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Vista vs XP performance: Some informal tests

2007-12-05T03:13:00.000-08:00

Who's the daddy?

After posting about the inadequacy of a recent test report I thought it would be interesting to conduct my own informal tests of Vista vs XP performance. I do not run a computer laboratory, but I guess my tests have the benefit of being real-world.

I tested several conditions on three computers. On two of them I was able to test XP 32-bit vs Vista 32-bit. I tried various combinations of Aero on or off, visual effects on or off, and UAC (User Account Control) on or off. I also tried setting Vista to run only basic services, using Msconfig.

The test suite I used was Performance Test 6.1. You can use this free for 30 days, so anyone can repeat the tests.

Caveat: perfect tests are hard to achieve. A big problem with Vista is that it has all sorts of background services that are meant to maintain your system, perform backups, check for updates, and so on. Further, if you have third-party software installed (and who doesn’t?) then it may also be running background tasks. The only compensation I applied was to wait a few minutes after start-up for disk activity to pretty much cease. I also switched off anti-virus software, and closed the Vista sidebar.

Here’s a few highlights. First, XP was fastest on the two dual-boot machines, and that was without any effort optimizing XP for performance. In both cases, the best Vista performance was about 15.5 per cent slower than XP, based on the PassMark performance index. On one machine the worst Vista performance was 28 per cent slower, and on the other 23 per cent slower.

Graphics 2D - Ouch!
The most interesting result was the poor performance of the Graphics 2D tests on Vista. A series of PassMark tests cover drawing lines, rectangles, shapes, font rendering, and common GUI operations like scrolling listboxes, moving windows or filling progress bars. On both dual-boot machines, the best Vista performance was an amazing 70 per cent slower than XP. Put another way, XP was three times faster. Since these are common operations, that is worrying.

That said, there are some specific reasons for this poor performance. See here for example:

The Windows Vista graphics system is designed to support a broad range of hardware and usage scenarios to enable new technology while continuing to support existing systems. Existing graphics interfaces, such as GDI, GDI+, and older versions of Direct3D, continue to work on Windows Vista, but are internally remapped where possible. This means that the majority of existing Windows applications will continue to work.
Hmm, re-mapping sounds slow. And here:

GDI primitives like LineTo and Rectangle are now rendered in software rather than video hardware, which greatly simplifies the display drivers. We don’t think this will impact many real-world applications (usually when a GDI application is render bound its because it’s doing something like gradients that was never hardware accelerated), but if you do see problems please let us know.
See also Greg Schechter’s notes here on GDI-rendered windows.

In a nutshell, Vista is optimized for DirectX rendering at the expense of GDI; yet, as Schecter notes:

Today and for the near future, most applications use and will continue to use GDI to render their content.
This I suspect is a large part of the reason why some tests report that XP is twice as fast as Vista. Automating Office could well hit this slow GDI issue. Note that it is not all 2D graphics that are slow - CustomPC got less alarming results for its 2D graphics tests, which by the looks of it are not GDI-based.

Schechter does not cover the scenario where the DWM (Desktop Window Manager) is turned off, but it looks as if some of the factors which make GDI slow still apply.

What’s most effective at speeding up Vista?
I did some experiments where I compared Vista Basic with Vista Aero, or looked at what happened when UAC is switched off. I got inconsistent results. On an older machine, I found that disabling Aero made a significant difference, maybe an eight per cent speed-up. On another, more recent machine, Aero was actually faster. So much changes when you use DWM that I guess this is to be expected.

UAC? Not a huge difference in these tests - around two per cent.

The biggest influence, on the basis of my imperfect testing, came when using Msconfig to switch off all but basic services and start-up programs. This speeds performance by around 10 per cent overall.

In most other tests there were modest differences between Vista and XP. This includes 3D graphics, where Vista actually scored higher than XP on one machine, and CPU, where on one machine there was less than 2.5 per cent difference between best and worst. Vista does come out significantly slower on the PassMark memory test suite, from just over eight per cent worse to over 20 per cent worse.

Conclusion? First, my informal tests suggest that XP is faster than Vista, but not normally twice as fast. Second, an application written to use DirectX rather than GDI should perform better, other things being equal. WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) uses DirectX, but unfortunately has its own performance overhead.

If this analysis is right, then Vista is at its worst when rendering the GUI in traditional Windows applications. That will make them feel less snappy, but would not impact the non-visual aspect, like say recalculating a spreadsheet.

Then again, I only tried one test suite, so please don’t take the above too seriously.

I’d be interested in further informed comments.

This article originally appeared in ITWriting.

Copyright (c) 2007, ITWriting.

A freelance journalist since 1992, Tim Anderson specializes in programming and internet development topics. He has columns in Personal Computer World and IT Week, and also contributes regularly to The Register. He writes from time to time for other periodicals including Developer Network Journal Online, and Hardcopy.

Cisco grabs Motorola ex-technology chief

2007-12-05T03:11:00.000-08:00

Cisco Systems is filling its head of technology spot with the one-day former CTO of Motorola.

The Cisco CTO position will be given to Padmasree Warrior, who jumped ship at Motorola just days after its board of directors said they were ousting CEO Ed Zander.

Warrior announced her leave from the troubled mobile-phone maker on Monday, where she was responsible for Motorola's $4.1bn research and development investments and about 26,000 engineers.

She claims that her decision to leave was independent of Motorola's CEO chop. Warrior was the highest ranking female executive in the company's history.

Nich Nottenburg, Motorola's chief strategy officer, will take her place. Zander will relinquish his title at the beginning of 2008.

Meanwhile, Cisco will have its first CTO since Charles Giancarlo traded his title for chief development officer in 2005. Warrior will now work directly for Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers. ®

Source: The Register

BEA portal product springs a leak

2007-11-29T02:26:00.002-08:00

Organizations using a popular portal server made by BEA Systems may be interested to learn that researchers have figured out a simple way for unauthenticated users to obtain every user name stored on their systems.

The user name leak resides in an advanced search function in the BEA Plumtree Portal 6.0, according to this advisory from researchers at ProCheckUp, a company that provides penetration testing services. The results included both regular user names as well as those belonging to administrators.

"What we found is that by tweaking the parameters of the search functionality, it is possible to obtain all the usernames of the target corporate portal," the researchers wrote in a report. "What makes this vulnerability attractive is that the attacker doesn't need to be logged in in order to obtain the list of usernames."

The enumeration made possible by the vulnerability is of the "dumpable" type, meaning there is no need to run a dictionary attack to find valid usernames, as is often the case with attacks on user databases.

The vulnerability has been fixed in the AquaLogic Interaction 6.1 MP1. Users not ready to upgrade can also work around the bug by making configuration changes to the product. BEA representatives were not immediately available for comment.

ProCheckUp also disclosed two other vulnerabilities affecting Plumtree that are available here and here. The researchers who discovered the bugs are Adrian Pastor, a member of GNUCitizen, and Jan Fry. ®

So many paths to Nirvana

2007-11-29T02:26:00.001-08:00

We've groused repeatedly about the gaps in the software development lifecycle, or more specifically, that communication and coordination have been haphazard at best when it comes to developing software.

Aside from the usual excuses of budgets, time schedules, or politics, the crux of the problem is not only the crevice that divides software development from the business, but the numerous functional silos that divide the software development organization itself.

Software developers have typically looked down at QA specialists as failed or would-be developers; software engineers look down on developers as journeyman at best, cowboys at worst; while enterprise architects wonder why nobody wants to speak to them.

Not only do you have functional silos and jealousies, but the kinds of metadata, artifacts, and rhythms vary all over the map as you proceed to different stages of the software lifecycle. Architecture deals with relatively abstract artifacts that have longer lifecycles, compared to code and test assets that are highly volatile. And depending on the nature of the business, requirements may be set in code or continually ephemeral. No wonder that the software delivery lifecycle has often resembled a game of telephone tag.

