Gartner believes that software and hardware companies do better in 2013 than last year. I hope so this happens, it would be good for the industry. Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending Forecast to Reach $3.7 Trillion in 2013. That would be 4.2 percent increase from 2012 spending. At the moment uncertainties surrounding prospects for an upturn in global economic growth are the major retardants to IT growth. According to the IT market research form Forrester IT market will grow globally by 3.3 per cent this year in U.S. dollar terms. Europe continues to decline (except Nordic countries, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), and growth is slower in Japan and India.
Worldwide IT spending increases were pretty anemic as IT and telecom services spending were seriously curtailed last year. Gartner believes that this uncertainty is nearing resolution and thus Earth’s anemic IT budgets to bounce back in 2013. Wall Street Beat: 2013 IT Spending Forecasts Look Upbeat article mentions that fiscal cliff deal will help unlock spending on mobility, analytics, collaboration and security technology.
According to the EPA, the average office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of paper each year. There is again a Campaign To Remove Paper From Offices. A campaign started by HelloFax, Google, Expensify, and others has challenged businesses to get rid of physical paper from their office environment in 2013. The Paperless 2013 project wants to move all documents online. The digital tools that are available today. The paperless office technology is here – we just need to use it more than our printers.
Intel x86 and ARM duopoly will continue to dominate this year. Both of the processor will sell well on their own main application fields, and they try to push to each others territories. This means that ARM tries to push to servers and x86 is trying to push more heavily to mobile devices.
Software manufacturers aim to hardware business: Microsoft, Valve, Google etc..
Still IT buyers expect too much from software they buy. This has happened earlier for long time and I expect that to continue. IT systems are easier to develop than user brains, but still system that are hard to learn are pushed to users.
IT service companies sill “sell air”. It is a good business to sell promises first and then when you get money try to do make the promised product with it. And are you sure that the backups your service provider makes can really be restored?
This year will not be a year for Linux on desktop. The fact that currently Amazon’s top selling laptop runs on Linux does not change that. Linux is more heading to smart phones and tablets that to win normal desktop.
Gaming on Linux gets boost. Valve released Steam gaming system for LinuxUbuntu users have run to use Steam game service (at the moment 0.8% of Steam users use Ubuntu, the service was started to as beta on December 2012). Valve will release this year it’s own Linux based Steam Box gaming console. Exclusive interview: Valve’s Gabe Newell on Steam Box, biometrics, and the future of gaming.
Windows 8 slow start continues. Windows 8 sales are well below projections. Computer sales dropped after release of Windows 8. U.S. consumers hesitant to make switch to Windows 8. Uncertainty could turn Windows 8 into the next Vista. Independent report says that Windows 8 Even Less Popular Than Vista and Microsoft voice says that its new OS are chugging along quite nicely, thank you very much, in much the same fashion as Windows 7 before it. Who to believe? Let’s wait and see what happens. I expect that some users will get Significant booting challenges on EFI systems when upgrading to Windows 8.
Interest in Java will decrease compared to other languages for various reasons, recent security issues playing part on that. C Beats Java As Number One Language According To TIOBE Index. It happened already.
Software optimization becomes again talked about when CPU usage on cloud system is easily measured and costs money. Cost-Aware Architectures will be talked bout. Keeping control over cost, architecturally, is just plain hard. Usually engineers we are remarkably badly trained in thinking about cost, but corporate bean counters can now start to ask how we save cost in running the software in cloud. Pinterest Cut Costs from $54 to $20 Per Hour by Automatically Shutting Down Systems.
The world of smart connected devices (desktops, notebook, tabs and smartphones) is becoming bigger and bigger on the expense of traditional PC manufacturers. At the end of 2012 HP is still top of PC league, but trailing fourth in all-devices rankings. Samsung leads the pack in terms of device shipments and Apple is next. Lenovo is the third biggest shifter of devices on the planet. The bets for increased sales are being placed behind smartphones and tablets.
It’s deja vu all over again. You see the phrase “any time, any place, anywhere” in relation to mobile access. Mobile devices bring back that old client-server feeling. The realization dawned that client-server brought with it as many problems as it solved. Following a period of re-centralisation using Web-based architectures, it looks as if we are beginning to come full circle. When the next generation is getting all excited about using mobile apps as front-ends for accessing services across the network, we can’t help noticing parallels with the past. Are HTML5 and cross-platform development and execution environments are now with us to save us? In the real world, the fast and reliable connectivity upon which this model depends just isn’t there in most countries at the moment.
End of netbooks as we know it. Netbook sales go to zero. All major manufacturers in this category has ended making netbooks. They have been replaced with booming tablet sales.
Tablet PC shipments are expected to reach more than 240 million units worldwide in 2013, easily exceeding the 207 million notebook PCs that are projected to ship, according to NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report. The market that has been dominated by one major player, Apple, but Android tablets are quickly getting more market share.
Thin client devices seem to be popping up here and there. Dell introduces HDMI stick that turns any screen into a thin client PC. And so will several other small stick computers coming. Raspberry Pi pocket computer is selling like hot pies (nears one million milestone).
Directly soldered to board CPUs are already norm on smart phone, tablets and some laptops. There will be more and more questions when manufacturers start to drop CPU sockets on the computers. Rumors about Intel Corp.’s plan to abandon microprocessor sockets in the future has been flowing and official response has been:
Intel to Support CPU Sockets for Foreseeable Future. AMD Vows Not to Drop Microprocessor Sockets in Next Two Years. Question is still when transition to BGA starts to happen on desktop PCs.
USB speed will increase again this year. So there is again a new USB version. The future of USB 3.0 coming mid-year with data speeds doubling to 10Gbps. USB 3.0 speed to DOUBLE in 2013 article tells that USB 3.0 – aka SuperSpeed USB – is set to become 10 gigabits per second super-speedy, with a new specification scheduled for a mid-2013 release. The aim is to brings USB closer to the class-leading Thunderbolt standard. It is expected that the new specification ends to consumer hardware a year later.
Higher resolutions will become commonplace. Earlier full HD was a target. Now high end devices are aiming to “retina” and 4K resolutions. Panasonic shows off 20-inch Windows 8 tablet with insane 4K resolution Qualcomm outs Snapdragon 800 and 600: up to 2.3GHz quad-core, 4K video, due by mid 2013.
