Blogs@intel

Translation and Localization, Too Overcomplicated?!

Nabil Freij — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:14:45 +0000

Not all translation service buyers have the same needs. Requirements differ depending on where companies are in their global evolution. With varying needs and priorities, and a massive selection of translation service providers estimated to exceed 20,000 independent vendors worldwide and growing, how do you decide who to choose?

Some companies elect to come up with elaborate RFPs. These RFPs frequently contain exhaustive details to help differentiate between, and narrow down, suitable vendors. But often these RFPs are very time consuming to create, respond to and analyze, potentially overcomplicating the process.

The mere fact that the translation service industry is so fragmented fashions the need to overcomplicate matters. After all, companies want to create differentiators to claim a competitive edge. But don’t let these illusions distract you.

Reality is translation and localization services, while requiring specialized expertise and much attention to detail, do not have to be sold in an over-convoluted way. If you are a translation and localization service buyer, here are the two basic factors to consider while making your logical selection.

Is quality of translation important to you? If so, hire a translation service company that relies on qualified professional translators, project managers and localization experts that are complemented by technology to facilitate the creation, execution and maintenance of translation assets, such as terminology, translation memory and knowledge bases. Avoid suppliers that push technology before professionals, like you avoid the plague!
Is price a major factor? If so, use a membership-free cloud-based translation service that enables you to initiate, approve, oversee and get translated files when you need them. By processing your projects in a trusted cloud-based portal, you get quality translators do work for you at a fraction of the cost of what a full language service provider will charge.

Companies eying to become serious contenders have to think and act global. But none need to translate their entire content, products or websites into an endless list of languages. When both quality and price are important, go with the vendor that can help you set priorities and then provide both. For instance, we helped companies create landing pages on their website and translate them into 13 languages. This allowed them to target 80% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) producers at a fraction of the cost of converting their entire websites. Instead of aiming for a grand portal, we helped them open a window to the world, professionally and effectively!

To further demystify artificial illusions and untangle unnecessary knots, read Enabling Globalization: A Guide to Using Localization to Penetrate International Markets.

About the Author

Nabil Freij is the author of Enabling Globalization and the president, founder, and owner of GlobalVision International, Inc. (www.globalvis.com), a Software Localization and Translation specialist. He is trilingual and holds an MSEE from Brown University and an MBA from Bryant University. Freij has worked for 25 years in the hardware, software, and localization industries. He has traveled the world and lived in five countries. He is frequently published and quoted. Nabil is married and has two children. He currently resides in Palmetto, FL. Mr. Freij can be reached at nabil@globalvis.com . You can read his blog at: http://blog.globalvis.com.

Translation and Localization, Too Overcomplicated?!

Nabil Freij — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:14:45 +0000

Is quality of translation important to you? If so, hire a translation service company that relies on qualified professional translators, project managers and localization experts that are complemented by technology to facilitate the creation, execution and maintenance of translation assets, such as terminology, translation memory and knowledge bases. Avoid suppliers that push technology before professionals, like you avoid the plague!
Is price a major factor? If so, use a membership-free cloud-based translation service that enables you to initiate, approve, oversee and get translated files when you need them. By processing your projects in a trusted cloud-based portal, you get quality translators do work for you at a fraction of the cost of what a full language service provider will charge.

To further demystify artificial illusions and untangle unnecessary knots, read Enabling Globalization: A Guide to Using Localization to Penetrate International Markets.

About the Author

What’s next for Intel’s new Corporate Responsibility Report? More “Snackable” and “Bite-sized” CSR bits

Suzanne Fallender — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:19:43 +0000

This past Thursday, we released Intel’s latest corporate responsibility report at our annual stockholder meeting. Fast forward three days, and I am sitting in a hotel in Quito, Ecuador getting ready for the start of the CSR Americas conference with two of my Intel colleagues from Argentina and Brazil. We were having breakfast this morning with someone who leads CSR for a large Mexican company who does their CSR reporting and said “they say finishing a report is just like having a baby.” Of course it’s not exactly the same, but is the same in one respect: the work certainly doesn’t end with the birth of the report itself.

This week, we’ll kick off the next phase of our report launch – our “bize-sized CSR” series. We know that most people won’t sit down and read the report start to finish in one sitting, so over the next few weeks, our team will be publishing a series of posts taking a closer look at a number of the highlights and features in this year’s report. Some of these posts will profile our colleagues who are the real people behind many of the results and innovative projects covered in the report. We’ll also be rolling out a tweet series with key report facts through our @intelinvolved twitter handle. And we’ll be reaching out to different stakeholders – both internal and external – for feedback on the report to begin to collect input for next year’s report (although admittedly – hard to think right now about starting the process all over again… )

But first, I wanted to kick off the bite-sized series here with a quick overview of some of the new features in the report this year. I am personally very proud of this year’s report and the changes we’ve made based on reader feedback. We deliberately do not try to reinvent the wheel each year, but we do incorporate stakeholder feedback and take into account recent trends in reporting best practices. A few new elements you’ll notice in this year’s report:

New “integrated value” section. Over the past few years we have continued to integrate sustainability information into our Annual Report and 10-K and other investor communications. This year, we have also made changes to the Corporate Responsibility Report itself to further address the topic of integrated reporting. We have taken key elements recommended by the International Integrated Reporting Committee and included them in a new section of this year’s report entitled “Our Business and Integrated Value Approach.” This section includes: information about Intel and our operating context, risks and opportunities, strategic objectives, governance and remuneration systems, performance and goals, and future outlook. This new integrated value approach section can be read as part of our complete Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-based report, or it can be downloaded as a separate document from our Report Builder web site. Our hope is that this modular approach could meet both the needs of those readers interested only in an integrated report, as well as those stakeholders who are looking for more detailed sustainability information. We are interested in readers’ feedback on this approach, and hope that it serves as a helpful example for other companies as they move along the path toward integrated reporting.
Report assurance. Understanding the growing importance of assurance and data verification to report readers, Intel began down the path of report assurance this year and engaged Ernst & Young LLP to conduct an independent review of selected indicators contained in our report in accordance with AT 101, Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements, of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
New human rights discussion. Based on feedback received through our stakeholder engagement process over the past year (including a stakeholder panel facilitated by BSR in early 2012), we expanded our disclosure on human rights in this year’s report and updated Intel’s Human Rights Principles. The 2011 report includes a new human rights section that unifies information previously covered only in separate sections, and adds additional information on our management systems and processes across our own operations, our supply chain, and product responsibility.
Expanded supply chain disclosure. We continued to expand our disclosure on our actions to promote accountability in our supply chain, including discussion of the increased supplier audit activity in 2011, our summary findings from these reviews, and our planned course of action going forward to address them. We also added more information on our work to address the issue of conflict minerals and our plans to request our top 75 suppliers begin producing sustainability reports in 2013.
Increased interactivity and new web interface. Based on reader input, we continued to produce our full GRI report in an interactive PDF format, with the option of building customized reports through the Report Builder web site. We added some additional interactive features to the report this year, including new highlight boxes throughout for additional stories and information, and new video features. We also launched a new web site interface for the report, to help readers get quickly to key elements of the report, such as the letter from our CEO, summary performance data and goals tables, the GRI Index, the UN Global Compact Communication on Progress.

So stay tuned for more tweets, and bite-sized posts from the report in the coming weeks and please let us know what you think of our new “baby.”

What’s next for Intel’s new Corporate Responsibility Report? More “Snackable” and “Bite-sized” CSR bits

Suzanne Fallender — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:19:43 +0000

New “integrated value” section. Over the past few years we have continued to integrate sustainability information into our Annual Report and 10-K and other investor communications. This year, we have also made changes to the Corporate Responsibility Report itself to further address the topic of integrated reporting. We have taken key elements recommended by the International Integrated Reporting Committee and included them in a new section of this year’s report entitled “Our Business and Integrated Value Approach.” This section includes: information about Intel and our operating context, risks and opportunities, strategic objectives, governance and remuneration systems, performance and goals, and future outlook. This new integrated value approach section can be read as part of our complete Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-based report, or it can be downloaded as a separate document from our Report Builder web site. Our hope is that this modular approach could meet both the needs of those readers interested only in an integrated report, as well as those stakeholders who are looking for more detailed sustainability information. We are interested in readers’ feedback on this approach, and hope that it serves as a helpful example for other companies as they move along the path toward integrated reporting.
Report assurance. Understanding the growing importance of assurance and data verification to report readers, Intel began down the path of report assurance this year and engaged Ernst & Young LLP to conduct an independent review of selected indicators contained in our report in accordance with AT 101, Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements, of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
New human rights discussion. Based on feedback received through our stakeholder engagement process over the past year (including a stakeholder panel facilitated by BSR in early 2012), we expanded our disclosure on human rights in this year’s report and updated Intel’s Human Rights Principles. The 2011 report includes a new human rights section that unifies information previously covered only in separate sections, and adds additional information on our management systems and processes across our own operations, our supply chain, and product responsibility.
Expanded supply chain disclosure. We continued to expand our disclosure on our actions to promote accountability in our supply chain, including discussion of the increased supplier audit activity in 2011, our summary findings from these reviews, and our planned course of action going forward to address them. We also added more information on our work to address the issue of conflict minerals and our plans to request our top 75 suppliers begin producing sustainability reports in 2013.
Increased interactivity and new web interface. Based on reader input, we continued to produce our full GRI report in an interactive PDF format, with the option of building customized reports through the Report Builder web site. We added some additional interactive features to the report this year, including new highlight boxes throughout for additional stories and information, and new video features. We also launched a new web site interface for the report, to help readers get quickly to key elements of the report, such as the letter from our CEO, summary performance data and goals tables, the GRI Index, the UN Global Compact Communication on Progress.

So stay tuned for more tweets, and bite-sized posts from the report in the coming weeks and please let us know what you think of our new “baby.”

What’s next for Intel’s new Corporate Responsibility Report? More “Snackable” and “Bite-sized” CSR bits

Suzanne Fallender — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:19:43 +0000

New “integrated value” section. Over the past few years we have continued to integrate sustainability information into our Annual Report and 10-K and other investor communications. This year, we have also made changes to the Corporate Responsibility Report itself to further address the topic of integrated reporting. We have taken key elements recommended by the International Integrated Reporting Committee and included them in a new section of this year’s report entitled “Our Business and Integrated Value Approach.” This section includes: information about Intel and our operating context, risks and opportunities, strategic objectives, governance and remuneration systems, performance and goals, and future outlook. This new integrated value approach section can be read as part of our complete Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-based report, or it can be downloaded as a separate document from our Report Builder web site. Our hope is that this modular approach could meet both the needs of those readers interested only in an integrated report, as well as those stakeholders who are looking for more detailed sustainability information. We are interested in readers’ feedback on this approach, and hope that it serves as a helpful example for other companies as they move along the path toward integrated reporting.
Report assurance. Understanding the growing importance of assurance and data verification to report readers, Intel began down the path of report assurance this year and engaged Ernst & Young LLP to conduct an independent review of selected indicators contained in our report in accordance with AT 101, Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements, of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
New human rights discussion. Based on feedback received through our stakeholder engagement process over the past year (including a stakeholder panel facilitated by BSR in early 2012), we expanded our disclosure on human rights in this year’s report and updated Intel’s Human Rights Principles. The 2011 report includes a new human rights section that unifies information previously covered only in separate sections, and adds additional information on our management systems and processes across our own operations, our supply chain, and product responsibility.
Expanded supply chain disclosure. We continued to expand our disclosure on our actions to promote accountability in our supply chain, including discussion of the increased supplier audit activity in 2011, our summary findings from these reviews, and our planned course of action going forward to address them. We also added more information on our work to address the issue of conflict minerals and our plans to request our top 75 suppliers begin producing sustainability reports in 2013.
Increased interactivity and new web interface. Based on reader input, we continued to produce our full GRI report in an interactive PDF format, with the option of building customized reports through the Report Builder web site. We added some additional interactive features to the report this year, including new highlight boxes throughout for additional stories and information, and new video features. We also launched a new web site interface for the report, to help readers get quickly to key elements of the report, such as the letter from our CEO, summary performance data and goals tables, the GRI Index, the UN Global Compact Communication on Progress.

So stay tuned for more tweets, and bite-sized posts from the report in the coming weeks and please let us know what you think of our new “baby.”

What’s next for Intel’s new Corporate Responsibility Report? More “Snackable” and “Bite-sized” CSR bits

Suzanne Fallender — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:19:43 +0000

New “integrated value” section. Over the past few years we have continued to integrate sustainability information into our Annual Report and 10-K and other investor communications. This year, we have also made changes to the Corporate Responsibility Report itself to further address the topic of integrated reporting. We have taken key elements recommended by the International Integrated Reporting Committee and included them in a new section of this year’s report entitled “Our Business and Integrated Value Approach.” This section includes: information about Intel and our operating context, risks and opportunities, strategic objectives, governance and remuneration systems, performance and goals, and future outlook. This new integrated value approach section can be read as part of our complete Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-based report, or it can be downloaded as a separate document from our Report Builder web site. Our hope is that this modular approach could meet both the needs of those readers interested only in an integrated report, as well as those stakeholders who are looking for more detailed sustainability information. We are interested in readers’ feedback on this approach, and hope that it serves as a helpful example for other companies as they move along the path toward integrated reporting.
Report assurance. Understanding the growing importance of assurance and data verification to report readers, Intel began down the path of report assurance this year and engaged Ernst & Young LLP to conduct an independent review of selected indicators contained in our report in accordance with AT 101, Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements, of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
New human rights discussion. Based on feedback received through our stakeholder engagement process over the past year (including a stakeholder panel facilitated by BSR in early 2012), we expanded our disclosure on human rights in this year’s report and updated Intel’s Human Rights Principles. The 2011 report includes a new human rights section that unifies information previously covered only in separate sections, and adds additional information on our management systems and processes across our own operations, our supply chain, and product responsibility.
Expanded supply chain disclosure. We continued to expand our disclosure on our actions to promote accountability in our supply chain, including discussion of the increased supplier audit activity in 2011, our summary findings from these reviews, and our planned course of action going forward to address them. We also added more information on our work to address the issue of conflict minerals and our plans to request our top 75 suppliers begin producing sustainability reports in 2013.
Increased interactivity and new web interface. Based on reader input, we continued to produce our full GRI report in an interactive PDF format, with the option of building customized reports through the Report Builder web site. We added some additional interactive features to the report this year, including new highlight boxes throughout for additional stories and information, and new video features. We also launched a new web site interface for the report, to help readers get quickly to key elements of the report, such as the letter from our CEO, summary performance data and goals tables, the GRI Index, the UN Global Compact Communication on Progress.

So stay tuned for more tweets, and bite-sized posts from the report in the coming weeks and please let us know what you think of our new “baby.”

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Monika Lischke — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:08:19 +0000

Hmmm, eigentlich nicht sehr zielführend, mit einem Ultrabook ins Büro zu gehen, aber für diesen Blogpost tue ich doch fast alles ;-).
Arbeite momentan mit zwei unterschiedlichen Geräten, ein Non-Ultrabook, welches ich im Büro lasse (ist einfach zu schwer) und das andere bleibt meistens daheim oder geht mit auf Geschäftsreise. Funktioniert fast immer, trotz des ungleichen Standes auf den beiden Rechnern – Outlook habe ich mit Regeln und lokalen pst Dateien so eingerichtet, dass beide immer auf dem aktuellsten Stand sind. Und da ich so gut immer online bin und viel im Netz rumtreibe, geht das auch gut.
So sieht´s dann aus, wenn mein Toshiba auf meinem Schreibtisch steht (übrigens individuell höhenverstellbar, könnte theoretisch auch im Stehen arbeiten, was ich allerdings nie tue…):

Ach ja, hinten sieht man, dass ich die WebCam überklebt habe, sollte ich auch mal bei dem Ultrabook machen – will einfach Überraschungen vermeiden und es muss nun nicht wirklich sein, dass mich Kollegen eventuell im uralten T-Shirt im Home Office erwischen ;-)
Zum Verfassen dieses Blogposts habe ich den Rechner allerdings vor die Tastatur des anderen gestellt und schon fing der Wirrwarr bei mir an:

Warum tut sich denn nichts auf dem Monitor, wenn ich das Touchpad benutze? Warum bleibt der Cursor auf dem Ultrabook statisch, wenn ich die Maus bewege?
Jaja, schon latent peinlich, aber ist tatsächlich passiert, war doch am Anfang etwas verwirrend für mich – vielleicht lags auch an der Klimaanlage die den ganzen lieben Tag kalte Luft auf meinen Kopf pustet….

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Monika Lischke — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:08:19 +0000

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Monika Lischke — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:08:19 +0000

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Monika Lischke — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:08:19 +0000

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Monika Lischke — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:08:19 +0000

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Monika Lischke — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:08:19 +0000

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

The Intel Education Service Corps (IESC) is a short-term service and career development opportunity for a select group of Intel employees to support the deployment of Intel classmate PCs in developing countries. In this blog, Brandon Mills, Danny Arati, Linda Kenworthy, Marieme Doukoure-Amoa and Shuo Li from Intel business groups around the globe recap their team’s first week in Senegal working with World Vision.

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

IESC is back in Tattaguine, Senegal! Our assignment is to deploy Intel classmate PCs and train teachers at a primary school (Ecole Elémentaire El Hadj Moustapha Sarr) in collaboration with World Vision.

We are building on the foundation of the last IESC team, which deployed classmate PCs at the local high school. Besides the age of the students and working with new teachers, the main difference with this deployment is the weather. At this time of year, Tattaguine (around three hours southeast of Dakar) gets extremely hot, note the “feels-like temperature” of 129 from our iPhone weather app (photo below)!

The community has welcomed us with open arms; teachers, students, Parent Teacher Association (PTA) members, and local leaders were anxious to begin using the classmate PCs. Their goal is to give students early exposure to computers and the Internet, enabling a smooth transition into the high school curriculum.

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

The teachers are enjoying the combination of hands-on classmate PC training and the Intel Teach Getting Started program, which blends 21^stcentury technology with pedagogical training. “I’m excited to learn some new methodologies and incorporate them with technology into my classes,” said Professeur Augustin, one of the teachers participating in our training.

