDC is a prototype and some video footage indicates that it takes a high level of concentration to actually make things happen. Nonetheless, it’s an important step into the right direction: creating a highly efficient interface between humans and machines. According to Emotiv Systems we’re going to see the device on the market in 2008.

Pretty cool stuff, isn’t it? Frightening too.