Solid state storage becomes cheaper and cheaper. You can get ssd-storage at as low as less than one dollar per gigabyte. Moore’s Law may not be running out of steam in memory as we have an insatiable appetite for memory these days. Nowadays our tastes are changing from DRAM to nonvolatile flash memory used in SSD device. For example Kingston just unveiled the world’s first 1TB USB stick and SSD drives are also getting bigger every day. We are already encountering floating-gate scaling problems for NAND flash and answer to the scaling problem appears to be growing devices “up”.
2013 in storage is dominated by flash and file systems. We will finally see some all-flash arrays starting to ship from the big boys – and this will bring credibility to some of the smaller players. Management tools are going to be big again. Expect a lot of pain as infrastructure teams try to make things just work.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD limps through Q4, and 2013 doesn’t look much better
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57565281-92/amd-limps-through-q4-and-2013-doesnt-look-much-better/
The chipmaker has now posted negative cash flows for three consecutive quarters amid declining revenues, and the company’s fiscal fourth quarter just put the nail in the coffin to the rough year that it suffered as a result of declining PC sales.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The End of an Era: Intel’s Desktop Motherboard Business to Ramp Down Over Next 3 Years
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6685/the-end-of-an-era-intels-desktop-motherboard-business-to-ramp-down-over-next-3-years
Today Intel made a sobering, but not entirely unexpected announcement: over the next 3 years Intel will be ramping down its own desktop motherboard business. Intel will continue to supply desktop chipsets for use by 3rd party motherboard manufacturers like ASUS, ASRock and Gigabyte, but after 2013 it will no longer produce and sell its own desktop mITX/mATX/ATX designs in the channel. We will see Haswell motherboards from the group, but that will be the last official hurrah. Intel will stop developing desktop motherboards once the Haswell launch is completed.
Intel’s recently announced NUC will have a roadmap going forward, and some of the desktop board folks will move over there.
Intel will also continue to produce its own form factor reference designs (FFRDs) for Ultrabooks and tablets
The desktop motherboard business lasted so long as a way to ensure that Intel CPUs had a good, stable home (you can’t sell CPUs if motherboard quality is questionable). While there was a need for Intel to build motherboards and reference designs 15 years ago, today what comes out of Taiwan is really quite good. Intel’s constant integration of components onto the CPU and the resulting consolidation in the motherboard industry has helped ensure that board quality went up.
There’s also the obvious motivation: the desktop PC business isn’t exactly booming.
In the near term, this is probably good for the remaining Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google adds ARM support to Chrome’s Native Client
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/22/google-chrome-native-client-arm-support/
Google’s Native Client endowed x86 machines with the ability to run apps compiled from C and C++ right inside Chrome in 2011, and now ARM devices are finally getting their time to shine. Mountain View’s latest Native Client SDK adds support for ARM hardware, and tweaking existing Native Client apps to run on the architecture sounds pretty painless.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alan Cox: Fedora 18 “The Worst Red Hat Distro,” Switches To Ubuntu
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/01/23/230255/alan-cox-fedora-18-the-worst-red-hat-distro-switches-to-ubuntu
“Linux kernel developer veteran Alan Cox has lashed out at Red Hat’s recent release of Fedora 18.”
saying ‘Fedora 18 seems to be the worst Red Hat distro I’ve ever seen.’
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 8 to mainstream solid-state drives, says analyst
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57565549-292/windows-8-to-mainstream-solid-state-drives-says-analyst/
Cheaper flash, Windows 8 means more SSDs this year, says IHS iSuppli analyst.
This could be the year of the solid-state drive.
Newfangled uber-thin Windows 8 devices and falling flash memory prices could double the size of the solid-state drive market, according to a research note today from IHS iSuppli.
“The newest wave of ultrabooks loaded with Windows 8 has started to generate enthusiasm,” wrote Ryan Chien, analyst for memory and storage at IHS, adding that a growing appetite for laptops, hybrids, and tablets could conspire with falling flash memory prices to drive demand.
Worldwide SSD shipments are expected to rise to 83 million units this year, up from 39 million in 2012, according to Chien. By 2016, shipments are expected to hit 239 million units, amounting to about 40 percent of the size of the hard disk drive (HDD) market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source ExFAT File System Reaches 1.0 Status
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/01/23/2142213/open-source-exfat-file-system-reaches-10-status
“fuse-exfat, a GPLv3 implementation of the exFAT file system for Linux, FreeBSD, and OS X, has reached 1.0 status, according to an announcement”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile as the Driver of Desktop Software Design
http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/mobile-as-the-driver-of-desktop-software/240146757
The metaphors and conventions of mobile apps on phones and tablets are driving the design of desktop software. The tail is definitely wagging the dog. Good dog!
It’s no secret that the bulk of UI and UX (user experience) work is being done today on mobile devices, both mobile phones and tablets. During the first three or four years in which mobile emerged as an important development platform (that is, since the 2007 launch of the Apple iPhone), its UI design and development ran on a separate track from desktop metaphors. However, it is now clear the two styles are merging. And the merger will look far more like mobile than desktop.
Perhaps the most dramatic step in that direction was the release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 Metro UI last year, which was an obvious attempt to move the desktop to a mobile UX. Rather than relying entirely on desktop metaphors for its flagship OS, Redmond chose to embrace its mobile Metro UI characterized by scrollable, blocky, colorful, tile-based elements. Metro works very well on Windows-based phones.
Desktop apps, just like Web apps, are also showing the effects of mobile. This is clearly visible in the new designs of icons and dialog boxes. The latter, which were often complex, multi-paneled widgets that required lots of interaction, have now been greatly simplified with far fewer options in a single pane. In addition, the use of widgets that can substitute for typing data values is becoming more widespread. For example, sliders are now much more common as a way to enter values and they will continue to gain popularity. Likewise, spinner controls.
Drop-down menus are evolving, too.
Icons, too, are changing. Because of their reduced size on small screens, they typically make little use of colors.
In Web-based apps, the mobile metaphors are finding greater traction as well. One need only look at the new Google Mail (GMail) interface and see how it’s changed over the last year to view the effects of this new direction: All icons are monochrome, the number of buttons is very limited, and there’s a More button that keeps the additional options off the main screen.
