blog tech

Tablets could bring new life to tech sector

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:13:00 +0000

Consumer electronics magazines in recent weeks have trumpeted 2010 as the Year of the Tablet.

But while some tablets are out there already, analysts say no one maker, as of yet, has managed to fuse together all the necessary components that would make people stand up and pay attention and — more important — buy the product.

A number of Silicon Valley players are seen in the tablet race, most prominently Apple Inc. andMicrosoft Corp. But a number of others, from giants like Hewlett-Packard Co. to star-crossed startups like the one that grew out of theTechCrunch blog, are jockeying for a piece of the action.

And if Microsoft, Apple or others can fulfill the tech press’ tablet prophesies, it could open the door to app developers and entertainment companies with new ways to deliver business apps, entertainment apps and content.

“The hope for these devices is that they will become your personal window on to the Web, with services, games, movies, and entertainment,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at San Jose-based The Enderle Group. “But right now nobody has been even marginally successful in this space.”

The notoriously reticent Apple has never confirmed that it’s developing a tablet, but Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner said the device, a 10.1-inch multi-touch screen he believes will retail for $1,000, could be released by April. With its ability to market sexy devices, and its command of music and entertainment content through the iTunes store, even a $1,000 price tag for what’s essentially an iPod on steroids could make Apple the leader in the tablet market and have app developers scrambling to write new programs.

Apple already has more than 100,000 apps available in its app store, representing more than 2 billion downloads to date.

Details of Microsoft’s stealth project, the Courier, have been leaked to tech Web sites over the past few months as well. The tablet purportedly has two 7-inch color screens, set in a booklet format, and can be manipulated by touch or a stylus. The device is wirelessly enabled and has an integrated camera. More of a pumped-up day planner than a strict entertainment device — if the videos of the Courier leaked to Gizmodo.com are any indication — Microsoft could have a hard time keeping the product on the shelves, Enderle said.

The more the merrier

Other devices are being bandied about as well. Time Inc. is collaborating with New York-based The Wonderfactory giving Sports Illustrated readers the magazine in a multimedia format, with written content, expanded photo galleries and video and audio clips. Currently in development, Wonderfactory created the software and engineered it into Hewlett-Packard’s HP Tx2 netbook, using only the touch screen for the device.

Wonderfactory creative director Jared Cocken said only that the device would be coming “soon” and declined to discuss any details of who would be making the hardware for the device.

Martha Stewart announced on her show the week of Dec. 14 that all of her content soon would be available on a tablet. And Conde Nast announced in November that it would have a digital version of Wired magazine available for the Apple device, while acknowledging that Apple wouldn’t even tell the publishing house if it had a device.

Advantages to choices

So what’s brewing is potentially a huge competition if — and it’s a big if — any of the high-profile devices come to market next year.

“Being first to market doesn’t mean anything if you can’t figure out how to market it and make it interesting,” Enderle said. “And until it’s out there, we don’t have an idea as to how large the market for it might be. Until the first one is out there, it could be the one device everyone has to have, but now it’s the one device nobody felt they needed. And that’s a big range. It all depends on how the market receives this upcoming class of device.”

The battle is likely to be tough for Apple, Enderle said, oddly enough in part because of the controversy now swirling around the JooJoo, a device that began its life as the Crunchpad in a joint project between TechCrunch blog founder Michael Arrington and Fusion Garage, led by CEO Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan.

The partnership imploded earlier this month, with Rathakrishnan wrenching control of the project from Arrington and switching the name to JooJoo, which is now being marketed via a Web site for $499, with PayPal being the only way to pay. Rathakrishnan did not respond to multiple e-mail requests for an interview. According to the Web site, the device will ship in eight to 10 weeks.

It’s believed the Apple tablet will look almost exactly like the JooJoo, and because the JooJoo has had such a “messy birth,” Enderle said, it might poison the market before Apple can even release a product. As Enderle put it, “you don’t screw bloggers” (Arrington and TechCrunch’s legion of followers) and expect there not to be serious ramifications.

The market also depends in part on whether users view a tablet as another device they want to carry around. Arrington said he never envisioned the Crunchpad as a truly mobile device, but rather something you have on a coffee table so you can surf the Web while watching television, or something to keep in a guest bedroom as an entertainment device.

Arrington, like Enderle, said he was unsure of the market size for a tablet that combined the best user experience, hardware and content. Early netbook sales had a market of 35 million, while a new device such as the Flip camera quickly sold about 750,000 a year, and the Amazon Kindle reader sold about 500,000.

As far as the Crunchpad goes, “the project is dead, from my point of view,” Arrington said. “I think Apple is going to be most compelling in this market.”

Price could be an issue, though, Arrington said, because he believes gadgets are becoming more and more expendable, a philosophy not shared by Apple, based on how it prices its products. Even so, Arrington said, “I think there’s a market for a $200 tablet.”

Live from Tech-FSU hoops, along with 25 NBA scouts!

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:12:00 +0000

The press section is jammed today, and not with press. Twenty-five NBA scouts have been credentialed for today’s game — Georgia Tech is playing Florida State — and there are only 30 NBA teams. I conclude from this that the absent five are simply slackers.

The scouts are coming to see three big men who could wind up in 2010 first round — Solomon Alabi of FSU and Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal of Tech. Indeed, DraftExpress has two in the lottery. Favors is No. 2 behind John Wall of Kentucky, and Alabi is No. 14. And Lawal sneaks into Round 1 at No. 29.

Nine games into his one and surely only collegiate season, Favors hasn’t disappointed. He’s not going to be voted the freshman of the year nationally — Wall, who’s not just the best freshman but the best player in the land, will be — but that’s because Tech hasn’t needed him to score big every night. Lawal actually leads Tech in scoring and rebounding, but there’s no question who’s the bigger talent.

And to have two such big men at a time when big men are so scarce — ask Illinois coach Bruce Weber how much he’d trade for either of Tech’s guys — is the key reason Tech should have a splendid chance of reaching the Final Four.

That’s correct. I didn’t say the NCAA tournament. I said the Final Four. Tech has more talent than it has ever had under Hewitt, and early returns indicate there’s mesh being strung together. Iman Shumpert is out until January after knee surgery, but point guard Mfon Udofia has been better than advertised — among Jacket insiders, he was considered the key to the famous signing class — and rookie Brian Oliver has proved he can hit enough jump shots to keep defenses from zoning everything up.

(Tech fans know this already, but here, for newcomers, it is: This Brian Oliver is not the son of the Brian Oliver who helped drive the 1990 Jackets to the Final Four. They’re not related. Although Glen Rice Jr., yet another freshman, is indeed the son of Glen Rice, who helped drive Michigan to the 1989 national title.)

Tech fans will also recall that last season ended in despair after a last-gasp loss to FSU in the ACC tournament at the Georgia Dome. Shumpert took the last shot that day and missed. I’m pretty sure he won’t take a shot of any kind today. And I have great faith that the Jackets will win today. For one thing, Toney Douglas no longer plays for the ‘Noles. For another, Tech is good.

But I am, as we know, wrong on occasion. Indeed, I was wrong just last night at the Arena in Gwinnett. I figured the Illini would win that one going away. Georgia won and deserved to win. So just because Joe B. Hall and I got together and invented college basketball doesn’t mean I’m always right.

Blog Overhaul

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:11:00 +0000

That’s right, Eaten by Some Linux has gotten an overhaul. All the news-y type stuff is gone; that was for a class – well, this blog was for a class – but now I’ve imported my old blog, Seriously Tech, into this one because WordPress is far superior to Blogger. You’ll notice the old posts kind of look like crap – I noticed, and I’m probably not changing it. The import function worked pretty well, but the fonts are small and the pictures are small and honestly, I don’t feel like going through and fixing it. I don’t even know how, and it would take a long ass time. Half that crap is obsolete anyways – you’ll notice on many I’ve posted updates that say so, don’t get used to it – I only did it because I was going through them all adding tags. But that’s ALL I’m going to do (well, maybe I’ll go update the linkbacks too, since I’ll probably delete the old Blogger blog pretty soon here).