A decade ago, Rational pioneered the vision that tools covering different stages of software development belonged together. But it took a decade for the market that Rational created to actually get named – Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). And it took even longer for vendors that play in this space to figure out how the tooling should fit together.

What's interesting is that, unlike other more thoroughly productized market segments, there has been a wide diversity among ALM providers on where the logical touch points are for weaving what should be an integrated process.

IBM/Rational has focused on links between change management, defect management, and project portfolio management
Borland’s initial thrust has been establishing bi-directional flows from requirements to change management and testing, respectively
Serena and MKS have crafted common repositories grafting source code control and change management with requirements
Compuware attempts to federate all lifecycle activities as functions of requirements, from project management and source code changes to test and debugging
But what about going upstream, where you define enterprise architecture and apply it to specific systems? That's where Telelogic has placed its emphasis, initially tying requirements as inputs to enterprise architecture or vice versa.

It has now extended that capability to its UML modeler and Java code generation tool through integration with the same repository. What would be interesting would be generation of BPMN, the modeling notation for business process modeling, that several years ago joined UML in the OMG modeling language family. For now, Telelogic's Tau can generate UML from BPMN notation, but nothing more direct than that.

In looking at the different approaches by which vendors integrate their various ALM tooling, it's not just a matter of connecting the dots. The dots that are connected represent different visions of where the most logical intersections in the software delivery lifecycle occur. Should the lifecycle be driven by enterprise architecture, or should we drive it as a function of requirements or testing? Or should we skip the developer stuff altogether and just generate byte code from a BPMN or UML model?

It's an issue where the opportunity to play God might be all too tempting. The reality is, just as there is no such thing as a single grand unified software development process methodology, there is no single silver bullet when it comes to integrating the tools that are used for automating portions of the application lifecycle.

This article originally appeared in onStrategies.

Copyright © 2007, onStrategies.com

Tony Baer is the principal with analyst onStrategies. With 15 years in enterprise systems and manufacturing, Tony specialises in application development, data warehousing and business applications, and is the author of several books on Java and .NET.

Dell fills out XPS laptop line

2007-11-29T02:18:00.000-08:00

Dell has rolled out its latest XPS laptop, a model that builds on the m1330, launched last May, with a bigger, 15.4in widescreen display and available with an optional slot-load Blu-ray Disc drive.

Dell's XPS m1530: 15-incher

The XPS m1530 can be configured with a range of Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processors, up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR 2 memory and a number of hard drive options, including a 64GB solid-state disk. Graphics come courtesy of either an Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS with 128MB of video memory, or a 256MB GeForce 8600M GT.

Bu despite having a 15.4in diagonal size, the screen's resolution is just 1280 x 800 - a ratio more common with smaller displays

Red casing, blu-ray optical drive

The laptop has the usual array of USB, Firewire, Ethernet (10/100Mb/s) and VGA ports, but it also features an HDMI connector to allow it to drive HD TVs. There's an eight-in-one memory card reader and an ExpressCard 54 slot too.

Other refinements include a two-megapixel webcam mounted above the display, Bluetooth 2.0 if you want it, a variety of Wi-Fi options, including 802.11n, and WAN cards too.

UK prices start at £699, US prices at $999. Available now, the m1530 comes in a choice of red, black and white colour schemes.

Iron Mountain lands ICANN data escrow agreement

2007-11-29T02:16:00.000-08:00

Iron Mountain announced today that it has begun providing long-awaited data escrow services to ICANN and its panoply of approved registrars. Ever since the RegisterFly debacle exposed ICANN’s failure to account properly for the data escrow requirements of its Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), data escrow has been at or near the top of the ICANN agenda.

ICANN-approved registrars provide domain registration and hosting services, and contact with a registrar is generally as close as your average domain holder gets to the nuts and bolts of the internet.

For those unfamiliar with RegisterFly saga, a bizarre personal feud between two business partners led to the first collapse of an ICANN-approved registrar. In the aftermath of this business failure, thousands of RegisterFly customers either lost their domains or were left in limbo for months. Had ICANN at the time enforced the RAA provision that required registrars to escrow registrants’ data, much of the consumer fallout and attendant bad press for ICANN could have been avoided.

“The vast majority of ICANN's accredited registrars offer high levels of service and integrity; however, as we have seen, there is the risk that poorly performing registrars can hurt registrants significantly. ICANN has selected Iron Mountain Digital as its escrow agent to help implement the Registrar Data Escrow program, a sensible and practical measure to protect registrants by storing and safeguarding a backup copy of domain name registration data in escrow,” said Paul Twomey, ICANN CEO and President, without mentioning RegisterFly by name – not to mention any of the other shoddy registrars out there, some of whom prefer not to take ICANN’s phone calls, as compliance director Stacy Burnette has acknowledged at the last couple of ICANN meetings.

The press release touts Iron Mountain’s experience and professionalism with escrowery.

“As the founder of the technology escrow industry, Iron Mountain is proud to have been selected for such an important escrow program,” said John Boruvka, vice president of Intellectual Property Management for Iron Mountain Digital. “ICANN joins thousands of customers worldwide who rely on Iron Mountain’s technology escrow services to protect their intellectual property.”

Other providers will also be allowed to provide escrow services subject to ICANN approval, but clearly the choice of Iron Mountain is meant to send a signal that ICANN is not going to tolerate the fly-by-night operators in data escrow that have existed on the fringes of the registrar community.®

Burke Hansen, attorney at large, heads a San Francisco law office

Mozilla hits back at Firefox 3 quality slur

2007-11-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

Mozilla has hit back at claims that multiple bugs in its forthcoming Firefox 3 browser will be ignored in order to meet release schedules.

IDG analyst Gregg Keizer reported that fixes for as many as eight in ten identified bugs would be ready in time for the scheduled release of Firefox 3 (Gran Paradiso) next year. Keizer cited notes from a Mozilla development meeting to support his claims, carried in a story in the New York Times last Thursday.

"We have 700 bugs currently marked as blockers," the notes said. "That's too many. We're asking component owners to set priorities on blockers, as a first pass of what bugs should be Beta 2 blockers. You want it to be about 10 per cent of blockers, or what you can get done in four weeks."

Mozilla defies a "blocker" as a flaw serious enough to justify delaying a release, or at least closer examination.

"We'll be doing pretty much the same thing for Beta 3, which means that something like 80 per cent of the [approximately] 700 bugs currently marked as blockers will not be fixed for Firefox 3. The hope is that by 'fixing the most important blockers' several times, we'll get to a point where we can cut the rest without feeling bad about the quality of the release. And if we do feel bad, we can add an extra beta or two," the notes added.

Mozilla developer Asa Dotzler hit back at the suggestion that Mozilla was compromising on quality in developing the next version of the open source browser.

"That claim is simply horseshit," he wrote in a blog post. "We've already fixed over 11,000 bugs and features in Firefox 3 and now we're discussing how to handle the remaining 700 issues we wanted to get fixed for Firefox 3."

Mozilla developer Mike Shaver said Keizer cited genuine notes but misunderstood the meaning of the term 'blocker'. "It appears to be an honest mistake, since a set of meeting notes did include that prediction, along with other elements that mention other approaches to the Firefox end-game," he writes. "But it’s not our intent to cut Firefox blockers from the fix list against a hard numerical target or fixed deadline."

"The 'blocking' flag doesn’t always strictly mean 'we would not ship Firefox 3 if this specific bug isn’t fixed'. It can also mean 'we should look at this in more detail before we ship'", he added.

Security bugs within the 700 flaw total will be treated as "important". Bugs that impair surfers' browsing ability will also be prioritised. Up to three beta releases of Firefox 3 are planned. The last release was an eight alpha version of the code, released in September. The final version of Firefox 3 is due out some time next year.

