custom – Jupiter Broadcasting

The Premium Internet | Tech Talk Today 36

chris — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 09:27:01 +0000

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Wireless providers double down on slicing up the internet into marketing packages, and we’ll explain why we feel this is very bad for future innovation on the web.

Plus has Google just taken another major step away from G+, why BitTorrent’s new Bleep chat might fall short, and the amazing story of Popcorn Time and it’s new features.

Direct Download:

RSS Feeds:

MP3 Feed | OGG Feed | iTunes Feed | Video Feed | Torrent Feed

Become a supporter on Patreon:

Show Notes:

Sprint Will Sell a $12 Wireless Plan that Only Connects to Facebook or Twitter – Digits – WSJ

For about $12, will soon let subscribers buy a wireless plan that only connects to Facebook.

For that same price, they could choose instead to connect only with Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest—or for $10 more, enjoy unlimited use of all four. Another $5 gets them unlimited streaming of a music app of their choice.

The plan, offered under the company’s Virgin Mobile brand of prepaid service, comes as wireless carriers are experimenting with ways to make wireless Internet access more affordable for the poorest consumers by offering special deals on slices of the Web.

In the process, however, they are testing the long-held principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally by creating strong incentives for subscribers to use already dominant services.

In June, T-Mobile US Inc. said it would allow customers unlimited use of mobile streaming music that doesn’t count against their data plans when they use services like Pandora and Spotify. Earlier this year, AT&T Inc. created a program allowing companies to foot the bill for data used by their customers on mobile apps.

Sprint said the plan—called Virgin Mobile Custom—was aimed at giving consumers more choices.

The new plan is only available at Wal-Mart and the base offering covers just 20 minutes of talk time and 20 texts. Subscribers can customize the plan by buying up to unlimited talk or text or both, and by choosing among data packages.

Ubuntu for Phones to Integrate Nokia HERE Maps

“HERE will provide a hybrid solution integrating an A-GPS and WiFi positioning system. Although Ubuntu already features GPS-based location, GPS on its own is not sufficient to support the location services that run on the OS with a rapid and efficient location positioning capability. This fully integrated solution will also be available to the many thousands of application developers currently using Ubuntu OS on their own hardware.”

Hangouts Now Works Without Google+ Account

Until now, you had to have a Google+ account to use Hangouts if you were a Google Apps user. Starting today, that requirement is gone. Anybody with a Google Apps account will now be able to start or join a meeting from their desktop or their dedicated Chromebox for Meetings device. For now, however, the requirement is still in place on mobile, but Google says that’s going away soon, too.

The only other restriction for those who want to use Hangouts without a Google+ account is that they won’t be able to use Hangout apps other than Screenshare or Chat and that they won’t be able to use Hangouts on Air to broadcast their chats to a larger audience.

BitTorrent’s new Bleep chat client doesn’t rely on any central servers to find and manage contacts. Instead, the company is using Distributed Hash Tables, also known as DHT, which are basically decentralized sets of data that can be queried by any connected client.

The company touts the absence of a central server or directory as a safeguard against government wiretapping and other kind of snooping, and it also promises better security for the actual messages. Bittorrent’s Senior Director of Product Development Farid Fadaie explained it this way on the company’s engineering blog:

“We are using secure encryption protocols such as curve25519, ed25519 , salsa20, poly1305, and others. Links between nodes are encrypted. All communication is end to end encrypted. This should be the new normal in the post-Snowden era.”

BitTorrent starts testing Bleep, its new P2P messaging platform

BitTorrent is slowly starting to take the wraps off its upcoming P2P chat initiative: The company started an invite-only pre-alpha test of a new Windows chat client dubbed “Bleep” on Wednesday, and it also revealed that it plans to make the underlying peer-to-peer technology available to other chat apps and messaging service providers as well.

Bleep… BitTorrent Unveils Serverless & Encrypted Chat Client | TorrentFreak

Popcorn Time Adds Apple TV Support, iOS App Coming Soon | TorrentFreak

While the original app was shut down by the developers after a few weeks, the project was quickly picked up by others. This resulted in several popular forks that have gained millions of users in recent months.