Of all the constraints that mobile devices impose, the one I’d most like to see migrate to the laptop and desktop is the intolerance for delays.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AP IMPACT: Recession, tech kill middle-class jobs
http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-recession-tech-kill-middle-class-jobs-051306434–finance.html
Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
And the situation is even worse than it appears.
Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What’s more, these jobs aren’t just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren’t just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.
They’re being obliterated by technology.
Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing more efficiently tasks that humans have always done.
“The jobs that are going away aren’t coming back,” says Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of “Race Against the Machine.” ”I have never seen a period where computers demonstrated as many skills and abilities as they have over the past seven years.”
“There’s no sector of the economy that’s going to get a pass,”
Experts warn that this “hollowing out” of the middle-class workforce is far from over. They predict the loss of millions more jobs as technology becomes even more sophisticated and reaches deeper into our lives.
—Thanks to technology, companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index reported one-third more profit the past year than they earned the year before the Great Recession. They’ve also expanded their businesses, but total employment, at 21.1 million, has declined by a half-million.
—Start-ups account for much of the job growth in developed economies, but software is allowing entrepreneurs to launch businesses with a third fewer employees than in the 1990s. There is less need for administrative support and back-office jobs that handle accounting, payroll and benefits.
—It’s becoming a self-serve world. Instead of relying on someone else in the workplace or our personal lives, we use technology to do tasks ourselves.
—Technology is replacing workers in developed countries regardless of their politics, policies and laws.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Legal Questions Arise as Cloud Computing Gains Traction
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1394&doc_id=257715
Cloud computing is simply computers somewhere else, dolling out software or hardware recourses over the Internet or local network. The inherent risks all still exist, but not on site. Despite this, the cloud has become quite popular with businesses and institutions as a way of storing and accessing data and information on demand.
Some of these institutions, including large US law firms, are slowly and reluctantly implementing the use of these services, but have fears that sensitive information could potentially be compromised (hacked) by exploiting their relatively weak security measures.
Using these services, such as IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service), StaaS (storage-as-a-service), and PaaS (platform-as-a-service), can be both beneficial and potentially risky for those involved in the US justice system.
On one side of the cloud coin, major law firms can store an incredible amount of legal documentation that can be accessed at any given point for documentation management. This means that records are less likely to be lost, damaged, or misfiled
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alan Cox: I’m leaving the Linux world and Intel for a bit for family reasons.
Source: https://plus.google.com/111104121194250082892/posts/KW3TdRYwjr9
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gizmo Board, a tiny x86 dev board
http://hackaday.com/2013/01/26/gizmo-board-a-tiny-x86-dev-board/
With the Raspberry Pi and sever other ARM dev boards seeing their time in the lime light, it’s no surprise other chip manufacturers would want to get in on the action. AMD is releasing a very tiny x86 dev board called the Gizmo, a four-inch square board that shrinks a desktop computer down to the palm of your hand.
The Gizmo is powered by a dual-core x86 Brazos CPU running at 1 GHz with an included Radeon HD 6250 graphics engine.
While the price of the Gizmo – $200 for an explorer kit – will probably preclude it from being as popular as a Raspberry Pi or other ARM board, sometimes you just need an x86 platform to do the job.
Tomi says:
BYOA with BYOD means bye bye data integrity
http://www.igloosoftware.com/resource_centre/campaigns/consumercloud?ref=techmeme
The integration of business and technology is changing faster than ever. With more control in hands of end users, IT is starting to lose control over… well, information and technology.
New policies like Bring Your Own App (BYOA) and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) are creating IT headaches (possibly leading to BYOB).
It’s not that your team means harm – they just want to get work done. And sometimes that means they’ll go outside the rules to do it. They don’t always know they’re putting sensitive company data at risk when they use consumer cloud services like Dropbox. They just want to stay in sync.
The consumer cloud is convenient, fast, and everywhere. We love it. Your teams probably do, too.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New server can be parachuted into extreme environments
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/012513-new-server-can-be-parachuted-266155.html
NCS Technologies’ new rugged server can withstand extreme temperatures, drops and altitude
The Bunker XRV-5241 is a 1U rack server designed for organizations such as the military and first responders that need servers in rugged environments. The server has been tested to meet U.S. Department of Defense specifications for environmental, temperature and shock requirements.
The server can withstand temperatures between 32 degrees and 122 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees to 50 degrees Celsius) when in operation and between minus 40 degrees and 158 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees to 70 degrees Celsius) when not running. It can withstand an altitude of up to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) when operational
A rugged chassis is built around the server and the hard drives have been shock mounted, Callahan said. The server weighs 35 pounds (15.9 kilograms).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dell Buyout: Microsoft’s Generosity
http://www.mondaynote.com/2013/01/27/dell-buyout-microsofts-generosity/
The news broke two weeks ago: Dell wants to go private. The company would like to buy back all of its publicly traded shares.
To perform painful surgery on its business model, Dell needs to take the company private. Seeing challenges in raising the needed $22B, Microsoft “generously” proposes to contribute a few billions. Is this helping or killing the deal?
The NY Times DealBook article makes the case for Microsoft propping up the leading PC maker:
A vibrant Dell is an important part of Microsoft’s plans to make Windows more relevant for the tablet era, when more and more devices come with touch screens.
So what is Dell trying to accomplish by going private?
First, we have the Management Buyout. Frustrated with Wall Street’s low valuation, executives buy back their company “on the cheap” and run it in private for their own benefit. This rarely ends well.
A good reason for going private is to allow a company to shift to a radically different business model without being distracted by Wall Street’s annoying glare and hysterics. This is what Dell is trying to do. They’re not shutting down shop, they’re merely closing the curtain.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Enterprise Cool Kids
http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/27/the-enterprise-cool-kids/
Enterprise startups are finally the cool kids. Née, sexy.
For now it’s enterprise’s time to shine. Due to the ubiquity of mobile computing, the cloud and the Bring Your Own Device movement, the lines are blurring between enterprise startups and consumer startups.
