July 24th, 2008 DJB
Broadband speeds around the world
As the UK debates how and when to roll our faster broadband networks, we look at the huge divide between the speeds of some of the world’s faster broadband nations and some of the slowest. There is also a big gap between the advertised speeds and the actual speeds users are getting.
UNITED KINGDOM
Currently in the UK the big issue is the gap between advertised and actual speeds, so while 10Mbps might be available from a few suppliers, very few actually get this speed. According to speedtest.net - a global speed test created by actual users and approved by most of the major ISPs in the US - the real speed is closer to 3Mbps.
Things get faster next year as ADSL2+ comes online promising speeds of up to 24Mbps, although as with all DSL technology, there are physical limits and only those close to the exchange will actually get the top speeds.
Virgin Media is currently trialling a 50Mbps cable service and BT is also experimenting with fibre to the home, which could offers speeds of up to 100Mbps.
FRANCE
France has an advertised average of 44Mbps.
According to speedtest.net the average speed from those doing the test is 4.6Mbps but higher speeds are beginning to come online. ADSL2+ is already available and is being marketed as providing speeds of up to 28Mbps.
Actual speeds will vary although the copper telephone lines are generally of better quality than in the UK, so speeds are typically higher.
The leading ISPs in France have announced fibre-based services. Orange and Frees’ offerings are live now and are marketed at offering speeds around 50Mbps. Free’s offer at 29 euros a month, comes bundled with a broadband telephone service, IPTV, plus a free set top box.
GERMANY
Average advertised speeds of 9Mbps falls to 4.8Mbps according to speedtest.net.
In Germany the main delivery mechanism is still largely DSL, and the leading company is the old incumbent Deutsche Telekom.
They have a VDSL network - which provides fibre as far as the street cabinet.
This is live in the main German cities, and offers speeds of up to around 25Mbps. Outside of the main towns there is a mixture of ADSL 1 and 2 technologies.
SWEDEN
Average advertised speed of 21Mbps but according to speedtest.net, people are actually achieving an average of 7.4Mbps.
In Sweden there is a VDSL network live. Fibre has been available for quite a long time with a significant number of people served by it.
Speeds vary depending on which network, but can go up to 100Mbps, However there is a big polarisation between those that get it and those still relying on DSL products.
SOUTH AFRICA
1Mbps (this data comes from the ITU as OECD doesn’t have figures for Africa).
Alongside countries such as Morocco, South Africa is one of the biggest broadband countries in Africa.
The primary delivery mechanism is via broadband. WIMAX penetration is still low. Although it is likely to become an important infrastructure in Africa, currently it is too expensive to be widely deployed.
ISRAEL
Israel’s advertised figure is 2Mbps.
Israel has very high penetration levels with around 70% of households using a broadband connection.
There is quite a lot of cable services available alongside DSL and there has been quite a big government spend on broadband.
UNITED STATES
The US has an average speed of 8Mbps according to the OECD, although it is nearly half this (4.6Mbps) according to speedtest.net.
The US is unusual because it is one of the few countries in which cable is the largest connection network.
Typically cable is marketed at offering between 5Mbps and 20Mbps. Number of fibre providers, most notably Verizon which offers fibre to home, with speeds up to 20Mb, This is just available on the east coast. ATT is offering a hybrid DSL service while Qwest has just announced a fibre to street strategy.
MEXICO
Mexico’s advertised speed is 2Mbps.
In Mexico the predominant infrastructure is broadband via DSL.
Its rich incumbent telecom firm TelMex are considering laying fibre and despite the fact that there is no large scale implementation it is likely to overtake the UK very soon in terms of the amount of fibre available.
JAPAN
Japan has an average speed of 93Mbps according to the OECD, but this falls to 10.6Mbps according to speedtest.net, which could be indicative of the fact that fibre is concentrated in the towns and cities.
Cable broadband is quite strong in Japan but the biggest market is in fibre to the home.
This has proved so popular with consumers that DSL is actually in decline. Companies are so advanced with fibre delivery that they are beginning to find DSL surplus to requirements.
