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Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs arriving April 2012

2012-01-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

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According to Taiwanese OEMs, April 8 will be the day that you can get your hands on desktop and mobile Ivy Bridge CPUs. These will be the first commercial chips that use a 22nm process, and — perhaps more importantly — the first silicon chips that use 3D tri-gate transistors (FinFET), instead of ye olde MOSFET that every other manufacturer and foundry are still using.

A total of 13 CPUs will be released on or around April 8: Seven desktop chips will be immediately available, all priced between $332 and $184 and targeted at the low- and mid-range market, the fastest being a Core i7-3770K. Six mobile chips spanning the entire price gamut will be available, including a high-end $1100 Core i7-3920Qm. Chipsets for both desktop and mobile will also be released, including the top-end Z77, and H77, Z75, and B75, and their mobile equivalents.

Before you get too excited, though, bear in mind that Ivy Bridge is not a performance update to Sandy Bridge. Where Sandy Bridge was the tock — new architecture — following Westmere, Ivy Bridge is the tick (die shrink) of Intel’s tick-tock release strategy. That doesn’t mean that IB isn’t faster than SB — some leaked benchmarks show a 2-8% gain — but primarily, Ivy Bridge will consume less power. According to Intel, the Core i7-3770k will have a TDP of just 77 watts, down from 95W on the current top-end i7-2700K.

This is obviously big news for the mobile sector where the CPU, along with the display and backlight, make up the bulk of a device’s power consumption. Presumably, with Intel’s 2012 focus being smartphones, ultrabooks, and the success of Medfield, almost everyone at Intel is focusing on reducing power footprints. Laptops might be by far the most dominant PC form factor, but if I can build a desktop PC that’s fast, saves power, and cuts down on CPU core temperature, I’m not going to complain. The other big change, though it probably won’t affect many ExtremeTech readers, is that Ivy Bridge chips will feature a new, slightly-less-awful integrated GPU.

The power savings, incidentally, most likely stem from the use of 3D FinFETs in Ivy Bridge, and other advances in silicon chip fabrication technologies. Medfield will have to wait until 2013 or 14 for its 3D FinFET re-work, but when it eventually happens Intel might even move ahead of ARM-based designsin terms of power consumption.

My New Year’s resolution: 5760 x 1080

2012-01-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

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It’s that time again, isn’t it? When we’re all supposed to take stock of the year that’s just wound down, and figure out how we’re going to make the upcoming year even better? Three hundred and sixty-five days ago, I wouldn’t have even considered it — 2010 is a top contender for Worst Year of My Life — but 2011 has been considerably better in a lot of ways. So, even though I’m not normally one for publicly doing this sort of thing, just this once I’ll bite.

My New Year’s resolution for 2012 is: 5,760 by 1,080.

No, I’m quite serious. I’ve had it with pitiful, small, and (heaven forbid) one-monitor display setups. In this day and age, they’re as antiquated as the Commodore 128, and I plan on making my computing life as full of spacious triple-monitor arrays as I can. That means dumping my lone home monitor (which has been acting up the last couple of months anyway) in favor of three that will expand my desktop horizons in more ways than one.

I haven’t come to this decision lightly, either. That monitor I have at home has served me well for more than four years, and as with clothes I’m loath to discard anything that still fulfills its basic function. Besides, that 1920×1200 rotatable display indoctrinated me into the shimmering pleasures and bracing usefulness of widescreen, a then-innovation I cannot imagine living without whether playing games or (sigh) doing work. Ever since I lost myself in the monitor’s endless side-to-side expanse of pixels, I’ve been unable to look at (or cope with) traditional 4:3 monitors with much but disdain.

Alas, first loves don’t always endure. I’ve grown during the last four years, and so have my computing needs. I do a lot more with spreadsheets now than I used to, I edit a lot more images, I watch a lot more online videos while I’m doing something else. A single widescreen panel helps with these things, but I still have to make a lot of compromises in terms of window size and arrangement. And if I want to play a game in a window rather than on the full screen (which I also do now more than I once did), I still have to cover up a lot of other stuff or play at an eye-rollingly small resolution — neither of which I love.

It was only around the middle of 2011 that I realized what I’d been missing. I borrowed some hardware we had sitting around, unused and unloved, to set up a three-monitor system at work. Almost instantly it proved so ideal for my business environment that I wondered how I’d ever lived without it. Outlook I relegated to the right monitor and Photoshop I placed on the left one, leaving the center screen free for whatever the program of the moment was (usually a web browser, Word, or Excel). But I could also have my Twitter client, our intra-office messaging program, and our content management system also all open at the same time and never feel claustrophobic. It is, for me, the ultimate in convenience, something that I just can’t do at home, which is a shame given how much work I do from there these days.

Now my path is clear. True, achieving my 2012 resolution means getting three monitors of the 1920×1080 variety, even though I’ve never cared for that style as much as 1920×1200 (what can I say, I love vertical space), but that’s a small price to pay for all the other benefits I get. Plus, there’s also a lot more selection: As of this writing, there are ten times more 1920×1080 monitors available on Newegg than there are 1920×1200 monitors (183 versus 18), which drastically improves my odds of finding one of the style and features I want. The smaller monitors are even disproportionately less expensive — the lowest-priced one (from Acer) costs $109.99, whereas the lowest-priced 1920×1200 monitor (from Hanns-G) runs $279.99. Yes, I could theoretically outfit my computer with three of the narrower monitors for only slightly more than it would cost me to buy a taller one. Somehow, I’m okay with that.

Something else that’s changed for the better in the last four years is the video card. It’s a lot easier now to find one, even a budget model, that supports multiple display outputs. Not every card is going to enable five or six (though some, including AMD’s recently released Radeon HD 7970 certainly do), but the proliferation of HDMI and Mini DisplayPort connectors, in addition to (and in some cases supplanting) DVI, have greatly simplified the process of driving displays. And because both AMD and Nvidia have developed special technologies for use with three or more monitors (Eyefinity for AMD,Surround for Nvidia), getting everything working is no longer a throbbing pain in the real panel.

My New Year’s resolution: 5760 x 1080

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Only one area still troubles me, and that’s gaming. Whether I’m playing something likeThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim or Batman: Arkham City for work or merely for pleasure, I want my computer to show them off to their utmost. And so far I’ve struggled to have a good FPS experience across three monitors. When the image arcs around my head for almost seven feet, I don’t always see the value in it. I’m always focused on what’s directly in front of me, but very few games are designed such that I miss much of import from the ultra-extreme sides. Usually the image just seems to get off-kilter that far out (pictured below), when I can even convince myself to look all the way over there at it. Strategy games like Civilization V are ideal for the format because you see more of the “board” but all on a single plane, but there’s a prevailing sense of overkill even with those. I prefer playing at 2560×1600, frankly. (Oops, the cheapest of those monitors costs $1,199.99 on Newegg. Never mind.)

Some statistics show I’m not alone in my apprehension here. In the most recent (November) edition of the Steam Hardware & Software Survey, the most popular overall display resolution is 1920×1080 (used by 24.12 percent of the survey sample). The most popular multi-monitor resolution, for about 10 percent of reporting users, is 3840×1080 — two monitors. Most of the larger options have barely any support at all; for example, the intriguing 5120×2880 is used by just 0.71% — and my longed-for 5760×1080 isn’t even on the list.

But if Nvidia and AMD are still having trouble moving multi-monitor into the mainstream, some enterprising people are still finding exciting things to do with it. One blogger looked at his displays as an important part of a larger artistic and aesthetic statement. In a home office, a five-display configuration brings much-needed order to an otherwise chaotic workspace. One guy even went a lot further than I’ve ever dreamed of, optimizing his house with fold-out stations for LAN parties. Even just a few years ago, these projects wouldn’t have been practical (and they would have been just barely possible).

I don’t have the desire to be that kind of trailblazer; I just want to do everything on my computer better than I do it today. For now, three monitors are the next logical step. I can’t imagine I’ll ever need more than that. (Though, come to think of it, I remember thinking something similar when I unpacked my 1920×1200 display in 2007…) Do you use multiple monitors? If so, how many and in what configuration? Or have you done anything really interesting with them, as in the examples above? I’d really like to know what your resolution is, and whether you plan on going bigger sometime soon.

