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Qualcomm announced its new QTM052 mmWave antenna modules that will enable 5G networks on select mobile phones. The penny-sized antenna array features four antennas that can accurately point toward the nearest 5G tower. It can even bounce signals off of surrounding surfaces, if needed. The Verge reports: The QTM052 is designed to be small enough that device manufacturers will be able to embed it into the bezel of a phone. Qualcomm's X50 5G modem is already designed to support up to four of the antenna arrays, one for each side of the phone, allowing for 16 total antennas and ensuring that no matter how you hold your phone, the signal won't get blocked. Qualcomm says that the first devices with the QTM052 antennas should be launching as early as the beginning of 2019 -- and hopefully, there'll be some actual 5G networks to use them with by then.

Yesterday at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, California, Qualcomm announced a new chip specifically designed for standalone augmented reality and virtual reality devices: the Snapdragon XR1. Ars Technica reports: The company is staying tight-lipped on technical details about the new SoC for the time being. Qualcomm says the SoC will use a Kryo CPU and Adreno GPU, as Qualcomm chips typically do, but exactly how those and the rest of the XR1's building blocks will be configured isn't yet clear. That said, Qualcomm is slotting the XR1 below its existing Snapdragon 845 -- the chip powering most of the year's highest-end smartphones -- in terms of memory bandwidth and GPU power. It is primarily aiming XR1 devices at "lean back" experiences like 360-degree video viewing, at least to start.

Even still, the company says the XR1 can output video up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, that it'll keep motion-to-photon latency "well below" 20 milliseconds (so as to prevent nausea and motion sickness), and that it can handle both 3DoF and 6DoF tracking for headsets and accompanying controllers if needed. (Devices with the latter allow users to replicate a fuller range of movement in a virtual space.) Qualcomm is talking up the chip's power management and 3D-audio abilities and its support for always-on voice assistance as well.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from AnandTech: Today Qualcomm announces a new entry to the Snapdragon lineup with the first 700-series SoC platform. The Snapdragon 710 is a direct successor to the Snapdragon 660 but comes with a new branding more worthy of the increased performance characteristics of the SoC. The big IP blocks found on the Snapdragon 710 are very much derivatives of what's found on the flagship Snapdragon 845. On the CPU side we see the same 2.2GHz maximum clock on the big cores, but the Kryo 360 Cortex A75 based CPUs are microarchitectural upgrade over last year's A72 based Kryo 260. The little cores are also based on the newer Cortex A55's and are clocked at up to 1.7GHz. The performance improvements are quoted as an overall 20% uplift in SPECint2000 and 25% faster performance in Octane and Kraken versus the SD660. The SoC now also uses the new system cache first introduced in the Snapdragon 845 -- although I'm expecting a smaller, yet unconfirmed 1MB size in the SD710. The 700-series SoC platform sports the new 600 series Adreno GPUs. They have an expected frequency of around 750MHz and up to 35% higher performance versus the Adreno 512 in the SD660.

"In terms of connectivity the new SoC implements an X15 modem which is capable of UE Category 15 in the downstream with up to 800Mbps in 4x carrier aggregation and up to UE Category 7 in the upload with up to 2x CA and 256 QAM," reports AnandTech. "The new chipset now also offers 2x2 802.11ac digital backend for Wi-Fi -- however it'll still need an external discrete analog RF frontend."

U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm on Monday rejected rival Broadcom's $103 billion bid to purchase the company, stating that Broadcom's proposal "dramatically undervalues" Qualcomm and comes with "significant regulatory uncertainty.".

An anonymous reader shares a report: Qualcomm has published a somewhat self-congratulatory blog post that lauds the company and its Android partners for achieving a series of industry firsts that include wireless charging, dual-camera systems, OLED smartphone screens, edge-to-edge displays, and more -- features that the upcoming iPhone is expected to have. Apple and Qualcomm are currently embroiled in what's turning into a vicious, global patent licensing dispute. So the timing of this adulation for Android -- hours before Apple's big September event -- doesn't really strike me as coincidental. It can't be. Qualcomm never mentions Apple by name; the closest the company ever comes is with this line: Inventions from Qualcomm lay the foundation for so many technologies and experiences we value in our smartphones today -- on Android and other platforms.

