Prediction articles:
2020: A consumer electronics forecast for the year(s) ahead
AI Chips: What Will 2020 Bring?
CEO Outlook: 2020 Vision: 5G, China and AI are prominent, but big changes are coming everywhere
Top 10 Tech Failures From 2019 That Hint At 2020 Trends – Last year’s tech failures often turn into next year’s leading trends
Trends:
AMD’s 7nm Ryzen 4000 CPUs are here to take on Intel’s 10nm Ice Lake laptop chips
Top 9 challenges IT leaders will face in 2020: From skills shortages to privacy concerns
From the oil rig to the lake: a shift in perspective on data
In December 2020, the new IEC/EN 62368-1 will replace the existing safety standards EN 60950-1 and EN 60065-1
Use of technology money outside company IT department is the new normal
Tech to try:
12 Alternative Operating Systems You Can Use In 2020
CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION: WHAT IT IS AND WHY YOU NEED IT
Research:
Universal memory coming? New type of non-volatile general purpose memory on research, some call it UltraRAM.
1,318 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.electronicdesign.com/markets/automotive/article/21133875/micro-and-mini-leds-lead-to-design-freedom?utm_source=EG+ED+Auto+Electronics&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200611054&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is Gen-Z? An Overview of Gen-Z Memory-Semantic Fabric Architecture
Gen-Z, an open-systems fabric-based architecture, provides high-speed, low-latency, secure access to data and devices. Editor Bill Wong talked with Tim Symons, Gen-Z Consortium Marketing Workgroup Co-Chair, about the platform.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/industrial-automation/article/21133297/what-is-genz-an-overview-of-genz-memorysemantic-fabric-architecture?utm_source=EG+ED+IoT+for+Engineers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200611055&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
AWS Said It Mitigated a 2.3 Tbps DDoS Attack, the Largest Ever
https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/06/17/1958227/aws-said-it-mitigated-a-23-tbps-ddos-attack-the-largest-ever?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
Amazon said its AWS Shield service mitigated the largest DDoS attack ever recorded, stopping a 2.3 Tbps attack in mid-February this year. The incident was disclosed in the company’s AWS Shield Threat Landscape [PDF], a report detailing web attacks mitigated by Amazon’s AWS Shield protection service.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ah lovely, here’s something you can do with those Raspberry Pis, NUC PCs in the bottom of the drawer: Run Ubuntu Appliances on them
Choose between five options
https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/18/ubuntu_raspberry_pi/
Ubuntu has launched its Appliance Portfolio, an initiative designed to enable secure smart devices linked to cloud services. All Ubuntu appliances are “free to download and install” but may include an up-sell to paid-for services.
The idea of the Ubuntu Appliance Portfolio is to “enable secure, self-healing, single-purpose devices,” according to Canonical product manager Rhys Davies. You could probably build this software yourself by hand, though the appliances are supposed to be convenient self-maintaining packages of programs to save you the bother.
An “appliance” is a system disk image for a Intel NUC PC or a Raspberry Pi, based on Ubuntu Core, a stripped-down variant of the popular Linux distro. Once installed, an appliance requires configuration on first startup, after which it is meant to be self-maintaining, with a daily check for updates.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AWS scoops two Intel CPUs and 8TB of storage into new ‘Snowcone’ edge box
Shoebox-sized server is water-resistant and runs EC2 instances and Greengrass
https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/18/aws_snowcone/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft snubs Service Fabric as it plots to switch Teams infrastructure to Kubernetes
Plus, a new Detonation Service and other explosive revelations about easing capacity constraints in lockdown
https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/17/microsoft_plans_to_move_teams/
‘Boringly reliable’: Red Hat architect thinks Kubernetes is ‘mostly done’ – but there are still plenty of bugs
Too complex? Owned by Google? Myth of portability?
https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/17/kubernetes_clayton_coleman_interview/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Implement DevSecOps to transform your business to IT-as-code
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/18/transform-your-business-to-it-as-code-with-devsecops/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Conduct an online search and you’ll find close to one million websites offering their own definition of DevSecOps.
