Patent Absurdity

02 May 2010

The Free Software Foundation has released a short film about software patents called Patent Absurdity. The film features interviews with Eben Moglen, Karen Sandler, Richard Stallman, Jesse Vincent, and other people involved with the Bilski case.

The Bilski case hopefully will help putting a stop to the rampant practise of patenting applications of mathematics, algorithms, and other abstract concepts to real life problems. To freely quote Bruce Perens (panel discussion at WSIS in Tunis): Mathematics is a field that is discovered - not invented!

See also:

Using Twinkle for VoIP

27 Apr 2010

Twinkle is my favourite software for making VoIP calls (under GNU/Linux). Here is how you configure it if you have an account with VoIPTalk.

Configuring the user

Enter your user details. Note that the SIP password is different from the password to log in on the VoIPTalk website. Log in on the VoIPTalk website and click on VoIPtalk ID to view VoIPtalk (SIP) password.

SIP server

Here you enter the details for the outbound proxy.

NAT

For firewall traversal you need to specify a STUN server.

Alternatively you can set up port forwarding on your router. Then you don’t need to specify a STUN server. In any case make sure that your firewall doesn’t block SIP traffic. You can call sip:905@voiptalk.org in order to test whether the configuration works.

I recommend using G.711 u-law as preferred audio codec.

Update:

In Kubuntu 10.04 you have to set all audio devices (input, output, and ringtone) to ALSA/Default.

There is a freeware VoIP client for Microsoft Windows called X-Lite.

See also:

Wikipedia article on Twinkle

Flying in sand

18 Apr 2010

If you are worried about the ash cloud of the current volcano eruption of Iceland, just think about more severe situations such as helicopter landings in the desert. Sand is essentially hard glass (and it melts in turbines of aircrafts leaving a nasty residue). Here’s a video of a helicopter landing in Kuwait.