ARM processor becomes more and more popular during year 2012. Power and Integration—ARM Making More Inroads into More Designs. It’s about power—low power; almost no power. A huge and burgeoning market is opening for devices that are handheld and mobile, have rich graphics, deliver 32-bit multicore compute power, include Wi-Fi, web and often 4G connectivity, and that can last up to ten hours on a battery charge.The most obvious among these are smartphones and tablets, but there is also an increasing number of industrial and military devices that fall into this category.
The rivalry between ARM and Intel in this arena is predictably intense because try as it will, Intel has not been able to bring the power consumption of its Atom CPUs down to the level of ARM-based designs (Atom typically in 1-4 watt range and a single ARM Cortex-A9 core in the 250 mW range). ARM’s East unimpressed with Medfield, design wins article tells that Warren East, CEO of processor technology licensor ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England), is unimpressed by the announcements made by chip giant Intel about the low-power Medfield system-chip and its design wins. On the other hand Android will run better on our chips, says Intel. Look out what happens in this competition.
Windows-on-ARM Spells End of Wintel article tells that Brokerage house Nomura Equity Research forecasts that the emerging partnership between Microsoft and ARM will likely end the Windows-Intel duopoly. The long-term consequences for the world’s largest chip maker will likely be an exit from the tablet market as ARM makes inroads in notebook computers. As ARM is surely going to keep pointing out to everyone, they don’t have to beat Intel’s raw performance to make a big splash in this market, because for these kinds of devices, speed isn’t everything, and their promised power consumption advantage will surely be a major selling point.
Windows 8 Release Expected in 2012 article says that Windows 8 will be with us in 2012, according to Microsoft roadmaps. Microsoft still hinting at October Windows 8 release date. It will be seen what are the ramifications of Windows 8, which is supposed to run on either the x86 or ARM architectures. Windows on ARM will not be terribly successful says analyst but it is left to be seen is he right. ARM-based chip vendors that Microsoft is working with (TI, Nvidia, Qualcomm) are now focused on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) because this is where the biggest perceived advantages of ARM-based chips lie, and do not seem to be actively working on PC designs.
Engineering Windows 8 for mobile networks is going on. Windows 8 Mobile Broadband Enhancements Detailed article tells that using mobile broadband in Windows 8 will no longer require specific drivers and third-party software. This is thanks to the new Mobile Broadband Interface Model (MBIM) standard, which hardware makers are reportedly already beginning to adopt, and a generic driver in Windows 8 that can interface with any chip supporting that standard. Windows will automatically detect which carrier it’s associated with and download any available mobile broadband app from the Windows store. MBIM 1.0 is a USB-based protocol for host and device connectivity for desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices. The specification supports multiple generations of GSM and CDMA-based 3G and 4G packet data services including the recent LTE technology.
Consumerization of IT is a hot trend that continues at year 2012. Uh-oh, PC: Half of computing device sales are mobile. Mobile App Usage Further Dominates Web, Spurred by Facebook article tells that the era of mobile computing, catalyzed by Apple and Google, is driving among the largest shifts in consumer behavior over the last forty years. Impressively, its rate of adoption is outpacing both the PC revolution of the 1980s and the Internet Boom of the 1990s. By the end of 2012, Flurry estimates that the cumulative number of iOS and Android devices activated will surge past 1 billion, making the rate of iOS and Android smart device adoption more than four times faster than that of personal computers (over 800 million PCs were sold between 1981 and 2000). Smartphones and tablets come with broadband connectivity out-of-the-box. Bring-your-own-device becoming accepted business practice.
Mobile UIs: It’s developers vs. users article tells that increased emphasis on distinctive smartphone UIs means even more headaches for cross-platform mobile developers. Whose UI will be a winner? Native apps trump the mobile Web.The increased emphasis on specialized mobile user interface guidelines casts new light on the debate over Web apps versus native development, too.
The Cloud is Not Just for Techies Anymore tells that cloud computing achieves mainstream status. So we demand more from it. That’s because our needs and expectations for a mainstream technology and an experimental technology differ. Once we depend on a technology to run our businesses, we demand minute-by-minute reliability and performance.
Cloud security is no oxymoron article is estimated that in 2013 over $148 billion will be spent on cloud computing. Companies large and small are using the cloud to conduct business and store critical information. The cloud is now mainstream. The paradigm of cloud computing requires cloud consumers to extend their trust boundaries outside their current network and infrastructure to encompass a cloud provider. There are three primary areas of cloud security that relate to almost any cloud implementation: authentication, encryption, and network access control. If you are dealing with those issues and software design, read Rugged Software Manifesto and Rugged Software Development presentation.
Enterprise IT’s power shift threatens server-huggers article tells that as more developers take on the task of building, deploying, and running applications on infrastructure outsourced to Amazon and others, traditional roles of system administration and IT operations will morph considerably or evaporate.
Explosion in “Big Data” Causing Data Center Crunch article tells that global business has been caught off-guard by the recent explosion in data volumes and is trying to cope with short-term fixes such as buying in data centre capacity. Oracle also found that the number of businesses looking to build new data centres within the next two years has risen. Data centre capacity and data volumes should be expected to go up – this drives data centre capacity building. Data centre capacity and data volumes should be expected to go up – this drives data centre capacity building. Most players active on “Big Data” field seems to plan to use Apache Hadoop framework for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers. At least EMC, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Informatica, HP, Dell and Cloudera are using Hadoop.
Cloud storage has been very popular topic lately to handle large amount of data storage. The benefits have been told very much, but now we can also see risks of that to realize. Did the Feds Just Kill the Cloud Storage Model? article claims that Megaupload Type Shutdowns and Patriot Act are killing interest to Cloud Storage. Many innocent Megaupload users have had their data taken away from them. The MegaUpload seizure shows how personal files hosted on remote servers operated by a third party can easily be caught up in a government raid targeted at digital pirates. In the wake of Megaupload crackdown, fear forces similar sites to shutter sharing services?. If you use any of these cloud storage sites to store or distribute your own non-infringing files, you are wise to have backups elsewhere, because they may be next on the DOJ’s copyright hit list.
Did the Feds Just Kill the Cloud Storage Model? article tells that worries have been steadily growing among European IT leaders that the USA Patriot Act would give the U.S. government unfettered access to their data if stored on the cloud servers of American providers. Escaping the grasp of the Patriot Act may be more difficult than the marketing suggests. “You have to fence yourself off and make sure that neither you or your cloud service provider has any operations in the United States”, “otherwise you’re vulnerable to U.S. jurisdiction.” And the cloud computing model is built on the argument data can and should reside anywhere around the world, freely passing between borders.