As for me, I need to get shopping. Then I’ll face what will undoubtedly be the biggest challenge of 2012 for me: clearing off my desk to make room for all three displays. But somehow I have a feeling all those extra pixels will be more than worth the trouble.

The rise and fall of the Sony empire

2012-01-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

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With the recent report that Sony sold all of its S-LCD interests to Samsung in return for $939 million another flare has been shot, warning that the former king of electronics remains on a downward spiral that has no end in sight. A lack of innovation and misguided decisions (not to mention a few natural disasters) have eroded at the foundation of the company while competitors like Samsung and LG have overtaken the electronics giant in markets such as televisions and mobile phones. It wasn’t that long ago that Sony products were considered the creme de la creme of consumer electronics, the pinnacle for technophiles the world over. What factors have caused this the company’s slide into mediocrity? To answer that question, we need to take a look at Sony during its most successful period, the explosion of the ’80s and early ’90s.

It’s difficult to explain to people born after 1990 what kind of cultural impact Sony had during this time. Simply put, Sony was the Apple of its day, a company that released products that were the result of innovation being merged with everyday media consumption habits. When Sony unveiled the now-legendary Walkman in 1979, it fomented a revolution in the way people interacted with music. Buyers flocked in droves to retailers to get their hands on the device that would allow them to bring their music, in the form of analog cassette tapes, wherever they wanted. It was the must-have device of the decade, cementing the Sony brand in the mind of consumers as the name in electronics. Even when rival companies began churning out lower cost knockoffs, consumer demand for the Walkman remained high because consumers trusted the name. No matter the price, people would buy a device if it had the Sony name printed on it. Sony, not Apple, invented the extreme consumer dedication Cupertino now enjoys.

Following up on the Walkman craze of the ’80s, Sony once again changed the entire face of audio recording when it teamed up with Phillips to perfect the compact disc media format. CDs opened up a vast array of possibilities with the ability to give users a “master” copy of audio files as well as the convenience of being able to quickly select different tracks. The quality and amount of music that can be stored on a compact disc vastly outstripped the cassette tape, and once again thrust Sony into the forefront of media consumption innovation.

Unfortunately, the CD can be seen as the peak of Sony’s influence on the market. While it continued to develop new formats, such as the MiniDisc, none enjoyed the mass adoption that its previous efforts had enjoyed. (Sure, MiniDV and Blu-ray have done well, but only because of a lack of affordable alternative storage mediums. Flash media and streaming online content delivery are making these obsolete.) Sony became a nebulous company that fell prey to both its own avarice and the ability of its competitors to correctly gauge where consumers were going to look next for the next generation of media technology. Namely, the MP3.

If I had to point to a specific day in history that marked the decline of Sony as the worldwide leader in technology, it would be October 23, 2001. This was the date that Steve Jobs took the stage in his mock-turtlenecked glory and announced the next revolution in music, the iPod. In one fell swoop, Apple beat Sony to one of the most important technological advances this century. By giving consumers a device with instant purchasing power and the ability to listen to high quality audio files on the go, Cupertino completely changed the playing field for music consumption, a feat that Sony was no longer capable of.

The next internet: A quest for speed

2012-01-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

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What would you do differently with 10 gigabits per second (10Gbps) of data bandwidth to your home and office? If the innovators working on designs for the next generation internet are successful, your dreams can come true. It is easy to take for granted the increasingly massive amount of data we send back and forth every day over the internet and the extraordinary growth in the number of people using the internet, but there is a limit to how much our existing network infrastructure can take — and we’re quickly reaching it. Fortunately a group of university and corporate researchers backed by US government grants and funding from the industry are hard at work designing what could be called Internet 2.0 to address growing needs in speed, scale, and security in the design of the current internet.

Making the internet smarter

In the same way that we talk about a “smart grid” for electricity, one avenue of internet research involves making our current network infrastructure smarter about the data it carries. The decades-old stack of layers architecture that underlies almost all networks — including the internet — deliberately restricts interactions between those layers. This isolates applications from the network they use, making it possible to invent and deploy new transports and even physical networks without rewriting applications. This separation of layers has helped the internet family of protocols spread like wildfire to new types of physical devices like satellites and cell phones, but limits how smart it can be in optimizing data. Without expensive and dedicated caching solutions, for example, the current internet doesn’t know that a million identical copies of a new hit single are being downloaded and that it could just send along one copy to all million users.

Keren Bergman at Columbia has begun to tackle exactly these issues, by creating cross-layerprotocols so that the physical data layers of the network can provide feedback to applications — allowing them to optimize their use of the network based on actual conditions, much like the addition of real-time traffic monitoring has become an essential element in GPS software. Bergman’s vision of a smarter internet, like a smarter power grid, can optimize the bandwidth already in place, but is still limited by the overall capacity of the network — making it an important, but not sufficient, solution to our growing need for bandwidth.

Making the internet faster

Going in a different direction, working to dramatically increase the bandwidth of the internet, researchers at the University of Arizona and eight other universities — all part of the same NSF-funded Center for Integrated Access Networks (CIAN) that Bergman is — are attempting to create an all optical version of the internet that can provide up to 10Gbps to individual users. By replacing the electrical circuits used to connect the optical fibers that make up the backbone of today’s internet with optical chips, they hope to eliminate enough bottlenecks to increase end-user throughput by almost a thousandfold.

To recreate electrical circuits with optical components, many of the basic building blocks of electronics have to be reinvented for optics. For example, within the past year researchers at MIT developed a way to create the optical equivalent of an electrical diode — a device that causes information to flow in only one direction, and the team at the University of Arizona came up with a method for restoring degraded optical signals. Meanwhile, teams from Caltech and Canada managed to transmit 186Gbps over a 134-mile-long optical network.

The next internet: A quest for speed

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Fixing the protocols: FAST TCP & OpenFlow

Faster pipes are still only part of the solution. The internet’s protocols were developed decades ago, for much slower speeds than needed today, so re-designing them to cope with the planned increase in bandwidth is also a major research area. Even the venerable TCP protocol is coming under fire. Caltech professor Steven Low explains that TCP’s simplistic assumption that failed packets are a result of congestion — and its response of slowing down the sending device — doesn’t fit well with today’s multi-modal network, where the failure could be due to momentary interference with a mobile phone or other wireless signal. He and his colleagues developed FAST TCP, which monitors and reacts to the average delay of packets instead individual packet failures — in the case where some packets are being lost but the average delay is small, FAST TCP will actually speed up the sender to increase throughput, instead of slowing it down.

FAST TCP helped Low and his colleagues set the internet speed record of over 100Gbps in a series of tests in 2003-2006, a record which has only been slightly bettered since. Startup FASTSOFT is working to capitalize on the commercial implications of the speedups possible with FAST TCP.

Internet on steroids: Internet2

Large Hadron Collider, Internet2 has created a 400Gbps version of the internet that now connects hundreds of groups — and has funding to increase its backbone to over 8Tbps (that’s terabits per second), running over 100Gbps fiber. In addition to featuring the use of optical technology where possible, the Internet2 is an important tool for developers of the next internet — serving as an ideal testbed for new protocols and routing strategies.

Internet2′s OS3E project uses a unique underlying network architecture called OpenFlow — code developed by researchers at Stanford and other universities that allows routers to be flexibly reprogrammed in software — to allow researchers around the globe to prototype and test new protocols directly on top of existing networks.

Fixing routing: IPv6

One key component of the future internet is already in use today. IPv6 is helping address the near-critical shortage of addresses for the older IPv4 addressing system. While the over four billion addresses available for IPv4 (32-bits) must have seemed impossibly large to the pioneers of the internet, the proliferation of smartphones as well as IP-addressable consumer and industrial devices has nearly used up the total. IPv6, by contrast, offers 128-bits of addressing — equal to 340 undecillion or 3.4 x 10 to the 38th power. Possibly enough for quite a few planets full of people, robots, and smart appliances.

