I want my standing to be clear: at the age of 16 I was distributing European propaganda leaflets to my classmates. The decades since then did not pass in vain, but my position has not substantially changed. I would also like to tell you how I tackled mykids’ education: I spoke English to them, but in the family I spoke the local Piedmontese dialect. Why? Because I thought – and think – that we belong to a greater whole whose de…

Table of contents Introduction A little bit of history Video and audio generate a lot of bits More challenges for the future Even ancient digital media need compression There are no limits to the use of compression A bright future, or maybe not Acknowledgements Introduction People say that ours is the digital age. Indeed, most of the information around us is in digital form and we can expect that what is not digital now will soon be converted to that form. But…

In a press release today the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced that I have been selected to receive the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, "a special engineering honor to an individual whose contributions over time have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering". I should be happy to see the recognition of 30 years of work dedicated to making real the vision of humans finally free to communicate without barriers and sharing more and more…

It is hard to talk sensibly to the general public about standards. It is a pity because standards are important as they ensure e.g. that nuts match with bolts, paper sheets feed into printers, music files play on handsets and a lot more. One reason is that standards are one of the most ethereal things on Earth as they concern interfaces between systems.  Another reason is that the many industries created by human endeavour have developed their own customs: what…

USA President Obana is reported saying (NYT 2016/03/12): "If, technologically, it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system, where the encryption is so strong that there is no key, there is no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer? How do we disrupt a terrorist plot?" Anwer with another question: "How do we make a child pornographer or a terrorist talk if he does not want to?"

After decades of funding the most fancy and unproductives aspects of the welfare state by raising taxes, politicians have discovered that too much is too much. So cutting taxes has become the mantra of right- and left-wing politicians alike. There is one problem, though. Citizens have become unresponsive (i.e. they don't believe anymore to "tax cuts" promises). One suggestion to politicians in need of recovering citizens' confidence: instead of saying "I will cut this tax", say "I will cut this…