I am going to add a good run of reviews to this blog, including two multimedia laptops, a consumer-level multifunction printer and some software. This may help with building this blog as a good-quality buying guide.

ARCEP white paper for people in multi-unit developments (French language)

ARCEP had established a regulation where if a telecommunications operator provides fibre-optic infrastructure in a multi-unit building, this infrastructure must be available to competing operators. This means that each unit owner / tenant must be able to choose whoever provides their super-fast broadband service and avoids the building owner or body corporate determining who provides that service to that building through exclusive “cosy” deals.

Two different methods

Mono-fibre

Each operator runs their fibre-optic infrastructure to a wiring closet where there is a fibre-optic switch that is programmed to run the operator’s service to the customers in that building. Each unit has one fibre-optic connection to that fibre-optic switch.

The service routing would be based on a VLAN or similar setup affecting the main fibre-optic infrastructure in the building. Operators would then have to make sure that the fibre-optic switch is programmed to pass service from their customers’ units to their street-based backbone.

The main advantage of this setup is that there is only one fibre-optic cable needed to be laid to each unit, thus allowing for reduced costs and infrastructure complexity. On the other hand, each operator will have to have access to the fibre-optic switch to make sure they can manage their services.

Multi-fibre

Each operator has their own fibre-optic infrastructure to each of the units, where there is a multi-entry socket for the customer-premises equipment. If a customer wants a particular service, the provider then visits the customer’s unit and connects the fibre for their service to the socket.

If a site can allow two or more optical-network sockets, two or more operators could be terminated in a socket for each of the operators. This may appeal to “geeks” or business customers who want to establish multi-WAN setups for reasons like bandwidth aggregation, load-balancing or fault-tolerance.

The main advantage for operators is that they have control and responsibility of their infrastructure to the customer’s unit, but each service change may require a field visit from the operator’s service staff. Similarly, there would be the issue of complicated infrastructure runs existing in the building, which may affect further infrastructure deployment.

Opportunities and Questions

A major opportunity that may exist for operators who are running optical fibre through a multi-unit building would be to use the cable as a wireline backbone for a cellular base station installed on the roof. This may be relevant to buildings with nine or more storeys and / or operators that run their own mobile telephone or wireless broadband service.

A primary question that may need to be answered is that if a group of broadband service providers share the same infrastructure run, usually as a cost-saving measure or easier entry point for new operators, would they have to create new fibre-optic runs to each unit in a multi-fibre setup or could they continue to share the same infrastructure to the unit’s door.

Another main question concerning the provision of IP-based infrastructure like the fibre-optic infrastructure in multi-unit buildings is how to cater for “all-unit” Internet services. This could range from a Web site with information for all of the units through unit-occupier access to vision from IP-based video-surveillance systems to multi-SSID Wi-Fi access points in common areas with each SSID linking to the home network in each unit. Issues that may have to be answered include VLAN establishment and / or use of anciliary DNS servers that cover only the services that are provisioned in the building and these setups may end up appearing to be complex to anybody that doesn’t have much computing experience.

Conclusion

What is happening with the fibre-optic next-gen broadband services in France, where there is likely to be lively competition, is worth observing, especially for all classes of multi-unit developments, whether all units exist in one building or in many buildings on one piece of land.

The white papers and other material on this topic at the ARCEP web site may then be worth reading by other communications regulators, building authorities, ISPs, building / development owners and management committees.

I had talked about on this blog about the kind of influence different posts you make in Facebook will have in your Facebook Friend circle. In one of the articles, I had mentioned a Facebook application called Friend Wheel which shows a graphical representation of your Friend List.

You enable this free application by adding it to your Facebook Profile like you would with a social game like Farmville.

This application works through your Facebook friend list and identifies any situations where your Facebook Friends have other Facebook Friends that are in your list in their lists. Then it resolves these relationships in a graphical manner by plotting each Friend’s name as a node on the edge of a circle and showing each link as a line. It can show clusters of people who know each other through a particular community by “bunching” the people together. There is the ability not to plot friends that aren’t connected to other Facebook Friends in your list, which may be beneficial to those who have links with larger social circles.

The Wheel can he shown as a static image or, for most of us who have Flash-enabled Web environment (which doesn’t include the Apple iPad), there is a Flash version which allows you to hover over the name of a Facebook Friend and show their connections to any of your other Facebook Friends.