The speeds fibre provides means applications such as sharing video files are standard.
Fibre also dramatically improves upload speeds, making it much more suitable for web 2.0 communication, with individuals contributing back to the internet with pictures and videos.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea’s figure is 43Mbps.
In South Korea there has also been a very strong fibre rollout, which has been enabled, at least in part, by state contributions.
Often regarded as something of a gold standard when it comes to super-fast broadband, an amazing 90% of homes have a broadband connection of between 50 and 100Mbps.
They also pay the lowest rates in the world. There are pilot services offering connections starting at 1,000Mbps.
The big driver for fast broadband here is gaming and 43% of the population has a personal profile in the virtual world Cyworld, which recorded £5m worth of trade per month last year.
Those dawdling on slow UK connections can take heart from results from speedtest.net which show that some citizens are only achieving speeds of 3.6Mbps. This is because the extremely fast networks are concentrated in the towns and cities.
NEW ZEALAND
Average advertised speed of 13.5Mbps, falls to 2.4Mbps according to speedtest.net
Broadband comes largely via DSL in New Zealand where Telecom New Zealand is very dominant.
Cable is limited to one or two cities.
There are very specific challenges for providers in New Zealand. Because of the distances between houses there tends to be very long telephone lines, meaning quality is not great for many. International connectivity is also an issue because of its physical distance from the rest of the world. There is not much competition meaning speeds stay slow.
The model of local loop unbundling - opening the telephone exchanges to other operators - is being considered as is the idea of providing fibre to the street cabinet or to push DSL into remoter street cabinets to reduce line length.
POLAND
Average speed of 4Mbps, falls to 1.6Mbps according to speedtest.net.
In Poland there is virtually no local loop unbundling, which means little competition for the France Telecom-owned incumbent.
Speeds there aren’t fast by western European standards although there are quite a lot of so-called LAN networks (Local Area Networks) using ethernet cable, which allow for super-fast speeds because of their limited geography. This phenomenon is peculiar to eastern European countries such as Poland where the existing infrastructure isn’t great but it is relatively easy for local entrepreneurs to set up such systems quickly.
CHINA
ITU data puts China’s broadband speed at 1Mbps.
China is fast becoming the world’s largest broadband economy. It is laying quite a lot of fibre which is a less disruptive option in China because of the amount of new building work being done.
It already has 14 million fibre lines, compared to 9.6 million in Japan, 1.7m in the US and just a few thousand in the UK but it doesn’t generate the same speeds as in other Asian countries because the fibre tends to feed into blocks of flats rather than individual dwellings.
Source: BBC News
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July 24th, 2008 DJB
Net firms in music pirates deal
Customers who illegally share music will get warning letters
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Six of the UK’s biggest net providers have agreed a plan with the music industry to tackle piracy online.
The deal, negotiated by the government, will see hundreds of thousands of letters sent to net users suspected of illegally sharing music.
Hard core file-sharers could see their broadband connections slowed, under measures proposed by the UK government.
BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse have all signed up.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, which represents the music industry, said: “All of the major ISPs in the UK now recognise they have a responsibility to deal with illegal file-sharers on their networks.”
Mr Taylor said it had taken years to persuade ISPs to adopt this view.
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 So far, the ISPs seem to be grabbing the carrot - while avoiding the stick 
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The plan commits the firms to working towards a “significant reduction” in the illegal sharing of music.
It also commits the net firms to develop legal music services. “Conversations are ongoing between record labels and ISPs,” said Mr Taylor.
Letters to pirates
The BPI has focused on educational efforts and limited legal action in recent years, in contrast to the US, which has embarked on tens of thousands of lawsuits against alleged file sharers.
The six internet service providers have signed a Memorandum of Understanding drawn up by the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR).
HAVE YOUR SAY
Why should I yet again pay for, say, the Beatles’ White Album at full whack? I already bought it on LP, eight-track, cassette, and CD! This is those customers getting their own back
Mark, Hampshire, U.K
The Motion Picture Association of America has also signed up.
The BPI said the memorandum covered consumers who were both uploading and downloading music.
