I haven’t really paid too much attention to Sony Ericsson's mobile phone products for a while. Whilst I am a huge fan of their home audio and imaging gear, I have never really been inspired by their phones. The Xperia Play was a clever idea, taking the original Playstation and putting it in a phone is remarkable achievement but it has hardly dominated the gaming or mobile space. Whilst manufacturers such as Motorola (Droid) and Samsung (Nexus S/Galaxy) have product lines that are seen as synonymous with cutting-edge Android devices, Sony appeared to be adrift of the front runners.
However, the recent announcement of their new LiveDock media station is an intriguing one. This very small device is, in essence, a charging station and dock for your mobile allowing you to link it with your home stereo and a power supply. However, and here’s the twist, it can also allow connection of a keyboard and mouse and even a gaming controller.
This clever add-on would allow for your increasingly-powerful mobile to act like a miniature pc, especially if your Sony phone had an HDMI out connection, like their Xperia Arc, that allowed it to connect to your HD television. It could be partnered with a pair of mini speakers, foldaway keyboard, travel mouse and hdmi cable to give you the perfect portable system for business and holidays. Even if you don’t have access to a larger screen, the ability to use a full keyboard and mouse on your phone would speed productivity and usability.
Well done Sony for packing so much in to something so small - a welcome return to form...
Well the rumours have been proven correct for the most part (except the name which is confirmed as the Galaxy Nexus rather than Nexus Prime)...
The newest pure Android phone has been unveiled and looks incredible. The device features Android v4.0 (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich) and has other nifty features not described in my previous post such as facial recognition software that unlocks your phone, tap-to-share data transferring via Android Beam, a panoramic camera, Google's new social network-focused People app and a barometer (!). It's also tightly integrated with the cloud.
Thankfully many of us running previous editions of Android will also see these benefits as 4.0 is rolled out in the coming months but there is little doubt that the Galaxy Nexus combines the state-of-the-art in terms of Android software development and cutting-edge mobile hardware, leaving its rivals in the shade...it is expected to land in November 2011
It appears that official word on the latest Nexus android phone will be unveiled shortly in an announcement delayed from the 11th of October due to the passing of Steve Jobs. The Nexus Prime, as it is apparently to be known, will now be unveiled by Samsung and Google on the 19th of October. It is significant as it is likely to be the first device released that runs the 4.0 edition of Android known as ‘Ice-Cream Sandwich’.
The device is expected to be a beast with a 1.2Ghz processor-powered core, a gig of RAM and 32gigs of internal storage. It will also be capable of playing 720p HD video via its super AMOLED screen and recording 1080p HD video via it’s 5meg rear camera.
The device follows on from the two previous and highly popular Nexus devices - the Nexus One made by HTC and the Nexus S also made by Samsung. Nexus devices are seen as the purest Android phones, devoid of any manufacturer cruft or gloss, leaving only the cleanest Google experience from which all other Android devices are designed to flow.
It will be interesting to see if the Prime continues this legacy....
Farewell to Steve Jobs, clearly a man of vision,
passion, drive and determination who took the ultimate beating, both
professionally and physically, before getting back up off the floor and proving
the doubters wrong. Perhaps the highest of praise might be to describe him as
the Tesla of the modern age.
God clearly has some electronics issues he needs a
hand with and at least we know the computing technology in Heaven will be
incredible! Rest in peace...
Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer and a stealthily quiet yet powerful technology company has announced a new raft of its increasingly popular Kindle devices. The original Kindles are e-book readers that link via 3G or wi-fi to the company’s vast online digital bookstore offering a variety of digital media including books, magazines, blogs etc. Recent innovations have included colour versions and ad-supported models that have lowered the entry price, boosting popularity further.
However, their biggest and most recent innovation is their announcement of the Kindle Fire, a tablet device running a derivative of the Android operating system. The Fire, long rumoured to be in development, takes the Kindle concept even further and sets it sights on a number of the industry’s big players. Priced at only $199 it is designed as a marginal loss leader to enable Amazon to make its money from selling digital content beyond just books. Movies, music, games etc. will all be touted through the device. It also offers a web browser (more later) that enables it to act like a pc, no doubt harnessing online social draws such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ as well as productivity options such as Gmail and Google Docs. It will also link to Amazon’s own Android marketplace, foregoing Google’s own storefront.