Data centers to cut LAN cord? article mentions that 60GHz wireless links are tested in data centers to ease east-west traffic jams. According to a recent article in The New York Times, data center and networking techies are playing around with 60GHz wireless networking for short-haul links to give rack-to-rack communications some extra bandwidth for when the east-west traffic goes a bit wild. The University of Washington and Microsoft Research published a paper at the Association of Computing Machinery’s SIGCOMM 2011 conference late last year about their tests of 60GHz wireless links in the data center. Their research used prototype links that bear some resemblance to the point-to-point, high bandwidth technology known as WiGig (Wireless Gigabit), which among other things is being proposed as a means to support wireless links between Blu-ray DVD players and TVs, replacing HDMI cables (Wilocity Demonstrates 60 GHz WiGig (Draft 802.11ad) Chipset at CES). 60 GHz band is suitable for indoor, high-bandwidth use in information technology.. There are still many places for physical wires. The wired connections used in a data center are highly reliable, so “why introduce variability in a mission-critical situation?”
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Atom gets first ride in HP’s CPU-agnostic server
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4375688/HP-taps-Atom-for-CPU-agnostic-server
Hewlett-Packard will roll out a processor-agnostic chassis called Gemini later this year geared for low power servers. Intel’s Centerton, a dual-core, 64-bit Atom SoC, will be the first CPU to ship in the system with ARM server SoCs following in the future.
HP will open its Discovery Lab to end users within 60 days showing servers running multiple ARM server SoCs as well as Centerton-based systems. Previously, the world’s largest server maker had only said it was testing a 32-bit ARM server SoC from startup Calxeda.
“Years from now we will say this is where the disruption began with low energy servers,” said Paul Santeler, general manager of HP’s hyperscale business unit
“We really expect Gemini will create a disruption around low energy servers,”
The Gemini system will accommodate Atom and ARM cartridges to target different workloads. The cartridges will house CPUs, memory and possibly other components.
The Gemini systems will target a broad range of workloads including Web hosting, Hadoop analytics and Memcached memroy caching.
significant work is still ahead to get ARM SoCs ready for commercial servers. However, the 32-bit ARM SoCs, such as the Calxeda chip, “will work fine on some workloads,” Santeler said.
Most ARM SoCs are not yet ready for prime time, but the extent to which they become used over the next several years will be a measure of how much disruption this sector sees.
HP’s CPU-agnostic design is a sign it sees this trend will be significant.
The Web site for HP’s Project Moonshot, its low power server initiative, is currently running on a single Gemini server using a Centerton processor. The Gemini server is handling 300 concurrent Web sessions, serving 2,500 concurrent Web pages while consuming 12-14W, compared to 150W for a similar Intel Xeon server, HP said.
HP Project Moonshot
http://h17007.www1.hp.com/us/en/iss/110111.aspx
Tomi Engdahl says:
There is lots of activity around ARM based low power servers:
HP Gemini processor-agnostic chassis later this year support ARM.
Applied Micro announced last year its plans for a 64-bit ARM server SoC.
Dell said it is using Marvell’s Armada XP in prototype servers for end user testing.
Nvidia announced plans for a broad line of ARM-based computer CPUs.
Samsung has hired a high profile ARM server SoC team in Austin.
Source: http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4375688/HP-taps-Atom-for-CPU-agnostic-server
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft kept PC partners in dark about Surface
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/19/us-microsoft-windows-tablets-asia-idUSBRE85I1NL20120619
Microsoft Corp kept its personal computer partners largely in the dark about its plans to launch a competing tablet computer, with some long-time collaborators learning of the new gadget only days before its unveiling, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
With the Surface, Microsoft just started writing its next chapter
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/19/3097726/surface-microsoft-next-chapter
After yesterday’s announcement of the Surface tablet and its accessories, it seems like the company is ready to bring some of its wild thinkers out of hiding.
Microsoft just decided to enter the tablet game in a big way by introducing its own hardware to the market, designed to run Windows 8 (both ARM and x86 versions)
Those keyboards — one a pressure sensitive, 3mm touch surface, the other a traditional, tactile version — were designed by Bathiche and his team.
In fact, the entire tablet was designed in-house by Microsoft’s teams, and if you believe what was said in the presentation yesterday, design and functionality in hardware has suddenly become a big deal in Redmond.
That’s a big shift, and it’s an important one. The announcement of the Surface shows that Microsoft is ready to make a break with its history — a history of hardware partnerships which relied on companies like Dell, HP, or Acer to actually bring its products to market.
That may burn partners in the short term, but it could also give Microsoft something it desperately needs: a clear story.
I know what you’re going to say: Microsoft is just ripping off Apple.
Yes, that’s true — they learned something from Apple.
So did Google — that’s why the Galaxy Nexus exists and it’s why the company will probably announce a Nexus tablet this month.
Since the introduction of the Metro UI and Microsoft’s talk about a “no compromises” operating system, there has been plenty of speculation on exactly what kind of product a Windows 8 PC would be. The combination touch interface and traditional desktop have continuously felt like a jarring mashup of ideas
But the Surface seems to solidify the message of Windows 8, and it puts the evolving OS into a package that makes sense. An attractive package, at that.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Microsoft’s Surface Tablet Shames the PC Industry
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-19/why-microsofts-surface-tablet-should-shame-the-pc-industry
Let’s be clear, though: Microsoft making hardware is not a natural action. It’s what the company does in times of desperation.
With the release of Windows 8 looming, Microsoft was indeed desperate for a hardware company to do something to blunt Apple’s runaway tablet machine.
The Surface tablet represents an indictment of the entire PC and device industry, which has stood by for a couple of years trying to mimic Apple with a parade of hapless, copycat products.
Rather than complaining, PC makers ought to take note of what Microsoft has produced. It has one tablet—a 9 mm thick, 1.5 pounder—that will run on low-power ARM chips and arrive around October.
Later, a slightly bigger Surface tablet will arrive to run on an Intel (INTC) chip, with a stylus and an even-sturdier keyboard/cover.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Surface: Because Microsoft does so well making hardware?
Perhaps they’ll really imitate Apple and go to Foxconn
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/19/microsoft_surface_tablet1/
Analysis If you want a job done right, do it yourself: that’s the consensus on the Windows 8 Surface tablets. Or, put another way: “OEMs, please pay attention. This is how you build a PC.”
It’s easy to draw this conclusion given the world’s largest maker of software has bothered spending money
Microsoft has been banging on about the user “experience” for years, and now it’s putting into practice some of its ideas, without compromise.
Though when you think 30 years and Microsoft history, you don’t think hardware. You might think mice. Or Xbox – though that’s just over 10 years old. Or Windows drivers. But not bottom-to-top PCs.
Surface machines will be built by somebody else – unnamed – and branded as Microsoft, for sale by Microsoft through its US and selected online outlets.
PC makers which Microsoft has traditionally relied upon needed to be taught a thing or two when it comes to tablets.
And Microsoft is taking tough line on Surface. Monday’s announcement set the rules as follows: “OEMS will have cost and feature parity on Windows 8 and Windows RT.”
But while the PC makers are weakened, Microsoft is not in a strong position to dictate terms and it must convince PC manufacturers to buy into the tablet as a mass-market device, rather than simply reverting to type and slapping a new version of Windows on the same old desktops and laptops once Windows 8 is released later this year.
Proof Win8 isn’t another Vista?
