China will put Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) into small-scale commercial pilot use and form a mature business model by the end of 2013, the State Council recently said at an executive meeting about the main goals and road map for the China Next Generation Internet project.

The country will then deploy the IPv6-based network on a large scale, and build a bridge between major IPv4- and IPv6-based services between 2014 and 2015.

This indicates the coming of the next-generation Internet featuring more IP addresses, greater capacity, and faster speed.

Why IPv6?

The next-generation Internet mainly refers to a new generation Internet based on IPv6, which provides faster speed, higher security, and more IP addresses than the current IPv4 system.

At present, most of the IP addresses worldwide are based on the IPv4 system developed in 1977, which only allows for a total of 4.3 billion addresses. Statistics showed that the last five blocks of IPv4 addresses were allocated on Feb. 3, 2011, making IPv6 deployment even more urgent.

IPv6 uses a 128-bit address scheme, and provides a virtually unlimited number of addresses: 2 to the 128th power. The abundant addresses will lift the Internet to a new level, and can be allocated to more devices such as household electrical appliances and vehicles, so they can be directly connected to the Internet. With IPv6, there will also be more diverse online services.

Of course, IPv6 has powerful new functions. For example, it could carry out the Internet target recognition, ID authentication and access authorization, has the data encryption function and integrality and is more secure; it complies with the trend of mobilization and is more convenient; it could be used to develop large-scale real-time communication applications; and its management and operation are more orderly and effective.

In China, relevant IPv6 research and construction works have started

In August 2003, the State Council of China officially authorized eight departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Ministry of Education, to jointly launch the China Next Generation Internet (CNGI) demonstrate project, indicating China’s IPv6 construction had entered the stage of practical development.

Currently, China has completed the large-scale demonstration new-generation Internet based on the IPv6, including six main networks, two international communication centers and Customer Premises Networks of 100 universities, 100 scientific research institutes and more than 70 enterprises. While serving the Beijing Olympic Games and Shenzhen Universiade, it also participated in the global test.

However, compared to that of developed countries, China’s IPv6 Internet is still relatively undeveloped. According to data, China’s IPv6 addresses account for only 0.29 percent of all the IPv6 addresses already allocated globally, far less than the 44.15 percent of Brazil and 11 percent of the United States.

Promoting IPv6 is a systematic project

The compatibility is the core issue. In order to promote the new-generation IP system, not only terminal users must change their routers or modems, but also Websites and Internet servers must be reconstructed fully. It will be huge project, and to make it more complex, it also involves interests of various parties.

Therefore, promoting the IPv6 is a systematic project that needs efforts from enterprises and departments of the entire industrial chain. As a matter of fact, China’s IPv6 Internet is still in its early stage and a lot of works still need to be done to make it develop smoothly.

Source – PeopleDaily

At the end of December, Samsung explained that memory issues on the Galaxy range stopped the company from delivering an update for its older smartphones. The TouchWiz interface and Samsung Widgets were said to be unreliable on the ageing handset, helping Samsung make the decision not to update the Galaxy S.

Just a day later, it was reported that Samsung was reconsidering its decision not release an Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) update for the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab, and was apparently readying a “Value Pack” that could deliver new features without a full rollout of the new Android software.

However, a Samsung spokesperson has said that the company will not offer the update due to the hardware specifications of the older Galaxy devices, in that they are limited to and fully optimised for the Gingerbread experience.

The news will frustrate Galaxy S owners that had gotten their hopes up following recent reports, with many still on a two-year contract, they were hoping to see new features on the device. That said, Samsung has begun to roll out Ice Cream Sandwich updates for the Galaxy S II and is working to deliver upgrades for the Galaxy Note and its newer Galaxy Tab models.

Source – TheNextWeb

Freeze them! Candles will last longer (almost 2 times), if they are placed in the freezer for a day before using them. Chilling the wax gives it a bit longer before burning through and leaving you with an empty jar. For some candles this will also cause them to drip less and burn straight down without burning through the side of the candle.

In addition, you can even throw them in the freezer after you’ve used them to make cleaning up that residual wax easier!

Source – Apartment Therapy Chicago

In the Apple ad from last October, the iPhone 4S is used to take pictures of the same girl, which are then edited and transmitted.

Models who have advertised products of certain companies are usually kept out of advertising for rival brands. But IT website Techie said that Samsung deliberately mocks Apple by implying that even Apple’s advertising models can be won over to Samsung products.

Apple fans, a particularly committed breed, accuse Samsung of copying not just Apple’s designs but even its advertising.

Samsung denies it had any such intention. A spokesman for the firm said the girl was selected in an audition by “an overseas advertising firm” and Samsung had no idea she had advertised Apple

Last year, Samsung also stirred up trouble with an ad showing a queue of customers waiting to buy a new iPhone wowed after seeing someone else use a Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE. A worldwide legal battle between the two companies continues.

Check out the iPhone’s ad here

Check out the Galaxy Tab 8.9 ad here

“We are looking to invest RM2.7bil to RM3bil in capex this year to provide access, build our core network and support systems. We will continue to invest in HSBB but increasingly our expansion would be based on a demand driven model,” TM group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Zamzamzairani Md Isa said in an interview.

As at third-quarter 2011, the telco had invested RM1.4bil but Zamzamzairani would not say what the final figure was for the full-year capex. TM’s capex is normally internally-funded.

“The capex for HSBB will slowly taper off since a lot has been spent on building the access for the supply driven model,” he said.
The investment in HSBB has been going on for the past few years and the telco has wired up 1.1 million of the 1.3 million premises it was supposed to provide with HSBB under the first phase.

The 1.3 million premises were based on a supply driven model but any roll out after the 1.3 million would be based on demand roll-out.

TM now has 200,000 Unifi subscribers.