Less discussed are some of the other innovations in IPv6. It has a much improved multicast capability — which might allow for much more efficient large-scale broadcasts of popular events like concerts or even TV shows over IP. IPv6′s support for a stateless configuration protocol using ICMPv6 (Internet Control Message Protocol version 6) may help make common DHCP issues a thing of the past. In a nifty twist, entire subnets can be moved without needing to be renumbered, and mobile device addressing is also improved. Individual packets in IPv6 can also be as large as four gigabytes, enough for an entire DVD — although of course the use case for such large single packets is likely to be limited to high-speed backbones, at least for now.

Testing the next internet

Unlike the current internet, which had the luxury of growing relatively slowly from a few dozen and then a few hundred research nodes over several decades, the next internet will need to spring nearly fully formed into a world where literally billions of nodes are online. To test all the new protocols and strategies being invented scientists have developed GENI, a testbed of virtual networks overlaying the physical infrastructure of the internet and allowing it to serve as a worldwide testbed running on top of Internet2.

When can I get one?

Despite the name, Internet2 isn’t really an entirely new network — nor will it ever completely replace the internet we use today. Instead, the results of the research on Internet2, and the technologies developed to support it, will be rolled out over and alongside the current internet — much like IPv6 is being rolled out in phases to replace IPv4. As demand for applications like digital telepresence and virtual libraries continues to grow they’ll first be deployed over the current Internet2 to its members, but then over time will spread to the larger internet community. No doubt the growing need for high-performance multi-player gaming and the streaming of HD movies will be equally important in driving the deployment of the new, more capable, network solutions that are being prototyped in Internet2.

FreeDOS 1.1 released after 17 years

2012-01-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

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Some 17 years after its first release in 1994, and more than five years since 1.0, FreeDOS 1.1 — the definitive, open source version of MS-DOS — is now available to download.

The history of FreeDOS stems back to the summer of 1994 when Microsoft announced that MS-DOS as a separate product would no longer be supported. It would live on as part of Windows 95, 98, and (ugh!) Me, but for Jim Hall that wasn’t enough, and so public domain (PD) DOS was born. Other developers quickly jumped on board, a kernel and utilities were made, and a usable version of PD-DOS began to emerge. It wouldn’t be until 1998 that the first alpha build (version 0.05) was released, however; a very slow trend that would continue, with a slew of betas culminating in a final 1.0 build in 2006, some 12 years after the project begun. Eventually, it would be renamed FreeDOS.

When I tell the story of FreeDOS to my friends the next question is usually: “So, like, what’s the point of FreeDOS?” — a fair question, given the maturity of Linux and its massive support framework. Well, for a start, FreeDOS is already extensively used by recovery disks. If you’ve ever made a boot disk for the sake of checking your hard disk or memory, or fixing a broken installation of Windows, you probably used FreeDOS.

Beyond that, though, FreeDOS is actually a very good environment for educational or simple systems. Linux, compared to MS/FreeDOS, is very fat. When combined with QBASIC or DJGPP (a C/C++ development environment), FreeDOS makes a surprisingly good development platform. It’s also important to point out that FreeDOS isn’t actually an “old” operating system: It supports FAT32 (with LBA) and UDMA for hard drives and DVD players, and the FreeDOS distro comes with an antivirus scanner and a BitTorrent client. USB support isn’t quite there, but USB keyboards, mice, and external storage can be finagled into working.

When it comes down to it, though, the reason I like FreeDOS is that I can run it inside VirtualBox and play Doom. With a burst of nostalgia, I can fiddle around with HIMEM and EMM386 and Autoexec.bat to eke out just enough conventional memory to play Cannon Fodder. Ultimately, though, with DOSBox providing a much better (if less real) gaming experience, I would have to admit that FreeDOS is mostly just a curio for old-timer geeks.

Stock Android theme mandatory on all ICS devices, says Google

2012-01-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

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One small step for Android, one giant leap towards iOS and WP7: Google has announced, with surprisingly little fanfare, that all devices with Android Market installed must have the stock Android 4.0 “Holo” (Nexus) theme/skin/layout installed.

“All devices with Android Market” is Google’s way of saying “all legitimate Android devices.” Basically, Android the OS is completely free to use by anyone, but Google keeps tight control of which phones and tablets can access the Market, and which devices come pre-loaded with its apps (Gmail, Maps, Navigation, and so on.) In essence, Google is mandating that carriers and OEMs must include the default, Nexus theme on all Android 4.0 devices.

Now, before you get too excited, this doesn’t seem to be quite as simple as “all Android devices will come with the stock skin.” The wording is a little more complicated than that. It seems like the Holo theme must be installed on every phone and tablet, but Google then says “We have no desire to restrict manufacturers from building their own themed experience across their devices.” The basic gist of it is that apps, in Android 4.0, will be able to choose whether to use Holo buttons and widgets, or the manufacturer’s widgets (Sense, Motoblur, TouchWiz, etc.) In other words, if you buy an HTC phone, you might soon have a mix of user interfaces to contend with: Sense on the homescreen and settings menus, but Holo apps.

On the other hand, though, if every Android 4.0 device comes with the Holo theme installed, will that mean that every user can simply select Holo as their default launcher? Much like you can switch between ADW, Go Launcher, and stock, will you be able to simply toggle Sense on and off? Currently, non-Nexus phones don’t have the stock launcher installed, so you have to root your phone to install it — but now, every Android device has to have the Holo launcher, which should make switching very easy indeed. We’ll have to wait until the first non-Galaxy Nexus Android ICS phone arrives to find out if this is the case.

If you’ve bought a Galaxy Nexus, or used a custom ICS ROM, it’s impossible to ignore the similarities between Android 4.0, and iOS and Windows Phone 7. Android has consistently struggled to achieve the same levels of (perceived?) smoothness and as iOS and WP7 — and now, with this mandate, Google is effectively admitting that a Wild West orgy of customization isn’t necessarily the right way forward. For the first time, Google has a competitive interface, and it wants to make damn sure that it seizes the advantage.

Let’s just hope that Google doesn’t go too far and lock down the interface entirely, ala Windows Phone 7. We all know how that has fared.

For more info, including developer-related notes, hit up the official Android Developer site.

Update: We’ve had our in-bunker Android geeks look at this one, and it seems like all Android ICS devices will have the same Settings pages, but that the Homescreen and App Drawer will probably still be customized by the OEM/carrier. Google’s announcement really is rather vague, though, so it’s probably wiser to just wait and see.

Japanese government building defensive computer virus; Skynet incoming?

2012-01-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

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In a move that proves that Godzilla isn’t the only worldwide threat to emerge from Japan, the Japanese Defense Ministry has been working with Fujitsu since 2008 to develop a defensive, weaponized computer virus capable of tracing the path of a cyber attack to its source in order to shut it down, disabling every system it comes across along the way.

With the ability to disable the attacking program on its own and drill to the source of the attack, the implications for widespread damage across the internet are massive. In theory this virus could attack and disable servers and PCs connected to the internet across the globe if pointed at the right target and using an exploit that was considered “zero day.” That’s the worst kind of doomsday scenario, and the likelihood of every other electronically savvy world power already working on similar virtual weapon platforms for “defense” is pretty high, but this is still alarming news.

The theory of the system is that security equipment detects an attack on a network that it is actively defending. The virus is launched as a defensive measure, and it immediately begins to unravel the attack, disabling middleman machines along the way as it works its way back to the source (pictured right).

The problem becomes obvious almost immediately. The “springboard” computers that are shut down by the virus on the way to the source are likely personal PCs or corporate machines that are being used without the knowledge of their owners. There’s also the issue of the affected machines being in another country, which could open the floodgates of international incidents or worse.

What if the code for this virus was open-sourced, say, for security review? Government entities that throw millions of dollars into electronic warfare applications can build some seriously sophisticated worms, as we’ve seen with high-profile breaches of US corporations by China and Iran’s uranium enrichment plants by (allegedly) the US and Israel. Even Google hasn’t been immune to the war being raged over the internet, with its own breach of hundreds of Gmail accounts back in June. While Google and others have been unable to prove without a doubt that a government is behind the attacks, it’s clear that immense resources are being channeled into the internet as a theater for attacks.