It’s also exciting to see the results of last year’s IESC training six months later. Two teachers from the high school are attending some of our sessions and one of them, Professor Ba, who is also the IT Manager at the high school, volunteered to present the Intel Learning Series classroom management software sessions. It’s great to see “train the trainer” in action.

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

Besides the heat, challenges we are working through include power outages, internet connectivity issues, and LOTS of dust! As an experiment we left a classmate PC open all day in the lab to see how much dust accumulated: the results are visible in the photo below… you might see a familiar logo! Luckily the classmate PC is built to withstand tough conditions, and has even been used in the 4 Deserts race across Antarctica and the Sahara, Gobi and Atacama deserts!

Check back soon to read more about how the teachers incorporate their learning and technology into their lesson plans at the Tattaguine Ecole Elémentaire El Hadj Moustapha Sarr, the latest school in Senegal to benefit from the Intel Learning Series.

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Luke Filose — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:18 +0000

Teacher learns new PC skills while baby sleeps

Note "feels-like temperature" of 129F (or 54C)!

IESC team with community members, World Vision staff and students after arriving in Tattaguine

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

Over the weekend I improved the full screen support for the built-in Meshcentral.com remote desktop feature in two ways. Before I get to that, for people who don’t know, Meshcentral.com allows you to take control of your remote desktop from within a web browser. So, from anywhere in the world you log in and with a few clicks, you can take control of your computer remotely. Well, when looking at your remote computer within a browser, it’s useful to be able to re-size the browser and use as much screen area as possible.

The first improvement I did is to build the normal view and full view within the same HTML page. Now you can connect to your remote computer and switch between view modes without loosing your connection. The icon to do this is on the upper right on the picture below.

Second, I added support for true full screen using the HTML5 full screen API’s supported in FireFox and Chrome. When in “full mode” there is a new “Full Screen” button that is available for supported browsers. It will make the page truly go full screen on the client. In both FireFox and Chrome, you press ESC key to drop back out of full screen. So, in this mode, I added a new “ESC” button in case you need to send the ESC key to the remote computer.

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

In general, this remote desktop within a browser feature is really cool. I hope these improvements will make it a bit better.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Bridging the Digital Divide Through the WTO Information Technology Agreement

greg slater — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:35:18 +0000

Government officials have in hand a major boost for our global economy that will help America’s technology industry reach consumers never before imagined.

Earlier this week, I participated in a memorable event at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The WTO hosted a symposium at which a number of presenters from various governments, academia and industry espoused the significant impact that the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) has had in developing our global information economy over the last 15 years since its launch in late 1996. As WTO Director General Pascal Lamy remarked in his keynote address, by removing tariffs on ICT products sold in many countries the ITA has empowered people and helped bridge the digital divide.

The symposium presenters also strongly encouraged WTO members to promptly expand the product scope and membership of the now outdated ITA to create an additional $190 billion in global GDP. Many WTO members already have committed to working on such an expansion, providing a potential building block for further trade liberalization efforts at the WTO level. Indeed, after the symposium, officials representing many of the 74 signatories to the ITA agreed they would start informal consultations on what products to add to the ITA.

The ITA has been a real engine of economic growth for all of its signatories. The data are clear and convincing. By eliminating tariffs on a range of ICT products, the ITA has:

Significantly increased the demand for and dissemination of those ICT products across the world. One study found that for every $1 drop in price for ICT, there is an increase of 1.5% in demand. From 1996 when the ITA was finalized to 2008, total globe trade in ICT products increased more than 10% annually, from $1.2 trillion to $4.0 trillion, caused in large part by trade liberalization efforts like the ITA. As the world’s largest producers of ICT goods and services, U.S. technology firms have benefitted tremendously from that increase in ICT trade.

The increased demand has led to a significant increase in use of ICT across a variety of industries, which has resulted in immense gains in productivity in both developing and developed countries. For example, ICT was responsible for 75% of U.S. productivity growth from 1995 to 2002, and 44% from 2000 to 2006. Most ICT products covered by the ITA are known as general purpose technologies that touch all industries in making them more efficient.

The greater use of ICT has enabled more innovation in both manufacturing and service firms. In the EU, for instance, 32% of companies report being active innovators, with ICT enabling about 50% of those firms’ product innovations and 75% of their process innovations. A WTO report on the ITA’s benefits that was released at the symposium notes that the widespread use of ICT in sectors as diverse as retail and financial services has created more organizational innovation and new business models. Moreover, by lowering the price of key ICT inputs, the ITA has facilitated the development of booming ICT software and services industries in many developing countries such as India, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The enhanced productivity and greater innovation from increased use of ICT also has resulted in overall employment gains. Firms which are most ITC-intensive are 25 to 30% more likely to grow in terms of employment. One study found that “intensive users of ICT” grew jobs at a rate of 5.1% from 2001 to 2009 even as overall employment shrank 0.5 percent during that period.

In brief, as the World Bank found in 2007, firms that use more ICT enjoy greater sales, stronger employment growth, higher productivity, and more innovation. The ITA has enabled all of those benefits. (Unless otherwise noted, references to all data cited above can be found in a recent ITIF study.)

In contrast, high tariffs on ICT products decrease their demand and reduce the associated productivity gains. Tariffs also shield inefficient domestic ICT firms from competition, leading to higher prices and less ICT investment and innovation — including in downstream industries. Tariffs on ICT products affect all economic sectors because they all depend on such products.

The ITA, one of the most successful WTO agreements, is now 15 years old and has never been revised. Many ICT products were invented after 1997, such as multichip integrated circuits and DVD players; other core products like DRAMs and consumer products like video cameras were not originally included in the ITA. These products are subject to tariffs today. It is estimated that expansion of the ITA would remove tariffs on an additional $800 billion in global ICT trade benefitting consumers and businesses alike; add $190 billion to the global GDP benefitting many economies; and support the creation of 60,000 new jobs in the U.S. alone.

It is time to claim these significant additional economic benefits. At Intel we have tremendous optimism for the future, and an expanded ITA supports our company’s mission to “create and extend computing technology to connect and enrich the lives of every person on earth.”

Intel ISEF 2012

wendy hawkins — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:56:15 +0000

1,549 of the world’s most talented young scientists and engineers just spent the best week of their lives (so far!) at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair. Many of them are going home with one of hundreds of awards and scholarships – more than $3.5 million given away this week, with $1.5 million from Intel alone. The top award of $75,000, named after Intel’s own beloved co-founder, Gordon E. Moore, was presented to 15-year old Jack Thomas Andraka from Crownsville, Maryland for his project developing a novel paper sensor for the detection of pancreatic cancer. The Intel Young Scientist Awards of $50,000 went to Nicholas Benjamin Schiefer from Pickering, Ontario, Canada for research in computer science, and to Ari Misha Dyckovsky from Leesburg, Virginia for his work in photon entanglement. Wonderful students doing amazing work who more than deserve the attention and the recognition. But the money and the competition and the awards represent only a small fraction of what these students take away with them.

Many of these students have been the smartest kid they know for most of their lives, so this is the first time they have ever been in a room filled with hundreds of kids as smart as or (gasp!) smarter than they are. It is the first time they have been surrounded by other people just as excited about science and engineering as they are. It may be the first time they have felt ‘average’ in their entire lives. And for most of them, that feels kinda good.

One thing I have learned after years of living and working with scientists is that for them the world is truly flat, as Tom Friedman tells us. There are no country boundaries – science connects the world. A physicist in one country knows a network of physicists all around the world. And for these 1500 students, this week has formed the kernel of that network. From this single hub, they will return to their homes and connect all of the young scientists they already know, as well as those they will meet in coming years, at their universities and in their careers. This is truly a transformative experience.

And these young scientists are not simply thinking in academic abstracts. More than 25% of these finalists already have patents or patents pending on their work. Monday morning we hosted a panel of experts in entrepreneurship here: a venture capitalist, the head of Intel’s patent law group, the chair of UC Berkeley’s entrepreneurship program, our own Intel Futurist, and Ben Gulak, a former Intel ISEF participant and now young entrepreneur. More than 150 of the Intel ISEF Finalists attended the session and peppered the panelists with so many questions that we shifted to a ‘speed mentoring’ format to give as many of them as possible a chance to interact directly with these experts. The energy in the room was electric.

As I find each year, I am reassured by what I see here: students from around the world, excited and eager to work together, not simply learning about science, but being scientists. It is our task, we adults, to offer this same opportunity to more students, indeed to all students. To have the chance to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty doing research into a subject which they choose themselves, and which has genuine importance – and therefore interest – to them. That is what it takes to engage them as scientists and engineers for the rest of their lives. For those who choose other paths, it will at least give them an understanding of the importance and value of science which will inform their decisions as citizens and consumers, their choices about their health and energy consumption, about the challenges that face the human race all around the world. We need to change the way we teach science to ensure this kind of understanding and engagement for all students. We owe it to them, and we owe it to ourselves.

Intel Testifies at Senate Hearing on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Innovation

andrea fava — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:47:47 +0000

This week, Intel’s global environmental director, Todd Brady, testified at a Senate hearing on corporate environmental responsibility and innovation. As the largest private sector employer in New Mexico and a company that believes that technological advancement and environmental sustainability go hand in hand, we were honored to be invited by Senator Udall to be a part of this discussion.

Todd shared Intel’s efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of our operations and make our products more energy efficient. Intel technology will enable the billion personal computers (PCs) and servers installed between 2007 and 2014 to consume half the energy and deliver 17X the computing capacity of the first billion computers! But he argued that perhaps the most compelling opportunity to align our business strategies with sustainability is the use of Intel technology to solve the world’s environmental challenges. For example, technology products are making buildings, transportation and our electric grids “smarter” and more energy efficient.

Intel and Environment: Conserving the Environment in Which We Innovate: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibility/intel-and-the-environment.html

We appreciated the leadership of Senators Alexander and Udall and hope, as they do, that this discussion will be a catalyst for action.

HR Pathways: Intel is Truly a Great Place to Work!

Mona — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:26:54 +0000

Have you ever had moments where something feels to good to be true, and it just keeps you up at night? Well, I must say that my last rotation is keeping me up at night. I am still in the transition period of this rotation: meeting new faces, having my introductory 1:1’s, ramping up on project management methodologies, but at the same time diving into some Benchmarking Analysis for a project that I will be managing. I would love to share more about that project but it is top secret. What I can share is what I am learning about the process of leading a project. I never knew how much detail went into being a project manager. Every project here at Intel goes through a project life cycle. Some examples of the life cycle would be a pre-exploratory phase, exploratory, planning, development and then deployment. At each stage decisions can be made to cut the project. WOW, for me that has been eye-opening. I guess what I am trying to say is that I never knew that there was such detail and such measures that go into a project. So far I am in the Pre-explore phase. I have had to draft the why, where and benefits of this project in order to convince stakeholders to buy-in , as well as network in order to build a team with the right members that will help make the project a success. This is exciting and I am learning a lot! I am so glad I have been given this opportunity. Next month, I hope to be able to write about the next phases that I have been working on.

It hasn’t been all work though. Yes, I have been having some fun here at Intel too! While last month was a little slow for me, I cannot say the same for this month. I love that Intel has so many volunteer opportunities for employees. This month the volunteer event that I attended was a “Clean the Beach” event. The cool thing about this event was that even though our main focus was to clean up debris from the beach, we got to go to Cannon Beach (a great beach here in Oregon). I mean seriously, a day at the beach, helping the community and having it count towards our Intel Involved matching grant program, how could I not write about that?! It was great to meet new Intel faces, give back to the community, and support Intel’s volunteer mission.

Cannon Beach

At another Intel Great Place to Work event I was able to meet some of the team members of the Portland Trail Blazers. I was also able to bring my nephew to this event. My nephew had a great time. Although, he was a little nervous when he asked for the players autographs, he was glad that he got to meet them. There were lots of kid-friendly games there, and he got excited when he beat me at air hockey. I think it is so awesome that Intel has events where we can invite family members and are able to share with them these exciting events.

Blazer Locker Room

I also have some amazing events coming up in the next month or so that I cannot wait to share. I will be going to the Women at Intel Conference, the Learning Community of Practice Summit as well as volunteering at an Intel Campus Open House and at an event for the Network of Intel African American Group.

Whew!!! As a recent college graduate in the HR Pathways group, I have to admit that it has been exciting going through this program. I have a few more months left into this last rotation and then I move into my permanent role. I can honestly say that Intel has been a great place to work. I have learned a lot about the industry, the way that people collaborate and most importantly about myself.

Unterwegs mit meinem Ultrabook

Monika Lischke — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:59:35 +0000

Hatte ja bereits angekündigt, dass ich mit einem meiner Ultrabooks (Asus Zenbook & Toshiba Portege) durch München düsen werde und Euch daran teilhaben lasse.
So, heute ist der erste Teil der Serie und unoriginellerweise fange ich mal zuhause an – working from home wie es bei Intel heisst; bei Microsoft hiess das ganz simpel Home Office.Nachdem ich leider nicht den Luxus eines separaten Arbeitszimmers besitze, muss mein wunderbarer kleiner 50er Jahre Tisch herhalten, ein Ultrabook hat darauf allerdings prima Platz.

Zugegebenermaßen bearbeite ich daheim eher selten riesige Excel Sheets, sondern konzentriere mich auf den Social Kram, PowerPoint und natürlich emails und dafür brauche ich dann auch kein grosses externes Display. Theoretisch und praktisch könnte ich mit dem Toshiba Ultrabook auch WiDi nutzen, kommt für mich aber nicht in Frage, da ich zuhause keinen Monitor besitze.
Mittags habe ich dann das Ultrabook eingepackt – gefühlt ist meine Tasche schwerer als das Gerät – und dann raus zu meinen Eltern ins ländliche München, Spargelessen :-)

Unterwegs mit meinem Ultrabook

Monika Lischke — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:59:35 +0000

Android Multi-threads Programming for Intel IA

Tao B Wang (Intel) — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:08:46 +0000

See original blog post: Android 多线程编程 on Intel China ISN

Android application development can be supported with multi-threaded programming, which provide convenience for developers to fully utilize the system resource and provide means of designing complicated UI and time consuming operation. It also enhances the user experience of Android users. Multi-threads for Android has no too much difference than for Java. The only change may be that it probably can not directly utilize CANVAS to modify screen element. Certainly Android provides developers with surfaceview class to change screen using Canvas in Multi-threaded programming and bring convenience for designing UI and Game development. So it is very important that developers need to learn how to use multi-threaded programming, which plays important role as part of Android programming.

There are many ways of achieving threading, the most popular way is :

start()；

run()；

sleep()；

stop()；

destroy()；

join();

suspend()；

resume()；

yield()；
wait()；
notify()；

Threading start must use start(); Threading can use run(); Threading sleep can use sleep () etc.. The first three methods are most popular usage. Generally speaking, these three methods can satisfy the need for most threading usage. When run() end, the thread automatically end life. Although stop() , or destroy() can be used to stop thread, but are not recommended as stop() can turn into abnormal, and destroy() can turn into force termination. and will release the lock. The solution is to set a status signal in RUN to wait the thread to terminate automatically. Here we use volatile boolean bThreadRun. For suspend (), resume() and yield(), they are rarely used due to the possibility of dead lock. So in most situation, developers will use wait() and notify() to replace them.

Here is a multi-thread example. I will use a thread to calculate a variable and update the new window title. The main source codes are like this: Use Eclipse to create a project, Use Activity to add onStart, onPause, and onStop etc. Activity is the most popular class that we use, and is also a core Class for Android. It is used to administer and display a screen for an app, and Android developer should be very familiar with it. Activity operation is following the sequence: onCreate，onStart，onStop，onPause，onResume， onRestart，onDestroy，onRestoreInstanceState，onSaveInstanceState. The popular execution sequence is onCreate，onStart，onResume. When windows is not at the top level, onPause，onstop are executed, if it is on the top, then onRestart，onResume will be executed. The loop will continue until onDestroy. If you want to save window, just reload onSaveInstanceState，and reload onRestoreInstanceState when enter。Here are the example that multi-thread is created in onStart using Activity method：

01.MyThread myThread = new MyThread();
02. myThread.start();

Add MyThread code below:

01.public class MyThread extends Thread {
02. // Claim character variable
03. public MyThread() {
04. }
05.
06. @Override
07. public void start() {
08. super.start();
09. }
10.
11. // main working method of thread
12. @Override
13. public void run() {
14. while (true) {
15. try {
16. sleep(5000);
17. if (c > ((1 << 31) – 1)) {
18. c = 0;
19. } else {
20. c++;
21. }
22. Message message = new Message();
23. message.what = 1;
24. mHandler.sendMessage(message);
25. } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
26. }
27. }
28. }
29.
30. }

Method of realize updatetitle：

01.public void updateTitle() {
02. setTitle(“test thread ” + c);
03. }

Here updatetitle is not used to directly update new window, instead, handler is used. The reason is that the direct usage of updatetitle is not safe, and may cause threading restart and other issues. Android introduced Handler as a special class, and use it as a bi-direction bridge between Runnable and Activity. So we can only send Message in method run, but in Handler, we use different Message to execute different tasks, and add handler for program:

01.private Handler mHandler = new Handler() {
02. public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
03. switch (msg.what) {
04. case 1:
05. updateTitle();
06. break;
07. }
08. };
09. };

The final version of completed source codes are as below，threading is used to process data and display data on window:

