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:
How Microsoft got Windows revenue to go up despite PC sales going down
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/19/microsoft-microsoft-surface-pc-sales
One clue is the Surface – which managed to hide the erosion that is eating away at the heart of one key Microsoft business
How ,exactly, did Microsoft do it? It’s like a magician’s trick. The raw numbers for Windows revenue in Microsoft’s Windows division were very substantially up – from $4.633bn (£3bn) in the first three months of 2012, to $5.7bn in the same period this year.
That’s a 24% increase, at a time when we’ve been hearing that PC sales have slumped. How has Microsoft done this? Has Steve Ballmer invented antigravity?
Sadly, no (though it would make a great new business line).
Make no mistake: Windows is still incredibly important to Microsoft. In this quarter it generated 27% of revenues, and 45% of profits. But how is it doing so well when the PC business is so dismal?
In June, Microsoft offered a scheme where people who bought a Windows 7 PC could update it to Windows 8 for just $15. The scheme ran through to December
Peter Klein, Microsoft’s outgoing chief financial officer, doesn’t disagree that traditional PC sales are plunging: when asked what sort of decline, if any, Microsoft was seeing in shipments, he said: “On the PC market, I would look to some of the third parties, IDC and Gartner. They’re sort of in the 12-13-14 [per cent] down range this quarter.”
Although Surface has only sold an estimated 1m-1.5m devices (Microsoft didn’t give numbers), its revenues (and profits, if any) are allocated to the Windows division.
Note that neither Klein nor Suh said that revenues from Windows OEMs were flat – they said “Windows revenues”.
The conclusion? Despite the brave top-line numbers, Microsoft’s Windows business is actually hurting. Surface isn’t contributing much yet, traditional PC sales are sliding, it doesn’t have a tablet competitor yet
the only thing really keeping everyone smiling is upgrades from businesses facing the wall of XP’s end of life.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Avoid nasty plugins with this extension, says Google
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/26/google_cloud_collaboration/
Google’s ongoing attempts to harry Microsoft by nipping at the heels of the cash cow that is Office have thrown up some new irritants, and a new definition of “additional software”.
Chrome Office Viewer is one of the ad giant’s new tricks and allows those who use Beta versions of Chrome to open Microsoft Office documents directly in the browser, as is possible with Chrome’s PDF viewer.
the new trick is only possible if you install additional software, namely the Chrome Office Viewer, a Chrome extension.
Google’s promise will probably hold more water once the current Chrome Beta becomes the production version and the extension gets baked into the application.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dell brings 4G LTE wireless connectivity to Windows 8 tablet
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57581539-292/dell-brings-4g-lte-wireless-connectivity-to-windows-8-tablet/
Dell is offering something that’s rare on Windows 8 tablets: 4G connectivity. As Apple iPad users know, the option for mobile broadband has been around for years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel: These portfolio page pc renewed
Intel and PC are the two words that are used to connect to each other. Intel’s visit to Finland in Northern Europe Director Patrick Bliemer told Digitoday what will happen next to the PC.
Pc-world race acceleration time was 10 years ago.
AMD and Intel competed who manufactures the best performing processors.
At the same time, Nvidia and ATI (now part of AMD), fought for the world’s fastest graphics card manufacturer’s title.
In recent years, the show has slowed down. New chips will be more and more, but people do not need new machines two to three years after longer just because it is old enough torque.
Pc is still growing here, but it is much different than at the time. In both size and market shares.
- people spend less money now than 10 years ago. We have not done enough to keep the people in your interest to PCs.
Thus the power is a export to the to the tablets and the Macs.
Intel has revised PC-including ultrabook concept, according to which the PC does not weigh any more pounds, and it must start a fast ssd-ROM.
PC’s power, tablet size
Intel’s vision of a tablet portability, that is, weight and battery life, as well as pc’s productivity, that is, the keyboard and performance combinations.
- We do not believe that there is no such thing as PC-to-die. Equipment must be five or six main types.
The company plans to bring along with the security company McAfee’s hardware assisted security software.
It includes a a virus-and loss and theft security for in addition to the opportunity to the machine remote mess up – does not a mere to wipe the – which is the only a of the original the owner’s reversible, will. At the same time providing secure cloud storage, and password management.
While PC sales have plunged, Intel has become the decline in sales in addition to another problem: the high-priced plants in danger of remaining idle.
Thus, the company has started to work as a contract manufacturer to
a number of technology companies. We select our clients.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/bisnes/2013/04/26/intel-nailla-konsteilla-pc-uudistuu/20136059/66?rss=6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android notebooks? Yep, Intel says, and they’ll only cost $200
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57581500-92/android-notebooks-yep-intel-says-and-theyll-only-cost-$200/
Notebook prices should soon hit $200, but most of those will be Android-based devices, not Windows 8, an Intel executive said.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini last week said touchscreen PCs could debut at prices as low as $200 in the coming months. At the time, he didn’t specify what operating system those products would run.
Dadi Perlmutter, Intel’s chief product officer, also tells CNET that devices running Intel’s mainstream Core line of processors could sell for as low as $399 to $499.
But Dadi Perlmutter, Intel executive vice president and chief product officer, told CNET on Wednesday that notebooks priced at the $200 level will predominantly be Android products running on Intel’s Atom mobile processor. Whether Windows 8 PCs hit that price largely depends on Microsoft, he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung switches to Ativ brand for all its Windows hardware
http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/26/4269140/samsung-ativ-book-one-tab-rename-windows-pc-brand-unification
Samsung has decided to rename all of its Windows PC products “Ativ.”