To speculate a possible, admittedly far-fetched scenario, let’s say the Japanese government open-sourced this virus or it was leaked to the internet. Months later a virus could be released that targeted machines using a particular internet protocol that it was told was an offending virus or attack; say, XMPP. XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) isn’t actually a virus, it’s an open chat standard used by many clients (including Facebook chat) to connect people. But if this virus was told to seek and disable any machines utilizing XMPP… well, you get the idea. Facebook has millions of active users at any given time, and XMPP is a popular protocol for business communication, too (Skype uses it). If the virus was let loose with a zero day vulnerability payload it could wrack up a devastating path of destruction across the internet.

The threat of the latest and greatest virus being unleashed upon the internet is always a concern. The big question is whether governments should be spending their money and research on a virus, defensive or not. Let’s not forget that Skynet started as a defense program built by Cyberdyne Systems for the US. We all know how that “Global Digital Defense Network” ended up.

Linux 3.2 kernel released: What you need to know

2012-01-07T20:08:00.000-08:00

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After a long delay due to kernel.org being hacked in August 2011, Linux 3.2 has finally been released. It’s a whopper of a release with optimizations and tweaks in nearly every facet of the OS; here’s the rundown of what’s new inside and why you want to upgrade to it.

First and foremost, the Intel GPU (graphics processing unit) DRM/KMS driver has been optimized to use Intel’s RC6 graphics power-saving feature. In a nutshell, that means that battery life on Ubuntu laptops is going to get a lot better with the Precise Pangolin (12.04) release of Ubuntu. DRM (the Direct Rendering Manager) and KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) aren’t things that a general or even hardcore user needs to concern themselves with, but, basically, it’s the pieces of the graphics puzzle that deal with handling the memory management of the drawing, backgrounding and re-drawing of applications as you minimize and switch between applications. The actual power savings are going to differ from machine to machine, but every machine should see improvement.

Canonical’s Ubuntu has taken this power saving a step further with its PMUtils crowdsourcing initiative. If you are a confident command line interface Linux user, please go take part. Your data will help battery management everywhere.

Another improvement to the 3.2 kernel is in the networking TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) stack. The WiFi drivers have been improved, and PRR (Proportional Rate Reduction) support has been introduced to the kernel. What this means is that your browsing experience will be faster as transmission rates will be adjusted in a more timely fashion to recover from throttling and other bottlenecks you may encounter along the way to your destination. File transfers should see the same efficiency boost, speed-wise.

Some filesystem optimizations have been included too, designed to make Linux more scalable in large storage configurations, especially on enterprise systems. Reliability and ease-of-management options are included, as well as larger allocation blocks in the EXT4 filesystem to speed up disk access for sharing files and drives across operating systems like Windows via Samba. If you run a Linux file server at home or in the workplace, this is welcome news.

Finally, it should be mentioned that code has been introduced to assist with system throttling when writing large amounts of data to slow drives, making the user experience snappier when you have to move large amounts of data to and from drives or removable media. Syncing your MP3 device shouldn’t reduce your machine to a stuttering crawl so much with the enhancements.

There are many more optimizations coming with the 3.2 kernel that deal with large-scale servers and storage solutions (thin provisioning and the Btrfs filesystem to name a couple) that aren’t mentioned here, as well as a number of tweaks and services that are outside the scope of desktop or small business computing. The information above is what you need to know as a general or fairly hardcore Linux user.

Want to try it out now? You don’t need to wait until an official release. Ubuntu’s 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) is available now and comes with the 3.2 kernel;download the (beta) daily build. If you just want to upgrade your existing system to 12.04, just open a terminal and type out “sudo do-release-upgrade -d”. That will grab the proper libraries and run through installation for you. Alternately, if you like using a nice GUI with your upgrades, you can type “sudo update-manager -d” and you will see that an upgrade is available to you (pictured right).

All in all, this is one of the larger kernel improvements that we’ve seen, with many improvements under the hood. Have you upgraded to the 3.2 kernel? What’s your experience been?

Windows 8 Storage Spaces: Built-in RAID and thin provisioning for all the family

2012-01-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

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With yet another beautiful example of feature creep and an overwhelming belief that Windows 8 must please all of the people all of the time, Microsoft has unveiled Storage Spaces, a new RAID-like storage solution that will be built into Windows 8.

In essence, Storage Spaces allows you to group physical disks into pools of any size (pools of hundreds of disks, as found in a datacenter, have been tested by Microsoft). These pools can be allocated as spaces, which then appear as a normal drive letter in Windows and can be used to store documents, videos, photos, and so on. Any array of physical disks can be used to make a pool — you can use a combination of external USB and internal SATA, if you wish. Spaces can be configured to be redundant and provisioned.

Redundancy in Storage Spaces is through either mirroring (RAID 1) or parity (RAID 3). In both cases, if a mirror or parity disk fails, Spaces will tell notify you with a Windows pop-up, and then proceed to rebuild your volume if you have the capacity. Otherwise, it’ll wait until you slot in another drive. Spaces can also stripe data (RAID 0) across a pool, and according to Microsoft performance is “very competitive” with actual RAID implementations.

Provisioning is a slightly more complex subject that doesn’t usually come up on home computers. Basically, a space is a virtual. You can set it to appear as any size, even if the underlying pool is much smaller. Provisioning allows you to create a “movies” space that is 10TB on a 2TB pool — then, when the pool begins to fill up, Windows/Storage Spaces will tell you to add another drive. The other advantage of thin provisioning is that you don’t have to decide on partition sizes ahead of time (an arduous task that many of you have no doubt suffered through). For example, if your computer has a 6TB pool of drives, you could put three 6TB spaces on top of it — games, movies, and photos — and then proceed to use all three spaces in any manner you like, simply adding more disks when and if you run out of space (pictured above). Never again will you have to worry about the size of your Steam folder!

Both pools and spaces can be created and managed using Powershell or a Control Panel applet. It looks like the process will be easy enough to set up, but whether it will be advertised to regular consumers (Clippy: “You seem to have multiple drives installed! Do you want me to set up a pool?”) or kept as a power user feature remains to be seen. As you can see from the screenshot above, Storage Spaces definitely aren’t part of the Metro experience.

If you’ve used Windows Home Server’s Drive Extender feature, this will all sound quite familiar — and rightly so, as it seems like Drive Extender was torn out of Windows Home Server 2011 and slotted into Windows 8. Much in the same way that OS X Server has been folded into the latest home version of Mac OS X, it looks like Windows 8 is shaping up to be a tablet, laptop, netbook, desktop, and home server OS — cool, as long as a license doesn’t cost the earth.

What happens if Facebook shuts down?

2012-01-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

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Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been steadily churning an idea over in my head: What would happen if Facebook died? What would the world be like if you woke up one day, rolled over to check your smartphone, and found that Facebook simply didn’t exist?

On an microscopic scale, you might’ve experienced something similar in the past, when it was quite common for your Facebook account to be inaccessible due to a bug or ongoing maintenance. It’s jarring to be disconnected from your friends, loved ones, and painstakingly fabricated digital ego — but you calm yourself with the knowledge that the outage is only temporary. On the other hand, though, you hear harrowing stories of people who have had their Facebook accounts banned (or Gmail accounts deleted), and how they have lost years of photos, memories, and messages. What would happen if you scaled this effect up to almost a billion people?

Would there be an outcry of monumental proportions, followed by some kind of pitchforked rush on Facebook HQ? Or would it be more like a veil being lifted from the collective consciousness, with a billion people blinkishly emerging into the Real World for the first time in years? I suspect it would be the former.

A better question to ask, though, is whether Facebook could actually be shut down. I don’t mean physically — Zuckerberg could obviously pull the plug at any time — but, more ideologically, is Facebook too large and important to fail? I mean, very few people would argue that the internet itself is a necessity of everyday life — some countries have even gone as far as declaring internet access to be a human right — and, more and more, Facebook is becoming the internet for many people. In 2011, Americans spent around 30% of their online time on social networks and blogs, with Facebook making up the vast majority of that. A further 10% of online time is spent playing games, most of which will have been Facebook-based Zynga games. In many respects, Facebook has become the spiritual successor to the AOL Browser, which for a large percentage of surfers — back in the ’90s, at least — was the internet.

