We start with a discussion of jail time. Jail. Time. And…147 MPH. Yeah. Eric tells the story. And then we hop into our show.

Present

Doomception: How modders got Doom to run inside of Doom

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/doomception-how-modders-got-doom-to-run-inside-of-doom/

* Doom was open sourced in the 90’s. Folks have gone nuts porting it to all sorts of things.

* Now, you can run Doom inside of Doom. “OK, if we’re being technically accurate, this is actually Doom running inside GZDoom, a heavily modified Doom source port that was first released in 2005 to bring a slew of modern gaming features to the 1993 original. The author also warns that the in-game versions of Doom and Wolfenstein 3D available in the mod are only “semi-complete.” Still, the sheer amount of near-pointless effort and dedication needed to get GZDoom to run what is essentially a version of itself within itself is impressive (and kind of frightening).

* Action code script makes this possible. ”ACS was designed to allow modders to create more interactive environments through simple bytecodes that did things like open doors, play sounds, or move items and characters around in response to player actions. The basic bytecode-based language in that game was later extended in the ZDoom source port to allow for high-level programming features like named scripts, functions, arrays, and entire libraries. Those additions made their way into the later GZDoom as well.”

We tear apart a $340 audiophile Ethernet cable and look inside

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/07/ars-prepares-to-put-audiophile-ethernet-cables-to-the-test-in-las-vegas/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/07/gallery-we-tear-apart-a-340-audiophile-ethernet-cable-and-look-inside/

* Audiophile people are special kind of crazy. Some are willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money to get tiny improvements that most of us (maybe none of us) could actually hear.

* Cables are a prime example of this madness. Maybe fancy cables made a difference in the analog world. But in a digital one? The ones and zeros make it, or they don’t.

* Ethernet cables are already manufactured and can be tested to be within a specific performance rating. For a twisted pair Ethernet cable to perform at a particular “category” level, specific pairs must be twisted a specific number of times per foot. Beyond that, the 4 twisted pairs must be then twisted around each other in certain category definitions, all to avoid crosstalk, electromagnetic interference, and errors. The shorter the cable, the less likely these issues are to be present. Even with errors, Ethernet can detect them, discarding the errant frame, and probably get a retransmission assuming an acknowledged data protocol like TCP is running over the Ethernet cable.

* So. What’s in a $340 “audiophile” Ethernet cable?

* “The cable itself is of reasonably high quality, with braided and foil shielding around the entire cable coupled with foil shielding around the individual twisted pair bundles.”

* “The plugs are high-quality Telegärtner MFP8s, which cost about 9 EUR each depending on where you get them.”

* “There’s every indication that the cables conform to the listed Category 7 specifications and,

Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time writes,

“Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?”

If that question made you stop and go, “Hmm,” then you might find the Citizens of Tech podcast interesting. So pull up an earbud, and have a listen. I’m Ethan Banks, and joining me is Eric Sutphen. You can find us on Twitter @citizensoftech. This show is a part of the Packet Pushers podcast network. Citizens of Tech and other fine technology podcasts can be found at PacketPushers.net.

Our show is in three segments. We examine tech stories of the present, glance over our shoulder at the past, then peer towards the horizon at future tech we hope someday will become reality.

On today’s show recorded July 8th, 2015, we cover news from Amazon, review a cheap IP surveillance camera, dive deep on retina displays and how your eyeballs work, and do not discover extraterrestrial life. Also, robots duel, and glaciers cause earthquakes. Among other things! So let’s dive in with our first story…

Present

Amazon throws in $100 million, developer tools to open Echo’s Alexa ecosystem

http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-throws-100-million-developer-tools-to-open-echos-alexa-ecosystem/

* The software developer kit (SDK) is called the Alexa Skills Kit, which is a series of application programming interfaces that allow developers to create voice features for Alexa.

* Amazon said that it will open Alexa’s voice services up to third party hardware makers and they will allow hardware vendors to use the Alexa Voice Service for free.

* Echo is now available to the public, not just Prime subscribers

Cheap IP Surveillance Camera Review – Microseven

* http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M5PHAYW

* Wide angle field of view

* ONVIF (onvif.org) – works with my Synology.

* “Driving IP-based physical security through standardization.”

