Archive for December, 2007

get some hot stuff for Xmas… and support Human Care International

Published on December 18, 2007 in english, humour and personal. 2 Comments

Tradition says people tend to feel more attracted to nice actions and helping others as Christmas gets nearer. It’s just that time of the year. And that applies for all of us geeks of the world too. But you don’t often have the opportunity to get that doing-good feeling and geeky satisfaction at the same time…

But not anymore! For we bring you… THE TORRID MVP CALENDAR 2008

torrid mvp calendar preview
Featuring: Lluis Franco, Chico Maravillas, Miguel Jiménez, Fernanbanjo, Damisela Salgado, Unai Zorrilla, Ivan González, Paniagua, McPegasus, Rodrigo Corral, José Manuel Alarcón, Benjamín Mateos & El Maligno

Who said that being a hardcore nerd is not compatible with being sexy? In this calendar, you will find 13 hard men accustomed to hard work with silicon (devices, it’s understood). They left aside their computers to join for this photo session and show you what they’re made of! They strike poses that will really bring you the WOW effect! (or at least, we hope, make you smile)

All the benefits from the sales of the calendar will go to help the NGO Human Care International, for their projects in New Delhi.

human care international - logo

So, are you feeling the heat yet? If so, hurry up because this is a very limited edition of just 500 calendars! If you want to book yours, send an email to calendariotorrido@informatica64.com with the following data:

***************************

Name, surname and postal address
remember to include street, flat number, postcode, city, country, …
Number of copies
as many as you want! the more the merrier!
Contact phone
just in case…

For payment, please do a bank transfer to the account below, and remember to put your name in the concept!

bank: La Caixa
account number: 2100 3843 35 0200028123

NOTE: email us if you need SWIFT/BIC for international transfers!

***************************

So… come on! Collaborate with us! Buy your calendars to decorate your office, your association, your bedroom, your nights, your days… Give it as a present to a friend, significant other, family or pointy haired boss… and do your good deed of this Christmas!!! }:)

PS: We want to thank Microsoft and the MVP program for providing us with room and materials to shoot this! Thanks a lot Cristina! And thanks a lot Sean! }:)

smartphone market evolution

Published on December 17, 2007 in english and technology. 0 Comments

These figures from the last Symbian Market Roundups [pdf] show a bit of the effect some of the recent launches are having in the smartphone market… look and compare with those of last year:

Smartphone stats Q32007:

smartphone market share 2007

Smartphone stats 2006:

smartphone market share 2006

Some of the things that may draw your attention:

  • The iPhone taking North America by storm (amazing for a product with less than one year existence)
  • Slightly smaller presence of Linux devices in Japan, slightly bigger in EMEA (I have to check whether this includes the Nokia N770s and N8xxs as “smartphones”, which may explain it)
  • Snif! Poor Palm! Snif! }:/
  • Overall, the CRUSHING majority of Symbian devices (anywhere that is not North America, that is) So, for (global)market dominance, don’t forget to run on Symbian! }:P

Also, to add to the thinking: this graphs only relate to new smartphones (that means: those who do more than calls and SMSes), with shipping numbers, as you can see in the first graph, in the order of thirtysomething millions… whereas the global phone market moves in the order of billions of devices. So even though these mark the trend… they’re still little in comparison with the overall existing numbers

But… give them a year or two… };)

So, what do you think? Will Linux take the mobile market soon? Will the iPhone crush MS WinMobile and RIM Blackberry? Will we finally come into our senses and realize phones are evil devices and we should go back to smoke signals?

anybody wants to study abroad?

Published on December 13, 2007 in english, ieee and personal. 0 Comments

for those of you interested in studying a Master abroad, here’s some info a friend of the IEEE sent me about their new tuition-fee-free program at KTH Stockholm

–

Dear Students,

I would like draw your attention to a two-year international
English-language M.Sc. program in Network Services and Systems, given at
KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm, Sweden. The
program is highly selective and demanding, and it prepares students for
research or industrial careers in this dynamic, challenging and rapidly
growing field of engineering. There are opportunities for students who
achieve exceptionally well to continue with doctoral studies at KTH.

KTH is one of the leading technical universities in Europe, and
Stockholm consistently ranks as one of the most livable cities in the
world.
Students who are admitted to the program may study *without tuition*. We
had more than 200 applications this year for twenty seats. The next
round of the program starts in late August 2008 and the application
deadline is February 1, 2008.

Please find a flyer with further details attached (also available at
http://www.ee.kth.se/lcn/Flyer.htm). Should you have a question or
comment, please get back to me.