Samsung’s Series 3, 5, 7, and 9 laptops are all being renamed as Ativ Book; the company’s Series 3, 5, and 7 all-in-ones are being renamed Ativ One 3, 5, and 7, while the Ativ Smart PC and Smart PC Pro are set to be called the Ativ Tab 5 and 7.
Samsung says the name change “now unites all of Samsung’s Windows devices under one cohesive brand, representing the convergence of PC and mobile technologies,” adding that it’ll be easier for customers to understand the differences between products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Big Data Is Playing Recruiter for Specialized Workers
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/technology/how-big-data-is-playing-recruiter-for-specialized-workers.html?_r=0
He had discovered Mr. Dominguez by using a technology that raises important questions about how people are recruited and hired, and whether great talent is being overlooked along the way. The concept is to focus less than recruiters might on traditional talent markers — a degree from M.I.T., a previous job at Google, a recommendation from a friend or colleague — and more on simple notions: How well does the person perform? What can the person do? And can it be quantified?
The technology is the product of Gild, the 18-month-old start-up company of which Mr. Bonmassar is a co-founder. His is one of a handful of young businesses aiming to automate the discovery of talented programmers — a group that is in enormous demand. These efforts fall in the category of Big Data, using computers to gather and crunch all kinds of information to perform many tasks, whether recommending books, putting targeted ads onto Web sites or predicting health care outcomes or stock prices.
Of late, growing numbers of academics and entrepreneurs are applying Big Data to human resources and the search for talent, creating a field called work-force science. Gild is trying to see whether these technologies can also be used to predict how well a programmer will perform in a job. The company scours the Internet for clues: Is his or her code well-regarded by other programmers? Does it get reused? How does the programmer communicate ideas? How does he or she relate on social media sites?
Gild’s method is very much in its infancy, an unproven twinkle of an idea. There is healthy skepticism about this idea, but also excitement, especially in industries where good talent can be hard to find.
Everybody can pretty much agree that gender, or how people look, or the sound of a last name, shouldn’t influence hiring decisions. But Dr. Ming takes the idea of meritocracy further. She suggests that shortcuts accepted as a good proxy for talent — like where you went to school or previously worked — can also shortchange talented people and, ultimately, employers. “The traditional markers people use for hiring can be wrong, profoundly wrong,” she said.
Dr. Ming’s answer to what she calls “so much wasted talent” is to build machines that try to eliminate human bias.
“Let’s put everything in and let the data speak for itself,” Dr. Ming said of the algorithms she is now building for Gild.
“When you remove humans from complex decision-making, you can optimize the hell out of the algorithm, but at what cost?”
Dr. Ming doesn’t suggest eliminating human judgment, but she does think that the computer should lead the way, acting as an automated vacuum and filter for talent.
“We did our own internal gold strike,” Dr. Ming said. “We found this kid in Los Angeles just kicking around his computer.”
David Lewin, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an expert in management of human resources, said that asking what someone could do was an important question, but so was asking whether the person could accomplish it with other people.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Object Storage: A solution in search of a problem?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/30/a_failure_to_launch/
Generally, it seems to me that object storage is suffering from a failure to launch despite more than a dozen suppliers pushing it.
Many of these same vendors seem to have their heads in the sand with regard to their place in the marketplace – they seem to ignore the fact that end-user buyers are confused about what object-storage really is, how it gets purchased (and why) and how it gets used.
The general idea I have is that object storage generally is suffering from a failure to launch despite good technology because users and mainstream vendors are not feeling the pain of problems from filesystem technologies or tape enough to do anything substantial about it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD touts hardware level memory coherence in HSA architecture
Says developers don’t need to worry about CPU and GPU
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2264794/amd-touts-hardware-level-memory-coherence-in-hsa-architecture
CHIP DESIGNER AMD has said the memory architecture in its heterogeneous system architecture (HSA) will move management of CPU and GPU memory coherency from the developer’s hands down to the hardware.
AMD’s HSA chips, the first of which will be Kaveri, will allow both the CPU and GPU to access system memory directly. The firm said that this will eliminate the need to copy data to the GPU, an operation that adds significant latency and can wipe out any gains in performance from GPU parallel processing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook loses millions of users as biggest markets peak
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/28/facebook-loses-users-biggest-markets
Facebook’s dominance in the social media world has come under threat from newer services such as Instagram and Path
Facebook has lost millions of users per month in its biggest markets, independent data suggests, as alternative social networks attract the attention of those looking for fresh online playgrounds.
In the last month, the world’s largest social network has lost 6m US visitors, a 4% fall, according to analysis firm SocialBakers
“The problem is that, in the US and UK, most people who want to sign up for Facebook have already done it,” said new media specialist Ian Maude at Enders Analysis. “There is a boredom factor where people like to try something new. Is Facebook going to go the way of Myspace? The risk is relatively small, but that is not to say it isn’t there.”
Facebook is still growing fast in South America: monthly visitors in Brazil were up 6% in the last month to 70m
But book is still growing fast in South America: monthly visitors in Brazil were up 6% in the last month to 70m
As Facebook itself has warned, the time spent on its pages from those sitting in front of personal computers is declining rapidly because we are switching our screen time to smartphones and tablets.
Shareholders will be particularly keen to learn how fast Facebook’s mobile user base is growing, and whether advertising revenues are increasing at the same rate.