* “ONVIF is an open industry forum for the development of a global standard for the interface of IP-based physical security products. ONVIF is committed to the adoption of IP in the security market. The ONVIF specification will ensure interoperability between products regardless of manufacturer.”

* “The cornerstones of ONVIF are:

* Standardization of communication between IP-based physical security

* Interoperability between IP-based physical security products regardless of manufacturer

* Open to all companies and organizations”

* “The ONVIF specification defines a common protocol for the exchange of information between network video devices including automatic device discovery, video streaming and intelligence metadata.”

* PoE

* IP66

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code

* Ingress Protection Marking

* First number – solid particle protection

* Second number – liquid ingress protection

* The first “6” = dust tight. There is no higher number.

* The second “6” = powerful water jets.

* 1280×960

* Companion software

It’s on: Team Japan accepts US challenge to a giant robot duel

Captain’s log: Stardate 68927.1

We have made contact with a strange subset of the species homo sapiens. They seem to be consumed with all things technological. At first we feared that they were a newly assimilated unit of the Borg collective. Thankfully we’ve determined that is not the case — they are simply Citizens of Tech!

Today on the show: unicorns watching your every move, reducing your electricity consumption, bikes, E3 bombshells, tiny robotic lassos and more.

So buckle into your Aluminum Falcon and prepare to jump to hyper-speed as we dive into this week’s edition of Citizens of Tech!

Present

Unicorns – New Livestream App Lets Strangers Watch You Use Your Phone

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/unicorns-app/

* Called Unicorns

* Seriously

* Intended audience is developers, game demos / walkthroughs / “let’s play” / anyone that needs to give a presentation of an app on a phone.

* Accidental “overshare” of information is a big concern. PINs, email contents / contacts / etc.

* “Think about what Twitch did for games that nobody seemingly thought others would watch,” says Owen Williams, who writes for The Next Web.

* Ethan’s notes.

* Periscope lets you livecast from your phone. Seems to have lots of buzz with the young people.

* Perch.co lets you use your tablet as a remote window into coworkers’ spaces. Helpful for distributed companies.

Saving Electricity

* From a high over 40Kwh per day to under 20Kwh per day

* LED Bulbs

* Conservative light usage (natural light FTW)

* Lowered timer for landscape lighting

* Monitors from 3 to 1

* Shut down equipment in lab rack

* Cut back on laundry loads

* Cut back on dishwasher loads, set to “smart wash” setting with no heated drying

* Removed small refrigerator that was seeing little use

* Hard to cut back

* Electric stove

* Next steps

* More equipment shut downs in rack

* Reviewing everything that’s plugged in (the tiny electrical thieves)

* Cutting back on dryer use

Adjusting a bicycle front derailleur: 4 tweaks

* Barrel adjustor

* Cable tension

* Upper limit screw

* Lower limit screw

Big Announcements from the E3 Conference:

* XBox One backward compatibility with Xbox 360 (Via emulation) !!

* Microsoft Hololens; Halo and Minecraft

* Hololens is *not* Oculus or HTC Vive – Not “VR”

* Hololens *is* “AR” – augmented reality

* New Doom

* Star Wars: Battlefront

* Gears of War 4

* Mass Effect: Andromeda – 2016

* Mirror’s Edge – 2016 (2008 Original – 8 years later)

* Dark Souls 3

* Fallout 4 – Boston!!

* Just Cause 3

* Kingdom Hearts 3

* Final Fantasy 7 Remake: 18 Years later (Wow, that makes me feel old!)

* The Last Guardian: Part 3 of the Trilogy – Ico (2001), Shadow of the Colossus (2006)

Deathwatch

* Goodbye, ello.

TIL

TIL the inventor of the heart stent approached numerous companies for funding and was rejected. It was funded by the owner of Fuddrucker’s, whom he met by chance on a golf course.

Past

The Computer History Museum

1401 N Shoreline Blvd.

Mountain View, CA 94043

http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/

Future

Tiny Robotic Tentacles Can Lasso An Ant

http://www.popularmechanics.

Converged infrastructure integrates discrete components, such as compute and storage, along with orchestration software, into a package that’s simple to deploy and certified to interoperate. Join Chris Wahl, Ethan Banks, and special guest Stu Miniman as they drill into the origins and benefits of converged infrastructure, how it differentiates from hyperconverged systems, and how the convergence trend will affect IT roles.

