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Techno Page By Harendra Alwis - Email: technopage_lk@yahoo.com More views on
piracy... However, the
argument that 'enforced laws will help boost the IT industry in
Sri Lanka' can be debated. Well, it is true that it will definitely
boost the industry and as long as there is MS word, no one in SL
will ever bother about writing an application for word processing.
And if we don't have it anymore, it would be a good niche to penetrate
the market. The problem is, how the public is going to be affected.
Would they be able to afford even the software that is produced
locally? As far as I know, there were language translation software
and Sinhala fonts sold for thousands of rupees. Can we be sure that
the software developed as an alternative to already existing software
will be sold at least under Rs. 300? Although it
is possible to argue that there will be a competition between the
companies to get hold of customers and they will try to sell it
at a competitive price, I don't think any sane person is going to
pay much more. There are many examples of the Sri Lankan market
where so called 'competition' has dragged the customer from bad
to worse, example: LP gas and the telecom industry. A group that
is going to be badly affected is the school children. It is true
that operating systems like Linux or UNIX will enhance your knowledge
about the computer's inner workings, but what about the students
who want it just as a tool? You don't have to know about every nut
and bolt in a car to get from one point to another, do you? You
just want to know how to drive. No government in Sri Lanka will
ever buy software which is half the price of the computer itself
for schools. As for the
authors' rights, actually it is illegal to lend a storybook to someone
else. And you don't have the right to exchange books. This is not
speculation, just hard facts. The international copyright law suggests
that whatever you paid for, just gives you the right to use it and
not the ownership of the product. If we are lending our books to
someone else, it is still piracy - right? Someone who didn't pay
for the product is getting the benefit of it. Although the laws,
if imposed, will barely affect books, this is the situation. Finally, my
belief is that pirated software will exist regardless of the laws
imposed. How does Encryption
work? Public-key
encryption An important
element to the public key system is that the public and private
keys are related in such a way that only the public key can be used
to encrypt messages and only the corresponding private key can be
used to decrypt them. Moreover, it is virtually impossible to deduce
the private key if you know the public key. Public-key
systems, such as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), are becoming popular
for transmitting information via the Internet. They are extremely
secure and relatively simple to use. The only difficulty with public-key
systems is that you need to know the recipient's public key to encrypt
a message for him or her. What's needed, therefore, is a global
registry of public keys, which is one of the promises of the new
LDAP technology. Whitfield Diffie
and Martin Hellman invented public key cryptography in 1976. For
this reason, it is sometimes called Diffie-Hellman encryption. It
is also called asymmetric encryption because it uses two keys instead
of one key (symmetric encryption). Symmetric encryption What
is 2.5G? While Japan
has had 2.5G services for more than a year and Europe also has had
2.5G services, the U.S. is just beginning to make these same services
available. Seattle was the first U.S. city to acquire 2.5G services
(it happened in July 2001). Wireless carriers are working on expanding
those services to more cities in 2001. The dominant 2.5G technology
is general packet radio service (GPRS), which is always on and gives
users a connection to the Internet and e-mail. What is 3G technology? 3G technologies
are turning phones and other devices into multi-media players, making
it possible to download music and video clips. The new service
is called the freedom of mobile multi-media access (FOMA), and it
uses wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) technology
to transfer data over its networks. W-CDMA sends data in a digital
format over a range of frequencies, which makes the data move faster,
but also uses more bandwidth than digital voice services. W-CDMA
is not the only 3G technology; competing technologies include CDMAOne,
which differs technically, but should provide similar services.
FOMA services are available in a 20-mile radius around the centre of Tokyo. The company plans to introduce it to other Japanese cities by the end of the year. But services and phones are expensive and uptake of this market is expected to be slow. Eminem's
back to sing for the moment Reports suggest
the remaining members of Led Zeppelin have been involved in making
a DVD and CD. Both products will hit the stores in the US towards
the end of May. The double
disc Led Zeppelin DVD and triple disc CD titled 'How The West Was
Won' will cover material from the legendary rock band and previously
unreleased recordings throughout their career. The DVD will
be five hours long. It will cover live footage from shows at the
Royal Albert Hall - 1970, Earls Court - 1975, Knebworth Festival
- 1979 and Madison Square Garden 1979. Led Zeppelin's
triple disc CD 'How The West Was Won' will cover two California
concerts from 1972. The discs will contain the 25 minute version
of 'Dazed And Confused' and the medley incorporating 'Whole Lotta
Love' running into 23 minutes. Led Zeppelin,
the heavy metal band was formed in the UK in October 1968 and comprised
Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. Bonham
died in 1980. Christina Aguilera's
'Beautiful' extended its stay at the No. 1 position on the UK singles
chart. Her previous single 'Dirrty' also spent two weeks at the
helm of the chart. Dannii Minogue's
single 'I Begin To Wonder' was the highest new entry on the UK singles
chart this week at the No. 2 position. It's a follow-up to her previous
single 'Put The Needle On It' which peaked at the No. 7 position
last November. Dannii Minogue
is the younger sister of Kylie. Like Kylie, Dannii has been in the
music scene for 12 years. Dannii's first
single 'Love And Kisses' peaked at No. 8 in 1991. Her biggest hit
was 'All I Wanna Do' which peaked at No. 4 in 1997. That was until
the current hit 'I Begin To Wonder'. Some of her other top 20 hits
have been 'Success' No. 11, 'Jump To The Beat' No. 8, 'Baby Love'
No. 14 (all in 1991). The latter was a cover version of Regina's
1986 release and was the best song so far by Dannii Minogue. It's the turn
of Eminem once again. His new song 'Sing For The Moment' checked
into the chart at No. 6. The song features Steven Tyler of Aerosmith
as a guest star. The song is based on an Aerosmith song called 'Dream
On'. It is said that Kid Rock had a hand in Steven Tyler making
the guest appearance while the Aerosmith frontman was considering
granting permission for the sample to be used on the first masters
of Eminem's album 'The Eminem Show' from which 'Sing For The Moment'
is taken. Tyler last appeared on the rap track 'Walk This Way' back
in 1986 when Run DMC covered the Aerosmith track. 'Sing For The
Moment' is the third hit from 'The Eminem Show' album. 'Lose Yourself'
which was a chart topper in December 2002 and which dropped to No.
14 this week, is taken from Eminem's soundtrack album '8 Mile'. Last April
Nelly was featured on N-Sync's hit 'Girlfriend' which peaked at
No. 2. This year Justin Timberlake who was a member of the group
returns the favour by making a guest appearance on Nelly's new hit
'Work It' which entered the chart at No. 7 this week. 'Work It' is
a follow-up to Nelly's most successful single 'Dilemma'. The song
featured Kelly Rowland. It topped the chart in October last year. Mock Turtles,
a group that disbanded in the early 90s is back in the chart thanks
to a television advert. The UK mobile phone company Vodaphone began
using the song 'Can You Dig It' by the Mock Turtles to promote their
Vodaphone Live! service from January this year. With the song still
in the advert, the record label Virgin decided to re-release it
and it hit the No. 19 spot. Neil Young announced in the US he will be touring Europe with an acoustic show starting April 22 in Stockholm, Sweden and ending May 24 in Paris. The rock star will tour North America later in summer and London at an another date. This is Young's first solo concert tour since 1999. UK top 20 |
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