EDIT: It looks like the small font is actually just on the blog home page on old posts – permalinks have normal sized fonts for post bodies at least. The pictures are still small though. Whatever.

Anyways, you can find more info about the blog’s newfound purpose on the revampedAbout Me page, as well as listening to me rant for another minute or so. The old ideas of Seriously Tech still stand – but I’ll probably be widening everything a little bit. This will probably turn into a bit more of a personal blog, so while the reviews, how-tos, and other such things will still be a regular phenomenon ’round these parts, you’ll probably get random commentary/updates/whatever from me. Anything that prompts me to open up my big mouth larger than can be contained in physical space. I will be updating much less frequently, though, because again, that was for a class – and I’m moving to the type of stuff that you can’t really write about that often, since it’s pretty niche. For more frequent software tomfoolery, you can always read my posts over at Lifehacker. Yeah, I pulled that shameless plug. What did you expect?

New Model of the Universe Says Past Crystallizes out of the Future

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:10:00 +0000

What do you get when the past crystallizes out of the future? According to a new model of the universe that combines relativity and quantum mechanics, the answer is: the present.

What's the difference between the past and the future? Not a great deal, if you take a purely relativistic view of the universe, say George Ellis from the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Tony Rothman from Princeton University in New Jersey.

The standard spacetime diagrams used in relativity accord no special status to the past, the present or the future. That's because they assume that everything evolves from time-reversible local physics.

In fact, it is possible represent such a universe using a kind of spacetime diagram in which space and time merge into a single entity. "The universe just is: a fixed spacetime block,"say Ellis and Rothman. In this view, no instant has any special status: "All past and future times are equally present, and the present "now" is just one of an infinite number."

This kind of "block universe" has indeed been studied by various physicists in recent decades with limited impact.

Today, Ellis and Rothman introduce a significant new type of block universe. They say the character of the block changes dramatically when quantum mechanics is thrown into the mix. All of a sudden, the past and the future take on entirely different characteristics. The future is dominated by the weird laws of quantum mechanics in which objects can exist in two places at the same time and particles can be so deeply linked that they share the same existence. By contrast, the past is dominated by the unflinching certainty of classical mechanics.

What's interesting is that the transition between these states takes place largely in the present. It's almost as if the past crystallizes out of the future, in the instant we call the present. Ellis and Rothman call this model the "crystallizing block universe" and go on to explore some of its properties.

They point out, for example, that this crystallization process doesn't take place entirely in the present. In quantum mechanics the past can sometimes be delayed, for example in delayed choice experiments. This means the structure of the transition from future to past is more complex than a cursory thought might suggest.

Ellis and Rothman suggest that their model provides a straightforward solution to the problem of the origin of the arrow of time. "The arrow of time arises simply because the future does not yet exist," they say.

That's a thought-provoking but ultimately unconvincing model in its current form. But it'll be interesting to see whether Ellis and Rothman can conjure a little more substance from the idea.

What it needs, of course, are some testable predictions, things that cosmologists usually spend little time worrying about. Don't hold your breath.

Seven Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas For The Techie In Your Life

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:09:00 +0000

It’s easy to forget Christmas is creeping up on you, and just about everyone finds themselves at the last minute realizing they need one more gift for someone. Don’t fret, we’re here with some suggestions of what you can ponder getting for that person thanks to the ubiquitous shopping site, Amazon.

Amazon Gift Card: There used to be a real stigma attached to giving gift certificates or cards, but now they are an insanely huge industry. Considering how popular Amazon is, can you really go wrong with such an item? You can print them yourself, email them or have Amazon send them via postal mail if you so choose.

Apple iPod Touch: The iPod Touch has become a popular alternative for those that don’t want to deal with giving up their current phone for an iPhone. Aside from cellular service, that isn’t a whole lot of difference between the two items, and the Touch has become extremely popular. 8 GB $183.99, 32 GB $269.99 and 64 GB $359.99.

Eye-Fi Explore Video 4 GB Wi-Fi SDHC Flash Memory: While $91.94 is usually an outrageous price for 4 GB of storage in any format, seeing as the Eye-Fi lets you transfer images and videos via Wi-Fi off of your camera, its worth it. You can transfer the files to your computer, to your social media accounts, via FTP and more.

Fisher Space Pen: Do you ever think your friend finds themselves needing to write at odd angles, like when they’re in zero gravity? How about if they find themselves in temperatures varying from -30F to 250F? Yep, this is the pen for them! And at $18.70 its very affordable.

LaCie Rugged All-Terrain 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/800 Portable External Hard Drive: External hard drives can be great, but can be impractical to travel with due to them being bulky and touchy to jarring. This rugged hard drive can with stand bumps and bruises, is BUS powered so it needs no bulky adapter and can withstand extreme temperatures. 250 GB for $93.95, 320 GB for $104.95 and 500 GB for $144.95.

SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive: Remember when flash drives cost you an arm and a leg? Well, the prices are far more reasonable now and you can pick up this 8 GB drive from Sandisk for $19.54 plus shipping. Even if your techie friend or loved one already has a flash drive, you can seriously never have enough of these.

TwitterPeek Mobile Tweeting Device: Okay, maybe we thought the TwitterPeek was silly, but if you’re desperate for a last minute gift, then this TwitterPeek with a lifetime service subscription for $199.95 would do the trick.

Thales announces winners of Scottish innovative technology competition

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:08:00 +0000

Thales UK has announced the winners of the 2009 Thales Scottish Technology Prize for image and data processing technology and applications. The competition, now in its
second year, was launched in September and was open to all students and staffattending Scottish universities.

The competition has generated a number of extremely high quality and innovative proposals, underlining Scotland’s global and historical reputation as a centre of excellence for engineering.

The winner of the £25,000 first prize went to the University of Edinburgh, for a proposal from Dr. Ben Panter relating to a ‘real-time novelty filter to detect improvides explosive
devices (IEDs) from reconnaissance imagery’. Dr Panter also won the £5,000 personal prize associated with the winning entry.

Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen claimed the runner-up spot worth £2000 with a team consisting of Dr Laura Muir, Prof. Ian Richardson and Abharana Bhatt. Third place,
worth £1,000, was won by Xuexing Zeng and Prof Tariq S Durrani from Strathclyde University in Glasgow.

Last year’s competition focused on the area of laser technologies and was an outstanding success, with the University of Strathclyde securing first prize. Since then
Thales has pursued three of the ideas with the winning entrants and plans to agree on funded projects that will bring their ideas into reality.

David Lockwood, Managing Director of Thales UK’s optronics facility in Glasgow, says: ”We are extremely proud to continue to foster the spirit of innovation within the Scottish
engineering community. The scope of the competition and its prize fund are truly unique in the history of engineering in Scotland and the results have clearly generated ideas
which have an encouraging future.”

Some 700 of Thales UK’s 8,500 work force are based in Glasgow and the company is an important source of high-tech, high-skill employment in the region. The UK Ministry of
Defence (MoD) is the main customer for Thales’s activities in Glasgow, with the local site being a world leader in night vision technology; delivering equipment and services to the
MoD since 1888 when the company was formerly known as Barr & Stroud.

Thales UK supports science and technology projects across the country. With a high proportion of its 8,500 staff involved in science, technology and engineering, the themes
of technology and education are at the heart of the company. Thales believes that activities such as The Thales Scottish Technology Prize are crucial in raising the profile
of engineering in the minds of young people as an exciting career for their future.

UA-Louisiana Tech blog: Back to .500 for Cats

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:07:00 +0000

Arizona holds serve, takes care of business … whatever you want to it call it. The Cats beat Louisiana Tech 83-67 to end a three-game losing streak and get back to .500 at 4-4. That last part about getting back to .500 is something I don’t think I have ever had to write about UA basketball.