Unlike AOL’s walled garden of yore, though, Facebook has weaseled its way into the very fabric of the web. If you shut down AOL at its peak, you would have a bunch of upset users, but they wouldn’t have actually lost anything except their email. If Facebook ceased to exist, you would lose messages, photos, friends, business connections, and a whole slew of other things. Just like when a hard disk dies, you would be forcibly separated from a large portion of your digital livelihood if Facebook closed.

Bye bye, Best Buy?

2012-01-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

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I admit it: I shop at online retailers all the time. A significant chunk of the Christmas presents I gave this year were in the form of Amazon gift certificates. And if you’ve been reading me here for any length of time, you know that I spend more time browsing andbuying things from Newegg than I do hanging out with some members of my family. But I still felt my heart sink into my kneecaps as I read Larry Downes’s story on Forbes.com, “Why Best Buy is Going out of Business… Gradually.”

In the story, Downes cites some chilling statistics about Best Buy losing market share, 40% of its value, a decreased market cap, and a B- average analyst rating. He also discusses the ways the company has failed to extricate itself from old-world thinking. In the ways its employees order products, aggressively try to up-sell or cross-sell when dealing with shoppers, and even address their own mistakes, the company is digging its own grave. Where Amazon makes even the most tedious and usually distasteful tasks a breeze — never have I had an easier time exchanging a product than I did my malfunctioning first Kindle — Best Buy introduces only frustration and confusion. And thus it’s no surprise that customers are turning away from it in favor of other options.

Given what’s already happened to other major electronics chains like CompUSA and Circuit City, there’s real reason to fear the disintegration of Best Buy. And if or (gulp) when it happens, it would be a major loss to both casual and serious buyers.

Wait — please don’t brand me as some incurable Luddite who can’t negotiate the transition to a digital marketplace. That’s not remotely true. Aside from clothes, certain tech products are about the only things I feel a need to buy in person. When I’m getting books — hey, not everything is yet available for my (replacement) Kindle — I never hesitate to do that online rather than at one of New York City’s roughly 800 Barnes & Noble stores. I’ve never accepted the argument that being able to rifle through a book’s pages and feel its cover is of any particular importance; for me, what matters is the content on the inside, and the easier that is to acquire, the better. Ditto cookware and other basic household appliances.

But when it comes to many tech-related purchases, being able to see, and in many cases feel, what you’re getting is crucial to making sure you’re not wasting your money or your time. For all the benefits of Amazon and Newegg, they prevent the direct interaction that is sometimes the most important information you can acquire before you lay down your credit card. Online reviews are frequently excellent for assessing a product’s bare capabilities, and especially good sites (like Newegg) give you all the specifications you need to make an intellectually informed decision. That’s just not always enough. Don’t you want to see your prospective HDTV’s screen in action, slide your fingers across a keyboard to see if it meshes with your typing style and preferences, get a concrete idea of how convenient a laptop really is for you, or sit down at the fully featured desk you plan to buy for using that computer? Even with our current, highly advanced web-based purchasing culture, some things can’t be left to mere faith.

Creative announces 100-core system-on-a-chip

2012-01-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

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Just in time for the start of CES 2012, ZiiLabs has announced its latest media-focused system-on-a-chip (SoC). This time the wholly-owned subsidiary of Creative has packed 100 cores onto the silicon, combining four Cortex-A9 units operating at 1.5GHz with 96 “StemCell” floating point units. Called the ZMS-40, it’s engineered to be used in mobile devices running the Android operating system.

The architecture of the chip is akin to AMD’s Zacate and Llano offerings, but differentiates itself in the fact that it’s geared for Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). Both chips take four logical cores and combine them with some extra muscle to help with media tasks. The ZMS-40 is programmed to use the OpenCL standard, which makes it perfect for Android devices. The problem is, Creative doesn’t have a great track record of actually getting its chips into said devices.

Last year ZiiLabs announced the ZMS-20, a chip with 48 StemCell cores with two ARM Cortex-A9s, in the exact same fashion as today’s release. Creative didn’t have a partner for the ZMS-20 either, making this two straight years of ZiiLabs announcing a chip with no apparent use. It makes us wonder what the company hopes to accomplish. Sure, the underlying tech is valid, and even needed for future speed progression, but to spend the money to engineer and develop a chip that has no apparent destination vexes the mind.

The other issue facing Creative is the fact that developers need to write their apps with the architecture of a chip in mind to fully take advantage of the power offered. Case in point being the fact that Nvidia had to launch a special application to showcase apps that have been written specifically for Tegra chips, Tegra Zone. The company has had to actively pursue larger developers to create titles that will showcase the power of the technology it has created.

With no deals (that we know of) pending for the ZMS-40, and with no apparent plans to recruit developers to write for the architecture, it looks like Creative just likes to throw money at cool-sounding chips and hope that someone notices. Perhaps, as ExtremeTech’s hardware analyst Joel Hruska suggests, Creative is simply trying to revitalize the Zen media player brand — by enticing customers with devices claiming to have “100 cores.”

Latest Technology in Computer Hardware

2011-09-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

The rate at which new computer hardware products are arriving in the market is simply mind-boggling. As the technology advances, the size and the price of the devices come down, while the efficiency and capacity increase. The scenario is same in all cases, whether it is about internal components like processor, motherboard, RAM, graphics card, and hard disk or for peripheral accessories like mouse, keyboard, and monitors. Personal computers became popular only before about three decades back. But already there are huge piles of outdated and antique hardware components and devices. This is a tribute to the tremendous rate of development of latest technologies in computer hardware field. Perhaps, the newest entrant into the archeological catalogue of computer peripherals is CRT monitors. The sleek looking LCD monitors are spreading like computer virus.

Data storage devices have attracted considerable attention of the technology developers. New kinds of storage devices such as newer versions of flash memory cards, hard disks using latest technology and disks of ever-increasing capacity are the results of advancement in latest technology in compute hardware. The memory size of the random access memory (RAM) cards is soaring to enable the smooth functioning of graphics animation software packages and streaming video websites. Also, computer motherboards have undergone substantial changes over the years. More and more functions are being added to the motherboard. Also, despite the incredible improvement in performance and functionalities, the price of these components has actually fallen steadily.

The most vital component of a computer is the microprocessor. It is in this field that a battle of developing latest technologies in computer hardware takes place. The pace of development of microprocessor increases as the competition between the major processor chip manufacturing companies, Intel and AMD, intensifies. Both the companies are engaging in a neck and neck competition and continuously outdo each other in introducing new technologies.

In the field of computer peripherals, the latest technology in computer hardware is in developing yet another version of wireless mouse and keyboard. The concept of wireless mouse and keyboard is about a decade old. But the development of these items is still a work in progress. The latest products of wireless mouse and keyboard are said to be highly durable and error free.

Some of the developments in the latest technology in computer hardware are gearing up for changing the present concept of desktop and laptop computers. With new developments making possible the convergence of mobile phone technology and computers, a new breed of fully functional palm-top computers are going to be introduced in near future. With touch screen monitors and without the need for a mouse, these gadgets are likely to become the next big leap in the constantly leaping technological development field.

Candis Reade is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about Technology in Computer Hardware, please visit Electronics Hardware for current articles and discussions.

Tools of Programming: Algortihms and Flowcharts

2011-09-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

We took a look into the basics of writing a computer program and the importance of "logic" in computer programming. We take the same topic forward here to look into tools that facilitate the same and help device a clean, clear and efficient logic to write a program.

Ok, so now we have a task to write a program for and we have the logic in mind. Although you can simply scribble down the key to the task and start along with writing the program, it is advisable to follow some organized approach in formulating the same. This leads us to what we call an algorithm. Infact, if you see the previous article, the example that we used there actually implied the use of an "algorithm". The steps we listed out there can be collectively termed as an "algorithm" for the problem we had at hand, namely - finding the average of numbers, or, finding the smallest number.

So what is an algorithm?