The problem is Windows 8 isn’t just new, or unproven: it’s actually proving unpopular among those used to the desktop – or “classic” use and design environments. Microsoft’s throwing everything into convincing users to abandon the existing desktop UI experience and app development model for touch, with apps delivered to the device only online. Existing x86 apps on Windows 8 look like second-class citizens compared to those for Metro while Internet Explorer on the Metro side doesn’t talk to IE on the classic desktop side, making seamless web browsing impossible.
Despite this, Metro is in full swing inside Microsoft. PC makers, however, have been burned by Microsoft’s vision before: Windows Vista left makers and sellers with unsold stock. They would be wise to be skeptical of buying in to another big Microsoft vision, especially coming off the back of their own tablet disasters and in the midst of layoffs – at HP.
Surface as a proof-of-concept theory is a strong idea. PC makers have screwed up, and HP, Dell and Asus have promised Windows 8 on a variety of machines. What Microsoft must demonstrate, however, is that its idea for a Windows tablet is a commercially viable concept.
Microsoft will hope applications on the Windows Marketplace will fuel customer adoption of Surface
The Xbox, now being cited at the moment as the closest comparable to Surface, has been a market and brand share success for Microsoft but it’s a commercial wash. in the most recent quarter the Xbox unit reported revenue of $1.6bn and loss of $229m.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP Hitches Ride With Intel on Server ‘Moonshot’
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/06/hp-intel-centerton/
In the ongoing crusade to build servers from low-power chips originally designed for smartphones, HP is putting its weight behind a new incarnation of Intel’s Atom processor, saying it will start selling a server based on the chip by the end of the year.
Codenamed “Gemini,” the server will be the first machine to emerge from HP’s “Project Moonshot,” a research effort dedicated to building ultra-low-power servers, and it will be among the first — if not the first — to use an upcoming version of the Intel Atom known as “Centerton.”
According to HP’s Glenn Keels, a version of the server running a single chip that packs in two “cores” — essentially individual processors — will consume only about 12 to 14 watts of power when handling common but relatively lightweight server tasks. When running these same tasks with roughly the same performance, he says, a machines using eight to 16 traditional server chip cores consumes closer to 200 or 250 watts.
Though Centerton uses the same core architecture as the Atom chips Intel originally built for mobile devices, the chipmaker has beefed up the design specifically for servers.
Atom chips weren’t ready for server tasks
But Intel’s Centerton is different. It’s a 64-bit chip that includes ECC memory and other tools servers often require, including hardware designed to run virtual machines atop a server. “This is definitely a different product versus what we build for mobile,” says Jason Waxman, the general manager of Intel’s cloud computing group. “It’s really designed for what server makers like HP are looking for.”
HP’s Moonshot Project is part of a much larger effort to build servers from low-power mobile processors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Et tu, Ballmer, or M’soft’s stab at tablets
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4375615/Et-tu–Ballmer–or-M-soft-s-stab-at-tablets
Pre-announcing your own Windows 8 tablet a few months before your OEM customers are ready to roll out their own products. That’s not gutsy, it’s just gross.
For years, PC makers have slavishly followed your systems requirements, jumped on your bandwagons (like Windows for Pen Computing), and this is their payment.
The scant information on the Microsoft Surface tablet is unimpressive. It looks very much like a me-too system. I fail to see any compelling differences over the Apple iPad.
One source told me he heard Acer engineers describe this as a betrayal. “Microsoft wants to charge $80 to $90 royalty per Windows RT device while bring out this tablet under its own logo—it’s unfair competition which will accelerate more adaption of Android,” he said.
He reports an ODM company saying they feel they have “wasted all the investment [on a] promised [Win 8 tablet] business [and] will have to shift focus again.”
Taiwan’s PC makers have told me more than once they see Android as a better road to tablets than Windows 8. It’s free and it already has a well-established user base and ecosystem of apps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jim Radigan: Inside Auto-Vectorization, 1 of n
http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C9-Lectures-Jim-Radigan-Inside-Auto-Vectorization/Jim-Radigan-Inside-Auto-Vectorization-1-of-n
The VC++ 2012 auto-vectorizer tries to make loops in your code run faster by automatically vectorizing your code using the SSE instructions available in all current mainline Intel and AMD chips. In Visual C++ 2012, auto-vectorization is on by default and requires only that you write your code—that is, there are no compiler switches, #pragmas, or hints. It just works. Of course, it’s one thing to say that, but how does it work, exactly? When does it vectorize and when doesn’t it? Why?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel will make MIC an on-die coprocessor
ISC 12 Smaller process nodes and better memory technology will provide the die space
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2185568/intel-mic-die-coprocessor
CHIPMAKER Intel will move its Xeon Phi accelerator card from being a PCI-Express board to becoming a coprocessor located on-die in future process nodes.
Intel’s Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture was rebranded as Xeon Phi at this week’s ISC, however the add-on MIC accelerator card will eventually become an on-die module once transistor density can be increased.
Hazra was asked whether Xeon Phi’s MIC architecture will become a coprocessor, much like the firm used its 386 chip for floating point arithmetic. “Absolutely.[...] The future is absolutely headed that way, and it is closer than you think,” Hazra replied.
Since Intel’s Xeon Phi will use the 22nm Tri-gate process node that made its debut with the Ivy Bridge architecture a few months ago, at the very least it will be two years before Intel puts MIC on the same die as Xeon processors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cloud failures cost $70M-plus since 2007, researchers say
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9228227/Cloud_failures_cost_70M_plus_since_2007_researchers_say
The figures of the economic impact of cloud outages at major services providers is probably underestimated
A total of 568 hours of downtime at 13 well-known cloud services since 2007 had an economic impact of more than $71.7 million dollars, said the International Working Group on Cloud Computing Resiliency (IWGCR) on Monday.
The average unavailability of cloud services is 7.5 hours per year, amounting to an availability rate of 99.9%, according to the group’s preliminary results. “It is extremely far from the expected reliability of mission critical system (99.999%). As a comparison, the service average unavailability for electricity in a modern capital is less than 15 minutes per year,” the researchers noted in their paper.
The costs for an hour-long outage can vary from $89,000 at a travel service provider such as Amadeus, to $225 an hour for a service like Paypal, according to the research paper. The figures are based on hourly costs accepted by the industry, the researchers said. Outages at companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon amount to an estimated $200 an hour, according to the group.
Besides the economic impact, the downtime that sometimes can last for days or even a week can affect millions of users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Women’s Enrollment In Computer Science Correlates Negatively With Net Access
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/12/06/19/2028229/womens-enrollment-in-computer-science-correlates-negatively-with-net-access
“I conclude that in the last 10 years among many Northern European nations, rising Internet access is correlated with falling interest in computer science relative to other professions among women.”
“The group of Mediterranean nations that show a positive correlation should be a fruitful area for future research”
Tomi Engdahl says:
IDC – Press Release
PC Volume to Grow Almost 5% in 2012, But Will Expand Further in 2013 and Beyond, According to IDC
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23549112
he worldwide PC market is expected to grow 5% year over year in 2012, in what is likely to be a challenging year.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, nearly 383 million PCs will ship into the market this year, a slight improvement over the tepid growth seen in 2011
IDC continues to have a conservative view toward PC purchases in mature markets, which are generally expected to return to growth mode in 2012 after a contraction in 2011.