randomErr shares a report from TechCrunch: Mobile chip maker Qualcomm wants to enable deep learning-based software development on all kinds of devices, which is why it created the Neural Processing Engine (NPE) for its Snapdragon-series mobile processors. The NPE software development kit is now available to all via the Qualcomm Developer Network, which marks the first public release of the SDK, and opens up a lot of potential for AI computing on a range of devices, including mobile phones, in-car platforms and more. The purpose of the framework is to make possible UX implementations like style transfers and filters (basically what Snapchat and Facebook do with their mobile app cameras) with more accurate applications on user photos, as well as other functions better handled by deep learning algorithms, like scene detection, facial recognition, object tracking and avoidance, as well as natural language processing. Basically anything you'd normally route to powerful cloud servers for advanced process, but done locally on device instead.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Just a mere six months after announcing Quick Charge 4, which boosted charging times and safety considerably over its predecessors, Qualcomm is introducing the new Quick Charge 4+ standard. Unlike previous standards, which required a new chipset, 4+ is something device and accessory manufacturers can implement by adding three enhancements to Quick Charge 4-compliant devices: "Dual Charge," which is already an option in earlier version of Quick Charge, but is "now more powerful"; "Intelligent Thermal Balancing," which steers current through whichever of the dual charging pathways is coolest to keep temperatures down; "Advanced Safety Features" to monitor both the phone temperature and the connector temperature to protect against overheating and short-circuit damage. Qualcomm claims devices that implement this standard can get charging times up to 15 percent faster than Quick Charge 4, and will charge up to 30 percent more efficiently -- an especially nice perk if you're charging from a battery pack. Charging will also be up to 3 degrees Celsius (about 5 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Just a mere six months after announcing Quick Charge 4, which boosted charging times and safety considerably over its predecessors, Qualcomm is introducing the new Quick Charge 4+ standard. Unlike previous standards, which required a new chipset, 4+ is something device and accessory manufacturers can implement by adding three enhancements to Quick Charge 4-compliant devices: "Dual Charge," which is already an option in earlier version of Quick Charge, but is "now more powerful"; "Intelligent Thermal Balancing," which steers current through whichever of the dual charging pathways is coolest to keep temperatures down; "Advanced Safety Features" to monitor both the phone temperature and the connector temperature to protect against overheating and short-circuit damage. Qualcomm claims devices that implement this standard can get charging times up to 15 percent faster than Quick Charge 4, and will charge up to 30 percent more efficiently -- an especially nice perk if you're charging from a battery pack. Charging will also be up to 3 degrees Celsius (about 5 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler.

Microsoft and Qualcomm have announced that Windows 10 is coming to devices made by Asus, HP and Lenovo that will run on the Snapdragon 835 platform. "The Snapdragon 835 chip, incorporating Qualcomm's latest X16 LTE modem, forms the basis of the Snapdragon Mobile PC Platform," reports Ars Technica. "Qualcomm claims that using the Snapdragon platform will offer a combination of the PC form factor and breadth of software with features that are standard in smartphones: on-the-go connectivity, light weight, silent operation, long battery life, and no fan." From the report: Qualcomm says that PCs built using the new chips will offer up to 50 percent more battery life than x86 systems, with four- to five-times longer standby times. They'll take the Connected Standby capability already found in some Windows PCs -- this allows the system to do things like sync mail and receive notifications even when "sleeping" -- and make it better, thanks to their LTE connectivity. With a Snapdragon inside your PC, you'll no longer need Wi-Fi to fetch your latest e-mail and catch up on Twitter. Instead, you'll be able to get online wherever there's cellular connectivity. The X16 modem supports up to gigabit LTE connections, too. So as long as your network operator is cooperative and has embraced the cutting edge, this mobile connection will be fast, too. Asus, HP, and Lenovo are all planning to introduce Snapdragon Mobile PC systems at some unspecified time in the future, for some unspecified price. These machines will be laptop-style systems, just without the traditional x86 processor on the inside. Snapdragon 835 has a higher level of integration than Intel's mobile chips, enabling smaller motherboards. This in turn should tend to increase the space available for battery, or reduce the size and weight of machines, or perhaps even both.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ExtremeTech: Qualcomm's new upper-midrange and midrange Snapdragon 600 refreshes were announced today, and both parts are a solid improvement over their predecessors. Both the Snapdragon 630 and 660 are being upgraded with the X12 LTE modem that debuted with the Snapdragon 820 last year. You don't need to sweat the technical details too much on this -- the bottom line is that the newer modem is capable of up to 600Mbps downstream and 150Mbps upstream connectivity. The new Snapdragon 660 SoC is also an eight-core chip, with four Kryo CPU cores clocked at 2.2GHz, and four clocked at 1.8GHz. Total memory bandwidth is 29.9GBps, nearly double what the Snapdragon 650, 652, and 653 offered. Technologies like QuickCharge 4 and a Spectra 160 ISP round out the chip. The Spectra 160 ISP isn't quite as powerful as the Spectra 180 ISP in the Snapdragon 835, but it's still a capable processor in its own right. Overall, the Snapdragon 660 should be considered the upper-midrange SoC with some capabilities and features that bleed over from the high-end 8xx family. The degree to which users notice the difference between a high-end 6xx and the 8xx series will depend on how aggressively they use their phones. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 630 is intended as a midrange, workhorse part with strong battery life and good (if not stunning) overall performance. This new SoC combines four Cortex-A53 cores (clocked at 2.2GHz) with four high-efficiency Cortex-A53 cores running at 1.8GHz. GPU performance is provided by the Adreno 508 (likely just a clock-bumped Adreno 506) and overall memory bandwidth is just 10.66GBps. This still represents a significant improvement over previous devices, but the Snapdragon 630 won't break speed records.

An anonymous reader writes: Qualcomm wants to supply the next generation of autonomous and connected cars with networking to connect everything inside and outside of the cars. That means 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GNSS, DSRC, V2X, OABR, CAN, etc. ... [Networkworld reports: "Qualcomm today announced its Connected Car Reference Platform intended for the car industry to use to build prototypes of the next-generation connected car. Every category from economy to luxury car will be much smarter than the connected luxury car of today, creating a big opportunity for Qualcomm to supply semiconductors to automakers and suppliers. Qualcomm described the following features of the Connected Car Reference Platform in its release:

Scalability: Using a common framework that scales from a basic telematics control unit (TCU) up to a highly integrated wireless gateway, connecting multiple electronic control units (ECUs) within the car and supporting critical functions, such as over-the-air software upgrades and data collection and analytics.
Future-proofing: Allowing the vehicleâ(TM)s connectivity hardware and software to be upgraded through its life cycle, providing automakers with a migration path from Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) to hybrid/cellular V2X and from 4G LTE to 5G.
Wireless coexistence: Managing concurrent operation of multiple wireless technologies using the same spectrum frequencies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy.
OEM and third-party applications support: Providing a secure framework for the development and execution of custom applications."]