Nic Wise led Arizona with 24 points, his second 20-point game of the season. (Well, perhaps technically it’s his first since his season high is 30 points.)

For the first time this season, Arizona had five guys score in double figures — Wise, Jamelle Horne (20), Solomon Hill (14), Derrick Williams (11) and Kyle Fogg (11). The only other player to score for Arizona was Kryrl Natyazhko, with three points.

Next up for the Cats is a game at San Diego State on Saturday night. The Aztecs are 7-2 and have beaten San Diego, which beat Oklahoma, which beat Arizona. Based on that math, it won’t be easy.

* * *

Attendance: 13,270. That’s not “Arizona good,” but it wasn’t bad for a 9 p.m. Wednesday night start against a non-sexy nonconference team.

* * *

Make that 16 turnovers now for Arizona. UA’s season high is 17, which has happened twice, including in the debacle at Oklahoma on Sunday.

* * *

Arizona leads 65-50 with 7:31 to go. The Cats have been up by as many as 17, which is fairly impressive. Louisiana Tech did get blown out at New Mexico earlier this season (81-52) but is a solid WAC program with experience, as well as good athletes and size. The Bulldogs figure to be something of a factor in a wide-open WAC, which is deeper and better than it has been in recent seasons.

But, yeah, a Pac-10 team such as Arizona shouldn’t lose to a mid-level WAC team at home, so there’s no need to party too much. Consider: Arizona has 15 turnovers. Coach Sean Miller will find plenty of teaching points from that effort.

* * *

Derrick Williams disappeared in the first half — no point, one rebound, two fouls, seven minutes. The Arizona freshman has asserted himself in the second half, with nine points, including a one-handed jam of a missed shot that bounced high off the rim, and three rebounds in the first seven minutes. Ah, freshmen … you never know what you’re going to get.

He’s out now as UA leads 53-40 with 10:49 to go.

* * *

Louisiana Tech’s shooting woes continue. The Bulldogs have made 13 of 42 shots for the game as Arizona leads 45-33 with 15:30 left. Tech is 1 of 9 this half.

* * *

Arizona leads 35-31 at halftime and if there was a lesson to be learned it’s that Jamelle Horne should never attempt a no-look pass. Call it good defense or bad shooting from Louisiana Tech, but the Bulldogs made just 12 of 33 shots in the first half (36.4 percent).

* * *

Here’s another reason why we have to be patient with this team. It just went a couple of possessions with D.J. Shumpert, Alex Jacobson and two freshmen (MoMo Jones and Solomon Hill) around senior point guard Nic Wise.

* * *

Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood, who is one of three finalists for the vacant athletic director’s position at UNLV does not appear to be in attendance at tonight’s game.

* * *

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Kyle Fogg brings Arizona into a 23-23 tie with 9:19 to go in the first half. Fogg is 2 of 3 from behind the arc tonight, making him 11 of 19 for the season. Keep on shooting.

* * *

Ex-Rincon High standout David Jackson scores two points in McKale with 12:28 to go in the first half for a 20-13 lead as UA’s Derrick Williams picks up his second foul. Louisiana Tech, which has a nice senior core, is eager to push the pace so far, which doesn’t often happen to Arizona.

* * *

It appears as if Louisiana Tech might be more athletic than Arizona.

* * *

For those of you watching on television, you might notice that first-year analyst Corey Williams is wearing the same cream-colored suit he wore for the home game against UNLV last week. It was at that time that he got off the line of the night, saying he was going to e-mail ex-Wildcat and current San Antonio Spurs announcer Sean Elliott and ask him to send 10 suits he no longer wears.

* * *

Arizona sophomore guard Brendon Lavender, who lost his starting spot to Kyle Fogg for tonight’s game, will not play at all tonight. He has a deep thigh bruise in his right leg.

Coach Sean Miller didn’t mention the injury yesterday when he met with the media, so Lavender might have suffered the injury later in practice. Will know more about Lavender’s status after the game.

The Wildcats (3-4) take on Louisiana Tech (7-1) shortly after 9 p.m.

Check back here during the game for updates and analysis.

Microsoft Dynamics GP Updates To Meet New European Union Tax Rules

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:58:00 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics GP continues to offer enhancements and updates to meet with ever changing regulatory environments. By providing a rapid response to shifting business conditions, Dynamics GP provides its customers with the tools they need to remain compliant while minimizing their costs for meeting the regulatory requirements. These updates and enhancements are all part of the Microsoft Business Ready Enhancement Plan.

The Microsoft Business Solutions group is advising customers to be aware of changes to European Union (EU) tax law that will come into effect Jan. 1, 2010.

Microsoft Corp. has released updates to existing functionality to enable Microsoft Dynamics ERP users to include services in the European Commission (EC) Sales List report. This report previously includedd only the sales of goods to companies in other EU countries. With the upcoming changes to EU tax law, services also need to be included in the report. In addition, the layout of the paper report and the definition of the electronic file are different in each of the 27 EU countries. Companies that supply services across borders and have not yet redefined their financial and business management processes and trained employees to deal with the upcoming changes are urged to move quickly to comply with them.

By installing the VAT 2010 updates, customers on the Microsoft Business Ready Enhancement Plan can comply quickly and easily with the changes in regulations. All customers on an enhancement plan and a supported version of Microsoft Dynamics ERP are entitled to receive these Microsoft software updates. These VAT 2010 changes highlight the ongoing need for all businesses to be able to adapt quickly to regulatory changes.

Microsoft Dynamics helps its customers with regulatory compliance by monitoring the local legal requirements in the markets it serves and making the necessary changes within the software itself. The VAT 2010 updates are a good example of how Microsoft Dynamics solutions can help ensure that business processes can transition smoothly in response to a whole host of new legislation.

Microsoft has released updates to Microsoft Dynamics GP that support VAT 2010 within the core application and encompass the specific requirements in each country. Further releases will become available as subsequent announcements are made by the EU member states that have not yet specified local details.

“It’s important that our customers and partners have the tools they need to help ensure compliance with basic legislation in whichever region they operate. By making it part of the core functionality of our system, it is quick and easy to update,” said Crispin Read, general manager, Microsoft Dynamics ERP. “For customers on a Business Ready Enhancement Plan, this should be simple. Those who are not, and have not yet taken action, shouldn’t be complacent about making these changes.”

Keep it simple, say green building occupants

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:58:00 +0000

A new study of green building occupants finds that, “Items that are not too different from the norm or do not require drastic behavior alterations, e.g., low-VOC paints or energy-efficient appliances, were incorporated into a high percentage of projects.”

The study, Satisfaction with Certified Green Buildings, by Dovetail Partners, Inc., found that occupants are not eager to adopt new green technologies that involve labor on their part, like rain barrels and tankless water heaters. But that doesn’t mean green building occupants are lazy. “The greatest missing piece seems to be better education to homeowners, contractors, manufacturers, and building occupants,” concluded the researchers.

So the answer is not necessarily to avoid atypical technologies which require maintenance and behavioral change, but to educate owners, contractors,
manufacturers, and building occupants about their operation and advantages, particularly, the study determined, their life cycle versus first costs.

That’s why I teach green building courses, because I would hate to see new technologies go unused simply because someone in the supply chain didn’t understand their advantages, function, or potential to help us all breathe a little easier.

Poll: Are you iPhone owners planning to participate in Operation Chokehold this afternoon to cripple AT&T's network?

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:57:00 +0000

Fake Steve/Dan Lyons continues to semi-frantically insist that this is all a joke, but he also seems to be reveling in the publicity that his scheme has brought him.

In case you missed all this, Newsweek tech columnist and Steve Jobsimpersonator Dan Lyons recently took the occasion of AT&T's complaints about heavy users of its wireless network to call for a mob of iPhone users to all run bandwidth-intensive iPhone apps for on hour today at noon Pacific, 2 p.m. Central. The idea, presumably, is that if AT&T's wireless data network crashes, AT&T will be so embarrassed that it will spend a few billion bucks to upgrade the infrastructure.