Why is it that domain experts and practitioners alike continue to iterate on analogous definitions? Likely, it’s because they’re all correct. DevSecOps is a union between culture, practice and tools providing continuous delivery to the end user. It’s an attitude; a commitment to baking security into the engineering process. It’s a practice; one that prioritizes processes that deliver functionality and speed without sacrificing security or test rigor. Finally, it’s a combination of automation tools; correctly pieced together, they increase business agility.
The goal of DevSecOps is to reach a future state where software defines everything. To get to this state, businesses must realize the DevSecOps mindset across every tech team, implement work processes that encourage cross-organizational collaboration, and leverage automation tools, such as for infrastructure, configuration management and security.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds: Linux kernel 5.8 is ‘one of our biggest releases of all time’
“Simply a lot of development in there,” says Linus Torvalds of the upcoming kernel 5.8 release.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-linux-kernel-5-8-is-one-of-our-biggest-releases-of-all-time/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/core-devs-say-a-fond-but-firm-farewell-to-python-2/
Tomi Engdahl says:
CentOS Linux 8.2 (2004) released and here is how to upgrade it
https://www.cyberciti.biz/linux-news/centos-linux-8-2-2004-released-and-here-is-how-to-upgrade-it/
Tomi Engdahl says:
GNU Health Embedded Open Source Health Platform Works on Raspberry Pi 3/4, and soon Olimex SBC’s
https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/06/15/gnu-health-embedded-open-source-health-platform-works-on-raspberry-pi-3-4-and-soon-olimex-sbcs/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/github-to-replace-master-with-alternative-term-to-avoid-slavery-references/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers still don’t know why this Atari 2600 game works
Studying old video games to unearth long-lost coding techniques
https://www.techspot.com/news/85622-nobody-sure-what-makes-atari-2600-game-entombed.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2020/06/10/google-meet-switches-on-jaw-dropping-feature-to-beat-zoom–microsoft-teams/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Programming = 10% writing code + 19% Googling stuff/reading docs + 70% wondering why it’s not working at all + 1% yelling at social media and making memes about how difficult is my profession.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Kuo: first ARM-based Macs will be a 13″ MacBook Pro and a revamped 24″ iMac, coming in Q4 or Q1’21; all new Mac models will have ARM processors starting in 2021
First Arm-Based Macs to Be 13-Inch MacBook Pro and Redesigned iMac, Launches Coming in Late 2020 or Early 2021
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/21/apple-arm-13-inch-macbook-pro-imac/?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
Apple plans to introduce its Arm-based custom designed chips for Macs at WWDC, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a note to investors today, agreeing with an earlier report from Bloomberg.
Bloomberg: Apple’s First Arm Mac to Launch by 2021 With 12-Core Processor
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/23/12-core-arm-macs-2021-report/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reporter Tests Walmart’s $140 Laptop ‘So You Wouldn’t Have To’
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/20/06/21/2350238/reporter-tests-walmarts-140-laptop-so-you-wouldnt-have-to?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
Ars Technica’s technology reporter Jim Salter tested Walmart’s 11.6-inch EVOO laptop, which sells for $139 and ships with just 2GiB of RAM and a 32GB SSD, which he worries “simply is not enough room for Windows itself, let alone any applications.”
The first thing I noticed while looking through the Windows install is that our “internal” Wi-Fi is actually a cheap USB 2.0 Realtek adapter — and it’s 2.4GHz-only 802.11n, at that. The second thing I noticed was the fact that I couldn’t install even simple applications, because the laptop was in S mode. For those unfamiliar, S mode locks a system into using only the Edge browser and only apps from the Microsoft Store. Many users end up badly confused by S mode, and some unnecessarily buy a new copy of Windows trying to get out of it. Fortunately, if you click the “learn more” link in the S mode warning that pops up when you attempt to load a non-Store app, you are eventually led to a free Microsoft Store app which turns S mode off. On my first try, this app crashed. But on the second, it successfully disabled S mode, leaving me with a normal Windows install….