MojoKid writes: Qualcomm held an event in New York City today to demonstrate for the first time its highly anticipated Snapdragon 820 System-on-Chip (SoC). More than just a speed bump and refresh of the Snapdragon 810, Qualcomm says it designed the Snapdragon 820 "from the ground up to be unlike anything else." Behind that marketing spin is indeed an SoC with a custom 64-bit quad-core Kyro processor clocked at up to 2.2GHz. Qualcomm says it delivers up to twice the performance and twice the power efficiency of its predecessor, which is in fact an 8-core chip. Qualcomm officials have quoted 2x the performance of their previous gen Snapdragon 810 in single threaded throughput alone, which is a sizable gain. Efficiency is also being touted here, and according to Qualcomm, the improvements it made to the underlying architecture translate into nearly a third (30 percent) less power consumption. That should help the Snapdragon 820 steer clear of overheating concerns, which is something the 810 wasn't able to do.

An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from MIT's Technology Review: A new feature being added to the LTE protocol that smartphones use to communicate with cellular towers will make it possible to bypass those towers altogether. Phones will be able to "talk" directly to other mobile devices and to beacons located in shops and other businesses. Known as LTE Direct, the wireless technology has a range of up to 500 meters, far more than either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It is included in update to the LTE standard slated for approval this year, and devices capable of LTE Direct could appear as soon as late 2015. ... Researchers are, for example, testing LTE Direct as a way to allow smartphones to automatically discover nearby people, businesses, and other information.

DeviceGuru writes: The Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), which maintains the open source Robot Operating System (ROS), has announced its first formal support for an ARM target. The organization will add support for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, a smartphone-oriented, quad-core, Cortex-A15-like system-on-chip running up to 1.7GHz. The Linux version of ROS for Snapdragon 600 will be available in Q4 of this year, with the Android version due in the first half of 2015. The OSRF will test, refine, and fully integrate support for the ARM instruction set architecture into ROS development efforts. OSRF will also perform ongoing maintenance to support ROS on the Snapdragon 600.

rrossman2 writes "Qualcomm has issued a press release revealing it has started shipping new dual-core Snapdragon chipsets. These chipsets run each core at up to 1.2GHz, include a GPU that supports 2D/3D acceleration engines for Open GLES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1, 1080p video encode/decode, dedicated low-power audio engine, integrated low-power GPS, and support for 24-bit WXGA 1280x800 resolution displays. These chipsets come in two variants, the MSM8260 for HSPA+ and the MSM8660 for multi-mode HSPA+/CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev B. The press release also lists QSD8672 as a third-gen chipset like the two mentioned, but doesn't go into any detail of what its role is. With this announcement of shipping chipsets, how long until HTC makes a super smartphone?"

theefer writes "Qualcomm announced that future versions of Eudora will be based upon the same technology platform as the open source Mozilla Thunderbird email program. Future versions of Eudora will be free and open source, while retaining Eudora's uniquely rich feature set and productivity enhancements. Qualcomm and Mozilla will each participate in, and continue to foster development communities based around the open source Mozilla project, with a view to enhancing the capabilities and ease of use of both Eudora and Thunderbird. [...] The open source version of Eudora is targeted to release during the first half of calendar year 2007. Once the open source version of Eudora is released, Qualcomm will cease to sell Eudora commercially."

mongoose(!no) asks: "Does anyone know of a free development environment for cellular phones? Right now, my phone has support for Qualcomm's BREW. Qualcomm offers a free SDK, to develop applications. However, to put the application on a phone, it costs $400 to become a BREW authorized developer. I am in the market for a new cell phone and am looking for one I could write applications on. Smart phones running Palm, and Windows CE are too expensive for my budget. Do I have any options or am I pretty much locked out of writing software for my cell pone?"

djdoubles writes "Apparently Verizon Wireless has put firmware with crippled Bluetooth features in the new Motorola v710 phone. A lot of people have been anticipating a Bluetooth phone from Verizon, only to be disappointed by lack of OBEX. Verizon says they have no plan to add OBEX because it doesn't fit their business model--greedy bastards. PC Magazine doesn't have very nice things to say either. More discussion here."

bigjocker writes "Now you can use GCC to build BREW applications. Very good news for us BREW developers who use linux and have to install MS VC++ just for compiling the apps."

An anonymous reader submits: "Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is pressing congress to favor CDMA over GSM for mobile phone service in U.S.-funded reconstruction plans. One reason for pushing this is that a CDMA system would benefit American companies, such as California-based Qualcomm, while GSM would favor European companies. Currently, GSM is the most widely used mobile standard in surrounding countries."

jrmbadger writes "I just purchased a BREW enabled phone (a Motorola T720...very cool) from Verizon Wireless. BREW is sort of a competitor to J2ME, but I won't bore you with the details. I was very encouraged that Qualcomm (BREW's developer) has put the SDK on the web for free. However, to compile for the mobile, you need an ARM compiler, which runs $1,500. I think it would be really cool to be able to develop apps for my phone, but I'm not going to spend $1,500 on the compiler alone! Does anyone know how you can create BREW apps on the cheap?"

