Small Exit

EOF

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 10:54:20 GMT

I've decided to kill this blog.

Thank you for reading. Goodbye!

Privacy

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:37:17 GMT

I'm becoming more and more concerned about privacy issues on the web,
especially the so called "user-tracking" problem. Let's say that provider A
is controlling the web sites A1, A2 and A3. User Stella is browsing through
the web, hopping thru websites Z -> A1 -> D -> E -> A2 -> A3.
Provider A can track a good proportion of Stella's web-browsing activities,
by examining the logfiles of the webservers hosting the sites A1, A2, A3
(plus any info coming from referer sites or followed-links). The logfiles
contain (among other things) browser identification info (OS, version etc.),
the actual page requested (along with any URL-submitted parameters),
and the IP address of the public host that seemed to have requested the
page in question.

I'm not really interested in what the provider does with this data
(user-modelling, data mining etc.). What I'm concerned about is the possibility
that a single entity could control such a number of websites that it would be
feasible for this entity to reconstruct part of a (random) user's web-surfing route.

Of course the number of sites that a provider would need to control seems
at first look daunting. If you even consider that the sites must be of varying
subjects, so as not to follow just the people that have clustered around
a specific domain of interest, this makes the user-tracking task look even
more daunting.

But, let's imagine the following scenario:
A company offers the following services:
a) Search Engine
b) Ads (or other site-embedable objects like website usage statistics, maps etc.)
c) Blog-space
d) Webmail
e) Social Networking
....
If you're beginning to see the pattern here then maybe it's time to pass some legislation
regarding the effective web presence (or omnipresence for this matter) of entities
with common interests...

..or maybe it's high time we start looking for anonymizing proxies :P

Is internet TV here already?

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 22:01:40 GMT

First, a message to our sponsors:
If you are a person working for (or in charge of) a greek TV station
I'd like you to know that whatever you're doing is wrong and you should stop
doing it. Thank you.

I really can't say that I'm not a TV-buff. I've spent hours and hours in front of the telly
during the '80s and I miss all the thrills I used to get from cliffhangers on matlock, dr who
etc. The shows were good, the reporters seemed to know a bit about their job and
you could actually feel the people struggling to get a quality show on the air.

I won't go into the status of current Greek (or international) TV. It's horrible. And I feel that
they've actually lost even the passive viewers (what is an active viewer?) they used to have:
no more getting back from work and unwinding on the telly.

This reminds me of the time I was a student abroad and didn't have a TV set. I didn't really
miss the shows. I would usually watch a film, or an episode of my favorite cartoon series
(all available on the web - remember UGO cartoons?) on my PC and it felt the same. In fact, no
commercials, more pop corn and even more friends coming over :-)

Appart from a few shows like Heavy's "Behind the music that sucks" or
Slashdot Radio (featuring geeks on microphones) there wasn't much of a continuity
on internet broadcasted media. Most shows were of the ad-hoc type (few friends
having laughs in front of the camera - remember TheBroken?) and you never knew
if there was going to be any episode next week.

But the times they are a-changin:
I recently got broadband internet at home (384kbps - don't laugh) and during a web
search for geek-related media I stumbled upon a few shows that seem to be changing
the scene. There is definitely some backing from companies who are interested
in presenting their products, but also ISP's and others who merely wish to advertise
thru this new (?) medium. So, instead of geeks with a camera, running around trashing
laptops in their backyard, you have studios, regular interviews, wmv broadcasting, podcasting,
multiple downloadable formats (h264 anyone?), RSS feed with information on the shows
and much more..

Here are a few links to wet your appetite:

Too geek-y? Well, they were the first results on google.

Archive.org has an online archive of freely available video's, but.. it's really not the same. They
do archive the video's but you don't get the sense of continuity you'd like when watching TV
programs.

Now, all there needs to be done, is to setup Distributor companies, who scout for
such shows, *support* by some means (money, bandwidth) and create user profiles
so as to allow users who are interested in one type of show to find out about other
shows related. This is not the same as the podcast directory, since we're talking about
organisation of the digital media on live as well as static formats (DRM is not my friend)
and in "channels" according to the likes of the user.

I'd love to see BBC taking a chance on something like this..

Jung gives me the creeps!

