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World IPv6 Day is fast approaching and it’s far easier to configure IPv6 than I knew, even if your ISP doesn’t provide you with IPv6 addresses.

That said, there are a few things you need in place before you get started.

  • A working internet connection
  • Either be connected directly to the internet (your host needs a public IP) or be using something other than an off the shelf broadband router.

If you mean the above requirements then simply head over to http://www.tunnelbroker.net/ and register for an account.

Once registered and logged in perform the following:

  • Click “Create Regular Tunnel” under User Functions.
  • Copy and paste the “You are viewing from:” IP address into the form field above
  • Choose the tunnel server closest to you
  • Click “Create Tunnel”
  • Once created, click on the Example Configuration tab and follow the example config options for your system

That’s it. You should now be able to access IPv6 enabled sites like ipv6.google.com and www.v6.facebook.com. On June 18, 2011 a number of large sites will be adding AAAA records for their main addresses (www.facebook.com for example) which has the potential to break connectivity for users who have an improper IPv6 setup. The best option is to be prepared for the day by ensuring you’re accessing the Internet using IPv6. You can also test your connection (with or without IPv6 enabled) at http://test-ipv6.com/.

In a future post, I’ll detail how to use this same tunnel broker service to create a Linux based IPv6 router and firewall. IPv6 will work very differently from IPv4 in how addresses are assigned to you the end user. In short, every device in your home in the future will have a public Internet address meaning steps must be taken to ensure devices inside your home are protected with a firewall.

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From Crunchgear

He cited sales “cheaper” smartphones like the the $49 iPhone 3GS as the primary reason for the lackluster performance.

It isn’t the $49 iPhone 3GS that is killing your tablet’s, it’s the lackluster performance. The Xoom is a dog and if it wasn’t for the badge at boot that proudly boasts there is a dual-core processor inside I would have never known.

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Via Appleinsider.com

“Today you can see tablets and pads and other things that are starting to live in the space in between (a PC and a smartphone),” Mundie said. “Personally, I don’t know whether that space will be a persistent one or not.”

Sorry Mr. Mundie, but I think you have your head in the sand on this one and I suppose I can understand why.  The tablet isn’t situated between the PC and the smartphone, it is replacing the PC.  This surely scares the hell of you.

“Last year, Jobs compared the PC market to the U.S. automobile industry, noting that most vehicles in America at first were trucks, because they were driven by farmers. But as cars became more popular with the growth of cities, and features like power steering and automatic transmission were added, the truck came to represent a smaller number of vehicles on the road. “PCs are going to be like trucks,” he said.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer later fired back with a different spin on Jobs’ analogy: “There may be a reason they call them Mack Trucks,” Ballmer said, referring to Apple’s Mac line of computers. “But Windows machines are not going to be trucks.””

Apparently Ballmer took offense to Jobs stating that “PCs are going to be like trucks” and completely miss that what Jobs meant was that PCs would become much more of a utility device.  A lot of people buy trucks because they have a heavy job to do.

Of course, Ballmer’s response is to attempt to put Windows everywhere even if it means allowing the market to pass them by.

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Great piece by the Macalope on the absolute asshattery from Katherine Noyes on the iPad, iPad2 and tablets in general.  It basically boils down to her inability to find a use case for herself and she runs with it saying tablets, and especially the iPad, are nothing more than a fad.  As much as I like the iPad for what it can do, I also can’t find a reason to actually own one.  That doesn’t mean however that I don’t understand why people are buying iPads in droves, it just means it isn’t a fit for me.   Unlike netbooks, which I claimed to be on their way out in 2009, I think tablets are here to stay.

The Macalope Weekly: The Noyes machine

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I’ve argued before about what “open” means to the end user and I think this guy really nails why the iPad is more “open” than other devices.  A lot of in-the-know technical people will state that the iPad is a closed box because it can do certain things.  For example, one might argue that the iPad doesn’t play OGG files.  On the flip side an android device can’t play protected files from the iTunes store.  As a regular end user, which is going to be more important?  I argue that if the android device can’t play protected music from the iTunes store then the android device is going to be less useful to them and therefore less “open.”

Source

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A lot of people think Apple is replacing samba with their own version because of the GPLv3 and patents.  I’m not so sure that is the case and I think this comment is more on the mark

The reason is that binaries in /System are signed with Apple’s keys, which the haven’t made public. As far as I know this is also disallowed by GPLv3.

Of course it might also be that Apple isn’t satisfied with the progress of samba.

Source

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Amazon has launched their Appstore for Android devices.  Aside from the eight step install process I think Amazon stands a better chance than just about anyone else in having a successful store and not just for themselves but for developers as well.   Like Apple, Amazon has a well established music, video and book presence with millions of credit card holding consumers.  What developer wouldn’t want to take part in that?

While the eight step install process on android devices is annoying today, imagine if Amazon produced a their own tablet with their store already loaded on it.  I once said on twitter that for Android to really be as successful as iOS someone would have to take it and rebrand it as their own and build a great ecosystem around it.  Amazon has that ecosystem, they just need a mobile platform to sell on.

If Amazon were to create that mobile platform, and it included a phone and a tablet, I think Apple would truly have a competitor to worry about.