Technik News

Das Blog zu IT, Mobilfunk & Internet

Archiv für 2007

Free File Hosting – Disk Space

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Disk space is essential to any web site. Disk space is essentially the space that is allotted to a web site in comparison to the amount on the hard drive of the server, or the computer that the information is being stored on. If you order 5 GB’s of disk space then you are allotted those 5 GB’s on one of the server’s hard drives.

Disk space is purchased along with bandwidth in hosting packages for web sites and is related to bandwidth in every way. While bandwidth is the amount of data that is being downloaded from the server, the disk space is the space on the hard drive that holds that data. Basically, disk space is the space where the files and images are stored and the bandwidth is how many times that stored information is being downloaded from the server to other computers.

Disk space allows web site owners to use that space for whatever they’d like to store. Disk space is, in essence, a web site owners virtual storage room. The web site owner has access to this storage room via his or her own computer and can access that storage room at any time and store any file they’d like in there. They can have private sectors of files they don’t want downloaded and then other areas related to the web site itself that can be downloaded. Disk space is like having a hard drive on someone else’s computer that you can access and use yourself on any other computer.

In larger terms, the disk space for a file hosting company is related to the file uploading of a user on that file hosting web site. Users upload files and images to the web site which can then be accessed at any time. By uploading, the users are submitting their file to the disk space that the file hosting web site has purchased in their hosting plans on the server. A user uploads their files and those files join countless numbers of other files from other users all over the world on that same server. Those files on that disk space can then be downloaded from anywhere.

Modern electronics and battery life (or the lack thereof)

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I’m pretty amazed at the latest gadgets coming out from the R&D departments of consumer electronics companies, such as Nokia and Apple – the N95 is a super-duper, do-it-all, cellphone (sorry, Nokia wants us to call it a ‘multimedia computer’), featuring multiple bands, HSDPA 3G (Europe only), WiFi, GPS, and a 5Mpixel camera, apart from a wide array of software tools for blogging, posting pictures online, navigation and more. What price does this device pay? A meager 950mAh battery, which lasts less than a day under normal use, considering ‘normal’ as actually using the functionality it offers. I guess you can get more if you turn off the GPS, WiFi, don’t use the camera, and make almost no calls…but then what good are all the bells & whistles for?

The iPhone case is even more interesting, as the device has not been released yet, but Apple has already reported an increase in battery life with respect to the initial quoted value. The iPhone will have 8 hours of talk time, and some 250 hours of standby time, with 5 hours of video and 24 hours of audio playback. Apple’s stock has jumped $3 since the announcement, something that will make losers in the fake email crash happy.

Let’s try to make a simple breakdown of power consumptions, and see if manufacturers are being overly optimistic.

WiFi

One of the biggest power drains, as there is no built-in power management into the WiFi protocol, contrary to GSM and 3G. When transmitting over GSM, a phone makes calculations from data received from the network and its own measurements in order to adjust RF power to the minimum required to reach the cell’s base station. Thus, in areas of good coverage, a phone can be consuming far less power than in rural areas with more spotty coverage. While on a 3G network, the rate of adjustment is even higher. WiFi chipsets in mobile phones have basically two settings, “high” and “low”. Most times, unless you are sitting right next to the access point, and without any major interference, the setting the phone will use is “high”.

Assuming that the WiFi chipset used by the Nokia N95 and the iPhone use little power, for example, by fitting the Nanoradio solution, the power consumption would stand at 130mA in transmit mode, 53mA in receive mode, and 50uA in standby mode. Assuming we are receiving 80% of the time, for example, by browsing the web, the average consumption would stand at around 68mAh. The N95’s battery would last 13 hours, if it had to power the WiFi chipset alone.

GPS

Even though GPS technology has advanced a lot since the early days, GPS chipsets can draw upwards of 80mA. Special trickle-power configurations (which also impact performance) can reduce this to 50mA or so. Thus, the N95’s battery could power the GPS for around 19 hours.

Processor

The Nokia N95 features an ARM11-based Texas Instruments OMAP2420 running at 330MHz, featuring 2D/3D video acceleration on top of whopping performance. What does this mean in electrical power terms? Even though this processor features SmartReflex technology, which reduces static leak currents (a good technical overview is available here [pdf]), the net current drawn is around 30mA. The N95 battery could power the main processor for around 32 hours.

Display

The display on the N95 is very good, beautiful, 16M colors, 240×320 pixel resolution. It is also power hungry, taking around 30mA, thus, the battery could also power the display for around 32 hours.

Phone

Assuming that you talk 5% of the time on the phone, the average power consumption by the phone subsytem alone would stand around 20mA, resulting in a battery life of 47 hours.

Adding things up

So far, we have seen how much the battery could keep running each individual system on the phone, but adding things up, we have a power consumption of about 100mA (taking into account that we are not using everything at once, I halved the figures). This results in around 9.5 hours of operation, more or less an average day. This ties in with most users’ experiences, as shown in many reviews done so far on the N95.

The iPhone, being much thinner, wider and taller than the N95, probably won’t have that much larger battery capacity – why does Apple give the figures they do, I can only blame on the marketing department. This is not as uncommon as it seems, R&D provides a set of carefully calculated and actually measured results, then the marketing guys take them and multiply them by two. Anyone who has used a modern, high-end phone or PDA, will attest to the fact that quoted battery life figures differ from reality by far. I don’t know of many companies that can raise their stock $3 by simply increasing the value of the battery life in one of their products – this shows how much hype there is around the iPhone (of which I’ll most definitely get one…they are soooo sexy!).

