2008 February 06 | official tech blog

Feb 06 2008

Mario Kart Wii features update

Posted by: admin in Tech And Life

Awesome. Mario Kart on the SNES is, as far as I am concerned, one of the ideal games ever made. I still play it regularly even though the personal players cheat flagrantly. Since then it has appeared in various forms, though perhaps none as hotly anticipated as the Wii version. It’s just hitting on the […]

Awesome. Mario Kart on the SNES is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the best games ever made. I still play it regularly although the personal players cheat flagrantly. Since then it has appeared in various forms, though perhaps none as hotly anticipated as the Wii version. It’s just hitting on the other side of the water (the Japanese side) so we’ll be hearing more about it soon. In the meantime, here’s a taste:

32 courses (16 new, 16 remakes), 12-player on the internet play and 4-player split-screen play, world ranking and downloadable ghosts, Miis as racers (meh, I want Toad), and mid-air tricks that boost you on landing. Sounds pretty righteous, and let’s hope it controls as good as the original.

Mario Kart Update [IGN]

Feb 06 2008

Corner Aiming System Looks Like Terminator’s Deadly Eye, Probably Has Same

Posted by: admin in General Tech News

Peek into the Eye of Death, because the Concealed Engagement Unit by Swedish company Aimpoint looks taken straight out the skull of a Terminator T-800. This periscope aiming system is completely different from the CornerShot and a lot simpler. It can be used with any weapon, and according to Danger Room’s Aaron Rowe, who was able to try it at the 2008 Shooting ~~humans~~, Hunting ~~John Connor~~, and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, “it rocks at close range.” Too bad ducks never hang around at close range now. Oh, wait. Nevermind. [Aimpoint via Danger Room]

Via [Gizmodo]

Feb 06 2008

Almost a Quarter of US Cellphone Calls Fall Below Industry Voice-Quality Minimum

Posted by: admin in General Tech News

Turns out, I’m not going deaf. Phones are just still delivering really shitty sound quality, according to a worldwide audit. Examining data from 630 million live calls from 16 carriers in 12 countries, Ditech Networks’ voice-quality team determined that nearly 40% of all calls failed to meet set industry standards, and even in developed markets like the US and Western Europe, the proportion was close to a quarter. “Objectionable” faults included ambient noise, acoustic echo, and voice-level mismatch, where either the caller or speaker is too damn quiet—or deafeningly loud.

Mind you, Ditech isn’t a disinterested celebration, but a company whose mission is to improve “voice quality through continuous innovation and leadership for the world’s communications companies.” It’s a little like the door-to-door vacuum salesman coming in to show you how dirty your carpets really are. But the press release below contains details of the study, which in my view corroborates what I myself have experienced, and what you’ve probably dealt with too. Unfortunately, they’re not breaking it down by carrier, though their customers do include Sprint, Verizon and AT&T (but not, apparently, T-Mobile), so it’s at least a reasonably thorough US sample. [Ditech Networks]

Audit of 630 Million Live Mobile Calls Shows 39% Fall Below Industry Minimum Standard For Voice Quality

Largest Wireless Audit Finds Startling Percentage Of Live Calls In The “Churn Zone”

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 6, 2008- Ditech Networks (NASDAQ: DITC), a leading provider of voice quality solutions to the global communications industry, this day announced the results of its worldwide voice quality audit, which showed that an average of 39 percent of all mobile calls fall below the industry minimum standard for voice quality, often called the “churn zone”. The data was captured in the largest audit conducted in the mobile services industry to measure how mobile devices and the caller’s environment affect voice quality. Ditech collected and analyzed information obtained from more than 630 million live mobile calls in 16 different networks across 12 countries.

Ditech’s audits quantified for the first time significant sources of subscriber dissatisfaction, and prove that some of the biggest and most important problems facing the worldwide mobile services industry are voice quality impairments caused by the places where people make calls, and by the wide variety of mobile devices like phones and headsets. Industry research has shown that calls falling below the industry minimum for voice quality often lead to churn, which is when dissatisfaction is so strong that the subscriber terminates service.

The full report is available from Ditech by calling 650-623-1365, or by going to www.ditechnetworks.com/auditreport.htm

“Mobile service is about making calls from nearly anywhere, and users expect their carrier to deliver acceptable voice quality regardless of where the call is made or what device they’re using,” stated J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., Vice President and Chief Analyst, Mobile & Wireless Communications, at Frost & Sullivan. “Even though these kinds of voice quality problems occur outside the carrier’s network, users still blame their carrier and drop their service. By removing the effects of these external impairments, carriers can gain a strong competitive advantage.”

Ditech’s audits uncovered a number of startling facts about voice quality in the mobile services industry:

• In mature markets such as the U.S. and Western Europe, 23 percent of all calls fall below the industry minimum.
• In rapid growth markets, such as the Middle East, India and South America, 59 percent of all calls fall below the industry minimum.
• Ambient noise, or noise that originates in the caller’s environment and enters the device’s microphone, was rated “objectionable” on up to 50 percent of all calls in some regions.
• Acoustic echo, which is often caused by mobile handsets and headsets, was rated “objectionable” on up to 11 percent of all calls in some regions.
• Voice level mismatch, which makes it sound like a caller is talking either too loudly or too softly, was rated “objectionable” on up to 28 percent of all calls in some regions.

“Until Ditech’s audits, mobile service providers only had data about network-induced voice quality problems, which are issues that originate within the network, or subjective information from consumer public view surveys,” stated Todd Simpson, President and CEO of Ditech Networks. “When voice quality impairments originating from the subscriber’s environment are added to impairments originating in the network, the communications industry finally has a complete and accurate picture of actual voice quality that’s experienced by customers. Carriers now have actionable information for pinpointing the sources of voice quality impairments, like ambient noise and echo.”