The company warned in recent stockmarket filings that it might be losing “younger users” to “other products and services similar to, or as a substitute for, Facebook”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft readies ‘Mohoro’ Windows desktop as a service
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-readies-mohoro-windows-desktop-as-a-service-7000014769/
Summary: Microsoft is believed to be building a Windows Azure-hosted desktop virtualization service that could be available on a pay-per-use basis.
In yet another example of its growing emphasis on remaking itself as a devices and services company, Microsoft looks to be developing a pay-per-use “Windows desktop as a service” that will run on Windows Azure.
This is like “Remote App as a hosted service,” said one of my contacts. It could be for companies who want thin clients or to run legacy apps on new PCs. Right now, companies have to have their own servers in the equation to do this, but “with Mohoro, you click a few buttons, deploy your apps, use Intune to push out configuration to all of your company’s devices, and you’re done,” my contact added.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Datacentre recovery times are on the rise, as outage costs hit $1.6m
http://www.zdnet.com/datacentre-recovery-times-are-on-the-rise-as-outage-costs-hit-1-6m-7000012323/
Summary: The amount of time it takes to recover a datacentre has increased and CIOs are concerned that their backup and recovery tools won’t be able to cope with increasing volumes of data.
Rising datacentre recovery times are a concern to businesses which stand to lose big money with every hour of downtime.
backup and recovery tools will become less effective as the amount of data and servers in the organisation rises.
The study also found that recovering virtual servers is faster than recovering physical servers
This slight increase in downtime can have a significant impact on a business. The survey claims that every hour of datacentre downtime costs an enterprise $324,793 (£215,594), which means the average cost to an organisation for each incident is $1.6m (£1.06m).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lenovo-IBM talks over server business break down
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/01/lenovo-ibm-talks-over-server-business-break-down/
FORTUNE — Negotiations between Lenovo and IBM over a multi-billion dollar deal under which Lenovo would acquire parts of IBM’s server business have broken down, according to people familiar with the situation.
Lenovo, the world’s No. 2 computer maker behind HP (HPQ), has been seeking to bolster its server business. The x86 servers, which represent the lower end of the server business, would allow Lenovo to compete more effectively with HP and Dell (DELL).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10 up both in April 2013 according to NetMarketShare
http://www.ghacks.net/2013/05/01/windows-8-and-internet-explorer-10-up-both-in-march-2013-according-to-netmarketshare/
As far as leading operating systems go: Windows 7 is in the lead with 44.72% followed closely by Windows XP with 38.31%. All remaining operating system versions are below the 5% mark right now.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM launches free development tools for embedded Linux
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4413035/ARM-launches-free-development-tools-for-embedded-Linux
ARM has extended the scope of its Development Studio 5 (DS-5) Community Edition (CE) to provide a fully featured, industry standard, and free-to-use software development environment for Embedded Linux applications including Android.
DS-5 CE provides an integrated solution including an Eclipse IDE, GNU cross-compiler, DS-5 Debugger, Streamline performance analyzer, online help and software examples.
The graphical DS-5 Debugger only needs an Ethernet connection to the target to enable power debug features typically available only in commercial debuggers. In addition, it integrates Linux-specific functionality, such as a target file system explorer and an automated flow for downloading applications to the target, launching them and connecting the debugger.
The use of Linux is growing rapidly in the embedded space, fueled by the availability of low-cost, low-power, high-performance ARM processor-based MPUs with working Linux ports and communication stacks. Unfortunately, getting started with Embedded Linux can be a daunting experience, with a number of fragmented open-source development tools with command line interfaces and lack of interoperability. Just getting a Linux cross-development environment up and running may take hours for a Linux expert, or days for an embedded developer from a Microcontroller background.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s Share of Worldwide Tablet Shipments Falls Below 40% in 1Q 2013
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/05/01/apples-share-of-worldwide-tablet-shipments-falls-below-40-in-1q-2013/
Research firm IDC today announced its preliminary estimates of worldwide tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2013, finding that Apple’s share of the market continues to slide as competitors begin to gain footholds in the market
Samsung and Asus in particular saw strong performances during the quarter, with each seeing year-over-year shipment increases in excess of 250% compared to Apple’s 65% growth.
Still, Apple’s share of the market is more than double that of second-place Samsung.
In looking at operating systems, Android now outships iOS, with Android taking 56.5% of the market and iOS taking just under 40%.
Tomi Engdahl says:
More offline Chrome apps arrive: Chrome Web Store previews Packaged Apps
http://gigaom.com/2013/05/01/more-offline-chrome-apps-arrive-chrome-web-store-previews-packaged-apps/
Google has long been pushing for more offline and even native-like apps for Chrome OS and the Chrome browser. Now it’s taking the next step: Highlighting these Packaged Apps in the Chrome Web Store.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Explorer 10 Doubles Its Desktop Market Share
http://www.webmonkey.com/2013/05/internet-explorer-10-doubles-market-share/
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 10 saw a meteoric rise in market share last month, jumping from 2.93 percent in March to 6.22 percent in April, according to NetMarketShare.
Some of IE 10′s growth might be attributable to more Windows 8 machines coming online, but it also comes close on the heels of the release of Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 8 may reject the correct password
Googling revealed that others had encountered the same problem. But only one had found a solution to it : apparently Windows 8 has a bug that causes it to forget the password is case sensitive. Page of a wink to write the password on a full (special characters were allowed to remain) really helped and I was able to log on Surface RT Windows. After that, everything was back to normal.
