Mozilla recently released Firefox 9, a new version of their browser. One of its most important features is a JavaScript engine that is 36% faster than their previous version.
It strikes me that we have come quite a way if JavaScript performance is now one of the biggest selling points of a browser. The change isn’t all that surprising: with JavaScript powering almost all web applications, JavaScript performance is closely tied to the perceived speed of the browser itself.
I think the success of JavaScript is especially impressive when you consider that JavaScript is not a “clever” language, nor does it have any popular gimmick attached to it. It has succeeded solely by being ubiquitous (all major web browsers support JavaScript) and by undergoing steady improvement.
The BBC has finally issued a press release outlining the cuts they plan for the BBC World Service in order meet the government’s mandatory 16% budget reduction and those cuts seem pretty drastic.
In addition to job losses of 650 people, they plan to close five language services completely and end radio programs in seven languages, focusing on online content only. The BBC World Service is also beginning "a phased reduction from most short wave and medium wave distribution of remaining radio services." This will include shutting down their popular 648 kHz mediumwave transmitter, which can be heard in much of Europe. It will also mean stopping English language shortwave broadcasts to Russia and limiting broadcasts to Asia and Africa to two hours a day. Considering the political climate in Russia, this seems like an odd time to be ending broadcasts there.
Deutsche Welle, the German international broadcaster that has been operating since 1953, has been ordered by the German government to cut expenses. Deutsche Welle has prepared a 400 page report detailing plans to tighten its focus by dropping shortwave and reducing mediumwave (what is known as AM in the United States) broadcasts. For more details, here is a Deutsche Presse-Agentur story and also a Deutsche Welle press release (in German).
Deutsche Welle’s new focus will be FM broadcasts in target areas, which include Asia, Africa, Arab countries, Iran, and Latin America. In another big change, Deutsche Welle will no longer target German expatriates. It also sounds as though the German government will have more of a role in keeping Deutsche Welle’s output compatible with German foreign policy.
Despite its age, I think Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 is quite a useful tool. It works well for native C++ Windows development and I prefer its user interface to later versions. But one problem is that it doesn’t support the newer Windows 7 headers. This makes software development using Windows 7 features rather difficult.
The obvious solution is to download the latest version of the Windows software development kit (SDK) from Microsoft. The documentation for the current version of the SDK (v7.1) describes it as supporting Visual Studio 2005. But the SDK configuration tool which is necessary to configure Visual Studio 2005 doesn’t work with it, describing Visual Studio 2005 as "not a supported scenario." So how do you configure Visual Studio 2005 with Windows SDK v7.1 if the configuration tool won’t do it?
The trick is to set the configuration paths manually. Visual Studio paths can be changed in the menus under Tools, Options…, VC++ Directories.
Recently, a commentator posed an interesting question. Why, he wondered, are there so many computer video and audio formats? Why can’t everyone involved take a lesson from the phonograph record? After all, there is only one type of phonograph record and it can be played by any record player.
Although this idea makes sense at first, it has a few historical problems. It is true that any phonograph record you can buy today (assuming you can find one) will play on any record player you can buy. But this is the result of a long process that spanned almost a century.
This curious advertisement has been floating around since 1964. Titled “Keep TV Free,” it paints a dire picture of a future with only pay television and asks the citizens of California to become involved. So what was happening in California at that time deemed so threatening to free television?
The advertisement (from 1964 not 1968) refers to a nearly forgotten chapter in television history: a pay television service sold by Subscription Television, Inc., more commonly known as STV. STV was headed by Sylvester (Pat) Weaver, previously the chairman at NBC. Weaver was responsible for many television milestones at NBC, including the creation of the “Today” show and “participation advertising,” the practice of networks selling advertising within shows. In the early 1960’s, he became interested in creating a pay television service to potentially rival the networks. STV began wiring up houses in San Francisco and Los Angeles with plans to ultimately expand the service nationwide.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months then you undoubtedly have heard about the iPad, Apple’s new handheld device. Given the widespread media fascination with the iPad, I can’t think of any other way to have avoided hearing about it.
I also don’t know of any product that has been more widely rumored before its official release. Apple officially announced the iPad on January 27, 2010, but the rumors were flying months before that. Some of the rumors seemed unlikely (a three-dimensional user interface), some were bizarre (built-in solar panels), but some were fairly accurate (an accompanying ebook store).
Although obtaining an amateur radio license no longer requires demonstrating a proficiency in Morse code, interest in Morse code doesn’t seem to have taken the nose dive that some had predicted. I think that many now regard Morse code as an elite skill rather than the unpleasant (but mandatory) task it used to be.