01.package com.test;
02.
03.import android.app.Activity;
04.import android.os.Bundle;
05.import java.lang.Thread;
06.import android.os.Message;
07.import android.os.Handler;
08.import android.graphics.Color;
09.
10.public class TestThreadActivity extends Activity {
11. int c = Color.BLUE;
12. MyThread myThread;
13. volatile boolean bThreadRun = false;
14.
15. /** Called when the activity is first created. */
16. @Override
17. public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
18. super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
19. setContentView(R.layout.main);
20. }
21.
22. @Override
23. protected void onRestoreInstanceState(android.os.Bundle savedInstanceState) {
24. super.onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState);
25. }
26.
27. @Override
28. protected void onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle outState) {
29. super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
30. }
31.
32. @Override
33. protected void onStart() {
34. super.onStart();
35. myThread = new MyThread();
36. myThread.start();
37. bThreadRun = true;
38. }
39.
40. @Override
41. protected void onRestart() {
42. super.onRestart();
43. }
44.
45. @Override
46. protected void onResume() {
47. super.onResume();
48. }
49.
50. @Override
51. protected void onPause() {
52. super.onPause();
53. bThreadRun = false;
54. // myThread.stop();
55. }
56.
57. @Override
58. protected void onStop() {
59. super.onStop();
60. onPause();
61. }
62.
63. @Override
64. protected void onDestroy() {
65. super.onDestroy();
66. // myThread.destroy();
67. }
68.
69. private Handler mHandler = new Handler() {
70. public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
71. switch (msg.what) {
72. case 1:
73. updateTitle();
74. break;
75. }
76. };
77. };
78.
79. public void updateTitle() {
80. setTitle(“test thread ” + c);
81. setTitleColor(c);
82. }
83.
84. public class MyThread extends Thread {
85. // Claim character variable
86. public MyThread() {
87. }
88.
89. @Override
90. public void start() {
91. super.start();
92. }
93.
94. // The main method of work of threading
95. @Override
96. public void run() {
97. while (bThreadRun) {
98. try {
99. sleep(100);
100. if (c > ((1 << 16) – 1)) {
101. c = 0;
102. } else {
103. c += 100;
104. }
105. Message message = new Message();
106. message.what = 1;
107. mHandler.sendMessage(message);
108. } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
109. }
110. }
111. }
112.
113. }
114.
115.}

Another popular way of threading is to compile Runnable interface. Here we do some modification to the source codes to use threading to realize the redraw of main window. The complete source codes are as below:

01.package com.test;
02.
03.import android.app.Activity;
04.import android.content.Context;
05.import android.os.Bundle;
06.import java.lang.Thread;
07.import android.view.View;
08.import android.graphics.Canvas;
09.import android.graphics.Color;
10.import android.graphics.Paint;
11.import android.graphics.Paint.Style;
12.import android.graphics.Rect;
13.
14.public class TestThreadActivity extends Activity {
15. int c = Color.BLUE;
16. MyThread myThread;
17. volatile boolean bThreadRun = false;
18. MyView mv;
19.
20. /** Called when the activity is first created. */
21. @Override
22. public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
23. super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
24. // setContentView(R.layout.main);
25. mv = new MyView(this);
26. setContentView(mv);
27. }
28.
29. public class MyView extends View {
30. MyView(Context context) {
31. super(context);
32. }
33.
34. @Override
35. protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
36. // TODO Auto-generated method stub
37. super.onDraw(canvas);
38.
39. // Fist define a paint
40. Paint paint = new Paint();
41.
42. // draw rectangular area -solid filled rectangular
43. // configure color
44. paint.setColor(c);
45. // Configure style and fill
46. paint.setStyle(Style.FILL);
47. //Draw a rectangular
48. canvas.drawRect(new Rect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight()), paint);
49. }
50.
51. }
52.
53. @Override
54. protected void onRestoreInstanceState(android.os.Bundle savedInstanceState) {
55. super.onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState);
56. }
57.
58. @Override
59. protected void onSaveInstanceState(android.os.Bundle outState) {
60. super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
61. }
62.
63. @Override
64. protected void onStart() {
65. super.onStart();
66. //myThread = new MyThread();
67. //myThread.start();
68. new Thread (new MyThread()).start();
69. bThreadRun = true;
70. }
71.
72. @Override
73. protected void onRestart() {
74. super.onRestart();
75. }
76.
77. @Override
78. protected void onResume() {
79. super.onResume();
80. }
81.
82. @Override
83. protected void onPause() {
84. super.onPause();
85. bThreadRun = false;
86. // myThread.stop();
87. }
88.
89. @Override
90. protected void onStop() {
91. super.onStop();
92. onPause();
93. }
94.
95. @Override
96. protected void onDestroy() {
97. super.onDestroy();
98. // myThread.destroy();
99. }
100.
101. public class MyThread implements Runnable{
102. // the main method of work of threading
103. @Override
104. public void run() {
105. while (bThreadRun) {
106. try {
107. Thread.sleep(500);
108. if (c > ((1 << 31) – 1)) {
109. c = 0;
110. } else {
111. c += 100;
112. }
113. mv.postInvalidate();
114. } catch(InterruptedException e){
115. }
116. }
117. }
118.
119. }
120.
121.}

Age Friendly Cities and China’s Competition to Invent Sustainable Health

Eric Dishman — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:34:54 +0000

Almost 20 years ago, in my first job out of graduate school for Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, I worked on a project called “ElderSpace.” Our team of social scientists at this Silicon Valley think tank set out to study the needs of the staff and residents of a nearby nursing home, in hopes of discovering ways in which technology could improve their lives. Months later, having built a wide range of working prototypes—from wireless heart monitors and weight scales to rich video conferencing “walls” that allowed seniors to sit and chat with loved ones virtually—we put on a demo day of our ideas. During one of the feedback sessions about these prototypes, one of the executives said, “You know, we shouldn’t be trying to figure out how to build a better nursing home but how to get rid of nursing homes in society through the invention of new technologies.”

Without my realizing it at the time, that nagging question set me off on a 20-year (so far) journey to figure out how technologies might help to promote independence, choice, and a great quality of life for seniors wherever they choose to age-in-place. And after two decades of prototypes, policy advocacy, and product launches, I have to admit that our society is still all too ready to stash older people away in institutions or alone in their own homes because we have not yet figured out how to build a thriving, sustainable, multi-generational community where the predominance of people over age 65 can thrive. And we have failed to develop new care models—supported by new technologies—that help those older people to have affordable access to healthcare as they deal with the infirmities, injuries, and chronic conditions that so often come with age.

So it was, admittedly, with some amount of skepticism almost two years ago when I first met with a Chinese delegation from the Minister of Social Affairs and the Minister of Health offices to discuss how they might build whole new communities—cities even—that were designed for aging-in-place. I understood the consequences of China’s one-child policy resulting in a demographic challenge to find enough younger people to care for a swiftly aging society. And I had seen those amazing photos that showed the urbanization of China, as their government built entirely new thriving cities on former tracts of farmland almost overnight. Also shocking were the charts showing the growth of the middle class in China, with its new expectations for different levels of access and service for healthcare. But to truly design and build an “age friendly city” seemed impossible—almost science fiction.

But now, as we approach the official launch of China’s Age Friendly Cities initiative, I can see a nation that is truly committed to answering that two-decade question that has plagued me: how do we use new technologies (and policies and care models) to promote healthy and independent living for older people? Over the past year, our Intel team in China has worked closely with key government stakeholders, academics, and companies to begin to lay out a plan for how to achieve this audacious vision. In particular, we have begun to work with eco-system partners to design the blueprint for building a sustainable healthcare “grid” and “careforce” that will allow this city to deliver care into the homes and community locations of its citizens instead of in expensive, unsustainable hospitals, nursing homes, and other institutions.

The “healthcare grid” will be a lattice work of intelligent communications, computing, and health IT technologies—with billions of dollars of stimulus from the Chinese government—designed to enable remote patient monitoring, care coordination, personalized coaching, social networking, caregiver support, and accessibility and engagement by seniors in the flow of daily life in their city. Key to success will be ensuring that the healthcare grid, transportation grid, energy grid, communications grid, and other city infrastructures are designed to be interoperable and to promote and support independence whenever possible. Think of this as “grid convergence,” where all aspects of city life are built upon a common, scalable infrastructure that serves a wide range of needs. This is in sharp contrast with the model today that most cities use, whereby piecemeal design and funding of different “grids” at different times leads to fragmentation, redundancy, and inefficient use of public resources.

For example, the home energy management solutions must be able to not only reduce power consumption to protect the environment and keep power bills affordable, but that energy usage data can also become part of an activities-of-daily-living monitoring system to make sure Mom or Dad are doing okay. Similarly, the intelligence in the transportation grid should help older people to safely and successfully navigate the public transportation system so that they are able to be active and mobile in the community. And the broadband infrastructure must support not only high-definition movies for entertainment purposes, but also high-definition, multi-party video conferences between a chronic disease patient at home with her daughter, doctor, and neighbor simultaneously. Sustainable health will require all of these elements coming together in a well-designed and intentional way to promote independence.

These—and many other experiences—will be possible in China’s Age Friendly City because of the purposeful design of technologies, policies, and workforce training that support team-based care models and independent living at home. Sure, there will be a small hospital in the community for the most extreme, emergency situations that always occur, but the use of institutions for care will become the exception, not the norm. Planning out a sustainable health system from the ground up will allow the Chinese government to achieve the “triple aims” of health reform—better quality, access, and costs—that almost every nation is striving for. And in China, it’s on a scale that most countries cannot begin to imagine because our legacy healthcare paradigms (and reimbursement models) are so institutionally heavy.

This audacious vision, investment, and action plan to make Age Friendly Cities a reality, not just a concept on paper and in prototypes, will put China in a global leadership position that is hard to compete with. The knowledge that the Chinese people and companies will gain from these initiatives will fuel entire new applications, intellectual property, and industries, helping them not only to solve their own sustainable health challenges but also to export new goods and services to the rest of the world that is also dealing with the consequences of global aging. They don’t have to get it all “right” the first time—they just have to get started, to learn, and then to iterate.

For two decades, I have preached about the need to invent “gray technologies” and “gray jobs” for global aging—much as nations have created “green technologies” and “green jobs” for global warming—but now China is about to deliver upon that promise. As a global entrepreneur, I am honored and excited to have my Intel team at the table…collaborating, learning, teaching, inventing, revising, and rethinking old notions of hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics. As a U.S. citizen, I can only hope that these kinds of approaches will begin to take hold so that my own family—and so that I myself—might have these options as we age. May the global competition to invent independence—to achieve sustainable health—begin. As far as I can tell, China’s efforts put it far ahead of a very hungry, needy pack.

Ultrabook Project in Seoul: will.i.am with 2NE1 K-Pop music stars

Marcia Hansen — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:30:40 +0000

Seoul K-Pop stars Minzy, Dara, and Bom of 2NE1 get busy with their Ultrabook™ system.

While in Seoul, South Korea for the Ultrabook Project tour, will.i.am and 2NE1 used the Ultrabook to create some original K-Pop style music. If you’re not familiar K-Pop (or Korean pop music), you will be soon. K-Pop is both a Korean music sensation as well as a fan culture that’s taking the world by storm. Known for its electrifying, dance-friendly beats, K-Pop has captured the hearts of Korean teens for generations.

The history of Korean pop music is not very old. You can see its roots only since the 1920s and 1930s with a style of music called Trot and later with Western influences in the 1950s. In more recent years, K-pop shows a cross among various genres including pop, dance, electropop, hip hop, rock, R&B, and electronic. Young artists who want to make it in the industry will try and get recognized by talent agencies who nurture up-and-coming singers with voice, language, dance and image advice.

If you want to learn more about K-pop, you’ll find video and info shared on Facebook and YouTube. Also, AllKpop, Soompi, and KPopSeven track the latest news in this industry.

Click through to the Ultrabook Project with will.i.am for more content and pictures on K-Pop and the tour stop in Seoul, South Korea.

Which K-Pop star has her fashionable fingers on the pulse of the newest technology?

Intel's Ultrabook™ Project connects Seoul style with creativity for will.i.am and K-Pop stars CL and Park Bom from 2NE1.

Join will.i.am on the Ultrabook^™ Project

Ultrabook Project

Part travelogue and part insiders’ guide, the Ultrabook^™ Project is a musical journey and a global cultural experience through eyes and ears of hip hop music legend will.i.am.

In 2012, will.i.am began traveling to various cities throughout the world armed with an Ultrabook, exploring, documenting, collaborating with local artists, and ultimately creating original pieces of music inspired by each of the cities he visits.will.i.am has already traveled to Tokyo, Mexico City and Seoul.

The Ultrabook Project site gives you a free music download of each city’s newly created song, lets you read articles about will.i.am’s travels, and you can learn more about the power of creating with an Ultrabook. Also check out the interactive timeline where you can comment and share the Ultrabook Project with your Facebook friends.

See for yourself

Google+ for Business: Hype or Helpful?

Wendy Thomas — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:38:35 +0000

With so many social media options out there, and with more on the horizon every day, it’s a challenge to know whether your business can benefit from any of them or not. Right?

Google+ is one of the new guys, and there are mixed reviews so far. If you’re already using Twitter and Facebook and getting good results, then you might not want or need another avenue right now. If you’re new to social network platforms and still working on goals for what you want to accomplish, Google+ should be thrown into the mix.

Google+ ties several Google products that serve businesses together. One point especially worth noting is that with Google being a top search engine in the world, public posts made on Google+ automatically rank higher than any others in a Google search. What’s not to like about that?

There are 4 types of posts to create in Google+:

1. Link posts – offer a link to something interesting, perhaps your latest company blog post
2. Photo posts – pull customers in with a visual that relates to the topic you are writing about
3. Video posts – point to a relevant YouTube video or upload one directly
4. Location posts – tell people where you are writing from when you’re at a conference, convention, or somewhere you might want people to visit

Like all networks, sharing information from others goes a long way. Google+ has a “share” button on every post that makes sharing as easy as ever.

Google+ makes having conversations easy, too. Readers can comment on any of your posts and before you know it, you have a lot of dialogue going. You might want to take the conversation into a Google+ hangout where you, or someone from your group, can interact through live video with the people who want to talk to you.

• Michael Dell – you may recognize the name of the man who is CEO and chairman of Dell – is quite active on Google+ with posts, shares, and using hangouts to reach his customers. There is also a Dell company page that has a lot of customer interaction and invitations to events offered through the hangout.

• World-leading business software provider, SAP, has a company page managed by its social media team. The company uses video links to share company insights with its readers and even offers live streaming of conferences and events it hosts.

• San Francisco-based cloud computing company Salesforce.com is on Google+ offering social media tips through commentary, video replays, and live video streams.

Google+ is free, useful, and quick on searches. It is full of people who want to have conversations and is an excellent way to get a higher Google ranking, which is always great for attracting new business.

Get started by creating a profile and doing searches on your competitors. See who is out there and who isn’t. Check out companies and people in non-competitive fields. Spending a little bit of time investigating can help you decide whether jumping into this social media outlet will bring you more business or not.

Creating Value

michael jacobson — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:02:09 +0000

Today is a big day for Intel. We held our annual stockholder meeting where we report to our stockholders on the state of Intel’s business and our stockholders vote on various proposals. I have to share with you the closing statement that Paul Otellini, our CEO, said during his business update, “Our corporate responsibility programs create value for society, for Intel and for our customers.”

Now the closing remarks, as powerful as they may be, were not the only time being a responsible corporation was mentioned in the meeting. In fact the meeting started with a video on our efforts to produce conflict free minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Paul mentioned several times the positive impact of our more energy efficient products and he shared our accomplishments in 2011 to help achieve our corporate strategic objective to care for our people, the planet and inspire the next generation.

For the last 11 years we have published our Corporate Responsibility report at the shareholder meeting.

Some highlights from this year’s report include:

Intel maintained its position as the largest voluntary purchaser of renewable energy credits in the United States according to the EPA, recycled 87% of the solid waste generated in our operations, and achieved LEED Silver Certification for 18 buildings and fabs across five sites.
Increased audit activity of our supplier facilities nearly five-fold and expanded our transparency in our reporting on this topic, and continued to take leadership actions to address the issue of conflict minerals in the supply chain.
Invested over $299 million in employee training and development, recorded improvements in our Organizational Health Survey scores, and again earned a spot on Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work list.
Surpassed the milestone of training over 10 million teachers in more than 70 countries through the Intel® Teach program and expanded our entrepreneurship programs and competitions and programs for girls and women.
Achieved a worldwide employee volunteerism rate of 50%, up from 48% in 2010, with our employees logging over 1 million volunteer hours in 2011 in 5,100 schools and nonprofit organizations in 45 countries.

As you can imagine there is an immense amount of work that goes into developing our report not just from my team but including people throughout the company that are content owners and experts. But more importantly the report itself is a reflection of the commitment of all of our employees to the highest level of excellence whether developing a new technology that will enrich lives, adhering to the highest level of ethical conduct or applying their skills in their local communities to help solve a community challenge.

I am so pleased to say that at Intel, corporate responsibility is a crucial component to the overall growth of our business. From product to customer to employee to environment, the integration of corporate responsibility allows Intel to have a greater and more influential impact on industries, communities, and the global economy.

I trust that you will find that to be the case as your read our 2011 report and see the changes we have made this year to reflect this ongoing commitment to further integrating corporate responsibility into our business. Each year, we make improvements to our report based on stakeholder feedback – we welcome your input on this new report – available at www.intel.com/go/responsibility.

What About Me Twitter Party Tonight!

Nicole Nash — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:39:59 +0000

If you haven’t already heard about “What About Me“, a personalized infographic that colorfully displays your social media habits, or tried it out – you’re in luck! Tonight 6 bloggers will partner with Intel to host a Twitter party. The “What About Me” twitter party (tonight at 8PM EST) is an opportunity to test out the “What About Me” infographic and chat with social media enthusiast about how they use social media. Plus there will be prizes!

To qualify for the prizes =(1) please RSVP to the Twitter Party with your Twitter ID (2) tweet out your “What About Me?” image with the hash tag #Intelsocialbutterfly and then (3) participate in the Twitter party.

We look forward to chatting with you!

The #Intelsocialbutterfly Twitter Party is tonight, 5/17 8pm EST.

We look forward to chatting with you!

The #Intelsocialbutterfly Twitter Party is tonight, 5/17 8pm EST.

Co-hosts: @IntelEdge @LittleTechGirl @TechMama

Panelists: @TechSavvyMama @Tech4Moms @scrappinmichele and @c2cmom

Hash tag: #IntelSocialButterfly

The Technology Timeline Advances Again With Ultrabook

Marcia Hansen — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:56:51 +0000

Let’s take a moment to imagine a world without computers. How different our lives would be if not for desktops, laptops and now the Ultrabook^TM?! Computers have changed our lives. They’ve certainly changed mine.

I bank online with a bank that I’ve never stepped foot inside, and its actual physical location is across the country. I couldn’t do that without my computer. My parents are texting and using Facebook now. All of us in social media post, pin, fan and tweet throughout the day. The way we bank, communicate, and even the way we watch TV and movies would be completely turned upside down if it weren’t for the advances in technology in just the last few years.