Stu notes that converged infrastructure is a mature technology, but adoption is still in the early stages; perhaps a $6 to $8 billion market vs. the trillion dollars that gets spent on servers and storage. But future growth will eat into sales of standalone infrastructure.

Convergence also means smart IT pros will broaden their skill sets and get familiar with one or two elements of the stack outside their own area of expertise; a working knowledge of virtualization and the application layer are good places to start. IT workers whose primary work is racking, stacking, and configuring gear should look for new roles.

Convergence leaders include VCE, Cisco with its UCS line, and Oracle, which has built a hardware stack designed to simplify the delivery of its applications. If you’re exploring the converged infrastructure, these companies should be on your shortlist. NetApp, HP, and IBM are also worth investigating.

Check out the full podcast and let us know what other topics you’d like to hear.

About Our Guest

Stu Miniman

* Senior Analyst at Wikibon

* Twitter: @stu

* Stu’s Articles at Wikibon

Welcome once again to the Citizens of Tech podcast! It’s late spring – June 12, 2015 to be precise, and on this day we sat down to discuss: Electronic Legos, Quantum Encryption, Solar Powered Flight, and more.

So kick back and ready your ear holes to delve into the nerdfest that is the Citizens of Tech Podcast!

Present

Microduino mCookie: The smallest electronic modules on LEGO®

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/microduino/microduino-mcookie-the-smallest-electronic-modules

* What is Arduino?

* Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer. It’s an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple microcontroller board, and a development environment for writing software for the board.

* Arduino can be used to develop interactive objects, taking inputs from a variety of switches or sensors, and controlling a variety of lights, motors, and other physical outputs. Arduino projects can be stand-alone, or they can communicate with software running on your computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP.) The boards can be assembled by hand or purchased preassembled; the open-source IDE can be downloaded for free.

* The Arduino programming language is an implementation of Wiring, a similar physical computing platform, which is based on the Processing multimedia programming environment.

* Microduino and mCookie brings powerful, small, stackable electronic hardware to makers, designers, engineers, students and curious tinkerers of all ages to build open source projects or create innovative new ones.

* The Microduino mCookie series is Arduino-compatible open source hardware. It can be programmed in an Arduino IDE development environment and integrated into existing Arduino sketches.

* Microduino mCookie snaps together magnetically with four magnets inside four corners, makers can connect mCookie modules quickly and correctly with a satisfying snap. The modules will reject each other if they are not angled correctly, so you can’t get it wrong – making it easier for makers of all ages to work and play, and eliminating the need for soldering.

* Built with two raised circular fixators on each side, mCookie can be stacked with all LEGO series products. With LEGO compatibility, we’re making it easier than ever for beginners and children to get started with DIY electronics!

* Stackable pins can be easily bent during usage. New spring pins inside mCookie provide rugged surface-to-surface connection between circuit boards for a longer usable lifetime.

* Experienced and professional makers can write their own programs in the Arduino IDE and transmit their code to the hardware via USB, while beginners can use the Scratch graphic programming tool to drag and drop components to bring their application to life.

Quantum Encryption: Oh Boy!

http://m.phys.org/news/2015-05-team-key-quantum-network-solution.html

Amazon Echo: Alexa, what’s the weather like in Seattle?

http://amazon.com/echo

Dragonfly is an innovative, multi-lens array designed for ultra-low surface brightness astronomy at visible wavelengths.

http://www.dunlap.utoronto.ca/instrumentation/dragonfly/

* Evidence of small galaxy mergers into larger ones can be seen in faint streams and filaments visible around the Milky Way and nearby M31 galaxies.

* Cold Dark Matter cosmology predicts that we should see more of this structure than we do. Even the very best possible images contain scattered light that may be hiding this faint structure we should see aro...

On this day, May 27th, 2015, the Citizens of Tech gathered to make this momentous recording. By traveling great distances (across town), and overcoming unfathomable challenges (our calendars), we screw up our courage, scratch our balding pates, and grab our microphones to record this, show #7 against the odds so firmly stacked against us. Why? We, like you, are citizens of tech, that’s why! We do what we must, because we can. And you, fellow citizen, have joined us to do the needful. Let’s raise a glass to one another as we discuss the Kerbal space program, waterproofing your phone without a case, Scrabble letting down humanity, IPv6’s importance to gaming according to Microsoft, light speed computing, high dynamic range TVs, liquid metal antennas, and more.