The device clearly intends to undercut the iPad, especially by leading significantly on price, and looks to lure more people in to the increasingly popular Amazon ecosystem. Its 7 inch touchscreen is sized to make it more portable than existing Android and other tablets, which tend to be 10.1 inches in size, and its simplified pc concept will appeal to the non-technical.
However, the Fire’s secret weapon may well prove to be it’s Silk browser, another secret development only revealed at the tablet product’s launch. Unbeknown to many, Amazon is actually a significant player in providing the cloud-based backbone to the web. Companies such as Netflix use Amazon Web Services to power their online delivery and Amazon is looking to use it’s own capabilities to offer a whole new browsing experience on the Fire. Silk sees the bulk of the browsing processing done in Amazon’s data centres before it is delivered to the device, speeding up the process and reducing the need for powerful hardware on the tablet. It looks set to challenge other notable browsers such as Google’s Chrome, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Apple’s Safari and mobile favourites such as Opera and will hopefully spur further innovation in these other browser makers.
Many are wondering what Google’s take on this device will be. After all, it is based on a derivative of their operating system but it seems to directly challenge a number of Google’s core services and products including Chrome, Music Beta, Books etc. The two companies have clearly not colluded on the device and it is obviously a powerful competitor to other Android tablets that are priced much higher. However, Google have always said that more web users is good for them so it shouldn’t be too destructive for them. Besides, the Fire will help get Android further established.
Personally I think this is a superb move by Amazon, building on a strong brand and utilising their already popular online services to offer a holistic and dominant route to market for content providers. By keeping the cost of entry down, they will help put capable computing devices in the hands of more people and make the web more pervasive, a goal a number of pure technology firms such as Apple and Google have held for a long time. It is curious that it is a company that is famous for its physical product retail services that is leading the way on this approach to the web. Amazon have the ecosystem, money and brand equity to make Fire a success and no doubt this first model will be a toe in the water ahead of a launch of subsequent devices that will perhaps have other options such a 3G connectivity, bigger screens, laptop form factors etc. adding variety and appeal as they come along.
The Fire may be a loss leader in terms of the actual device cost but it will undoubtedly reap high profits through digital content delivery's higher margins, opening the door to better online services and cheaper prices through strong competition. The next 6 months will be interesting times as Google, Apple and Microsoft scramble to counteract this powerplay.
The Ninja had a very surreal moment earlier this week. As an avid Xbox 360 fan, I was trawling through the game demos on Xbox Live and came across the game Bodycount. As a huge fan of good FPS games I took a chance and downloaded it. I was shortly up and playing, running and gunning and loving what I was seeing. I was struck almost immediately by how much this game felt, looked and sounded like my all-time favourite video game Black which had previously been available on the original Xbox and PS2 before mercifully reappearing in the Xbox Originals on the 360.
Black was simply awesome with fabulous visuals even if it was SD, even better sounds and beautiful destructible environments to use in taking down enemies. I frequently had dug out my old rig to have a nostalgic shoot on this awesome game and often spotted red litter bins in the real world and wondered if they blew up the same way as they do in the game. Although short on length and depth of story, it had plenty to keep you coming back for more.
After rattling through the Bodycount demo a few times I was convinced the game had some kind of link back to Black and a quick Google search proved my instincts to be correct. It is indeed made by the same team headed up by Stuart Black and Steve Watt who have now moved on from Criterion to Codemasters. Needless to say it is my next purchase! Although the reviews so far seem poor, Black received similar treatment from the critics but has developed a cult following and I have little doubt I will love Bodycount as much as I did the original.
These images show the similarities between the two games...
Black - Xbox
Bodycount - Xbox 360
There was long a promise of a Black 2 but hopefully Bodycount will go some way towards filling the void (or bullet hole)....lock and load!
I have long been a fan of Sony's awesome, if somewhat overpriced, imaging gear. Until recently I had only ever owned a Sony digital camera or camcorder until branching out to Panasonic and Toshiba variants.
However, the newest piece of Sony equipment looks lovely...an HD camcorder with a projector built in! It's a terrific idea and it will be curious to see how it works in the real world in terms of projected image quality etc...