Now, imagine a world without Intel–it’s pretty much the same thing. There are many a morning on the drive in to work that I marvel about all that Intel has done in the world.

Intel was founded in 1968 by physicists, Gordon E. Moore and Robert Noyce. Originally, they planned on naming the company Moore Noyce, but you can probably guess why they quickly abandoned that idea and went with a more suitable name –NM Electronics. They used that name for nearly a year before they changed it again to Integrated Electronics, or INTEL for short.

With the latest Intel ad campaign for Ultrabook, we’re talking about how suddenly; everything else seems so old-fashioned. Technology has made another leap forward with the sleek and responsive Ultrabook. It performs well, is super portable at less than 1 inch thick, and has great battery life, which means our computer bags will get a whole lot lighter.

See the latest videos on our Ultrabook Videos page.

You can also check out these key dates in Intel history and consider a geek travel stop at the Intel Museum.

Intel Key Dates

1965 – Gordon Moore predicts the complexity of an integrated circuit will double every year or so, “Moore’s Law”

1968 – Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore incorporate NM Electronics

1971 – The world’s first microcomputer is introduced

1974 – The first general purpose microprocessor is introduced to the world

1980 – The Intel microprocessor is chosen by IBM for the first ever personal computer

1991 – The “Intel Inside” campaign launches

1992 – Intel becomes the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world

1993 – The Pentium is introduced, a fifth generation chip

1996 – Intel’s revenue exceeds twenty billion dollars and the net income surpasses five billion dollars

1997 – The Pentium 11 microprocessor is introduced to the world

1997 – Time Magazine names Andy Grove “Man of the Year”

2002 – Gordon Moore receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom

2003 – Intel ships its 1 billionth processor

2007 – All Apple computers now feature Intel microprocessors

2007 – Intel opens its new microprocessor fabrication facility, so big that 17 football fields could fit inside

2009 – Gordon Moore is inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame

2010 – Fortune ranks Intel among the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

2012 – Intel launches the Ultrabook

What key dates or moments stand out in your use of technology? Is there a time when you thought, OMG, I can’t believe I’m doing this?

Ultra Responsive. Ultra Sleek. Ultrabook^™ – Inspired by Intel®

Ultrabook

With an Ultrabook, you won’t sacrifice power for beauty with an optimal blend of the responsiveness and smart capabilities you expect and the portability and style you crave.

Always less than 1-inch thick and with longer battery life, you can use your Ultrabook all day long and not have to hunt for a power cord. An Ultrabook enables you to open the lid and start working in less than 7 seconds.

Experience the joy of performance that keeps up with you as you create, explore, and enjoy what interests you most.

See for yourself

Maintaining Security in the Age of Oversharing – Executive Perspectives

Amy Kircos — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:36:01 +0000

“Security and privacy are very, very important issues.” This statement from one of the latest 60 Second Insights videos is one that echoes throughout the most recent set focused on security. As more personal information is shared online and more business transactions are made using technology, companies and consumers alike need to take security of their information and data into consideration. Companies are looking to not only include security design elements into every aspect of their technology, but they also are looking to educate consumers about the risks associated with online information. In fact, according to a recent survey, 70% of people are more concerned about privacy than they were five years ago, and 68% feel they have lost control over how their information is shared and used by businesses.

To date, 60 Second Insights have focused on everything from how mobility impacts society and spurs innovation to what people are looking for in their devices and the future of mobile devices from a design and functionality perspective. This newest set of executive perspectives focuses on how companies are taking security and privacy into consideration, what consumers should think about when using their devices from a security perspective and the future of regulating data to ensure that it is protected.

60 Second Insights looks at how advances in mobile technology and consumer mobile device usage models affect a wide variety of industries, including art, business, culture, social networking, exploration, design, photography, film, music and more. Viewers get a glimpse of how thought leaders from a variety of industries and backgrounds leverage mobile technology to innovate and ultimately impact consumers’ lives and the ways in which they use technology.

The newest executive perspectives feature Chris Gilbert from Ubiquisys, Gary Davis of McAfee, James Anderson of Mastercard and Prith Banerjee of HP Labs. Stay tuned for more executive perspectives in the coming weeks.

Effective B2B Lead Generation Doesn’t Sell Your Product

Kevin Murphy — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:11:51 +0000

This is a guest post by Susan Fantle. Susan Fantle is a 25+ year veteran marketing copywriter and consultant specializing in online and offline business-to-business marketing. Her firm, The Copy Works, serves clients nationwide. You can read more of Susan’s wisdom on her blog B2BMarketingSmarts.com.

In the world of B2B marketing, there are three kinds of prospects:

1. Those in the last stage of the buy cycle and in the process of evaluating solutions.

2. Individuals with a pain or a problem that’s big enough to take action to solve, but who are beginning to look around for information on possible solutions.

3. People just beginning to realize there’s a problem, but the pain is not yet big enough to take action to solve.

When your company develops a product, its purpose is to provide a solution to a known problem. The thinking is, “Companies have this problem, so we’ll create a solution that they’ll jump on.” It is logical, from that point of view, to focus all your marketing on selling the product.

Unfortunately, the only prospects this approach attracts are those that fall into category #1 — completely missing those who are beginning their research or are just beginning to see a pain point. To generate the maximum number of leads in marketing efforts — to build a long-term pipeline of potential buyers — B2B marketing must reach all three groups.

To do this, offer valuable information that is relevant to your prospects’ industry or job reaches. This content is a tried-and-true B2B marketing technique that should never fail if done correctly.

Many B2B marketers offer white papers/briefings, how-to guides, checklists, case studies, videos, podcasts, published books, Webinars, or a combination of these items to lure potential leads. This information is offered free and without any obligation other than a brief registration that tells you who responded.

Many B2B marketers advocate giving content away without registration. I agree that this approach does an even better job of positioning your company as a helpful, professional resource. If you don’t know who responded, however, you haven’t generated an actionable lead or grown your pipeline. You must offer some content that requires registration or it’s not true lead generation.

Using content to generate leads, then nurturing those leads through the buying process, is a proven marketing approach. Here are a few guidelines to follow when writing content for lead generation.

1. Keep communications short and to the point.

2. Make it clear, quick and easy for prospects to act on what is being offered.

3. Speak to prospects in the first person and communicate the benefits they will gain from acting on the offer of informational content.

4. Be sure to offer information that has real value to your target market.

5. Communicate differently to different titles. Goals and problems vary from title to title. Communications should be versioned to address those differences.

6. Make contact often enough to keep your company/solution top-of-mind as your prospect moves through every stage of the buy cycle.

7. Give the prospect a clear ‘next action’ in every communication.

The content you use in your lead generation program doesn’t sell your product. It gets interested, qualified parties to raise their hand and say, “I have the problem your content discusses and am willing and interested to learn about ways to solve it.”

Not Your Average Science Fair

Linda Qian — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:28:02 +0000

This blog was posted on behalf of Greg Fagan, Intel Corporate Affairs. Follow him on Twitter @GREG_INTEL. Part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new, Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors. All of these “makers” come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to share what they have learned.

Intel is sponsoring this year’s Maker Faire Education Day- held two days prior to the weekend event- where students get a tour of the grounds at Maker Faire while exhibitor booths and workshops are being setup. They’ll see the sights and hear the sounds of select “Makers”, while participating in activities and previewing their demonstrations.

Employee volunteers from across Intel will lead approximately 1500 students on their tours as part of the Intel Involved volunteer program. Intel and the Intel Foundation invest more than a $100 million a year in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs because Intel believes that the next generation of innovators needs those skills as the basis for critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving. As leaders in the maker-movement, Intel believes those young innovators are the key to solving global challenges in our future.

What’s exciting is that some of our very own Makers will be manning the booth on Education Day. Many of Intel’s brilliant minds will be sharing projects they’ve made at work and home; including electric vehicles, 3-D printing projects, wearable electronics, and even renewable energy generators. Intel’s history is deeply rooted in “making things” and continues to be the core of our company culture. These internal ambassadors inspire the rest of us to think critically and creatively, and I enjoy working alongside them every day – though, some mornings it is a bit odd pulling in behind an electric tricycle.

Meet some of Intel’s Makers on Thursday, May 17 from 11:00am – 2:00pm. Preview tours are ninety-minutes with staggered start times.

For more information about the event, visit the Maker Faire web site.

“Intel is a company built by people who dreamed big and made the future with their own hands. We believe in a world of innovation and a world of possibilities. Maker Faire shares these values as well as Intel’s commitment to hands-on learning that inspires student interest in design, technology, engineering, and science. We look forward to partnering on Education Day to put the power of innovation in the hands of as many young people as possible.” -Genevieve Bell, Director, Interaction & Experience Research Intel Labs

Killer Resume Tips

Jeff — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:59:54 +0000

So much has been written about how to write a resume. Let me share a few key tips I have found to be true in 20 years of corporate recruiting:

Have an Objective

If you don’t know what you want, it’s hard for the reader to evaluate or it appears that you might take any job. If you are focused, it is easy to assess whether your skills, education and experience support your goal. (

Typical Objective: Challenging job where I can use and enhance my skills in a business setting.

Better Objective: Compensation/Benefits Analyst position using my Human Resources experience and coursework to improve a large organization’s bottom line.

Use keywords

Corporate recruiters can’t even read the hundreds of resumes that come into our databases. We must use keywords to narrow down the candidate pool to a reasonable number. If you are missing related technical/functional words (or misspell them!) a real person may never dig your resume out of the “black hole” known as an Applicant Tracking System.

I once asked a candidate, while looking at his resume, “What are your greatest strengths?” He responded that he was 1) a good public speaker, 2) very detail-oriented, and 3) very strong with MS Excel macros.

I immediately commented that none of those words/phrases were listed on his resume. How do you expect to get a call, based on your resume, if your very best skills/qualities, aren’t even included?

Use numbers to show results

Most resumes I see provide a laundry list of “tasks”. What catches my attention is results. For example, if a candidate used to sell mobile phones:

Typical description: Accomplishments

Sold phone to business users Sold $5,000 of product every three months

Provided customer service Averaged sales of 110% of quota

Followed up on client prospects Achieved 95% rating in client satisfaction surveys

The items in the left column give me no indication of the quality of the candidate’s performance. The items in the right hand column make me want to quickly interview the candidate!

List Awards/Certifications

Include all certifications and awards/recognitions that you have received that are still relevant. If you would like to talk about them in a potential interview, and can still perform the skills you used to achieve the awards, include them on your resume.

For example, if you received an award 10 years ago for being an outstanding trainer, and you can still perform that function today, include it on your resume- and be prepared to talk about it in the interview!

Highlights, not entire History

If you have no experience, include your best coursework and community/volunteer activities. If you have extensive experience, omit the oldest or least relevant positions.

A good rule of thumb would be to include your last 10-15 years experience, or your last 3-4 positions.

Now resume tips can vary slightly from recruiter to recruiter, to get another perspective, here’s a part 1 and part 2 of past posts that offer good advice too! By following these key tips, you can stand out from the crowd when being considered for a position. Help the recruiter or hiring manager find your resume, then give them a reason to call you for an interview!

The Devil Went Down to Irvine: Scenes from the Diablo(R) III launch

Kevin E. Patterson — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:09:40 +0000

The 11-year wait is over. Last night Intel and select PC makers supported Blizzard’s successful midnight launch of Diablo(R) III in Irvine, CA.

Diablo III is the most pre-ordered game ever on Amazon* (per International Business Times*) and today’s news reports cite continued overwhelming demand.

Intel helped Blizzard bring Diablo III to life via the use of Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA). PC gamers with the latest Intel processor-based PCs can also explore the visually striking world of Diablo III.

Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard CEO, kicks off launch party

Intel is promoting the launch with select PC makers who are making special offers available, and the chance to win a custom Diablo III laser-etched gaming machine (contest open until June 29).

iBUYPOWER* laser etched prize PC on stage

A new page has launched covering these offers, the contest, and how we helped bring Diablo III to life. The new Intel gaming site also launched this week.

~150 Blizzard developers signing for fans

Good times for the 1,500+ attendees at the Irvine Spectrum Center last night, as you can see below.

Diablo® is a registered trademark of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Meshcentral.com – Drag & drop to Terminal

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:29:50 +0000

Well, we just got ourself a new feature! With Meshcentral.com, you can access the command prompt of any Windows, Mac OSX and Linux computers from our web based terminal. Works in any browser. It’s useful when you need to do advanced operations. It’s especially useful for Linux machines where the command prompt is really powerful. So, the new feature is that you can now drag & drop a text document, up to 10k in length into the terminal and the text will be “typed” into the terminal window just like if you typed it on the keyboard. You can how have a bunch of script files ready to go and, when you need them, just drap and drop on the terminal to save you a lot of typing!

This feature working in FireFox, Chrome and Safari. It should work in IE10 when that comes out, but for right now, no IE support.

Enjoy!
Ylian
meshcentral.com

Application-Aware Firewalls by Andy Thurai

Ellery Bledsoe — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:46:38 +0000

You may have heard this term recently and wondered what it meant. When it comes to security, everyone thinks of Firewalls, Proxies, IPS, IDS, Honeypots, VPN devices, email security and even Web security, but most people don’t think in terms of application level security unless either you are the developer, admin, or user of those specific services or perhaps a hacker. Especially when your traditional network boundaries disappear you can’t carry all of those devices with you. When you move out of your traditional boundaries, towards the cloud, you trust the cloud provider to provide you these features. But you can’t do the same with application level security. That is because those devices work on a level below the Application Layer (Or Layer 7 in the ISO-OSI architecture model). And those standards are very well defined and established, whereas, to an extent, the application layer is still evolving – from COBOL to API, everything is fair game.

There is a reason why enterprises are looking for devices which can do it all. I was reading a security research report the other day, which suggested that attackers are moving up the stack to the application layer since it is so easy to hack into applications nowadays; especially with the applications moving to the cloud, thus introducing new vectors of attack, including a whole layer of API/ XML threats (if you are still bound to XML/SOAP and can’t free yourself). Most of the organizations that I see don’t have the same solid security at the application level as they do at the network level. This discrepancy developed over last few years as more and more applications came out with new technologies exposing themselves to newer threats. Plus there is no unified standard amongst developers when they develop application level security.

The network security we have today is not “application aware”. This means that API/XML and other application level threats go right through the regular network defenses that you’ve built up over years. Many people think that if they use REST or JSON then they are not as prone to attacks as those who are using SOAP/XML/ RPC, which is a funny thought.

Add this to the fact that when your applications move your enterprise boundary to go to a cloud, they are exposed to hackers 24×7 waiting to be attacked. This leaves you subject not only to direct attacks on your application, but also to bounces off another application that is hosted in a multi-tenant environment. So your new “firewall” should be able to inspect, analyze application traffic, and identify threats. But the issue doesn’t stop here; you also need to analyze for viruses, malware and the “intention” of the message (and its attachments) as they pass through. Most times the issue with Firewalls inspecting traffic is that they look at where information is going (port and maybe an IP address), but not what the message is intended to do. There is a reason why injection attacks such as SQL Injection, XSS, Xpath injection all became so popular.

Now there is another issue, and this relates to the way applications are built nowadays. In the olden days you controlled both the client, the server, and even the communication between them to an extent. Now we expose APIs and let others build interfaces, middleware, and the usage model as they see fit. Imagine a rookie or an outsourced developer developing a sub-standard code and putting it out there for everyone poke and prod for weaknesses. As we all know, the chain is as strong as the weakest link. A problem arises because it is hard to figure out which is your weakest link. So application-aware firewalls can not only inspect, analyze or control traffic to applications, but also utilize inherent knowledge allowing them to work at a deeper level too.

This gives you freedom to move the necessity of application level security from your applications/ services/ API to a centralized location, so your developers can concentrate on what they are supposed to do – develop the services that matter to your organization and not worry about other nuances, which can now be left to the experts.

This is where Intel/McAfee comes into play. We have solutions that can help you build solid applications/services/ APIs and insulate and abstract the ancillary services in a centralized or de-centralized location, and manage them globally. Our solutions allow you to abstract application security, mobile middleware, data mediation, message transformation, message routing, Quality of Service, Service Level based enforcements, protocol mediation, application firewalls, Web App Firewalls (WAFs), etc. in a standards-based fashion thereby freeing your developers.

Check out our solution set Intel ESG (Enterprise Service Gateway), McAfee MSG (McAfee Service Gateway), McAfee MWG (McAfee Web Gateway), Intel API Gateway which will all help you take your Enterprise and Cloud services to the next level.

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/Expressway-Service-Gateway/

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/Cloud-Service-Brokerage-API-Resource-Center/

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/REST-Web-Services-API-Security/

http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/services-gateway.aspx

http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/web-gateway.aspx

Andy Thurai — Chief Architect & CTO, Application Security and Identity Products, Intel

Andy Thurai is Chief Architect and CTO of Application Security and Identity Products with Intel, where he is responsible for architecting SOA, Cloud, Governance, Security, and Identity solutions for their major corporate customers. In his role, he is responsible for helping Intel/McAfee field sales, technical teams and customer executives. Prior to this role, he has held technology architecture leadership and executive positions with L-1 Identity Solutions, IBM (Datapower), BMC, CSC, and Nortel. His interests and expertise include Cloud, SOA, identity management, security, governance, and SaaS. He holds a degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering and has over 20+ years of IT experience.

He blogs regularly at www.thurai.net/securityblog on Security, SOA, Identity, Governance and Cloud topics. You can find him on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/andythurai.

Do You Have Good Mobile Etiquette, or Are You Guilty of Digital Over-Sharing?

Jessica Hansen — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:23:10 +0000

Intel’s annual “Mobile Etiquette” survey, published this past week, revealed information on the current state of mobile manners and behaviors related to how people are sharing online via their mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, netbooks, laptops and Ultrabook devices).

Eighty-one percent of U.S. adults believe mobile manners are becoming worse (compared to 75 percent of U.S. adults surveyed by Intel a year ago), and 92 percent of U.S. adults wish people practiced better mobile etiquette in public (that number remained steady compared to a year ago).