We bought Walmart’s $140 laptop so you wouldn’t have to
EVOO’s 11.6″ EV-C-116-5 has more substantial problems than its low specs imply.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/06/we-bought-walmarts-140-laptop-so-you-wouldnt-have-to/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.eetimes.com/intel-doubles-down-on-ai-strategy-with-new-cpu-fpga-silicon/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pilven käyttö kasvaa vauhdilla – Vain vuosi, ja joka neljäs yhtiö on kokonaan pilvessä
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tv/41d71515-afd9-4252-bbcf-c72776de5d9e
One in four enterprises will be all-cloud companies within a year
https://www.zdnet.com/article/one-in-four-enterprises-will-be-all-cloud-within-a-year/
Cloud surges, and with it, interest in microservices and Site Reliability Engineering. However, serverless computing remains an open question.
More than nine in ten organizations expect to increase their usage of cloud-based infrastructure, the survey also shows. While 25 percent indicate everything will be moved to the cloud, it’s significant that more than two-thirds (67%) plan to at least move the majority of their (>50%) to cloud. This is a huge shift underway.
In terms of vendors, a majority, 54 percent, use multiple cloud providers. Amazon Web Services (AWS) leads the way, used by more than two-thirds (67%). Another 48 percent use Microsoft Azure, and close to one-third (32%) use Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Evolving to a mostly cloud enterprises requires a special set of skills. The survey also explored adoption of microservices, site reliability engineering and serverless computing. More than half (52%) of respondent organizations say they use microservices concepts, tools, or methods for software development. This is still a relatively new approach on the scene, with seven in ten reporting they have been using microservices for less than three years.
The O’Reilly study’s authors, Roger Magoulas and Steve Swoyer, caution that microservices still may not be enterprise-ready: “just because a development team uses the tools, concepts, and methods of microservices architecture doesn’t mean it has adopted microservices architecture. It may be that microservices patterns, as distinct to conventional software development, are well suited for the particular use case.” Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) may help smooth this path, with 35% of respondent organizations having implemented an SRE function, and close to half (47%) expecting to implement an SRE function at some point in the future.
The study’s authors speculate the serverless trend — defined for purposes of the survey as “Function-as-a-Service” — may have stalled for now, awaiting further development of microservices and SRE capabilities. More than one-third of respondents, (34%),indicate they’re using serverless computing. A majority of organizations not using serveless, however, have no plans to do so at any time in the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s first ARM-based Mac will be available later this year.
Apple is switching Macs to its own processors starting later this year
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/22/21295475/apple-mac-processors-arm-silicon-chips-wwdc-2020
Apple’s first ARM-based Mac will be available later this year
Apple is officially moving to its own silicon chips for some of its Mac hardware. Calling it a “historic day for the Mac,” Apple CEO Tim Cook detailed the transitions to PowerPC, OS X 10, and a move to Intel chips before unveiling its plans to use Apple’s own ARM-powered silicon in Macs in the future. It’s a big move that means macOS will support native iOS apps and macOS apps side-by-side on these new machines in the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://mondaynote.com/arm-mac-impact-on-intel-9641a8e73dca?gi=190085cfbb3
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/06/apple-announces-mac-transition-to-apple-silicon/
Tomi Engdahl says:
MacOS Big Sur: Apple unveils new complete redesign for computer operating system
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/macos-big-sur-apple-mac-operating-system-software-update-a9580021.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1592849849
Tomi Engdahl says:
You don’t need to do a full reinstall of Windows when you upgrade to an SSD.