Phil Karn writes: "Regarding the Slashdot article on VMSK that appeared August 22, 2000, I have written a detailed technical analysis that shows it to be snake oil." I'm convinced.

Phil Karn writes: "Regarding the Slashdot article on VMSK that appeared August 22, 2000, I have written a detailed technical analysis that shows it to be snake oil." I'm convinced.

Matt_Bennett writes "EEtimes reports that Qualcomm has demonstrated its new faster CDMA chip set for third generation cellular (3G). They have demonstrated bit rates of up to 153 kbit/s. Sample shipments have already begun. From the article: "Commercial 3G 1x service is expected to be deployed in Korea by the end of this year, and similar service is expected in the United States and Japan sometime in 2001.""

Jean-loup is the kind of person I love to see us interview here. He's important in the sense that work he's done (positively) affects almost every Linux or Unix user, but the chance of Jean-loup ever getting any "mainstream" media attention is zero. Or possibly less. Without people like Jean-loup there would be no Open Source movement, and I consider the chance to present him as a Slashdot interview guest a *huge* honor. The readers who asked the excellent questions, and the moderators who helped select them, also deserve major kudos. So thanks to all of you for an excellent Q&A session!

1) bzip2 Support
by Aaron M. Renn

When is gzip going to provide (transparent) support for bzip2 files and the Burrows-Wheeler algorithm?

Will BW be an algorithm option within the gzip file format itself ever?

Gailly:

I have worked very closely with Julian Seward, the author of bzip and bzip2. The goal was to integrate a Burrows-Wheeler algorithm inside zlib 2.0 (upon which gzip 2.0 is based). One of the requirements was to avoid the kind of arithmetic coding used in bzip because of both patent and decoding speed concerns, so Julian wrote the Huffman coding code now used in bzip2. Another requirement was to put the code in library form and Julian did that too.

Unfortunately, Julian decided to release bzip2 independently instead of staying within the gzip 2.0 project. It was mainly my fault, since I couldn't spend enough time on the other parts of the project, and the project was not advancing fast enough. Since Julian left, the project progressed even more slowly, and new blood is obviously necessary, because other responsibilities no longer leave me enough time for gzip. If you're an expert in data compression, e-mail me to convince me that you are the most qualified person to turn the zlib/gzip 2.0 project into an overwhelming success :-)

2) The Data Compression Book
by drudd

I am a happy owner of The Data Compression Book (2nd Ed). With the increasing availability of compression routines within libraries (Java's GZIP streams spring to mind), does this make your book a little unnecessary?

Should software authors continue to write their own compression routines, or simply trust the versions available to them in library form?

I can see some definite advantages to library code, i.e. the ability to upgrade routines, and having standardized algorithms which can be read by any program which utilizes the library.

Gailly:

The compression routines in The Data Compression Book were written mainly for clarity, not for efficiency. The source code is present to help understand how the compression algorithms work. It is not designed to be used as is in other software packages, although it does work if efficiency is not a concern. Consider the book as teaching material, not as a data compression library distributed in printed form.

This doesn't mean that the book is unnecessary. Good data compression libraries don't appear magically; their authors had to learn compression techniques one day. If the book helps one person to get started in the data compression area and this person later writes a great compression library, the book will have been useful.

Judging by the success of my zlib data compression library, I think that a vast majority of software authors prefer using an existing library rather than reinventing the wheel. This is how the open-source model works: building upon the work of others is far more efficient than rewriting everything.

3) Compression patents
by Stephen

The compression world has many patents, notably for Lempel-Ziv compression as used in GIF. What is your view on companies patenting non-obvious algorithms for such processes as data compression?

Gailly:

The worst problem is companies patenting obvious algorithms. There are far more patents on obvious ideas than patents on really innovative ideas. In the data compression area, even something as basic as run-length encoding (replace "aaaaa" with a special code indicating repeat "a" 5 times) has been patented at a time where this technique had been well known and widely used for many years.

It is distressing to see the U.S. patent office granting such patents, in contradiction with the law requiring an idea to be both novel and non-obvious to be patentable. Philip Karn has made a good analysis of the problem.

Patents on non-obvious algorithms are a different matter. One view is that algorithms should not be patentable at all, whether obvious or not. This used to be the case, until the US patent office started to grant patents on methods which were nothing else than pure algorithms. I'm afraid that a switch back to the original situation is extremely unlikely.

Several reforms are necessary:

• The patent term should be significantly shortened, at least for algorithms. The patent system was designed to benefit society as a whole, ensuring that new ideas would eventually be made public after a limited period of time instead of being kept as trade secrets. But 20 years is incredibly long in the software area. Granting a monopoly for such a long time no longer benefits society.
• The non-obviousness requirement should be applied much more strictly. A little bit of common sense would avoid a lot of patents on trivial ideas.
• Prior art should be checked more thoroughly. Even non-obvious ideas should not be patented if they have been in use for several years already.

4) A question about Mandrake...
by Mr. Penguin

As we all know, at first Mandrake was little more than a repackaged version of Red Hat. That's changed a bit with the newer versions. My question is this: to what degree will Mandrake continue to differ from RedHat and will there ever be a "developer" version (i.e. one that is centered towards those who are a bit more technically competant)?