An Algorithm is a sequential and logical list of instructions to solve a problem covering all possible alternatives. Points to note:

It is a sequential list of instructions
Is done informally using a pen and paper i.e. it is NOT a formal program that you feed into a computer
Being written in simple English, it is easy to write and debug

Some standardization and uniformity can be brought into algorithms through the next concept we look at - a flowchart.

A Flowchart is a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm using standard symbols and checks the flow of logic running through it.

Other Steps in Problem Solving:

Once we have an algorithm/flowchart ready, we move towards the next step in problem solving which we call coding. Coding is basically transcribing or translating the simple English instructions (algorithm) into High Level Code which can be fed into the computer.
Once we write the program and feed it to the computer, we next have to perform a Dry Run on it, implying, we need to test it using raw data that exhausts all possibilities and tests all limits and conditions of the program
Errors, if encountered as we test the program, need to be eradicated - which is called debugging the program.

We shall be making use of algorithms in understanding the logic behind solving the problems as we write programs. We have now the base and understanding of concepts to take our first steps towards writing programs.

Write A Program is a technology blog that includes news, views, articles and opinions on mobiles, gadgets, computers and latest technology trends/news. Visit us here [http://www.writeaprogram.net]

Electronic Technology For Military Use

2011-09-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Advances in technology throughout history have often come during times of warfare as nations competed for the most advanced equipment in order to gain the advantage over the enemy. Things like anesthesia, satellite technology, rubber, penicillin, jet engines, and even early computers were all invented during times of war as people struggled to find solutions to wartime problems. As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention and this was often the case for modern technological advances during wartime.

The electronic equipment used by the today's modern military is even more technologically advanced than ever before. The military sometimes even utilizes technology most people wouldn't normally associate with the military, like gaming. The armed forces of the United States have used computers and console gaming as recruitment and training tools. Computers are also used heavily in military equipment to improve communication so that all units can work as a whole. Because of the nature of the work of the armed forces, any computer system used in military equipment must be able to stand up to the rigors of battle. For this reason, most military computer systems are built to withstand trauma. They are called rugged portable computer systems. These systems are specifically designed to be able to operate in harsh environments and conditions, including extreme vibrations and extreme climates. These rugged computers are able to consistently function in conditions that would render a normal computer system inoperable, which makes them ideal for military use. Technological advancements like this help the military function even more effectively.

Secure Communication Systems Inc. ( http://www.securecomm.com/ ) Providers of rugged portable computer systems to the military. Ryan Coisson is a freelance writer.

Your Complete Guide to Wireless Printers

2011-09-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Technology is advancing at an incredible pace, consequently changing people's lives, and giving professions a new dimension. Printers have not been left behind in technological advancement, which is currently found in the wireless printers. The wireless printer has changed the face of the conventional printer and given it a new face. Being in tandem with the highly innovative technology of present day, it has put into consideration convenience, efficiency, and the plight of physically handicapped people as well as the old. All this means comfort and making work easier without compromising productivity. The printer is also convenient at home, while travelling or even on holiday far away.

Wireless printers use a Wi-Fi technology. This is a remote communication between the cordless printer and the computer, which does not require cable wires. With the use of Wi-Fi, staff in an office that is networked can share the cable-less printer remotely. All that is required is a router connected to the wireless printer. This technology has helped to minimize wastage of time in moving about in the office to print a document.

Wi-Fi technology used in wireless printers has also come in handy for users of smart phone. Documents can be printed directly from the phone without the use of a computer. For sure, this is good news to travelers who still need to be in office to carry out their duties. With a laptop or a smart phone and a wireless printer, their work continues as usual. This aspect of portability makes the cordless printer most convenient.

Wireless printer does not need cables for communication with the computer, which is a break from the earlier printers. This makes it more convenient in that the headache of default cables has been eliminated. A line-less printer sits neatly on a desk without the untidy sight of cables hanging and cluttering the floor. On safety measures, the cordless printer minimizes short circuit accidents caused by cluttered cables or even a fall when feet are caught in the cables. It has also cut the expenses of buying new cables, which is a strain on the pocket.

Noble as it is appropriate to term it; Line-less printers have put into consideration the welfare of not only the able users but also the physically handicapped and the old. The trouble of moving about the office and plugging in and fixing the cables has been eliminated. It is good news and a good gesture for the physically handicapped and the old since they are challenged in mobility.

Basically, a cordless printer is the modern printer technology to adopt. It has eased the backlog of work awaiting somebody travelling thus redefining an office in context of its setting, an office is anywhere with the appropriate equipments. Compatibility with gadgets like phones gives it an edge over the conventional printers. Who thought a phone can do virtually all the work done by a computer? With wireless printer and a smart phone, the world is now a global village.

Click here to get a Wireless printer and see our wide selection of wireless printers.

Benefits of Digital Photography

2011-09-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Digital photography is a type of photography that uses digital technology to take images of subjects. Until such technology was invented, photography used photographic film to capture images which could be made visible by photographic chemical processing.

Digital photographs can be taken, stored, displayed, printed, manipulated, transmitted and archived using digital and computer technology, without any chemical processing needed.

Digital photography is only one of several different forms of digital imaging. Digital images can also be created with non-photographic equipment such as radio telescopes and computer scanners. You can even create digital images by scanning conventional photographic images.

One benefit of digital cameras is that they may also record audio and video in addition to taking still images. Some are used as webcams and some can display images directly onto a television set. The PictBridge standard allows a camera to plug directly into a printer to print the photographs without the aid of a computer.

In recent years, digital technology has met or exceeded the quality available from standard film-based photographs. In the early years, the biggest downfall of digital technology was that the quality was not as good as a standard photograph taken with film. Now that the digital technology has improved and solved that problem, many commercial photographers have switched over to digital photography.

In fact, almost all the professional news photographers capture their images with digital cameras. With the time pressures of daily newspapers, digital photography was a natural fit once the quality was acceptable.

As digital technology has evolved, so has the features available on digital cameras. In addition to being able to instantly review, edit or delete your photo, there is very little cost in capturing hundreds or even thousands of photographs. Permanent storage on digital media is considerably cheaper than film.

Anti-shake functionality is a newer feature that allows people to take sharper hand-held pictures where a tripod was required in the past. Another cool feature is the ability to apply and remove filters to photographs right on the camera. You can convert them from color to sepia to black and white and then back again without losing the original photograph.

As digital photography continues to evolve, the days of film-based chemical processed photographs are fading quickly into the past.

Notes for editors: Claire recommends Neil Walker a Wedding Photographer in Sussex in the UK

Mobile Application Development Technology and Its Implementation Area

2011-09-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

Today Smartphone is hybrid of computer and mobile phone. Many tasks which were earlier possible only on computer can now be done on mobile phone. This has happened due to the Smartphone operating system platform and it application development environment. In this article, I am scrutinizing current mobile technology and its implementation area.

Technology for Smartphone and application development

iPhone - Apple with its iPhone is the uncrowned king of Smartphone industry. iOS 4 is the latest version of the iPhone mobile operating system. iPhone SDK is used for apps development. Anyone can develop apps according to the standard guidelines and upload it on apple apps store for sale.

Blackberry - It has got huge number of users in all segments. In business world blackberry is the most preferred phone. Blackberry apps development is based on the java platform.

Android - It is most rapidly growing mobile operating system platform. It has a very great future. In a very short span of time, large number of mobile manufacturers is getting associated with Android. It is open source supported by Google. Latest version for mobile and tablet are Android 2.2 and 3.0 respectively. Android Apps Development is also based on java technology.

Symbian - Nokia is the largest producer of Smartphone and use symbian in it. This is open source technology, which is maintained by Nokia. "Symbian 3" is latest version and "Symbian 4" is expected to be released in first half of 2011. Symbian apps development is based on C++ technology.

Window - Microsoft's mobile operating system is also known as Windows. In current scenario, it is losing its popularity. To revive it share in Smartphone market Microsoft has launched Windows 7. It is unsupported by the earlier version of windows phone. Its user interface gives you look and feel of Microsoft Desktop OS.