Windows 8 could help to reinvigorate a consumer market that has lost a degree of enthusiasm in recent years. However, questions about the release date, functions, and pricing for Windows 8 limit the contribution the new operating system may make in 2012. The good news, however, is that the forthcoming release of Windows 8 promises to bring new classes of products that could lead to a stronger refresh cycle as the year ends
Consumer PC shipments are expected to see modest growth in 2012 with the revamp of a sleeker Wintel platform fueling additional growth in 2013 through 2016. IDC expects the forecast period to culminate with total PC shipments topping 528 million units in 2016.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvards says:
Linux is the the first operating system that has a single Kernel for every single device (from small systems to supercomputers).
Apple has a separate OS for small devices and computers.
Microsoft is claiming that they are merging the Kernel of phones and PC OS in Windows 8, but they are lying. They are not.
Source: Aalto Talk with Linus Torvalds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MShbP3OpASA&feature=youtu.be&hd=1&t=39m35s
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Last week after the events can be estimated that this year and next, the Finnish IT and telecommunications manufacturing lost a total of 10 000 jobs, estimates Etlatieto Ltd. ‘s research director , Pekka Ylä-Anttila .
Amount of reduction is a wild, after the years 2001-2011 the ICT hardware manufacturing lost 17 000 jobs. On the other hand the same years 2001-2011 ICT software sector was 12 000 jobs.
“Machine Engineering in particular, is now seeking to recruit ICT professionals. ICT professionals need to have the software sector, other services and the machine industry, but in some other industries. ”
“Billion throwing a healthcare information systems can cause more harm than good. Productivity of health care is a problem, but the problem is not in information but in how they are used at the grassroots level. ”
Source: TIVI
http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/julma+ennustus+ictlaitevalmistuksesta+lahtee+kahdessa+vuodessa+10+000+tyopaikkaa/a818291?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-21062012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD To Open-Source Its Linux Execution & Compilation Stack
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/06/20/2046233/amd-to-open-source-its-linux-execution-compilation-stack
“According to Phoronix, AMD will be open-sourcing its Linux execution and compiler stack as part of jump-starting the Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation.”
“AMD plans to open up its stack so that others can utilize the code without causing HSA fragmentation. This will include LLVM code, the HSA run-time, an HSA kernel driver for Linux distributions, an HSA assembler, and other components.”
AMD To Open-Source Its Linux Execution & Compilation Stack
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTEyMzQ
The slides that Bridgman references can be found at SlideShare.net. The page cited is entitled “AMD’s Open Source Commitment To HSA” and says “We will open source our Linux execution and compilation stack.” This is being done to jumpstart the HSA ecosystem, allow a single shared implementation where appropriate, and to enable university research in all areas.
This stack hasn’t been released yet but looks like it will include an HSA Bolt Library, OpenCL HSAIL Code Generator, LLVM Contributions, HSA Assembler, HSA Runtime, HSA Finalizer, and an HSA Kernel Driver. The HSA Kernel Driver they hope will be included within Linux distributions.
This information was shared earlier this month during the AMD Fusion Developer Summit in Bellevue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Young Employees Say BYOD a “Right” Not “Privilege”
http://www.cio.com/article/708718/Young_Employees_Say_BYOD_a_Right_Not_Privilege_?taxonomyId=3061
A survey that asked thousands of young “20-something” workers their attitudes about bring-your-own-device” policies found slightly more than half view it as their “right” to use their own mobile devices at work, rather than BYOD being just a “privilege.”
Fortinet, which sponsored the survey, says it decided to focus the BYOD-related questions specifically on college-educated employees between the ages of 20 and 29 because this younger segment — the future of the workforce — is digitally savvy, and their first phone may be a smartphone.
1 out of 3 said they would gladly break any anti-BYOD rules and “contravene a company’s security policy that forbids them to use their personal devices at work or for work purposes.
In addition, about 30% of all those surveyed indicated they’d contravene policy on “non-approved applications.” Sixty-nine percent want a “Bring Your Own Application” environment where “users create and use their own custom applications at work.”
Two-thirds of those surveyed believe they, not the company, should be responsible for the security of devices used for work purposes.
“The survey clearly reveals the great challenge faced by organizations to reconcile security and BYOD,” said Patrice Perche, international vice president of international sales and support for Fortinet. “While users want and expect to use their own devices for work, mostly for personal convenience, they do not want to hand over responsibility for security on their devices to the organization.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
With Tablet, Microsoft Takes Aim at Hardware Missteps
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/technology/companies/with-tablet-microsoft-takes-aim-at-hardware-missteps.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Around the time the iPad came out more than two years ago, Microsoft executives got an eye-opening jolt about how far Apple would go to gain an edge for its products.
The executives were stunned by how deeply Apple was willing to reach into the global supply chain to secure innovative materials for the iPad and, once it did, to corner the market on those supplies. Microsoft’s executives worried that Windows PC makers were not making the same kinds of bets, the former employee said.
The incident was one of many over the last several years that gradually pushed Microsoft to create its own tablet computer, unveiled last week. The move was the most striking evidence yet of the friction between Microsoft and its partners on the hardware side of the PC business. It is the first time in Microsoft’s almost four-decade history that the company will sell its own computer hardware, competing directly with the PC makers that are the biggest customers for the Windows operating system.
For hardware makers, the PC market has long been a struggle because Microsoft and Intel, maker of the microprocessors that power most computers, have long extracted most of the spoils from the industry, leaving slim profits for the companies that make them. Manufacturers pay hefty fees to license Windows from Microsoft, putting pressure on them to make computers as cheaply as possible using commodity parts.
That, in turn, has limited their ability to take the kinds of risks on hardware innovation that have helped define the iPad.
Some who study the technology industry still believe Microsoft will get out of the business of selling its own tablet computer as soon as it can persuade other hardware companies to build compelling devices of their own. “I think once they jump-start it, they plan to make money the way they always have — from licensing software,” said Michael A. Cusumano, a management professor at M.I.T.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft: Apostasy Or Head Fake?
http://www.mondaynote.com/2012/06/25/microsoft-apostasy-or-head-fake/
For decades, software generated much higher margins than hardware. Microsoft was admired for its extremely high margins, while Apple was criticized for stubbornly sticking to hardware and its lower profitability — to say nothing of lower volumes as a marginal PC player. But now, as Dediu points out, Apple is the company with both the higher revenue and operating margin [emphasis mine]:
If we simply divide revenues by PCs sold we get about $55 Windows revenues per PC and $68 of Office revenues per PC sold [1]. The total income for Microsoft per PC sold is therefore about $123. If we divide operating income by PCs as well we get $35 per Windows license and $43 per Office license. That’s a total of $78 of operating profit per PC.
Now let’s think about a post-PC future exemplified by the iPad. Apple sells the iPad with a nearly 33% margin but at a higher average price than Microsoft’s software bundle. Apple gives away the software (and apps are very cheap) but it still gains $195 in operating profit per iPad sold.