In the past everything was top down. Large corporations and the government spent a lot of money on R&D, and technologies developed in that R&D like the mainframe/computer, the color TV and even the Internet would trickle down from large institutions to the mainstream user. Once these products hit the mainstream, the gravitational pull of the mainstream and its purchasing power slowly changed the adoption cycle from top down to bottom up.
“Consumers can make buying decisions much more quickly than businesses can,”
“The user is now the buyer, and the center of gravity is no longer in IT, it’s actually in the line of business themselves,
“The demand for ‘consumer-grade’ enterprise technologies — from the standpoint of having strong UX, being mobile, and platform agnostic — is an irreversible trend,” says Levie. “To the point that hard-to-use enterprise software will soon become more surprising than well-designed enterprise software (give it a few years).”
“Today all the consumerized enterprise stuff is as easily usable by the small business as it is by the large business,”
It actually boils down to making a product that people want to use, as consumers are already using cloud products, and fall back on them when their older enterprise solutions fail.
“The Exchange Server is down? No problem, I’ll use Gmail. Email policy doesn’t allow an attachment over 2 GB. No problem, I’ll use YouSendIt, Dropbox or Box,”
“The first generation of this new enterprise wave was replacement technologies at lower prices (like Salesforce and SolarWinds),” says Asana co-founder Justin Rosenstein, “but the new wave is technologies that compete by being better products. The *new* inefficiency to compete against isn’t just total cost of operations (through SaaS) or cost – it’s beating them with a better product.”
Because adoption is getting easier and other related factors, we’re seeing an onslaught of entrepreneurs building products for businesses that employees actually can use or want to use.
“‘Enterprise sexiness’ has come from the increasing awareness that the new breed of vendors have gotten the consumerization thing right (especially with UI and mobile), and that the business models are known to be sustainable and viable,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
British scientists use man-made DNA speck to store 739kB of digital data
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1135400/british-scientists-use-man-made-dna-speck-store-739kb-digital-data
Scientists in Britain have announced a breakthrough in the quest to turn DNA into a revolutionary form of data storage that could fit the world’s entire three billion terabytes of stored data into the palm of your hand.
They said a speck of man-made DNA could hold mountains of data that could be freeze-dried, shipped and stored, potentially for thousands of years. The contents are “read” by sequencing the DNA – as is routinely done today, in genetic fingerprinting and so on – and turning it back into computer code.
“We already know that DNA is a robust way to store information because we can extract it from bones of woolly mammoths, which date back tens of thousands of years, and make sense of it,”
The process involved converting the ones and zeroes of digital information into the four-letter alphabet of DNA code. That code was used to create stands of synthetic DNA. Then machines “read” the DNA molecules and recovered the encoded information perfectly. The reading process took two weeks, but technological advances are driving that time down, said co-author Ewan Birney of the institute.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why did your outsourced IT fall over? Cos you weren’t on Twitter
Gartner: Get on social networks to monitor contractors
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/29/gartner_it_trends_will_affect_contracts/
The days of signing off an IT contract then kicking back and scoffing peanuts for the next three years are over.
Executives will have to constantly monitor their outsourcers – even if it means using social networks – if they want to get value for money, according to Gartner analysts in a startling report for 2013.
Companies should constantly keep in touch with contractors to ensure their IT services remain up to date and responsive, we’re informed.
The use of social websites – presumably Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and others – is one of the big four trends that will affect how business IT contracts will be commissioned and supervised in 2013, said Linda Cohen, an analyst and vice-president at Gartner. The other three are mobile – linked to employees bringing their own devices into work – and cloud computing and how information is managed.
IT bosses will have to consider all of this at once when commissioning contracts if they want their computer systems to work properly in 2013, said the report.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Evil Plan
Google’s evil plan is simple and not so evil.
http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/google-evil-plan
Any successful company is going to draw criticism. Google probably gets more of it than others because of their ‘Don’t Be Evil’ motto.
Most of the posts about Google’s evil ways focus around these two themes. So much time and energy is spent raging against changes that are simply a reflection of us – the user. When we collectively stop shopping at branded stores over smaller boutiques then we’ll see that reflected in our search results.
Evil? It’s not Google, it’s you.
Google’s Plan
Instead of talking about all of these natural business moves and conjuring up some nefarious plot, I want to talk about Google’s real strategy. Here’s the truth. Here’s Google’s plan.
Get people to use the Internet more.
That’s it. The more time people spend on the Internet the more time they’ll engage in revenue generating activities such as viewing and clicking display ads and performing searches.
The way Google executes on this strategy is to improve speed and accessibility to the Internet. Google wants to shorten the distance between any activity and the Internet. Lets look at some of Google’s initiatives with this in mind.
Chrome is about reducing the friction of browsing the Internet.
SPDY goal is to reduce the latency of web pages.
Android provides unfettered access to revenue generating activities
grab Motorola Mobility and improve on hardware too
Google Now is also about stimulating more Internet activity
Google Fiber aims that the friction to using the Internet would be nearly zero.
Google WiFi because Google wants ubiquitous Internet access
Google Drive shortens the distance between work and activities that produce revenue for Google
Chromebook is essentially a computer that runs off the Internet and cloud. Everything is done online.
Google+ because Google needed to break the stranglehold Facebook had on social attention.
Self Driving Cars unlocks a vast amount of time that could be spent on the Internet.
Google Glass could be the ultimate way to keep you connected to the Internet.
Google TV – This is the one place where Google is behind.
Share of Time: Google wants people to spend more of their time on the Internet. Think about that.
Google’s strategy is to get people to use the Internet more. The more time people spend on the Internet the more time they’ll engage in revenue generating activities.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel® Desktop Boards – Next Unit of Computing (NUC)
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/next-unit-computing-introduction.html
Intel® Desktop Boards – Next Unit of Computing (NUC) family delivers stunning visuals and edge-of-your-seat performance in an ultra-small package. Powered by a visibly smart 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i3 processor on a 4-by-4-inch motherboard and enclosed in a tiny case, the NUC is big on performance yet surprisingly small in size. It’s an ideal engine for digital signage, kiosks, home theater systems, and intelligent devices for small spaces, or anywhere else you can imagine.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP’s first Chromebook revealed in leaked spec sheet
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/28/3924524/hp-first-chromebook-revealed-in-leaked-spec-sheet
HP is preparing to launch its first entry into the Chromebook marketplace, if a PDF found on its site can be believed.
