Manik Surtani's blog @ Conchango.com

Swarming downloads and streams

2004-12-14T10:00:00Z

First, peer-to-peer networks. And subsequently swarm based downloads such as BitTorrent (and if you don't know what that is, what century do you live in again?). A further refinement of the concept, we now have SwarmStreaming from OnionNetworks.

Promising good stuff like swarm based media streaming, BitTorrent-like downloads straight from your browser (and without additional software) and self-healing downloads, there is some clever stuff at work here.

The OnionNetworks SDK is Java-based (features) but behaves as a remote HTTP proxy (so most software platforms will be able to use it). I'm sure we will see other implementations sprout up though - maybe even direct integration into an operating system's network stack?

I'm just waiting for the algorithms to be released into the wild and an open source derivative to evolve from it! ;) A Linux kernel module, perhaps, offering transparent use of a swarming network layer to servers/desktops? Ah, and what about the possibilities of a SwarmStream network layer for mobile devices with low/spotty bandwidth?

Justin Chapweske of OnionNetworks mentions this in his blog.

Large File Support Hall Of Fame

2004-12-14T09:32:00Z

Quote from original article:

In the age of 300GB+ consumer hard drives, it amazes me that there is still main stream software that doesn't support big files greater than 2GB (sometimes 4GB) in size. To encourage vendors and developers to fix this ridiculous problem I have created this Large File Support Hall of Shame.

Know of any software that belongs on this list?

http://justin.chapweske.com/lfs-shame

IoC and lightweight containers

2004-11-29T11:52:00Z

Following the hype around lightweight containers such as Spring and Pico, I've been reading up on Inversion of Control as a design pattern, and how such containers provide IoC. Particularly interesting is how following IoC principles can aid in automated testing, using JUnit and MockObjects, particularly when dependencies on complex backends and integration to third party systems exist.

There are some very useful examples on Pico's website - very nice 1-minute, 2-minute and 5-minute summaries for those with short attention spans! Hugely recommended.

While I do like the ideas behind IoC and agree with the principles, I'm still looking for a real world example using Pico or Spring to achieve this, particularly within a J2EE container like JBoss or BEA's WebLogic.

Oh, and one other thing I learned was that the venerable Singleton is, in fact, an antipattern!! (Whats an antipattern?)

Brazil and Intellectual Property

2004-11-19T09:49:00Z

Ignoring the title of this article, there are some serious insights here on Brazil's stance on IP laws - what they are, how they came to be, and how this is a model the world will almost certainly be following eventually.

Covering not just IP with regards to software but music, literature, and (most importantly, in the case of an AIDS-ridden poverty-stricken third world country) on drugs/medicine, the article shows that there is space for nations outside the 'Western World' to show us the way forward with modern, insightful and revolutionary thinking.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/linux.html

I must say, I'm impressed!

Interview with Niklas Zennström, CEO of Skype

2004-11-09T10:40:00Z

A very interesting interview with the man who's brought crystal clear VOIP communications to the world for free. He talks about Skype, the future of telephony, and VIOP on wireless devices via WiFi. My favourite quote from the article:

The telephone is a 100-year-old technology. It’s time for a change. Charging for phone calls is something you did last century.

Niklas is also notorious for Kazaa, the P2P filesharing network, which has been a constant headache for the music and recording industry.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/2635319328796286/