How to Copy Your Windows Installation to an SSD
https://uk.pcmag.com/how-to/116740/how-to-copy-your-windows-installation-to-an-ssd
If you’re looking to upgrade your computer to a solid-state drive but don’t want to start everything back up from scratch, here’s how to transfer your data onto your new hard drive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Releases The Source Code You Wanted Almost 30 Years Ago
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/22/microsoft-releases-the-source-code-you-wanted-almost-30-years-ago/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/27/slaying-dragons-in-notepad/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/30/job-application-script-automates-the-boring-stuff-with-python/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/06/12/programming-in-plain-english/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10778-tama-vayla-kuolee-naytoista-seuraavaksi
Kaikki PC-tekniikat tulevat joskus tiensä päähän. Seuraavaksi näin on käymässä vuonna 2006 esitellylle näyttöliitännälle eli Displayportille. Tulevaisuudessa protokolla säilyy, mutta näyttöjen ainoaksi fyysiseksi liitännäksi jää C-tyypin USB.
VESA-järjestö esitteli Displayportin korvaamaan aiemmat VGA- ja DVI-liitännät. Se oli ensimmäinen näyttöväylä, joka siirsi signaalin datapaketteina. Datan seassa voitiin siirtää myös kellosignaali, joten standardi mahdollisti suuriresoluutioiden kuvan siirron harvemmilla nastoilla.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10783-ohjelmoinnin-perusteet-voi-nyt-opiskella-ilmaiseksi
Tomi Engdahl says:
Purdue Meta-AR-App Allows Instructors And Students To Build Their Own AR Learning Content
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/15/purdue-meta-ar-app-allows-instructors-and-students-to-build-their-own-ar-learning-content/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is Apple’s roadmap for moving the first Macs away from Intel
After years of rumors, the inevitable has finally begun
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/06/this-is-apples-roadmap-for-moving-the-first-macs-away-from-intel/
After 15 years, Apple will again transition the Mac to a new architecture. The company announced at its developer conference today that it will introduce Macs featuring Apple-designed, ARM-based processors similar to those already used in the iPhone and iPad.
Tim Cook pegged this switch as one of the four biggest transitions the Mac has ever had. Alongside the move to PowerPC, the move to Intel, and the transition to Mac OS X, ARM will be one of the biggest Mac changes ever. Apple is promising “a whole new level of performance” with a “Family of Mac SoCs.
All the big platform transition hits are coming back. The transition to ARM from x86 means that some Mac apps will be native and some won’t. For apps that support both x86 and ARM, Apple is introducing the “Universal 2″ binary that will package both codebases together. For apps that haven’t made the transition to ARM yet, the Rosetta emulator is back as “Rosetta 2″ and will now let x86 apps run on your ARM Mac, albeit with reduced performance.
For the new macOS 11 Big Sur, all of the included apps are adding native ARM binaries. Xcode developers can “just open their apps and recompile” to get an ARM binary.
iPhone and iPad apps can now run natively on the Mac
The key announcement was the timeline: The first Mac with Apple silicon will happen by the end of the year, with the whole Intel-to-ARM transition taking around 2 years. Expect to see new Intel-based macs come out in the near future.
To help developers with the transition, Apple announced what is technically the first ARM Mac ever: the “Developer Transition Kit.” This is a Mac Mini enclosure with an Apple A12Z SoC, the same SoC as an iPad Pro. As the name suggests, it’s meant for developers who want to port their x86 apps to ARM macOS, and it comes with a beta version of Big Sur.
This move has been predicted for years, as the upsides for Apple are clear. Cupertino has always valued tight integration of hardware, software, and services, but Macs have been outliers among Apple’s products in their reliance on an outside party for the CPU. (iPhones and other Apple products do contain display panels, modems, and camera components made by other companies, though.)
So far, Apple’s chip division has excelled in every market it has entered.
Apple’s chip division has reached the point where it should be able to reliably compete with Intel on performance. The 2020 iPad Pro with an Apple A12Z SoC turns in comparable Geekbench numbers to a 2019 MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i9. An Apple SoC in a laptop, with a higher thermal budget, should do well, but Apple didn’t offer any specifics yet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://semiengineering.com/the-next-advanced-packages/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Don Clark / New York Times:
Japanese supercomputer Fugaku is rated as the world’s fastest, carrying out 2.8x more calculations/second than the second fastest, an IBM system at Oak Ridge — In the race for the most powerful computers, Fugaku, a Japanese supercomputer, recently beat American and Chinese machines.