Fine, you say, but Microsoft make up for it in volume. Well, that’s a problem. The tablet volumes are expanding very quickly and are on track to overtake traditional PCs while traditional PCs are likely to be disrupted and decline.
So Microsoft faces a dilemma. Their business model of expensive software on cheap hardware is not sustainable. The future is nearly free software integrated into moderately priced hardware.
Which leads Horace to his killer conclusion:
For Microsoft to maintain their profitability, they have to find a way of obtaining $80 of profit per device. Under the current structure, device makers will not pay $55 per Windows license per device and users will not spend $68 per Office bundle per tablet. Price competition with Android tablets which have no software licensing costs and with iPad which has very cheap software means that a $300 tablet with a $68 software bill will not be competitive or profitable.
However, if Microsoft can sell a $400 (on average) device bundled with its software, and is able to get 20% margins then Microsoft is back to its $80 profit per device sold. This, I believe, is a large part of the practical motivation behind the Surface product.
The challenge for Microsoft therefore becomes to build hundreds of millions of these devices. Every year. Sounds like they need a Tim Cook to run it.
It’s difficult to argue with Horace’s logic, but there’s another way to look at Microsoft’s new posture: It’s just that, a posture, a way to wake up PC OEMs and force them to react. “If you do the right thing and come up with the world-class product Windows 8 deserves, we’ll back off and let you enjoy the just deserts of your efforts.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
How The iPad & Microsoft Surface Expose IT’s Dirtiest Secret
http://www.cultofmac.com/175242/how-the-ipad-microsoft-surface-expose-its-dirtiest-secret-feature/
Watt offers an interesting and well written argument that Surface may find success in many companies because they are still using legacy applications and processes – some of which may have originated long before Windows XP and OS X and have been patched countless times to over the years or decades to continue functioning. His core argument is that many iPad users access these tools using virtual desktop solutions like Citrix Receiver. As a result, at least for some tasks, the iPad functions as a Windows tablet. That could give Surface and other Windows tablets an edge over the iPad if they can directly deal with the legacy code involved or deliver the same virtual desktop experience.
The truth, however, is that many companies are chugging along on legacy solutions that were never designed to work with devices like the iPad. In fact, some widely used legacy systems have roots that weren’t even designed to work with Windows! In many companies, IT has been able to keep the age and state of those systems under wraps. But the iPad, and now the iPad versus Surface discussion, is now pushing that dirty little secret into the light of day.
Legacy technologies are often an argument for sticking with Windows PCs and Microsoft technologies like Surface instead of embracing a Mac or an iPad. These technologies, it is widely believed, are built first and foremost for Windows.
The problem with that argument is that it’s centered on the wrong issue. The issue that needs to be addressed isn’t that the iPad can’t natively interact with these legacy systems (at least not directly). The real issue is that those archaic systems are still in use.
The problem with that argument is that it’s centered on the wrong issue. The issue that needs to be addressed isn’t that the iPad can’t natively interact with these legacy systems (at least not directly). The real issue is that those archaic systems are still in use.
Another issue is that relying on legacy systems often leads to missed opportunities. Big data, business intelligence, and analytics are all major buzz words in the IT and business industry. Today’s tools deliver a wealth of business insight that nobody even considered possible two decades ago (or even a few years ago). Yet legacy systems are keeping these insights from being absorbed as widely as they should be.
Delivering a newer solution is a significant challenge. That’s why many companies haven’t delivered one.
So how do you go about doing it? The first thing you need to do is thoroughly investigate the technology in question. That investigation needs to center around a single core question: what business process was this system or application designed to serve or enable? Other questions stem from the answer. Is that process relevant today? Is the technology even serving that process any more? Has the technology taken on additional roles? If so, what are they and could they be handled by another existing or addition solution?
Essentially, this first step is all about understanding why the outdated technology was chosen in the first place and why it’s still in use. Once you know that, you can begin to assess whether a newer off-the-shelf solution is available that can serve the same needs or whether a custom solution will be needed.
Although replacing an outdated solution can be costly and laborious, it can offer some key advantages.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Leaked document points to $299 “Xbox 720″ for 2013
Microsoft takedown request suggests leak could be genuine.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/06/leaked-document-points-to-299-xbox-720-for-2013/
The original document, which had been posted to sharing site scribd, was taken down over the weekend “at the request of Covington & Burling LLP,” a major IP law firm that represents Microsoft. While the move doesn’t positively confirm that the document is genuine, it does heavily suggest that Microsoft is taking action to suppress confidential internal information
Some fans and observers have expressed disappointment that Microsoft didn’t even bother to mention the follow-up to the Xbox 360 at this year’s E3. Those people should be much less disappointed by a newly leaked planning document, which details an “Xbox 720″ that will include an improved Kinect, a head-mounted “glasses” display, and a major investment in cloud gaming.
(It’s important to note that we haven’t been able to prove the authenticity of this document, or source it directly to anyone inside Microsoft.)
The “Xbox 720″ described in the planning document will be six to eight times more powerful than the Xbox 360 (depending on where you look in the document). A vague “snapshot” of the Yukon architecture for the system shows a core application architecture featuring six to eight 2Ghz ARM/x86 cores, with two additional ARM/x86 cores powering the system OS and three PowerPC cores handling backward-compatibility functions. The document strongly suggests that this base hardware will be available in multiple configurations with different feature sets, with the architecture “designed to be scalable in frequency/number of cores,” and a “modular design to facilitate SKU updates later in lifecycle.”
The document describes Microsoft rolling out the full feature set of the new Xbox 720 slowly, starting with the 2013 launch of the system and Kinect version 2. The new Kinect is referred to as an “incremental” improvement over the current hardware
By 2014, the planning document sees Microsoft following Google into the hands-free, head-mounted display space with a product that is referred to as both “Kinect Glasses” and “Fortaleza Glasses” at different points.
By 2015, the Xbox 720 experience will evolve yet again, according to the roadmap, with Microsoft embracing cloud gaming in a big way. Using a cloud rendering platform and microconsole, the document stresses that consumers will “never need to upgrade hardware again”
Can it be real?
As with any anonymously leaked document on the Internet, there are major questions about whether this planning document can be trusted as genuine.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fujitsu bigwig: Microsoft’s doing us a favour with Surface either way
‘I’m not panicking at all’, says slablet CTO
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/25/fujtisu_reger_tablets/
The Japanese vendor, in its various European incarnations as International Computers Limited and Fujitsu-Siemens, has often been a lonely voice pushing tablet-like form factors. It currently aims its own Windows 7 and Android tablets at business customers, and is considering whether to launch its Android smartphone in the European market.
So Dr Joseph Reger, CTO at Fujitsu Technology Solutions, might be expected to be rather put out that now the technology building blocks for a mass commercial tablet appear to be in place, Microsoft is barging in with its own hardware platforms based around the upcoming Windows 8.
“I’m not panicking at all,” he told The Register in London last week. “Two things can happen. It’s successful, and grabs market share and the market is growing.”
