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Today's Topics:
1. Star Flash, China's Bluetooth alternative (Stephen Loosley)
2. Services NSW Fine Review Process (Roger Clarke)
3. Re: Services NSW Fine Review Process (Marghanita da Cruz)
4. ChatGPT vs. Perplexity: battle of the AI search engines
(Antony Barry)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2024 01:40:05 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Star Flash, China's Bluetooth alternative
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
China's homebrew Bluetooth alternative is on the march as Beijing pushes
universal remotes
'Star Flash' is said to include 5G tech and leave rival wireless protocols
struggling
By Simon Sharwood Mon 16 Dec 2024
https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/16/china_starflash_universal_remotes_standard/
China's Electronics Video Industry Association last week signed off on a
standard for a universal remote control ? a gadget Beijing thinks locals need
because they're struggling with multiple remotes, but which is also a little
more significant in other ways.
The standard requires remote controls to allow voice control, and to use one of
three means of wireless comms: Bluetooth, infrared, and Star Flash ? more on
that later. It has been hailed as a boon for consumers who apparently struggle
to find the right remote control to use as they navigate between televisions
and set-top boxes.
This standard reportedly detects which device a user wants to control, makes
the connection, and eases the chore of directing a stream from a set-top box to
a display.
Device-makers have been told that televisions and set-top boxes must support
the standard, and they've quickly complied: local media report that Chinese
consumer electronics outfit Konka has already delivered the first Smart TV
capable of handling the universal remote.
Building a standard ecosystem for universal remotes has obvious benefits for
consumers, who should be able to use one unit across multiple devices and won't
be tied to proprietary tech. But this move has other benefits for Beijing,
thanks to its requirement to use China's home-grown Bluetooth alternative, Star
Flash.
Star Flash is one of the projects run by the SparkLink Alliance ? a group that
lists hundreds of Chinese developers and manufacturers as members. Huawei
contributes tech to the group.
Chinese IoT hardware vendor Qogrisys has described it as an upgrade to both
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi that incorporates ideas used in 5G networks, is capable of
handling multiple simultaneous device connections, sips power sparingly so
battery-powered devices go longer between recharges, and can stream lossless
stereo audio.
Chinese consumer electronic and automotive brands are already keen to use Star
Flash, and the Alliance is promoting its use in industrial settings too.
China will promote use of universal remotes in 2025 ? meaning the protocol may
soon appear in millions of domestic devices, giving manufacturers scale to
justify further investment.
Another activity that could advance the same outcome took place in September,
when the Alliance promoted Star Flash to Japanese companies.
The Alliance has also promoted the protocol at a meeting of the BRICS bloc ?
the informal alliance of nations that first comprised Brazil, Russia, India,
and China, but is expanding.
Chinese consumers who no longer have to juggle multiple remotes may therefore
be doing much more than cleaning up their lounge rooms ? they may also be
advancing a standard that presents a serious challenge to those developed
outside China.
And as we recently reported, China has been known to use its technology
developments to assist its surveillance efforts at home and abroad.
---
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:18:59 +1100
From: Roger Clarke <[email protected]>
To: link <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Services NSW Fine Review Process
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
As an inveterate grumbler about poor quality IT work, I feel an
obligation to pay credit where it's due.
I received a fine from NSW Transport (for 78kph in a 70 zone, on busy
Foreshore Drive at Botany). I have a fairly sparse infringement record
(at least for the last 5 years). So it's worth a try, to explain the
several arguably mitigating factors (unseeable signs due to trucks,
out-of-stater who hasn't used that road in years, had always previously
understood it to be 80 all the way from highway to port-entrance).
A URL exists for requests for review. It *offers* photos (a couple not
relevant, two clearly showing car and plate). It's a very clear and
logical sequence. The language is firm and authoritative (as a referee,
I know that to be important), but not authoritarian (ditto). It offers
a quick way out at several stages to pay up instead, but doesn't push
too hard. It offers a copy by email afterwards (although some minutes
later that hasn't turned up, and I'd believed them and not kept a copy).
As an eCommerce web-site judge c.1999-2001, I see a lot of rubbish
design and coding errors on sites these days that would have been
outright Fails even 25 years ago.
But this one, all in all, is (close to) exemplary!
(Maybe Dominatello *is* a saint, after all).
--
Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected]
T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Visiting Professorial Fellow UNSW Law & Justice
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:50:11 +1100
From: Marghanita da Cruz <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LINK] Services NSW Fine Review Process
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Let's hope there were no pedestrians or cyclists around.
There is a design philosphy where driver adjusts speed to road
conditions. In the UK there is a fine and or reeducation camp for
drivers speeding.
By the way 70k speed limis is unusual in NSW Urban areas and we are
trying to get all speeds, for drivers, reduced.
But it appears to be a satisfactory complaint handling system- mistakes
do occur and many drivers seem ignorant of the law e.g. give way to
pedestrians or cyclist when turning either left or right across a path -
interestingly, in Victoria, the Stop signs, at road intersections, seem
to be placed before the continuing path.
Marghanita
On 17/12/24 09:18, Roger Clarke wrote:
> As an inveterate grumbler about poor quality IT work, I feel an
> obligation to pay credit where it's due.
>
> I received a fine from NSW Transport (for 78kph in a 70 zone, on busy
> Foreshore Drive at Botany).? I have a fairly sparse infringement
> record (at least for the last 5 years).? So it's worth a try, to
> explain the several arguably mitigating factors (unseeable signs due
> to trucks, out-of-stater who hasn't used that road in years, had
> always previously understood it to be 80 all the way from highway to
> port-entrance).
>
> A URL exists for requests for review.? It *offers* photos (a couple
> not relevant, two clearly showing car and plate).? It's a very clear
> and logical sequence.? The language is firm and authoritative (as a
> referee, I know that to be important), but not authoritarian (ditto).?
> It offers a quick way out at several stages to pay up instead, but
> doesn't push too hard.? It offers a copy by email afterwards (although
> some minutes later that hasn't turned up, and I'd believed them and
> not kept a copy).
>
> As an eCommerce web-site judge c.1999-2001, I see a lot of rubbish
> design and coding errors on sites these days that would have been
> outright Fails even 25 years ago.
>
> But this one, all in all, is (close to) exemplary!
>
> (Maybe Dominatello *is* a saint, after all).
>
>
--
Marghanita da Cruz
Telephone: 0414-869202
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://ramin.com.au
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2024 11:25:44 +1100
From: Antony Barry <[email protected]>
To: Link list <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] ChatGPT vs. Perplexity: battle of the AI search
engines
Message-ID:
<CAECOtWy=Y=ghis61l9zjukchmh-oorbngxngfbwmne5nbya...@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Link:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/chatgpt-search-vs-perplexity-battle-ai-search-engines/
--
Shared via Shareaholic
------------------------------
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