Written on 8th June 2009
30 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Channel 4 is set to become the first major UK broadcaster to offer their entire archive of television programs online completely for free.
Channel4.com relaunched on 1st April 2009 with their 4oD TV Catch-up service as its primary selling point. From July however, all this will change and PC, Mac and Linux users will be able to watch Channel 4’s complete programming history on Channel4.com.
Frankly, I’m not only impressed Channel4 has decided to make the move but I’m genuinely excited. Shows like Queer as Folk, Trigger Happy TV, Drop the Dead Donkey and more will be a couple of mouse clicks away – a danger to productivity levels but a convenience all the same.
Jon Gisby, who was made Channel 4’s Director of Future Media & Technology in 2007, said:
“We were the first broadcaster to launch a comprehensive video-on-demand service in 2006 and since that time 4oD has become one of the UK’s most popular VOD brands. The addition of archived content to 4oD on channel4.com means we will be the only UK broadcaster to have all of our content available online. We are extremely proud of the new and improved service and think the combination of fantastic content that’s easy to find and view will prove a compelling service for all users.”
Similar to Joost, Channel 4 has taken the decision to close its 4oD desktop application once all the archived content is available via Channel4.com.
For you non-Brits out there, unfortunately there aren’t any plans to offer the service internationally just yet.
A few days ago Opera released the first beta of Opera 10. Today, Google pretty silently published very early Google Chrome builds for Mac OS X and Linux. According to Google’s Chrome team blog, this very early build is not intended for download – which obviously, I could not resist – because it lacks essential stuff: The ability to watch YouTube videos, privacy settings and changing your search provider to bing.
Google’s browser is based on the open source Chromium initiative and ships with Google’s V8 JavaScript engine (also open sourced). My personal browsing experience with this dev channel release is quite fine, fast and clean rendering and speedy JavaScript execution. The absence of support for Adobe Flash and some occasional crashes are okay for such an early release.
We should expect Google to release updates on a bi-weekly schedule. Download your copy:
Google Chrome build for Mac OS X.
Google Chrome build for Linux.
Written on 27th April 2009
5 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
The guys at Web Designer Depot put together a list of screenshots from various Operating Systems dating back nearly 30 years. If you haven’t had a browse already ensure you do, otherwise have a skim of our selection below including the latest Windows 7 release.
Written on 6th December 2008
0 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
A group of European sailing enthusiasts have just created a solar-powered, Linux-brained sailboat that can sail anywhere and navigate pre-set race courses with no human intervention whatsever! Sounds like a novices dream and a fantastic way for beginners to learn.
The Roboat can calculate the optimal route by weighting drift coordinates against weather parameters. The rudder and sails as well as the tacks and jibes are autonomously controlled by incoming data from sensors (GPS, compass, anemometer, etc.), which are analysed using artificial intelligence.
According to CleanTechnica: The Roboat is actually an adapted 3.75m Laerling beginner’s sailing vessel that has been kitted out with a Linux operating system and a control software suite that uses Java and C++.
The boat also features sensors that track position and speed over ground, speed through water, ultrasonic wind speed, and more. When a destination is set, the Roboat’s chain-driven motors adjust the mainsail, jib, rudder, and boom. In case its solar panels fail, the Roboat also comes with a methanol fuel cell for backup. (more…)
The news du jour is that some people have managed to install and run Linux on an iPhone. I’m not sure what the benefit is but I’m sure someone will be able to tell me that in the comments here. Check out the video for proof:
All too often we hear that so and so has secured x.000,000.00 of financing in round (x). What we don’t hear much about are quiet little companies who make niche products that people are actually willing to pay for, built by small teams and who are actually profitable and largely grow organically.
A new weekly series
Therefor I am starting a series of weekly articles covering companies ‘who actually make money’. Given I’m an application developer, the companies I like will be nerdy techie types. If you have some tips for companies you particularly like (in other sectors maybe), please let me know in the comments.
Expensive web control panels
One such company that I am in love with is called Virtualmin. Virtualmin is a web control panel on Apache for system admins. Built on top of the Webmin platform, Virtualmin allows complete control over (and the creation of) virtual servers.
If your asking ‘what is he going on about’, let me tell you the problem. Every web app / site sits on a server, but configuring servers is very complicated. Knowledge of Linux is needed along with an army of tools which are utilized through the command line. Control panels like Virtualmin help to sanitize the process by offering friendly user interfaces and doing much of the donkey work for you.
There are a few companies offering control panels (Cpanel, Plesk etc.) they can be expensive and while looking pretty, cost is very important to bootstrapped start ups (especially me) and this where the Virtualmin GPL (free) version excels.
When I had to move my own app up to a larger server, I found this wonderful company called Linode offering great deals for high quality / capacity services. Being a bargain hunter I signed up for a basic account then soon realized the catch. There was no control panel like on other virtual servers, in a nut shell, you had to know Linux. eerk.
Did I really need to learn how to use Linux?
The first response I had was to run, did I need the headache of learning all this when all I wanted was a bigger server? Hanging around for the duration turns out to have been one of the better decisions I have made along this windy unlit road.
Having control over every aspect of your own set up is overwhelmingly powerful, there are too many benefits to list but the breadth of tools I now have available make all the difference between a site that fly’s and one that grinds to a halt.
Companies who are looking for scalable and cost effective solutions to hosting their apps with 1 million visitors per month etc. would do very well to sign up for a Linode and install Virtualmin. The support on Linode has been exceptional and coupled with Virtualmin I think the combination is the best hosting solution on the market today.
The next web is mobile, that’s for sure. For some, it already is the recent web, especially those who walk around with the nifty little tool called the iPhone. Which basically is a mini computer with a phone function. Problem with the shiny object though, is that it’s one of the most locked-in devices we’ve seen in the last years. Open alternatives are on its way, of which the Android platform is probably the most famous one. Android is based on Linux, the OS that lays the foundation for open mobile platforms.
Intel probably acknowledges this, based on their acquisition of London-based Opened Hand, a company which specializes in mobile Linux development and services. Cnet reports that the chip company will ask these British Linux mobile experts to focus on the Mobil Software Platform community, “an open source community for sharing software technologies, ideas, projects, code, and applications to create an untethered computing experience across Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), Netbooks, and embedded devices”. The first devices have found their way to the market earlier this summer.
In short, they’re laying the foundation for the next, mobile, open and thus more exciting web. Developers will have all the freedom to build the mobile devices and software, not limited by a mighty company.
From this September schools all over Switzerland will run only Linux’s OS Ubuntu due to government’s guidelines. The new motto of the Department of Public Instruction is “Long Live Free Software”, reports Christopher Dawson from Zdnet. Already 9000 computers in Swiss schools have been dual-booting Windows and Ubuntu, since the schools want to be prepared.
The switch to Ubuntu is beneficial for both officials and students, says a spokesperson from the Department of Public instruction. Officials save a lot of money and students will be able to run the same programs at home as they do on school, since they’re all free.
The guidelines by the government might increase the market share of Linux in Switzerland, since parents will probably install Ubuntu at home as well. The reason most people haven’t considering switching to a different OS is that everything but Windows seems ‘alternative’ and ’strange’. Yet if the principal of a school sends a letter that Ubuntu is the next big thing, switching doesn’t seem all that weird again. One thing is for sure, the Swiss Linux community will be pretty busy with assisting people by installing their beloved OS.
Written on 8th June 2009
30 COMMENTS 
Channel 4 is set to become the first major UK broadcaster to offer their entire archive of television programs online completely for free.
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