But after the prank gained national media attention and AT&T's wrath, Lyons tried to back down. But as he acknowledged, this thing has taken on a life of its own.

So now the question is how many iPhone owners will actually participate in Operation Chokehold.

Will you be among them? (Direct link here for users on non-Flash platforms.)

Windows 7 (Ireland) Tech Community Launch - Content Online

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:57:00 +0000

The sessions from the Windows 7 technical community launch tour are posted online. On the Windows 7 Launch Tour website http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/windows7/launchevent/, you can find the PowerPoint slides and videos of the main sessions delivered in Dublin, as well as some helpful resources and links.

The content posted includes:

· Windows 7 ‘Made in Ireland’

· Windows 7 User Interface Tour

· Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 better together story

· Windows 7 Customer: Mainstream Renewable Power

· Introducing Exchange 2010

If you didn’t make it to one of the launch sessions we ran and are without a copy of Windows 7 – you still have a chance to bag one before Christmas! We are running a competition offering the launch session video viewers a chance to win a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition. Learn more here.

Microsoft Security Essentials were mentioned a number of times at the launch sessions – this is a free downloadable security product you can use to protect your home PC, found @ http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx.

Finally, if you are work on development side of things, you should be looking into the next generation of developer tools from Microsoft. Visual Studio 2010 includes built-in tools for Windows 7 and SharePoint 2010 and the Beta 2 can be downloaded @http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-ie/vstudio/dd582936(en-us).aspx.

Have a great Christmas and see you in 2010!

Google reportedly in talks to buy Yelp

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:56:00 +0000

Google Inc. is reportedly in talks to acquire Yelp, the popular San Francisco site that allows users to review restaurants, bars, shops and more, potentially providing the search giant an opportunity to reach deeper into the local business market.

Technology blog TechCrunch and the New York Times characterized the discussions as "advanced" and "serious," respectively, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the deal. The publications pegged the price tag at $500 million or more.

Both Google and Yelp declined to comment.

The privately held company was founded five years ago by a pair of PayPal executives and quickly grew into a popular forum for users across the nation to laud and lambaste their restaurant service, bar selection and even the scenery on hikes.

This Yellow Pages of the digital age saw 8.9 million unique visitors in December, up 68 percent from a year ago, according to comScore - and many more users than that, based on its own estimates. Citysearch, the rival Los Angeles local review site formed in 1996, boasts more visitors, 13.7 million, but that's down 3 percent.

Google has mastered the art of matching keyword searches to ads for online transactions. But translating that into exchanges in the offline world, especially among the highly fragmented small-business market, has proven trickier.

Because Yelp's users clearly articulate the type of business they're looking for - by entering search terms for, say, "Mission taqueria" or "Noe Valley hair salon" - it allows advertisers to target messages to those customers most likely to walk down the street and spend money at their business.

If the deal is in fact under way, that's the main draw, analysts say.

"In a world looking for high-value eyeballs, it's hard to find any higher value ones than these," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group.

He didn't have any knowledge of the talks and stressed that rumors are sometimes spread by companies hoping to be acquired, or their financial backers, to build interest or ignite bidding wars.

The deal would also provide a deeper social dimension to Google's online guidance, a direction in which the company and the Web world at large are already increasingly moving.

For the young San Francisco company, a takeover by one of the hottest technology companies may mean many things, some good and some bad. At the price being discussed, it's sure to mint a few millionaires. And the scale and resources of Google could quickly transform the site into a global operation.

But something might be lost as well.

"Among some Yelpers, the elite squad, I think there would be some ambivalence about becoming part of a large company like Google," said Greg Sterling, founding principal of Sterling Market Intelligence. "There might be reason to believe that Yelp would lose some of its luster, some of its edge, some of the factors that make it a community."

Keep it simple, say green building occupants

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:51:00 +0000

GT in Atlanta writes: Heather,Can you please 'predict' that Georgia Tech loses (one last time, please) to Iowa in the Orange Bowl. They've had great success when you go against them. Coach PJ would appreciate it, I would appreciate it, and all other GT fans would be grateful.

HD: First of all, let me set something straight about my Georgia Tech picks this season. I went 8-5 on my Georgia Tech picks (same record as Clemson this year), and predicted the Jackets would win eight of their 13 games, including the game against rival Georgia. They proved me wrong against UNC, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia and Clemson. As for the final game of the season, the Orange Bowl, no promises, GT. Our bowl predictions will come out closer to the game times, but I can't help but like the Jackets in this one.

Casey in Rock Hill, S.C. writes: What Tarheels do you think will go pro?

HD: Well, we know Bruce Carter is staying, he's said as much. But Marvin Austin and Quan Sturdivant have the most difficult decisions to make. I have a hard time seeing Deunta Williams go, and the same with Kendric Burney and Greg Little. They're all good players who had good seasons, but Austin and Sturdivant will probably be the highest picks. They'll make their decisions after the bowl game, but the truth is, nobody knows their intentions right now. If I had to guess, I'd say Austin goes.

Alex in Miami writes: Hey HD. Happy Friday. I hear your going to the Gator Bowl for Bobby's last game. Which means you would have attended Lou Holtz last game with ND and Bobby's last game with FSU. Pretty cool, did you ever think that would happen to you?

HD: Thanks, Alex, back at ya. Yeah, I'll be at the Gator (and the Orange), and no, I didn't even realize it until you mentioned it. Very cool. And as an IU grad, I'm pretty sure I was there for Bob Knight's last game, too. I'm very fortunate, and regardless of the outcome of the game in Jacksonville, fans will get their money's worth just to see Bowden coach for the last time.

John in Mel Beach, Fla., writes: Hey HD - any ACC teams receive any recent awards to report on in your blog? Oh yeah...UM's 2001 team was voted SI's TEAM OF THE DECADE! How about a little love on your blog for such a HUGE award?Thanks!

HD: I think you just took care of that, thanks.

Matt in Philadelphia writes: With all the expansion news, do you think there would be a chance of trading the Big East BC for USF. Seem a lot more logical of a team to be in the conference. Boston and Tampa are comparable markets and the Bulls.

HD: Nope. I doubt BC would ever go back to the Big East, nor do I think either party would want that agreement. And no, I don't think BC is joining the Big Ten anytime soon. BC AD Gene DeFilippo has stated publicly he's quite happy in the ACC.

Aaron in Tallahassee writes: You said awhile back that rest assured that Stoops was a good hire for FSU but didn't say anymore about it. Can you please tell me why this guy is right person to replace Mickey?

HD: Well, yes. He's known to have a sound scheme, and make good use space to squeeze an offense. His defenses don't usually give up big plays, he has a good concept of zone, and sends a lot of guys to the NFL. Recruiting-wise, he's good at spotting talent in the secondary, which has been a real strength for Arizona. Stoops' defenses have put up some good numbers without five star recruiting. Imagine what he could do with the talent he can lure to FSU. Stoops pays less attention to how players are ranked and more attention to how good they are on the field. He's earned a lot of respect for what he's done among the coaching ranks and it's hard to match his family pedigree.

Microsoft Hits Finish Line On Exchange 2010

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:39:00 +0000

Microsoft on Thursday said it has released Exchange 2010 to manufacturing and plans to launch it next month at the Tech-Ed conference in Berlin, Germany.

Exchange 2010 is part of the next wave of Microsoft Office products and is also the first Microsoft server technology to work on-premises and as an online service. Exchange 2010 improvements include integrated e-mail archiving, enhanced unified messaging support, expanded search capability, and the ability to transcribe voice mails into text messages.