The superstructure of Firefox 3 alpha is built around Gecko 1.9, an updated layout engine. The browser is also due to include features held back from Firefox 2, such as the revamped Places system for storing bookmarks and a rejigged history function. ®

Microsoft lets slip Visual Studio 2008

2007-11-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

Microsoft on Monday gave developers early access to the next version of its Windows development tools and framework, for the first time tying in both Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows Sever 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

The company has released to manufacturing code for Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5, while also making code available to subscribers on its Developer Network (MSDN).

Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 are the first versions of Microsoft's tools and framework to wrap up a string of infrastructural elements that have been percolating through Redmond and slowly rolling out separately through a series of updates and new products.

The changes simplify data access and programming across Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 and SQL Sever 2008 - the latter two due next February. Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 are also timed for widespread availability next February.

Arguably the biggest change is the addition of Microsoft's Language Integrated Query (LINQ) architecture, created by Microsoft's Erik Meiker, that simplifies programming with SQL object, XML and relational data models in C# and Visual Basic.NET. Syntax added to C# and Visual Basic translate and compile queries to a set of 25 standard query operators, reducing the need to pick a single data model or know all three.

ASP.NET AJAX will come as standard for web development while server-side developers get Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) templates, with WCF supporting HTTP programming without need for SOAP but adding support for JSON. Expanded web services support in WCF now includes WS-AutomaticTransaction 1.1 and WS-Reliable Messaging 1.1 with other protocols.

For the Windows Vista and Office 2007 family, there are updates to the base class library, Windows Presentation Foundation and Windows Cardspace.

Previously separate tools for building Office applications that take advantage of the Office 2007 interface - regions, ribbon and panes - and extraction of data from Windows Servers are expected to feature in the professional edition of Visual Studio 2008.

Also, Visual Studio 2008 developers can build applications for versions 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 of the .NET Framework.®

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Isilon fattens clustered NAS with 1TB disks

2007-11-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

Scientifically speaking, storage vendor Isilon systems is hugifying its clustered NAS lineup. The storage firm is expanding its modular storage pool family by fitting 1TB drives into a new pair of nodes, boasting 250TB max capacity in a single rack.

The new clustered NAS offerings are the IQ 12000, a performance-oriented system; and the EX 12000, a capacity extension.

Each box contains 12 Hitachi 1TB SATA II disk drives, providing (yes, we'll do the complex math for you) 12TB capacity in each 2U node. They usurp Isolon's IQ 9000 as capacity king, which holds 750GB drives from Seagate.

The IQ 12000 uses Isilon's OneFS operating system that allows up to 1.6PB of data in about 60 nodes to be managed as a single volume and single file system. The EX 12000 is a storage extension node for those requiring the addition of capacity rather than all out performance.

The minimum configuration is five node cluster.

The hardware uses standard NAS file sharing protocols over Gigabit Ethernet for front-end connections, and InfiniBand for intracluster communication. Features include nearline archiving, disk-to-disk backup and restore and asynchronous replication for remote disaster recovery.

Isilon sees their clustered NAS storage fitting into the Web 2.0 crowd, where huge amounts of storage may need to be scaled at the drop of a hat.

The storage firm faces competition in the clustered NAS market from startups such as Panasas and ActiveStor, as well as storage giants, NetApp and EMC.

The Isilon IQ 12000 has a list price of $47,250 per node, while the EX 12000 lists at $29,250. But Isilon says they are willing to lower prices to the golden-tongued during negotiations — with a price as low as $2,000 per TB.

Isilon's storage ramp-up comes during turbulence, as the storage vendor suffers growing pains in its transition to a public company. They swapped heads last month — with founder Sujal Patel moving from chief technology officer into the CEO spot to satisfy a boardroom unhappy with sales since its IPO last December. ®

Google builds very own Ethernet switches

2007-11-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

Google seems to be building its very own Ethernet switches. But you already knew that. We told you in June.

On Friday, a blog post from telecom/datacom research outfit Nyquist Capital breathlessly announced that Google is using Google-designed switches to link servers inside its top-secret data centers.

"It is our opinion that Google has designed and deployed home-grown 10GbE switches as part of a secret internal initiative that was launched when it realized commercial options couldn’t meet the cost and power consumption targets required for their data centers," wrote Nyquist analyst Andrew Schmidt.

But this is old news to The Reg. We first reported on the custom networking gear back in June, when discussing Google's "orgiastic" acquisition of PeakStream, a startup that built tools for speeding single-threaded apps through multi-core CPUs. Oh, and we were the first to report the PeakStream buy too.

As previously pointed out, the world's largest search engine has penchant for building its own hardware. "Google now shakes up the hardware industry as a whole on an unprecedented scale," we wrote. "For example, many of you have likely heard that Google consumes the most processors and hard disk drives after the top server vendors. Google uses the components to craft its own servers rather than buying gear on the street like other red-blooded service providers.

"In addition, it has crafted so-called White Trash Data Centers of its own where shipping containers are filled with servers and transported around the world, while the likes of Sun Microsystems and Rackable try to turn this model into an actual business. Lastly, we understand that Google plans to make its own switches and other networking gear."

Since then, the company has nabbed a patent for those White Trash Data Centers - which has surely annoyed Sun and Rackable. And it would seem that Google is now quite serious about building its own switches.

"Through conversations with multiple carrier, equipment, and component industry sources we have confirmed that Google has designed, built, and deployed home-brewed 10GbE switches for providing server interconnect within their data centers," Schmidt continued. "Google realized that because its computing needs were very specific, it could design and build computers that were cheaper and lower power than off the shelf alternatives."

According to Schmidt, Google's switch design is based on a 20-port 10GbE switch from Broadcom and uses SFP+ interconnects. But it looks like the company eschewed the standard SFP+ setup in favor of something cheaper, and Schmidt believes this do-it-yourself approach could rattle the commercial switch market.

"This decision by Google, while small in terms of units purchased, is enormous in terms of the disruptive impact it should have on 10GbE switching equipment providers and their component supply chains," he said. "This non-standard and very low cost optical format should prove just as attractive to other data center customers."

We asked Google if it was indeed building its own switches. But it didn't respond. We also asked Schmidt for an interview. But he didn't respond either. Clearly, he's jealous that we broke his news first.

As we understand it, however, it's not all custom work at Google on the networking front. Our sources indicate that Google has purchased a mega 10GigE system capable of supporting thousands of ports from an as of yet undisclosed Silicon Valley start-up. ®

Source: The register

Hot keywords of google Adsense

2007-11-09T22:40:00.000-08:00

This High Paying Keywords list is obtained from different webmaster forums. None of them may even bear the listed value. This content is for general use and to help you get more out of your websites. There is no guarantee that this information is accurate and true. Use at your own risk !
Note that regional differences exist. The values may differ regionally. Its always recommended to do the research yourself.

High Paying AdSense Keywords : Keywords | Cost/Click

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trans union $51.91

$20 - $50
lung cancer $43.12
search engine optimization $30.19
mesothelioma diagnosis $28.70
home equity loans $20.06

$10 - $20
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Macs take reliability, support prize

2007-10-30T04:36:00.000-07:00

October 29, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Apple Inc.'s computers are the most reliable and its support the most dependable of five top vendors, a national chain of computer service shops said today.

Macs beat machines built and sold by Lenovo Group Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co., Gateway Inc. and Dell Inc., according to Rescuecom Corp.'s second annual reliability report. Apple, which took the second spot last year, blew away the competition this year by posting a score 51% higher than the next-best, Lenovo.