Today one of the most popular Popcorn Time forks releases a highly anticipated feature. The developers inform TorrentFreak that the latest version now has Airplay support, making it possible to stream movies directly to Apple TVs and other supported devices.

Ironically, Airplay support is currently limited to the Windows release, but a Mac version is due early next week and the Linux release will follow shortly after.

The latest feature follows the addition of Chromecast support a few weeks ago.

The post The Premium Internet | Tech Talk Today 36 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

A Sixth pfSense | BSD 25

chris — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 21:25:32 +0000

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

We sit down for an interview with Chris Buechler, from the pfSense project, to learn just how easy it can be to deploy a BSD firewall. We\’ll also be showing you a walkthrough of the pfSense interface so you can get an idea of just how convenient and powerful it is. Answers to your questions and the latest headlines, here on BSD Now – the place to B.. SD.

Thanks to:

Direct Download:

RSS Feeds:

– Show Notes: –

Headlines

EuroBSDCon and AsiaBSDCon

This year, EuroBSDCon will be in September in Sofia, Bulgaria
They\’ve got a call for papers up now, so everyone can submit the talks they want to present
There will also be a tutorial section of the conference
AsiaBSDCon will be next month, in March!
All the info about the registration, tutorials, hotels, timetable and location have been posted
Check the link for all the details on the talks – if you plan on going to Tokyo next month, hang out with Allan and Kris and lots of BSD developers!

FreeBSD 10 on Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite

The Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite is a router that costs less than $100 and has a MIPS CPU
This article goes through the process of installing and configuring FreeBSD on it to use as a home router
Lots of good pictures of the hardware and specific details needed to get you set up
It also includes the scripts to create your own images if you don\’t want to use the ones rolled by someone else
For such a cheap price, might be a really fun weekend project to replace your shitty consumer router
Of course if you\’re more of an OpenBSD guy, you can always see our tutorial for that too

Signed pkgsrc package guide

We got a request on IRC for more pkgsrc stuff on the show, and a listener provided a nice write-up
It shows you how to set up signed packages with pkgsrc, which works on quite a few OSes (not just NetBSD)
He goes through the process of signing packages with a public key and how to verify the packages when you install them
The author also happens to be an EdgeBSD developer

Big batch of OpenBSD hackathon reports

Five trip reports from the OpenBSD hackathon in New Zealand! In the first one, jmatthew details his work on fiber channel controller drivers, some octeon USB work and ARM fixes for AHCI
In the second, ketennis gets into his work with running interrupt handlers without holding the kernel lock, some SPARC64 improvements and a few other things
In the third, jsg updated libdrm and mesa and did various work on xenocara
In the fourth, dlg came with the intention to improve SMP support, but got distracted and did SCSI stuff instead – but he talks a little bit about the struggle OpenBSD has with SMP and some of the work he\’s done
In the fifth, claudio talks about some stuff he did for routing tables and misc. other things

This episode was brought to you by

Interview – Chris Buechler – cmb@pfsense.com / @cbuechler

pfSense

Tutorial

pfSense walkthrough

News Roundup

FreeBSD challenge continues

Our buddy from the Linux foundation continues his switching to BSD journey
In day 13, he covers some tips for new users, mentions trying things out in a VM first
In day 14, he starts setting up XFCE and X11, feels like he\’s starting over as a new Linux user learning the ropes again – concludes that ports are the way to go
In day 15, he finishes up his XFCE configuration and details different versions of ports with different names, as well as learns how to apply his first patch
In day 16, he dives into the world of FreeBSD jails!

BSD books in 2014

BSD books are some of the highest quality technical writings available, and MWL has written a good number of them
In this post, he details some of his plans for 2014
In includes at least one OpenBSD book, at least one FreeBSD book and…
Very strong possibility of Absolute FreeBSD 3rd edition (watch our interview with him)
Check the link for all the details

How to build FreeBSD/EC2 images

Our friend Colin Percival details how to build EC2 images in a new blog post
Most people just use the images he makes on their instances, but some people will want to make their own from scratch
You build a regular disk image and then turn it into an AMI
It requires a couple ports be installed on your system, but the whole process is pretty straightforward

