koobe def:

Ge.tt in a nutshell

Wayne — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:09:24 +0000

In mere 2 months, the downloads at the new file sharing service Ge.tt have exceeded 1 million counts. No need to register, Flash free, free of charge, and it is blazingly fast. This is simply the most impressive sharing service over the last few years.

Company: Ge.tt
Origin: Copenhagen, Denmark
Starting from: 1 Nov 2010
Data center: Dublin, Ireland (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud)
Method: HTML 5 compliant
Filesize limit: Unlimited (See http://ge.tt/terms)
Retention: 30 days (w/o an account), 90 days (w/ an account)
Downloads: Unrestricted
Transfer rate: Unthrottled (Not confirmed)
Pricing: Free (Paid plans in the near future)

My test upload of a 200MB file finishes in about 20 seconds (i.e. my 100 Mbps ethernet limit), and the download rate reaches easily above 3 MB/s from Germany. Using a box in the states, the upload/download rate is a little bit slower but it is still way over 1 MB/s. The data center of Amazon is not bad, after all.

File sharing services accessed from China

Wayne — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:14:50 +0000

Readers from China, we need your inputs. We are now trying to figure out whether those popular file sharing services can be accessed from China. Yes, we mean those services that are currently not blocked by the ‘Great Firewall’. And of course, the service can only be considered available if the upload/download rate is decent when accessed from China.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

If you are using any file sharing service not listed in the poll (the option ‘Others’), please be kind enough to specify it in a comment.

Journal Citation Reports 2009 Released by Thomson Reuters

Wayne — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:07:51 +0000

Today Thomson Reuters released the new 2009 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) for more than 9,100 peer-reviewed publications. Subscribers may now access the database via http://isiknowledge.com/.

You may download the Journal of Scitation Reports 2009 (in Excel 2007) provided that you have subscribed the contents.

The report is also available as a Google spreadsheet.

Apple iPad and iBooks Store: The Next Standard In e-Reader?

Wayne — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:15:54 +0000

Apple finally revealed its long-rumored tablet: iPad. It’s half inch thick, weighs about 1.5 pounds, and has a 9.7 inch touchscreen (IPS LCD), powered by a custom made A4 1GHz CPU. All iPod touch/iPhone applications can be used on iPad without any port or modifications. The battery can last about 10 hours and one month during standby. The build-in storage comes with 16, 32 and 64GB. As for connectivity, it has a 30-pin Dock connector, one speaker and one mic connect, along with the Bluetooth and WiFi (802.11n). Nothing spectacular, right?

Don’t forget Apple has Apps. The new iBook Store, an ebook reader and store designed for the iPad, uses ePub format. Several publishers (like McGraw-Hill, Penguin, Simon & Schuster) have joined Apple to publish their ebooks through the iBook Store. This is, to date, the most promising rival for the Amazon Kindle. Let’s just sit back and wait for some fresh hands-on reviews on the iPad.

ASUS DR-950 Photos?

Wayne — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:14:03 +0000

People at ASUS UK released a couple of pictures about an eReader, possibly the DR-950?

Update: The photos are now pulled down on Flickr. A teaser?

Apple Tablet: Potentially the Best eBook Reader?

Wayne — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:46:11 +0000

Forget about Steve Jobs’ “People Don’t Read Anymore” and his premonition about the death of the Kindle. Although Apple never states that it will make a reader (and it won’t), the long rumored tablet device, which will possibly revealed on 27th this month, seems like a perfect candidate to an all-round eBook reader.

Now think of Apple tablet as a ‘Kindle Touch’, with color touch screen, Wi-Fi and 3G connection. Books can be easily obtained from iTunes. You get the same feel as on an enlarged iPhone or iPod touch: smooth and comfortable. It is hard to deny that it will be the best Reader out there, if such a Tablet really exists.

ASUS Into eBook Business with 2 DR Models

Wayne — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:06:53 +0000

Last year we have seen the onset of the ebook digital reader market with the buzzword ‘Kindle’. Now ASUS is ready to get involved in the ebook business with two readers, DR-570 and DR-950.

ASUS DR-950

The DR-570 hosts a 6 inch OLED color touch screen, and it brags a battery run time over 120 hrs with a single battery charge. The DR-950, on the other hand, uses a larger 9 inch touch screen however in black and white. The resolution is reported as 1024×768. The web browser is said to be able to alternate between portrait and landscape display.

Both units support 3G download and Wi-Fi. The price is still unknown, but the DR-950 should fall below the $200 mark. The more advanced DR-570 could easily go above $350 thanks to the OLED touch screen.

Kindle for PC now available for download

Wayne — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:19:51 +0000

Kindle for PC beta

The wait is over. The beta version of Kindle for PC is finally out. Currently the reader only supports Windows OS. Mac users should also expect it coming within a few weeks.

Note that Kindle newspapers, magazines, and blogs are not currently available for Kindle for PC.

Amazon Kindle soon available on windows PC

Wayne — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:50:25 +0000

The ebook business never looks so hot in the last few weeks. First, Barnes & Noble releases their own eBook Reader devices. Amazon, on the other hand, introduces its international version of Kindle and also cut its retail price. Not to mention other massive ebook devices appearing on the market.

Kindle for PC

Now, feeling all the pressures from Sony, Google, B&N, or whatever, Amazon apparently wants to gain more market share for its Kindle format, not only from its Kindle device customers, but from everyone who owns a generic personal computer. This new Kindle for PC project aims to spread more than 360,000 Kindle books over Windows PCs first in the United States. Yes, you don’t need a Kindle for that.

So, ebook “pirates”, are you ready for this?

Windows 7 is so much better

Wayne — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:56:40 +0000

Windows 7 Dialog

… even for the blinds.