It’s absolutely unbelievable how there can be such a bug.
It may very well be that many continue to use the password only lowercase letters and, therefore, have not noticed the size of the problem.
Source: http://bittimittari.blogspot.fi/2013/05/windows-8-voi-hylata-oikean-salasanan.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD seeks the salvation from customized chips
The chip manufacturer AMD is preparing a pc in the post era of a formal unit focuses on tailor-made chips. The company has already made the PlayStation 4 console custom chipset that uses AMD’s processor and graphics technology.
“A custom chip unit to build the best products assisted by an experienced team of chip architecture and broad portfolio, which is so mobile, graphics, processor and modem technology,” said AMD director Saeid Moshkelani.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/amd+hakee+pelastusta+raataloidyista+siruista/a898862?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-02052013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Intel Opportunity
http://stratechery.com/2013/the-intel-opportunity/
A new CEO has taken over Intel. Their core business, upon which the company has been built, is floundering. Does the new CEO, who is not really new at all (he’s the current COO), have the vision to ensure Intel’s continued success?
Intel originally found success as a memory manufacturer.
By the 1980s, though, it was the microprocessor business, fueled by the IBM PC, that was driving growth, while the DRAM business was fully commoditized and dominated by Japanese manufacturers.
By 1986, said high water was rapidly threatening to drag Intel under. In fact, 1986 remains the only year in Intel’s history that they made a loss. Global overcapacity had caused DRAM prices to plummet, and Intel, rapidly becoming one of the smallest players in DRAM, felt the pain severely
Intel was already the best microprocessor design company in the world. They just needed to accept and embrace their destiny.
Intel’s Identity Crisis, v2
Intel reaped the benefit of Grove’s repositioning for 25 years. Their chip designs were the foundation of the PC era, and while they faced nominal competition from AMD, they gained many of the economic benefits of a monopolist. But for a brief spell around the turn of the century, a “good” computer required an Intel chip, and they charged prices befitting their place in the PC value chain.
Throughout the PC period, Intel invested heavily in their chip design.
Intel chips have no rival when it comes to PC performance; unfortunately for Intel, PCs are in decline. Mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, are in ascendance, and there Intel’s core strength in all-out performance is a 2nd-order consideration. Power consumption is critical,
Intel’s identity as a chip designer is increasingly irrelevant.
Most chip designers are fabless; they create the design, then hand it off to a foundry. AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Apple – none of them own their own factories. This certainly makes sense: manufacturing semiconductors is perhaps the most capital-intensive industry in the world, and AMD, Qualcomm, et al have been happy to focus on higher margin design work.
Massive demand, limited suppliers, huge barriers to entry. It’s a good time to be a manufacturing company. It is, potentially, a good time to be Intel.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google adds remote desktop to Hangouts, lets users simultaneously video chat and troubleshoot
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/1/4291220/google-adds-remote-desktop-to-hangouts
Google+ Hangouts just received a small but potentially quite useful upgrade today — as of now, Hangouts include a remote desktop feature. This lets you remotely control the computer of someone you’re having a Hangout with for troubleshooting purposes, and the Hangout lets you keep chatting and walk through the troubleshooting process with the person on the other end. The feature is tucked away under the “Hangout Apps” section, and you’ll obviously need permission from the other user, but this is a pretty clever way for Google to solve the constant problem of remote support.
Not surprisingly, it’s build on the same technology as Chrome Remote Desktop, but building it into a video chat client is a nice touch.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD says IOMMU v2.5 is key for Linux HSA support
But the real work is in compilers and libraries
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2265844/amd-says-iommu-v25-is-key-for-linux-hsa-support
CHIP DESIGNER AMD said it is working to get IOMMU v2.5 support in the Linux kernel ahead of the first heterogeneous system architecture (HSA) chip that will come out later this year.
AMD’s upcoming Kaveri chip will be the first to support HSA, which enables the CPU and on-die GPU to access system memory.
Lewis said, “There’s a certain amount of capability you want the operating system to have. In terms of Linux what we need to do is make sure the operating system supports IOMMU v2.5 and that is the specification that sets the stage for most of the shared memory between the devices.
However Lewis said AMD’s main body of work wasn’t in getting operating system support for HSA but in developer tools.
Lewis also confirmed that AMD is working with the GNU C compiler (GCC) project to ensure that it will support HSA, meaning there will be a free compiler that supports the firm’s latest technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Platform clouds can make enterprises all teeth and no tail
Red Hat and VMware want to be your private parts
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/22/paas_clouds/
The cloud is at the same point in its history that proprietary minicomputers were at four decades ago.
Back then, everybody was trying to figure out how to use this new technology, which offered substantial economic and ease-of-programming benefits compared to the big iron systems they replaced.
At the time it was not obvious where the upstart platforms would go or how enterprises would adopt them or reject them.
A slew of Unix-based system makers followed suit in the open systems war of the late 1980s and early 1990s, making minicomputers more compatible
“IT departments hate this rogue compute that is actually very traditional,” he explains. “The problem that they have is that it will never go away. We have had rogue computing forever. I recall when I was at Oracle in the early days when the IT departments wouldn’t take meetings with my sales team because they thought relational databases were stupid. And that was fine, because we sold it departmentally on DEC VAXes. It is all kind of humorous now, but if you go back and use history as an example, you’ll find that this is how most technology comes in. We had the IBM PC come in that way, and I was at Saleforce.com and that came in departmentally – the IT department didn’t want that stuff.”
