Author Archive

Hard to build wide frequency range SDR kit

I have made many experiments with my DVB-T SDR stick. It can handle frequency range from around 30 MHz up to more than 1 GHz. There are cases, where there is need to receive lower frequencies. To make receiving those low frequencies with such cheap RTL-SDR receiving sticks, there are two approaches: using upconverter or →

Make the Web Better for Everyone – IEEE Spectrum

https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/internet/make-the-web-better-for-everyone The Web has serious problems: peddler of unreliable information, haven for criminals, spawning ground for irrational conspiracy fears, and tool for destructive people to broadcast their violence in real time and with posted recordings But surely you agree that the Web disappoints as much as it delights. Now the hard part—what to do about →

An Angry Birds Empire: Games, Toys, Movies and Now an I.P.O. 

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/business/dealbook/angry-birds-rovio-ipo.html?referer=http://m.facebook.com/ The digital world is littered with one-hit wonders — companies that tried to turn a single successful brand into a big-time business only to be eclipsed by changing technology and consumer tastes. The maker of Angry Birds, Rovio Entertainment, hopes to defy that trend. Rovio found success in a smartphone game Angry Birds. Rovio helped →

End of Solu Machines

I have written several postings on SOLU computer that aimed to reinvent personal computer. Solu Machines, founded in 2014, was developing a Solu computer it claimed to be revolutionary. I did report about it that because it looked interesting and I happen to know the person behind this vision. At least what they did was →

Finland’s Welfare State Has a Massive Baby Problem – Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/finland-s-welfare-state-has-a-massive-baby-problem You know you’ve got a problem when even the best don’t have the solution. Finland, a first-rate place in which to be a mother, has registered the lowest number of newborns in nearly 150 years. The birth rate has been falling steadily since the start of the decade, and there’s little to suggest a reversal in →

To type or not to type: quantifying detectable bugs in JavaScript | the morning paper

https://blog.acolyer.org/2017/09/19/to-type-or-not-to-type-quantifying-detectable-bugs-in-javascript/ Very interesting scientific analysis of using Flow/TypeScript annotations to autodetect 15% of bugs in JavaScript  To type or not to type: quantifying detectable bugs in JavaScript Gao et al., ICSE 2017 Is it worth the extra effort to add static type annotations to a JavaScript project? Should I use Facebook’s Flow or Microsoft’s TypeScript if so? →

Keyboard teardown

Why do cheap key feel so bad when typing. Let’s take a tear-down of one HP keyboard. Let’s open it Rubber makes the “keyboard bad feel”. I remenber rubber keyboard feel from Sinclair Spectrum (at 1983)… Flexible circuit board material is used for switches Circuit board Not much to see on the other side of →

Are Facebook and Google the New Colonial Powers?

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.fi/2017/09/are-facebook-and-google-new-colonial.html?m=1 To qualify as colonial powers, Facebook and Google must effectively limit the choices and power of users, and punish or coerce those who question or resist their power. The phrase that captures this broad narrative is: When an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. In other words, if you’re not →