It can be slow with larger Facebook Friend lists, especially those that are well connected because of having to plot many nodes and draw many lines. But it is speedy with most Friend lists. There isn’t an option to take advantage of the “lists” function so that you can plot the Friend Wheel on the social sets that you define using these lists. As well, it doesn’t identify Facebook Friends who have subscribed to any particular Fan Pages or Groups.

One main use that I would find for this application is if you are investigating the “reach” of comments or other material posted on particular Facebook Friends’ Walls.

Articles

Swedish TV Manufacture, People of Lava, Intros Worlds First Android-Powered HDTV | eHomeUpgrade

Une TV sous Android chez Lava | Le Journal du Geek (France – French language)

From the horse’s mouth

People Of Lava – Company page

Product Page

My comments

I was not surprised with the Google Android software  being implemented as an embedded-applications platform beyond the smartphone and Internet tablet. Here, “People Of Lava” have introduced a range of Internet-connected main-lounge-area television sets that use Android as their operating firmware. In fact, what’s more is that these sets are open to the Google Android Marketplace so that users can add extra functionality to them by drawing-down the appropriate apps.

What I also liked about this design was that a lot of the design costs were cut out for the manufacturer because they didn’t need to design an operating environment from the ground up when they wanted to design the equipment. It has also provided an easier path for user customisation, which may be of benefit with Internet-based TV services like IPTV and catch-up TV; and sets deployed in hotels and similar businesses.

This has then proven that the Google Android platform can become a serious contender for the embedded and dedicated-purpose operating system marketplace.

Articles

National Broadband Plan: An Effort For The Ages | Microsoft On The Issues

FCC releases its national broadband plan for the US | ThinkBroadband (UK)

From the horse’s mouth

National Broadband Plan – broadband.gov

My comments

One of the main goals with the US National Broadband Plan was to make sure that an affordable broadband Internet service with a minimum headline speed of 100Mbps downstream / 50Mbps upstream passes at least 100 million households across that country.

The main limitation concerning this goal is that, at the moment, one third of the US population cannot benefit from broadband Internet. In my opinion, most of this would be in sparsely-populated rural areas.

Need for universal Internet service similar to what is required for the telephone

In the US, the universal landline telephone service (private phone with directories for all households, plus commonly-accessible public payphones) is provided by the local incumbent telephony service provider, with the costs paid for by a levy on all telephone services in that country.

Part of the plan would be to release money from Universal Service Fund which is funded by the aforementioned levy to fund a universal broadband service.

Need for highly-competitive service with barriers to entry taken down

Part of this same requirement also includes a highly-competitive service in all markets with any and all barriers to competition taken down. This is in a similar manner to what has happened with the local “dial-tone” phone service in the US and other countries where this same service can be provided by competing service providers.

Coverage improvements

The improvement to universal Internet service goals will also lead to coverage improvements. This may not be an issue with most of the USA because of the country being densely populated but will be of concern with places like Alaska. Of course, there are rural patches within the contiguous 48 stats where not many people are living and these will have to be serviced with proper broadband. This will be looked at with the improvements to the Universal Service Fund.

Similarly, this plan will also satisfy the desire to make sure that next-generation broadband service passes anchor institutions like schools, colleges, hospitals, libraries and the like. It also includes making sure that military bases have access to next-generation broadband.

Implementation

The issue of access to basic broadband Internet service by the poor is being dealt with. Here, the FCC are putting forward the idea of extending the scope of the Lifeline and Link-Up communications financial-assistance programs to include this level of Internet access.

It will also include opening up radio spectrum, most likely “digital dividend” TV spectrum, for use in providing wireless broadband service, especially to rural areas. This may also include competitive mobile wireless broadband in urban areas.

Another part of the program is to mandate cost-effective access to telecommunications infrastructure like telegraph poles, underground conduits, towers / building rooftops, land patches and the like. This includes a “dig-once” policy which allows multiple companies to use the same telegraph poles and underground conduits for their own wiring as well as commonly-known infrastructure details to facilitate efficient Internet-service rollout.