Unfortunately, HP is only claiming a relatively short 4 hours and 15 minutes of battery life — far behind the nearly seven hours afforded by Samsung’s Chromebook.
While we’re a bit concerned that HP’s Celeron processor will cause its Chromebook to heat up more and have worse battery life than other options, the real key here is going to be how the computer feels in use
HP is one of the biggest Windows clients Microsoft has, just like Lenovo, so any strategy shift like this will likely get Microsoft’s attention.
HP responded to our request with a simple “no comment,” but we also noticed that the PDF has an Ad Embargo date of February 17th of this year
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Phases Out XNA and DirectX?
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/144-graphics-and-games/5404-microsoft-phases-out-xna-and-directx.html
It is reported that Microsoft has sent an email to DirectX/XNA MVPs which informs them that they are no longer needed because XNA and DirectX are no longer evolving. What does this mean?
“Presently the XNA Game Studio is not in active development and DirectX is no longer evolving as a technology.”
To most programmers the fact that XNA Game Studio is not evolving is not a great shock. The fact that XNA has been left out of WP8 and other development environments was the writing on the wall.As far as desktop development under Windows goes XNA has never really been a success
The real shock is the statement that DirectX is no longer being developed. DirectX includes Direct2D/3D which is Microsoft’s star graphics technology. It even dumped Silverlight on WP8 in favour of DirectX and it is the key display technology on Windows 8.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s tablet blip versus Android’s boom
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57567030-94/microsofts-tablet-blip-versus-androids-boom/
The surge in Android tablet shipments is not good news for Microsoft, which is just now trying to gain a toehold in the market.
As Android tablet shipments surge, probably the best thing that can be said about Microsoft is that it’s not going away.
“There is no question that Microsoft is in this tablet race to compete for the long haul,” an IDC analyst said today in a statement, trying to put Microsoft’s tablet debut into perspective.
In fact, that’s probably about as positive a statement that can be made at the moment.
Then this: “Reaction to the company’s Surface with Windows RT tablet was muted at best,” IDC added.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Acer Sees Success in Chrome; Windows Fails to Drive Sales
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-27/acer-sees-success-in-chrome-pcs-as-windows-fails-to-drive-sales.html
Acer Inc. (2353), the Taiwanese computer maker that’s suffered two consecutive annual losses, posted strong sales of notebooks using Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Chrome platform after the release of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s Windows 8 failed to ignite the market.
Chrome-based models accounted for 5 percent to 10 percent of Acer’s U.S. shipments since being released there in November, President Jim Wong said in an interview at the Taipei-based company’s headquarters. That ratio is expected to be sustainable in the long term and the company is considering offering Chrome models in other developed markets, he said.
Windows 8, released in October, accounted for 1.7 percent of computers in use during December, compared with 45 percent for Windows 7 and 7.1 percent for Apple Inc.’s Mac systems, according to the Aliso Viejo, California-based researcher.
Chrome’s “value is that it’s more secure,” Wong said. Early adopters have been more professional, heavy Internet users with educational institutions, and corporations are also likely to show interest in the operating system, he said.
“You saw that all the marketing and promotions were not as broad as Windows 8, so to reach this success is encouraging,” Wong said. While Chrome has no license fee, Acer had to spend more money on marketing and promotions, offsetting the cost savings.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gabe Newell: Steam Box’s biggest threat isn’t consoles, it’s Apple
http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/30/3934112/gabe-newell-steam-boxs-biggest-threat-isnt-consoles-its-apple
The biggest danger facing the success of Steam Box or any other PC ecosystem hoping to find space in the living room is Apple, according to a lecture given by Valve co-founder Gabe Newell to a class at the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs.
“The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform,” Newell said. “I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?”
Companies attempting to make that jump with the PC platform need to sell the strengths of their hardware to find footing in the living room, Newell said — factors like increased hard drive space, customizable form factor and the ability to utilize hardware that the consumer may already own.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Dell deal would restore PC makers’ confidence
Things don’t get much worse than ‘bad-to-neutral’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/02/microsoft_dell_end_of_uncertainty/
The PC business could experience not one but two seismic events on Monday.
First, the world’s third biggest PC maker is expected to announce a $20bn leveraged buyout, taking it off the stock market and putting it back into private hands.
Twenty-five years after Dell floated, the PC maker’s management would no longer be accountable to investors and would be able to operate shielded from the scrutiny of those holding its stock.
A private Dell means management would no longer be subject to the whims of Wall St and the level of mandatory scrutiny that comes with holding other people’s trust.
Microsoft, along with VC Silver Lake Partners, is reported to have lined up $15bn from UK and US banks to finance a deal, making them minority investors in a private Dell. Reports value an estimated $3bn Microsoft contribution as a 10 per cent stake.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Next-Gen Console Wars Will Soon Begin In Earnest
http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/02/02/1551241/next-gen-console-wars-will-soon-begin-in-earnest
“Wii U was released at the end of last year”
“Sony has announced a press conference for February 20th that is expected to unveil the PlayStation 4, codenamed ‘Orbis.’ This will precede the announcement of the Xbox 360′s successor, codenamed ‘Durango,’ but that too will likely be announced by E3 in June.”
“Specs for development kits of both systems have leaked widely. The two systems both use 8-core AMD chips clocked around 1.6 GHz. “
Tomi Engdahl says:
PlayStation 4 revealed
http://www.edge-online.com/news/playstation-4-revealed/
Development sources with working knowledge of both next generation consoles have told us that PlayStation 4 will be more powerful than the next Xbox, will ship with a redesigned controller and launch by the end of the year in Japan and the US. PlayStation 4’s European launch will follow in early 2014.
Sony is set to reveal its next PlayStation on Wednesday February 20th
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wine On Android Is Coming For Running Windows Apps
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI5MjA
A port of the Wine software to Google’s Android platform is being worked on.
Following the FOSDEM talk today in Brussels about Wine on ARM (notes on the Wine ARM talk will come in a later Phoronix article today or tomorrow), there was a brief showing of Wine on Android.