To come up with its scores, Rescuecom compared the percentage of each company's support calls with its market share, said David Milman, Rescuecom's CEO. The greater the difference, the higher the score, and the better the hardware and follow-up OEM support. Apple, for example, received the highest score because Macs made up only 1.4% of all calls to Rescuecom, even though its estimated market share was 5% for the year. Dell machines, on the other hand, accounted for 34.5% of all Rescuecom's incoming calls, which was higher than the company's 32.3% market share.

"It takes into account not just the quality and reliability of the equipment," said Milman, "but also the quality of service." The two are equally important, he said. "If a user is calling Rescuecom, that means they've abandoned the manufacturer's own support."

Apple led the five vendors with a score of 347, followed by Lenovo/IBM (236), HP (126), Gateway (103) and Dell (94).

"Apple's score tells me that it has both great quality control and great support in place," said Milman. "And that Apple is taking care of its customers though its internal support channel." Unlike the other four vendors, Apple has its own retail chain, whose stores are manned with customer support personnel, dubbed Apple Geniuses.

Dell, on the other hand, is now at the bottom of Rescuecom's scoring system, having slipped from last year's fourth place to fifth this year. "Dell faces some challenges to deliver quality products and quality services," said Milman. "The probability is certainly higher that a customer will have problems with a Dell than with an HP or a Lenovo [computer]."

The Round Rock, Tex. computer maker's has had problems meeting customer demand for some laptops, and has seen its once high-flying service and support reputation drop. In August, for instance, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), a barometer of customer satisfaction produced at the University of Michigan, pegged Dell's score as down four points from the previous year.

"Dell isn't going anywhere," said Milman. "They still have good machines. But over the long run, you're more likely to have a problem with Dell."

In the same ASCI of August, Apple scored 79, the highest among the seven makers and/or computer lines, but like Dell, also down four points from 2006.

Apple limits iPhone purchases to credit cards

2007-10-30T04:35:00.000-07:00

October 29, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- People looking to walk into an Apple retailer and buy an iPhone with cash will be out of luck. The company is now accepting only credit or debit card payments for the devices so they can track who purchases the phone, according to an employee at the Apple Store in New York's SoHo neighborhood.

The new policy is Apple's attempt to prevent people from purchasing and then unlocking and reselling iPhones, a situation that has been a problem for the company. Apple won't let anyone without a credit card or debit card in their name purchase iPhones, according to an unidentified Apple Store employee in a phone interview.

"We need to track the purchases of the iPhone [because] we have people buying the phones, unlocking the phones and selling them," she said.

A report by the Associated Press last week said Apple was limiting the purchases to two devices and allowing users to purchase them only with credit or debit cards. According to store employees, the two-device limit has always been in place, but the noncash policy is new.

Apple's public relations team did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the new policy. However, it's no secret the company is trying to stem the tide of unlocked and resold phones, now totaling about 250,000.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook mentioned that number last week in a quarterly results conference call as the difference between the number of handsets sold -- approximately 1.4 million -- and those actually connecting via AT&T Wireless, the iPhone's exclusive U.S. carrier.

If one analyst's estimate is correct, those unlocked phones are costing Apple millions of dollars. Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster said that he believes Apple receives $18 per iPhone per month from AT&T Wireless, based on iPhone-related revenue Apple reported in its latest quarterly earnings, totaling more than $4.5 million in lost revenue.

The iPod Touch: A business tool, too

2007-10-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hacking the iPod

That limited functionality brings me to my next point: This gadget could be so much better if Apple just let us play with it a little bit. And while the company has announced plans to offer a software development kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch next year, there's nothing out yet, at least not officially. I decided it would be fun to see how much more business functionality I could get out of the iPod Touch after applying a few much-touted hacks.

Note: If you have to tell the CFO you plan to hack your iPod, you're not likely to get an OK. And besides, why risk invalidating your warranty? So don't try this at home. All I'm pointing out is how much potential the device has, and how much more value it will offer, once new apps are created. And they will be created.

Having a hacked iPhone, I lifted a lot of the applications I already own directly from that device and transferred them to the iPod Touch. Some preferences files and bundles needed to be moved as well. Once installer.app was on my iPod, hacking it took only a few minutes. Here's a sampler of what I added, which should give you an idea of how powerful this device could grow to be.

The first thing I added was the Notes application from my iPhone. This is a simple, yet extremely elegant program that allows you to take notes using the keyboard on the iPod. It will also sync with the Notes in Leopard. Apple should have included it in the iPod Touch as a default application.

Notes works like a dream on my iPod.

Next, I added the Maps app. While it is of little use in the car without AT&T's EDGE Network -- which is what the iPhone uses when a Wi-Fi connection isn't available -- Maps is great for plotting out trips beforehand and works just as well as it does on the iPhone. Think of it as Google Earth in your pocket.

The most important thing for me is having an offline mail client. What better than Apple's mobile Mail app for the iPhone? It works fantastically well on the iPod with four concurrent IMAP clients. My only gripe is that you can't set the frequency for checking the e-mail servers to less than five minutes. However, because you can write offline and sync when you hit a wireless access point, it is a natural fit. Why Apple chose not to include it is beyond me, unless it wants to upsell users to the iPhone.

The Weather app -- another iPhone fav of mine -- is great for quickly checking forecasts in your favorite destinations. It also caches this information for offline use, making it another good fit.

Apple's iPhone applications aren't the only ones that work well with the iPod Touch; hacked third-party apps work pretty well, too.

VNSea.app is a VNC remote desktop client.

The first one I tried was VNSea.app, a VNC remote desktop client. The installation was painless, it connected to my Mac OS X and Windows servers quickly, and the remote functionality worked well.

The only downside is the obviously small screen, which doesn't have the ability to pan. That means you only control the upper 320-by-480-pixel portion of your screen. I found that if I put my important apps up top, I was in pretty good shape. It also makes a great Wi-Fi remote control for your Mac Mini media center.

Next, I added the Apollo IM client. Although I prefer the interface of another mobile application, MobileChat, Apollo lets me connect to my corporate MSN network as well. So for my purposes, it gets the nod. This is a perfect example of an application the iPod Touch needs. If Apple won't add it, then it should at least let others do so.

The iPod Touch: A business tool, too

2007-10-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

October 19, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Apple Inc.'s new iPod Touch is a revolutionary device, much like its iPhone cousin. It offers in one svelte package a host of cool features, everything from Web browsing over Wi-Fi to VPN access and a host of enterprise-useful apps. Sure, you can listen to music, but there's also a practical side, the side that makes it a perfect tool for business. (I know what a lot of you are thinking: In your dreams. Just stick with me a minute.)

Having spent some time with Apple's latest iPod, which hit the market in September and starts at $299, I think there's a lot of on-the-job use you can get from this little guy -- so much so that you might even be able to expense it at work. Not only does it arrive out of the box with useful software, but apps that can be added to it with a little tweaking make it feature-filled enough to keep almost any road warrior happy.

Not convinced? Let me break these down by application, and feel free to file this list away for any future iPod Touch purchase order justification. That way, when you sit down with the CFO to explain why you want, er, need one, you'll have a ready-made checklist handy.

The Web. First and foremost, the iPod Touch has a darn good almost-full-featured Web browser -- not just a mobile browser, but a real browser. Safari on the iPod Touch is much better than anything else out there. The scrolling, panning and zooming around that's possible put it in a usability league with far larger devices like tablet PCs.

While it doesn't do Java or Flash (yet), it will still handle 90% of the business Web apps out there. And you can open up eight or more different Web windows at a time. That's great for multitasking productivity.

Mobility. It sounds obvious, but it's worth repeating: The iPod Touch can go with you everywhere -- in the conference room, at a client's office, in the car, tucked away in your shirt pocket, even in the bathroom. It weighs just over 4 oz. and is 4.3 inches long, 2.4 inches wide and less than one-third of an inch thick. And it still boasts the best 3.5-inch screen I've ever seen.

