Is it a phone? Is it a PC? It's the future!

It seems like yesterday when computers were the size of rooms, used by military or industry elites, and running at clock speeds that can actually be measured by an abacus. It was a big calculator basically. Today, we have powerful personal computers and laptops with multi-core hardware and compatible, multi-threaded software. Cell phones have evolved independently to also include similar internals, almost becoming mini-PC's themselves. Almost. Do you see where this is headed?

An article on Engadget has foretold the future of personal/business computing. The geniuses at Canonical have installed their Ubuntu OS for desktops into an Android phone! One minute it is a normal smartphone accessing the web, taking pictures, texting friends, answering calls, playing Angry Birds. Dock it into a USB port, and now it is a personal computer running Ubuntu. What an age we live in.

The article contains a video showcasing and explaining this masterpiece. Using what Canonical dubbed as a "shared kernel architecture", the Android system is untouched while Ubuntu has full access to read/write/memory in addition to the smartphone capabilities such as text messages, calling, and apps. The interface on the monitor display is a full Ubuntu desktop, complete with taskbar, icons, and wallpaper. Looking at the top right corner, the taskbar section resembles what it appears to be the Android pull down menu and it displays the 3G connectivity, wireless connectivity, phone signal strength, and incoming text messages. So the phone (Android) OS is still functioning in the background while Ubuntu is the main show while the phone is docked. There is some limitations due to hardware capabilities and integration, as shown by some hangs and lagging. With the Mobile World Congress coming up, however, I think this roadblock is going to be very temporary.

Imagine a world where you carry your personal and work computer in your pocket. Mornings: load up some news and read it offline during the commute. At work: connect it to your monitor, keyboard, and mouse to send/receive texts/calls while seamlessly crunching numbers on a spreadsheet. Heading to a meeting? Undock your "comphone", review your presentation on the way, and then dock it again to present your slides exactly the way you wanted it. Unfortunately, this scenario assumes an ideal world where workers strive for optimal productivity, but you get the idea.

There is also the flip side. Some might say this is a case of too much technology. People lose and drop phones all the time. Other people steal them. Protecting company secrets and confidential data could become a manager's worst nightmare with this kind of portability.

Whether for or against, the "comphone" (someone please think of a better name) is definitely another milestone for computer-human interaction. I cannot wait to see what develops.

Another Victory for the Internet!

With all this talk about SOPA (USA), Bill C-11 (Canada), ACTA (International), we at least identified the government as a potential enemy of our precious internet (no sarcasm intended). Of course, the entertainment industry and its lobbyists are still the big bosses calling the shots while churning out a generation of bad music and even worse movies. In this war against the internet, however, I think a third enemy has not been given enough attention as of late. The salesman of internet: the ISP.

The ISP is the window between your computer and the glorious world of the internet. This window's blinds can be drawn little by little until there is nothing to see. This is what almost happened a few years ago in Canada with the usage based billing that the CRTC thankfully ruled against Bell and Rogers. Having lost that battle, the big 2 started the disdainful practice of throttling internet for certain type of usage. According to their policies, they claimed to only throttle P2P file sharing, but as shown by the Star they also started throttling PC gaming packets as well. The complaints came flooding into the CRTC!

By next month, Bell has been ordered to stop this illegal act for both gaming and P2P traffic. It's not a complete win because there is some complications with higher pricing, but internet users everywhere will take it for now. Of course, it was not long before Rogers followed suit and grudgingly accepted its legal papers a few days ago.

This is definitely good news and step in the right direction to control private companies from contesting net neutrality. However, we must not be complacent. Started on Feb. 2, TekSavvy, a small ISP that buys its bandwidth from Rogers, had to increase its pricing model due to unreasonable (and probably illegal) demands from big R and Bell. A recent email from TekSavvy to customers read:

"This cause is an extremely important one. Even before this decision, Canada was an international laggard when it comes to the cost of internet service, with per Mbps costs well above most of the rest of the industrialized world. These regulated wholesale rates that are in place from our suppliers only make matters worse.  In our view, while these tariffs remain in effect Canadians will continue to be punished for the “sin” of enjoying the benefits and pleasures the internet has to offer.  Unique in the industrialized world, Canadians will be forced to carefully select what, when and how they engage the world through the internet.

This new wholesale pricing is a big win for the incumbents, especially Cogeco and Bell, whose tariffs are noticeably out of line with most of their competitors."

As a loyal customer of TekSavvy who enjoys their reasonable prices for reasonable usage, and as a frequent and enthusiastic net user, I wish them lots of luck in their legal battles. We all have a small part to play to maintain our quality of life and seek happiness. Please stay informed, and inform others!