A Windows application running on Android. While Wine is coming to ARM and there’s quite a lot of interest there, CodeWeavers is quite interested and hopeful for the success of Intel x86 Atom CPUs for tablets. If Android gains traction on x86-based tablets and other mobile devices, CodeWeavers has a lot of commercial opportunities for pushing the running of Windows software on Android. Of course, there’s ARM devices too, the Wine ARM update will be shared in another Phoronix article.
Wine with a Windows application running in an emulated Android environment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The End of the Web, Search, and Computer as We Know It
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/02/the-end-of-the-web-computers-and-search-as-we-know-it/
People ask what the next web will be like, but there won’t be a next web.
The space-based web we currently have will gradually be replaced by a time-based worldstream. It’s already happening, and it all began with the lifestream, a phenomenon that I (with Eric Freeman) predicted in the 1990s and shared in the pages of Wired almost exactly 16 years ago.
This lifestream — a heterogeneous, content-searchable, real-time messaging stream — arrived in the form of blog posts and RSS feeds, Twitter and other chatstreams, and Facebook walls and timelines. Its structure represented a shift beyond the “flatland known as the desktop” (where our interfaces ignored the temporal dimension) towards streams, which flow and can therefore serve as a concrete representation of time.
It’s a bit like moving from a desktop to a magic diary: Picture a diary whose pages turn automatically, tracking your life moment to moment … Until you touch it, and then, the page-turning stops.
Until now, the web has been space-based, like a magazine stand; we use spatial terms such as “second from the top on the far left” to identify a particular magazine.
Time as a metaphor may seem obvious now. Especially because it’s natural for us to see our lives as stories, organized by time.
Yet it took us more than 20 years in computing to get here. The field has finally moved from conserving resources ingeniously to squandering them creatively.
Today’s operating systems and browsers — and search models — become obsolete, because people no longer want to be connected to computers or “sites” (they probably never did).
What people really want is to tune in to information. Since many millions of separate lifestreams will exist in the cybersphere soon, our basic software will be the stream-browser: like today’s browsers, but designed to add, subtract, and navigate streams.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introducing the Open Source Rookie of the Year… Whoa, it’s Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/02/open_and_shut/
Open … and Shut It’s déjà vu all over again for Microsoft, as Black Duck Software has named Redmond’s TypeScript project among its 2012 Open Source Rookies of the Year – despite Microsoft spending nearly a decade trying to figure out this crazy communist software manifesto.
Back in 2001, Microsoft labeled open source a “cancer,” “un-American,” and a threat to rich software capitalists everywhere. By 2003, however, it was limping along the right track with the introduction of its Shared Source Initiative, and not long after started releasing open-source code of its own and creating its own open-source software lab.
“Microsoft has started to recognize that if it wants popular open source software to run on Windows, it may have to build it itself.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Firefox and Chrome Can Talk To Each Other
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/02/04/1944217/firefox-and-chrome-can-talk-to-each-other
“The Firefox and Chrome teams have announced that their respective browsers can now communicate with each other via WebRTC for the purpose of audio and video communication without needing a third-party plugin.”
“To try this yourself, you’ll need desktop Chrome 25 Beta and Firefox Nightly for Desktop.”
“Firefox, you’ll need to go to about:config and set the media.peerconnection.enabled pref to “true.” Then head over to the WebRTC demo site and start calling.””
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM Q4 beats forecast, profit up by 16 percent
http://www.zdnet.com/arm-q4-beats-forecast-profit-up-by-16-percent-7000010813/
Summary: British chip designer ARM reported a hike in profits, due to the growth of chip shipments containing ARM technology and royalties. The firm’s outlook continues to look strong.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The PNG image file format is now more popular than GIF
http://w3techs.com/blog/entry/the_png_image_file_format_is_now_more_popular_than_gif
PNG is now used on 62.4% of all websites, just ahead of GIF with 62.3%.
The PNG image file format has been created in 1995 as a response to some patent issues around the then-prevailing GIF format. PNG has gained popularity ever since, and it is now used on more websites than GIF.
There are some remarkable geographical differences in the usage rate of PNG: it is very popular in Europe
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone-Sized PC Opens Opportunities in Embedded and Networking
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/102910
A fully functional PC able to run Windows or Linux with Wi-Fi and high-definition graphics has been implemented by Intel for use in myriad applications from embedded control to network gateways and more.
Intel may be up to something new. Although at first glance it might seem unremarkable, the strategy behind a device code-named “Barton Island” could have some far reaching implications. The device is the first of what looks to be a series of Atom-based single-board computers.
The size of 120 x 70 mm (or enclosed in a chassis of 130 x 80 x 15 mm) makes it roughly the size of a smartphone
At 600 MHz or 1 GHz, the single-core processor performance is good but unremarkable; the operating power consumption hits around 15W, so we’re not talking a lot of battery operated or mobile applications. Graphics is supplied by the on-chip GPU. However, the single external USB port can be used for multiple peripheral devices if their performance demands are not excessive. What we appear to have here is a very compact, moderately powerful, low-cost Windows or Linux-based PC that can be readily used in a vast number of scenarios. And that appears to be exactly the idea.
One recent application that stretches the traditional concept of an embedded system yet shrinks the traditional concept of a PC, is the Nevales SG security gateway from Nevales Networks. The gateway, based on the Barton Island device, is targeted at helping small and medium businesses take advantage of cloud computing with security-as-a-service (SaaS) on a subscription basis.
Small, compact, integrated devices like Barton Island—which by the way is given other brand names by the ecosystem partners who OEM it—are making the PC universe more granular. This is probably something that Intel has to do to extend the life of the PC in the face of the more ARM-based onslaught of smartphones and tablets. At the same time, such small, full-function PCs will be extending the reach of universal connectivity because they have the potential to act as “micro gateways” almost anywhere.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why going private is a good thing for Dell
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57567766-92/why-going-private-is-a-good-thing-for-dell/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title
commentary Putting a curtain over the company’s rehabilitation project buys time and a chance to experiment.
During the dot-com boom, Dell was on top of the PC market, and Apple was still struggling to come back from its near-death moment.
In short, the glass is half full. Dell remains one of the world’s biggest PC makers, though its market share has been falling to Asian rivals such as Lenovo. It’s trying to emulate IBM by expanding in business technology like storage and services, but the operations haven’t been showing results fast enough for investors.
