The problem was basically that I wanted to get eBooks (text files) onto the iPod Touch, but not having a wireless network, that was proving to be somewhat difficult. The only real possibility was to try and find an unsecured network somewhere and bring a laptop, connect them both to the network and SCP (secure copy) the files over that way.
However, a colleauge introducted me to a brilliant application combination that allows me to copy files onto the iPod Touch while simply connected to the machine normally though the sync cable. These applications only exist for mac though, but since they prove that it is possible.
First installing macfuse and restarting. Running the iphonedisk application gives instant accecss to the iPod. The iPod Touch is then mounted on the system like any other drive and files and can be copied too and from just like any other filesystem. No fuss whatsoever! GREAT!!!
Greenpeace released its quarterly ranking of the leading mobile and PC manfacturers based on their global policies, their taking repsonsibility for their products (recycling) and how much they are working to remove harmful chemicals from their products.
Sony used to place quite well (5th), but with each passing ranking has consistently dropped and is currently sitting in last place.
The reasonsing being :
Sony has been free falling down the ranking and is now at the bottom. When the Guide was first launched the company was in 5th place. This is due in part to the penalty point for corporate double standards on Individual Producer Responsibility. Sony is a founding member of the European Recycling Platform which supports IPR; however, in the US, Sony is part of a Coalition that has been opposing Producer Responsibility and lobbying for U.S. consumers to pay an Advanced Recycling Fee (ARF). On chemicals, Sony has yet to provide timelines for eliminating PVC and BFRs from all their products. On the positive side, Sony scores well for having some models that are free of the worst chemicals on the market. Sony has yet to report on its recycling rate as a percentage of past sales. Sony loses a point on Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR) due to its double standards. Sony is a founding member of the European Recycling Platform which supports IPR; however, in the US, Sony is part of a Coalition that has been opposing Producer Responsibility and lobbying for U.S. consumers to pay an Advanced Recycling Fee (ARF).
Greenpeace Ranking here
It looks like there is a fairly large amount of despute going on over the intellectual property rights over Googles Gmail service. Another British company (IIR) alleges that they had the rights first and that Google is infringing on them.
Current the case is tied up in court back in the USA. Thankfully, IIR is not asking that the domain (which they value at somewhere between 48 and 64 million dollars US) but rather that google change the name of the service to something else.
IIR points to the case of Apple and Cisco whose resolution of the “iphone” dispute has shown how “responsible companies” settle disputes.
Does this mean that google will have to change the name of their service (without changing their domain)? Does anybody outside business even care? I like my gmail service and as long as it doesn’t get interrupted, I don’t really care what it is called.
More detailed story here.
For the first time, I am currently having the opportunity to play around with Google’s Adwords as part of a site that I am currently working on. The tools are definitly very powerful but it looks like they are very hard to overcome for the person who isn’t very familiar with computers or marketing in general.
I am enjoying the chance to play around with the diffent ad groups to see how they generate revenue. For example, comparing one very general keyword, versus creating a whole bunch of more specific keywords. It really is a learning process.
Recently, I have been learing about a whole variety of different technologies (may of which I will put here) and have been throughly enjoying looking and playing around with them.
Google as be used as a dictionary as well as a search engine. The people at google have combined the definitions from a wide variety of dictionaries to make them easy to browse. All you have to is write a search in the form of define:
For example: define:happy