Whisher 2.0: Looking for beta testers

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It has been just over four months of very hard work, listening to users, adding features, implementing changes, and generally improving Whisher, but we’ve done it! A private beta program is set to start in a few days, and we are looking for users to participate in it. In general terms, we are looking for the following – you must:

  • be knowledgeable in WiFi technologies and networking, we’re not asking for gurus, but we need people who know what an SSID is 😉
  • have at least one laptop computer with WiFi, be it a PC with Windows or a Mac. A desktop with a USB or PCI WiFi adapter is also good.
  • have at least one WiFi access point or router, and be knowledgeable in its configuration and management.
  • be willing to test a software application and report frequently and consistently using an online bug tracking platform (don’t worry, it’s dead easy to use!).

As part of the beta testing program, we will offer two prizes, one for the most active tester, and another randomly drawn amongst all participants. The prize for each winner consists of a Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N router and a matching WUSB300N Wireless-N USB adapter, so that you can enjoy up to 12 times more transfer speed than normal 802.11G technology, and up to 4 times more range!

If you feel like you can make a difference, please contact the beta team! We will give you more details about how the program will play out, and get you started. Beta testers will also have access to a private area of the Whisher Forums to exchange experiences, make comments and participate in the beta program. Please include a brief description of your experience and equipment so that we may better evaluate your application.

Whisher is a Webware 100 finalist!

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Excellent news today, as Whisher has been selected as one of the finalists in CNET’s Webware 100 awards, under the Mobile Communications category. Voting is now open, so click on the banner, or visit this link, to cast your vote! I am one of the founders and CTO of Whisher, who recently received funding from Swisscom and Benchmark capital (one of the only two Spanish startups to have received funding from a major international VC, which I think tells something!). The Webware 100 Awards recognizes the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications that are leading the next wave of innovation. Voting is open to the public from May 23 through June 11, where the top 25 finalists in each category will be listed.

Did TechCrunch share some Plazes secrets with us?

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Reading through my feeds a few minutes ago, I noticed an interesting post in TechCrunch, titled “Plazes Simplifies: Lessons From Twitter”. The post talks about how Plazes is making their location system more simple, and also adding new ways for users to position themselves and update others as to what they are doing.

What was really spooky is that when I clicked on the feed link to read the post and possible comments on TechCrunch itself…the post wasn’t there! In my feed, the post was between the one about TalentSpring and the purchase of aQuantive by Microsoft, but in TechCrunch’s site – it was missing. Did Nick Gonzalez release a post too soon? We will soon see, I guess. For those impatient, here is the post in its entirety (original text in italics):

Plazes Simplifies: Lessons From Twitter

from TechCrunch by Nick Gonzalez 

Plazes, headquartered in Zurich and Berlin, is a social community that connects you and your friends to the places you spend your time. They’ve been around for a while (we profiled Plazes on the day TechCrunch launched in June 2005), and they recently raised $2.7 million in a venture round.

Plazes lets users tell others where they are and what they are up to. Currently, users have to download software which auto-determines user location based on IP address, network IDs from routers and other information and then places you on the Plazes map. If it was a location no Plazes member had visited before, you could name and describe the place and add Flickr photos.

As good as Plazes was, the friction from requiring users to download software and use it whenever they changed location created friction and slowed user growth. Taking pointers from the simplicity of Twitter, Plazes is changing the way it handles location, and is also adding time and activity dimensions to the product.

The new features roll out next week. The client software will no longer be required to set location. Instead, users can simply add a place via a Google maps mashup (and are helped along the way with a suggestion mechanism), and can also say whether they were there in the past, will be there in the future, or are there currently. Users can also say what they are up to, a very Twitter-like activity. Users can give Plazes this data via the Plazes website, the client software or by texting it in via a mobile device. An instant messaging interface is coming soon.

The new version will also preserve a user’s update history and allow them to post locations for the future, allowing you to plan, or chance encounters. The timeline will also allow your friends to get a comprehensive look at where and when you hang out.

Friends can subscribe to people or places and see a data stream from that source. Groups can also be formed that include both people and places, and the feed information shows what those people are up to when they are at selected locations.

250 of Plazes 50,000 members will get access to the update before next week. Plazes draws a crowd that is 60% from the U.S., with the remaining mostly European.

Plazes is clearly trying to lower the participation hurdles to get more users and more participation from existing users. The product will be significantly easier to use, and adding the activity information means users are likely to update far more often than just when they change locations.

Whatever the case, this is not secret anymore, as I believe there are a few thousand other feed subscribers, and they all have had a chance to read it too.


Going on a diet – wish me luck

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A few days ago I saw a picture from back when I was in a UK’s Mountain Rescue team, and in good shape. In the mid 90s I broke my left ankle in the French Pyrenees, while walking down an slope after a good day in the ice, and things went downhill from there. The lack of exercise, combined with bad eating habits took its toll, and today I’m almost 118Kg, or 260lb. for those still using imperial metrics.

This morning I went to see a doctor who specializes in natural diets, and she has given me a strict one. To start with, no eggs or milk for a few weeks, so bye bye Starbucks (I can still drink black coffee though). It’s then a matter of combining the right kind of food, for example, breakfast consists of acid fruits (lemon juice plus oranges, pineapple or kiwis), the a salad plus chicken, fish or pasta for lunch. A friend of mine has recommended this doctor, having lost almost 10Kg the first month.

Part of the plan is of course exercise, which having three kids plus a startup will be difficult to get done – my idea is to get a mountain bike and try to go to places with it, rather than take the car, plus a short cycle in the morning before everyone wakes up. Any recommendations? I was looking at some today, and the two manufacturers which seemed best were Scott and Orbea, not sure which to get though.

A weekly progress report will be posted here, I’m actually thinking of making some sort of weight widget, it’s just an idea for now.