PCBSD weekly digest

This time around we discuss how you can become a developer
Kris also details the length of supported releases
Expect lots of new features in 10.1

Feedback/Questions

Sean writes in: https://slexy.org/view/s216xJoCVG
Jake writes in: https://slexy.org/view/s2gLrR3VVf
Niclas writes in: https://slexy.org/view/s21gfG3Iho
Steffan writes in: https://slexy.org/view/s2JNyw5BCn
Antonio writes in: https://slexy.org/view/s2kg3zoRfm
Chris writes in: https://slexy.org/view/s2ZwSIfRjm

Our email backlog is pretty much caught up. Now\’s a great time to send us something – questions, stories, ideas, requests for something you want to see, anything
All the tutorials are posted in their entirety at bsdnow.tv
The OpenBSD router tutorial got a couple improvements and fixes
Just because our tutorial contest is over doesn\’t mean you can\’t submit any, we would love if more listeners wrote up a tutorial on interesting things they\’re doing with BSD
Send questions, comments, show ideas/topics, or stories you want mentioned on the show to feedback@bsdnow.tv
Watch live Wednesdays at 2:00PM Eastern (19:00 UTC)
The BSD Now shirt design has been finalized, we have the files and are working out the printing details… expect them to be available in early-to-mid March!

The post A Sixth pfSense | BSD 25 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

iGoogle Alternatives | FauxShow 148

chris — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 16:15:35 +0000

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Angela recruits live viewer Nathan to assist in discussing iGoogle’s demise and alternatives for it.

Direct Download:

HD Download | Mobile Download | MP3 Download | YouTube

RSS Feeds:

HD Video Feed | Mobile Video Feed | MP3 Audio Feed | Torrent Feed | iTunes Feeds

Fill out my Wufoo form!

What is happening to iGoogle? https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2664197?hl=en
iGoogle Themes: https://www.google.com/ig/directory?type=themes
iGoogle https://lifehacker.com/5881052/lifehacker-faceoff-the-best-start-pages-for-your-browser
Google Home https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/6-great-alternatives-igoogle.htm
More alternatives: https://alternativeto.net/software/igoogle/
Startpage html: https://bpaste.net/show/139778/

Find FauxShow!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefauxshow
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/angerz
G+: https://www.gplus.to/fauxshow
Subscribe to Jupiter Signal: https://www.bit.ly/jupitersignal
Jupiter Radio: https://jblive.info
Affiliates Firefox Extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/jupiterbroadcasting/
Affiliates Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bjekemhblnilimncanbehhjijdpjgimj
Donations: https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/donate
Shows & Shownotes: https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/show/fauxshow/

The post iGoogle Alternatives | FauxShow 148 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Best of MMO Music | MMOrgue 13

chris — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 23:01:02 +0000

Today’s episode is dedicated entirely to the men and woman that tirelessly fill the earholes of us gamers with the rich tapestry of music that makes up the soundtracks to the titles we love to experience.

Later on, I’ll share my top picks for the best MMO soundtracks, as well as dedicating some time to talking about a few noteworthy composers working in the realm of video game and MMO music. Before that, however, we’ll also go over some music-related innovations from the MMO market!

Direct Download Links:

HD Video | Large Video | Mobile Video | MP3 Audio | YouTube

MMOrgue iTunes Feeds:	MMOrgue RSS Feeds:
HD Video iPad & Apple TV Video iPod Video MP3 Audio	HD Video RSS Large Video RSS Mobile Video RSS MP3 Audio RSS

Show Notes:

T-SHIRT: “Die, noob!”
Available at ThinkGeek

Innovations:

APB – Import your own soundtrack!

This one is pretty straight-forward, but is also a first for MMOs as far as I’m aware…
While it’s always an option to simply turn off the in-game soundtrack, load up iTunes and jam to your own custom playlists, APB instead allows you to put your favorite tunes right into the game world itself.
This means that, by using their import functions, you can suddenly be treated to your fellow gamers riding around in stolen vehicles with Monty Python’s “I’m A Lumberjack” blaring out their windows.
Unfortunately, you’re still the only one that can hear it.

APB – Create your own theme!