Net Neutrality

An issue that hasn’t been talked about in the Broadband Plan is the concept of Net Neutrality. This divisive issue concerns whether certain Internet services and applications have better throughput versus the idea of all Internet applications and services having equal access. It is also of importance whenever telephone and TV move to IP-based transmission and this concept would assure that competitive and complementary services can exist on the same pipe with proper quality of service. This subject also leads to:

Multi-Channel TV

The American populace has been disaffected by the way multi-channel TV, especially cable TV, has been handled by the service providers, which are mainly cable-TV monopolies like Comcast.

One main disaffection was that the set-top boxes are literally controlled by the multi-channel TV providers and customers cannot buy and install set-top boxes or similar devices from retail outlets. There have been attempts to achieve a customer-controlled level playing field for set-top-box supply such as the CableCARD system but the cable industry have frustrated these attempts with measures like requiring a cable-TV technician to visit the customer’s premises to supply the card.

Part of this plan is to require the supply of a broadcast-IP tuner gateway to be provided by the cable company and connected to the customer’s home network and these same customers connecting their own IP-based equipment to the same home network. Here, the main goal would be to provide a competitive program-navigation system for customers to benefit from.

Integration in US public life; and IT literacy

Another goal with the US National Broadband Program is to integrate the high-speed broadband service in to US public life such as providing access to “e-government” at all levels and integrating the service with public education for example.

The plan also includes IT awareness through the community, but as I have noticed, there will be people who will find technology hard to use and will need further assistance. This is exemplified by people who find operating consumer electronics very difficult and are likely to resist using devices like a set-top box beyond changing channels for example.

Summary

What this all leads to is that one of the cornerstones of the US National Broadband Plan is to liberate broadband Internet and multi-channel TV service in a similar way to what has happened to the US telephone service since the Carterfone Decision and the AT&T anti-trust investigation of the late 70s.

I am reviewing the Revo IKON, which is the first Internet radio that I have reviewed to be designed in a similar manner to a classic boombox. Here, it has been designed with that similar footprint in mind and also is equipped with stereo speakers that are angled outwards.

Description

The unit actually has an oval shape and has a pop-out iPod dock on the front, under a colour LCD touchscreen which is the set’s main user interface. The volume knob and the power button are located on top of the set, although the volume knob is a rotary-encoder type which doesn’t show on the display what volume position you have set it to.

Operation and Sound Quality

The colour LCD touchscreen is easy to read and the user interface that it presents to you when you select stations or other options is similar to an automatic teller machine that uses a touch-screen. The home menu shows a list of all the sources available – DAB, FM, Internet, LAST.FM, Media Player (UPnP AV), iPod dock and auxiliary input.

It also comes with a remote control which offers volume control, snooze / sleep control, transport control for the UPnP media player function or attached iPods, LAST.FM song voting as well as the ability to turn the unit on and off. You don’t have the ability to change stations or sources from this remote control.

If you are using the Internet radio mode, you can’t have ready access to the preset stations like you can with DAB or FM where you press a star icon to see the preset list. Instead, you have to meander around the menus to see the preset list. This can be an annoyance to those who tune in to local RF-based radio and are likely to visit Internet radio programs frequently and can be a pain for older users.

The unit works with DLNA-compliant media servers but you have to use the touchscreen or remote control to navigate the DLNA media server. This is common with Internet radios because Frontier or Reciva, who make most of the firmware for these radios don’t support “three-box” operation using UPnP AV Control Points.

The set supports LAST.FM and can allow users to “scrobble” (expose listening habits to LAST.FM) content from LAST.FM content or from content from a UPnP AV / DLNA media server.

The set has a “clean-up function” that makes it easier to manage changes to the DAB station list, which can be of importance if it is taken between locations or the DAB multiplexes in a city are being re-arranged.

iPod dock exposed

The set has a similar tone control to the previously-reviewed Revo Domino, where you can select one of five tone presets or set up a customised tone preset. Here, you have bass and treble controls and a loudness-compensation switch. Infact, the “normal” tone preset is with flat bass and treble settings and with loudness compensation switched on.

Speaking of the sound, the sound quality is very similar to most of the low-end to mid-range portable radios made through the late 1970s to early 1980s. It can also fill a small to medium-size room with sound in an intelligible manner.