I’m pretty late in noticing this, but the Microsoft Flight Simulator is no more. Microsoft shut down ACES Studio, the internal group that developed Microsoft Flight Simulator, back in January 2009.
I think this is a shame because the Flight Simulator was one of the oldest personal computer programs still being actively developed. Although some sources (including Microsoft) state that the first version was for the IBM PC in 1982, the program actually dates back further than that.
Did Jack Benny make an uncredited cameo in the 1942 movie Casablanca? That odd claim isn’t new: it dates back to the movie’s release and appears in the Casablanca press book. But movie studio publicity departments weren’t known for slavish adherence to the truth and often invented stories for publicity. I had always assumed this story fell into the category of urban legend.
To my surprise, many people think that the story is true. Roger Ebert recently addressed it in his “Movie Answer Man” column in the Chicago Sun-Times (the December 9, 2009 and December 23, 2009 columns). Here is another discussion at the International Jack Benny Fan Club Forum. The best guess among viewers seems to be that Jack Benny is sitting at a table in the background at around the seven minute mark.
Will free over-the-air broadcast television in the United States soon become a thing of the past? That prospect would have seemed impossible to me not too long ago, but I wonder if it is what the future holds.
After a slow start, DISH Network has released quite a number of digital converter boxes lately. Now they have announced the DTVPal DVR, a digital video recorder for over-the-air broadcast television.
I was saddened to learn that Radio Netherlands is ending shortwave transmissions to North America, effective October 26, 2008. Radio Netherlands was one of the first shortwave stations I ever heard and I have spent many enjoyable hours over the years listening to their programs.
I’m sure this move makes financial sense for Radio Netherlands, just as I’m sure dropping shortwave broadcasts to North America made financial sense for the BBC. There are no broadcasters with budgets large enough to transmit to everywhere in the world and it only makes sense to allocate limited resources to areas deemed most important. But it’s still sad to watch the steady decline of shortwave services to North America.
Many believe that online radio is the successor to all radio, not just AM and FM but also shortwave. I personally find that hard to believe unless broadband access becomes more common than it is now. But just about everyone agrees that the royalty rates for online radio in the United States are set too high for most stations to survive. It would therefore seem obvious to me that the rates need to be lowered. For once, that may be happening.
Back when there was debate about the Sirius and XM satellite radio merger, various groups suggested potential conditions that might be made part of the deal. Some were discarded but others were agreed upon. For example, both companies made an open device pledge that will allow manufacturers to add features to their receivers.
One frequently suggested condition was a requirement that all new satellite radios be capable of receiving terrestrial HD Radio stations. The FCC didn’t make that part of the deal, although they are still requesting public comments on the idea. Now Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has introduced the “Radio All Digital Channel Receiver Act”, which would make the FCC implement that HD Radio requirement.
I’ve written before about the DISH Network DTVPal, a $59.99 digital converter box with some of the best features of any converter box available. DISH Network later released another converter box, the EchoStar TR-40 CRA, with a price $20 lower than the DTVPal. This was somewhat confusing because the TR-40 CRA was exactly the same unit as the DTVPal!
A group known as the Broadcast Maximization Committee, or BMC, made an interesting proposal to the FCC last month. They want to expand the FM radio band to encompass television channels 5 and 6 (the ordinary FM band is positioned between television channels 6 and 7). The goal for this would be to reduce interference. You can read their complete proposal here: TV Channel 5-6 Radio Proposal.
If you follow technology news at all, then you have certainly heard about Chrome, Google’s new web browser. It was released on September 3 to good reviews, with most praising its speed and simplicity. According to Market Share, Chrome achieved a market share of 1% in only two days!
Of course, not everyone was pleased. Some have criticized Chrome’s lack of a built-in email client. But that makes sense when you consider that Google wants Chrome to showcase their lineup of web applications. Remember GMail?
“It’s okay to cut a competitor down a few notches, but never cut him six feet lower than the soles of his feet. That’s no longer fair competition, folks, that’s murder.”
“One way of landing a client is to fish him out of the river. Which is exactly how I commenced my confidential file on a character named Richie Stimson.”
I have been writing software and working with computers for thirty years. This weblog reflects my interests in programming, electronics, broadcasting, and technology.
? That odd claim isn’t new: it dates back to the movie’s release and appears in the Casablanca press book. But movie studio publicity departments weren’t known for slavish adherence to the truth and often invented stories for publicity. I had always assumed this story fell into the category of urban legend. 
!