The mobile phone space has recently been filled with litigation, particularly relating to industrial design and patents. The big mobile players have been tripping over themselves in courts all over the world trying to establish their attacks on or defence of the intellectual property involved. The following graphic courtesy of The Guardian shows how ludicrous the situation has become.
Apple in particular have been particularly heavy handed assaulting its main system rival Android not by going after Google directly but rather their key partners such as HTC and Samsung. Microsoft too is getting stuck in to Android and now reportedly gets more from the sale of an Android handset than it does from a sale of its own Windows OS devices...
My query here is that Apple, the great consumer device innovators and designers, seem hell bent on stifling innovation in the mobile space. If they had their way and won the lawsuits they have launched, pretty much the only devices left in the market would be Apple devices and their very closed ecosystems. How can this be favourable for the consumer and help promote choice and competition? The patent system is designed to protect IP, not be used as a weapon to smash it and the whole process yet again seems to highlight that the legal system is not fit for 21st century technological developments.
With Google's recent acquisition of Motorola's mobile phone division, this whole digital arms race will likely continue to escalate.
Google have unveiled a raft of new features, tweaks and services today and none is bigger than the launch of Google+ - their own social network platform that looks to combine a lot of their existing services in to one product.
It aims to unify services like Picasa with your contacts, chat, IM, video calls and other features with 'The Plus' itself...
It looks good and a clean first step in this sphere for Google...
The recent hacking activity of a small group of determined individuals known as LulzSec will leave an indelible legacy on the web for a number of reasons. Whilst many will consider their activities to be at best reckless and at worst dangerous and irresponsible, I for one believe that they have served the world a great service.
LulzSec got stuck in to a variety of websites and networked systems uncovering simplistic security flaws in the IT of companies such as Sony, Fox, Black & Berg, Bethesda Game Studios, US Senate, the CIA, the state of Arizona amongst many , many others that in all honesty should know better. These flaws exposed personal information such as credit card details, passwords, log-ins etc.
LulzSec’s work showcased a real lack in basic security in a number of massive databases and hopefully the work of the group and the resulting fear that companies felt of being ‘next’ will help ensure that this critical and often personal data will be better protected in future.
No doubt many who fear the move towards cloud storage and computing will hold this up as a reason not to go down such a route but I think this has only made the case stronger as the pressure is now on exponents and providers of this form of IT service to deliver better security and showcase more resilience to the hacking threat.
Whilst Lulzsec may have chosen to disband and we will likely never really know who they were, I’d like to doff my black hat and offer a courteous bow in thanks to their efforts...they shook up and industry that had gotten complacent, one that should be safer in the future as a result.
Google hosts their annual developer conference ‘I/O’ at this time of the year and the latest event was yet another festival of goodies for gadget fans, technology freaks and IT professionals.
The list of revelations included:
-Long awaited first products sporting Chrome OS – Google’s own operating system.
-Google @ Home – a home automation system utilising Android at its core
-Ice-cream Sandwich – the next iteration of the Android mobile operating system
-Honeycomb 3.1 – a swift update to the just released Android version for tablets
-Google Music – cloud storage and streaming of 20,000 of your own home to a multitude of devices (initially at least).
-Google TV reboot – a new push for their tv integration system.
Perhaps most intriguing is their Chrome OS rental approach detailed in the video below:
Either way it made for happy days for Google fans and an intriguing few months of releases...
The recently released (in the UK anyway) and massive marketing campaign for the Beats audio range got me thinking of another range of what many may perceive as overly expensive electronics peripherals in Monster cables. Monster cables have long been perceived as expensive yet unnecessary interconnects by many.
Back to Beats though...
Beats audio, the brainchild of the talented Dr Dre, offers a variety of headphones and other gear as well as in-laptop integration designed to deliver maximal audio quality to the listener.
This is an admirable aim but the prices involved are simply incredible – headed for pure audiophile territory. Paying triple digits for headphones seems pretty excessive to me! Especially when the tv commercials hint that HD audio content is required and in truth this single requirement alone will deliver a massive part of any audible audio improvement for the listener.
I enjoy HD audio at home and yes the sound is awesome but I have my doubts that when listening by headphone that I would really be able to notice compared to say a high-bit rate mp3 or the humble cd which still delivers the highest quality outside of a Blu-Ray.