Exchange 2010 combines on-site and off-site data replication into a single framework called a database availability group. With Exchange 2003 and 2007, each mailbox was tied to a specific server, but Exchange 2010 allows mailboxes to reside on any server, which cushions the impact of network outages, according to solution providers.

Microsoft is also working on a hosted version of Exchange 2010, but that won't launch until the second half of next year. That release will add full support for multi-tenant Exchange infrastructure and replace the current purpose-built version of Exchange that Microsoft offers hosters.

Microsoft's hosting partners are also anxious about getting their hands on Exchange 2010 because of its many performance improvements. For example, Exchange 2010 runs with 70 percent less I/O operations per second (IOPS) than Exchange 2007 and 90 percent less than Exchange 2003.

In August, Microsoft launched the Exchange 2010 Release Candidate and said testers would be able to migrate to the RTM version through an in-place upgrade.

New digital technology shakes up book industry

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:37:00 +0000

Rick Rieser was halfway through his daily jog this summer when the idea for "Percy, The Perfectly Imperfect Chicken" first popped into his brain.

Today, Rieser is a first-time author preparing for a busy schedule of readings in the Midwest, toting boxes of the children's book that was published with stunning speed via a small Silicon Valley startup called FastPencil. A creative process that often takes years — and typically fails to come to fruition — was accomplished in a few months, without a single rejection.

FastPencil, based in Campbell, is at the crest of a wave of innovation that analysts say could disrupt and "democratize" the book industry much as the music industry was transformed by Napster and the iPod. The changes are challenging the gatekeeper status and distribution models of big publishing houses by creating alternative routes for authors.

The Web has been a boon for self-expression, but while just about anyone can blog, a physical book remains the dream of many writers. Rare are the blog-to-book breakthroughs of such authors as Julie Powell, whose blogging homage to chef Julia Child led to a book and a film.

Advances in digital technologies have created new ways to publish and consume the written word. Innovations ranging from the print-on-demand technologies by Hewlett-Packard and Xerox to the advent of Web-connected e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader are changing the way books produced, distributed and read. Speculation abounds that Apple is working on its own e-reader.

Writers, meanwhile, are exploring avenues such as Scribd, which is showcasing digital works known as "e-books," and FastPencil, which bills itself as a one-stop shop to help authors create, publish, distribute and sell their physical books.

At the very least, these startups represent a low-cost alternative to conventional vanity publishers. And they could help writers execute end-runs around publishing houses to achieve mainstream success.

Writers are excited by the trend. Jennifer Jacobson, a San Jose public relations professional, is an unpublished fantasy novelist who has posted works of fiction online. When her novel was rejected by publishing houses in the 1990s, she explored self-publishing options.

"Most companies wanted thousands of dollars," Jacobson recalled. "Some of them want me to join expensive memberships and pay for authors workshops." She passed.

While her literary dreams remain unfulfilled, Jacobson recently was able to add "author" to her résumé with the publication of the business book, "42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business," part of a series of "42 Rules" guidebooks conceived by tech marketing guru Laura Lowell, available as e-books and paperbacks published with print-on-demand technology.

Whatever an author's preference — how-to guides, poetry, cookbooks, family heirlooms — FastPencil promises to help people "connect, write, publish and sell" their books. Its Web site includes a variety of book templates as well as social-networking functions to enhance collaboration and provide writers with feedback for works in progress.

FastPencil's customers can publish a single copy of up to 100 pages for $10 as a personal keepsake or pay more for large commercial print runs that can be distributed through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and FastPencil's own fledgling operation.

Rieser, who lives in Ohio, engaged illustrator Daniel Seward, a Chico resident, via FastPencil. He also is using it to help market his book.

FastPencil founders Michael Ashley and Steve Wilson hope "Percy," an uplifting tale about a chick's self-confidence, can catalyze their business. The Scribd Store, the San Francisco startup's new e-book marketplace, was jump-started this spring by "The Sower," a satirical biotech thriller by Kemble Scott about a man who has curative powers that can be delivered only through sexual contact.

Scott, who had a regional bestseller with his 2007 debut novel "SoMa," turned to Scribd after a major publishing house — he declined to say which — offered him a contract for "The Sower" that was, he said, "absolutely criminal."

Typically, only big-name authors can command big royalties from publishers, who justify their relative stinginess with little-known authors by citing their financial risk. The high amount of waste in traditional publishing is exhibited in discounted "remainders" at bookstores.

Scott opted to sell "The Sower" as an e-book in the Scribd Store for $2, roughly twice the price of a typical song download on iTunes. The deal gave Scott 80 percent of the revenue and enabled him to publish the finished novel instantly, ensuring that pop-culture references would be fresh.

"If I were publishing it the usual way, I'd have to wait until 2011 for the book to come out," Scott said in an article in Publishers Weekly. "An e-book also allows me to add topical references, making a novel set in the present feel absolutely current. The novel includes references to swine flu, Susan Boyle and TheDailyBeast.com."

The novel's digital debut attracted considerable media coverage and three conventional publishers contacted him. He signed with Numina Press, a boutique publisher in Marin County, to rush out the physical first edition of "The Sower." Recently, a Kindle edition of "The Sower" was released at $4.99.

Physical books, Scott predicted, won't be fully replaced by e-books because only a fool would take an e-reader to the beach, risking damage from sand and water.

Scribd has no interest in publishing books on paper, said Trip Adler, its co-founder and CEO, but rather aims to be "a hub" of digital distribution to whatever electronic device the reader chooses. Scribd has struck a distribution deal with Simon & Schuster.

FastPencil is tilted toward the paper medium. Its story begins with the rejections Ashley's mother encountered when she sought a publisher for a young adult novel she had written for his daughter.

Ashley, a serial entrepreneur and avid surfer who was then busy running his Santa Cruz startup SurfMaps.com., took control of her manuscript. The project, he said, helped him appreciate the radical changes in publishing since the 1990s, when he and his wife spent $8,000 to self-publish "Crayon Soup," a guide to family-friendly dining in Santa Cruz County that lost money but provided a tax write-off for dining expenses.

Ashley succeeded in producing 100 copies of his mother's novel at a modest expense. She was moved to tears. It was at Christmas, as other relatives besieged him with their own literary dreams, that Ashley sensed a big wave on the horizon, and the idea for his next startup took shape.

The Tech Chronicles

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:36:00 +0000

A survey released this week by Robert Half Technology of Menlo Park showed 54 percent of chief information officers said their companies prohibited their employees from using Facebook, MySpace and Twitter while at work.

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An additional 19 percent allowed employees to visit social networking sites for "business purposes only." Still, 26 percent of the CIOs said their firms allowed unrestricted or limited personal social networking use during work hours.

The results of the study sound consistent with other surveys that basically conclude that businesses are worried their employees are spending too much time tweeting and updating their status and not enough time on actual work.

In fact, this theme sounded too familiar.

A Chronicle story from 13 years ago this month, headlined "Companies Tighten the Web on Workers," told of how top firms were cracking down on employee use of the Internet during work hours.

History, of course, tells us how well that worked out.

Tech report: Mobile phones and other media toys

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:34:00 +0000

Mobile phone market

Microsoft may have Windows in most of the world's computers, but it continues to limp along in the Smartphone world, watching competitors like Apple's iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry and Palm's Pre snap up all the headlines and market share.

This week Microsoft took the wraps off of Windows Mobile 6.5. It's a slightly newer look to the operating system that has always been targeted toward business use, thanks to solid support for Outlook e-mail.

Windows Mobile 6.5 is all about the touch-screen support. It features staggered icons on the desktop for supposedly easier access.

There are also nods to what more and more consumers are using Smartphones for - access to social networks. It's quicker now to share photos on Facebook, Flickr and other social media from a Windows mobile phone. Microsoft also tweaked the Internet Explorer mobile interface, because Smartphones are becoming more like PCs - that is, portable computers. And that means getting on the web from wherever you are.