Alternatively, “If it’s not successful, that brings clarity. Then we know the tablet space is a fight between Android and iOS.”
And, he continued, “If both are successful, then we can have a debate about what’s more important.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel may see $2B non-x86 growth in 2013
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4376018/Intel-may-see–2B-non-x86-growth-in-2013
Next year, Intel is poised to generate $2 billion in revenues—half its expected revenue growth—from chips outside its traditional x86 processors, according to a financial analyst who tracks the company.
With its relatively new embedded, NAND flash and wireless products, “Intel has dramatically outperformed its competition on revenue growth and/or profitability from 2008-2012 and is poised to extend these gains in 2013,” said Ross Seymore, an analyst with Deutsche Bank Equity Research.
“These segments have the potential to generate about 50 percent of the $4 billion revenue growth implied in our 2013 estimates”
Intel is not without its risks. The company could see slower than expected PC unit growth, face market share losses to AMD, or see selling prices decline, he noted.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tech Manufacturing Is a Disaster Waiting To Happen
http://slashdot.org/story/12/06/25/0224219/tech-manufacturing-is-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen
“supply chain in just one geographic region, south-east Asia, amounting to a major disaster just waiting to happen. ‘Examples of a growing supply-chain brittleness include manufacturers temporarily denuded of LCD screens, memory chips and batteries by fires, a tsunami, and industrial problems,’ ”
“Today, PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones are produced by just 10 dominant contract manufacturers”
“The bad news is that many of the 10 big players in the IT field are not making good profits, so economic pressure could result in the 10 becoming seven.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Canonical will use Intel’s efilinux in Ubuntu for UEFI secure boot
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2186842/canonical-intels-efilinux-ubuntu-uefi-secure-boot
LINUX VENDOR Canonical will drop Grub 2 in favour of Intel’s efilinux as its bootloader in order to comply with Microsoft’s UEFI Secure Boot.
Following Red Hat’s Fedora project announcing its plans to ensure that its Linux distribution will not fall afoul of Microsoft’s UEFI Secure Boot mechanism, Canonical has detailed how it plans on working with Microsoft’s ‘security feature’. The company will dispense with Grub 2, a Linux bootloader that it put significant work into, and modify Intel’s efilinux bootloader to add a menu interface.
For machines that come preloaded with Ubuntu, Canonical will store the Ubuntu key in firmware. The company will require machines that have “Ubuntu certified” labels to have the Ubuntu key stored in the UEFI signature database.
Although Canonical and Red Hat, two of the three largest commercial Linux vendors, have announced their plans to support Microsoft’s UEFI ‘secure boot’ initiative, there’s still no word on what Suse and the myriad other Linux distributions will do.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fujitsu bigwig: Microsoft’s doing us a favour with Surface either way
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/25/fujtisu_reger_tablets/
I’m not panicking at all’, says slablet CTO
“Two things can happen. It’s successful, and grabs market share and the market is growing.”
Alternatively, “If it’s not successful, that brings clarity. Then we know the tablet space is a fight between Android and iOS.”
For Fujitsu, what’s important – apart from shifting its own branded kit – is being able to sensibly plug mobile devices into the corporation. The vendor was a big fan of BYOD, Reger said, particularly when the D element was Fujitsu’s own devices.
However, that endorsement was conditional on employees’ devices being “manageable” by the corporation – and enterprise management platforms, tools and services are, unsurprisingly, a major preoccupation of the firm.
“Without that, BYOD is one of the most dangerous things ever,” Reger declared.
He said that while the extremist positions were for companies to supply just one device, or to accept “any device”, the sensible position was for companies to support a reasonable degree of choice among users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Business wants the flexibility and agility, and of them is very frustrating if you’re knocked out good plans architecture plans, information security, restoration, strategy, partner selection, process, or some other “good reason”. On the other hand just those “good reasons” are the things that ensure the effectiveness of ICT activities across organizational boundaries.
The hybrid CIO goes much further than that. He is not to dilute things by compromise, but to find a solution that allows both business needs and the realization that the effectiveness of services. It is then able to question both business and ICT suppliers well-established practices.
The hybrid CIO’s IT organization is able to define the concepts, streamline business processes, leading to development projects and to develop basic data management. A fairly comprehensive set of new competencies, but they made the difference between the traditional IT director. It is not difficult to guess, the one with the future ahead.
Source: Tietoviikko
http://www.tietoviikko.fi/cio/blogit/ict_standard_forum/menestyva+cio+on+hybridi/a819020?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-26062012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Girls Who Code’ Seeks to Train Women for Tech Fields
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/06/26/girls-who-code-seeks-to-train-women-for-tech-fields/
“Women are going to be left behind,” Saujani said. “Technology has the potential to create income inequity and we need to do something about it.”
Cries of “where are all the women?” reverberate from Wall Street to politics and beyond, but the dearth of women is particularly stark in technology fields
Despite many programs aimed at encouraging women in tech fields, fewer than 20% of undergraduate degrees in engineering or computing and information sciences were awarded to women in 2009
Girls Who Code and other initiatives aimed at drawing more women to tech fields say the key is to get girls interested in science, engineering and computing when they are very young, and support them to pursue education in technology.
“If we want there to be more women who pursue careers in engineering and computer science and feel welcome in these fields, we have to work on ways to increase the number of women studying engineering — it’s that simple,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dr. Dobb’s 2012 Salary Survey
http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/240002742
survey of nearly 3500 developers and managers
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP asks court to force Oracle to obey Itanium contract
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/27/hp_oracle_itanium_closing_arguments/
HP has told a US court that it should force Oracle to keep supporting its Itanium-based servers for as long as HP sells them.
The firm’s lawyer said in closing arguments in the case that Oracle was contractually obliged to support Itanium chips based on the Hurd agreement. Oracle stood by its position that the Hurd agreement contained no such contract.
Oracle stopped making software compatible with Itanium chips last year because it claims Intel made it clear that the chip was about to be discontinued in favour of X86 processors.
HP claims that Oracle had agreed to keep supporting Itanium
“For years, Oracle led HP to believe it would continue to make the products available,” HP lawyer Jeff Thomas said, according to Bloomberg.
Without Oracle’s support, HP’s gear using the chip will become obsolete.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Happy 40th birthday, Atari!
http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/happy-40th-birthday-atari-184349799.html
While the video game itself might have been invented before Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney decided to start the company, it was Atari that effectively launched the video game industry. And it was on this date 40 years ago that Atari began its march toward history.
Five months after the company opened its doors on June 27, 1972, it introduced the world to Pong, and the way America (and the world) played games changed. Five years later, the company would launch a new revolution with the introduction of the Atari 2600 home gaming console.
The company has seen a number of famous alumni, including both Steve Jobs, who had his first real job at Atari after dropping out of college, and Bill Gates, who was actually fired from the company after his project got stalled.
“Atari showed that young people could start big companies,” he says. “Without that example it would have been harder for Jobs and Bill Gates, and people who came after them, to do what they did.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google vs everyone: an epic war on many fronts
http://gigaom.com/2012/06/27/google-vs-everyone/
June, it seems, is the season for new product announcements in Silicon Valley.