I must confess I smell a con and indeed my fears were realised when I note just who is behind the Beats range....Monster!
Netflix has been mentioned here previously – it’s clever business model of offering movie deliveries through the mail and instant streaming access through a huge variety of connected devices (Xbox, iPad, blu-ray players etc.) has been incredibly popular, despite it not having ventured outwith North America.
Now it is being hailed as a saviour of the movie industry and playing a significant part in reducing piracy. Findings have illustrated that as the number of Netflix subscribers increases, downloading of movies, particularly older ones, has diminished. This is understandable as many people elect to watch older films through the ever-growing Netflix catalogue instead of using p2p to acquire them.
We may well see only newer movie rips shared through p2p sites in future but these too could be eliminated if Hollywood allowed Netflix access to them earlier.
This then provides a very curious example of how to successfully combat downloading and is clear justification of the many comments heard from downloaders who wanted ‘a better option’ for watching movies. Netflix is not much loved by Hollywood but it certainly appears to be its Messiah and the industry should maybe learn to give it some love…
The Ninja is a fan of the ever-growing range of Google products, so much so that I’m looking at how easy it might be to transition to a Google based future for activities such as e-mail, calendars, documents etc. through the power of Google Docs – or as a part of Apps for Business as they call it.
Google Docs for Android now brings the functionality of this cloud-based software to the Android OS and it is impressive.
It has all the features you might expect, albeit stripped down to the basics for mobile use but also has a few surprises up its sleeve. You can even create a document from a photograph where you take a picture of an item of text, such as a sheet of printed paper, and it converts it to text and inserts that text in a new document. Very handy for clipping newspaper articles etc. as it’s like having your own photocopier and scanner in your pocket. Very cool!
Although the software is basic and clearly a version 1.0, it can only get better and with the future of computing clearly mobile, it may well play a strong part and help ensure that Google remains the number one choice in this field.
Nike have just unveiled their newest Nike+ running range's must-have item....the GPS watch.
The watch, powered by Tom-Tom's GPS technology, gives you an all-in-one running computer that tracks the basics such as time, distance and calories as well as the more exotic such as altitude, route and heart rate. It is pretty much everything a runner might need in one device.
Although not cheap at £179.00, on the Nike UK website, it might be worth it considering it even pesters you to remind you that you've not hit the pavement for a while! Dear Santa....
The Ninja is currently in the process of ripping his entire dvd and hd movie collection to his media server to enable wider streaming of films and also to enable archiving of the physical discs to cold storage. I explored a variety of options for doing this including using the popular
Nero, the ever-excellent Handbrake and digging out old faithful warez like Smartripper and DVDx but really wanted a one-click, drop-the-disc-in solution.
I wanted something to convert to h264 mp4 and also to retain the 5.1 surround sound effect rather than downgrade to just stereo mp3. I finally settled on my old version of DVDFab (v.6) and began to rip to away (but to be honest wasn’t really happy with the output results) but that was before receiving the offer to upgrade to the latest edition (v8.0.8.5) and wow what a difference that made!!!!
Optimised for Nvidia’s CUDA architecture that is designed to boost read times through the gpu, the latest editions of DVDFab offer awesome upgrades in processing speed. The difference was incredible as I saw transcoding times drop from approximately 1hr 15minutes to under 30minutes for the main movie of a dvd. At this rate I’ll blow through the conversion process for my two hundred or so movies in a matter of days rather than weeks or months.
The benefit for me of DVDFab is its ability to directly read from the disc rather than have to copy the TS folders to the hard drive first before transcoding. As a result of its simplicity, efficacy and quality of output I would have to say that DVDFab is a must-own product now for any home movie fan…
I do find it most amusing that Linux, the open source operating system invented by Linus Torvalds back in 1991, is now so prevalent in our everyday lives.
Long perceived as the poor relative to Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Apple’s Mac OS X (although both Mac OS X and Linux are Unix-based). Retailers rarely make Linux-based operating systems available as an option for new computer purchases preferring either a Windows variant or in Apple’s case only offering their own flavour of software.
Despite being free, Linux has long been perceived as the domain of geeks, accessible only by those inclined towards delving deeply in to the inner workings of a computer but the long extorted adage of ‘blessed are the geeks for they shall inherit the earth!’ seems destined to come true if indeed the current trends continue.