Gailly:

That's changed more than a bit. Our distribution is now completely made by us. Believe me, doing everything ourselves represents a significant amount of work. Few people understand how much work is involved in making an independent distribution. We have our own development teams producing things like our graphical install DrakX, our disk partionner DiskDrake, management of security levels in msec, hardware detection with Lothar, etc... Our packages are more recent than those of Red Hat and have more functionality (such as supermount support in the kernel). Red Hat is now even copying packages made by MandrakeSoft (e.g. rpmlint). I hate having to speak like a salesman here, but it is really unfair to say that Mandrake just repackages RedHat; this is simply not true anymore.

Have you looked at Linux-Mandrake 7.0? It does include a developer version. At install time, select the option "Custom" then "Development". You will get all necessary development tools. We, as developers, use our own distribution :-)

5)Why is Mandrake better than Red Hat?

I guess that you have at least a little something to say about this.

Is the 586 optimization enough to justify Mandrake's position? Are you especially proud of any of the architectural differences between the distributions (from what I have been told, the Apache-PHP layout is quite a bit different).

How do feel about the steps that Red Hat has taken to change their distribution in reaction to yours?

Gailly:

Mandrake is far more than Red Hat plus 586 optimization. It is an independent distribution. (See the answer to A question about Mandrake above.) We have enhanced some packages (such as the kernel or Apache) to provide additional functionality for users.

It's clear that Mandrake pushes Red Hat to improve its own version and nowdays Red Hat includes some development from Mandrakesoft. There is a coopetition: Red Hat and MandrakeSoft both benefit from the same open-source community, but they compete for the customer. This coopetition is fully beneficial for the Linux users since we both need to constantly improve our version. We just make sure that Mandrake stays ahead :-)

6)Winzip
by Uruk

I noticed that you allowed the people who make the Winzip product to incorporate code written for Gzip. I think it's cool that you did that, because it would be horrible if winzip couldn't handle the gzip format, but at the same time, what are your thoughts about allowing free software code to be included in closed-source products?

Just out of curiosity, (tell me it's none of my business if you want to and I'll be OK with that) did you receive a licensure fee from the company that makes Winzip for the code?

Gailly:

I started writing compression code simply because my 20 MB hard disk, the biggest size one could get at the time, was always full. I didn't write it for money. Even after I got a bigger hard disk, I continued writing compression code for fun. In particular I was not interested in writing a Windows interface. This is why I allowed my code to be used in Winzip. I received exactly 0$ for this.

The zlib license also allows it to be used in closed-source products. This was an absolute requirement for the success of the PNG image format, which relies on zlib for data compression. If we had used a GPL license, Netscape and Microsoft Explorer wouldn't support PNG, and the PNG format would be dead by now. I also received 0$ for zlib, if you're curious...

Even though I allowed my code to be used in closed-source products, I am a strong supporter of the open-source model. That's also why I work for MandrakeSoft. The open-source model is getting so much momentum that it will in the end dominate the software industry.

7) What about wavelets? by Tom Womack

The Data Compression Book was an excellent reference when it came out, but there are some hot topics in compression that it doesn't cover - frequency-domain lossy audio techniques (MP3), video techniques (MPEG2 and especially MPEG4), wavelets (Sorenson video uses these, I believe, and JPEG2000 will), and the Burrows-Wheeler transform from bzip.

Do you have any plans for a new edition of the book, or good Web references for these techniques? BZip is covered well by a Digital research note, but documentation for MPEG2 seems only to exist as source code and I can't find anything concrete about using wavelets for compression. The data is all there on the comp.compression FAQ, but the excellent exposition of the book is sorely lacking.

Gailly:

These are all very worthy topics, and Mark Nelson and I would like to incorporate them into a new version of the book someday. However, the decision to produce a new version is taken by the publisher, not us.

Note also that these are all very big topics, and it would be quite easy to write an entire book on each one. I don't think they will fit well in a chapter or two. Covering JPEG in one chapter was difficult, and Mark Nelson has been criticized for not describing the specifics of the standard algorithm.

You can find some Web references here and there, in addition to the comp.compression FAQ.

8) Compression software
by jd

It is a "truism" in the Free Software community that code should be released early and released often.

However, much of the software you've written has started gathering a few grey hairs. Gzip, for example, has been at 1.2.4 for many, many moons, and looks about ready to collect it's gold watch.

Is compression software in a category that inherently plateus quickly, so that significant further work simply isn't possible? Or is there some other reason, such as Real Life(tm) intruding and preventing any substantial development?

(I noticed, for example, a patch for >4Gb files for gzip, which could have been rolled into the master sources to make a 1.2.5. This hasn't happened.)

Gailly:

I knew this question would come when I accepted a Slashdot interview. But I had to face it :-(

In short, you are completely right. While working on gzip 2.0, I continued to maintain gzip 1.x, accumulating small patches, and answering a lot of e-mail. But I was hoping to be able to release gzip 2.0 directly, without having to make an intermediate 1.x release. See my answer to the question bzip2 support concerning the state of gzip 2.0 and the Real Life interference. I'd be glad to hand over all my patches for 1.2.4 to the person who can help me getting the gzip 2.0 project to full speed.