“Big corporations that have large sunk costs in IT and compliance issues are going to dabble,” says Dillon. “If they are a little progressive, instead of fighting the rogue compute guys, they may give them rules – use these programming languages and this stack under these
restrictions.”
Hybrid vigor
Red Hat and VMware, which will be rivals alongside Microsoft for private platform clouds, are positioning their various cloudy wares to run both inside and outside the corporate firewall – and across it if necessary.
“Hybrid is where we really think the industry is going,” says Joe Fernandez, senior product manager for OpenShift Enterprise at Red Hat.
“It is interesting to note that Google with App Engine, Microsoft with Azure, and Amazon with the Elastic BeanStalk are completely committed to a public PaaS cloud,” Fernandez observes. “Google and Amazon are not interested in packaging up commercial software and selling services or licenses, and Red Hat is. Microsoft might go with Azure where we went with OpenShift at some point.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM open sources new approach to crypto
Work on files – without decrypting them
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/03/ibm_open_source_homomorphic_crypto/
A group of IBM researchers has released a Githib project that implements a homomorphic encryption system – a way to work on encrypted data in a file without first decrypting the whole file.
Why would anyone want to do that? Partly because if you have to decrypt the file to work on it, it’s going to exist as plaintext somewhere. IBM has other ideas about this as well: leaving the encrypted file encrypted would keep data protected in the cloud while still letting users work on it. Big Blue even envisages such schemes as offering truly private Internet search.
The Github project is called HElib – the homomorphic encryption library.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Epic and Mozilla Bring HTML5 OpenGL Demo To the Browser
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/05/03/2046214/epic-and-mozilla-bring-html5-opengl-demo-to-the-browser
“Mozilla and Epic (of Epic Megagames fame) have engineered an impressive First Person OpenGL demo which runs on HTML5 and a subset of JavaScript. Emscripten, the tool used, converts C and C++ code into ‘low level’ JavaScript. According to Epic, The Citadel demo runs ‘within 2x of native speeds’ and supports features commonly found in native OpenGL games”
Comment:
HTML5 is trying to be the next Java, substituting the browser in place of the JVM. This is a logical extension to the past decade of offloading all the heavy processing to the web browser.
Yes, the client is much faster and more powerful than what the server could provide for each individual connected client. But at the same time, the implementation differences between browsers, platforms, and even browser versions will still result in the same or worse incompatiblities than before.
Tomi says:
Turbulenz HTML5 Games Engine Goes Open Source
http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/05/03/1842213/turbulenz-html5-games-engine-goes-open-source
“The Turbulenz HTML5 games engine has been released as open source under the MIT license. The engine is a full 3D engine written in TypeScript and using WebGL.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adobe Creative Suite Going Subscription-Only
http://slashdot.org/story/13/05/06/1858228/adobe-creative-suite-going-subscription-only
“According to CNET and various other sources, CS6 will be the last version of Adobe’s Creative Suite that will be sold in the traditional manner. All future versions will be available by subscription only, through Adobe’s so-called ‘Creative Cloud’ service.”
Comment:
For this to work Adobe will have to ‘break’ older versions with patches.
Adobe beat Microsoft to it… Adobe Rent for $50 per month.
Microsoft said they would be doing this years ago (after people found ways to avoid paying MS Tax).
I wonder how much Microsoft Rent will be for Windows & Office.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Confirms Windows Blue Update Coming; Says Windows 8 Passes 100 Million Licenses Sold
http://allthingsd.com/20130506/microsoft-confirms-windows-blue-update-coming-says-windows-8-passes-100-million-downloads/
After months of rumors, Microsoft on Monday confirmed it is readying an update to Windows 8 for later this year.
Codenamed Windows Blue, the update will enable Windows to run on a wider range of devices (read: smaller-screen tablets). In a blog post, Microsoft says the update will also respond to some criticisms of Windows 8 and Windows RT, but the company didn’t go into specifics.
“Windows 8 is a big, ambitious change,” Reller said. “While we realize that change takes time, we feel good about the progress since launch, including what we’ve been able to accomplish with the ecosystem and customer reaction to the new PCs and tablets that are available now or will soon come to market.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Addressable markets for high-end phones
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2013/5/6/addressable-markets-for-the-iphone
There were about 5.2bn adults on earth at the end of 2012. Of those, around 3.2bn had mobile SIMs, though not necessarily phones
Within that, roughly 1.1bn had ’smartphones’ at the end of 2012, of which around 900m ran either the iOS or Android versions of Unix. (As an aside, it is pretty striking that almost a fifth of the earth’s adult population has a Unix box in their pocket.)
Tomi says:
Disability allowance and disability benefits such as pleading in the UK is quite challenging – at least, if wishes to transact online. UK Work and Pensions (DWP) service is a good example of the kind of services do not would like to see more now to see.
DWP’s website warned from the outset: “This service does not work with modern browsers and operating systems. ”
Service is not supported in Internet Explorer versions 7, 8, 9, or 10 Additionally, the site warns that problems may also occur in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox users.
Only for Windows XP, IE6 and older with that service
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/britanniassa+ei+etuuksien+hakeminen+ole+helppoa++vain+windows+xp+ie6+ja+vanhemmat+pelittavat/a899835?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-07052013&
Tomi says:
Intel Details Silvermont Microarchitecture For Next-Gen Atoms
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/05/06/1736216/intel-details-silvermont-microarchitecture-for-next-gen-atoms
“Since their debut five years ago, Intel’s low-power Atom microprocessors have relied on the same basic CPU core. That changes with the next generation, which will employ an all-new Silvermont microarchitecture built using a customized version of Intel’s tri-gate, 22-nm fabrication process.”