This year, Intel’s annual “Mobile Etiquette” survey looked a bit deeper into what and how people are sharing and consuming information online via their mobile devices. The survey revealed positive news (we all love our devices and being connected anytime, anywhere), but it also raised some issues related to digital sharing and the idea of over-sharing (information overload anyone?).

Sixty-five percent of U.S. adults admit feeling better connected with and informed about their family and friends regardless of where they are because they are able to connect online through photo sharing, video chatting, etc. with their mobile devices. Living a state away from my immediate family and being on the road often for business travel, I have to say this is one of my very favorite things about having mobile Internet-enabled devices – I can easily keep in touch with family and friends and be up to date on what is happening in their lives.

On the flip side, it seems U.S. adults (according to the Intel survey) are also becoming annoyed by what they feel are digital (over)sharing pet peeves, including: people who constantly complain (59 percent), people who post inappropriate/explicit photos (55 percent), and people who share information that they would consider to be private (53 percent). Sadly, I can think of numerous examples just from today of people I heard talking on their smartphone sharing information about a recent visit to the doctor (something I would consider to be very private) as well as someone who I am connected with via my personal social networks who is a notorious “Debbie Downer” and constantly complaining – even about the smallest things in life.

Share with us… What do you believe is the biggest Mobile Etiquette faux pas or Digital (Over)Sharing pet peeve? On the positive side of things, what’s your favorite thing about being able to share and consume information on the go via your mobile devices? Do you believe people are finding ways to strike a balance in using their mobile devices in positive ways to stay connected, or have you also experienced some folks in your circles who are known as over-sharers?

As an innovator behind the technology powering mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, netbooks, laptops and Ultrabook systems) and mobile lifestyles, Intel is on a continued quest to understand consumers’ changing mobile usage models, how it impacts consumers’ lives, and how technology should evolve in the future. This drives Intel innovation to create the technology experiences that people desire and love.

For more information related to Intel’s 2012 “Mobile Etiquette” survey findings, please check out Intel’s news release titled, “Intel Survey Finds ‘Digital Over-Sharing’ is Leading Mobile Etiquette Faux Pas.” Hear a discussion about the most latest Intel survey findings by listening to the recently-held audio conference call held with Intel Fellow Dr. Genevieve Bell.

Eight Popular Open Source Android Game Engines

Tao B Wang (Intel) — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:31:17 +0000

This is an translation of a very popular Chinese Blog wrote by iamsheldon on Chinese Intel Software Network.

For beginning Android game developers, it is very common that they get lost frequently and do not know where to start and get their hands wet. Especially when they get problems that they can not resolve by themself, and be jealous about the free game engine such as Cocos2d-iphone that iphone developers have. Some start to complain that game development on Android platform is too difficult, and not even a decent game engine is handy to use. Some even think that using the Java language to develop games has lower ROI.

In fact, in the real world, as Android is becoming possibily the only strong competitor against Apple IOS or even pass it, there are for sure a lot resource that are available to Android developers, including quite a lot of Game Engines. Here I will introcude the eight common Android game engines for Android game developers (Notes: fee based, low downloads counts, Not Open Sourced and the game engines that I personally do not know (-_-) are not included here.).

1 Angle

Angle is a specifically designed for the Android platform, agile and suitable for the rapid development of 2D game engine based on OpenGL ES technology development. The engine are written in Java code, and you can replace the inside to achieve according to your needs. The drawback is that there are not enough documentations, and the codes available for download contains limited sample tutorials.

The minimum operating environment requirements is unknown.

Project Address: http://code.google.com/p/angle/

2 Rokon

Rokon a the Android 2D game engine developed based on OpenGL ES technology, the physics engine is the Box2D-, and therefore able to achieve some of the more complex physical effects. The latest version is 2.0.3 (09/07/10). Overall, the biggest advantages of this engine is that its development documentation is complete and comprehensive. And the author of the project responds to bug report and feedbacks quickly and provid fixs and solution. As a result, this framework is currently the most widely used, and lots of developers call it it called it iPhone version of Cocos2d (logic, and coding style, did looks very similiar). Several Android Game framework are developed based on this frame (fee based, membership download only) . So we do not stereotype the claims that Fee-based engines are good good, open sourced and free are bad.

The minimum operating environment requirements for the Android 1.5.

Project Address: http://code.google.com/p/rokon/

3 LGame

LGame is a Java game engine developed by China Android developers. It has two version: Android and PC (J2SE), the highest version is 0.2.6 (31/07/10). The underlying graphics LGrpaphics packaged with Graphics API provided by J2SE and J2ME (PC version uses the Graphics2D package, the Android version of Canvas emulation for rendering). As a result, developer can directly apply J2SE or J2ME development experience . The Android version has built-in Admob interface, and there is not need to configure the XML befort you directly hard-code Admob advertising information.

In addition to the basic sound, graphics, physics, Wizard and other common components of the engine, it alos has built-in IoC, xml, http, and other commonly used Java components package. The drawback is that the jar size is relatively big, the PC version jar size has exceeded 1.2MB, while the Android version is around 500KB. In addition, the engine is also built-in the J2ME Wizard class and related components that support 1:1 rending, the vast majority of J2ME games can be ported to Android or PC version. The only shortfall is that the author of the project is a very lazy guy, development documentation promised last year still not complete, and only game example is available for download.

The minimum operating environment requirements for the Android 1.1.

Project Address: http://code.google.com/p/loon-simple/

4 AndEngine

andengine is also an OpenGL ES technology-based Android game engine, physics engine is the same as the Box2D (standard III). The framwork is average on performance, and lack of development documentation. However, it has a lot of code examples.

Download (no jar download, source code can be extracted using svn): http://code.google.com/p/andengine/

The minimum operating environment requirements is Android 2.2 or above

Project Address: http://code.google.com/p/rokon/

5 libgdx

Libgdx is a game engine developed using OpenGL ES technology, and support 2d Game development for Android platform, the rendering was done by physical engine using Box2D. From the perspective of performance, it is a very power game engine for Android, the drawback is that the Wizard and other relate componments are not simple enough and user friendly, and documentations are also underdeveloped.

The minimum operating environment requirements is unknown.

Project Address: http://code.google.com/p/libgdx/

6 jPCT

jPCT is a standard based on OpenGL technology development, 3D graphics engine (PC environment for the OpenGL, Android OpenGL ES), based on the Java language, has a powerful Java 3D solutions. The engine and LGame (This is a 2D game engine) is similar to, with a PC (J2SE) and Android two development versions.

jPCT of one of the biggest advantage is its amazing backwards compatibility. In the PC environment, jPCT can even run in the JVM1.1 environment, because the graphics rendering jPCT internal interfaces fully comply with all the Java 1.1 specification (and even the Microsoft VM has disappeared, even the old Netscape 4 the VM is no exception ).

The minimum operating environment requirements for the Android 1.5.

Project Address: http://www.jpct.net/jpct-ae/

7 Alien3d

Alien3d is a very small volume Android 3D game engine based on OpenGL ES technology development. In order to compress the volume, according to different functions using a multi-jar release (to include alien3d-engine.jar the alien3d-tiled.jar the alien3d-sprites.jar the alien3d-shapes.jar alien3d-particles2d.jar), in fact, it The core file is only about 40KB, the sum of all the relevant jar is less than 150KB.

The minimum operating environment requirements for the Android 1.5.

Project Address: http://code.google.com/p/alien3d/

8 Catcake

Catcake is a cross-platform Java 3D graphics engine, support for the PC (J2SE) and the Android environment running (has been the iPhone version of Planning). All the outstanding performance of the engine in the ease of use and operational performance, support for game development, such as wizard animation, audio processing and video playback.

The minimum operating environment requirements for the Android 1.6.

Project Address: http://code.google.com/p/catcake/

Intel Announces New Software and Services Investments in Brazil

Lauren Dankiewicz (Intel) — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:40:00 +0000

Investing in Brazil’s Software Ecosystem
Intel is accelerating the growth of Brazil’s software industry by making strategic investments in independent software vendors, developers, universities, technology parks, and government IT agencies.

Today at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Brazil, Intel announced that the Intel® Software Partner Program and four Intel® Software Network developer communities are launching in Portuguese. The Intel Software Network provides hundreds of technical documents and guidance on how to maximize software performance on Intel® architecture. The Intel® Software Partner Program helps companies develop and market commercial applications optimized for Intel® technologies.

Each community has a local community manager who will work with developers across the country to help build best-in-class solutions and end-user experiences.

George Silva: Community manager for Ultrabook™, Consumer Client, and Android* Developer Communities
Jomar Silva: Intel® vPro™ Developer Community
Luciano Palma: Server Community and Parallel Programming Developer Community

Opportunities for Brazilian Software Companies to Partner with Intel
The Intel Software Partner Program will provide local marketing and sales support to drive campaigns with Brazil’s 300,000+ independent software vendors and 73,000+ software and services companies. Launching the program in Portuguese is an important step to connecting with Brazilian software companies for these new campaigns.

Future Investments in Brazil
Intel’s software programs are focused on building strong businesses through best-of-class products. In 2012, Intel will grow its in-country foot print as well as its corporate support teams to drive programs with universities and technology parks.

What is Intel(r) Secure Key Technology?

Gael Holmes Hofemeier (Intel) — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:15:00 +0000

In a nutshell:

Intel® Secure Key, was previously code-named Bull Mountain Technology. It is the Intel name for the Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures instruction RDRAND and its underlying Digital Random Number Generator (DRNG) hardware implementation. Among other things, the DRNG using the RDRAND instruction is useful for generating high-quality keys for cryptographic protocols.

The Bull Mountain Software Implementation Guide has been renamed: (here is a brief summary of the guide)

The Digital Random Number Generator Software Implementation Guide is intended to provide a complete source of technical information on RDRAND usage, including code examples. Included in this document are the following additional sections:

Section 2 of the Guide contains the following information: Random Number Generator (RNG) Basics and Introduction to the DRNG. This section describes the nature of an RNG and its pseudo- (PRNG) and true- (TRNG) implementation variants, including modern cascade construction RNGs. We then present the DRNG’s position within this broader taxonomy.

Section 3 provides a DRNG Overview. In this section, we provide a technical overview of the DRNG, including its component architecture, robustness features, manner of access, performance, and power requirements.

Section 4 shows RDRAND Instruction Usage. This section provides reference information on the RDRAND instruction and code examples showing its use. This includes RDRAND platform support verification and suggestions on DRNG-based libraries.

The document is designed to serve a variety of readers. Programmers who already understand the nature of RNGs may refer directly to section 4 for RDRAND instruction reference and code examples. RNG newcomers who need some review of concepts to understand the nature and significance of the DRNG can refer to section 2. Nearly all users will want to look at section 3 which provides a technical overview of the DRNG.

Download the Intel® Digital Random Number Generator (DRNG) Software Implementation Guide.

Join us at the HTML5 Conference May 21st for Ultrabook fun!

Bob Duffy (Intel) — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:30:58 +0000

We’re excited to be part of this years HTML5 Conference in San Francisco. Although its only one day we want to make the best of it.

So come meet and hang with the Intel team you just might walk away with a shiny new Ultrabook ;-)

Come by the Intel table from 9-5pm:
Test drive an Ultrabook, check out our HTML5 tools for packaging and monetizing apps via AppUp, learn more about our developer program and enter our drawing for an brand new Ultrabook.

Attend our HTML5 Session: Using QR Codes and HTML5 on Ultrabooks™
Room & Time TBD
This session is a technical introduction to QR codes and how you can use them in your HTML5 applications. We’ll also demonstrate several tools that Intel is creating to enable HTML5 developers to rapidly build and sell applications thru the Intel® AppUpSM center. Then Adam Chromicz from hotstudio.com will talk about how they moved StoryPlay, a graphically intense HTML5 application, to the Ultrabook™.

Connect with us at the Casual Mixer @ 5pm
Our technical engineers and community managers will be hanging out during the cocktail mixer and want to learn more about your apps and how you would like to see our program support HTML5.

For more information on this event, check out the official event site: http://html5devconf.com. Also learn more about developing apps for Ultrabooks from our Ultrabook Community.

See ya there :-)

Why the Intel Achievement Awards Ceremony was Amazing

Sejal — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:44:13 +0000

Note from the editor: The Intel Achievement Award, or IAA, is our company’s highest recognition. Intel hosted all 204 IAA winners—and their families—as part of the weekend-long celebration that started Friday night with a dessert reception. While some winners live in the San Francisco Bay Area, many other IAA winners work at Intel sites all over the world. To show the company’s appreciation for their achievements, Intel treats these employees from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States to a mini-vacation in one of the world’s great cities. As the celebrations took place last, one Intel employee, who was actually a winner’s plus one, wrote a blog post on our internal network about the amazingness he witnessed at the ceremony. Here is Keith’s experience.

I was fortunate enough this past weekend to be the guest of an IAA winner at the ceremony in San Francisco. It was a great weekend, the sun shined the whole time and I even got a little sunburn walking around SF on Saturday. The events around the ceremony were fantastic and well-coordinated. I never truly understood the importance of these awards until this past weekend. Sure, I knew they were the Intel’s highest honor, but I just never really GOT it until last weekend. You couldn’t swing a laptop bag without hitting a Vice President in the Fairmont on Friday or Saturday, so I knew that our senior management recognized its significance.

But what was amazing about the weekend was not swapping stories over dinner with Executive Vice Presidents about the challenges of raising kids and working at Intel. It wasn’t seeing which of the Executives was the last to leave the dance floor on Saturday night. It wasn’t watching the executives who were asked to don all types of costumes in their video presentations (Harry Potter and a Cloud stand out as highlights.)

The award winner and the “Plus one” (author)

What did amaze me were the brilliant things the people at this company do every day. The regular people you see in the cafes and hallways who push the limits of science and business in ways that no one else in the world does or can do.

I was also amazed by the humanity of the people in our company as I got teary-eyed while Tom Kilroy gave a big hug to every one of the winners of the Intel Hero Award (for their work after the tsunami in Japan) while they received about a 5 minute standing ovation from the other attendees.

I was amazed by how excited I got listening to the awards being presented and watching our leaders discuss the impacts of those accomplishments.

I’ve been at Intel since 1999 and it was probably the most excited I’ve been about Intel at an Intel meeting/event in a very long time. Not just for what we’ve accomplished in the past few years, but what we will accomplish over the next few. We are really good at what we do and we do it better than anyone in the world.

As I told a number of people at the events that weekend, that even though I was an Intel employee, I was just the “plus one” to my partner who won an IAA. But I could not help being an excited employee listening to the remarkable things the people at this company do every day, much of which I don’t understand beyond the most basic level (who am I kidding? I don’t understand A LOT of how we do what we do. I still think it requires some sort of magic to put a billion of anything on a tiny piece of silicon). I was excited to work at the same company with these geniuses; I was excited about what the future holds not only for Intel, but for the world in general. And proud to be a small part of what Intel does to change the world.

Thanks to the people who put this event together, thanks to the people who won the award for what they’ve done and to the other 100,000 of us who do what we do but may not win IAA’s.

The IAA is a pretty big deal and the people who win them have done remarkable things, but Intel does a good job of recognizing people in other ways from our Intel Quality Award (which I have one as part of HR some years back) to instant recognition from your colleagues and peers and a number of other levels of recognition in between.

…and for the vast majority of us who haven’t won an IAA. I highly recommend doing so, as Intel puts on a pretty decent party.

Meine Ultrabooks, meine Wenigkeit und München

Monika Lischke — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:43:24 +0000

Muss ja zugeben, dass ich schon so manches mal etwas (aber wirklich nur etwas) neidisch bin, wenn Blogger von uns ein Ultrabook gestellt bekommen. Entweder sind das Tech-Blogger, die irgendwelche Benchmarks laufen lassen und auf Hardware Spezifikationen eingehen oder Blogger aus anderen Bereichen (Fashion, Mommy Blogger etc.), die sich dann tendenziell eher mit Faktoren wie Design, Mobilität und ähnlichem beschäftigen.
Tja, und dieses Wochenende dachte ich mir, na das kann ich auch – bin ja auch im Besitz von gleich zwei Ultrabooks (Toshiba nutze ich beruflich und das Asus privat). Was das heisst?
Werde nun in unregelmässigen Abständen mit einem meiner Ultrabooks (oder sogar mit beiden) in München umherdüsen und Euch davon berichten!

Meine Ultrabooks, meine Wenigkeit und München

Monika Lischke — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:43:24 +0000

Prepare to be Inspired

shelly esque — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:37:37 +0000

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will be ground zero this week if you want to meet the brightest and most aspirational young adult scientists on this planet! Yes, Pittsburgh is playing host to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) – a global event with more than 1500 students from approximately 70 countries – all gathered together in one big Primanti Brother’s Sandwich.

The Intel Foundation is committed to Intel ISEF because we believe these students represent the most valuable resource we have on the planet and the competition is just one of the ways we are empowering them to create a better future for us all.

This year’s projects offer inspiration for our collective futures with projects ranging from robotic advances in prosthetic limb control, to paint capable of harvesting solar energy, to devices that can predict earthquakes. I’m confident the solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems reside in the minds of these 1500 young people in Pittsburgh this week.

This year, we are making Intel ISEF available to communities around the world through a LiveCast [Monday, May 14th at 7pm EST, and Tuesday, May 15th at 2pm EST]. No matter where you are, you can follow these inspiring stories and projects on this blog and on our Twitter handle @Intelinvolved. We are excited to host the opening keynote presentation by former three-time finalist and now inventor and entrepreneur, Ben Gulak. He is truly a role model for young scientists that want to make a difference in the world.

Winners will be announced this Friday, May 18^th – check back on this blog for updates.

Dynamic Resolution Rendering Update

Doug Binks (Intel) — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:04:15 +0000

We’ve updated the Dynamic Resolution Rendering sample with an optimisation to the temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) upscale pass and added a few new features for improved qualitative comparisons focused on TAA.

You can find the updated sample here.

The changes, listed below, are detailed in this pdf.