Google is at the forefront of the Linux cavalry charge with their insanely popular Android mobile device operating system. Now the world’s leading mobile OS, Android has seen explosive growth since its launch just over 2 years ago, driven by its free unit cost to manufacturers and Google’s marketing clout that enables Android devices to integrate so closely with their highly popular web-based services.
Google are also leading Android’s assault on the desktop environment with the development of its Chrome OS, a Linux based operating system designed around Google’s Chrome web browser designed to provide web access and services delivered solely through the web. Offline support is provided via HTML5 to ensure the device doesn’t cease to function when offline.
Canonical have been the most ardent of supporters of Linux with their iterations of Ubuntu, probably the most popular desktop Linux OS. It offers rock solid performance and a beautiful minimalist environment as well as increasing hardware support for no cost. It has risen in popularity as it works well on low-powered netbooks which have become increasingly prevalent lately.
Beyond the computing environment, numerous consumer devices run some form of the Linux system including set-top boxes, televisions, gaming consoles, networking equipment, network storage devices, media players. Its pervasiveness is increasing all the time and with an increasing amount of computing done via mobile or handheld devices, Linux, through Android’s popularity in particular, seems set to emerge as the world’s leading computing platform after all.
The recent revelation of a leaked internal memo from Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia, to his organisation’s staff hints at a looming step change in focus for the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer. Having seen its market share eaten away at both ends of the scale by competitors such as Apple and Google’s Android, he has hinted that the company now finds itself standing on a ‘burning platform’ and needs to make a critical decision to ensure its survival.
This decision seems to be focused on partnering with another major phone manufacturer as the current ‘ecosystem’ approach of building constantly evolving handset operating systems, applications-led interactivity, retail marketplaces etc. has left Nokia out in the cold. Its MeeGo software has failed to deliver and its Ovi store has trailed far behind the Apple and Android retail approaches. The likely partner appears to be Microsoft and its fairly new Windows Phone 7 operating system. Any joint approach would likely be a good move for both companies and Elop used to work for Microsoft so it seems logical.
He blames a loss in brand preference in key markets and the strategic foresight of Apple and Google who built much-desired high-end phones that established their credentials and high levels of public desire. Google then began the assault on the mid-range market that Nokia has dominated for so long and has now set it sights on the low-end as well with even cheaper Android powered-devices.
The memo is very frank and is an incredible insight in to a massive technology company’s corporate thinking and one can only hope they right their ship before it does indeed burn and sink…
Google have alerted the media ahead of an announcement about their upcoming Android mobile operating system version 3.0, code-named 'Honeycomb'.
In the announcement they have indicated that the system will be designed for both tablets (as expected) and smartphones (a surprise). It will be intriguing to see what features will be on the respective types of device but the preview video (previously posted below) should give you a taste of what to expect from this major milestone in the Android evolution.
Law firm ACS:Law which caused a stir by sending out letters chasing alleged filesharers for payments on behalf of copyright holders has elected to drop all its criminal prosecutions. At the launch of their letter/invoice campaign, the company came under attack from hackers via a DDoS who exposed corporate e-mails to the internet that seriously undermined the legal process and left it itself exposed to data protection laws.
It now appears that a dirty tricks campaign from the black hat brigade full of threats and subterfuge has tolled and the firm has withdrawn all its actions. It may not be the end of the story for them though as the courts and the SRA law society are investigating their inferred bullying tactics. Also, legal representatives of the accused are now looking to sue for damages.
Where this leaves any future legal process against illegal filesharing remains unclear but yet again the power of the internet has shown its teeth…and once more the black hats fade back to the shadows with a wry smile with their mission accomplished..
The awesome Open Rights Group succinctly summed the whole thing up here
The above video better outlines the concept behind the development of Motorola's new Atrix phone launching later this year. It's a fabulous idea and it seems to have the hardware to make it work and back up its promise of being one device for all things multimedia! Cost will likely be high though but if it replaces a bucketload of your existing kit it will surely be worth a look...
I can see one potential problem though....if we are to become truly reliant on a single device to do all our multimedia and pc work and be our alarm clock, phone, bath time musical accompaniment etc.....what happens if we leave it in our desk at work overnight for example? It would be a bad start to your day to discover you have left your now vitally-important phone synced in its bedside cradle or, worse, lost it!