“Intel claims Silvermont doubles the single-threaded performance of its Saltwell predecessor at the same power level, and that dual-core variants have lower peak power draw and higher performance than quad-core ARM SoCs.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hands-on: Sony declares war on 1366×768 with new VAIO Fit laptops
You can get 1080p and decent quality for under $600, but not without drawbacks.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/hands-on-sony-declares-war-on-1366×768-with-new-vaio-fit-laptops/
That’s one of the things that Sony wants to change with its new mainstream laptop lineup, dubbed the VAIO Fit series. You won’t mistake these for premium machines, but they do raise the bar in one important respect: a Sony rep told us that none of the systems would include a 1366×768 display. The 14-inch models use a 1600×900 resolution, while the 15-inch models bump this to 1920×1080.
In the end, we consider any step forward in entry-level PCs to be a positive development, and Sony’s push away from the dreaded 1366×768 in the new Fit laptops is something we hope to see from every PC OEM as they begin to unveil their summer and fall lineups. That said, the Fit and Fit E laptops are not immune to the weaknesses of other laptops in this price range: the screens’ viewing angles are poor, the keyboard is dissatisfying, and in general the build quality, size, and weight are less impressive than that of many Ultrabooks.
Given that Ultrabooks can cost two-to-three times what these laptops do, however, the Fit laptops are still worth a look if you’re interested in a solid PC that won’t entirely drain your bank account.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adobe’s Creative Cloud Illustrates How the Cloud Costs You More
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/05/07/2129245/adobes-creative-cloud-illustrates-how-the-cloud-costs-you-more
“Adobe plans on focusing the bulk of its software-development efforts on its Creative Cloud offering, with no plans to further update its ‘boxed’ Creative Suite products. The move isn’t surprising, considering the tech industry’s general movement toward the cloud over the past few years.”
“At that price, it would take a little over two years for a customer spending $49.99 per month to exceed the full retail cost of box-based Adobe Creative Suite 6, which currently retails for $1299.99″
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s iPad dominance slows as Android leads tablet market to record growth
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2267384/apples-ipad-dominance-slows-as-android-leads-tablet-market-to-record-growth
GADGET DESIGNER Apple’s dominance in the tablet market is beginning to slow as Android devices took the market to record growth in the first quarter of 2013, the latest figures from Canalys have revealed.
Canalys said that tablet shipments grew 106.1 percent year on year in the first quarter, aided by an influx of affordable Android devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Unhappy Customers Want to Parachute From Adobe’s Creative Cloud
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/05/adobe-creative-cloud-petition/
The blowback started on Monday when Adobe said that it will no longer sell new versions of its Creative Suite products — including Photoshop, Illustrator and other iconic applications — for a one-time fee. Instead, customers will need to buy an ongoing subscription to the Creative Cloud service in order to get future versions of the products.
“In the short term, the subscription model looks to be okay, but over time the only entity that is benefiting from this is Adobe,” says petition, written by Derek Schoffstall of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “The (no longer) current model: paying a one time fee for infinite access is a much better business model and is better for the consumer.”
Creative Cloud isn’t really a cloud — it’s marketing term describing something that the software companies love: subscription based software. Adobe’s applications are still installed locally and don’t run in the browser. But the service does include a few online services, including 20GB of storage. Users can run the applications offline, but you will need to go online to verify your subscription once a month (or, in the case of yearly subscribers, every 99 days). Subscriptions cost $20 to $50 a month
Tomi Engdahl says:
Penguin Computing to make Open Compute servers
And apparently a lot more money, thanks to Zuck & Co.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/10/penguin_computing_open_compute_servers/
Linux server and cluster maker Penguin Computing is a member of the Open Compute Project started by Facebook to create open source data center gear, and now it is an official “solution provider”.
This means that Penguin now has OCP’s official blessing to make and sell integrated systems based on the motherboard and system designs that other OCP members cook up, and that it has met the manufacturing criteria to be able to put the OCP label on the machines.
Not everyone can use the stock Facebook designs, which come with their own custom Open Rack and power distribution and battery units, and which are tied very tightly to the custom data centers that Facebook has built. Some companies cannot easily ditch 19-inch racks and want some of the benefits of the “vanity free” OCP designs without having to gut their data center or build a new one. And that’s where companies like Penguin will come in, helping tweak OCP designs to fit into existing data centers.
“The world is changing, and coupled with some of the work we have done with ARM-based servers, we just want to be at the front end of these changes,” says Wuischpard – and the official designation by OCP means that Penguin can sell machines into Facebook itself.
“Our estimation is that OCP could be 40 per cent of our business within the next twelve months,” Wuischpard says, “if not more.”
That assumes that HP and Dell don’t get all gung-ho about Open Compute machinery. And if they see Penguin making money, they just might have no choice but to embrace open hardware, no matter how much they want to sell their own designs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ScaleMP: Use RAM plus vSMP, not flash, to boost server performance
Partners with Big Blue, chases SGI UV2 shared memory systems
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/12/scalemp_memory_expansion_ibm_sgi/
There are hypervisors that chop a single server into virtual bits, and other hypervisors that take multiple servers and make them look like one big virtual one. ScaleMP’s vSMP hypervisor is the latter kind, and can be used to create a shared memory x86-based system that runs Linux that would normally require special processors and chipsets. And a much higher price tag.