Japanese Supercomputer Is Crowned World’s Speediest
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/technology/japanese-supercomputer-fugaku-tops-american-chinese-machines.html
In the race for the most powerful computers, Fugaku, a Japanese supercomputer, recently beat American and Chinese machines.
China and the United States are locked in a contest to develop the world’s most powerful computers. Now a massive machine in Japan has topped them both.
A long-awaited supercomputer called Fugaku, installed in the city of Kobe by the government-sponsored Riken institute, took first place in a twice-yearly speed ranking that was released on Monday. The Japanese machine carried out 2.8 times more calculations a second than an IBM system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which Fugaku bumped to second place in the so-called Top500 list.
Another IBM system, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, slid to third place in the ranking from second, while systems in China moved to the fourth and fifth spots from third and fourth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here’s everything Apple announced in the WWDC 2020 keynote today
https://tcrn.ch/2YY0Dia
Today marks the first day of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (or WWDC, as it’s known.) With the pandemic continuing to rage on throughout the world, this year’s WWDC is entirely virtual — including the company’s big annual keynote, where it shows off all of the updates coming to iOS, macOS, and all of the other software it builds in-house.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple is releasing a Mac mini with an Apple processor for developers starting this week
https://tcrn.ch/2YY0KKC
Apple is eager to help developers transition to its forthcoming Apple system-on-a-chip-based Mac computers, and it’s preparing a number of resources to do that — including developer hardware. Apple’s Developer Transition Kit, which registered developers can apply for via its developer website, includes a Mac mini with an A12Z processor inside, running a pre-release version of macOS Big Sur.
The kit spec includes 16GB of RAM, as well as a 512GB SSD, and will come with Xcode preinstalled so that developers can get working on their apps right away. This is very much pre-release hardware, however — the first consumer Macs that run on Apple’s in-house silicon won’t ship until later this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a keynote event for the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Apple says it’s moving to its own Apple Silicon chips for Macs over the next two years, promising better performance, with “Rosetta 2” for app compatibility — Apple’s first ARM-based Mac will be available later this year — Apple is officially moving to its own silicon chips for some of its Mac hardware.
Apple is switching Macs to its own processors starting later this year
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/22/21295475/apple-mac-processors-arm-silicon-chips-wwdc-2020?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
Apple’s first ARM-based Mac will be available later this year
Tomi Engdahl says:
IC Gear Orders Boom as U.S. Export Controls Loom
https://www.eetimes.com/ic-gear-orders-boom-as-u-s-export-controls-loom/
As semiconductor equipment moves front and center in the looming technology Cold War between the U.S. and China, the industry’s trade group reported sustained growth in May billings valued at a tick under $2.35 billion.
SEMI said North American IC chip gear billings for May grew a healthy 13.1 percent over the same period last year. The group’s three-month moving average has hovered around 20 percent annual growth during the first quarter of this year, a period of intense trade frictions between Beijing and Washington.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Opinion: If Intel lost Apple as a customer, it would be good news
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/in-this-case-losing-apple-as-a-customer-would-be-good-news-2020-06-15
Over the past year, we have been hearing rumors of Apple’s plans to reduce and/or eliminate its partnership with Intel for CPU chips for its Mac lineup. With Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) set to begin June 22, these rumors have heated up again, and it’s increasingly looking like Intel will soon find itself outside Apple’s plans for its next-generation Mac.
For many, this appears to be bad news for Intel INTC, -0.28%. I disagree. In fact, I believe Intel will be better off without Apple AAPL, +2.13%.
Today, Apple represents about 6% of the global PC market based on units sold and accounts for somewhere around 2% to 4% of Intel’s sales. Based on Intel’s trailing 12-month revenue of more than $75 billion, that means the Apple relationship represents between around $1.5 billion and around $3.0 billion in annual sales for the chip maker. This number is significant, but given the overall size of the Intel business, it is hardly insurmountable.
