Elliot Reeve’s Blog
Technology, Web, Programming, Computers and Gadgets
Archive for November, 2009
Rupert Murdoch attacks Google
Nov 15th
Rupert Murdoch who is the face of Sky has announced that he no longer wants Google to index his web pages in its search engine results. Murdoch spoke about his anger towards Google as well as his intentions for the Sky news website to become a subscription website during an interview last week.
Murdoch made it clear that he no longer wanted Google to display Sky news links in its listings. When asked why he said “Why do I want a one time user who accidently comes across the sky news site accessing my website?” The interviewer then returned the question of “Surely having this user visit once means they may view your site on a more regular basis?”.
Murdoch’s argument about the Sky news website becoming a subscription website is that it costs time and money in order to post the content onto the site. This was a fair point however the Sky news website is a just a method of increasing Sky’s profile as a company. In addition to this, to claim Sky make no money from their website maybe true, but its hard to believe they make a loss either, due to the rich vain of advertising they have the capability of receiving.
When asked about the expected price to read the news from the Sky website he referred to the price of a newspaper and claimed the website would not exceed this cost. Murdoch believes the web has the ability to overtake newspapers and questioned how many under 30 year olds read newspapers these days.
In my opinion this is a fair point however there are too many other websites which users have the ability to access for free which will effectively see Sky news readers find alternatives news websites to read. In return to his opinion of Google indexing Sky news web pages I feel that this is unjustified criticism because you can prevent Google from indexing your web pages if you want to, however Sky have obviously chosen not to do this.
Updating your Blackberry Software
Nov 15th
Blackberry’s are constantly been updated due to bugs been found in the software which they were originally released with. Its important your Blackberry has the most up to date software in order to get the most out of your Blackberry.
There has been a common problem with Blackberry’s draining the battery even when its not in use. Some people have claimed that even when leaving the Blackberry on whilst being asleep the battery drained from 80% down to 30%. Software updates will help alleviate battery draining problems which may have been caused by a bug in the software.
Updating your Blackberry software:
In order to update your software you need a couple of things:
- USB Cable
- PC or Mac with Internet connection
Assuming you have the above you then need to follow the steps below to ensure you have the most up to date software:
- Download the Blackberry Desktop Software here
- Once installed simply plug your Blackberry into your USB cable
- The software on your computer should now have connected your Blackberry
- You will be informed of whether there are any updates for your Blackberry
- If there are any updates simply select Update and allow the software to run
Your Blackberry may turn on and off a couple of times during this process however this is normal and your Blackberry will be back to normal once the procedure has finished. You will be left with the most up to date software on your Blackberry.
Blackberry battery saving tips:
- Turn off Wifi when your not using it
- Switch off Bluetooth when your not using it
- Close any applications when you have finished using them
- Put your phone into Standby mode
I hope this will help you get the most out of your Blackberry, saving every little bit of battery you can may help you when your on the road!
The development of Online Games - RPG’s, MMORPG’s
Nov 8th
With what is an ever increasing demand for games, online gaming is constantly growing with new languages allowing a wider variety of games to be made. The constantly evolving web development world has seen online games change the way we see the web. Previously the www was just seen as a place to gain information however as time has gone by we have seen the development of games come to the forefront of the web.
The games themselves are improving at a rapid pace. Gone are the days of MUD’s where the game was solely described as text. We are now seeing 2-D and 3-D graphics on a regular basis. Some of the best online games around are now matching the standard of those which were previously only available to buy in store.
Online games can be thought up and developed by anyone. There are no expensive start up costs, they can be developed in the developers own time and they do not have large maintenance costs. This provides a huge market of people who, if they put their mind to it and come up with a good idea, have potential to make a very popular game.
In my opinion the quality of online games are going to continue to improve. The only factor which can potentially slow down the development/growth of the online gaming industry is a users internet connection speed not being able to withstand the ever increasing demands of a top online game.
With internet speeds set to improve across the world online gaming has a bright future. The availability and ease of access makes online games appealing to a number of users. Being able to pick up where you left off at a friends house or whilst on holiday means that a user gets more emotionally attached to the game in question.
Happy Gaming!
Set a program to start on startup Mac OS X
Nov 7th
If you have a program which you use frequently on your Mac you can set it open on startup just like msconfig on a windows machine.
Load program from startup:
- Navigate to “System Preferences” from your Applications.
- Click “Accounts”.
- Select the account you wish to change the programs on start up for.
- Click the tab at the top of the screen titled “Login Items”.
- Here you will see a list of applications which you can tick to open them on startup.
- If the program is not in the list:
- Click the “+”
- Navigate to the program you want to run on startup.
- Tick the box once the program is in the list.
- If the program is not in the list:
The programs you have ticked will now open automatically when you boot up your Mac, enjoy!
Xbox 360 Live - Open your NAT type
Nov 7th
In order to get the best out of Xbox Live you may need to open your NAT. Network Address Translation (NAT) is the process of modifying network address information in datagram packet headers while in transit across a traffic routing device for the purpose of remapping a given address space into another.
Xbox Live has 3 stages of NAT: Strict, Moderate, Open. If your NAT is Strict you may not be able to play some of your friends online. To solve this you need to edit the settings on your router.
Setting NAT to Open:
- Navigate to the network settings on your Xbox 360 and set your IP address manually, this is so that it stays static
- Login to the control panel of your router e.g http://192.168.0.1
- Navigate to Services or Firewall as you need to open up 3 ports.
- Enter the following ports into your firewall from the IP address you set in the previous step:
- UDP: 88
- UDP/TCP: 3074
- Your router should now be setup to open these ports and your Xbox Live gaming should be pain-free!
- To double check this login to your Xbox Live account on your Xbox 360 and check your NAT type in the Network Settings.
Happy Gaming!