Microsoft is launching its version of an app store, called Windows Marketplace for mobile, with about 250 applications ready to go. Apple had, at last count, some 80,000 apps in its app store.

One cool new feature: The phone service, which lets you back up data on your phone and store it in the cloud. It's free through Nov. 30, then it's $5 every time you use it.

Two new phones out later this month using Windows Mobile 6.5: The Samsung Instinct, and the HTC Tilt 2.

The influential tech blog Gizmodo didn't like 6.5. It ran the headline, "there's no excuse for this" in its review. Venture Beat's review was better, saying 6.5. was a big step up from the usual "crappy" Windows Mobile experience.

Amazon

The other big dog in the Seattle technology kennel, Amazon, also made a deeper move this week into its recent hardware investment, the Kindle book reader.

Having already captured plenty of headlines with the Kindle 2, Jeff Bezos' company announced an international version of the Kindle, which allows wireless overseas downloading of books in more than 100 countries, thanks to support from AT&T's networks and its worldwide partners.

The Kindle 2, now available, could only allow downloads in the United States because of support by sprint's Whispernet wireless network. This opens up a potentially huge market for Amazon.

How interesting that Amazon launches this a few months before Apple is allegedly revealing its version of a tablet PC, which may also have e-reader capabilities.

The international Kindle will sell for $279 when it launches in two week. Possibly lost in all this news, the domestic Kindle 2 is now cheaper. It now sells for $259, down from $299.

Media toys

While on the subject of $250 media toys, would you pay that much for a handheld device that would let you watch live news and sports from all the major networks, broadcast and cable, as well as other time-shifted programming?

FLO TV, which is introducing its new personal television, with a 3.5-inch touch-screen, is banking that you will. The company, a division of Qualcomm, already provides live mobile TV services to AT&T and Verizon for a few of their Smartphones, but this is FLO TV's dedicated device.

A FLO TV executive told me the company wants to provide mobile broadcast television for whichever way you want it - on a mobile phone or on a device you can give to the kids in the backseat.

Retail sales partners will be announced soon, but the executive told me it will be available in time for the holidays.

Exchange 2010 is Code Complete and on its way to General Availability

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:33:00 +0000

We are happy to announce that Exchange 2010 is Code Complete! Our senior leadership team has signed off on the final code, and it has been sent to our early adopters for one final look before its public release. This Release to Manufacturing (RTM) milestone means we are on our way to general availability and the launch at Tech·Ed Europe 2009 (http://www.microsoft.com/europe/teched/) in early November.

For those of you attending Tech·Ed in Berlin this year, be sure to check out the Unified Communications track, which is packed with technical content on Exchange 2010. And be sure to visit us at the Exchange product booth in the Exhibition Hall and let us know what you think of the product. Crystal Flores, who interviewed some of you on video at Tech·Ed North America earlier this year, will be on-hand in Berlin in a few weeks, armed with a camera and interview questions. A group of us are also marching to Las Vegas for Exchange Connections the same week where our fearless leader Rajesh is giving the keynote.

We hope to see you in Berlin or Vegas, but if you can't join us in person, tune in via the Web (www.thenewefficiency.com) to be part of the launch.

- The Exchange Team

Micro Men preview

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:31:00 +0000

There's a singular set of first memories that many of us share of our first experience with a home computer. The satisfying give of the keys on the black, cumbersome keyboard; a constantly whirring cassette tape, or pleasingly tactile floppy disk; the jarringly vivid palette of sprites and characters burning their way out of the shiny abyss, and an array of otherworldly, synthesised sounds not yet familiar to our untrained ears.

Whether sheathed in an ungainly dustcover at the back of a classroom or secreted away in your friend's brother's basement, it's more than likely that these formative experiences were taking place on a BBC Micro or ZX Spectrum. In an age of iPhones and Windows, the ubiquity of these machines during the early 1980s and the indelible mark they etched on a generation is all but too easy to forget.

Micro Men, screening on BBC4 tonight, follows the stories of the two men briefly catapulted to the forefront of the computer industry by these new-fangled "personal computers". It attempts to explain how Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry, played in the film by Alexander Armstrong and Martin Freeman, managed, for a couple of years at least, to divert the world's gaze away from the Silicon Valley and towards a couple of small, unglamorous East Anglian tech companies.

Clive Sinclair (now Sir Clive to you and me) was, by 1978, established as an inventor and businessman with his company Sinclair Radionics. Clashes with his government backers led him to set up shop with one of his most talented employees, Chris Curry. While Sinclair's interests had until this point revolved around smaller gadgets like pocket televisions and calculators – along with his longstanding dream of pioneering the electric car – the two men were quick to see the potential in the growing home computers industry.

Their first product, developed by Curry, was the MK14, a basic computer kit released to satisfy the growing interest in personal computing. It sold out immediately. However, disagreements over future projects and Sinclair's legendary temper (which makes frequent appearances in Micro Men) meant this was their last joint venture.

The two men parted ways acrimoniously – Curry branching out on his own to form the company that would become Acorn Computers. Backed by entrepreneur and then Cambridge student Hermann Hauser (a charming fop in the film) Curry set about raiding Cambridge University of its most talented minds. The two former colleagues' rivalry would propel them to taking command of a market in its infancy.

Sinclair's masterstroke was to focus on reducing costs for its new machine, the ZX Spectrum, to allow it to be available to buy for around £100. Released in 1982, suddenly the new item everybody was talking about was also universally affordable. A generation of "Speccy" programmers was born.

That same year, Acorn competed by securing a coveted BBC license for their new system. With Auntie and the newly elected Margaret Thatcher's approval, one of Curry's machines was pledged to every school in the country. Sales went through the roof. Their BBC Micro, made initially for an expected sales run of 12,000, went on to sell 1.5m units. Many could still be found in schools around the country in the late 1990s.

These new must-have items for a brief time held a unique position in the national consciousness. News reports and magazines were full of stories on these new and exciting technologies. With computers affordable, accessible, and getting more and more sophisticated, it seemed like anything was possible.

Acorn and Sinclair's period at the top was short-lived, however, as the home computer market crashed in 1984, taking the two companies with it. Sinclair was eventually sold to Amstrad, Acorn to Olivetti, and neither ever managed to again make such an impact on the home computer marketplace.

Sinclair's and Curry's lasting legacy is unquestionable. The acceptance of the idea of playing "computer games" as a relaxing solo pastime in the UK was thanks largely to those initial systems. The belief of a personal computer as being an item every home should have another.

The ARM chip created by Acorn has also left a lasting imprint, having gone on to be the most used microchip in modern electronics. The phone you have in your pocket almost certainly has one in it – a design based around that made by the same Cambridge boffins that created the BBC Micro back in 1983. An incredible 10bn have been produced.

We also have Acorn and Spectrum to thank for many of the current generation of British programmers. The Spectrum and Micro were the first widely available systems to capture the imagination of inquisitive would-be-programmers – and opened up for the first time the possibility of a earning a living by making games. Chuckie Egg and Jet Set Willy were both created using these platforms.

With such a firm grip on the market, the question has to be asked – could they have hung on? You could argue of course that the strength of the Apples and IBMs of the time were inexorable forces that were always destined to take control of the industry – nevertheless, Acorn's and Sinclair's collapses from two of Britain's leading computer companies to near dissolution in five years has to be attributed somewhere.

For Sir Clive, of course, you could perhaps blame the doomed Sinclair C5 – an electric buggy which was supposed to reinvent modern transport but ended up selling a mere 12,000 units. His belief that every person in the country would want one was hopelessly misguided. Curry perhaps took his eye off the ball, assuming that demand would continue to grow. Neither managed to successfully enter foreign markets. But ultimately, both were victims of there own success. By 1983, every person who wanted a "microcomputer" had one. And with no marketable leap in processing power or new selling point, the bottom was always going to fall out of the market.