APB also features a somewhat unintuitive interface option that allows players to compose their own “themes” which play through their victim’s speakers when they successfully kill another player in combat.
It’s a nice thought, but it’s pretty difficult to compose anything using the built-in interface without spending hours and hours at it.
On the upside, if you get good at it, you can also SELL those creations to other players.

LOTRO’s music system

This innovative and powerful mechanic is based around a scripting language that engages any time your in-game avatar equips a particular type of instrument.
Once these are equipped, your keyboard BECOMES an instrument, and by mashing different keystrokes, you can treat yourself AND ANYONE NEAR YOUR CHARACTER, to whatever cacophonous musical diarrhea you can manage to fumble your way through.
Not much of a musician? Fear not! For included with this mechanic is an easy-to-use macro language called “abc” which allows for anyone with the ability to type, the option of loading up pre-scripted recordings of any song they can manage to bash together in Notepad.
Also an option is downloading pre-made ABC scripts, written by people far more talented than you.
However, be forewarned that the general population of LOTRO is a bit … elitist when it comes to in-game musical performances, and using ABC scripting may net you more jeers and flames, than applause.

While neither of these games have attracted much widespread attention for these features alone, I think it’s worth lauding them for the efforts that they’ve made to allow their players to express themselves in artistic ways. And to potentially add to the enjoyment of their fellow players, through music.

Up next, let’s focus briefly on a few of the creative individuals that have contributed to the world of MMO music.

And they are BOTH Free-to-Play!

Download Lord of the Rings Online

Download APB Reloaded

Noteworthy Composers:

Up first is Tracy W Bush

Bush was one of the composers for the original World of Warcraft soundtrack, having first honed his knowledge of this universe by contributing compositions to Warcraft II and Warcraft III.
He later worked as audio director on Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault and DC Universe Online.
Although Bush is an accomplished musician and composer, he is perhaps most famously known as the voice of murlocs in World of Warcraft.
He’s also performed the voice of many of the characters in Starcraft, Warcraft III, and in DCUO (Ambush Bug, Booster Gold, Calculator and more)

Next I’d like to introduce you to Inon Zur

Although known in the MMO world for his compositions on the Lineage II and RIFT soundtracks, he is perhaps more well-known for his iconic contributions to some of the most beloved single-player games of all time, including:
- Baldur’s Gate 2
- Icewind Dale 2
- Crysis
- Fallout 3
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Dragon Age Origins
- Dragon Age 2
His work on these titles and more have helped to shape the current image of video game music as something MORE than just the bloops and bleeps that we once tolerated. His compositions have been nominated for dozens of awards, and earned recognition and respect far beyond just us gamers.

The full soundtrack of his work on Lineage II used to be available for streaming from their official site, but has since vanished.

Here are a few examples:
Dion Castle / Aden Theme / Shepard’s Flute

The next artist really needs no introduction, so I apologize if I butcher his name… Nobuo Uematsu

He is single-handedly responsible for the almost entire Final Fantasy series (including the MMOs, FFXI and FFXIV) – he did not write the music for XII or XIII
- Opening Theme / Rolanberry Fields
Uematsu’s distinctive sound has left a mark on the Final Fantasy franchise that cannot be mistaken.
From his horn-heavy fanfares and percussive psuedo-tribal tributes to village life, to chant-like laments featuring full vocal choruses, almost every piece evokes memories of past adventures in the various worlds he helped create.
His work on FFXI was lauded for its cinematic emotional depth, while FFXIV has frequently been accused of sounding derivative and lazy compared to his earlier work.
Nonetheless, his contributions to video game music in general cannot be denied.

Best MMO Soundtracks:

Guild Wars

Featuring the genius of Jeremy Soule (also ES:Oblivion, ES: Morrowind, NWN, and over SIXTY others)
2007 GameSpot interview // 2007 ArmChair Empire Interview
He’s been described as the “John Williams of video game music.”
He is one of the most acclaimed video game composers still working in the business, with more than half a dozen prestigious awards decorating his shelves, and several more nominations as well.
Each of the expansion packs for GW have featured complete soundtracks, all of which Jeremy Soule has created. To date, this library spans hundreds of hours and includes rich and diverse compositions that vary from soaring orchestral epics, to simple 1- or 2- instrument compositions… some of which were even performed by Jeremy himself.
And… as if all of that music wasn’t enough of an offering for Guild Wars fans, he is also selling musical “Expansion Packs” for GW via DirectSong.
- Almost 10% of overall GW subscribers have purchased at least one expansion song.