ScaleMP started out peddling vSMP to customers as an alternative to big SMP machines like those from Silicon Graphics, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Oracle, but with the hype around big data these days, Shai Fultheim, founder and CEO at ScaleMP, says the company was seeing a need for larger memories than larger compute capacities
The end result is a significantly less expensive – and asymmetric – shared memory system than what you get from an SMP box based on high-end x86 or RISC processors and special chipsets to handle terabytes of main memory.
The dirty little secret out there in the data centers of the world is that most of the database, middleware, and application code is not designed to scale across lots of cores and threads. “This software is not really written to use all of the processing power in a modern machine,” says Fultheim. “The problem is not the CPUs. The problem is the memory.”
Meaning, this software can run in ever-embiggening chunks of main memory and get a big performance bump. The trouble is, CPU and memory capacity in modern servers is pretty much locked down.
To serve the needs of analytics and other kinds of big data jobs where memory matters a lot more than compute
There are a lot of ways to play this asymmetric configuration game with vSMP Memory Expansion
Fat memory, lots of skinny nodes
Depending on what memory capacities you choose for the memory sticks in these memory expansion nodes, you can get somewhere between 3.75TB and 7.5TB of main memory that is all directly addressable by the four-socket machine
Using vSMP memory expansion nodes linked to a four-socket machine, you could build the same 4TB system for under $200,000
Tomi Engdahl says:
PC Makers Hopeful on Windows 8 Changes
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/05/09/pc-makers-hopeful-on-windows-8-changes/
With the PC industry in severe contraction, industry executives seem terribly relieved to have found some optimism to cling to.
PC makers in Asia say there is hope yet for Windows 8
Industry executives say prices for Windows 8 devices are set to fall dramatically, and that Microsoft Corp. has listened to some of their gripes.
“When we were talking to Microsoft, our input to them is balance,” said Acer President Jim Wong. “The world in the next five years is not going 100 percent to touch. Although touch makes a lot of possibilities for PCs, you need to take care of the rest of the world that doesn’t need touch.”
technology blogs are saying the new version could return to a more traditional appearance, such as the Start button possibly making a comeback.
Some traditional users may be relieved to see a more familiar interface. But Microsoft’s problem in the mobile sphere goes beyond the appearance, and primarily resides in the small number of apps
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ad Exec: Learn To Code Or You’re Dead To Me
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/05/12/1851206/ad-exec-learn-to-code-or-youre-dead-to-me
“In a widely-read WSJ Op-Ed, English major Kirk McDonald, president of online ad optimization service PubMatic, informed college grads that he considers them unemployable unless they can claim familiarity with at least two programming languages. “
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Beat: Rise in Markets Could Fuel Tech M&a
Confidence in the economy will help companies value bigger deals
http://www.cio.com/article/733195/Wall_Street_Beat_Rise_in_Markets_Could_Fuel_Tech_M_amp_a
Increasing confidence in the economy and a rising stock market could lay the groundwork for a revival in tech-sector mergers and acquisitions as companies embrace cloud technology and pursue game-changing software, particularly for the mobile market.
“Ultimately higher market values should result in higher valuations for sellers and thus result in more deals,” said Rob Fisher, PricewaterhouseCooper’s U.S. technology industry deals leader, in an email. “To the extent the rising markets are driven by confidence in long term fundamentals that also tends to increase the appetite of buyers who tend to shy away from deals when they have uncertainty about their existing prospects.”
After declines in deal volume and value in 2012, the tech M&A scene in the first quarter of 2013 was “dismal,” according to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IT Pros Leave Money on the Table
http://www.cio.com/article/733164/IT_Pros_Leave_Money_on_the_Table
When a job offer arrives, a majority of tech pros accept it without asking for more pay, according to Dice.com. If candidates were to negotiate higher salaries, they could expect a bump in the neighborhood of 5%, the IT careers specialist estimates.
A majority of hiring managers and recruiters surveyed by Dice.com said that more than half of tech pros accept the first offer without negotiating starting salaries or hourly rates. The national average salary for tech pros is currently $85,619, which means not haggling can cost a person $4,300, on average, per year. When you factor in bonuses and performance pay, which are typically based on a percentage of salaries, the tally is even higher.
Fear is likely the reason IT pros don’t take the opportunity to ask for more money, according to Tom Silver, senior vice president at Dice.com.
“When fear creeps into a negotiation or stops it all together, it’s good to remember negotiation is simply a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement. And, both sides want an agreement,” Silver points out.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Torvalds unveils first Linux 3.10 release candidate
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/14/linux_kernel_310_rc1_released/
The first release candidate for version 3.10 of the Linux Kernel is upon us.
There is an awful lot of stuff in RC1, but the headliners include:
More and better support for 64-bit ARM chips
Improved virtualisation support for kernel-based virtual machines
Improved solid state disk support
New audio drivers
Better support for AMD’s power management features
Version 3.10 is expected to arrive in its final form around late June or early July.
Tomi says:
Windows Blue Is Officially Windows 8.1, Free For Existing Users
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/05/14/1720241/windows-blue-is-officially-windows-81-free-for-existing-users
“Several readers sent word that Microsoft has officially dubbed the upcoming revision to its flagship operating system “Windows 8.1,” retiring the code-name “Windows Blue.” They also said the update would be freely available to anybody with Windows 8. It will be available through the Windows Store. “
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft drops the Blue codename, confirms Windows 8.1 will be a free upgrade available later this year
http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/14/windows-blue-details/
Now, Microsoft is officially rechristening the platform, and with a more staid name: Windows 8.1.