And this week it seems it is Google’s turn. So far, it has announced massive upgrades to its search platform, the newest version of Android (Jellybean), the Google Glass, the Nexus 7 tablet and a new multimedia device, Nexus Q. It is also likely to introduce a new cloud offering at its Google I/O event, as I reported earlier.
It is still the king of search and advertising. It is doing quite well when it comes to Android, though they never really talk about its real financial impact on Google’s business. I would argue that Google Apps and Google Chrome OS have a decent shot of carving out a meaningful role inside corporations, retailers, airlines and campuses. Google Maps is a market leader and well, there is nothing like YouTube – though the monetary impact of the video colossus is still kept under a fog by Google. However, this is where the list of sure things end. Simply take a look at this list of what I believe are important battles Google is fighting, and you begin to understand the challenges that Google faces.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Rapidly Changing Desktop
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/rapidly-changing-desktop
I opined that very shortly, the desktop would be our cell phone and there would be no need to put file servers at everyone’s desk. This was partially driven by the announcement that morning, at LinuxCon, by Qualcomm, that they were going to put dual-core 1 GHz processors in their next generation cell phones. This professional pooh-poohed the idea as completely unworkable.
Flash forward to 2012, and not only is it workable, it is viable, and very realistic.
Note that as I go through this, when I am talking about a desktop, I mean either a physical desktop machine or a laptop, but in either case it is the standard CPU/RAM/hard disk system connected to a monitor or monitors with a mouse/trackball and keyboard via docking station, cables, or wireless and running a fat operating system – whether that is Linux, Windows, or Mac.
80% of the people are using only 20% of the computing power in their machines.
The other 20% are doing tasks that are computationally taxing. These people have need for some serious horsepower.
Now, five years ago, I would have argued that the group doing the computationally taxing work could have justified a personal desktop device. The rest could be connected by a thin client to a virtual desktop located in the server room.
There is no real difference between having a dedicated machine and running in a virtual environment. In the case of those developers who have been here longer, moving to a virtual environment actually increased their ability to work because of the age of their original development platforms.
I tared up my desktop and pushed the contents up to my file server.
No harm, no foul, and here is my laptop, please install putty and a VNC viewer on it so I can use it as a dumb terminal.
My retort was to ask to have my iPad put on the wireless network
A quick search of the web and I found a suitable ssh client and the Real VNC viewer. I hooked up my bluetooth keyboard and bang, I was operational – remoted into my desktop.
If I could do this with my iPad, could I do it with my iPhone? Well, I would not recommend it without a way to remote your video to something bigger, but the answer was yes. And I remembered my conversation. I had moved my desktop to my phone. What was a theory two years ago in my mind had become a practical reality.
I am not going to say that we will see a conversion to this new model overnight. But I think we will see it sooner, rather than later.
In 2010, I said the desktop is dead and the mobile device will be the new meme, but it had a long way to go. Under Moore’s law, a long way is a very short time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD and Intel mainstream desktop CPUs
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/06/28/review_amd_and_intel_mainstream_cpus/
When it comes to the mainstream market for CPUs, the phrase, “You’ve never had it so good” springs to mind. With a multitude of processors to choose from and priced such that there is a CPU for every budget. If it’s confusing now it’ll only get worse when the low-end Ivy Bridge processors eventually turn up. The good news is that, if you don’t want to go down the Intel path, there are plenty of respectable and affordable options available from AMD that have some unique and innovative features on-board too.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK.gov: Some Open Data are more open than others
Greatest Living Briton’s star ratings will show you which
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/28/open_data_white_paper/
The government’s long-awaited Open Data white paper, published this morning, introduces standards for “higher data usability”, according to the minister in charge.
The new standards in question will mean public data is published in re-usable, machine-readable format and rated using a five-star scheme devised by web-daddy Tim Berners Lee.
TBL’s system awards a single star to data published in “any” format under an “open” licence and top marks where you link your data to other data.
Dumping your data in Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet earns you two stars but using a non-proprietary format like CSV earns you three stars.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nexus 7 and Surface: A bonanza for landfill miners
The fish aren’t going to get on the bicycles
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/29/google_ms_tablet_strategies_wtf/
It would be charitable (that is, untrue) to call the consumer electronics strategies of Microsoft and Google coherent today. But what they lack in coherence they make up for in er, … sheer recklessness. That’s OK, then.
Both stalwarts are now in head-on competition with their customers, having launched their own-brand tablets, rather than the software for other people to make tablets. They’re also diving into retail in the chase after Apple, a hugely expensive move that usually ends in tears.
Without stuff to do, Tablets remain as the forgotten niche of computing – the Kindle and the iPad being the exception because of their close relationships with the content production sectors. And without content, neither Microsoft nor Google have much of a story.
Google is relying on the increasingly bare public internet for “stuff”, of which nothing is exclusive to Google. Microsoft has Xbox games. But neither YouTube nor Xbox access make a tablet indispensable. And “access to stuff” is simpler and easier on a Kindle or iPad than on either Surface or the Nexus 7.
Of the two losers, Microsoft’s Surface looks a slightly cannier bet, because it’s really a laptop
Unless something changes, everything points to a boom in the landfill business
Tomi says:
HP Kills ARM-based Windows Tablet, Likely Thanks To Microsoft Surface
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/06/29/2027256/hp-kills-arm-based-windows-tablet-likely-thanks-to-microsoft-surface
“That didn’t take long. HP has publicly confirmed that it has cancelled plans to bring a Windows RT (aka Windows on ARM) tablet to market in time for the Windows 8 debut. The company has decided to focus on its x86 customer base instead. HP spokesperson Marlene Somsak has said, ‘The decision was influenced by input from our customers. The robust and established ecosystem of x86 applications provides the best customer experience at this time and in the immediate future.’ Sources at HP have confirmed that Microsoft’s Surface unveil last week was a huge factor in this decision. “
Tomi says:
No 64-bit ARMv8 hardware is yet shipping until later this year but software support seems to be available already:
ARM Delivers 64-bit ARMv8 Linux Kernel Support (AArch64)
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTEzNDg
ARM has today posted their set of patches that implements core Linux kernel support for AArch64, the ARM 64-bit architecture.
Assuming the patches are in good shape, the support could be merged for the Linux 3.6 kernel when that merge window is open.
Tomi says:
Dell takes hit as global PC sales stall in 2nd quarter
Personal computer growth stalled in the second quarter, and Dell Inc. slid further into third place among the largest PC makers, well behind market leaders Hewlett-Packard Co. and China’s Lenovo Group, according to a report from industry tracking firm International Data Corp.
Market leader Hewlett-Packard shipped 13.4 million units in the quarter, down 12.3 percent from last year. It had a 15.5 percent market share.
Lenovo Group saw its shipments rise to 12.9 million, up 25.2 percent. Its market share was 14.9 percent.
Fourth-place Acer Group shipped 9 million units, up 0.5 percent from last year, for a 10.4 percent share.