Added optimization for temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) when using motion blur, which decreases the time this pass takes by approximately 40%.
Corrected the velocity scale factor so that if the pixel in the last frame was 1 pixel away it is attenuated by 1⁄2. Previously a constant scale factor was used, which was chosen for the default resolution.
Added a zoom box for viewing scaled portions of the screen.
Added a basic TAA mode that does no velocity scaling so any ghosting issues can be found.
Improved pause mode that correctly renders the previous and current frames to show TAA artifacts clearly in basic mode.
Added a motion blur toggle so that the effect of motion blur and TAA can be properly considered.
Added a symmetric TAA toggle.
Changed pause key from Space to P.

Meshcentral.com – Drag & drop support

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:23:31 +0000

One of the big features of Meshcentral.com is it’s remote file manager. Being able to manage, upload and download files using any web browser is pretty powerful. Today, we improved this feature a lot by adding drag & drop support. You can now take one or more files from a folder on your local computer and drag & drop them into the web browser. The selected files will then be uploaded one by one to the target computer. This feature is especialy nice since, in the past, you could only select one file to upload at a time. This is the first time you can drag a bunch of them all at once. Note that this feature works in: FireFox, Chrome and Safari. It does not yet work in Internet Explorer.

Now, I can’t take all the credit for this feature, my new summer intern Sathvik just got started on Monday and this is this first feature to make it on the site.

All in all, this makes easier than ever to remotely access your files remotely and over the web. I hear lots of stories of people that use this feature to access home files while traveling.

Update (5/12/2012): When you use the “upload” button you can now select multiple files and all files will be uploaded at once. Just put in the feature now.

Enjoy!
Ylian
meshcentral.com

Enterprise APIs and OAuth: Have it All

Blake Dournaee — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:40:10 +0000

Enterprises often frustrate developers. Why do Enterprises always seem so behind when it comes to the very latest technology? In particular, a trend we are seeing is the continued struggle to marry Enterprise authentication with the burgeoning world of REST APIs. Developers want to use REST, but Enterprises need enterprise grade API security.

We think this problem will only worsen as Enterprises continue their rapid adoption of APIs. It seems clear that SOAP, while capable of Enterprise grade authentication through X.509 and SAML, will be left behind as the “Skinny jeans Facebook generation” puts the final nail in SOAP’s coffin.

The Dilemma

Among our own customers and the stories we’ve heard, Enterprises are left with a dilemma with four horns concerning the protection of REST APIs:

(a) Use mutual authentication with client-side SSL
(b) Use HTTP authentication (password or digest) with server-side SSL
(c) Use OAuth, either 3-legged or 2-legged
(d) Use a de-facto standard or “roll your own”

Each option has challenges and benefits. In particular, the challenges balance time to market and time to value (which I term developer friction), security, and manageability. The success of an API is directly related to it’s perceived ease of access and the amount of friction involved in using it. An Enterprise will get more value out of an API that is actually used versus one that lies dormant. At the same time, however, as APIs become a new tunnel into the Enterprise, security and manageability cannot be sacrificed for the sake of adoption.

Current Options and Challenges

Let’s consider the options and “score” each of them. In option (a), most developers would rather shoot themselves than deal with client-side X.509 certificates, especially after experiencing the apparent ease of use of OAuth as evidenced by SaaS providers such as Salesforce.com and social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. To compound this, the issue of key rotation and certificate management is a weighty burden to deal with from an Enterprise perspective. Echoes are heard from the grave, “But this year, will be the year of PKI!” Now, the “Year of PKI” conjures up not a picture of a secure Enterprise, but an enterprise fraught with wasteland scenes of Armageddon.

SSL with Mutual Auth Score:

Security: High
Friction: Extremely High
Management Burden: Extremely High
Developer Attitude: I hate my life
Result: A secure API that nobody uses has lowered value to the Enterprise

In option (b), HTTP Authentication with server-side SSL, we’ve overloaded an interactive web-authentication mechanism developed in 1996 and tried to marry it to the API economy of 2012.

Well, you say…. At least it is a standard – and we console ourselves by the fact that it is a protected channel. The issue here of course is the proliferation and management of passwords.

Security is reduced because we’ve coded in a username and password and we’re probably using the same username and password for multiple applications and not telling management about it. Security is low when the password is in the clear and somewhere around medium-low when digests are used, depending on your perspective on rainbow tables. Friction is high because eventually I’ll need to (or should) rotate that password if I have even a rudimentary password policy

HTTP Basic Auth with SSL Score:

Security: Medium-Low
Friction: High
Management Burden: High
Developer Attitude: Really? We’re doing this?
Result: An API with a “hackish” authentication method and suspect security.

In option (c), OAuth, developers will cheer but problems remain. First and foremost, traditional 3-legged OAuth is an authorization protocol that puts permission control in the hands of a user, who ostensibly owns an asset they are expressing authorization for.

In the traditional Enterprise context, however, control should be given to administrators, not users. Most users don’t own Enterprise assets, the Enterprise owns their own assets. With X.509 certificate authentication models, administrators can revoke permissions easily by revoking a certification while OAuth delegates permissions to users. This is why OAuth works well for social websites – content is owned by users.

One solution to this is to use 2-legged OAuth or some organic variation such as xAuth, which is notionally similar to SAML in that it allows the exchange of a username/password for an access token. Note: If xAuth is still OAuth why is it called something different? Answer: It is different (?)

2-legged OAuth has advantages over the previous option in that it stops the proliferation of passwords, which is a good thing, but the failure of the OAuth 2.0 specification to carefully define what 2-legged OAuth entails is a bit worrisome for both security and interoperability.

Third, depending on the specific OAuth data flow, such as the authorization code flow, implicit grant flow, or client credential flow, these all have varying levels of security and friction associated with them. The most secure OAuth data flows involving a confidential client demand strong client authentication….. …with a public/private key pair (ssshhh!!).

Finally, as history has taught us, never place all your bets in the security of a protocol. Many of us were shocked at the late 2009 news of a critical man-in-the-middle attack on SSL. If we count the Netscape days to the time of the vulnerability, the protocol was battle tested in industry for 14 years before the vulnerability was found. Some would argue that OAuth just hasn’t been around the block long enough.

OAuth Score

Security: Medium (or Low, depending on your view of history)
Friction: Medium-Low
Management Burden: Medium
Developer Attitude: I love my job, it’s like Facebook
Result: An API that uses a rapidly emerging protocol and avoids the use of passwords with low developer friction

In option (d), roll your own, we’ve seen a number of solutions that involve API keys or shared secrets along with authenticators like HMAC-SHA1. Amazon web services (AWS) is a famous example of this approach, and many of our own customers have copied this approach as a best practice.

These solutions have the advantage over HTTP Basic Authentication in that they don’t shoe-horn themselves into an outdated standard designed for another purpose. The flip-side is that these aren’t official standards. The idea is to use an HTTP header to store the credentials in a bespoke way defined by the Enterprise. The security model here is essentially the same as username and password, except for the fact that we’re calling it an API key to make it sound like it’s not a password. Management burden is increased here because interoperability outside the organization is reduced.

“Roll Your Own” Score:

Security: Medium-Low
Friction: Medium
Management Burden: Medium-High
Developer Attitude: Eh, It’s not OAuth, but at least I don’t have to deal with X.509 certificates
Result: A reasonable, albeit non-standard solution to API authentication. Friction is reduced but password or shared secret proliferation remains a problem

Appease your Developers

One approach to solving the API access mechanism dilemma is to reject the dilemma and have it all. This can be done with a front-end or security intermediary that, much like a diligent mediator can make both sides happy. In this model, a front-end proxy is used on top of existing APIs, essentially retrofitting them for OAuth without having to get into the ‘weeds’ of actually modifying enterprise APIs. Everything is done on the wire at network layer 4 and above.

To take one example, if you are an Enterprise with REST APIs that use mutual SSL authentication, you don’ t have to enforce this fact on your developers. Instead, have a gateway handle it for you. You can give your developers a choice – they can fall on the sword of X.509 if they’d like, or use OAuth.

Conceptually, it looks like this:

In the previous diagram the gateway handles the OAuth dance for incoming clients and maps the identity to a username from Active Directory. Then, the gateway initiates a mutual SSL connection to the Enterprise REST API and sends the username of the original requestor over this secure channel in an HTTP header. Simple.

Developers are happy because the Enterprise is now “living in the 21^st century” and the enterprise application developers are happy because they don’t need to retrofit something that already works, and the security architects are happy because they can manage it all on a security gateway with a few clicks and drop downs. Party down!

A thumbnail screen shot is shown from the “AAA” Policy from Intel® Expressway Service Gateway:

While there are a few more settings required, particularly to enable the full OAuth dance, as well as exception handling, the screen shot shows that the main credential mapping can be done with selectors and not code. This helps bridge the gap between Enterprise Applications and new emerging standards. At Intel we think this gateway or proxy model is a superb answer for solving some of these real challenges. After all, Enterprises can’t wait for the standards to catch up with the new generation of developers.

Intel Celebrates the “Ultra Mom!”

Jessica Hansen — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:03:25 +0000

Intel was an official sponsor of the 2012 Mom 2.0 Summit held in Miami, FL last weekend that brought together 450 top mom bloggers and influential female leaders in food, parenting, entertainment, politics, technology, social change, business, travel, design and home.

As an early Mother’s Day celebration (FRIENDLY REMINDER: Mother’s Day is this Sunday!), Intel wanted to celebrate all of the “Ultra Mom” attendees. For the Mom 2.0 Summit closing party sponsored by Intel, attendees were invited inside the gates of the famed Versace Mansion in South Beach to not only experience the incredible elegance of the Villa but also the ultra-sleek, ultra-responsive, and equally elegant Intel-inspired Ultrabook devices.

Intel-inspired Ultrabook Devices in Versace Mansion Shower Rotunda

: Ultra-sleek and ultra-responsive Ultrabook devices inspired by Intel overlooking the patio and pool area at the Versace Mansion

Intel ice sculpture inside the Versace Mansion Villa

For a chance to win an Intel-inspired Ultrabook device (an Intel Core i5-powered HP Folio13 Ultrabook, to be exact), attendees shared with us what type of “Ultra Mom” they are – exhausted, tropic, hysterical, uptight, fun, and so many more! Ultimately, the winner who took home the new Ultrabook device is “Ultra ‘Rocker’ Mom” JennyLee!

Congratulations to the "Ultra 'Rocker' Mom" – winner of the HP Folio13 Ultrabook!

Happy Mother’s Day to all this Sunday! Please share with us… What type of “Ultra Mom” are you?

Tell us: What type of "Ultra Mom" are you?

Doctor Fortran in "I Can C Clearly Now, Part I"

Steve Lionel (Intel) — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:38:25 +0000

Spend any time in the comp.lang.fortran newsgroup, or other places where programming languages are discussed, and you’ll soon see a new “Which is better, Fortran or C?” thread show up. These never fail to produce heated comments from people who should know better. My answer is that neither is “better” – each has its strengths and weaknesses.

For decades, smart programmers have used both in their applications, using C where it made sense and Fortran where that made sense. This was made easier by vendor-specific extensions to Fortran that dealt with things such as case-sensitive names and pass-by-value. Extensions such as %VAL and LOC have become so ingrained into the Fortran culture that many are astonished to find that they are non-standard.

Fortran 2003 added a whole class of features for “C interoperability” to the standard, finally enabling mixed-language programming in a reasonably portable manner. I am not aware of any other major programming language standard that has extended a hand in this manner. While many Fortran programmers have warmly embraced the new features, there’s still a lot of confusion about them, and I thought it was time to try to explain the new landscape.

This is a big topic, so I am going to split it up across several posts.

Interoper-what?

First, some definitions. The Fortran standard talks about interoperability with a “companion C processor”. (In Fortran-speak, “processor” means something that understands and runs code written in the language. For the most part, you can substitute “compiler”, but keep in mind that the compiler operates in an OS and CPU environment that may affect its behavior.) Each Fortran implementation is free to choose which C is its “companion”. For Intel Fortran, that is Microsoft Visual C++ on Windows, and gcc on Linux and OS X. What about Intel C++? That is also compatible with Visual C++ on Windows and gcc on Linux and OS X, so Intel Fortran will also interoperate with Intel C++.

Note that the standard says “companion C processor”, not “companion C++ processor”. In particular, the standard references the C99 standard, or ISO/IEC 9899:1999 to be specific. The companion processors may also build C++ code, but standard interoperability assumes C. You can use C++, but must stick to what is compatible with C when interoperating with Fortran.

What is meant by “interoperability” here? F2008 says it thusly: “Fortran provides a means of referencing procedures that are defined by means of the C programming language or procedures that can be described by C prototypes…, even if they are not actually defined by means of C. Conversely, there is a means of specifying that a procedure defined by a Fortran subprogram can be referenced by a function defined by means of C. In addition, there is a means of defining global variables that are associated with C variables whose names have external linkage.” To this, I will add that there are also means to declare Fortran variables, data structures and enumerations that correspond to similar declarations in C.

Fortran provides four major “tools” for enabling interoperability with C. These are:

Restrictions on which Fortran types are considered interoperable
The BIND(C) language-binding-spec
The ISO_C_BINDING intrinsic module
The VALUE attribute

I frequently see people refer to all of the interoperability tools as “ISO_C_BINDING”, but this is not correct; one can use the interoperability features without using the module.

Interoperable data types

The core concept of interoperability is that something should work the same way in Fortran as it does in C. While Fortran and C each support many of the same basic data types, not everything translates cleanly.

One difference is that Fortran has the concept of “kinds”, whereas C considers these somewhat distinct types. For example, consider the Fortran INTEGER type. C has numerous integer types, from short int to long long int, and some specialty types such as intptr_t. These may or may not have corresponding kinds in Fortran. For each of the C integer types which might be interoperable, ISO_C_BINDING declares a named constant (PARAMETER) giving the kind number for the implementation’s equivalent INTEGER kind.

For example, there’s the simple C int type. This corresponds to INTEGER(C_INT), where C_INT is defined in ISO_C_BINDING. In Intel Fortran, the value is always 4, as a C int corresponds with Fortran INTEGER(4), but some other Fortran may use different kind numbers. Using the named constant ensures portability.

More interesting is the C intptr_t type. This is an integer that is large enough to hold a pointer (address). In Intel Fortran, this would be INTEGER(4) when building a 32-bit application and INTEGER(8) for a 64-bit application. Intel Fortran provides different copies of ISO_C_BINDING for various platforms so you always get the right one.

Note that Fortran has no unsigned integer types, so there are no constants for C’s unsigned types. Such types are not interoperable.

You might wonder what happens if there is a “kind” of C type not supported by the Fortran implementation. The answer is that the named constant for that type is defined as -1, so you’ll get a compile-time error if you try to use it. We’ll see a use of this shortly.

Similarly, there are constants defined for REAL, COMPLEX, LOGICAL and CHARACTER. For REAL, the standard offers the possibility of a C long double type. This is implemented in different ways by various C compilers on various platforms supported by Intel Fortran. In gcc on 32-bit Linux, long double is an 80-bit floating type, as supported by the X87 instruction set. Intel Fortran doesn’t support this, so there, C_LONG_DOUBLE is -1. gcc on OS X, however, defines it as a 128-bit type that is the same as Intel Fortran’s REAL(16), so C_LONG_DOUBLE is 16 there. And on 64-bit Linux, or on Windows, long double is treated the same as double, so C_LONG_DOUBLE is 8. As long as you use the constants for kind values and the corresponding types in C, you’ll match.

LOGICAL and CHARACTER need special treatment when it comes to interoperability. The Fortran standard says that LOGICAL corresponds to C’s _Bool type, and defines a single kind value C_BOOL, which is 1 in Intel Fortran. But Intel Fortran, by default, tests LOGICALs for true/false differently than C does. Where C uses zero for false and not-zero for true, Intel Fortran defaults to treating even values as false and odd values as true. If you are going to use LOGICAL types to interoperate with C, be sure to specify the –fpscomp logicals (/fpscomp:logicals) option, which changes the interpretation to be C-like. This is included if you use –standard-semantics (/standard-semantics) – I recommend using this option any time you use Fortran 2003 (or later) features.

Now we come to CHARACTER. C does not have character strings, at least not in the way Fortran does. Really. It has arrays of single characters, so this is how you must represent things in Fortran. There is a kind value defined, C_CHAR, corresponding to the C char type. But only length 1 character variables are interoperable. I’ll talk more about that when I come to procedure arguments, but just know that it is not as dire a situation as you might think.

Derived types can also be interoperable, and that will be discussed next time when I talk about BIND(C).

There are other restrictions on interoperable variables. Scalar variables are interoperable only if their type parameters (kind and length) are interoperable (see above), they are not a Coarray, do not have the POINTER or ALLOCATABLE attribute (this may change in the future, I’ll talk about that in another post), and if character its length is not assumed nor defined by a non-constant expression. (Wait, I thought you said only length 1 was interoperable! Patience, grasshopper…)

Arrays are interoperable if the base type meets the scalar variable requirements above, if it is explicit shape or assumed-size, and is not zero-sized. Furthermore, assumed-size arrays are interoperable only with C arrays that have no size specified. There are some additional rules on rank, in particular, C arrays with rank greater than 1 are not interoperable because they are “arrays of arrays”.

To be continued…

The next post will be dedicated to BIND(C), in all its manifestations. “C” you then!

Intel Developer Forum is coming to São Paulo, Brazil!

Lauren Dankiewicz (Intel) — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:18:16 +0000

Intel Developer Forum (IDF) is coming to Brazil for the first time in Intel history!

We’re partnering with members of the Intel® Software Partner Program in our booth and sessions, and we’re extremely excited to meet other software developers and ISVs in Brazil. If you’re not attending in person, we’ll make sure to keep you updated on the announcements and excitement online in both Portuguese and English. Check out of our upcoming software sessions below and the full IDF Brazil website for full event details.

Next week, we’ll meet the Intel Software team in Brazil, share some exciting news from IDF, and announce some new opportunities for developers to partner with Intel!

Pre-IDF Activity on May 14:

Gaming roundtable: Intel representatives, CEOs, Software developers, Game Associations, professors and investors will meet to discuss the game industry in Brazil

Intel Software Booth Demos:

Totvs* & Pixeon* – Success Stories, Intel® Software Partner Program
Totvs is a leader in emerging markets, one of the largest ISVs in Latin America, and the world’s 6th largest ERP developer. Totvs offers a wide variety of vertical solutions for virtually all sizes of companies, allowing growth in different market segments. In the booth, Totvs will showcase how they benefited from partnering with the Intel® Software Partner Program and Intel® Software Network.