The audits were conducted using Experience Intelligence (EXi), a technology developed by Ditech that quantifies the impact of voice quality impairments caused by the places where people make calls, codec impairments, and mobile devices like phones and headsets. EXi is based on the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) G.107 E-Model, a widely used industry standard, and the technology has been utilized in the communications industry as a complement to existing voice quality test and measurement solutions.

The audit data was used to derive an R-Factor, which is a 1-100 (best) rating system developed by the ITU to assess customer satisfaction with voice quality. The R-Factor was converted to a Mean Thought Score (MOS), which is widely used in the mobile services industry to rate voice quality on a scale of 1 to 5 (best.) The ITU has set the minimum level of acceptable voice quality at R-Factor 50, or MOS 2.5. Voice quality that’s rated below these minimums is considered unacceptable.

In September 2007, Ditech released a report on the global economic impact of dissatisfaction with mobile call quality, and found that the communications industry is already feeling the pinch. Poor voice quality is believed to have caused more than 66,583,174 mobile subscribers to leave their service provider during 2007, ultimately costing the global mobile services industry approximately $23.6 billion. The report is available on Ditech’s website at www.ditechnetworks.com.

Note to editors: For further information about how EXi is being used in the communications industry, see Ditech’s announcement made on Jan. 30, 2008.

About Ditech Networks

Ditech Networks is shaping the future of voice quality through continuous innovation and leadership for the world’s communications companies. Ditech’s voice quality solutions are deployed in wireless and wireline networks to optimize the call experience. By delivering consistent, dependable voice quality, Ditech’s products help global communications companies meet the multiple challenges of service differentiation, network expansion and call capacity. Ditech’s customers include Verizon, Sprint/Nextel, Orascom Telecom, AT&T, China Unicom, Global Crossing and West Corporation. Ditech Networks is headquartered in Mountain View, California. For more information, visit www.ditechnetworks.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Ditech Networks’ expectations of the benefits the global communications industry will receive using Ditech’s EXi solution. Actual results could differ materially as a result of unanticipated factors and events, including the danger that Ditech Networks’ EXi solution may exhibit unforeseen technical problems that’ll preclude those benefits from being utilized, as well as those detailed in the “Future Growth and Operating Results Subject to Risk” in Part I, Item 2 of Ditech Networks’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Oct. 31, 2007 (filed Dec. 7, 2007 with the Securities and Exchange Commission).

Via [Gizmodo]

Feb 06 2008

‘Formal war’: Why Google is ready to throw a hissy fit over Microsoft/Yahoo!

Posted by: admin in Tech And Life

In World wide web time, the Microsoft bid for Yahoo! isn’t already old news, but it’s also teetering on the boring. All the more reason to squeeze out detail after detail, then, about each party’s motives and why, as chief executive put it, Google might have just declared “formal war” on Microsoft. Hooray for war metaphors. As […]

In Internet time, the Microsoft bid for Yahoo! isn’t already old news, but it’s also teetering on the boring. All the more reason to squeeze out detail after detail, then, about each party’s motives and why, as chief executive put it, Google might have just declared “formal war” on Microsoft. Hooray for war metaphors.

As you know, Google doesn’t like the deal because it threatens its search business, its on the internet application business (Google Docs and the like), its ad business, etc. If Microsoft is allowed to purchase Yahoo!, then Redmond will gain an unfair advantage in some of these areas. (Just think of the percentage of e-mail accounts are Yahoo! and Hotmail.) That’s why Google wants people, legislators and regulators chief among them, to remember what happened in the 1990s when Microsoft was the de-facto new world company: homogenization, innovation stagnation and the sky fell.

Anticipate this story to be more protracted than that silly XM-Sirius merger.

Microsoft Adversary Rises Instinctively at Yahoo Bid [New York Times]

Feb 06 2008

Hands on with Aliph’s offensive Jawbone Bluetooth headset

Posted by: admin in Tech And Life

I’ve finally gotten around to taking the Jawbone BT headset out of the box and over the next few days I’ll see what all the fuss is about. I’m going to struggle with this review since I poke fun at everyone who wears a headset. But I have the sense not to wear it on […]

I’ve finally gotten around to taking the Jawbone BT headset out of the box and over the next few days I’ll see what all the fuss is about. I’m going to struggle with this review since I poke fun at everyone who wears a headset. But I’ve the sense not to wear it on the subway unless, of course, I’m trying to hit on some ladies. The streets of NYC are probably the best testing ground so I’ll give it a whirl and let you guys know if the ‘Noise Shield’ is as good as everyone states it is. Maybe I’ll step into a dry cleaners and and see if I can’t provoke any racist brawls. Heh.

Feb 06 2008

HTC’s Magnum shows up on video, confounding one and all

Posted by: admin in Tech And Life

HTC is out to show us that Windows Mobile isn’t just for mobile phones with the new Magnum tablet. It’s not a smartphone, and not a regular tablet Computer. No, the Magnum is a giant tablet thing, we’re not even sure what to call it yet. But it’s something with a touchscreen, and 80GB HD, […]

HTC is out to show us that Windows Mobile isn’t just for mobile phones with the new Magnum tablet. It’s not a smartphone, and not a regular tablet PC. No, the Magnum is a giant tablet thing, we’re not even sure what to call it yet. But it’s something with a touchscreen, and 80GB HD, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity, boasting a 30-hour battery.

This whole thing is insane, and yet is apparently real. BGR finds it first, but like us, they’ve no idea what Fez here’s saying about this large-format tablet.

Large-format, right? We’re coining a phrase: Tabloid Computer. If this takes off, you heard it here first.

Pocketpt [via Portal PPC]