Who needs Flash anymore?

With the HTML5 version of Angry Birds demonstrating that you don't need to Flash to make a good web game, how long before Flash developers move to HTML5? Certainly with the prospect of wider (mobile) device support, and Apple's refusal to allow Flash Player onto iPhone, the days of Flash may be numbered.

Guitar Hero - we love it but we need to make money

The BBC reports that Activision will stop making Guitar Hero because it doesn't make them a profit.
Amazing to think of the massive global success of GH without the company making a profit from it!
So I guess we'll be saying goodbye to a great gaming, poor business idea.

#anonops #Wikileaks #cablegate

Anonymous

Linux directory structure

New to Linux and wondered what all the various directories are for?
Want to know the difference between /usr and /opt?
Don't know your /mnt from your /media?

This handy document explains the conventions and guidelines in one place.
Essential reading for all *nix users and probably many sysadmins too!

BIOS too basic

As the BBC recently reported, a replacement for the ageing BIOS firmware system underpinning all PCs is well on its way to reality. UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is designed for modern hardware and should free PC makers from the square-peg-in-round-hole encumbrance that BIOS imposed. All that searching for a PS/2 keyboard and mouse is supposedly one reason that your PC takes so long to boot.

But I wonder whether it's an irrelevance to worry about the speed BIOS takes to recognise the hardware when most PCs now support a sleep or suspend function, which, with Windows 7 for example, shortens the start-up time to a couple of seconds. Admittedly this does mean a continuous low-level power consumption on standby.

But if you want the fastest start-up without leaving the computer turned on, its the better option, and it works fine with BIOS.

Maybe UEFI will demonstrate other advantages, in particular for sys-admins and IT support guys, but for the vast majority of users I think the benefits may be over-hyped.

Trackday video

Here's a lap of MoD Woodbridge airfield at a recent Javelin trackday in my Caterham R500
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWKgAALrjmI

Using putty to create an SSH tunnelled web proxy

You will need an SSH client (Putty) and an SSH server e.g. OpenSSH with an account you can access.

Download putty from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

Run Putty then setup a session to your SSH server
In the putty configuration enter your SSH server's address in the Host Name box.
Now we need to add the tunnel. Under Session -> Connection -> Tunnels
go to Add new forwarded port
and enter a source port number that isn't used on your PC (e.g. 3000)
then in the destination box enter the host you want to connect to
e.g. www.google.com:80
the port 80 is important

then click Add

now you can open the session.

When prompted, log in to the SSH server with your details.

Once you have logged in successfully, it's time to test the tunnel.
Run a web browser and navigate to localhost:3000 (replace 3000 with the port number you used for the source port).
You should see the site that you specified as the destination host for the tunnel.

You now appear to the remote web server as though your IP address is that of the SSH server rather than your local computer.