Connectivity

The set can work with WiFi networks that use conventional WPA2-PSK passphrases or can be “bonded” to routers that support WPS “push-button” configuration. This function should be made available not as a WiFi network option but as part of the setup wizard. It can store the parameters relating to four different WiFi networks, which can be useful for home networks with more than one SSID or if you take the radio between multiple locations.

This radio also has an Ethernet socket which adds plenty of flexibility to how it is connected to the Internet. Here, you could connect it to a HomePlug or MoCA “existing-wires” segment using the appropriate bridge adaptor, a WiFi network that it can’t connect to using a WiFi-client bridge or directly to to an Ethernet network like in business premises.

There is only one external output socket in the form of an SPDIF optical socket for connection to a digital amplifier, home-theatre receiver or a digital recorder like a MiniDisc deck. This is limiting as far as outputs are concerned because a set like this could benefit from an analogue output like a headphone jack (to connect to headphones or external active speakers) or a line output jack (to connect to another amplifier or a cassette deck).

Advantages

One main advantage with this set is the stereo sound provided by the two speaker systems built in to the unit. This is an advantage compared to the Internet radios that I have been reviewing in the blog so far. The other main advantage that this set has is the ability to work with an Ethernet network rather than just a WiFi wireless network, which opens up a world of flexibility.

Other features that I like include the colour display, improved DAB handling and support for stations that present logos as part of their Internet-radio streams.

Limitations and Points of Improvement

One main limitation with the Internet radio function is the inability to access the preset-station list from all of the Internet-radio screens unlike what you can do with FM and DAB. This limitation could be rectified through a software update and impairs an otherwise very good Internet radio.

The other limitation with this set is the lack of a headphone jack or line-level output. This also limits the flexibility that the set could offer as far as connection to external audio equipment is concerned.

Conclusion and Placement Notes

Other than the few limitations concerning output connectivity and ready access to Internet-radio presets, this radio does have a lot going for it as a general-purpose Internet table radio.

It would work well as a radio for a kitchen, office or small shop, especially if it is used as a direct replacement for an older boombox or iPod dock or as an upgrade from a single-speaker Internet radio like the Revo Domino or Kogan Internet radio.

Introduction

Je vous écris ceci pour aider les utilisateurs d’Apple Macintosh savent ce qui est disponible quand il s’agit de l’intégration de leurs ordinateurs avec l’AV UPnP / DLNA Media Network, particulièrement en tant que moyen de fournir de manière rentable de distribuer la musique, des photos et vidéo sur la réseau de maison. C’est aussi parce que la plupart de l’équipement conforme de la norme DLNA est disponible à des prix que la plupart des gens peuvent se permettre et que la plupart des fabricants qui vendent des “premium” de qualité grand équipement audio-vidéo comme Linn ^[1] ou Loewe exécutent au moins une unité capable de jouer au moins la musique d’un Media Server qui conforme à la norme  DLNA.

De même, l’article est également plantée aux personnes qui ont décidé de passer à la plate-forme Apple Macintosh en provenance d’autres plates-formes informatiques qui fournirait inhérents prenant en charge DLNA Media Server comme Windows.

Apple ne fournit pas de logiciel pour combler la plate-forme Apple Macintosh pour le Network Media DLNA, que ce soit en tant que serveur, la lecture ou le programme de contrôle. Une des raisons principales est de maintenir la plate-forme étroitement intégré avec les produits multimédias d’Apple comme l’iPod, Apple TV et Apple Airport Express. As well, some Apple Macintosh diehards may consider the UPnP AV / DLNA Home Media Network as an anathema to the “purely Apple” IT lifestyle that they desire. En outre, certains irréductibles Apple Macintosh mai envisager les résaux qui conforme à les normes UPnP AV / DLNA omme un anathème pour le «purement Apple» e vie qu’ils désirent.

Donc, ce besoin est rempli par un logiciel écrit par des développeurs tiers. Le logiciel est principalement sous forme de serveurs de médias, qui peuvent user prestation définie par les bibliothèques ou les bibliothèques iTunes et iPhoto pour le Network Media DLNA. Les programmes qui disposition des utilisateurs des bibliothèques défini peut être fait à iTunes et bibliothèques iPhoto fois que vous savez où ces programmes stockent leurs fichiers.