On WiFi services, he said: “Previously our focus has been on providing access via fixed lines to homes and offices but the minute our customer walks out of the home or office building, he stops being our user. Eighty per cent of the time the user is in offices or shopping malls and that means we can still provide network access to him.

“We see this as an area of opportunity for us to have TM WiFi in different locations to cater for our nomadic users. It is a segment of the market that we can tap into going forward,” he said.

“We want to add more hotspots in the country, especially in the cities and major towns and we will bundle WiFi with our Unifi offering for our high-end users.

“We also want to have a prepaid WiFi offering to capture more users onto our network,” he added.

TM has about 17,000 hotspots in the country and while he did not say how many more would be added this year, any move in that direction would be aimed at supplementing coverage of its Unifi so as to provide its customers “ease of use”.

“The key places where users are most likely to be needing WiFi is in the shopping malls and universities more so since all smart devices are WiFi enabled,” he said.

There are 448 shopping malls in the country, of which 183 are TM WiFi enabled hotspots.

By April, Kuala Lumpur City Hall has mandated that all eateries in the city which has a floor space of 120 sq m or more to provide WiFi at their premises.

It is the growth in demand for data services that is forcing operators like TM to expand into providing WiFi services and if it does not focus on this area, it would be a loss of opportunity for the telco.

Having a fibre-based backhaul also allows it to carry more traffic than others although TM would be up against its wireless and cellular rivals which can provide mobility to their users.

“A lot of users get logged out when there is an overload in data traffic in a particular hotspot but we have the advantage as our backhaul is controlled by us.

“So user experience really depends on the backhaul, and we are also in talks with other players that want to ride on our network to offer WiFi services,” Zamzamzairani said.

Do take note however, that the application requires you to have Windows 7.

Currently, Facebook is considering it as a trial application. The features include:

• Chat and message with your friends on Facebook
• See the latest updates from your friends in ticker
• Get quick notifications about what’s going on

Good news for Facebook addicts who’s still stuck using a desktop system in today’s mobile age.

But if you’re like me who likes to keep things simple and easy, Pidgin can also let you do the same, while at the same time, lets you log into your Google Talk account, Windows Live chat and even your ICQ account if you still use it. Best of all, it’s a very small program which takes almost no resource and works on Windows XP, Mac and Linux.

Four oil companies are teaming up for the project — including JX Nippon Oil, Idemitsu Kosan Co, Cosmo Oil Co,. and Showa Shell Sekiyu KK — and the stations are expected to be in place by early 2012. The collaborative project is known as the EV Service Station Network.

For a fixed monthly fee — approximately US$38 — EV owners can charge their vehicles at any of the 27 locations. And according to Green Car Congress, the stations will also provide additional, as-of-yet unnamed, services for consumers while they wait for the charge to finish.

An electric vehicle (EV), also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. Three main types of electric vehicles exist, those that are directly powered from an external power station, those that are powered by stored electricity originally from an external power source, and those that are powered by an on-board electrical generator, such as an engine (a hybrid electric vehicle), or a hydrogen fuel cell.

Source – PCMag

Stop Online Piracy Act, SOPA, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors.

If approved, the bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who requests the court orders, the actions could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for 10 pieces of music or movies within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.

Source – The Daily Beast

However, due to much public demands, the company is now claiming that they will try to find ways to include the upgrade into the 2 devices. This is not much of a promise but it gives the users hope.

Android 4.x – Ice Cream Sandwich brings the following features and updates since the previous versions of Androids:

• Enhanced speed and performance
• Virtual buttons in the UI, in place of capacitive or physical buttons
• Separation of widgets in a new tab, listed in a similar manner to apps
• Easier-to-create folders, with a drag-and-drop style
• A customizable launcher
• Improved visual voicemail with the ability to speed up or slow down voicemail messages
• Pinch-to-zoom functionality in the calendar
• Offline search, a two-line preview, and new action bar at the bottom of the Gmail app
• Ability to swipe left or right to switch between Gmail conversations
• Integrated screenshot capture (accomplished by holding down the Power and Volume-Down buttons)
• Improved error correction on the keyboard
• Ability to access apps directly from lock screen (similar to HTC Sense 3.x)
• Improved copy and paste functionality
• Better voice integration and continuous, real-time speech to text dictation
• Face Unlock, a feature that allows users to unlock handsets using facial recognition software
• New tabbed web browser, allowing up to 16 tabs
• Automatic syncing of browser with users’ Chrome bookmarks
• Modern Roboto font
• Data Usage section in settings that lets users set warnings when they approach a certain usage limit, and disable data use when the limit is exceeded
• Ability to shut down apps that are using data in the background
• Improved camera app with zero shutter lag, time lapse settings, panorama mode, and the ability to zoom while recording
• Built-in photo editor
• New gallery layout, organized by location and person
• Refreshed “People” app with social network integration, status updates and hi-res images
• Android Beam, a near-field communication feature allowing the rapid short-range exchange of web bookmarks, contact info, directions, YouTube videos and other data
• Hardware acceleration of the UI
• Resizeable widgets – already part of Android 3.1 for tablets, but new for cellphones
• Wi-Fi Direct
• 1080p video recording for stock Android devices

Source – TheVerge

The move will make S-LCD Corp., founded in 2004, a wholly owned subsidy of Samsung and help Sony withdraw from a venture that has given it eight years of losses.

After the deal’s expected closed in January, Sony will take an $846-million loss, the Japanese tech giant said in a statement.

But the exit from the LCD-manufacturing business won’t mean that Sony is leaving the TV or computer-display business altogether.

S-LCD will provide LCD panels for Sony products via a “long-term supply agreement of LCD panels, as agreed by the two companies,” Samsung said in a statement.

Source – LA Times