Pixeon, a Brazilian ISV of approximately 50 people, was founded in 2003 and specializes in digital medical imaging. Its solutions provide high quality imaging for diagnosis and speed to generate medical reports (“laudos”), as well as technologies that allow visualization and analysis through the internet using mobile devices. Pixeon joined the Intel Software Partner Program in early 2012. Through the Intel Software Partner Program, Pixeon has made performance improvements that impact user experience and making it better and more productive. Pixeon continues to work with Intel development tools to improve their software and incorporating new technologies into their products.
McAfee®: Complete Cross-Device Protection
McAfee offers extensive protection for all your devices to safeguard you wherever you connect. This comprehensive protection is always on, protecting every facet of your digital life. It delivers a worry free online experience from the latest malware protection to keeping your kids away from inappropriate content. Incorporated in McAfee’s consumer portfolio is McAfee Mobile Security that will locate, lock, or wipe a lost or stolen device.

Improve Cloud Efficiency and Manageability with Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager
Power takes a large part in Cloud Operation TCO. This demo will show how to take advantage of the Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager to monitor and control the power cost of your cloud in an intelligent way. In the Cloud System, power and thermal information is retrieved from host servers through Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager. Based on predefined policy, the Cloud System makes use of the power information both for resource monitoring and power control, as well as intelligent VM scheduling and life-cycle management. The demo also shows the application of this technology in top cloud vendors.

Intel AppUp(SM) Developer Program
Get the most out of your PC and Ultrabook™ with apps and digital content from the Intel AppUp(SM) center. Discover how to create apps with the free resources found in the Intel AppUp(SM) Developer Program.

Intel® Software Network – Developing optimized Windows applications for Intel Platforms
Learn about performance analysis and how to improve your overall user experience on PC systems. Tutorials and sessions will be given throughout the day. Both Intel and Microsoft* tools will be showcased.

Using the Yocto Project* Open Source Hob GUI for Embedded Linux OS Image Creation
See the Hob graphical user interface in action as it’s used to create a personal NAS device on an Intel® Atom™ based platform. Hob is an efficient customization tool which provides several well defined processes to efficiently assist users with varied experience levels to quickly create a Linux OS image using the Yocto Project. This tool will allow those with limited Linux skills to easily generate a target board image, while providing more depth to hackers and experienced Linux users.

Android* Ice Cream Sandwich Demo Running On An Intel® Z2460™
This is an Android* Ice Cream Sandwich demo running on an Intel® Z2460™ processor. This demo shows the value added software optimizations done by the Software and Services Group at Intel to improve Dalvik* execution by orders of magnitude, smooth 1080P video playback, best-in-class HTML5, and power optimizations that take advantage of the silicon to provide fast, responsive, all day performance.

Creating Robust, Scalable, High Performance Software with Intel® Parallel Studio XE
Intel® Parallel Studio XE Unites Development Tools for Improving Application Performance and Code Robustness For the Latest Generation of Multicore Processors via these Industry-Leading Components: Intel® Parallel Advisor – Threading assistant tool which provides step-by-step proposals for simplifying the transition from serial applications to parallel ones Intel® Composer XE – Optimizing compilers and high-performance libraries for the latest generation of processors Intel® Inspector XE – Powerful thread and memory error checker Intel® VTune™ Amplifier XE – Advanced performance profiler with hotspot and threading analysis

IDF Software Sessions on May 15:

Rethinking Information Security
Jose Antunes
Bruno Domingues
The security paradigm is changing, just in the last decade the cybercrime growth in a two digits rate year by year. The main reason is the cybercrime motivation, profit, stole of intellectual property and hacktivism. Today, Intel and McAfee, combine software and hardware capability to combat IT security threats, allowing consumers and organizations take full advantage of connected computing experience in a secure way.

Intel Business Client Solutions: Intel® vPro™ Technology and Intel® Small Business Advantage
Marcio Paulino
Edison Rodrigues
This session will delve into the powerful new 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ vPro™ processor family and the innovations we are delivering for business customers to “compute with confidence” via enhanced security, simplification/automation, and solutions. This session will illustrate how key stakeholders including end users, SI/ITO’s and Channel MSP’s implement solutions based on Intel vPro technology and unlock the full value of the platform. Additionally, this session explores strategies and tactics for winning with the brand new Intel® Small Business Advantage (Intel® SBA) platform in 2012. Intel SBA is a purpose built platform that delivers out-of-the box value to enhance security and productivity and is targeted for the fast growing commercial segment of small businesses that lack a formal IT department.
Develop Optimized Microsoft* Windows* 7 or Windows 8 Applications on Intel® Platforms
Miguel Ferreira
Luciano Palma
Intel brings you the technology to deliver amazing experiences on Windows* running on a tablet, an Ultrabook™ or a desktop. This session will show how to optimize your current applications for the Windows* platform and how to get ready for building optimized Windows 8 applications with Intel® Software Tools and Technologies. Make your application even more attractive, with better performance, enhanced security and greater graphics experience.

Cross Platform Development with HTML5
Eugeni Dodonov
Jomar Silva
Developing cross-OS, cross-device applications has been a challenging problem for many years. HTML5 is the key and being an open standard, it is a great choice for interoperability. HTML5 comprises of a set of web standards that enable innovation on web apps, from rich user interfaces through advanced networking, multimedia resources. This session will introduce HTML5 and its new features and cover its role in the next generation of mobile and desktop based apps. Another topic is PhoneGap, an Open Source Software that allows you to author native mobile apps created with HTML5 web technologies using a single codebase and deliver apps for multiple mobile platforms. Included is a demonstration on how to create an HTML5 Applications using PhoneGap and, using PhoneGap Build Services, enable a remote compile and deployment to multiple platforms.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI): Foundation Technology for Next Generation Platforms
Luis Pollo
Fadi Zuhayri
Topics in this session include:
• UEFI technology overview
• Latest UEFI specifications news and industry adoption
• Microsoft* Windows* 8 UEFI requirements
• Intel® UEFI Development Kit 2010 SR1 features and capabilities for implementing UEFI 2.3.1 specifications
• UEFI Development and training resources

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Is Pinterest Useful to Software Businesses?

Wendy Thomas — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:01:56 +0000

By now, you’ve probably heard about Pinterest. It’s an online “image” grabbing site that allows users to group images captured (pinned) from websites onto pages which can then be shared with others who have a similar interest. Think of it as online scrapbooking except that, this being the internet, you’re able to follow the graphic image back to the original website.

Let’s say that someone I follow has a page of “Hardware, You Gotta Have.” If I see a photo of a new Ultrabook™, I might be inclined to click on that photo to get more information from the original website. It is in those traffic clicks where lies the possible advantage of Pinterest to your company. Pinterest is yet another possible way to drive consumers to your website.

Source: intel.com via Intel on Pinterest

Quite frankly, the platform is so new that the jury is still out on whether or not Pinterest is helpful for generating leads. But this is what we know so far: people are flocking to Pinterest and creating all sorts of groups which are then attracting the attention of lots of other people. And when people are interested in something on the internet, that means there is an opportunity to get involved and to get your marketing message heard.

As an example of how a software company effectively uses Pinterest to engage its audience, take a look at Microsoft’s Pinterest page. Not only does this page highlight new apps, software, and some of the latest products and services, but if you look through the “pins,” you’ll also see links to things like “Foods that boost you immune system” and pictures of the Microsoft main campus. This diverse visual combination results in a page that both sells product and gives value to its audience by presenting “nice to know” information right alongside the important marketing information. It all works together in grabbing the potential customer’s attention.

For now, what should your company do about Pinterest?

Set up a page and let your presence be known
When you set up your Pinterest page, you’ll be asked to invite others to follow you (usually from your email list) go ahead and invite everyone you think would be interested. Just the fact that you are willing to give Pinterest a try might be enough to get someone interested in your company.

Click here to sign up for Pinterest.
http://pinterest.com/landing/

Don’t spend a lot of time on it
I know, I know, it sounds a little counter-intuitive but Pinterest is new and still has some problems, most notably regarding image copyright. For now, set up your account. Do searches and follow those who have similar likes and interests, but resist the urge to spend huge amounts of time creating lots of groups. Like some other Social Media platforms, this could fizzle out fairly quickly. Have everything in place, though, in case it doesn’t.

Have outstanding graphics on your site that someone might be inclined to pin
People can’t pin your image if there is no image to pin. Not only should you have an outstanding graphic on your landing page but you should put a little “Pin this” tag near the graphic to remind people to pin it. The more people who grab the image, the more people are going to see it and possibly click back to your website.

Use Pinterest to check out who is pinning your site
Pinterest can be used for customer demographics. Do a few searches on your name and your images to see the types of people who may be pinning your company to their pages. Are they who you had hoped would grab the images? If not, do you need to rethink your image and perhaps use another one that might be more attractive to your desired demographic?

A quick way to search on Pinterest is to go to: www.pinterest.com/source/YOURWEBSITE

Find the people on Pinterest who are interested in your field and start following them
Like people share like things, and eventually learn to trust each other. If you follow the people who have an interest in your field, you will establish yourself as a member of that community and soon others in that community will start to follow you.

What have you heard about Pinterest? Do you see the use of collected images drawing traffic to your site? Have you seen good examples of Pinterest accounts highlighting software?

Perfection Series: Forgotten Data in your Logs (Log Redaction Service) by Andy Thurai

Ellery Bledsoe — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:38:52 +0000

From a business standpoint, leaking sensitive information into your logs is not only bad, but could lead to compliance, liability, and risk disaster sooner than you think. While there are solutions, including DLP, out there to inspect the data traffic and help capture sensitive data leakage, not many solutions out there are proactive and intrusive enough inspect the backplane of your systems for sensitive data leakage or regulatory compliance analysis. This becomes more pronounced when you have multiple ways that you allow users (especially the admin users) to access your system – such as browser, command line, XML interface, etc. You need to worry not only about the logs for each of these interfaces, but also the types of logs that are kept and where they may go in the future; i.e. – records such as trace log, transactional log, exception log, command log, admin log. etc.

Recently Intel/McAfee Service Gateway (ESG/MSG) have seen a lot of activity and interest in providing API services in/from the cloud. One of the major issues, faced was that the log, which is stored in the cloud, might contain information that is sensitive or a compliance issue, especially when you offer this as a service (SaaS) and exposed 24×7 to the hackers in the cloud. While this detailed logging may not be an issue for the enterprise customers that keep the actual log information in a centralized secure storage, most times this becomes an issue when you offer a multi-tenant environment and share resource with other users. In order to provide more control to the customers in the cloud, we introduced a new log redaction feauture, which can be used either in the enterprise version or in the cloud version. This helps customers with sensitive information such as PAN data (especially with credit card information), personal data PII, names, addresses, SS#, DOB and other pertinent information including passwords in verbose modes. Intel’s solution allows that data to be removed/masked with ease and it is user definable, both for patterns and for masking specifics.

I was talking to a customer of mine few days ago on this very topic and I told them how cool this is. He replied, “I think our system is very secure and we have taken ‘extra measures’ given that they deal with multiple compliance standards and issues.” So I suggested to perform a log spider scan. He called me 2 days later panicked with what he found. If you don’t know whether you should worry about this or not there are spider scan tools available on the net, just Google it and see what your logs tell you. If you don’t like what you see don’t blame me .

While most customers take extra care of their transactional messages, I have seen a lot of customers a bit lax in regards to logging and administrative interfaces. I recently blogged about an incident with a customer with exposed data in the logs which you can read here.

Our solution allows them to tighten their logs up multiple notches. It comes with about 30 or so pre-defined filters, with an option for customers to build more on their own, using a simple visual tool. It can be applied to any level of logs including the most verbose levels. The masks are user defined and are flexible. Once you turn them on, define them, there is no need to restart your system, it is always on after that until you explicitly turn it off. What is even cooler is that the logs would be instantly cleaned once you push the config, and the push is cluster wide into all node points. Imagine the power of controlling the sensitive log data in all edge devices (whether Enterprise edge or extended to the cloud) in one push of a button.

In reality, the logging system normally logs the content given from many different underlying components, such as from input server, invocation agent, runtime workflow, mediation engine, security engine, etc. This makes it complicated to manage with so many components. For instance, when you log things from the input side (at some verbose log levels, such as detailed trace), it can log the wire data which can be anything (imagine that most solutions out there log everything that comes on the wire for auditing purposes). So it is very hard to prevent the sensitive data from being logged without special handling, contrary to what you may think.

Imagine if you are dealing with PCI, HIPAA, etc and have an edge device to define, saying I need my logs to be cleaned of said sensitive data and define masking/encryption on transactional data as well. You can be sure that from your edge inside, or going out, your message and logs are all cleaned to your satisfaction and for compliance.

If you need more information on this or on our solutions in general please check out www.intel.com/go/identity or reach out to me.

Andy Thurai — Chief Architect & CTO, Application Security and Identity Products, Intel

He blogs regularly at www.thurai.net/securityblog on Security, SOA, Identity, Governance and Cloud topics. You can find him on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/andythurai.

Intel Jobs: Opportunities for Students in Costa Rica!

Lucia — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:15:35 +0000

Are you a student in Costa Rica? Did you know Intel has part- time student jobs for you? This is a great opportunity to learn while you’re still in university!

The program allows you to work between 22.5-36 hours a week and you can adjust your schedule according to your university classes. Students who are pursuing a university degree are eligible for this program which provides you an opportunity to work part-time and gain quality career experience. In order to qualify for this program, you have to be in (at least) your second year and must be enrolled and attending classes while working at Intel. When you complete your degree, if you had a good experience, we’ll help you look for full-time opportunities at Intel as well!

I started my career through this program, as a student worker, and it opened up a world of possibilities. When I finished my degree in 2007, I already had 2 years of experience—how great is that? And now I’m almost at the 7-year mark! I was working on the Engineering department and learned a lot from Intel Engineers regarding to Product health indicators, although I don’t have an engineering background it help me to create a very good network within the area. After a year as a student worker, I moved to the staffing department as a part time student too and was in this area where I had the opportunity to become a full time employee. Currently I am supporting the recruitment process for open positions in Costa Rica and Mexico and it has been a great experience also. I am really grateful about the opportunities I had at Intel and look forward to my future at Intel.

We are constantly opening student positions in different areas such as Finance, engineering, human resources; information technology, etc. For more information on the program guidelines and how to apply, visit our Costa Rica Student Center!

Don’t live in Costa Rica? We have established this program at our sites in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia — check out the Student Center for details!

Deterministic Reduction: a new Community Preview Feature in Intel® Threading Building Blocks

Alexei Katranov (Intel) — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:22:42 +0000

Computer Arithmetic has a lot of peculiarities [1]. One of these pitfalls is associativity failure in floating point arithmetic. For example, the two sums of fractions calculations below will not produce the same result when using floats:

In a sequential program, it is not a big problem since the calculation order is exactly specified so the result is predictable and repeatable. The situation is not so clear in parallel programming.

To make the example parallel, I used the parallel_reduce template function from Intel® Threading Building Blocks (Intel® TBB):

std::vector arr( N, 1.0f/(float)N );
float sum = tbb::parallel_reduce( tbb::blocked_range( arr.begin(), arr.end() ), 0.0f,
    []( const tbb::blocked_range& r, float sum ) {
        return std::accumulate( r.begin(), r.end(), sum );
    },
    std::plus() );
std::cout << sum << std::endl;

As in the examples above, the code calculates the sum of N fractions, but it uses multiple processor cores if available. As it is well known, we face a disappointing fact of different results being possible for different orders of calculations. If we run it 10 times and N=1000 we will get something like this:

0.999991
1
0.999999
0.999996
0.999998
0.999998
0.999998
1
0.999997
0.999998

It’s worth mentioning that the result differs from run to run! In spite of the fact that the developer specifies the calculations – when it is calculated in parallel the order of calculation gets out of control.

On the other hand, it is not as bad as all that. Although the OS operates on threads and fills the application with indeterminism, it is still possible to manage the order of calculations. One of the new features of Intel TBB 4.0 is the parallel_deterministic_reduce template algorithm. The algorithm has the same interface as parallel_reduce except that it does not allow you to specify a partitioner. (For parallel_reduce it is possible to pass a partitioner as the last argument.) We will discuss why this restriction exists later. But for now, let’s replace the parallel_reduce with parallel_deterministic_reduce and look at how the result changes:

std::vector arr( N, 1.0f/(float)N );
float sum = tbb::parallel_deterministic_reduce( tbb::blocked_range( arr.begin(), arr.end() ), 0.0f,
    []( const tbb::blocked_range& r, float sum ) {
        return std::accumulate( r.begin(), r.end(), sum );
    },
    std::plus() );
std::cout << sum << std::endl;

Again run it 10 times:

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

The key point here is that the result is the same from run to run.

The sources of non-determinism in parallel_reduce derive from partitioning and body splitting. Let’s consider each of these subjects:

Partitioning. The simple_partitioner determines exactly how many and which subranges are created. It splits the iteration range until each subrange is smaller than a given grain size. Thus the behavior only depends on the range size and grain size specified by the developer. However, other types of partitioning in Intel TBB are non-deterministic: to improve performance of the algorithms, range splitting provided by these partitioners depends on run-time stealing events, which we cannot predict.

Body splitting. For performance reasons parallel_reduce minimizes body copies: it splits the body only when consecutive subranges are processed by different threads. Thus body splitting, like “advanced” partitioning, also depends on non-deterministic task stealing.

The example shows that parallel_reduce is really inapplicable for non-associative operations like floating point arithmetic. To achieve a repeatable result from a reduction with non-associative operations parallel_deterministic_reduce has been developed. From the considerations of partitioning (given above), it follows that only the simple_partitioner can be used for parallel_deterministic_reduce; and thus, no choice of an alternative partitioner is possible. Consequently, parallel_deterministic_reduce always challenges us with choosing an appropriate grain size. And smart body splitting has been disabled for the sake of deterministic behavior, so for each subrange a new body is created. This fact complicates the challenge of grain size selection even more: on the one hand, a small grain size increases the number of body copying and overall overhead, but on the other hand, a big grain size may lead to imbalance and underutilization. Fig. 1 shows the relative performance of parallel_deterministic_reduce (simple_partitioner with various grain sizes) in comparison with parallel_reduce (auto_partitioner with default grain size). An appropriate grain size provides the same performance of parallel_deterministic_reduce as parallel_reduce, – but an incorrectly chosen grain size may lead to significant performance degradation, as shown in Fig.1 at the extremes of the grain size axis.