This is a very cool and interesting development. Motorola unveiled their new Atrix phone at this year's CES event in Las Vegas. It is a very high spec Android phone with 1gig of RAM, dual processors, hd video capture, large battery and a very high res screen. However, the most interesting trick it can pull is that when it is connected to a dock it can operate as a web-top pc, outputting to a monitor via hdmi and controlled by a keyboard and mouse. There is also a laptop-style dock where it can connect to a portable screen and keyboard and be used in a bigger but still portable. This modular approach is very intriguing!
The time when our mobile phone is as powerful as a regular desktop pc is fast approaching and this might be the first device of this kind off the grid...
With the New Year having arrived, the Cyborg Ninja can now reflect on yet another fabulous year of movies in 2010 and come up with the next selection for the coveted 'Ninja film of the year'!
Despite the depth of movies on offer, there were two obvious favourites with one getting the nod by a nose. My choice for film of the year was Knight and Day - a hilarious romp of a movie with a nice slice of tongue in cheek to go along with the rollicking action. The special effects were a bit ropey in parts and the story was ludicrous but I loved it for its humour. Inception was an oh-so-close second - a simply amazing film that had a clever plot, awesome visuals (the Blu-Ray is mindblowing!) and a stunning conclusion but it was the fun of Knight and Day that won out.
Previous winners:
2010 - Knight and Day (runner up - Inception)
2009 - Star Trek
2008 - Vantage Point (runner up - Eagle Eye)
2007 - Shooter & Bourne Ultimatum
2006 - DejaVu (runner up - V for Vendetta)
2005 - Transporter 2 (runner up - Stealth)
2004 - Bourne Supremacy (runner up - Man on Fire)
2003 - The Italian Job
2002 - Bourne Identity
2001 - Spy Game
2000 - Mission Impossible 2
And if I had to pick a film of the decade...it should probably go to either Supremacy or Ultimatum but the heart says that Vantage Point deserves it....an incredible telling of a gripping story, albeit a far fetched one, but so cleverly told it deserves the recognition!
It has to be said that Google Goggles is simply amazing! ! It might be the most compelling reason to buy an Android phone. You simply take a picture of something and Goggles recognises it and runs searches based on what it saw.
Now it appears that the latest version (v1.3) will even solve Sudoku for you! The video above should explain the concept but the Ninja would thoroughly recommend getting a new Android phone for this app alone it's that cool!
In an intriguing twist, Google have unveiled the latest iteration of their world-conquering Android mobile phone operating system - version 3 or 'Honeycomb'. In a twist, however, it is only for the tablet form factor but the UI looks very impressive with 3D elements and obvious speed increases over other mobile OS systems.
What will be interesting is to see what elements of this version are incorporated in to the handheld mobile version of Android, either in the next edition or as an update to Froyo or Gingerbread.
There is a worrying effort underway recently to put the time limit (or at least some from of cap) back on the internet. This goes against the principles of net neutrality and the progress that has been made since the days of dial-up modems. What is perhaps more scary is the stealthy approach that is being taken by both government and major industry players to install this cap.
Mobile phone operators seem content to cap internet use with restrictive data plans rather than supporting its growth with truly unlimited add-ons. Current offerings always have the caveat of fair use and often 500mb or 1gig limits apply. Data costs in the USA seem very high compared to the UK and the recent efforts of Verizon and Google to hash out a supposedly fair compromise over net neutrality seem weak.
Recent UK government efforts have focused on addressing big industry concerns such as piracy (through the much-hated Digital Economy Bill) rather than dealing with the end-users rights. Even the recent effort to make those wishing to access smut have to opt-in seems sneaky. On the face of it seems like a worthwhile effort to protect the vulnerable but this is bound to involve some form of surveillance (packet-sniffing) to monitor web traffic, a far scarier development.
Even BT, the gatekeeper for the internet in the UK has said it will allow content providers to pay for their data to receive higher bandwidths, in essence creating two-tiers on the web. Big guns like YouTube would be able to afford the upgrade but smaller start-ups would be stalled due to the likely prohibitive cost being a barrier to entry.
2011 will likely be the year a number of these issues are clarified but the end user seems to have little in the way of power to influence the decisions and indeed the general public may be completely unaware of the whole issue.