Moreover, Apple is a demanding supplier that has a history of putting immense pressure on vendors. We saw this in the 5G modem business — not just with Intel, which sold its business to Apple last year, but also with mobile chip giant Qualcomm QCOM, +0.24%. Without Apple, Intel can focus more attention on where its most significant growth is coming from — its broad data-centric strategy, which incorporates data center, network and Internet of Things (IoT).
Perhaps more important than the overall growth is where the growth is coming from. While the company saw a notable 14% increase in client computing (PC) revenue in the April quarter from a year earlier, it saw much bigger growth in its Data Center Group. Sales reached $7.0 billion in this period — growth of 43% year over year.
Within these strong numbers is cloud service providers, where revenue jumped 53% year-over-year while volume and average selling price increased 27% and 13%, respectively. That in itself is impressive given that tech’s usual pricing direction is downward.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China Speeds Up Advanced Chip Development
https://semiengineering.com/china-speeds-up-advanced-chip-development/
Efforts underway to develop 7nm, DRAM, 3D NAND, and EUV domestically as trade war escalates.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
After WWDC, the performance of Apple’s silicon chips for Mac remains a mystery, with speed and efficiency claims not yet substantiated through benchmarks — There were canned demos but no benchmarks or comparisons — For years, Apple has steadily revealed how the ARM-based chips …
How fast are Apple’s new ARM Mac chips? It’s hard to tell
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/23/21296365/apple-mac-arm-processor-silicon-chips-performance-power-speed-wwdc-2020?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
There were canned demos but no benchmarks or comparisons
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cara Lombardo / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Dell is examining spinning off its ~$50B stake in VMware as well as other options; after hours, Dell’s stock is up 18%+, VMware’s is up 8%+ — PC maker is saddled with sluggish shares and heavy debt load — Dell Technologies Inc. DELL 1.49% is examining options including a spinoff …
Dell Explores Spinoff of $50 Billion Stake in VMware
PC maker is saddled with sluggish shares and heavy debt load
https://www.wsj.com/articles/dell-explores-options-for-81-vmware-stake-11592942687?mod=djemalertNEWS
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low code – sovelluksia lähes ilman koodia
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10904-low-code-sovelluksia-lahes-ilman-koodia
Yhä tiheämmin kuulee uutisia, joissa sovellus on kehitetty vähäkoodisilla menetelmillä tai ns. low code -ohjelmointina. Mutta mitä low code on? Mitä hyötyä siitä on? Voiko kaiken ohjelmoida graafisesti, vain moduuleja projektiin pudottamalla?
Koodiin tulee aina virheitä, eri tilastojen mukaan keskimäärin 15-50 tuhatta koodiriviä kohti. Outsystemsin low code -evankelistaksi toukokuussa nimitetyn Iikka Salmen mukaan keskustelu laajenee kuitenkin nopeasti siihen, että virheiden myötä maksetaan kovaa hintaa sekä käyttäjäkokemuksessa että tietoturvassa.
- Jos projektissa on tiukka aikataulu, jossain vaiheessa on tehtävä ratkaisu siitä, oikaistaanko vai tehdäänkö kunnolla.
Salmen mukaan low codessa mielenkiintoisempaa on esimerkiksi se, miten ohjelmistokehitykseen voidaan tuoda ihmisiä mukaan. Koronan aikaan koodaajia on lomautettu eli töitä on jouduttu tekemään pienemmällä määrällä. – Sitten kun korona väistyy, koodareiden työmarkkinat todennäköisesti kuumentuvat. Tällöin tärkeäksi kysymykseksi nousee se, miten voi tuoda ihmisiä muista projekteista, kuinka nopeasti pääsee kehitykseen sisälle, kuinka nopeasti pystyy tuottamaan jotain lisäarvoa, kuinka nopeasti voi siirtää kehitystä partnereille, Salmi luettelee.