Micro Men ends on a poignant note as Sinclair, riding his C5, is overtaken by two hulking articulated lorries, labelled Microsoft and Apple. Perhaps it's foolish to think that two small Cambridge-based companies could ever keep up. But it's important not to forget that, for a few months at least, they managed to poke their noses in front.

Google, Energy Detective team up to monitor power use without a smart meter

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:30:00 +0000

Can’t wait for a smart meter to start closely monitoring your electricity consumption? Google and The Energy Detective may have the answer for you.

Google earlier this week said its PowerMeter software will run on Energy, Inc.’sThe Energy Detective 5000, which captures and transmits home energy data like a smart meter from your utility. PowerMeter then massages the data, making it more visual and graphical.

The partnership is the first in what are sure to be more PowerMeter deals that Google will forge with device makers.

The key TED 5000 component is a transmitter attached to wires in the home circuit breaker panel. The transmitter sends the data to a WIFI router so it can be viewed in a personal computer browser (see diagram) for massaging by PowerMeter.

Energy Inc. also offers wireless TED 5000 dedicated displays that plug into electrical sockets and use ZigBeenetworking technology (300 feet line of sight is the range) although they would appear to provide a smaller subset of the data than PowerMeter. Consumption data can also be sent to cell phones.

The Google announcement on the deal was a bit misleading, showing what appears to be a fake handheld device (pictured below) running PowerMeter and having nothing to do with the TED 5000. Energy Inc.’s site shows displays that resemble tabletop digital alarm clocks. More than likely, a user would employ a personal computer to use PowerMeter.

TED can be installed by a “technically-savvy homeowner (that’s me)” but it involves removing the door of your electrical circuit breaker panel and clipping the transmitter leads to your two primary panel supply leads. The bottom of the instructions say “Serious injury/death could occur if you are not familiar with electrical components and operation of the circuit breaker panel. It is a very simple installation for an electrician.”

Not the TED 5000

So much for the home handyman, but I have been in my electrical panel many times, adding circuits and looking for tripped breakers. While I would probably riska DIY installation, I am highly allergic to serious injury and death. The TED 5000 also requires a bit of “simple” programming which is done from a computer.

Since the Google announcement, interest in the TED 5000 has been “overwhelming,” according to Energy Inc. marketing director Melissa Lacas.

Ranging in price from $200 to $320, the TED 5000 looks like a cool product and one ripe for the times. PowerMeter is free.

Just a Facelift? How HUD is Using New Tech under President Obama

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:29:00 +0000

“Open gov” advocates and civic hackers have had an exciting few months. The White House has launched a series of bold initiatives aimed at advancing the use of new tech and increasing data sharing - and hired some very smart folks to lead the way. But the federal bureaucracy is enormous, consisting of more than 1.8 million employees across 15 departments. How is this bold, digital agenda filtering down to the folks who will actually have to implement it?

For years the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been seen by many as more a tool to fulfill political favors than an agency charged with providing and ensuring safe, fair, and affordable housing. Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who led the agency from 2004-2008, was forced to resign amidst a flurry of patronage and conflict-of-interest scandals. He once famously warned a conference of black contractors, “Why should I reward someone who doesn’t like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don’t get the contract. That’s the way I believe.”

But things are changing at HUD. There’s new leadership that some are calling the “Dream Team,” and under new Secretary Shaun Donovan HUD is certainly trying to use new media. There’s now a HUD Facebook fan page, Twitter account (@HUDNews), and their Web site has gotten a makeover. But upon closer examination, they have yet to make any substantive changes.

As of October 1, 2009 HUD had not yet posted a single data set or link toData.gov (despite having a trove of data online already at www.HUDuser.org). Their Web site has recently been given the same treatment most other federal sites have received, but dig into its archives and you find that it’s just a facelift - the structure of the site is unchanged and many pages still have their old look and feel.

There are links to Twitter and Facebook, but neither social media site is being used in very ’social’ ways. Their Facebook page seems to be a one-way communications system; there is no clear HUD response to any of the fan questions or comments posted. Their Twitter account occasionally responds to an @ message, but just this week they sent out a multiple-tweet narrative account of a conference - and incurred the anger of some followers in the process.

It’s certainly still early and the federal bureaucracy has never been the most nimble of entities. But the new administration has set a high bar for participatory and open government - and it will be interesting to see how HUD progresses over the coming months.

Welcome To Post Tech, A One-Stop-Shop For Tech Policy

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:28:00 +0000

The Washington Post is committed to bringing readers the latest news, in-depth analysis and exclusive coverage of technology policy. So today, I'm launching a new blog, Post Tech, to underscore that mission. The blog will replace Post I.T., a Web feature that several Washington Post reporters have contributed to over the years. (Don't worry, you can still find the Post I.T. archives here and on the lower left side of this page.)

Post Tech will focus on issues at the intersection of Washington, technology, and business. My unique vantage point comes from more than 15 years (too much information!) experience reporting on each of those subjects. I covered Wall Street and South Korean politics and economics for Dow Jones Newswires. Then I wrote about the dot-com boom and bust for The San Jose Mercury News. For the past two years, I've been covering technology policy for The Post, exploring how decisions made in Washington impact the business plans and technological innovations of the high-tech economy.

Sound off on your ideas. I'll be featuring comments throughout.

Finally, thanks for reading.

Q&A: Nebraska-Missouri through the eyes of a Tiger

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:27:00 +0000

Bill Connelly of Rock M Nation, and Nick Witthaus of Tigerboard.com, both Missouri football fan Web sites, took some time to answer a few questions about tonight's Nebraska-Missouri game, which could be drenched with heavy rain. Click here to see Mike and I's take on the game, which is shaping up to be a really good one.

Campus Confidential: How will the rain factor into tonight's game, should the skies open up? Does it give any team a decided advantage?
Bill Connelly: How the weather will impact the game depends on wind. If it's just rain, then on field turf that could benefit the better passing team, which would be Missouri. The route-runners know where they are going and can take more confident steps, while a defender having to react is more likely to slip a bit. Missouri has had no trouble throwing in wet conditions in the past. However, if the wind gets involved (at the moment, it is not supposed to be too windy), then it benefits whoever is better at keeping the ball on the ground. That would be Nebraska. In the end, more than any strengths or weaknesses in the running or passing games, the weather will simply benefit the team that can hold onto the ball better and not make any disastrous mistakes on special teams.
Nick Witthaus: If there is significant rain tonight, traditional wisdom says it favors the team with the stronger running game. That would probably be Nebraska. However, I'm not sure Missouri's passing attack will be slowed down by anything except the heaviest of downpours. So, I don't think rain gives either team a decided advantage.

CC: Nebraska lost a tough one at No. 5 Virginia Tech and Missouri's toughest opponent has been Illinois (which has been down through five weeks). Is Nebraska more battle tested and will this help the Huskers tonight?
BC: If we are talking about just 2009, then Nebraska is obviously the more battle-tested team. Their tight loss to Virginia Tech is more impressive than any win either team has procured to this point. But Missouri still has players like Sean Weatherspoon, Danario Alexander, Jared Perry, Jaron Baston, and Derrick Washington, all of whom played significant roles on the last two Missouri teams. They have played in far more big-time battles than anybody on the current Nebraska team, but that experience is obviously balanced out by the inexperience of Blaine Gabbert and some members of both the offensive and defensive line.
NW: I don't think I'd call Nebraska more battle tested. Rankings at this time of year are highly subjective, so a close loss at Va. Tech doesn't mean that Nebraska has proven itself. If anything, it demonstrates that they aren't capable of closing out a win. Missouri had to overcome a bad first half to beat a decent Bowling Green team. That kind of thing really helps a young quarterback like Blaine Gabbert gain confidence quickly.