Present

Kerbal Space Program – It’s not rocket science… oh wait, yes it is.

https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

Coating your phone to repel liquids

* http://www.liquipel.com/shop/treatment/treat-my-phone/

* http://www.invisiblewaterproofing.com/purchaseimpervious/

Scrabble letting in a bunch of new words

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/22/us/scrabble-new-words/

* A fresh reason to lose faith in humanity.

* Additional 6,500 words include..

* lotsa, twerking, lolz, emoji and ridic

* Facetime, lolz, Bezzy, Wahh

* sexting, blech, shizzle, cakehole

Usage of Teredo and IPv6 for P2P on Windows 10 and Xbox One

https://labs.ripe.net/Members/mirjam/usage-of-teredo-and-ipv6-for-p2p-on-windows-10-and-xbox-one

Carrier grade NAT is a multi-layered NAT scheme where not only are you NAT behind your own firewall, but the IP you’re served by your carrier is NAT later on down the line. This can result in applications of all sorts being broken. CG-NAT is a way to prolong IPv4 in the face of IPv4 address space running out globally.

IPv6 is being rolled out into the industry, but the speed the deployments are happening vary regionally and by operator. For instance, IPv6 is, as yet, not offered to me by my local ISP. I checked TCPIPUTILS.com to check the AS nearest me, and no IPv6 prefixes are being announced. This is a negative impact to gaming as IPv4 continues to struggle in the global Internet.

SomaFM

http://somafm.com

Deathwatch

* Fax machines

* FM radio

* Tidal

* Pop over ads

Past

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasses

* 1st century AD – Seneca the Younger notices that letters can be seen magnified and more clearly when using a globe or glass filled with water.

* In 1021, a convex lens is noted to do the same thing ia Alhazen’s Book of Optics. That book led to the invention of eyeglasses in 13th century Italy.

* Sunglasses used in the 12th century in China.

* First eyeglasses in Italy in about 1286. By 1301 there were regulations governing the sale of eyeglasses.

* In 1352, de Modena paints a portrait of a cardinal using them to read.

* Glasses were not scientifically understood until Kepler publishes the first correct explanation of why convex & concave lenses work in 1604.

* Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals – he has both hyperopia (farsightedness) and presbyopia (inability to focus on objects that are close).

* In 1825, lenses that correct astigmatism (blurred vision in different planes, i.e.

The latest form factor, hyper-converged infrastructure, seems to be storming through the data center market like a thundering donkey with a rainbow laser cannon. Join the Datanauts as they pick apart the pros and cons of hyper-converged, ramble on about architecture and design challenges, and shine a piercing light into a dark and murky corner of the next generation data center!

 

What we discuss…more or less.

* High level overview of hyper-converged infrastructure

* Is this a technical name, marketing name, or neither?

* Some historical details would be superb.

* What traits makes a platform hyper-converged?

* Is this a software-defined thing? Such as software defined storage in a new package?

* What food groups are represented by HCI? Such as storage and compute, but not network.

* Platform decision points

* What advantages do the hyper-converged model provide versus status quo, converged, reference architecture, and so on?

* How does one manage such a system on a day-2 basis?

* Use cases

* Any particular vertical or application that makes a great fit?

* What doesn’t fit well?

* Design stories / war wounds

* Is the technology mature enough for enterprise customers?

* Is this an SMB / mid-tier play?

* How long does it take before we do trust this platform?

* What data do I need to create a design?

* Scale limitations

* What sort of size can I expect to reach with HCI?

* Is scale vendor driven or generic to HCI?

* Is this a single data center, multiple data center, or in between model?

* Software solutions versus hardware + software solutions

* Who are the players in this space?

* Why would I want to roll my own HCI versus buying a solution?

* Does it even matter, are they both so easy that it’s 6 of one, ½ dozen of the other?

* What are the analysts saying about HCI?

* What’s the hyper convergence value add beyond the hardware?

* Isn’t it all just COTS components anyway?

* Partnerships in the field (e.g. Dell XC, Cisco)

Guest information.

* Scott D. Lowe

* Title: Consultant and Co-Founder of ActualTech Media

* Twitter: @otherscottlowe

* Blog: http://www.actualtechmedia.com/

Links.