Tähän kaikkeen vähäkoodisuus tai low code tuo ratkaisun. Alustoja on tarjolla kymmeniä, mutta niitä kaikkia yhdistää perusperiaate. Kehitysympäristö on graafinen ja projektiin voidaan tuoda komponentteja graafisesti pudottamalla siihen moduuleja. Oppimiskäyrä jää erittäin lyhyeksi. – Jopa parin viikon jälkeen kehittäjä voi ryhtyä tuottamaan käyttökelpoista koodia, Salmi sanoo.
Low code sopii moneen kehitykseen, muttei kaikkeen. Salmen mukaan esimerkiksi pelien vaatimia matemaattisia malleja voi olla kyllä mahdollista tehdä low codella, mutta se ei ole välttämättä kannattavaa. Jos haluaa tehdä 3D-grafiikkaa tai nopeaa liikettä peliin, niin ei näitä ryhdytä tekemään low codella.
- Jos sovelluksessa on joku suorituskriittinen komponentti, se tehdään perinteisesti eli ns. high codella. Tällainen voi olla esimerkiksi tietokantakysely sovelluksen sisällä, vaikka sovelluksen rakenne olisikin tehty low codella.
Kokonaan eroon koodista?
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10905-kokonaan-eroon-koodista
Vähäkoodiset menetelmät ovat nopeasti yleistymässä. Niissä ohjelmisto tuotetaan graafisesti pudottamalla projektiin valmiita moduuleita. Työkalu tuottaa koodin automaattisesti. Mutta voisiko sovelluksia ohjelmoida kokonaan ilman koodaamista? Outsystemsin Iikka Salmi näkee tässä no code -kehityksessä suuria mahdollisuuksia. Outsystems on itse tuomassa jo syksyllä tarjolle no code -työkaluja. Niissä otetaan merkittävä hyppäys alaspäin koodin vaativuudessa.
- Tarkoituksena on, että ihminen, joka ei ole koskaan koskenut koodiin, pystyy luomaan käyttäjäkokemusta tai liiketoimintalogiikkaa.
Vähäkoodisille työkaluille on kasvavasti kysyntää monesta syystä. Monilla yrityksillä on teknistä velkaa. – On sovelluksia, jotka ovat tulleet tiensä päähän ja yritykset miettivät, miten mennään eteenpäin. Tällöin low code -alustat ovat yksi asia mitä usein mietitään.
Salmen mukaan low code ja tulevaisuudessa no code -työkalut ovat myös Suomen keino ratkaista digitalisaation ongelma.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electronic Supply Chains Sending Mixed Messages
https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/electronic-supply-chains-sending-mixed-messages/11646415763220?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=13555&elq_cid=876648
The electronic component and semiconductor supply chains are reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic in rather confusing ways. What does it all mean?
COVID-19 hit the semi space just as hard as the components sector. While global shelter in place orders helped to grow the computing, connectivity and memory products, the much larger change in consumer buying behaviors toward only essential goods and services have significantly curtailed spending by both consumers and governments.
The expectations for the latter half of the year of 2020 are looking better. For example, the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) has released its new semiconductor market forecast generated in May 2020. The WSTS expects the world semiconductor market to be up by 3.3 percent to US$ 426 billion in 2020. This reflects expected increases in Integrated Circuits (ICs), except analog, with an increase from memory at 15.0 percent, followed by logic with 2.9 percent. In 2020, Americas and Asia Pacific are expected to grow.
Further out in 2021, the growth of global semiconductor fab equipment sales is looking up.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AWS launches Amazon Honeycode, a no-code mobile and web app builder
https://tcrn.ch/2Z9KdDz
AWS today announced the beta launch of Amazon Honeycode, a new, fully managed low-code/no-code development tool that aims to make it easy for anybody in a company to build their own applications. All of this, of course, is backed by a database in AWS and a web-based, drag-and-drop interface builder.
Developers can build applications for up to 20 users for free. After that, they pay per user and for the storage their applications take up.
“Customers have told us that the need for custom applications far outstrips the capacity of developers to create them,” said AWS VP Larry Augustin in the announcement. “Now with Amazon Honeycode, almost anyone can create powerful custom mobile and web applications without the need to write code.”