And in high-growth markets like smartphones and tablets, Dell’s efforts could charitably be described as disappointing, pointing toward an alarming future of shrinking sales in low-growth or no-growth markets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP considering company ‘breakup,’ says report
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57567814-92/hp-considering-company-breakup-says-report/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title
Board of world’s No. 1 supplier of PCs by shipment is reportedly looking at options to “obtain maximum value for shareholders.” One of those options involves splitting up into smaller companies.
PC maker Hewlett-Packard is mulling over breaking up the company in a bid to return the maximum value to company shareholders, according to a report.
But at a time when the company’s share price has fallen by 75 percent in just over two years, and the firm continues its restructuring effort — in which close to 30,000 jobs will be lost by the end of 2014 — shareholders and investors are at the edge of their seats wondering when they’ll see a financial return.
In its recent 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, HP said:
We also continue to evaluate the potential disposition of assets and businesses that may no longer help us meet our objectives. When we decide to sell assets or a business, we may encounter difficulty in finding buyers or alternative exit strategies on acceptable terms in a timely manner, which could delay the achievement of our strategic objectives. We may also dispose of a business at a price or on terms that are less desirable than we had anticipated.
This was, many thought, a signal that the PC maker would sell off certain units — particularly troublesome divisions that have cost the company money or that aren’t generating profit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“The WSJ reports that OUYA, the $100 Android-based gaming console, will reach retail availability in June.”
Source: http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/02/05/1949245/ouya-android-game-console-available-in-june
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft ‘touches 16k shop workers’ to flog Windows 8 hard
Ambitious OS wasn’t explosive, confused shoppers, admit top bods
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/02/06/microsoft_windows8_fowle_epstein/
Microsoft says Windows 8 PC sales were cursed by the unholy trinity of a slow economy, incursions by Apple and Android tablets, and the “ambitious” user interface design.
“If I had a crystal ball at the time of launch, what would I like to have been able to do? I would have liked to marry up configurations and SKUs that we saw the greatest demand for,” he told The Channel.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Leaving the Land of the Giants
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/leaving-land-giants
The next revolution will be personal. Just like the last three were.
The cover of the December 1st–7th 2012 issue of The Economist shows four giant squid battling each other
War stories are always interesting, and very easy to tell because the format is formulaic.
War stories are always interesting, and very easy to tell because the format is formulaic. Remember Linux vs. Microsoft, personalized as Linus vs. Bill?
Thus, today we might regard Linux as a winner and Microsoft as a loser (or at least trending in that direction). The facts behind (or ignored by) the stories mostly say that both entities have succeeded or failed largely on their own merits.
Here’s a story that illustrates how stories can both lead and mislead.
So, five points here:
Vendors use stories as marketing strategies.
Vendor war coverage is always to some degree an exercise in misdirection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misdirection_(magic)), even when journalistic intentions are worthy ones.
The real story is always much more complicated than vendor war coverage can characterize.
“Winners” never win forever, especially in tech.
“Losers” don’t always die. Often they stay alive by selling out, or they thrive by finding niches and working them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android System Administration Utilities
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/android-system-administration-utilities
Fast forward 15 years to a time where nearly everyone has a smartphone, fast laptop, or a tablet. Switches, routers, servers are more GUI friendly, wireless is in abundance in many buildings. And yet some people still administer their servers the same way: via their desktop, or a bulky laptop (don’t get me started on why laptops just got heavier).
Now that all of that’s out of the way, let’s get started shall we? I use the applications I will be talking about in this article quite a bit in my system Administration duties on a really small screen. Odds are if you have a tablet, or a bigger screen you shouldn’t have any problems.
Wifi Analyzer
Ping & DNS
Fing
ConnectBot with Hackers Keyboard
Android-vnc-viewer
Yaaic
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Tale of Two Competitors’ Responses to the Dell Buyout
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2013/02/06/a-tale-of-two-competitors-responses-to-the-dell-buyout/
Dell Inc.’s $24.4 billion deal to take itself private has prompted two of its biggest competitors to make completely different public statements.
The Dell buyout includes a $2 billion cash infusion from Microsoft Corp.
While Hewlett-Packard Co. openly said Dell “has a very tough road ahead” and vowed to take customers away from the U.S. peer Lenovo Group Ltd.
HP, however, didn’t hesitate to provide its own perspective on the deal, saying Dell “faces an extended period of uncertainty and transition” that won’t be good for its customers. “With a significant debt load, Dell’s ability to invest in new products and services will be extremely limited,”
Lenovo, in its statement on the Dell deal, said that “the financial actions of some of our traditional competitors will not substantially change our outlook.”
The statements from HP and Lenovo may also reflect their different positions in the PC market: While HP has been scrambling to redesign its strategy amid sluggish global demand for PCs, Lenovo has enjoyed growth in sales and profits thanks to its strength in China and emerging markets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcasa Launches Its ‘Infinite Storage’ App To The Public To Take Down Traditional Hard Drives [TCTV]
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/05/bitcasa-launches-its-infinite-storage-app-to-the-public-to-take-down-traditional-hard-drives-tctv/
Bitcasa’s promise is a big one: It purportedly provides a less expensive and more convenient option for storage that’s still as completely secure as a physical external hard drive you’d buy and run yourself. The company says its service, which costs $10 per month and $99 for a full year, functions as a “magic external hard drive” that never degrades or runs out of space.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dell’s downward spiral: 10 years of failed consumer devices
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/6/3958198/10-years-of-dells-failed-consumer-devices
It’s no secret why Dell’s struggling so badly it just took a $2b loan from Microsoft and bought itself back from shareholders to become a private company: after more than a decade of effort, the company never figured out what consumers actually want beyond low prices, or why they might want it.
You might laugh, but it’s true — a look back at Dell’s biggest attempts to crack the consumer market and compete with Apple over the past 10 years
Tomi Engdahl says:
Silicon Valley job growth has reached dot-com boom levels, report says
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22524360/silicon-valley-job-growth-prodigious-returned-dot-com-boom-levels
Silicon Valley’s job growth has returned to dot-com boom levels and San Francisco has emerged as a major new tech hub. But good times have not returned for all area residents and ethnic groups.