Logiciels DLNA pour la plateforme Apple Macintosh

TwonkyMedia fournissent une version du serveur TwonkyMedia à MacOS X, qui peuvent travailler depuis n’importe quel utilisateur défini par les dossiers. Ce programme est disponible par le biais http://www.twonkymedia.com/.  Ils ont l’intention de porter le logiciel TwonkyMedia Manager à la plate-forme Apple Macintosh dans un avenir proche.

Allegrosoft ont eu Allegro Media Server pour un certain temps et cela fonctionne directement avec l’iTunes Music Library. Ce programme est disponible à partir http://www.allegrosoft.com/ams.html ^[3].

Elgato EyeConnect ^[4] est disponible chez tous les concessionnaires d’Apple Macintosh qui vend Elgato EyeTV cartes tuner TV et est étroitement intégré avec le système d’Apple iLife. Cela signifie qu’il ne peut partager les dossiers utilisés par iTunes, iPhoto et d’autres logiciels Apple sur le réseau DLNA Media accueil d’une manière plus polie.

Nullriver Connect360 et Medialink. These shareware products are pitched at integrating iTunes and iPhoto with the XBox360 and PlayStation 3 games consoles, but can provision content to DLNA Home Media Network devices. Ces produits de shareware sont arrêtés à l’intégration d’iTunes et iPhoto avec les consoles de jeux Xbox 360 et PlayStation 3, mais peut fournir un contenu de dispositifs le reseau de DLNA Media. Infact, some friends that I know are using the NullRiver MediaLink to bring their online video collection which is held on their Apple Macintosh to a PS3 to view on their flatscreen TV in the main lounge area of their home. Enfait, certains amis que je connais sont en utilisant le logiciel Nullriver Medialink d’apporter leur collection de vidéos en ligne qui a lieu sur leur ordinateur Apple Macintosh  pour une PS3 pour afficher sur leur téléviseur à écran plat dans le salon principal de leur maison. . Elles sont disponibles via www.nullriver.com.

Songbook Mac est un autre iTunes serveur pour les réseaux UPnP AV/ DLNA, mais ce programme est aussi l’un des premier UPnP AV programmes de maîtrise des points disponibles pour le Macintosh. Elle est principalement destinée aux personnes qui font fonctionner l’une des médias sur les lecteurs du réseau Linn, mais peut être exécuté sur n’importe quel appareil avec MediaRenderer UPnP AV. Il est disponible à http://www.bookshelfapps.com/songbookmac.php.

YazSoft Playback est un autre programme qui est étroitement intégrée à la plateforme Macintosh et peut traiter tous de la vidéo haute définition que beaucoup d’utilisateurs Mac seront confrontés. Il peut aussi travailler avec les utilisateurs désignés par les dossiers et est disponible à www.yazsoft.com ^[7].

L’utilisation de périphériques de tierce partie NAS

Si vous utilisez une partie du tiers (non-Apple) connecté un périphérique de stockage de réseau comme le Netgear ReadyNAS, ou les QNAP TeraStations Buffalo, vous pouvez utiliser ces dispositifs comme un serveur UPnP / DLNA media. Ils proposeront également des fonctionnalités de serveur de musique iTunes, ainsi que Time Machine sauvegarde. Aussi, votre «box» comme les Livebox, Neufbox / Box SFR et Bbox peut partager les fichiers audiovisuelles sur une disque dur USB qui est connecté à cet appareil.

Multimédia DLNA logiciel de contrôleur pour l’iPhone

La plupart d’entre vous qui possèdent un Macintosh d’Apple sera propriétaire ou manquent de posséder un iPhone d’Apple ou iPod Touch par l’entreprise et ces appareils peuvent fonctionner en tant que contrôleurs des médias pour les médias-Dispositifs de rendu qui acceptent “poussé” de contenu.  Ils sont le iMediaSuite (iTunes directs) et iNetFrame (iTunes directs et mention blog) à CyberGarage, PlugPlayer  (iTunes directe et mention blog) et Songbook Touch  (iTunes directe^), qui sont tous disponibles sur le iTunes App Store.

Conclusion

Rester fidèle à la plateforme Apple ne veut pas dire que vous avez à manquer sur les aptitudes que le DLNA Home Media Network offre, surtout maintenant que de plus en plus de consommateurs font des fabricants de produits électroniques DLNA-compliant équipements multimédia en réseau disponible à tous les niveaux de prix et les marchés.