Fig.1. Comparison of parallel_reduce (auto_partitioner) and parallel_deterministic_reduce (simple_partitioner) on Pi calculation example.

To demonstrate the split-join order behavior of parallel_deterministic_reduce, a small example is given with range [0, 20) and grain size = 5, similar to examples for parallel_reduce in the Intel TBB Reference manual:

A tree of subranges

For each right node a new body is created by the body split constructor. The slash marks (/) in the tree show where the body split is performed. Thus, for the current example the parallel_deterministic_reduce will always produce 4 subranges and 4 different bodies associated with them. Each of these subranges may be executed in parallel. When both children of a node finish, the corresponding bodies are merged: the right child body “added” to the left child body (in our examples via the std::plus() binary function).

To conclude, parallel_deterministic_reduce provides a deterministic number and deterministic sizes of subranges, and it exactly defines which pairs of subranges are merged. It’s important to note that a repeatable result obtained with parallel_deterministic_reduce may still be different from that obtained via serial execution. Moreover, the results may be different for various grain sizes, since range splitting depends on the grain size. Also, the algorithm is not targeted to improve the accuracy of calculations. The exact result of 1 in the above example of fraction sum calculation has been obtained by chance. For other examples the algorithm can cause a decrease in accuracy. Overall, parallel_deterministic_reduce is not a replacement to parallel_reduce but an alternative solution for those who need repeatability.

SEO Fundamentals: Where to Begin When Optimizing for Search Engines

Kevin Murphy — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:13:25 +0000

This is a guest post by Michael Fleischner. Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 14 years of marketing experience. He has appeared on the TODAY Show, ABC World News, and Bloomberg Radio. Michael is the author of today’s top-selling SEO book on Amazon.com, “SEO Made Simple.” Michael’s marketing blog is one of the most visited marketing blogs on the Web at marketing-expert.blogspot.com. To follow Michael, visit The Marketing Blog or connect via twitter @mfleischner.

Search engine optimization, commonly referred to as “SEO,” is the practice of making changes to your website, and improving your website’s authority, to influence your site’s ranking on major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. When your website appears at the top of search engine result lists for a specific query, you generate targeted traffic to your website or blog.

The concept of search engine optimization can sometimes appear to be nothing short of complex and overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. Fundamental best practices associated with search engine optimization (SEO) are easily understood and can be applied regardless of technical knowledge or direct experience with optimizing websites, blogs, or digital assets.

Consider the following SEO fundamentals before starting any search engine optimization program:

1. Know your audience. Before you can optimize your website, you first need to have a good understanding of your target audience. Even though the concept of audience identification or segmentation may seem more akin to general marketing practices, it’s an essential step before starting any SEO campaign. This information is essential for planning your site architecture, URLs, and keyword selection. With a fundamental understanding of your audience, what they buy, and how they research products and services online, you have a much better opportunity to develop, organize, and position your site for relevant keywords and top search engine rankings.

2. Know yourself. What is your company’s unique selling proposition? When browsers see similar results after an initial search, organic listings related to your site should be unique and stand out from your list of competitors. By understanding how to position your company and products properly, you can develop a website to reflect these unique qualities.

3. Begin with the end in mind. Before building your site or updating it to meet the demands of today’s optimization standards, consider your audience, unique value proposition, and website goals. Some websites are designed to be informational, others serve as a place for customers to gain access to information, tools, and resources, and finally, some websites are designed for eCommerce. Regardless of how you choose to develop your site, think through the navigational process of website browsers, prospects, and future customers. The most important information should be easily accessible and organized to lead prospects down the path to purchase.

After you’ve thought through the fundamental aspects of your search engine optimization program, the next step is to begin the journey of website optimization. Although SEO does have a large number of factors to consider, the plan of attack should always begin by focusing on on-page optimization followed by off-page optimization.

On-page optimization is the process of organizing a website and developing it in a manner that allows search engines to easily access the site, find rich, original content that focuses around a particular subject (silos), and create a positive user experience that includes fast load times, ease of use, and social sharing.

Once a site has been built and meets the standard of on-page best practices, it’s time to turn your attention to off-page optimization. Keep in mind, however, that on-page optimization is never truly complete. Updates should be made regularly to reflect changes to the Google algorithm, and new, unique content should also be generated on a regular basis. This includes published content and user-generated content.

Off-page optimization is the practice of developing quality inbound links to your website, blog, and other digital assets. There are dozens of techniques for building quality inbound links, and you should always research and learn which techniques have the greatest impact on organic rankings. The goal of off-page optimization should be the long-term development of links that include keyword phrases you are trying to optimize for.

Search engine optimization is an essential part of any online business or offline business seeking to attract new customers. Consider how your target market gathers information and makes purchases. Once you understand their motivations and preference, it’s time to get serious about SEO.

Social Networks and Your Job Search (Part 3)

Sejal — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:49:06 +0000

I started off by introducing some of the newer ways employers are using social networks in my first post, Social Networks and Your Job Search (Part 1). In my next post, Social Networks and Your Job Search (Part 2), I gave you some tips on what you can do with your profiles and networks to get connected. In this post, I’ll tell you how and where to connect and engage with potential employers.

It all boils down to three steps: follow, engage, connect. And they’re done a little differently depending on what network you are on. Allow me to demonstrate…

The Obvious Choice: LinkedIn

LinkedIn* is hailed as the professional networking site, and with good reason. Whether you are job hunting or not, keep your LinkedIn profile updated and use it to connect with anyone and everyone you come across during your career.

Follow: Companies have their own profile pages on LinkedIn where you can “follow” them to get the latest news and updates. (Example: this is the Intel page.) Company pages give you an overview of what’s happening, connections you have to the company and career opportunities. Whether you’re interested in hearing about the latest and greatest from a brand that you’re a fan of or you’ve picked an ideal employer and are simply waiting for the right opportunity, following a company page is the first step. If you can’t find a company page, search for groups associated with a specific employer. Proceed with caution though, there are some groups that aren’t “officially sanctioned” by the company but it’s pretty easy to figure that out once you poke around.
Engage: If someone came up to you and said something, would you just walk away from them? Usually someone says something to you to start a conversation. The same applies to discussions or status updates. They’re there for you! Whether you like it or not, if you have something to say or ask, do so! That’s the beauty of social media: it gives everyone a chance to engage. Most companies also have their moderation policies listed so you know what to expect.
Connect: Did you get into a really good discussion with an employee? Find a recruiter who encourages people to connect with him or her? LinkedIn profiles have a section called “Contact for:” where the user will list all the reasons they are open to connecting with people for. Read the profile, decide if your request fits one of the reasons they are open to, and send (or don’t send) an invite. If you do send an invite and you don’t know the person too well, it’s a good idea to include a message introducing yourself and why you’d like to keep in touch. If the person declines your invitation, there’s a reason for that–let it be and move on.

The Not-So-Obvious Choice: Facebook

I know, Facebook* is for your friends. But really, if you’re comfortable with it (and use your settings appropriately), it can be used to connect with any and everyone.

Follow: Like LinkedIn, companies have their own pages on Facebook called fan pages. These pages are similar to a personal profile, giving companies a chance to behave just as a normal user would. While on LinkedIn companies have one page, many companies have several presences on Facebook. Pages can be divided by location or by their business. For example, some companies have their own Careers or Jobs page–which is what you would want to follow as a job seeker. (Are you following our Jobs at Intel Facebook page?)By following their page, you get updates to your newsfeed on the latest news about the company, be it cultural or products or even jobs!
Engage: Comment on status updates. Share news with your network. Write wall posts. These are all ways to engage with a company. In the past, the only way to have direct access to a company was through meeting representatives at career fairs or only available to the elite group that moved forward in the recruiting process. Social networks level the playing field and allow anyone a chance to ask questions and get in touch. However, depending on the volume, you may or may not get a response. When you do ask a question or make a comment, make it as easy to understand the first time around so you can get a response after it’s read. If you’re not clear about your question and/or the recruiter/moderator needs to ask follow-up questions to even get you an answer, you might miss your chance to engage.
Connect: Let’s say you get into a conversation with a recruiter on Facebook, do you friend them? What I’ve heard is that most people DO NOT want to connect with a recruiter on Facebook because they have a lot of personal information and photos that they’d prefer those outside of their social circles not see. Completely understandable–but either 1) don’t post those pictures online for people to see or 2) use your security settings! It’s ultimately up to you on whether you want to befriend a recruiter on Facebook or not. I would recommend doing so, after changing your security settings. It’s an easy way to keep in touch, most recruiters have better things to do than ‘stalk’ your profile, and it gives you more access to the recruiter so you can be comfortable asking questions, getting information, and developing a relationship.

Somewhere in the middle: Twitter

Follow: Following strangers is completely acceptable on Twitter*. In fact, it’s encouraged. It’s a little like a domino effect–you find someone interesting to follow, and then you look at who they follow and you find more interesting people to follow, and then you look at whothey follow and you find more interesting people to follow… and so on and so forth. Twitter lists are really helpful for this as well. I, myself, am guilty of not being as organized as to group the people I follow into lists (sometimes I think I need to dedicate an entire day to just get my social networking lists in order!), but there are more organized people out there who have created lists. These lists help you find a cluster of people who would be interesting at once. And the best part? If you don’t think they’re being helpful, you can easily unfollow them.
Engage: The RT button and @ button are pretty powerful on Twitter. In fact, as a rule of thumb, for every tweet you send about yourself, you should RT or @ 7 other people. (I’ve heard 10, I’ve heard 5, I’ve heard 3…I’m going with 7 as a happy medium!) Now don’t be offended if you don’t get a response back, but being out there and spreading the love–it’ll come back to you. Just watch.
Connect: Over time you’ll develop relationships with your Twitter fam–and when the time is right, it’s appropriate to ask them for help with an introduction to someone who can help with your job search, or maybe asking them to take a look at your resume or pass it along, or even a tweet-up (meet up) for coffee or an informational interview. Also, take a look at business cards you’re collecting–are Twitter handles listed? That’s an invitation to follow and engage. There’s a fine line between complimentary and creepy though–tread carefully.

Follow. Engage. Connect. It really is that simple.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Top Five Software Localization Myths

Nabil Freij — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:40:52 +0000

We will shed some light on the top five myths that are believed by many executives and decision makers in the corporate world.

Myth 1: Software Localization is simply translation
Many executives do not realize the level of effort involved in software localization, dismissing it as simply translation.

For many years now, advances in internet technologies, development tools, authoring tools and platforms, have expanded the use of different file formats and build environments. Software applications and manuals are no longer based only on Microsoft resource files or Word documents. Java, XML, ASP, .NET, RESX, HTML, as well as many other formats, have become standard in many applications and products.

Furthermore, with the continued trend toward the convergence of technologies, companies are marrying software, hardware, mechanics, chemistry, biology and other sciences to develop high-end solutions.

Translators are now expected to understand all these different technologies and file formats, and accurately translate only what is needed, without modifying tags, links or code. If errors are made, a significant amount of debugging time is needed to fix and build the international products.

Localization is both an art and a science. Do not underestimate the efforts needed or short-circuit the process. It takes experienced engineering and translation professionals to properly implement an efficient translation-reuse process and localize your product.

Myth 2: Anyone who knows a second language can perform translation tasks
Would you hire anyone who speaks English to be your Tech Pubs writer, or anyone who knows a computer language to be your programmer? Translators are professionals with years of schooling and translation experience. They earn their living doing translations. Most live in the countries that they are translating for and are natives of the language they translate into. They have an excellent command of the languages they translate from and into to ensure consistent, accurate and timely work. Recruiting amateurs to do translation work, even if they know your product or technology well, will lead to inferior results and product delays.

Myth 3: Lower per-word translation rates reduce costs
In localization, it is often the long-term costs that matter the most. Software, help, docs and other texts related to products are constantly changing. With each product release, the localized material needs to be updated and synchronized with the source. Lower upfront translation costs do not necessarily mean lower long-term costs. The following are key factors that contribute to long-term costs:

1. Process: Is the latest and most efficient translation-reuse process being implemented? If Translation Memory (search-engine and database) tools are not used, updates will be very time consuming and costly.

2. Maintenance costs: Vendors who have lower translation rates may have steep penalties built into fuzzy matches (similar but non-identical matches), repeats and 100% matches. This creates steep overhead costs each time a new revision of your product needs updating.

3. Quality: Although low quality translation will have lower initial costs, the long-term costs are significant. Post-translation changes are very costly, particularly if you have incurred production costs for layout, desktop publishing, quality-assurance, duplication or printing.

4. Ownership: Do you own your translation memories and databases? If you pay for the work, you should own it all.

Myth 4: A language review cycle is not necessary
To the untrained eye, a translated text appears final regardless of the quality or state it is in. Just as you see the value in having your source files edited by a second writer, or your software code reviewed by a second developer, the translated text should also be fully checked by a second translator. In the case of translation, the editing cycle will require not only reading through the translated text, but also verifying it against the source. Many vendors with lower rates, or higher overhead, will cut corners on editing in an effort to turn a profit. They may not ask a second translator to edit the text and instead perform “cursory checks”, which only require the editor to quickly read through the translated text without ensuring that it accurately represents the source. Always ask your translators or translation vendor what level of editing they perform after translation.

Myth 5: The vendor that provides the best translation sample offers the best quality
Asking a localization vendor to provide a translation sample is often mistakenly accepted as a lead method to measure vendors’ quality standards. Although in theory the concept makes sense, in reality, it is far from optimal. First, there are a lot more tasks involved in localization, than simply translation. Second, translation samples are often done by the most qualified translators who may or may not participate in the actual translation, once your project is awarded. If a sample is requested, you need to make sure that:

1. The vendor knows how to manage, parse, prepare, reuse, compile, desktop-publish and QA the required files.

2. The translator translating the sample will be the lead translator on the project.

Since this cannot always be guaranteed due to scheduling or other factors, it is often more reliable to check vendors’ references, experience, reputation and track record.

Request How to Plan and Budget for Localization and Translation Projects?

About the Author

Meshcentral.com – High DPI support

Ylian Saint-hilaire (Intel) — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:52:00 +0000

In my last blog I talked about adding iPad Retina display to Meshcentral.com. Well, I made two more improvements on that same topic. First, the new high DPI support now includes Internet Explorer. If you set the zoom factor on IE to 150% or more and go to Meshcentral.com, you will see the high resolution graphics. Seconds, I expended support for high DPI displays and iPad retina displays to the Meshcentral.com mobile application. It’s accessible at: https://meshcentral.com/m.

On iPhones and iPad’s, you can go to that URL and “Add to Homescreen”. You will get a high resolution iOS icon, a splash screen and a really nice web application to monitor your devices. The application looks just wonderful on the new iPad’s display.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Blogs@intel

Translation and Localization, Too Overcomplicated?!

Translation and Localization, Too Overcomplicated?!

What’s next for Intel’s new Corporate Responsibility Report? More “Snackable” and “Bite-sized” CSR bits

What’s next for Intel’s new Corporate Responsibility Report? More “Snackable” and “Bite-sized” CSR bits

What’s next for Intel’s new Corporate Responsibility Report? More “Snackable” and “Bite-sized” CSR bits

What’s next for Intel’s new Corporate Responsibility Report? More “Snackable” and “Bite-sized” CSR bits

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

IESC Senegal: Extreme Heat, New Skills

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Meshcentral.com – Improved Full Screen Remote Desktop

Bridging the Digital Divide Through the WTO Information Technology Agreement

Intel ISEF 2012

Intel Testifies at Senate Hearing on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Innovation

HR Pathways: Intel is Truly a Great Place to Work!

Unterwegs mit meinem Ultrabook

Unterwegs mit meinem Ultrabook

Android Multi-threads Programming for Intel IA

Age Friendly Cities and China’s Competition to Invent Sustainable Health

Ultrabook Project in Seoul: will.i.am with 2NE1 K-Pop music stars

Join will.i.am on the Ultrabook™ Project

Google+ for Business: Hype or Helpful?

Creating Value

What About Me Twitter Party Tonight!

Co-hosts: @IntelEdge @LittleTechGirl @TechMama

Panelists: @TechSavvyMama @Tech4Moms @scrappinmichele and @c2cmom

Hash tag: #IntelSocialButterfly

The Technology Timeline Advances Again With Ultrabook

Ultra Responsive. Ultra Sleek. Ultrabook™ – Inspired by Intel®

Maintaining Security in the Age of Oversharing – Executive Perspectives

Effective B2B Lead Generation Doesn’t Sell Your Product

Not Your Average Science Fair

Killer Resume Tips

Have an Objective

Use numbers to show results

The Devil Went Down to Irvine: Scenes from the Diablo(R) III launch

Meshcentral.com – Drag & drop to Terminal

Application-Aware Firewalls by Andy Thurai

Do You Have Good Mobile Etiquette, or Are You Guilty of Digital Over-Sharing?

Eight Popular Open Source Android Game Engines

Intel Announces New Software and Services Investments in Brazil

What is Intel(r) Secure Key Technology?

Join us at the HTML5 Conference May 21st for Ultrabook fun!

Why the Intel Achievement Awards Ceremony was Amazing

Meine Ultrabooks, meine Wenigkeit und München

Meine Ultrabooks, meine Wenigkeit und München

Prepare to be Inspired

Dynamic Resolution Rendering Update

Meshcentral.com – Drag & drop support

Enterprise APIs and OAuth: Have it All

The Dilemma

Current Options and Challenges

SSL with Mutual Auth Score:

HTTP Basic Auth with SSL Score:

OAuth Score

“Roll Your Own” Score:

Appease your Developers

Intel Celebrates the “Ultra Mom!”

Join will.i.am on the Ultrabook^™ Project

Ultra Responsive. Ultra Sleek. Ultrabook^™ – Inspired by Intel®