VPN. As more office apps move to the Web, the browsing functions make this device more valuable. It's not just for public Web apps, either. For companies with a VPN, Apple has included some of the most widely used VPN software out there -- Cisco notwithstanding -- to allow you to connect to Windows and Mac VPN servers. Once connected, you'll have access to all of your internal Web applications. Talk about an ultraportable office!

Contacts. A few years back, companies bought contact books for their employees. As the digital age progressed, those contacts got rolled into laptops and smart phones.

The iPod offers yet another extension of that evolution, allowing users to browse through contacts on a large but mobile screen. With touch-screen ease, just tap, flick, tap again and your contact info is staring you in the face. It is also easier to add contacts from a business card to the iPod Touch than to a typical phone because of the iPod's QWERTY keyboard, large screen and large tapping area.

Clock and Calculator. The world clock is extremely useful when traveling across time zones, crucial for the jet-setting international exec. The same is true for the built-in alarm clock.

The iPod Touch (left) offers many of the same great features as the iPhone (right).

And while it's as simple as they come, the Calculator application works just as you'd expect, whether calculating mileage reimbursement costs or figuring out the tip on that two-martini business lunch. Everyone needs one once in awhile -- the calculator, not the martini.

Photos, videos and music. The iPod includes a great photo viewer for finding and quickly displaying image files for clients. It also offers relatively high-resolution playback of videos, whether commercial, instructional, artistic or just plain fun.

And the music software is great for listening to audiobooks and language tapes -- being a recent Paris transplant, I can attest to this! -- and frankly, there's a lot of learning that can take place during the inevitable downtime between business meetings or flights.

Calendar. While Apple handed iPod users a major blow by disabling the write functionality in its calendar app -- you'll need an iPhone for that -- the scaled-back software on the iPod Touch is still a useful tool for taking your desktop timetable on the road -- even if you can't edit or sync it on the fly.

[Part 2] 10 things that should be in Apple's next Mac Pro

2007-10-13T21:45:00.001-07:00

6. eSATA external storage. Firewire 800, first introduced in 2003, just doesn't do it anymore for high-speed external storage and is beginning to become outdated. I need more options. 3Gb eSATA is coming out of the woodwork now as the new standard for super-high-speed drives, even as external drives and arrays that use it are coming down in price dramatically. Fiber is nice, too, but overkill for workstations. USB3 fiber isn't ready yet; eSATA is.
7. Strong video support: HDMI out. How about letting users present stuff on an HDTV without having to use an adapter? This feature would cost very little, but the coolness factor would be huge, right Steve? Besides, HDMI is already available on Apple TV, so we know it can be done.

In fact, while I'm wishing, why not add two HDMI out ports? Running two hi-def TVs from a Mac Pro over HDMI would be absurdly cool. This, of course, could be part of an extremely high-end video card option. I know Apple likes to have options when it comes to processors. Well, users like options when it comes to video cards. Some of us want a solid video card, others want the absolute fastest thing money can buy. I happen to want both.

The current Mac Pro with its access panel open and four hard drives installed.
8. 10GB Ethernet. If not now, when? If not Apple, who? 10GB Ethernet cards are coming down in price by around $100 a pop -- and they're even cheaper when integrated on the motherboard. The prices for switches that utilize them are also coming down. Maybe Apple doesn't have to put them on all new Mac Pro models, but wouldn't they be perfectly appropriate for top-of-the-line HD video rigs? How about Xgrid? The speed certainly helps.
Now, I know the question will arise: Who needs 10GB Ethernet? Something along those same lines was asked five years ago when Apple released the G4 models with 1GB Ethernet. Time flies.

9. Hardware RAID standard. A few months ago, Apple introduced a $1,000 add-on card that turns mild-mannered SATA ports on the Mac Pro into a hard-core RAID configuration. Now, it's time to build it in.

And with the ZFS file system expected to be part of the upcoming Leopard OS, RAID configurations should work even better. (ZFS, if you aren't familiar with it, offers a whole new way to handle storage, allowing large capacity, storage pooling, fast data snapshots and copy-on-write.)

10. Affordability. I'm not talking $399.99 Dell affordable, but drop the barrier to entry a bit. Perhaps you can offer something under $2,000 at the low end. No doubt, some additional PC gamers and tinkerers will come into the Apple fold if you have the fastest processor and a solid video card.

Oh, just one more thing: Let's not wait for Macworld San Francisco to get the next Mac Pro on store shelves. The holidays are coming, and I know of at least one computer geek who'd like to see something like this wrapped up with a bow on top.

Seth Weintraub is a global IT management consultant specializing in the technology needs of creative organizations, including The Paris Times, Omnicom and WPP Group. He has set up and managed cross-platform networks on four continents and is an expert in Active Directory/Open Directory PC and Macintosh integration.

[Part 1] 10 things that should be in Apple's next Mac Pro

2007-10-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

October 12, 2007 (Computerworld) -- The recent word from The Inquirer that Apple may be hoarding all of Intel's new 45nm Penryn processors -- and possibly paying for the privilege -- has prompted a lot of speculation about the future of Apple's Mac Pro desktop lineup. Apple's professional machines, which now use Intel Xeon Cloverton chips topping out at 3 GHz, are called workstations by Apple and offer quad- and eight-core configurations. They're fast, and they sport professional prices to match, with top-of-the-line eight-core units starting at $3,997.

The latest generation of Mac Pros, although radically restyled on the inside when Apple jumped to Intel chips in 2006, look pretty much the same on the outside as they did when they sported PowerPC chips. But the expected move to Penryn -- at or before the next Macworld show in January -- could mean the first major change in Mac Pro design in years.

Apple's Mac Pro in its current incarnation.
Penryn is Intel's first chip under 45nm (compared with the 65nm processors now used) and offers a faster front-side bus, larger Level 2 caches, better energy efficiency and a new instruction set (SSE4) aimed at boosting media, gaming and graphics uses (download PDF).

As important for Mac fans, the new chip architecture allows some new possibilities in case design -- namely because the motherboard and cooling system could take up less space. The new chips could also mean the incorporation of new technologies such as Scan-Line Interleave (used for linking two or more video cards) and a faster front-side bus.

With that in mind, let's go through some of the things Mac users -- especially this Mac user -- would like to see in the next Mac Pro:

1. A new enclosure. Rumors abound that the now-familiar all-aluminum Mac Pro box -- brought over part and parcel from the original Power Mac G5 -- will finally be shrinking. Of course, I still expect Apple to house all of the latest goodies, so whatever Apple comes up with isn't going to rival the Mac Mini for portability either.

I'm looking for more audio/USB/Firewire ports up front, with space for four 3.5-in. internal drive slots and two 5.25-in. optical drives -- which are now offered on the current crop of Mac Pros. An easier-to-open case more like that found way back on the Power Mac G4 desktops would certainly be appreciated by systems administrators, along with a reduced weight and better handles for lugging around.

2. A Blu-ray option, not just for movie editing but also for storing 50GB of data on a single disc -- perfect for sending off major quantities of files (high-definition movies, anyone?) to a client or user. Although I never thought I'd say it, DVDs -- even double-sided ones that can hold up to 8GB of information -- are too small. It's time for Apple to get on board with the next level of optical drives.

As for using a Blu-ray drive for movies, the digital rights management associated with them might be too much to ask for. But they'd look pretty darn nice on Apple's 30-in. Cinema Display, now, wouldn't they?

3. Cooler but quieter systems. Those fans on current Mac Pros can sometimes be loud and annoying. Liquid-cooled enclosures, while more expensive, are a much more elegant solution. Heck, Apple even used that with late-generation Power Mac G5s, although there were some reports of leaks.

If Apple doesn't want to go back to that option, then it should turn the whole case into a heat sink. Whether it's on purpose or not, my MacBook Pro sometimes feels like one well-designed heat sink.