BREW - QUALCOM is the creator of BREW mobile platform. It was basically developed for CDMA mobile phone, but now GSM is also supported. Brew Mobile Apps Development is a very flexible development platform. Application for this platform can be developed on or C++ using the BREW SDK and also Java base development is possible if the mobile has got JVM on it.

J2ME - It is the most famous mobile apps development platform. It supports verity of the development platform. It is open source technology and is maintained by Sun Microsystems, which is now owned by Oracle.

Diver's field benefited from Mobile Application Development.

1. Business Management
2. Money control and Management
3. Fun and Entertainment
4. Video Games on Mobile
5. Social Networking
6. Mobile commerce
7. Tour and Travel
8. Sports News and updates
9. Climate and Weather
10. Global Positioning System

For more information on mobile application development and mobile developers Visit RapidsoftTechnologies.com

Benefits Of Future Technology

2011-09-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

In this write up, the readers will get information on future technology and learn to what extent modern technology has been developed to assist the growth of human civilization.

Technology of the Future would be more sophisticated and user friendly. The rapid technological advancement will make technology more convenient and usable. New technology should be used for the benefit of the society. Now, it is better to say to what extent science and technology have been acceptable to the present generation. In comparison to conventional devices and equipment, future technology news states that ultramodern devices are more workable and powerful in their functionality. According to scientists and researchers, modern technology can make modification and upgrading of common things for their proper usage applying modern methods. The world will be more glamorous and attractive with newer technology and without any trace of carbon footprint.

If you check future technology news, you will find that there are newly launched products and technical accessories which have multifunctional features. For instance, recently Kevin Cheng invented Solar Planter which protects the natural green resources of nature. Plants will be highly protected using the Solar Planter which artificially creates solar energy to preserve green plants in a perfect way. The device is also equipped with powerful exhaust fans to clean out stagnant air from within the Solar Planter. Air will be circulated well inside the planter for the safe keeping of trees and plants. The Solar Planter is also energy efficient and environment friendly. According to future technology news nature will be completely protected from pollution using these new technologies as it will not produce any lethal or hazardous chemical solvents or gasoline products into the air.

In the sphere of the telecommunication, future and modern technology is very powerful and has contributed extensively for the betterment of the communication system. The invention of the humanoid robot is a burning example. Future technology news say that this robotic structure will be sent to out of the planet to strengthen the communication system. Experiments are still going on the upgrade of this robot.

Concept Cloud Blackberry is a sophisticated mobile phone which is both eco friendly and pollution free. This mobile is activated by liquid fuel which doesn't disturb the peace of nature. Future technology will bring a lot more inventions and accessories to upgrade human lifestyles. The scientists believe that modern science is very effective to make the world green. Future technology must be more user friendly and should not hamper the natural growth of the human race. It must not disturb nature or the society.

Science is a boon and man needs to utilize this for the overall development of the world. Future technology these days not concentrated only on the benefit of humans. Scientists are trying to create technology that will be beneficial to the earth as well.

Conclusion: To get updated information on latest technology, you can check future technology news on the Internet. There are new discoveries and upgrades available every day.

3 Performance Enhancement Tweaks for Windows XP Computers

2011-09-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

Computers are powerful and complicated things, and as much as we would like them to do exactly what we're thinking, it just doesn't work that way. (Yet?) In this article, I'm going to give you 3 specific performance tweaks for your Windows XP computer that should give you a nice little boost at least in those specific areas. Every computer is different and every user and their applications are different, so as the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

A word of caution before we begin - if you are at all uncertain of how to implement these tips, please do not try them or consult a computer expert first.

1. Disable Visual Effects

Windows XP ships with a host of visual effects such as seeing the contents of windows as you're dragging them, seeing an animation effect when a window is minimized or maximized, shadows and fade-ins and fade-outs. The Windows developers designed the operating system such that some of those effects could be disabled on an individual basis.

Right-click on My Computer and select Properties, click the Advanced tab, then click Settings under the Performance section. Select custom and enable/disable effects as wanted. Once you disable an effect and save, you will definitely notice how much faster an action is without the effect.

2. Adjust the Menu Display Delay in the Start Menu

Ever notice that when you go into the Start Menu and hover over a folder, it takes just a tad bit for that menu to pop up? That's because there is a built-in delay that is usually a bit too long for the average person. I like my menus snappier and have turned that value down to 150ms (milliseconds). You can toy with this to get it to your liking. Here's how:

Launch the Registry Editor by clicking on Start, selecting Run, then typing in 'regedit' and hitting Enter. Then navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop. In that registry key (looks like a folder), double-click the entry called MenuShowDelay and adjust the number in the ValueData field.

3. Disable Legacy Filename Creation

Windows long had a very strong link to MS-DOS and even into Windows XP, it has included a transparent function where it would silently create a MS-DOS-compatible filename (one that was restricted to 8 characters followed by a period and then by 3 more characters.

Of course, Windows has long since surpassed that limitation and we don't think about it any more. However, Windows still maintains that compatibility by default and creates those in the background. Here's a quick way to squeeze just a bit more oomph from your system by disabling the creation of those filenames.

Launch the Registry Editor by clicking on Start, selecting Run, then typing in 'regedit' and hitting Enter. Then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> FileSystem. Double-click the NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation value and set its DWORD value to '1'.

You should be able to apply these 3 tips within 10 minutes, longer if you want to experiment some more with the values and results. Of course, there are hundreds of other possible tweaks that you could apply to your system, but it's best to go slow and only 1 or 2 at a time and ensure that they don't conflict with anything else on your computer.

Khalid Hosein is a blogger, computer consultant and tech geek who runs gadget blog Gizmos for Geeks, where you can find the latest in gadget and technology news, insights, howtos and much more. Visit Gizmos for Geeks for a free ebook comparing the top eReaders on the market today.

Effects of Information Technology on Life

2011-09-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

With the existing new technologies and innovations emerging every other day, the information technology is an increasingly interesting platform not just for developers, but also for all sorts of non-technical common people.

With the need for making things easier in the daily life and with the technological advancements, more and more daily activities are shifting online. Having said this, the web can be a very useful tool as well as an intimidating proposition at the same time.

Computer based technology and information systems are actually quite large and vast spread in their utility, have broader spectrum and details. For instance when anyone uses the web for browsing, sending or receiving e-mails, playing online games or even sharing multimedia files with others, all the data has to pass through a set of complicated networks and soft-wares. There are many processes involved that are responsible for management of such systems.

The prime concern of computer related technology is to provide effective and efficient environment, utility of information, softwares and even knowledge and solutions to the common man in a user-friendly manner.

Even the vast majority of people who are still unfamiliar with the technology of computers and the internet, surely find it handy in providing a great means of communication to the whole wide world.

Internet plays a role of a large knowledge base and a crucial place for the latest news, trends and information. Internet even is a big boon to the business or research persons.

Computer related technologies have a strong impact on the world. These have attracted many students and professionals to the field of information technology. There are thousands of web sites and web hosting opportunities available which are ever growing.

There was some problem in the information superhighway of computer technology in the early 90's because it was not envisioned at that time that the general public would be turning to it in such large numbers. It was supposed to be a walkway reserved for bespectacled physicists and university professionals. With the introduction of the World Wide Web which we know today as 'www' was once considered as a medium for sharing text files has gone a major facelift in a period of a decade or so. With the web browsers designed to quickly find and organize information, the internet seeped deeper into popular culture and has become an integral part of daily life and even office work.

The unique fusion of the user interface, animations, video and radio streaming are the ever developing capabilities and advancements of the browsers that have the developers intrigued and working tirelessly.

There are many researches already claiming that the effect of the computer technology, more specifically the online footprint on an internet user's life is at an average more than that is due to watching TV. What television is renowned for is its multimedia content. The internet with its rich applications and focused capacity of gaining more popular viewer ship is moving in the right direction.

IT Solutions Raleigh

Acer Iconia - A Laptop With Two Screens And No Keyboard

2011-09-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

Acer Iconia is what you choose when you think at iPad functionality as a failure and a normal laptop seems too boring for your taste.