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 00:00:53 GMT

According to this test, I'm an ISTJ. Now, isn't that special? :P

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 23:33:09 GMT

Lost some things of value today. Missed a night out with the guys. Saw "Sky Cpt and the world of tomorrow" at the movies [1]. Cancelled tomorrow's piano lesson since I got work for the weekend. I don't know what else could have gone wrong but I guess the day is over and I should be forgiving.

Need to get a warm cup of coffee at a nice cafe [2]. Haven't done that for
a while. Should try it tomorrow. It's sorta like weekend therapy :-]

Off to work/telly/sleep.

--

[1] Another Comic book adaptation. The colour technique used, adds a lot to the film, along with good actor performances, but the end result weighs more on the action-adventure side rather than the vintage-comic-book feeling. The action scenes are good but not involving. The audience gets the impression that it's watching a video game.

[2] If you're in the center of Athens, try "Podilato" (it's on Themistokleous str.), right after Solonos, walking towards Exarcheia Square. If you're lucky, you might even get the chance to listen to some Cpt Beefheart music! :-)

..and in the darkness bind them

Wed, 13 Oct 2004 23:10:53 GMT

I've been planning all day to return home early so I can get a head-start
on some work I've been postponing for a week or so. Got some tax-related
stuff to sort out, a few exam papers to mark, come up with some questions
for an oral test tomorrow, do the laundry and practice for the saturday
piano lesson (which is my first one this seazon).

Managed to return home 'round 7:00pm and not do anything of the above.
Why? I was beat. Had to move old pc's from the 2nd floor labs to the
ground floor storage area + clean one of the labs that's supposedly
going to host the MSc ppl this year (plus 2 secretaries). Mind you,
this is the only place on the 2nd floor with a working air-condition.
But this might not be the case any longer.. (No, we're not getting new ACs,
I just need the socket for something else :-)

Anyway, LOTR was on TV, so it sorta went on from there... (you know.. 3hr film..)

Hmm, positive things that happened today:
a) Dimitris (xhac's FYP-student) lent me a tiny voice recorder.
It's really nice, it plays mp3 files too! I want to buy sth like that so that
I can record good ideas when they come up on the clavier, rather than
sit and write a proper score.. (another point for me on the lazy piano player scale).

b) Proper food at the uni. Yes it exists. Managed to get hold of an ex-colleague of mine,
(he works in Piraeus) and he just happened to remember the number of an exquisite
takeaway service near the university premisses. So sweet. Really nice cooked food
at fast-food prices.

c) Spotted a number of interesting theatrical releases (of the experimental type)
that are coming up this and the following week. Will write a review if I make it
to one.

We've been having power problems at home and at the uni, mainly caused by the bad
weather (and those nasty butterflies in Japan). I have to get round doing a proper
configuration for the UPS-powered machines at the uni (and buy a decent UPS for home
use). Prior to leaving the labs today, I switched off all servers and the fw machine.
The old mail-server is still up and running, but I don't care much about it since
it's gonna be replaced in a month or so.

PhD stuff are slow these days. Had a paper submitted (it's 3 pages longer than
it should be) and I'm not very optimistic on its acceptance. The conference is
taking place in Italy, at this very nice resort in the Northern part. Should it be
accepted, it would make an excellent choice for Easter Holidays :-)

Well, off to bed now.

--
Quote of the day:
"And of course peace has been secured by the best army in the universe" - Documentary on WW2 referring to the US troops

Cm7

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:07:17 GMT

If this journal was a tune it would probably start off with a minor C chord.
Yes I admit I'm a lazy piano player and like to start off things at points
that I feel comfortable with. On a second note, I would probably enrich that C chord
with a 7th, bringing in some blues-y feel to this story, since little to nothing
makes you exuberantly happy and if you're anything like me, you'd probably agree that
urban lifestyle makes you mostly blue.

If you were to follow this tune, you'd probably find out quite a few things about
its creator. This is not as important as the ideas portrayed in the work, that might
be of some real use to others. Thus, I'll restrain myself from blabbering and keep
to the point.

Anything that has a beginning makes you think about its end. Well it's very
possible that this will end with another Cm7. Although the preceding Gm7 or Fm7
all depend on the story told :-) So, you may want to stay with us and see what happens.

Have a nice time reading!

--
Quote of the day:
"Talking About Music is like Dancing about Architecture", Frank Zappa (among others)