9) Proprietary algorithms
by Tom Womack

The field of compression has been thronged with patents for a long time - but patents at least reveal the algorithm.

What do you think of the expansion of trade-secret algorithms (MP3 quantisation tables, Sorensen, RealAudio and RealVideo, Microsoft Streaming Media) where the format of the data stream is not documented anywhere?

Gailly:

The hardware specifications for some video cards were kept as trade secrets. As a result, the XFree86 project couldn't support these cards. Increasing pressure from users who didn't buy those cards because they couldn't be supported has led the manufacturers to release the hardware specifications, and those cards are now well supported.

Similarly, I think that pressure from the open-source community can become strong enough to force companies to open their formats. We're not completely there yet, but I believe that the open-source model will win in the end. Even a giant like Microsoft starts considering Linux as a real threat.

10) Go and Compression
by Inquisiter

When I think of a game like go or chess, I think that each player develops there own algorithm to beat their opponent. If you agree, what relationships or similarities do you see between your intrest in Go and your intrest in compression?

Gailly:

What a nice question!

Even though the rules of go are very simple, the complexity of go is astonishing. The best go programs can be beaten by a human beginner. The search space in go is so large that is impossible to apply the techniques that are so successful in chess. Professional go players never evaluate all possible moves. They are able to compress an enormous amount of information into a relatively small number of concepts.

Where a human beginner would have to painfully examine many possibilities to realize that a certain group is doomed, and would most likely fail in the process, a go expert can immediately recognize certain shapes and can very quickly determine the status of a group. One gets stronger at the game by reaching higher levels of abstraction, which are in effect better compression ratios. A professional go player can elaborate concepts that an average player would have great difficulties to understand.

Current go programs are overwhelmed by the amount of information present in a game of go. They are unable to understand what is really going on. Since brute force techniques can't work in go, programs will only improve by compressing the available information down to a manageable level.

A reader wrote to us with the latest wireless advance from Qualcomm: 2.4 megabit bandwidth for cell phones. They call it high data rate and are hoping to compete with cable modems and other personal high-bandwidth subscription methods. Me, I just want to have a usable cell modem.

An anonymous reader wrote in to say that Phil Karn has posted a patch to Linux 2.2.2 that will disable the PSN. He says "I'm hoping that this patch (or equivalent) will soon make it into the standard Linux kernel so as to dissuade any application vendors who might be tempted to use the serial number misfeature."

Chris Halsall writes " Mac OS Rumors is reporting that Qualcomm is likely to sell off or simply shutdown their Eudora e-mail client division because of poor financial performance out of the group. How to do you compete with free e-mail systems included with every web browser? You don't, which is why a buyer is unlikely. My question is would Qualcomm consider "doing a Netscape" and release the code under OpenSource? This would allow the client to continue to evolve without their expending resources, and they could continue to use the upgraded client in their own applications. Win-win." The article is down the page. Since the submission, Mac OS Rumors has reported that pressure from Microsoft is also involved.

Roxus sent us a nice little article in the Melbourne Age extolling the Virtues of OSS. It's a nice little article. Nothing remarkably insightful or new, but further proof of what we already know.

Roxus wrote in to send us a nifty article about Raster and Enlightenment. It's a cool little piece, although I suspect he was fibbing about his fashion sense. Anyway check it out, and drool with the rest of us waiting for DR15 (/me wipes spittle off chin)

Anonymous Coward writes "It's a phone, it's a palmpilot, no its a Qualcomm pdQ Smartphone. Combining a palm-pilot with your phone, now there's a cool idea! The web site says that it will be available in the first half of 1999. " I'd like everyone at Qualcomm to know that Rob and I are still accepting Christmas presents. And we'll help beta test. Please.

When I put out my call for Geek Christmas Gift ideas, I had no idea what I was in for. But after the storm of email that followed was washed away, I was left with a list of toys that any geek would be excited to give or get this year for whatever holiday it is you celebrate this time of year. Hit the link below and read the list if you're curious. Random Stuff There were a few things that were suggested, that, well, I bet Santa won't come through for them. Hemos asks for Nanites. Thats all he wants. Nanites. Somebody smack him. Nima Negahban says "I would like the beowolf cluster avalon for christmas, dont worry about it fitting it under the tree. " david yates wrote in and simply said "Half naked Princess Leia ,as Jabba's prisoner, action figure." I'm sure his mother is proud. He can have the Action Figure, I want 1976 Carrie Fisher. Games Everyone and their brother wrote in to say that Nintendo 64's and Playstations are great. And the game of choice is definitely Zelda 64. I second that motion. I suggested it to my dad as a Christmas Present. Terrible idea- now I gotta wait until xmas to find out if he got it, and if he *didn't* I gotta buy in on Dec 26. Hard as hell to find. Folks suggested other things like the original Kings Quest or Leisure Suit Larry. Prince of Persia. Commander Keen. Ultima. All those games that aren't around any more, but with their original packaging. Finding a 5.25" drive to play them with might be a tad tricky tho. Clothing It's a well known fact that its better to be clothed at least part of the time. And no self respecting geek should be without a vast array of appropriately political t-shirts to pad out your closet full of suits, jackets, and ties (cough). Daniel suggested checking out the Free BSD Mall for BSD clothing. Jonathan Moore suggested the ever popular KMFMS t-shirts for your local microsoft hater. If thats a bit to exotic for you, how about the classic that Doug Boettcher sent us: the Hack Naked shirt. Since we're mentioning all these t-shirts, we ought to mention that CopyLeft has several shirts including my Don't Fear the Penguins ones, and Slashdot ones too. Software Several folks wrote in to say that they were buying Linux CDs from any of the various places that sell them, and giving them away to the needy. I tend towards Linux Central, and in addition to them Cheap Bytes OpenBsd.org and The Linux Mall were all suggested as places where you can buy the stuff we like. Hardware By far the largest catagory for gift ideas was of course Hardware:The Gift that Costs to much. Of course, anyone would want a a Palm III- it's hard to think of a better stocking stuffer. And besides, they're practically money in the bank now that you can use them to collect automobiles of the rich and famous. But if you've already got a Pilot, James A. Hillyerd suggests a GoType keyboard as the perfect accessory. If the pilot isn't your bag, but you want to read on the road, Mahlen Morris suggested A Rocket E-Book which is basically a tablet computer that is designed to replace books You can get them here. And apparently they have some sort of deal with Barnes & Nobles so you can get content to read on it. They're pretty sweet looking- someday we'll have a wireless version with net access, then we can forget paper. But for now, this'll do.