Like similar tools, Honeycode provides users with a set of templates for common use cases like to-do list applications, customer trackers, surveys, schedules and inventory management. Traditionally, AWS argues, a lot of businesses have relied on shared spreadsheets to do these things.
It’s no surprise then that Honeycode uses a spreadsheet view as its core data interface, which makes sense, given how familiar virtually every potential user is with this concept. To manipulate data, users can work with standard spreadsheet-style formulas, which seems to be about the closest the service gets to actual programming. ‘Builders,” as AWS calls Honeycode users, can also set up notifications, reminders and approval workflows within the service.
https://www.honeycode.aws/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
AWS announces Honeycode, a cloud-based tool that it hopes will help non-coders build apps — – Amazon already leads the cloud infrastructure market, and now it’s expanding its cloud product lineup with a tool for people who don’t code. — The Honeycode service will compete with offerings …
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/24/aws-launches-honeycode-service-for-simple-app-development.html
Honeycode includes a visual interface that people can use to build applications for a variety of purposes, including scheduling managing tasks and tracking customers, AWS said in a statement. Amazon employees have used Honeycode to plan the launch of the service, and Meera Vaidyanathan, a general manager at AWS, has used it to manage headcount in her organization, she said in an interview on Wednesday. The name of the product was decided in an app that was built in Honeycode.
The service is free for up to 20 users and as many 2500 rows of data in a spreadsheet that’s part of the product. AWS will charge based on storage and number of users. Longtime AWS customers Slack and SmugMug are among those planning to use the service, the company said. The service is available today, currently in one AWS region. AWS plans to make it possible to export data from Honeycode, Vaidyanathan
For years, AWS has been popular among professional developers for offering remote computing and storage services. In recent years Amazon has sought to branch out with cloud-based applications for less technical users
In 2015 Microsoft introduced the PowerApps software for easily building business applications, and in January Google acquired AppSheet, a start-up with no-code application-development tools.
Tomi Engdahl says:
6 miljardin euron haaste: naisten innostaminen it-alalle toisi rutkasti rahaa Eurooppaan
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/tv/1c49e08e-f737-4fa2-b68a-5cec7ca83fb2
Nykyistä useampien naisten kouluttautuminen teknologia-alalle auttaisi huutavaan osaajapulaa ja kasvattaisi EU-alueen taloutta. Suomesta ollaan ulkomailla kiinnostuneita esimerkkinä, mutta haasteita riittää meilläkin.
Jos naisten potentiaali saataisiin EU:n teknologia-alalla kunnolla käyttöön, voisi EU:n bruttokansantuote arvion mukaan olla 6 miljardia euroa nykyistä suurempi, sanoo europarlamentaarikko Henna Virkkunen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Slack’s CEO Doesn’t Want to ‘Kill Email’
https://www.wired.com/story/slack-connect-email-stewart-butterfield-interview/
The company’s new Slack Connect feature will let up to 20 organizations share “channels” between them—but don’t say goodbye to your inbox just yet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netbooks: The Next Generation — Chromebooks
https://hackaday.com/2020/06/24/netbooks-the-next-generation-chromebooks/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Says Nanowire And NanoRibbon In Volume In Five Years
https://hackaday.com/2020/06/24/intel-says-nanowire-and-nanoribbon-in-volume-in-five-years/
Intel’s CTO says the company will eventually abandon CMOS technology that has been a staple of IC fabrication for decades. The replacement? Nanowire and nanoribbon structures. In traditional IC fabrication, FETs form by doping a portion of the silicon die and then depositing a gate structure on top of an insulating layer parallel to the surface of the die. FinFET structures started appearing about a decade ago, in which the transistor channel rises above the die surface and the gate wraps around these raised “fins.” These transistors are faster and have a higher current capacity than comparable CMOS devices.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15865/intel-to-use-nanowirenanoribbon-transistors-in-volume-in-five-years