IT crowd CZ

Google Learns to Crawl Flash

I thing this is more of the bad news.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Does it lives still?

(Via Why, that’s delightful!.)

X-Rite Buys Pantone | The Mac Observer

X-Rite announced on Friday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Pantone for US$180 million. X-Rite is known for its color measurement and matching products, and Pantone is recognized as a world leader in color design and is also the creator of the industry standard Pantone Matching System, or PMS.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Foxconn, Apple’s subcontractor on iPhone has a factory here in Czech republic precisely in town of Pardubice, and it appears there is some movement related to iPhone happening. Rumour has it that much—if not complete production— of iPhone should move to Pardubice.

Researcher: Optimal copyright term is 14 years | Ars Technica

Of course, there’s no guarantee that copyright law has anything to do with rationality; as Pollock puts it, ‘the level of protection is not usually determined by a benevolent and rational policy-maker but rather by lobbying.’

First look: the stream-rippin’ RealPlayer 11 beta | Ars Technica

Times have obviously changed, and the new RealPlayer’s biggest advertised feature is the ability to save streaming video to the desktop. The neat thing is that not only RealMedia formats are supported: the player can download Windows Media Video and QuickTime streams as well. RealNetworks says that it will respect streams that make use of Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes and not allow these to be downloaded.

Product loyalty: consumers mistake familiarity with superiority | Ars Technica

Overall, the results suggest that all the years of arguments over the relative merits of things like the Mac and Windows user interfaces were a waste of time: we’re generally convinced that whatever we’re familiar with is the best. That said, future choices go on against a backdrop of economic considerations and heavy marketing. Given the prominent role these researchers assign error, maybe Apple is on the right track when they try to remind people of every annoyance they might have experienced on a PC…

Rampant Layering Violation?

You can think of any storage stack as a series of translations from one naming scheme to another — ultimately translating a filename to a disk LBA (logical block address). Typically it looks like this:

        filesystem(upper): filename to object (inode)
        filesystem(lower): object to volume LBA
        volume manager: volume LBA to array LBA
        RAID controller: array LBA to disk LBA

(Via FatBits.)

Sinclair ZX Spectrum: 25 today | The Register:

Clive Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum is a quarter of a century old today. The machine that really launched the UK IT industry hit the streets of a depressed Britain on 23 April, 1982.