4. Less energy use. I love power, but I also love clean air and Middle East peace and all of that, so Apple, while you're at it, cut down our energy usage! It's nice not to have the lights dim when I turn on the computer. This should be doable, and former Vice President Al Gore, who's on your board of directors, will no doubt approve.

5. Penryn. I know what The Inquirer reported, and yes, it makes perfect sense that you'd want to offer the latest and greatest from Intel to your top-end customers. What better way to run cool and cut power consumption than with a 45nm Penryn chip? These babies are fast and efficient. The first widely distributed 45nm processors, nothing comes close to them in terms of speed per watt -- the main reason Apple moved to Intel in the first place.

And let's get there sooner rather than later. The Mac Pro has been out since August 2006, with only the addition of faster chips in April to update the line.

Part 2 - Getting More From Your High-Definition Movies

2007-10-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

Comments From Paramount's CTO
Interactivity means development time and development resources. Paramount's chief technology officer, Alan Bell, sat down with me to answer a few questions. Given the emphasis on interactivity during the panel discussion, I found some of his answers intriguing. This summer, both Pramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation switched from supporting Blu-ray and HD DVD to backing HD DVD exclusively.

PCW: What can you tell me about the direction you see interactivity going in?

Bell: It acts as a safety valve--things that didn't get put into the local disc can be introduced by a connection, such as language tracks and filmographies, and so forth. You have an open-ended capability to enrich the content on the disc. And you can build communities. The whole notion of building a community around activities is where Web 2.0 is going. Interactivity is an essential ingredient. With HD DVD, it's in place as a mandatory factor from the outset, so consumers will have it in their player without having to know to ask for it. And programmers can invest in developing content and ideas that rely on connectivity, having a clear idea of the publishing base.

PCW: Not having to ask for it brings up the point that people likely don't know what to ask for or anticipate asking for when it comes to player-based interactivity. Do you think it's too early for interactivity?

Bell: From a content owners view, the way you program the interactivity is far more simplified if you have more consistency, more predictability, and better interoperability. It's the "keep it simple" principal. We can deliver we want to deliver from the outset, with reliability and the results that we want. The technology being there from the outset is important from day one. It will take time for consumers to become educated on how to use features. People should pay attention that one format--HD DVD--has this in place. The other format [Blu-ray] will undoubtedly get it right. But with HD DVD, those who bought early players don't have to be concerned about whether the future titles that may exploit more of the available features will work on those players. It's a better proposition for the consumers.

PCW: What percentage of the titles you'll be coming out with in the next six months will have connected interactivity on them?

Bell: We haven't made any predictions on interactivity. Transformers will have interactivity features. The bonus materials of DVD--you pretty much let it go, you lose contact with it. Did the consumer watch them or not watch them? When you invest in the connectivity features, that means that after the title has been purchased by the consumer, there's another touchpoint [for the studio], where we connect back with the consumer. That can be about promotional and marketing content, it can be a transactional relationship for selling products, or it can be about social networking.

PCW: You mention investment. All of this interactivity is going to cost money to sustain from a studio perspective--and raises the question of how long studios will maintain the communities. For example, you put a disc in your player that's four or five years old--will all of the vaunted connectivity extras and community still be available?

Bell: Life is going to get more complicated and costly, even as it brings these added opportunities for studios to bring their content out in different ways. It will be common sense: A title issued X years ago where the interest has diminished--you'll move on to supporting more popular titles. You'll have to.

Part 1 - Getting More From Your High-Definition Movies

2007-10-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

Interactivity is supposed to allow you new possibilities between your TV and high-def movies, but are those features ready for prime time? Plus: The head of Paramount Studios weighs in.

LOS ANGELES -- Interactivity is a hot topic in the world of high-def movie discs right now. The new interactive features will allow you to do more from your TV, but are they ready for prime time?

Two levels of interactivity are being discussed at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference 2007 here this week. The first level, on-disc interactivity, refers to games and pop-up information intended to supplement the movie being played. The second level is Internet-connected interactivity such as social networking and sharing, shopping, and downloading extra content (for example, trailers, new features, audio tracks, and subtitle tracks).

What Players Can Do Now
Today's Blu-ray players already can handle on-disc interactivity (as in the case of the Liar's Dice game on Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest). But of all existing devices that handle Blu-ray, only the PlayStation 3 currently can be upgraded to handle Internet-connected interactivity.

By contrast, all HD DVD players have an ethernet port and support Interent connectivity. Titles like Universal's Heroes and Evan Almighty permit you to do things like download content and shop.

Universal has said that 40 percent of consumers who bought the Heroes HD-DVD disc signed up for an online account. Given the geek appeal of this NBC series, I'm not astonished that this happened. But somehow I doubt that Evan Almighty will garner anywhere near that level of support.

The HD DVD camp is heavily promoting the fact that its network-connected interactivity is available today--and certainly Blu-ray has to play catch up on that front. Though Blu-ray is capable of providing similar features, development of the hardware and software needed to actually do so is lagging behind HD DVD's progress.

On the other hand, I question whether interactivity is truly meaningful at this point anyway. For instance, Andy Parsons, of the Blu-ray Disc Association, says, "Picture and sound are what motivates people to check out [high-definition movies]. Interactivity is difficult to explain to people; that's not what someone is going to the store to check out."

(Alan Bell, CTO of Paramount, discusses interactivity with PCW later in this story.)

Interactivity's Benefits Hard to Explain
Interactivity is difficult to sell to people. The community aspects of sharing bookmarks and rating collections--the selling points that the HD DVD camp is talking up--will gain steam only when we the technology attracts a critical mass of users who use the content and the ancillary social networking conceived around that content.

The same issue haunts the social networking components of Joost.com, the Web TV streaming site. Neither HD DVD nor Blu-ray is anywhere close to achieving the necessary critical mass.

For that matter, movie studios aren't fully primed to offer such connected, interactive features on a large scale either. So far, Universal is leading the pack: It introduced its U-Shop component tied to the release of Evan Almighty this week. So the ability to shop for Evan Almighty tie-ins will set off a stampede of consumers just dying to buy into a high-def format? It doesn't seem altogether likely.

Now, I admit: If I were a Star Trek fan with money to burn and I wanted to shop for memorabilia while watching the HD DVD release of the original series, I could see the U-Shop component being a fun and welcome novelty--for the first 10 minutes, anyway. But does the appeal of shopping via disc have staying power? The answer is not particularly clear to me at this point ...

Coming soon: Sub-$1000 HD DVD notebook

2007-10-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2007 (PC World) -- Even though two formats are duking it out for dominance, Toshiba sees HD DVD adoption following a trajectory similar to other optical disc formats before it.

"We see history repeating itself," Carl Pinto, vice president of product development and product management at Toshiba, told an audience during a presentation at the DVD Forum conference in Los Angeles this week.

Just as DVD gained momentum first as a combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, HD DVD will see its early momentum from HD DVD-ROM/DVD SuperMulti writer drives. Even though a slim writer was announced in January at CES and has shipped in Japan, Pinto says he doesn't expect HD DVD burners to gain steam until 2009 or 2010.

Price drops

Since HD DVD was first installed on a Toshiba Qosmio earlier this year, prices have fallen precipitously on notebooks equipped with an HD DVD drive. That early notebook debuted at $3000; today's prices hover at around $1,500.

By the end of the year, in time for Christmas, said Pinto, "you'll be able to buy notebook computers at retail stores for under $1000."