Source:
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201207120822KRTRIB__BUSNEWS_23192_39262-1¶ms=timestamp||07/12/2012%208:22%20AM%20ET||headline||Dell%20takes%20hit%20as%20global%20PC%20sales%20stall%20in%202nd%20quarter%20[Austin%20American-Statesman,%20Texas]||docSource||Knight%20Ridder/Tribune||provider||ACQUIREMEDIA||bridgesymbol||US;HPQ&ticker=HPQ:US
Tomi says:
It seems that the growth of the PC sales is slowing down or stalling.
Personal computer growth stalled in the second quarter, and Dell Inc. slid further into third place among the largest PC makers, well behind market leaders Hewlett-Packard Co. and China’s Lenovo Group, according to a report from industry tracking firm International Data Corp.
The U.S. market was especially weak, with purchases down 10.6 percent from last year. Asia also saw its purchases slide into negative territory. IDC said Asia, which has fueled growth in the PC market for the past few years, saw its worst performance in years. Slower shipments to China and India were factors, but IDC said other Asian markets also contributed to the slowdown. The overall global PC market was flat, with sales down 0.1 percent, IDC said.
the U.S. slowdown to “market saturation and economic factors combined with anticipation of Windows 8 and other changes later in the year.”
Source:
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201207120822KRTRIB__BUSNEWS_23192_39262-1¶ms=timestamp||07/12/2012%208:22%20AM%20ET||headline||Dell%20takes%20hit%20as%20global%20PC%20sales%20stall%20in%202nd%20quarter%20[Austin%20American-Statesman,%20Texas]||docSource||Knight%20Ridder/Tribune||provider||ACQUIREMEDIA||bridgesymbol||US;HPQ&ticker=HPQ:US
Tomi says:
Early verdict on Intel Ultrabook™ push: FAIL
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/12/ultrabook_sales/
Intel’s much-ballyhooed ultrabook effort is not working out quite as well as Chipzilla had hoped, with global sales of the thin and light laptops falling well behind expectations.
“The volume isn’t there and it’s going to be way below what Intel had hoped for,” IDC analyst Jay Chou told CNET on Wednesday.
“We might hit a million [ultrabooks] this year,” Chou told CNET. Considering that IDC estimates that 225 million laptops will sell during the year, Maloney and Intel missed their mark by a factor of 90.
Tomi says:
MIT develops holographic, glasses-free 3D TV
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/132681-mit-develops-holographic-glasses-free-3d-tv
HR3D involved a sandwich of two LCD displays, and advanced algorithms for generating top and bottom images that change with varying perspectives.
The researchers plan to present a tri-panel prototype display at Siggraph.
Tomi says:
Why There Are Too Many Patents in America
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/why-there-are-too-many-patents-in-america/259725/#
After dismissing a high-profile suit between Apple and Motorola, one of our leading jurists discusses the problems plaguing America’s intellectual property system.
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VideoGamer says:
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Tomi says:
Cloud guides for IT investments
IT investments in cloud services will grow at a greater rate than the corporate investments in conventional technologies. The development offers a challenge to traditional hardware and software vendors, the research house Gartner’s cloud analyst Ed Anderson said.
The Software Store cloud-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) models to push away with the traditional license sales
Device investment in turn is transferred from capital-intensive in-house IT investment towards operating costs of demand-driven service provider model, Cio.com writes.
Ed Anderson’s conjecture that the cloud model in the long run, creates a new kind of IT investment opportunities. The integration, customization and tuning services, and hybrid models of service providers and in-house between the duties carried out are of growing importance as and when the cloud services are becoming more common.
“In the short period of hardware and software trade can be reduced, but the strainer over a longer development will level off,” Anderson believes.
This year, the world’s IT market is growing three percent and their value rises to 3.6 trillion dollars. At the same time, the cloud market is growing at 19 per cent to 109 billion dollars. Last year, the cloud was sold 91 billion dollars.
By 2016, the cloud expands the market for at least 207 billion dollars worth as an independent line of business according to Gartner
“While the cloud market value this year is only three percent of total IT market value, will increase the cloud-investments have already been hampered by the usual hardware and software trade”, Ed Anderson points out.
IaaS is growing the fastest
Cloud services are still in development stage and all companies do not trust on them.
Hardware equipment investment is expected to grow 3.4 percent this year to 420 billion dollars. Last year, the equipment investment grew by 7.4 percent from 2010.
Enterprise software sales increased 9.8 percent last year. This year, growth should slow to 4.3 percent, in which case the software business values it at $ 281 billion.
Source: http://m.tietoviikko.fi/Uutiset/Pilvi+ohjaa+jo+it-investointeja
Tomi says:
First Loss Ever for Microsoft!
Microsoft lost money last quarter, when that massive $6.2 billion write down was included in its calculations. That was a first, ever, for the company.
Depending on how you look at it, the company either had a great quarter, or a terrible quarter. Both statements are, in a sense, true.
One measure of Microsoft’s health: it generated over $7 billion in cash during the quarter. The company had revenues in excess of $18 billion.
Microsoft is heading into a massively important two quarters, with the launch of Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Office 2013, and Windows Server 2012, products that will drive its earnings for the next few years. A new Xbox device is also on the way, tipped to be coming out in 2013.
Source: http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/07/20/this-week-at-microsoft-losses-windows-phone-and-office-2013/
Tomi says:
Gameinformer: XBox 720, concept plans
http://www.gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Components-SiteFiles/images-news-xbox720/xbox720doc.pdf
Tomi says:
Intel to release 8 series chipset in April 2013
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120718PD208.html
Intel is set to release the next-generation 8 series chipsets along with Haswell-based processors in April 2013, and since the current-generation Ivy Bridge-based processors and their 7 series chipsets were only released in April 2012, while PC demand in third-quarter 2012 is rather weak, motherboard makers believe Ivy Bridge’s shipments should reach their peak in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Haswell will adopt a 22nm process with an improved architecture, while its interface will also change from LGA1155 to LGA1150, greatly enhancing in both calculation and graphics performance. Since LGA1150 is not backward compatible, users will need to purchase 8 series chipset-based motherboards to run the new processors.
Tomi says:
Employees Work Extra Hours on Mobile Email, Calls
http://www.cio.com/article/709782/Employees_Work_Extra_Hours_on_Mobile_Email_Calls?taxonomyId=3061
Nearly every worker has used a mobile device to answer calls and emails outside of the work day when at home or at a social gathering. Still, how commonplace is the practice?
A new survey of 1,000 U.S. workers found an average of seven extra hours a week — almost another full day of work — are spent answering calls and email on a mobile device outside of the regular work week.
At that rate, workers are spending nearly 30 hours more a month, or 360 extra hours a year on calls and emails, according to the poll commissioned by Good Technology, a mobile device management software maker.
Nearly half of those surveyed said they feel they have no choice but to put in the mobile overtime to meet customer demands. Half said they do such work in bed.
The survey also found that 68% of workers check their work email before 8 a.m., and that 40% still check work email after 10 p.m.
the findings show that secure access to corporate email and mobile apps has become a “must have” instead of a “nice to have” for nearly all companies.