Geekery

Domain men

Posted on 15. Mar, 2010 by Jake.

The first ever dotcom domain is celebrating its 25th birthday, as explained by an article on http://SeekBroadband.

On March 15th 1985, a computer systems firm called Symbolics, which made software based on MIT research, registered the first dotcom domain name: Symbolics.com, with registration firm Network Solutions. Neither Symbolics nor Network Solutions exist independently any more and the event has been long forgotten. The founders of Symbolics do not even remember it taking place. However it sparked a global revolution, albeit one which would take a while to get going.

In the rest of 1985, there were only five more dotcom domain names registered. While most of the first 100 dotcoms created were for computer businesses, it took a while for the industry giants to become interested. Apple registered in February 1987 while Microsoft took until 1991 to buy theirs.

By 1992 there were still fewer than 15,000 dotcom domains compared to the 84 million that currently exist. Of these the majority are e-commerce and online business websites. Dotcom actually nearly never happened at all. It was first thought up back in 1984 when ideas were being drawn up for commercial domains but initially .cor was the most popular. The milestone is being celebrated by VeriSign, an internet security company which administers dotcom registration and acquired Network Solutions in 2000.

Ironically the 25th anniversary of dotcom comes just five days after the 10th anniversary of the dotcom bubble bursting.

See a list of the first 100 domain names ever registered here.

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Microsoft’s new technology for schools

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by Jake.

So Microsoft, for all the flack open source dev dudes and Apple fans give them, are involved with some pretty awesome social upliftment schemes.

They have now released a product which they bill as a “simple and affordable technology for schools that allows several students to work a single computer at the same time – each with their own screen, mouse and keyboard”.

If you’re in Joburg you can see this new technology, which is currently on display at the African School Technology Innovation Centre (STIC) in Newtown, Johannesburg.

Called Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, it aims to give more teachers and students access to technology at low cost.

Check out these videos for more info:
mms://msvcatalog-5.wmod.llnwd.net/a2249/e1/ft/share3/be21/0/70e11e70-326a-403a-b719-f329f803c12b.wmv

mms://msnvidweb.wmod.msecnd.net/a10026/e1/ft/share15/e1ed/0/5bbc002c-a4c7-41e6-92ac-cd15f2e0ee0d.wmv

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No sex please, we’re Apple

Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by Jake.

App by app, Apple has spent the last couple of days embarking on a moralistic cleansing of their iPhone App Store. Porn fiends the world over wanted answers, and now. So, thanks to an article on Gizmodo.com, let’s here what the official word from Apple executive Paul Schiller is:

“It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see.”

Fair enough. What those who have come out strongly against the move have pointed out, though, is that those parents who have complained are not aware of, or simply aren’t using, the parental controls available to them that would restrict their kids from access to these apps.

Also controversial is the fact that Apple have retained two risqué, borderline soft-porn apps in the form of Sports Illustrated and FHM. Are these two allowed to remain because of the commercial clout of the companies they represent? And, if so, is Apples app purge aimed only at smaller developers, who need their products to remain in the App Store the most?

Schiller, when asked about Sports Illustrated, does not deny this: “the difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” he said. But, the idea that it’s fine to publish half-naked women as long as you’re famous is insulting.

And, many Apple-heads want their favourite brand to be cooler than the others. We want it to treat us like adults, and that is why the idea of the brand condoning a world in which we cannot choose which Apps we can and can’t to download is troublesome.

Are Apple in the right self-censoring their App Store at the expense of developers? Let me know below.

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Nokia tells over a million people where to go

Posted on 03. Feb, 2010 by Jake.

For quite a while now, the rise of the GPS device has provided a solution for the eternally lost motorist. But what about those particularly loskop types who can’t even find their way when on foot? Nokia, with the launch of Ovi Maps, a downloadable phone app boasting free walk and drive navigation, came to the rescue in January.  Now, thanks to the good people of Moral Fibre, I now know that there have already been over a million downloads of Nokia’s latest initiative.  Which means over a million people are going to be too busy watching their phones to keep their eyes on where they’re going, whether by car or on foot. Motorists and pedestrians alike are advised to be on the alert.

Just to put into perspective exactly how much of these babies have been downloaded since the launch in Jan, Nokia’s Executive Vice President, Anssi Vanjoki tells us that “we’re averaging a download a second, 24 hours a day,” That’s a lot, he said, stating the obvious.

Good news for those too silly to work out how to download something is that next month all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with high-end walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost.

Ovi Maps is pretty comprehensive, covering more than 180 countries with car and pedestrian navigation for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries. There are more than 6000 3D landmarks for 200 cities around the world.  Lonely Planet and Michelin guides have information on more than 1,000 destinations globally.

All of this means that I, a Nokia user, may never get lost again. Unless I lose my phone, in which case I will have to sit on the pavement drooling on myself until someone with Ovi Maps (or, although less likely, a sense of direction) tells me where to go.

Check out the full press release here.

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The 2010 Nerdy NomNoms have begun

Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by Jake.

SheBee, otherwise known as Sheena Gates, the queen of online culture blog Nerd Mag, has invented her own award ceremony – The Nerdies. Now in its second year, the first instalment even saw one of my good friends nominated – none other than social media don Mike Stopforth. I’m not too sure who the winners were and, strangely, couldn’t find this info online. Feel free to comment below if it is there and I’m just blind. But it doesn’t really matter who won last year, since the process of this year’s nominations, cutely dubbed the Nerdie NomNoms, is currently underway.

In case you’ve never heard of them (which I assure you is nothing to be ashamed of), they are a tongue-in-cheek attempt to honour the sexiest geeks in South Africa (or the sexiest nerds, as Nerd Mag would have it, although we all know that there is a big difference between nerds and geeks, this competition really targeting the latter. But I digress…) in a manner echoing Wired’s annual Sexiest Geek awards.

Unlike in a more conventional beauty pageant, when it comes to online beauty looks aren’t everything, as Gates herself puts it, “The nominees should be nominated for their personalities more than anything else, this is onlinedom okes, shallowness is null and void here.” So, if you know someone of such extreme online sexiness that you think they can take the title, nominate them here. The finalists get cool prizes including free hosting, Mowali and Ster Kinekor merchandise, hampers, a Connect Magazine subscription, a Springleap shirt and Kalahari vouchers.

And it’s for a good cause too, people. The awards will culminate in an auction, and the money will go to a charity which will soon be announced. For more info click here.

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