Category Archives: Tech

Technology in general

ESA’s Venus Express returns first images

Posted on by

ESA Portal – Unexpected detail in first-ever Venus south pole images

As the ESA probe Venus Express approached it’s orbit with the neighboring planet, it snapped a few images. One of the few released thus far shows incredible detail even though it was taken from over 206 thousand kilometers away. I can’t wait to see the high resolution images that will be possible as the probe descends into a lower orbit. It will also be interesting to compare the results of this latest probe with those of NASA’s Magellan probe, whose mission ended in late 1994.

Compression breakthrough or PR stunt?

Posted on by

Firm squeezes films into a download – The Boston Globe

Euclid Discoveries claims to have invented compression technology that is close to 4.4 times more efficient than MPEG-4. (actually they claim 4.6… funny how the numbers in their press release don’t show it..) While object-based compression sounds cool, I have to wonder what the tradeoffs are in both quality and CPU requirements. The company admits in their press release that their testing has centered on “talking head” type video. (which is the easiest, aside from a still shot, for any compression algorithm to crunch) They’re also pretty blatant about their use of IP patents to attempt to monopolize this field of study. Sickening…

Another point of curiosity: I wonder how long it’s going to take EuclidVision to sue Euclid Discoveries over the product name?

Domestic spying not limited to international phone calls

Posted on by

Wired News: Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room

Mark Klein, a former AT&T employee, has helped the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in it’s lawsuit against the telecom giant. Considering the possible scope of the federal government’s eavesdropping program, I think it’s time to start using strong encryption everywhere possible. If what this guy says is true, I sure hope there will be some consequences for the Bush administration. More information on the progess of the lawsuit can be found here.