Mr Taylor said: “The focus is on people sharing files illegally; there is not an acceptable level of file-sharing. Musicians need to be paid like everyone else.”
He added: “File-sharing is not anonymous, it is not secret, it is against the law.”
At the same time the government has started a consultation exercise that could result in laws that force net firms to tackle music piracy. A working group will be set up under the auspices of regulator Ofcom to look at effective measures to tackle persistant file-sharers.
Mr Taylor said newspaper reports stating that online users could be subject to an annual levy to cover losses from file-sharing were incorrect.
“A levy is not an issue under discussion. It has not been discussed between us and government and as far as we are aware it is not on the table.”
He said: “There should be effective mechanisms in place (to deter file-sharing) and as long as they are effective, we don’t mind what they are.”
The consultation document proposed that hard core file-sharers could have technical measures imposed, such as “traffic management or filtering and marking of legitimate content to facilitate identification”.
In the past few weeks net firms Virgin and BT have sent letters to some customers identified by the BPI, which represents the UK record industry, as persistent music pirates.
‘Long process’
Before now the BPI has called for a “three-strikes” system which would see net connections of persistent pirates terminated if three warnings went ignored.
Many net firms have resisted the call from the BPI and have said it is not their job to act as policemen.
Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights, said the plan was “a first step, and a very big step, in what we all acknowledge is going to be quite a long process”.
Mr Sharkey, formerly lead singer with The Undertones added: “Government, particularly in the UK, has now realised there is an issue, there is a problem there.”
Source: BBC NEWS
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July 24th, 2008 DJB
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July 24th, 2008 DJB
Emo and goth to be made illegal in Russia
The Russian government is in the process of drafting a law to make emo and goth music illegal.
Last month a parliamentary committee was convened to discuss a draft proposal of the Russian government’s Government Strategy In The Sphere Of Spiritual And Ethical Education bill, the details of which were leaked to The Moscow Times. The newspaper subsequently reported that, among other things, the draft bill dubbed the musical movements a “dangerous teen trend” and called for emo and goth websites to be regulated and young people dressing like emos or goths to be banned from entering schools and government buildings.
The newspaper interviewed one of the bill’s authors, Igor Ponkin from the Russian Interior Ministry’s Public Oversight Council. Ponkin called emo a “social danger” and “a threat to national stability” and said the bill is a reaction to teen suicides such as the tragic death of British teenager Hannah Bond.
“This type of behaviour is a crucial part of emo ideology,” said Ponkin. “Of course there are emo teens who just listen to their music. But our actions are not directed at them but rather at those who also hurt themselves, commit suicide and promote those acts.”
The Moscow Times also interviewed psychologist Inna Cherkova who said:
“Suicide is not a symptom of emo culture. I work with other teens too, and every group has emotionally troubled kids.”
However, the bill is expected to become law in Russia before the end of the year.
Source: Kerrang
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June 11th, 2008 DJB
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Sat on the start grid, foot poised over the accelerator, you wait for the row of red lights to extinguish. Alongside you are top names like Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. The cars’ engines are screaming and everyone is poised to go. For any Formula One fan the chance to race against their heroes would be a dream come true.
Sadly, the closest most of us have ever got is watching the Grand Prix on television. But that could soon change if a company from the Netherlands has its way.
“It’s clear that the next trend in gaming is going to be bringing real objects into the virtual world; playing not against other gamers but people doing the real thing,” said Andy Lurling, founder of iOpener Media.
The patented system his company is developing sucks in real-time GPS data from racing events and pumps it out to compatible games consoles and PCs.
The idea is that you could pit yourself against the top drivers in the world, as it happens, from the comfort of your living room.
“You can compete against the best of the best,” he told BBC News.
‘Hardcore appeal’
And if all of this sounds far fetched, think again.
The European Space Agency (Esa) was so impressed with his proposal, it gave Mr Lurling’s company a grant to develop a proof of concept. A German venture capitalist has stumped up cash to develop it further.
He has already tested it with an F1 car and plans to have the first games on the market as early as September this year.