* http://www.actualtechmedia.com/

* http://www.datacenterzombie.com/hyperconverged-is-not-just-ready-for-enterprise-its-ready-to-take-over-the-enterprise/

* http://blog.scalecomputing.com/scale-computing-launches-new-hc3-product-at-vmworld-2012/

* http://wikibon.org/wiki/v/Server_SAN_Market_Definition

You can reach Ethan (@ecbanks on Twitter) or on his blog EthanCBanks.com and Chris (@ChrisWahl on Twitter) or on his blog WahlNetwork.com. For more superb Packet Pushers content, crab walk on over to PacketPushers.net to partake on the bountiful feast of podcast goodness. Until then, may your server lights blink, your storage spindles spin, and your cables be cleanly managed.

[player]

On this week’s Citizens of Tech podcast, we conclude our special on how complex games are developed. Regular host Eric Sutphen (@zutfen) and special guest Jeff Pugliese (@tpyowritr) continue their interview with game developers Tim Anderson and Giovanni Martello from Saga of Lucimia.

Topics include community, archetypes, and character progression.

Links

www.sagaoflucimia.com and @sagaoflucimia

[player]

In this special episode of Citizens of Tech, Eric Sutphen (@zutfen) and Jeff Pugliese (@tpyowritr) interview game developers Tim Anderson and Giovanni Martello from Saga of Lucimia.

Topics covered include the inspirations for the game, world concepts, and the core game play. This is your chance to find out what goes on behind the scenes in complex game creation.

There’s a second part to this recording that we’ll post later in the week. And then we’ll go back to our regularly scheduled format. Enjoy!

[player]

Hello, fellow Citizens! This is Citizens of Tech show #4, recorded on the 21st of May, 2015. You can follow the podcast on Twitter @citizensoftech. You can give us feedback or just interact in whatever way you so desire.

Your host today is Eric Sutphen, who you can follow @zutfen on Twitter. Ready to take a nap immediately following his distillation and application of techie goodness to your earbuds is Ethan Banks, @ecbanks. (Seriously, Ethan was really tired when we started recording this show. Because nightmares.)

Present

“Retro VGS” console aims to revive the humble video game cartridge

http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/3gO5w3xKDmM/

* Old Atari Jaguar hardware manufacturing tools

* *NOT* Jaguar internals, just the shell

* 16-bit Graphics? 32-Bit? 2D? 3D?

* Cart-based games – Single game per cart or SD with loader?

Researchers craft network attack to “hack” surgical robot (sort of)

http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/KbtejLgkjhQ/

* Planned test.

* Intended to expose platform issues.

* Remote telemedicine is a growing field.

With podcasts and video, Spotify becomes an all-in-one streaming service

http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/20/spotify-adds-video-podcasts/

* “Keep all of the things you listen to in one place.”

* “In terms of content selection, ESPN, ABC, NBC, Comedy Central and many more — including a load of popular podcast networks — will be available inside the app.”

* “Spotify’s website says it has more than 60 million active users, of which 15 million are paying subscribers. Still, the company has yet to turn a profit.”

Nvidia turns on 1080p 60 FPS streaming for its Grid cloud gaming service

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/05/nvidia-turns-on-1080p-60-fps-streaming-for-its-grid-cloud-gaming-service/

$199 Console to go with that service

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/nvidias-shield-is-a-199-android-tv-streaming-microconsole-powerhouse/

NASA: 10,000-year-old ice shelf gone by 2020: http://www.wmur.com/national/nasa-10000yearold-ice-shelf-gone-by-2020/33060844?absolute=true

* “One of the last remaining sections of Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice Shelf is dramatically weakening, according to a new NASA study.”

* “Larsen B measured 4,445 square miles in January 1995. It went down to 2,573 square miles in February 2002 after the major disintegration, and a month later Larsen B was down to 1,337 square miles. At present the Larsen B remnant is about 618 square miles. That’s less than half the size of Rhode Island, the smallest U.S. state. Two decades ago, Larsen B was slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut.”

Cat’s purr breaks decibel record: http://www.wmur.com/entertainment/family/cats-purr-breaks-decibel-record/33042748

* “Tracy Westwood’s cat Merlin appears to break 100 decibels on an iPhone in the YouTube vide...