Sincerely,

Gunnar Karlsson
Professor
KTH EE/LCN - 100 44 Stockholm - Sweden

–

Feel free to pass it around if you know people who may be interested! As a personal note, I have to say the KTH is a cool place, with a very nice environment and in a beautiful city so… give it a try! }:)

robots musicales

Published on December 7, 2007 in español, music and technology. 2 Comments

Me mandaba hoy mi amiga Clarisa un link a esta noticia de el pais sobre un robot que toca el violin y justo me ha pillado a punto de enviar una noticia sobre esta cosa tan graciosa que ha salido a la venta hoy…

Hoy Gibson sacaba la Robot Guitar! Oh yeah! Mirad y babead!

Podeis ver el resto de videos en el canal de Gibson en YouTube. Impresionante, ¿no? Si alguien me estaba buscando un regalo de Reyes… ejem… };P

Pero vamos, Clarisa, se pongan como se pongan los robots y por mucha guitarra que se afine sola que salga… creo que todavia queda un trechito para que puedan hacer ESTO };)

yey! we moved!

Published on December 6, 2007 in english and personal. 0 Comments

I decided to move phobeo.com to the hosting I have at site5. This gives me PHP5 and a very configurable Apache (among other niceties, like shell access)

As part of the move, I decided to update my blog engine and the template I was using. Of course, I would like to make some more changes but… well, better for them to be while on air! You know: “release early, release often!” };P

Oh! and as for the technicalities: remember to update your bookmarks or feed urls in your reader! (I’ll do a bit of .htaccess  redirections for those who don’t change them but… in the meantime…)

Hope you like the new look!

momento tecnicoless: sony ericsson W1i

Published on December 3, 2007 in español, humour and technology. 4 Comments

Estaba yo tan tranquilo hoy releyendo mis 500 noticias sobre moviles (si, mi reader echa chispas si lo dejas un par de dias sin atencion) cuando me veo que hay unos cuantos blogs haciendose eco de un nuevo modelo de Sony Ericsson

el modelito en cuestion

Y claro, en cuanto sale algun nuevo concepto, rapidamente los sites empiezan a hacerse eco del asunto… y en esta epoca de informacion acelerada ya sabeis que no hay tiempo para verificar nada! Asi que pese a que a la gente le escama “que Sony Ericsson se pase a Windows Mobile”… ahi queda la noticia };P

Pero vamos a ver, Maximus, alma de cantaro, no es solo que lleve Windows Mobile, es que… esas especificaciones!

  • Soporte “oct-band” o algo asi (vamos, que opera en ocho bandas) GSM usa generalmente 900 y 1800Mhz, menos en USA y Canada, que usan 850 y 1900 (de ahi los telefonos quad-band). Algunos paises (veanse paises escandinavos y algunos en sudamerica) usan tambien las de 400 y 450… pero ya! no hay telefono que soporte 8 bandas de GSM porque nadie opera en 8 bandas!
  • Lo de la pantalla de 2048×1024 mejor ni hablamos… y ademas tactil! (sera multitouch?)
  • “3G con 3.2 mega pixeles activos”, aqui creo que el chino que escribiera esto se hizo un lio entre el 3G y la camara de videoconferencia… pero da igual, se pone tambien
  • “Optica Carl Ceiss”… esto debe ser como cuando te vas al mercadillo a comprar las zapatillas Abidas o algo asi. Es de similar calidad, pero con otra etiqueta
  • y para terminar… un procesador Intel de 2Ghz! Sera Core Duo? Tiene la ventaja que gracias al tamaño de ventilador que le habran puesto al movil entre esto y la pantalla tactil anterior, puedes usarlo para refrescarte en los meses de verano

En fin… que vista la lista de noticias que salen ultimamente, estoy por convencer a Chema el mes que viene cuando estemos en London para hacernos un podcast estilo “Se lo que hicisteis” pero de noticias de tecnologia…

Los tecnicoless se reproducen pero… recordad que vosotros sois mas fuertes! utilizad vuestro propio cerebro! Hace poco recomende a un monton de amigos que se leyeran el articulo “The outsourced brain”… y ahora os lo recomiendo a vosotros. Puedes basar muchisimas cosas en “la mente externa”, pero no te la creas a pies juntillas. Esta bien tener datos en la red pero aquí, como en la tele, no todo lo que se dice es verdad! };P

linkando: un articulo sobre el negocio de la musica

Published on December 2, 2007 in español, music, personal and technology. 0 Comments

Muy bueno en cuanto a datos y hechos este articulo de El Pais:

La música no se vende, pero es un gran negocio

Si teneis 10 minutos (que para eso es tarde de Domingo), leedlo entero… y luego leed los comentarios tambien! };)