“At this point we have lots of interest and we are looking for the right partner to launch,” he said.
The firm is currently in talks with six developers about using the technology.
Gareth Wilson, design manager at Bizarre Creations, makers of the Project Gotham Racing series, says he thinks games with the real-time feature would “excite a hardcore minority of gamers”.
“Formula 1 and similar complex simulation games are getting less mass market nowadays, compared to their more arcade-style heyday in the late 90s,” he told BBC News.
“This sort of feature would probably appeal to the hardcore gamer or F1 fan more than a mass market gamer.
“Having said that, the hardcore would totally love it.”
Bizarre Creations is not currently one of the firms evaluating the system.
Precision position
At the core of iOpener’s technology is an enhanced GPS system known as differential GPS (DGPS).
This uses a network of fixed base stations to correct the GPS signal, which on its own may only be accurate to within 10m. DGPS is commonly used for air navigation or shipping where precision is key.
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1. Car position located with Global Navigation Satellite Systems
2. Location data and car telemetry is beamed to a track side server
3. Data is tagged with unique ID of the car and sent over the internet
4. Information stored on servers and “mediacast” to gamers.
Whole process from car to gamer takes less than five seconds
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“With that we know the location and the velocity of the car,” explained Mr Lurling.
As further precision is needed, iOpener can use information from the European EGNOS network, which augments GPS satellite signals to provide positional data accurate to within 2m.
Other tweaks include fitting cars with an inertial measurement unit (IMU), commonly used in guided missile systems, which measure acceleration, angle and yaw of the object.
“IMUs give accuracy on a short range,” Mr Lurling told BBC News.
“Combined with DGPS, we know the location of the car to within less than 30 centimetres.”
In addition, the system collects telemetry data from the car, which is fitted with a small computer, transmitter and the GPS receiver.
“That is already good enough data for a game,” he said.
Telemetry is commonly collected by track-side engineers to monitor the vehicles’ performance and can include information such as acceleration and what gear the car is in.
It has already used by games developers to build more realistic simulations.
Designers at Bizarre Creations used the telemetry to generate accurate track models for early F1 games, before detailed circuit maps existed, for example.
From the track side, the data is sent over the net to a server farm, where it is saved before being pumped out - or “mediacast” - to eager gamers.
The delay between collecting the data and the gamer being immersed in it is up to five seconds, similar to the lag on a TV broadcast.
“We also store the data, so not only can you play the game in real time, but you can replay races at a later date,” said Mr Lurling.
Intelligent gaming
The company does not intend to develop its own games; rather it will provide the backbone for games developers to build on to.
But it will provide some software; specifically an artificial intelligence (AI) program to make sure that the virtual and real worlds blend seamlessly.
Artificial intelligence handles collisions between real and virtual drivers
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“If Hamilton is driving behind you he can’t see you [in the game], so he would drive right through you,” explained Mr Lurling.
“So the AI takes over at that point and you see a very realistic overtaking.”
The system also handles the results of in-game collisions between real and virtual drivers.
In this case, the real car always drives away. The gamer’s fate is less certain.
“We go for optimal realism but the game experience has to be right,” he said.
Mr Wilson agrees with this approach.
“There is a huge difference between what happens in the real world and what happens in video games - even the most ‘realistic’ simulator has to bend real world physics to make the game more fun,” he said.
However, even with the AI, he thinks gamers may encounter a more fundamental frustration with the system.
“I know I wouldn’t even get close to the lap times that Lewis Hamilton could run, unless my car in the virtual world had a load of extra grip and power - which might defeat the point,” he said.
At the moment, iOpener is concentrating firmly on racing games, but believes that there is a huge market for the system in other sports.
“You can think of biking, rowing, skiing and snowboarding,” said Mr Lurling.
“In the next three to five years, we believe that games will not be ‘triple A’ games unless they have our feature in,” he said.
Mr Lurling was the 2006 Dutch regional winner of the European Satellite Navigation Competition (Galileo Masters) which aims to find novel uses for location data. The 2008 competition is now open to entries, until 31 July.
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