CC: How should Bo Pelini and his staff attack Blaine Gabbert and the Missouri pass attack?
BC: In the three games against FCS competition this year, Missouri has faced two different defensive strategies. For the most part, Illinois and Nevada ganged up on the run and tried to make Blaine Gabbert beat them. He did just that. Bowling Green, on the other hand, played a cover-4 defense most of the time, and Gabbert didn't handle it well. BGSU went up 20-6 in that game primarily because Gabbert got happy feet and started leaving the pocket if his first or second option wasn't available -- he barely played in either his senior year of high school (injury) or his freshman year at Mizzou (backup), and his pocket presence is still a work in progress. In the second half, Gabbert grew more comfortable and brought Mizzou on three straight touchdown drives to end the game, so he is probably more experienced and capable of handling a "drop seven into coverage" type of situation. That, however, has clearly been the most successful strategy against him this season, and Nebraska would probably be smart to give that a shot.
NW: Every offense is going to have to give [Ndamukong] Suh extra attention. The Missouri offensive line has looked shaky at times, so if Nebraska blitzes a lot, they might be able to get to Gabbert and force some bad decisions.

CC: Rate Nebraska and Missouri through four games.
BC: I had pretty high expectations (higher than most, anyway) for Missouri this year, and they have more-or-less met those expectations thus far. Nebraksa has actually looked a bit better than I expected, though their projected weaknesses -- passing game against decent defenses and giving up big plays in the secondary -- appear that they might still be problematic. I expected Missouri to win this game by a couple of touchdowns in the offseason, but I'm seeing a much closer game now.
NW: Using a letter grading system, I'd give Missouri a B and Nebraska a B+ at this point in the season.

CC: Overall prediction for tonight?
BC: I always go with what my stats tell me (http://www.rockmnation.com/2009/10/7/1072021/nebraska-beyond-the-box-score), and in this case, they're projecting an extremely tight Missouri win. Since the weather doesn't give an obvious advantage to one team or the other, we will go with that. Missouri by 1.
NW: I'm predicting a relatively close, low scoring (for these teams) game tonight. Missouri 24, Nebraska 21.

Chatting Up Google: Search as You Like, There Is No ‘Evil Room’

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:25:00 +0000

Popularity and ubiquity have their downsides: Prom queens, politicians, and yes, even huge enterprises have found out that soon after everyone develops a crush on you, the backlash will quickly follow.

Sergey Brin

Google, which used to be embodied by its goofy logo letters and an origins story about a company founded in a garage that hoped to take over the world of search, is currently regarded with suspicion at its every move because it succeeded. Wildly. Now that it is huge and moving into all sorts of businesses that go beyond pure search, journalists and competitors question its every motive. And Google is determined not to get Microsoft-ed, where a company with a huge footprint in technology and culture ends up being seen as a monopolist and a threat, as opposed to an innovator.

Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of the company, has made himself increasingly available to the press and to regulators in an effort to dispel some of the concerns that swirl around the company, and on Wednesday, he was joined by founder Sergey Brin, who historically has enjoyed the company of engineers more than journalists. (Decoder sat next to Eric Schonfeld from Tech Crunch who somehow managed to render most of the discussion in real time.)

More than a dozen journalists joined Mr. Brin and Mr. Schmidt for bagels and coffee in the company’s New York offices in Chelsea, trying in vain to focus much of their discussion on search, but they happily engaged in every question that came their way, leaving Tom Post of Forbes magazine to wonder why Google is “being nice.”

“In many ways we always wanted to be this Google, rather than the one we were perceived of last year,” Mr. Schmidt said. Some of it is natural, he said — “Google is an innovator, and innovation on the Internet is going to create collisions” — with Mr. Brin adding that it sometimes seemed that all of the disruption to business models created by the Internet was laid at the feet of Google, in part because the company presents an easy, short-hand target.

Mr. Schmidt said that he had been meeting with federal regulators and that, of all the company’s priorities, making sure there is a high-functioning national broadband network was a very big deal, in part because all of the wondrous apps in the world aren’t of much use if people can’t access them.
Google’s effort to scan books raised myriad questions and was the subject of a hearing farther downtown in Manhattan to decide the fate of the settlement it had reached with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. (The judge set a Nov. 9 deadline for a revised settlement.)

Mr. Brin has taken particular offense at the criticism –- he said he wrote an op-ed on the topic that will be forthcoming — suggesting that the company’s willingness to scan millions of out-of-print books and create a registry for so-called orphan works was a social good, representing a commitment that none of the settlement’s critics have been willing to make.

“The companies that are making objections about out-of-print books are doing nothing for out-of-print books,” Mr. Brin said, and Mr. Schmidt suggested that they should “make an alternative proposal that solves the problem.”

“We thought we were doing something appropriate,” Mr. Schmidt added. “We were sued by a bunch of publishers, and now it has come before a judge. We don’t want to change it unless we need to.” In the instance of the ambitious book project, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”

“Some of the criticisms as I read them are legitimate,” Mr. Schmidt said, but he suggested that they could be “addressed in the settlement.”

The chat ranged over a host of topics, with a lot of give and take, but a question from your friend Decoder reporter about Chrome, the company’s Web browser, was not particularly well received, in part because we suggested that although Google has hinted that the browser is actually the operating platform of the future, Chrome is off to a slow start.

“Let me say that some of your assumptions about Chrome adoption are wrong,” Mr. Schmidt said, smiling. “The adoption rate of Chrome is strong. We are going to do a better job of getting that message out.”

Someone at the table mentioned that Steve Ballmer, the head of Microsoft, had described Chrome as a “rounding error.”

“I don’t respond to Steve Ballmer comments,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Next question?”

On that note, someone else — there were so many big throbbing journo-tech brains in the room that Decoder had trouble keeping track – suggested that the company’s various applications, which live in the cloud and are free, may just be a plot to grab most of the market share and then begin charging. In other words, behaving like another large technology company. Mr. Schmidt said that the company’s desire to grow had to do with survival, not unchecked ambition. “In technology, you either grow or die,” he said.

“There are many reasons why we will not be like Microsoft,” Mr. Schmidt said. “The first has to do with the culture and the founders. The other is the ease of moving out of these online services.”

Besides, he said, the market has a way of correcting hubris and ill-intent.

“If we went into a room and were exposed to evil light and came out and announced evil strategies, we would be destroyed,” he said. “The trust would be destroyed. We have not yet found the evil room in our campus.” (@toomarvelous on Twitter cracked, “He hasn’t looked hard enough.” )

As was pointed out in Decoder’s sister blog, Bits, the pair were in New York meeting with the worldwide sales force, and the news on the economic front was encouraging.

“The worst is behind us, and we’re seeing aspects of recovery,” Mr. Schmidt said. “We’re increasing our investment and hiring rate in anticipation of a recovery.”

Someone brought up a recent story in The New Yorker by Ken Auletta –- who was also present -– that suggested that the leadership of the company was tired of the culture of entitlement that had grown up around the burgeoning enterprise. Not that the recession didn’t land at Google as well.

“We have significantly cut down on the snacks available” at the Googleplex, Mr. Brin pointed out.

How to find ethernet / MAC address on Linux

noreply@blogger.com (bazooka) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:24:00 +0000

In Linux networking is easy, you just have to know how. We will discuss below how you can find your own machine's MAC address for all the attached ethernet cards as well as MAC addresses on other machines in the network.

How to find Ethernet / MAC Address of ethernet cards in your machine

ifconfig -a

In the output look for lines starting with eth0, eth1 etc. You will find an entry like this:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr00:17:31:2B:A3:7C

The ethernet address is at the very end (shown here in italics) for the Ethernet card eth0.

Normally each machine has one ethernet card. However there could be multiple ethernet cards designated as eth1, eth2, eth3 etc.

You can similarly find the MAC address for each.

How to find Ethernet / MAC address of other machines in your intranet

arp

You will have entries in the form:

Address HWtype HWaddress Flags Mask Iface
172.16.0.69 ether 00:19:D1:3E:DD:9C C eth0

Not only can you get the MAC address but also the associated IP address and network interface of the machine this way.