The upgrade will be free and available from the home screen when it launches, while a preview version will be opened up to the public on June 26th at the beginning of Build 2013.
As anticipated, the Windows 8.1 update will come to both the full version of the OS as well as the ARM-friendly RT.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP announces Android and Windows hybrid laptops
Slatebook x2 and Split x2 heading to the US in August
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2268115/hp-announces-android-and-windows-hybrid-laptops
HP has announced two hybrid laptops, the Slatebook x2 running Android and the HP Split x2 running Windows 8.
The imaginatively named (*cough*) HP Slatebook x2 sees the firm looking to challenge Asus.
To compete with Asus’ latest offering, the HP Slatebook x2 is powered by a Nvidia quad-core Tegra 4 processor and runs Google’s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean mobile operating system.
The even more awfully named HP Split x2 is a Windows 8 hybrid device that consists of a 13.3in tablet and a keyboard dock. Unlike the Slatebook x2, the HP Split x2 runs Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Future of Gaming — It May All Be in Your Head
http://singularityhub.com/2013/05/12/the-future-of-gaming-it-may-all-be-in-your-head/
Gaming as a hobby evokes images of lethargic teenagers huddled over their controllers, submerged in their couch surrounded by candy bar wrappers. This image should soon hit the reset button since a more exciting version of gaming is coming. It’s called neurogaming, and it’s riding on the heels of some exponential technologies that are converging on each other. Many of these were on display recently in San Francisco at the NeuroGaming Conference and Expo; a first-of-its-kind conference whose existence alone signals an inflection point in the industry.
Conference founder, Zack Lynch, summarized neurogaming to those of us in attendance as the interface, “where the mind and body meet to play games.”
Driven by explosive growth in computer processing, affordable sensors, and new haptic sensation technology, neurogame designers have entirely new toolkits to craft an immersive experience that simulates our waking life. Lucid journeys into the dreamscapes depicted in films like Inception may soon become possible.
Recently developed platforms like Xbox Kinect and Nintendo Wii don’t require the motor skill to use complex gamepads
The next step for game designers is to introduce psycho-emotional inputs measuring anything from heart rate, facial analysis, voice measurement, skin conductance, eye tracking, pupil dilation, brain activity, and your ever-changing emotional profile. These games will know the user at a subconscious level and deliver an experience that could forever blur the line between virtual and reality.
The future of neurogaming depends heavily on continued development of reliable augmented and virtual reality technologies. Chatter about Google Glass was everywhere, and I especially enjoyed sampling the Oculus Rift, a crowd favorite.
Tomi Engdahl says:
iTunes: Still Slowing Down Windows PCs After All These Years
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/13/05/15/0126252/itunes-still-slowing-down-windows-pcs-after-all-these-years
“I run a very nifty desktop utility called Rainmeter on my PC that I heartily recommend to anyone who wants to keep an eye on their system. One of its main features is it has skins that can monitor your system activity.”
“Under the Processes tab, the culprit showed its face immediately: AppleMobileDeviceService.exe. It was consuming a ridiculous amount of threads and CPU cycles. The only way to turn it off is to go into Windows Services and turn off the service.”
“it was consuming up to 50% of CPU cycles,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teardown: Disposable 1-Tbyte NAS drives: How’d that happen?
http://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4412821/Teardown–Disposable-1-Tbyte-NAS-drives–How-d-that-happen-
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thought Experiment: Build a Supercomputer Replica of the Human Brain
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/neurologist-markam-human-brain/all/
Henry Markram’s 2009 TEDGlobal talk was a mind-bender.
The self-assured scientist claims that the only thing preventing scientists from understanding the human brain in its entirety—from the molecular level all the way to the mystery of consciousness—is a lack of ambition. If only neuroscience would follow his lead, he insists, his Human Brain Project could simulate the functions of all 86 billion neurons in the human brain, and the 100 trillion connections that link them. And once that’s done, once you’ve built a plug-and-play brain, anything is possible. You could take it apart to figure out the causes of brain diseases. You could rig it to robotics and develop a whole new range of intelligent technologies. You could strap on a pair of virtual reality glasses and experience a brain other than your own.
The way Markram sees it, technology has finally caught up with the dream of AI: Computers are finally growing sophisticated enough to tackle the massive data problem that is the human brain. But not everyone is so optimistic. “There are too many things we don’t yet know,” says Caltech professor Christof Koch, chief scientific officer at one of neuroscience’s biggest data producers, the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. “The roundworm has exactly 302 neurons, and we still have no frigging idea how this animal works.”
Markram has earned that support on the strength of his work at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, where he and a group of 15 postdocs have been taking a first stab at realizing his grand vision—simulating the behavior of a million-neuron portion of the rat neocortex.
The big question is whether these methods can scale. There’s no guarantee that Markram will be able to build out the rest of the rat brain, let alone the vastly more complex human brain. And if he can, nobody knows whether even the most faithful model will behave like a real brain—that if you build it, it will think. For all his bravado, Markram can’t answer that question. “But the only way you can find out is by building it,” he says, “and just building a brain is an incredible biological discovery process.”
Markram thinks that the greatest potential achievement of his sim would be to determine the causes of the approximately 600 known brain disorders. “It’s not about understanding one disease,” he says. “It’s about understanding a complex system that can go wrong in 600 different ways. It’s about finding the weak points.”