Guild Wars – Eye of the North Overture
Guild Wars – Factions Overture
Guild Wars – Prophecies Overture

The songs of Guild Wars are too varied to review in a one- or two-sentence soundbite, and truly must be heard to be appreciated. I’ve included links to three of the major expansions’ overtures, as an example of some of the diverse introductions players of this title have been treated to over the years, and would highly encourage any music fans to click and enjoy.

Age of Conan

Rich and completely evocative of the incredible worlds and cultures created in the original Conan novels and comics, this soundtrack was sadly buried by being attached to the substandard launch of one of the biggest disappointments in recent MMO history.
Sadly, it can be a bit bleak overall, as there are very few happy/upbeat tunes included among the batch, which has turned some off from these compositions in the past.
The entire soundtrack was composed by Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who won an IFMCA award in 2008 for this outstanding original score.
It also features the alluring vocal talents of Helene Bøksle – a known actress/singer from Norway – and, in a strange twist, the CD version of the soundtrack also bears 3 bonus tracks performed by the Norwegian punk metal group, Turbonegro, including one they composed especially for Age of Conan.
Listening to the soundtrack for this game was an absolutely joyous experience, having never actually played the game myself. Now that AoC has moved to a F2P subscription model, I intend to pick it up for another round in the near future, based SOLELY on listening to this jaw-dropping soundtrack. So look forward to a re-review of this game on a future episode of the MMOrgue, inspired entirely by music!

EverQuest II

Up until a recent expansion pack, this game’s entire body of award-winning work was solely credited to Laura Karpman. Since that time, Inon Zur has taken up the reigns (whom I spoke of earlier, as attached to Lineage and Dragon Age).
For the purposes of this episode, I’d like to limit my opinions to the soundtrack that accompanied the original game that shipped at time of release.
Karpman has a masterful understanding for different instruments and the emotions and atmospheres they can evoke in different combinations, and uses this skill and understanding to create some of the most diverse and interesting musical compositions that I’ve heard in an MMO setting.
I feel as though nearly every piece of music from EverQuest 2 successfully transports players to the locales the music was crafted for… be it a shipwrecked beach beset by goblins, a forgotten city that has become a tomb for ghosts and worse, or a magical shrine of divine origins.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

I ALMOST did not put this game on the list, for a couple reasons…
- 1) It’s so obvious, and I was hoping that this episode would open folks’ eyes to games beyond their existing scope, and…
- 2) More than 3 dozen different composers have worked on WoW over the years. That, in my opinion, lessens the impact that each overall soundtrack can have, when you consider that it’s a culmination of some of the best work that more than 30 different musicians have cobbled together. Meanwhile, games like Final Fantasy and Guild Wars feature soundtracks from a single creative mind. The comparative depth of talent there is astounding.
NONETHELESS, I’ve got to give credit where it’s due.
I was invited into the WotLK beta approximately 2 months prior to its release, and over those following 2 months absolutely fell in love with the diverse, cinematic and epic score that was attached to the continent of Northrend. By the time release came around, I went halfsies with a buddy to buy a CE of the game, giving him everything from the box except the soundtrack CD, which I still own to this day.
The soundtrack features everything from solemn bagpipe hymns punctuated with flowing streams and birdsong, to epic discordant fanfares that would rally the undead into battle, to ethereal dream-songs heralding the mystical dragonflights. While also featuring a heavy dose of both the cathedral-esque choirs of the alliance, and tribal ferocity of the horde.
This soundtrack has it all, and never fails to wholly embody the content it was created for.

Nostalgia:

Because several older titles were brought up as suggestions to be covered in this episode, I’ve included a “Nostalgia” section in our show notes that includes links to some of the songs from some of the great older titles of the early days of MMOs.

The post Best of MMO Music | MMOrgue 13 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.