The price drops can be attributed to the normal technology march known as Moore's Law. In the past year, the progression of the underlying technology required for a DVD drive has been impressive. For example, a notebook that cost $3000 at the start of the year required about $400 in components (excluding the cost of the HD DVD drive -- a detail Toshiba is not surprisingly mum about) to handle HD DVD decoding, including the CPU and a graphics processor on a dedicated graphics card. By this fall, the mix of components necessary shifted to a CPU with integrated graphics processor and a hardware decoder, all for under $200. When winter 2008 rolls around, Toshiba expects to be able cut that price about in half again. "Our goal for the third quarter of 2008 is to bring that cost down to under $100," Pinto said. "We believe that using improvements in CPUs and graphics subsystems, we can reduce the cost of playing back HD DVD."

Toshiba plans to make HD DVD an option on most all of its notebook PCs over the course of the coming year. The company estimates more than 5 million HD DVD drives will ship on notebook PCs in the coming year as the technology becomes more accessible and the price becomes more affordable.

Review: Buffalo's 1TB, 4TB home or small office storage array

2007-10-11T00:29:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Buffalo Technology is no novice at network-attached storage devices. Its previously released LinkStation and TeraStation models have all been well received, and the newest iteration, the TeraStation Pro II packs even more inside for better performance and a wider access.

Let's emphasize right off the bat that this isn't just a box of disks attached to a network. The TeraStation Pro II has smarts inside in the form of a Marvell Orion CPU, 128MB of memory and 4MB of flash -- which holds a version of Samba Linux. Unlike the PowerPC processor that ran the older TeraStation, Marvell's chips are promoted as "media vault platforms that allow users to instantly access rich multimedia and data content throughout the home."

The TeraStation Pro IIWhile you shouldn't disregard the home-use aspect of the TeraStation, the Pro lineup is actually aimed at small to midsize businesses -- especially in its available 1TB and 4TB sizes. As shipped, the TeraStation Pro II that I received contained four 250GB drives, for a grand total of 1TB, 650GB of which was usable storage space. It arrived configured for RAID 5 (of a possible RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10) for maximum data security with minimal drive redundancy.
In case you missed the seminar, RAID 0 writes data alternately to two drives for a bit of added speed; RAID 1 writes data to one drive and then makes a mirror image of it in the second drive for data protection; RAID 10 is a combination of RAID 1 and 0, writing alternately to, in this case, two drives and then mirroring their contents to the two other drives.

RAID 5 writes data across the four drives and keeps parity information about the contents of each drive. In this way, should one drive fail, you simply remove it and replace it (Buffalo will sell you spare drive trays if you want to keep extra drives at the ready), and your RAID 5 configuration will rebuild the data that you theoretically "lost" on the crashed drive while you're in operation. As you might suspect, getting all of that done is processor intensive but insourcing the overhead to the CPU and memory of the TeraStation, rather than your PC, makes it painless.

Painless also describes the installation. If you're willing to accept the default configuration, you'll be up and running in less than six minutes, waiting simply for the TeraStation to boot and then running through a minimal number of questions from the installation software provided on CD. (Alternate configurations may require reformatting the drives, and that could take hours in some cases.) The TeraStation proliferates itself as a device on your network as part of the installation. In my case, all seven of my stations saw it and could access it without any additional work on my part.

Should you change your mind about anything -- adding users, modifying access permissions (group and user level access are available) -- you can return to the TeraStation software to initiate those changes or access the unit directly through your browser via its IP address. (This is, essentially, what the software does.) The procedure is password-protected for safety and prompts you with choices in plain English, not IT-ese. As an adjunct to this browser availability, you can also FTP files to and from the drive remotely through its IP address, also using password protection for security. (If you have an AppleTalk network, the TeraStation will talk to it as well.)

If you're already implementing a backup strategy, switching to the Memeo Automatic Backup software provided by Buffalo might not be a high priority but it's worth a look. It has multiple backup options, a single-click restore should your computer crash (or, according to Memeo, should you want to clone your data to a new computer), keeps redundant data if that's what you want it to do and also has a very straightforward user interface. Its simplicity could be a plus for your deployment.

Whether or not the TeraStation is fast is relative. You'll need to make a few assumptions: Four 7200 rpm SATA 3.0Gbit/sec. drives, even bundled in RAID 5, should be fast when guided by a processor and operating system designed specifically to handle the task. So it is fast, inside the box. But that's really irrelevant for a NAS system. The important rating is that which is associated with the access route you're taking to the box.

The TeraStation is 10MB/100MB/1,000MB capable. On a 100Mbit/sec. line, the transfer time for a large (939MB) MPEG 2 file is tolerable. At 54Mbit/sec. over a wireless G connection it works, but it's suitable for a shower and a quick lunch break. As you start moving up the food chain (wireless draft N and then Gigabit networking speeds), life begins to feel good. Overall, with my Linksys Gigabit switch and router, and computers with their own Gigabit LAN ports, the TeraStation is at the top of its class.

A rear view of the TeraStation Pro IIFor added convenience, Buffalo includes two USB 2.0 ports on the back of he unit. They're touted as being able to handle additional attached (USB) hard drives or a USB-based UPS monitoring/power backup system. You can't use the TeraStation as a printer server. It's not wired that way. And don't forget the little one-line LCD screen up front to keep you apprised of the device's status.
This should be an easy sell. The TeraStation is convenient, quick and simple to implement. As for its briefly aforementioned home application, some ad hoc testing proved it can stream video and music files effortlessly -- again, provided your interface is able to handle it.

Pricing shouldn't give you much pause: The 1TB unit I tested here can run you anywhere from $650 to $750 and the price range for the 4TB TeraStation starts at about $2,000. That's comparable to competing products, and Buffalo's "humanized" user interface gives it an edge over some of the IT-centric boxes out there competing for your dollars.

New Blu-ray recorders first to store HD programs on DVD discs

2007-10-04T00:56:00.000-07:00

October 02, 2007 (Reuters) -- Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said it would launch new Blu-ray optical disc recorders in November that allow more hours of full high-definition recording on a single disc than any others available.

Matsushita, along with Sony Corp., promotes the Blu-ray technology, which competes with the HD DVD format, backed by Toshiba Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

Osaka, Japan-based Matsushita also said it plans to offer the world's first DVD recorders that can store full HD programs on conventional DVDs next month.

Full HD programs come with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. Matsushita's new Blu-ray recorders, which are able to record up to 18 hours of full HD programs on a dual-layer disc, will go on sale on Nov. 1 in Japan.

A model equipped with a 1TB hard disk drive, which can store up to 381 hours of full HD programs, is expected to sell for $2,600, Matsushita said.

Matsushita, one of the world's largest maker of plasma TVs, took the wraps off the new Blu-ray and DVD recorders at the CEATEC Japan 2007 electronics industry trade show on Tuesday.

The company said it will start selling three models of new DVD recorders capable of recording full HD programs on conventional DVDs on November 1.

The high-end model with a 500GB hard disk drive is likely to sell for about $1,122, Matsushita said.

Video rental chain Blockbuster Inc. came out in favor of the Blu-ray format in June.

But Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. signed exclusivity deals in August to distribute their next-generation discs on Toshiba's HD DVD format for the next 18 months, a move that evened a contest where the Blu-ray camp appeared to be pulling ahead.

LCD vs. Plasma: Which HDTV Is Right for You?

2007-09-29T03:56:00.000-07:00

LCD TVs may be sexy, but our lab tests show that plasma screens still have an edge--and you can get a surprisingly pleasing picture without splurging.

Looking to buy a flat-panel HDTV? Most people want big, of course--the bigger the better. But a 50-inch set could set you back a pretty penny. While a 40- or 42-inch display won't give you the 50-inch home movie theater sensation, it will provide a good-size screen at a considerably lower price. About as high as standard-shape 34-inch sets, but considerably wider, TVs in this category don't feel like much of a compromise.