Have trouble remembering passwords? Digital Persona sells sweet hardware that that you can use to do finger print identification. Suggested by Andrew Lepisto. The pdQ was suggested by Adam D. McKenna. Its a cel phone with an integrated Pilot. Another fairly common suggestion for geek gifts was cel service from your local provider, and a cel modem for the laptop equipped gift getter. Sean McPherson suggested a Kodak DC210+ digital camera. Saves big bucks on film, and is supposed to be supported by SANE. I'm actually planning on getting a Digital Camera before the upcoming string of conferences, and I'll probably look at this one (unless Santa already has one in his bag for me, although at $400 a pop, I highly doubt it) Steven McDonald suggests that we look at DVD RAM Drives as a new huge backup device for storing your MP3s and Porn. Oh, and legit data too.

Mike Miller sent us several suggestions including the Happy Hacking Keyboard. I played with one at ALS- they're not bad. Just as cool are the new Color Gamesboys. I suppose tetris wouldn't be vastly improved by color, but its still pretty sweet. For those with a hugeass budget, How about your very own Alpha Cluster? Obviously Jakob is a lot more hopeful for Saint Nick than I am this year *grin*. How about a vt320 Terminal? Daniel Morrison suggested it, and I think it sounds pretty cool. I had a terminal attached to one of my Linux boxes for awhile. I Let it tail log files and stuff. Kinda fun for reading documentation and stuff too. Can't afford a Multi-Head X-Server, video card, and spare monitor anyway. Plus you can run them into another room and check your email from your kitchen/dining room/bathroom.

Matthew J. Allen sent us a pricey one, but its oh so sweet: Remember those Huge Flat LCD Screens from SGI? I sure do. I wake up after erotic dreams about them. (SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE:Hey SGI: Give Rob one of those things for banner ads. You've got a spare one just sitting around, right?). Matthew also suggested an Iomega Clik Drive if you're on a more reasonable budget. Those things do look pretty sweet. Do cables piss you off? How about the gift of a tangle free workspace? Scott Donovan sent us a link to Cordless Mice and Keyboards from Logitech that will free you up for spinning on your swivel chair really fast until you fall over from getting dizzy instead of getting tangled up in your keyboard cable.

Toys By far the single most suggested toy of all was the Lego Mindstorms. The robotic legos are quite possibly the coolest toy in the history of toys. They aren't cheap, but they are oh so sweet. Else you could consider X-Files Action Figures suggested by E. Waugh. Home Entertainment and Audio Gear The Panasonic Portable DVD Theater was sent in by Joel Telling. Its a tiny portable DVD player obviously designed to make me froth at the mouth like a rabid dog. Several folks wrote in to suggest something I would like, but I wouldn't want to froth on. The Empeg Car CD Player. We've mentioned this before, and although they won't be ready for christmas, they are pretty amazing. 2.1 gigs of MP3s in a car stereo. They need a 9 gig version mounted in a home stereo component too.

Jon Jones (is that a real name? *grin*) wrote in to send a link to ADB I/O which you can use to automate your home for the ultimate in comfort and/or laziness. For the true audio junkie, how about the THX Speakers sent in by Chad R. Henry. Sure, they cost more than my car, but I bet they sound amazing. If you're on a more modest budget Cambridge SoundWorks has some slightly more reasonably priced speakers that I'm told sound awesome. Andrew Hobgood suggests checking out Panasonic SJ-MJ70 MiniDisc Player (portable). Pretty sweet if you aren't willing to chance it on the Diamond Rio (which was also one of the most common suggestions). Frankly any geek should be excited to get either. Rob Sheehy pointed out that Philips has 42 inch widescreen flat TVs that you could hang on your wall if you happen to be rich and wanna watch letterbox movies. This one has a VGA input too.

Random Terry A. Braun suggests that geeks need to get into making our own beer. Sounds like a great idea to me, although I tend to screw up toast. But if you're man enough to try it, you can get Your Own Grain Mill. Alan Mathews wrote in to suggest a A dilbert M&M dispensor McPhee's has some strange stuff, including a Punching Nun suggested by Glen Lipka Tom Berger suggested A VI Command Set Mug STriker RedWolf sent us a link to a chocolate bar shaped like a Pentuim II Chip.