Those are among the findings released Tuesday from the 2013 Silicon Valley Index, a closely watched annual study produced by San Jose-based Joint Venture Silicon Valley and the Mountain View-based Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
“Employment growth in Silicon Valley is impressive, very impressive,” said Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley. “Some might even say the job growth is cause for euphoria.”
Recent Bay Area job growth goes well beyond social media, software, the Internet and other technology industries, showing that the recession is clearly over for the region.
The tech phenomenon is rippling into other categories,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why you need a home lab to keep your job
Your boss won’t pay for training, so your partner has to put up with servers at home
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/07/home_lab_career_saver/
IT professionals can’t assume their employers want, or can afford to, train them in the latest technologies and should hone and acquire new skills at home in a self-built test lab.
That’s the opinion of Mike Laverick, VMware’s senior cloud infrastructure evangelist.
Laverick has operated a lab for over a decade, starting with a single PC and scaling to a 42U rig that lives in a co-location facility and includes kit donated by vendors.
Like Laverick, Brooks is an educator. His lab is therefore not a career-saver, but a nice-to-have tool that means he can always access the tools of his trade.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft can’t even shift Window 8 slabs in the middle of a tablet frenzy
Halve the price of RT then we’re talking, says analyst
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/02/07/canays_q4_tabs_pcs/
Microsoft can’t tap into the fast-growing tablet market, according to new figures that reveal lacklustre sales of Surface RT and other Windows 8 slabs.
Canalys figures for Q4 show a 12 per cent growth in the worldwide PC market, fuelled by a 75 per cent rise in tab shipments to 46.2 million units. Notebooks sales were flat (58 million), desktops declined 5 per cent (28 million) and netbooks took their last gasps of breath.
“Windows 8 launched late in the year and was a massive departure from the existing operating systems, so consumers played a wait-and-see game,”
“We expect Microsoft to rethink its pricing strategy for RT in the coming weeks. Dropping the price by 60 per cent should get OEMs back onside,”
But the fact RT was not compatible with legacy applications left punters reliant on Microsoft’s app store which was another reason it failed to get off the ground, Canalys said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multi-screen marketing
http://www.tsbc.com/multi-screen-marketing/
The 2012 consumer is much savvier than earlier counterparts. Therefore, engaging your target consumer has become more complex than ever before.
Google identified two distinct behaviors.
Sequential usage.
This is when you move from one device to the next to complete a task over time. For example, I enjoy dabbling in online shopping. I happily browse on my smart phone but would never make a purchase as I prefer to wait until I’m at a computer to see the item on a bigger screen, to avoid making a purchase I’ll later regret.
Simultaneous usage.
This is the art of using multiple devices at the same time. Google’s report found the most likely concurrent activity is the use of a smart phone with a television. They found 88% of people who used devices simultaneously had their phone in their hands while watching TV. Although the majority of the time what we’re doing with the phone isn’t related to what we’re watching, 22% of the time simultaneous usage is complementary. That is, we’re accessing content directly related to what we’re watching.
After reading the report, I instantly became aware of my multi-screen usage
In my humble opinion, the most significant thing is the need to start thinking strategically and creatively about multi-device communications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix Promises To Make Its Open Source Cloud Management Tools More Portable
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/06/netflix-more-portable-open-source-cloud-platform/
Over the last several years, Netflix has put a lot of work into building a cloud-based architecture off of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to run its video streaming and DVD rental services. Then the company announced that it was going to open source those same tools and make them available to other developers. Ever since, Netflix has been slowly making other cloud-management tools available for others to build off of. Now it’s hoping to make it easier for others to implement not just one or two of those tools, but all of them.
For the industry, that’s probably a good thing. Offering reliable, scalable code that can be reused among multiple companies can make adoption of cloud services a lot more efficient over the coming years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPads (Thanks To The Mini) Were 1 In 6 ‘PCs’ Shipped, Tablets One-Third, And Windows RT Didn’t Even Break 1M: Canalys
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/06/ipads-thanks-to-the-mini-accounted-for-1-in-6-pcs-tablets-one-third-of-all-pcs-shipped-in-q4-canalys/
The PC market is fast shifting into a touchscreen world, and Apple is leading the charge. Some new numbers from the analysts at Canalys note that in Q4 of 2012, one in every three PCs shipped was actually a tablet, and that Apple’s iPad accounted for about half of them, or one in every six PCs shipped.
Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling tells me that by “tablet,” Canalys means any computing device with screen of seven inches or more. By combining PC and tablet numbers — a logical thing to do, given that many are substituting tablet purchases and usage for PC purchases and usage — Canalys figures that worldwide PC shipments are actually on the rise — up by 12% on last year to 134 million units for the quarter. That’s in contrast to figures from Gartner, which in January noted that Q4 PC shipments were down by 5% on last year — without factoring in tablets.
Adding Apple’s iPad sales to its Mac sales puts it into the lead among PC vendors.
Still, Android continues to make inroads. Canalys points out that this is the first quarter where Apple’s iPad has not accounted for more than 50% of all tablets shipped — it was 49%, as it happens, with Android accounting for 46%.
As other analysts have pointed out, Windows 8 has so far had little impact on worldwide PC shipments, and an almost negligible impact on tablets — with only 3% of tablets shipped in the quarter based on Windows 8.
Western Europe’s slow economy also continues to weigh things down.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Drive now lets developers share hosted websites by storing HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files
http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/02/05/google-drive-now-lets-developers-share-hosted-websites-by-storing-html-javascript-and-css-files/
Here’s what you have to do:
Create a new folder in Drive and share it as “Public on the web.”
Upload your HTML, JS & CSS files to this folder.
Open the HTML file & you will see “Preview” button in the toolbar.
Share the URL that looks like http://www.googledrive.com/host/… from the preview window and anyone can view your web page.
It’s a small update, but certainly a welcome one for Web developers. If you build or design sites and need to demo your work for clients, this should be a very useful way to show off what you’ve got so far.
Again, we don’t recommend using Google Drive as your main hosting service, but if you’re using Google Drive anyway for saving and sharing your files, this added functionality can’t hurt