We examined twelve of the latest 40- to 42-inch flat-panel TVs we could find to determine which ones give you the most for your money. Our test group consisted of five plasma sets (Hewlett-Packard's PL4272N, Panasonic's TH-42PZ700U, Pioneer's PDP-4280HD, Samsung's HP-T4264, and Vizio's VP42) and seven LCD sets (HP's LC4276N, LG's 42LB5D, Philips's 42PFL7432D/37, Samsung's LN-T4061, Sony's KDL-40V3000, Toshiba's 42HL167, and Vizio's GV42LF).

Our jury watched recorded television broadcasts as well as clips from DVD, Blu-ray, and HD DVD discs. We found that most of the the sets produced superb pictures most of the time. Because the sets' image-quality scores didn't vary much, the word "Good" appears frequently in our Top 10 chart for HDTVs.

But we also considered design, setup, on-screen menus, inputs, and extra features such as picture-in-picture and USB or memory card support. And of course, price is a significant variable: TVs have become an extremely competitive market. And since image quality wasn't a major point of differentiation with the sets in our roundup, price and features were much bigger factors in determining the sets' overall scores; those elements caused some low-priced sets to land high on the chart.

There were no standout winners, but Samsung's sets--one an LCD and one a plasma--captured the top two spots on our chart. They didn't give us the best pictures, but their sensible design, variety of options, and reasonable prices lifted them above the rest.

But if you're looking for the best picture regardless of cost, Panasonic's TH-42PV700U is the set to get; it's the first 42-inch 1080p plasma set. Still, Vizio's VP42 finished a very close second in image quality, and it costs just over half as much as the Panasonic.

It may well be that calibrating the sets using professional equipment connected to their RS232 or USB ports would have improved their output quality substantially. But who wants to pay $400 to calibrate a $1000 set? Most people won't do it--and that's why we adjusted the sets for our tests using only their on-screen controls.

Update: Apple plays hardball: Upgrade 'bricks' unlocked iPhones

2007-09-29T03:53:00.001-07:00

The iPhone firmware update released Thursday by Apple Inc. has disabled unlocked iPhones and wiped clean any evidence of unauthorized third-party applications, users and developers reported.

On Monday, Apple warned customers that unlocked iPhones might be crippled, or "bricked," by the new upgrade. From reports posted by bloggers and iPhone owners, as well as at least one group of unlock hackers, it appears the company made good on its promise.

Before the update installs, it displays a security message -- the first time Apple has done this on iPhone upgrades -- that essentially repeats the Monday caution:

"Warning: Apple has discovered that some of the unauthorized unlocking programs available on the Internet may cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software," the message read. "If you have modified your iPhone's software, applying this software update may result in your iPhone becoming permanently inoperable."

Owners of unlocked iPhones who proceeded with the update have filed somewhat conflicting reports, but the most credible accounts conclude that their devices are incapacitated. Jim Dalrymple, the news director of Computerworld sister publication MacWorld.com, reported that staffer iPhones restarted after the update with the message "Insert an unlocked and valid SIM to activate iPhone." Only the iPhone's ability to make emergency calls remained intact, Dalrymple said.

Other reports, including one filed by the Gizmodo Web site, essentially reached the same conclusion. "The update will work OK in unlocked iPhones, but it will return your iPhone to the activation screen," Gizmodo said. "From there, no activation is possible." Even inserting a legitimate, never-before-used SIM from AT&T does not bring back a post-update unlocked iPhone, concluded Gizmodo. "The phone isn't bricked, but if it can't read a SIM, it can't dial. So it's partially bricked."

iPhoneSIMFree, a group of unnamed developers who created the first commercial unlock hack, confirmed the bricking, but also contradicted the Gizmodo account on one crucial point. "If you are using an original activated AT&T SIM, you can activate and use the phone with no issues at all," the group said on its Web site today. "Unfortunately, currently there is no way to jailbreak/reactivate the phone for use with a SIM card other than the original AT&T card."

The 1.1.1 update also disables third-party applications installed on the iPhone using the popular Installer.app hack, numerous users said. Others noted that non-iTunes ring tones, also added to iPhones using end-around software, would not work.

For those who haven't unlocked or modified their iPhones, the 152MB update presented few problems. Among its prosaic components are access to the new iTunes Wi-Fi music store, a fix for the low speakerphone and receiver volume problem many users have reported, and the ability to view e-mail attachments in both portrait and landscape mode. Also included in the update are patches for 10 vulnerabilities, seven of which involve the iPhone's built-in Safari browser.

As of 8 p.m. EDT, the iPhone Dev Team, a group of developers who earlier this week called out Apple, saying that it would come up with a way to salvage any disabled iPhone, had not issued any statement on its Web site or on the Hackint0sh message forum.

It may be some time before the full impact of the 1.1.1 update on unlocked or "modded" iPhones is known, and if iPhoneSIMFree's take is any indication, an even longer time before a way around Apple's block is discovered.

"The thousands of open source developers who have put a cumulative 10s of thousands of man hours into various apps and tools now have no way to get them onto the phone as well," iPhoneSIMFree said today. "We are all looking into the jailbreak issue as it affects us all, and we will keep updating our site as well as the open source community at large with any information we can about this."

Hitachi may sell stake in hard drive unit, sources say

2007-09-29T03:50:00.001-07:00

Japan's Hitachi Ltd. is mulling options for its ailing hard disk drive business, including bringing in a strategic investor to turn the business around, sources close to the matter said.

Hitachi, Japan's biggest electronics conglomerate, has not posted a profit in its hard disk drive business in any year since buying it from IBM for $2 billion in 2002 (see "IBM to consolidate hard drive business with Hitachi").

According to several financial industry sources, investment firm Merrill Lynch has sounded out private equity funds that may be interested in the unit.

The Carlyle Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Bain Capital LLC and Silver Lake Partners are among the funds cited as possible investors, the sources said.

Hitachi may seek a fund to buy an equity stake in the hard disk drive business and then work with the fund to help revive it, one financial industry source said.

It was not immediately clear whether Hitachi would look to sell the entire business or just part of it.

"The negotiations have just started. It is unclear what the outcome will be," said one source.

Merrill Lynch Japan Securities spokesman Tsukasa Noda said he could not confirm whether the bank was involved in any such deal.

A Hitachi spokesperson declined to comment.

Hitachi's hard disk drive unit lost $375 million in 2006, a 60% bigger loss from the previous year, hurt by sliding prices for drives as laptop makers turn to flash memory drives for cooler and faster storage.

The Tokyo-based company, which holds a little less than 20% of the global hard disk drive market, trails industry leaders Seagate Technology LLC and Western Digital Corp., which have been profitable despite aggressive notebook computer pricing.

Hitachi has promised its hard drives would be profitable this year, and has said it would close a hard disk drive parts factory in Mexico and cut 4,500 jobs by the end of 2008.

Hitachi, a sprawling conglomerate whose products range from nuclear turbines to washing machines, has vowed to sharpen its focus to ensure long-term profit growth in the wake of a $285.8 million group net loss in the past business year.

Its announcement in March that it would sell its stake in Japan Servo Co. to precision motor maker Nidec Corp. had fueled speculation among investors that it might do the same with other struggling units.

But Hitachi had said just a few months ago that it had no plans to withdraw from hard drives or from flat TVs, which have also been losing money because of tough price competition.

"We are not raising a flag of surrender," Toyoaki Nakamura, Hitachi's chief financial officer, told a news conference in May.

"We haven't given up on returning these businesses to profitability. We are not considering withdrawing from these businesses," he said.

Talk of a possible deal involving Hitachi's hard drive business comes as consolidation within the industry gathers pace.

Japanese electronics parts maker TDK Corp. agreed earlier this year to take over rival Alps Electric Co.'s business in hard drive heads, which are used to read and write data on the disks.

Alps decided to exit the market when orders dwindled from customer Maxtor following its acquisition by Seagate last year.