Probably created for those who think that the classic keyboard is old-fashion, Acer Iconia offers no less than two 14-inch diagonal screens, each displaying a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. Both screens are glossy finish and offers a multitouch interface, a little uninspired mix for the two surfaces because will be constantly covered with fingerprints.

Multitouch interface is pleasant to use on a 14-inch screen and offers a good level of control for ordinary activities like Web browsing, image editing, moving and resizing applications in Windows, in some respects this approach is superior compared with a classic combination of banal keyboard and mouse.

Virtual keyboard is definitely harder to use than a conventional, lacking tactile sensation by pressing keys. Virtual representation of the keyboard is still generously sized and allows a reasonable level of control, even if it is not recommended for extended session activities like writing long office documents.

Depending on the configuration chosen, Acer Iconia will be equipped with 4GB or 3GB of RAM, Intel Core i5-480M, 560M and 580M, and the hard drive capacity ranges from 320GB to 750GB of storing memory.

The basic configuration includes of course the two 14-inch multitouch screen, a graphical user interface managed by Intel HD graphics with 128MB shared video memory from the system board memory. The list of features also includes a webcam with 1280x1024 pixel resolution, WiFi mode 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, integrated 3G connectivity, Gigabit LAN interface and an integrated microphone.

Connectivity options include four USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0, VGA and HDMI connectors, along with an optical output S/PDIF for audio. Device weight is about 3kg, which also includes the high capacity Li-Ion battery with four cells.

From the information available so far, it looks like Acer Iconia will be released on January 28, 2010, with an estimated retail price of 1,500 euros for the basic configuration.

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Iordakis has been involved in Article Writing, providing Free Articles, SEO and Internet Marketing Expertise for more than 10 years. Find the latest IT and Technology News at http://www.gonotebook.info

Upcoming Technologies

2011-09-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

Use of Internet has been changing the way people do nearly everything from consuming media to performing research to maintaining relationships to communicating. Along with its effect on business has also been similarly wide ranging. And today, for critical data, Internet based computing, or cloud computing is introducing major changes to the way work is done. Cloud computing is a general term for things over the internet delivering hosted services. These services are broadly divided into three categories: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platformas a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service.

Cloud integration provides with significant benefits. Regardless where you are, you may have access to data in the cloud through your PC or smartphones. All you require for that is an internet connection and a web browser. With the right tools, you can have access to your data in the cloud in no time and it will still remain with your desktop, laptop, or smartphone.

Cloud computing comes into mind only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing is based on subscription based or pay per use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT's existing capabilities.

Cloud computing is further laid into three segments- Infrastructure, Platform and Software.

(IaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service. Just like Amazon Web Services that provide virtual server instances with unique IP addresses and blocks of storage on demand. Customers use the provider's application program interface (API) to start or stop or get access and configure their virtual servers and storage. It is sometimes referred to as utility computing.

PaaS

Platform as a service in the cloud is a platform of the software and development tools provider's infrastructure. Developers create applications on the platform of the providers over the Internet. PaaS providers use APIs, gateway software installed on the customer's or computer website portals. Currently there are no standards for interoperability or data portability in the cloud.

SaaS

In the software as a service cloud model, the vendor supplies the software product and hardware infrastructure and interacts with the user through a front-end portal. SaaS provides with very broad market for services. Services can be anything from Web based email to database processing and inventory control. The end user is free to use the service from anywhere because the service provider hosts both the application and the data.

The idea is not new, but this form of cloud computing is getting new life from Amazon, Sun, IBM, and others who at this instant offer for storage and virtual servers that IT can access on demand. Enterprise's may replace parts of the data centre influenced by utility computing.

So the one who will be enormously affected by a paradigm shift in the computing industry would be the software industries, hardware manufacturers and internet service providers and how the industry will pointedly be revised with utility computing. For more news of upcoming technology happenings, please visit latest technology news.

Learning To Work On A Computer

2011-09-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

The greatest invention of the 20th Century remains the computer as this little piece of technology has managed to completely change our lives. Whether it is a good or a bad invention, it hasn't been decided yet even though debates continue for a long time now. Nevertheless, we think it is vital for a person to get computer training because great part of our day to day activities relies on this machine.

Computer knowledge has become essential these days as more and more work tasks are performed with the help of various PC programs. Even the jobs that are not directly related with computers require employees to have a certain degree of knowledge in informatics because sooner or later they will have to write a document on the PC.

According to a recent research, it appears that computer literate people are more likely to get a better job position in their institution. When asked about it, all employers have agreed upon the fact that PC knowledge enables workers to fulfill more tasks at the same time and to obtain more accurate results. Thus, they confirmed that they would rather hire or promote computer literate persons than individuals who don't possess any such skills.

It is not just your career that is based on computer skills, but your social life, as well. Internet networking has become the number one form of communication as it is the fastest, the cheapest and the most accessible way to keep in touch with your friends and your family. In addition, the Internet is the first place where new songs and movies are released, so it is important for people who want to stay up to date with the latest news in the entertainment industry to know how to work on a computer.

There are many private schools that would gladly teach you how to use a computer to complete various tasks, depending on the fields that interest you. We strongly recommend you to take up a course that comprises notions of document processing, information technology and Internet browsing as these are the most requested skills at present. This way, you will increase your career opportunities and you will improve many other aspects of your life because an informed person is a powerful person.

There are specialists in delivering top quality IT support Manchester, which relieves unnecessary burdens found in businesses today.

The Top 6 Software Applications for Fun, Entertainment and Gaming

2011-09-17T01:15:00.000-07:00

These computer and Internet things aren't just for work, you know. We can (and should) have some fun with them. Ok, ok, so many of us are guilty of goofing off more than working sometimes. But nevertheless, it's important to balance work with play, and with that in mind, we present a quick list of software applications (and one primarily hardware product) that you can have a lot of fun with.

Of course, all of these apps can be and are used for some serious business. Additionally, with the exception of 1 item, these are all free software downloads or services that are available for the leading operating systems today including Windows, Macs and Linux.

1. Facebook

Top of the list today is easily Facebook. Addictive to many, Facebook's one-stop site for staying in touch with your friends, family and colleagues, is also home to thousands of applications itself. Those applications span the gamut from connecting with your friends, keeping track of birthdays, staying on top of your favorite tv shows and of course, games. Lots and lots of games.

2. Skype

A free (for basic services) VoIP-based video chat application, Skype rules the roost in this category and it's one of the many ways in which we're taking the future for granted, for the future is here. Sure, the video and/or audio quality isn't always great, but think about this: you 'Skype' with your mom, and she knows what it is and expects you to video call her now!

3. Twitter

Twitter, the micro-blogging/status update service, has become the latest go-to location for entertainment. No longer do marketers or breaking news dominate the tweets. Actors and comedians now frequently use Twitter, and while it is a new challenge for everyone, some like Conan O'Brien for example are proving that they know how to make people laugh even with a 140 character limit.

4 and 5. Firefox and Chrome

Yes, Web browsers. What's fun about them? Granted they don't really have very many extensions/plugins to play games in the way that the Facebooks, iPhones, and Xboxes of the world, but where else do you really watch YouTube videos, re-runs of TV shows you missed on Hulu, or play Flash-based video games on any of thousands of websites? In your browser of course.

If you're on a Mac, you can also use Safari to great effect, but remember that Firefox and Chrome both can be extended and tweaked via the thousands of extensions, apps and themes available, most for free.

6. TiVo (DVRs in General)

Not a primarily a software program that runs on your computer, but how much fun is having a digital video recorder (DVR) like a TiVo to record your favorite TV shows and movies and then watch them later? Don't you now wish you could hit pause or go back 10 seconds in real life too? TiVo and others like Dish Network also include Web-based interfaces so you can program your boxes even if you're not at home directly controlling the box with its remote control.

Ok, enough reading - go fire up your favorite app, relax and have some fun.

Khalid Hosein is a blogger, computer consultant and tech geek who runs gadget blog http://GizmosForGeeks.com, where you can find the latest in gadget and technology news, insights, howtos and much more. Visit Gizmos for Geeks to see more of his must-have, daily-use tech products list that will give your life and productivity an instant boost once you start using them