Jason Grundy suggests the $6 card game Kill Dr. Lucky and a Card both from the aptly titled Cheapass.com. Rob Pelkey sent in a pair of gift ideas that are a world apart. The first is An Authentic Moon Rock and the second is a Jesse Ventura T-Shirt or Bumper Sticker. One is probably worth a little more than the other. The concept kitchen has this wierd Finger Stylus Thingee that you can use instead of a pen for some pen machines. Kinda wacky. Sent to us by Wyatt Earp.

Justin Higgins suggests that geeks should all own a copy of the Star Wars Radio Drama. Sure, it costs almost a hundred bucks, but at 15 CDs, it balances out to almost be a bargain. They ought to package it on 1 CD full of MP3s, throw a copy of the script on the disc and sell it for $20. I'd never heard of the Leatherman Wave before, but several folks emailed me to say they are cool. And then I noticed that they were actually advertising here. Shows how much attention I pay to who advertises on my own site I guess. But still several people raved about them, claiming that they're ideal for mucking around inside computer cases with. And Traci Earl sent a link to a site that makes nice Leather Cases for them.

Do you think stuffed animals are stupid? Well how about a Stuffed Plush Space Shuttle? Dave Brunberg sent us that gem. Stirling Westrup sent in a link to something called the Hoberman Sphere which basically is a crazily designed sphere thingee that expands from 9.5" to 30". Crazy looking. If you're looking for something caffienated that you can put in your mouth, several folks reminded us about caffienated penguin mints.

Wrap Up Well this was fun guys. Spending hours looking at crazy things that I can't afford has convinced me to take up cracking banks as an evening hobby. But what is quite obvious is that 1998 is a good year to be a geek. And maybe in 1999 Hemos can have his nanites. Nah.

And lastly, with all the commercial hub bub that tends to go on during this season, don't forget the true meaning of Christmas: Ham.

Dennis Burke writes "For those fans of the PalmPilot out there, Qualcomm has just announced the pdQ, which combines a PalmPilot with the Q-phone " It's not shipping 'til the first half of 1999, so don't ask Santa for one. But it looks excellent. Its only a matter of time before the wireless networkable PDA becomes a reality, this is a nice baby step.

Dennis Burke writes "For those fans of the PalmPilot out there, Qualcomm has just announced the pdQ, which combines a PalmPilot with the Q-phone " It's not shipping 'til the first half of 1999, so don't ask Santa for one. But it looks excellent. Its only a matter of time before the wireless networkable PDA becomes a reality, this is a nice baby step.

Brent Fulgham wrote in to say " The San Diego Daily Transcript recently published a piece about the United States' inscrutable policies regarding the export of encryption software. Quotes are included from the long-suffering Phil Karn, who has been battling with the State Department, and more recently Commerce, for permission to export the code from Bruce Schneier's excellent Appli ed Cryptography." Follow the link below to read more. ... continued " Commerce recently turned down both his administrative appeal of the classification of the floppy as a controlled item and of his license to export the floppy. They have since filed an amended complaint in Judge Oberdorfer's court. With the recent brain-dead key-escrow proposals by such notables as Senator Diane Fienstein, President Clinton, and the even more recent FBI Internet "Wiretapping" shinanigans, Cryptography and information privacy are issues that bears much scrutiny and probably a call to your congressman. Link to the Internet Privacy Coalition!"

Brent Fulgham wrote in to say " The San Diego Daily Transcript recently published a piece about the United States' inscrutable policies regarding the export of encryption software. Quotes are included from the long-suffering Phil Karn, who has been battling with the State Department, and more recently Commerce, for permission to export the code from Bruce Schneier's excellent Appli ed Cryptography." Follow the link below to read more. ... continued " Commerce recently turned down both his administrative appeal of the classification of the floppy as a controlled item and of his license to export the floppy. They have since filed an amended complaint in Judge Oberdorfer's court. With the recent brain-dead key-escrow proposals by such notables as Senator Diane Fienstein, President Clinton, and the even more recent FBI Internet "Wiretapping" shinanigans, Cryptography and information privacy are issues that bears much scrutiny and probably a call to your congressman. Link to the Internet Privacy Coalition!"

Brent Fulgham wrote in to say " The San Diego Daily Transcript recently published a piece about the United States' inscrutable policies regarding the export of encryption software. Quotes are included from the long-suffering Phil Karn, who has been battling with the State Department, and more recently Commerce, for permission to export the code from Bruce Schneier's excellent Appli ed Cryptography." Follow the link below to read more. ... continued " Commerce recently turned down both his administrative appeal of the classification of the floppy as a controlled item and of his license to export the floppy. They have since filed an amended complaint in Judge Oberdorfer's court. With the recent brain-dead key-escrow proposals by such notables as Senator Diane Fienstein, President Clinton, and the even more recent FBI Internet "Wiretapping" shinanigans, Cryptography and information privacy are issues that bears much scrutiny and probably a call to your congressman. Link to the Internet Privacy Coalition!"

Qualcomm today announced they have licensed parts of the PalmPilot architecture. Qualcomm plans to integrate the technologies into their CDMA product line. PMN believes this will allow Qualcomm to incorporate functions such as e-mail and data access to cell fones, an increasing market trend. One wonders if they will be able to withstand the coming onslaught of hybrid phone/computers running Windows CE...