TechBlog

High Definition TV in 3D

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:47:00 +0000

Screen manufacturers are finally moving into three dimensions, with big screens and dramatic high definition

Tucked away in the Sound and Vision department of Harrods is a 42in LCD television set. As a not-for-sale display model, it draws only the occasional glance from the tourists and Christmas shoppers packing the store. Despite its unexceptional looks, though, this item of hardware may offer the answer to that great unsolved problem of technology: three-dimensional television.

The LG True 3-D television is one of a new generation of screens that can create a 3-D image without the viewer having to wear irritating colour-filtering goggles. And unlike previous prototype 3-D televisions, which have been small and have provided only modest picture quality (because a lot of detail is lost in the process of adding apparent depth to 2-D images), it can be manufactured in conventional television sizes to provide pictures of impressive clarity.

Philips is also getting in on the 3-D act. Last week the Dutch company showcased a 56in Quad Full-HD screen, which it claims has a resolution four times higher than that of a conventional Full HD television. “Even allowing for the reduction in quality as a result of adding the 3-D effects, this screen still delivers footage in high definition,” said Bjorn Teuwsen of Philips 3D Solutions. Impressively, this would make it the first television screen to be both 3-D and HD.

Both the LG and the Philips prototypes achieve their 3-D effect through the use of transparent cylindrical lenses known as lenticules; according to those who have viewed both, the Philips makes far better use of that technology.

A sheet of tiny lenticules is fixed onto a high-resolution LCD display in such a way that each eye sees a slightly different view of each image pixel. The effect is akin to those 3-D plastic postcards that look a bit like a hologram if you view them at the correct angle. The underlying design for this was first conjured up by Sir Charles Wheatstone, a Victorian inventor, way back in 1840.

The results are impressive, but with one striking drawback: watching the screen can sometimes make you feel seasick. This is a perennial difficulty, explains Neil Dodgson, an expert on 3-D screens at Cambridge University. “Film-makers have traditionally tended to overdo 3-D effects in order to show off the technology,” he says. “If the two sets of muscles in your eyes [focus and orientation] are overworked as a result of keeping up with the 3-D, your brain receives conflicting signals and you begin to feel sick. You need to be a skilled film-maker to avoid giving your audience nausea.”

The big question is: assuming the public has an appetite for 3-D films, where will the content come from?

There are three principal sources. The first is footage originally created on a computer. “It’s fairly straightforward to make computer-animated 3-D content,” says Dodgson. And it’s no problem for advertisers to magic up 3-D footage of, say, a beer bottle that spookily seems to float towards you.

A 3-D version of the children’s computer-animated film Chicken Little enjoyed a successful run in 2005, although it was restricted to the few cinema screens equipped with the required 3-D digital projector. There are still only about 1,500 of them world-wide. Out in the UK next February is Bolt, a 3-D animated Disney film about a dog – voiced by John Travolta – that believes it has superpowers.

The process is more complicated when it comes to live-action films, though. Footage must be “shot in stereo, usually with cameras that have multiple lenses, to achieve the stereoscopic effects”, says Teuwsen, adding: “This gives an astonishing 3-D effect, no doubt about it, but the result is more suited to the cinema than the small screen.”

Few film-makers have so far embraced the idea of shooting with stereoscopic cameras, but the numbers are growing. Tim Burton is one director to give it a whirl: he is making a version of Alice in Wonderland in 3-D, starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Another is James Cameron, the director of Terminator and Titanic. His next big movie, Avatar, was shot in stereo, and there are plans to release an accompanying 3-D game. As with all the 3-D cinema releases, an Avatar spin-off game would probably use the type of technology that requires you to wear 3-D glasses.

There is huge potential for the games industry in the technology. Plugged into a suitable games-playing PC, the new screens can create a convincing 3-D effect (most existing PC games are already 3-D-compatible).

Another area in which 3-D can add realism is sporting events. The NBA (National Basketball Association, which runs American basketball) is experimenting with filming basketball matches with stereo cameras.

The widest-ranging, most exciting source of future 3-D material, however, will be conventional 2-D films converted into a format that works on the new 3-D screens. This is eminently possible, according to experts. Ben Nicholls, a director of PPC, an advertising postproduction company based in London, says: “There’s no reason you couldn’t recreate Casablanca in 3-D, though it would be a challenge because the footage is complex. Having said that, the conversion technology is growing more powerful all the time.”

To be clear, this is not - at least for now - a matter of popping a regular DVD into a special 3-D disc player, then sitting back to savour Ingrid Bergman’s luscious pout as it looms towards you.

The conversion process is painstaking and requires powerful equipment and skilled technicians to reengineer the footage. “A good print of any classic film could be converted into 3-D if there was enough will to do so,” says Nicholls. This is because video captured on 35mm film stock is of such high quality that any loss of resolution should be unnoticeable on a relatively small screen. “If it’s done badly, the results can look a bit like cardboard cutouts,” he adds, “but if it’s done well it can give you a genuine taste of the 3-D movie experience without being in a cinema.”

One fly in the ointment will be the stiff cost of the first generation of commercial 3-D screens. Philips’s smaller, 42in screen costs around £5,000 and is not sold on the high street, as it’s intended for advertising display in shops, bars and showrooms. And when it goes on sale to trade customers in mid2009, the 56in Philips Quad Full-HD panel is expected to cost an eyewatering £9,000 (though we should remember that conventional flat-panel televisions also cost unfeasibly large sums just a few years ago).

In the meantime, if you’re in a bar watching a television and you notice a beer bottle floating toward you, you will at least know why. Either you’re witnessing the latest in TV technology, or it’s high time you went home.

I CAN SEE THE FUTURE - AS LONG AS I KEEP STILL

Is it really possible to view 3-D footage without wearing the kind of cardboard glasses that make you look like Timmy Mallett? I was sceptical, knowing that 3-D technology had always relied on seeing a split picture through colour filters to give the illusion of depth, writes Emma Smith. So would this new optical trick produce the same effect?

Last week, at a special viewing of one of Philips’s new screens, I found out. As Pinocchio’s nose grew out further and further towards my own during a clip from the animated Disney film, it seemed unsettlingly real. A boxing match was rendered even more brutal as the 3-D effect appeared to put the viewer almost inside the ring, and when a leggy dancer high-kicked out of the screen, I had to stop myself ducking.

There’s one problem: move your head just slightly to one side and the 3-D effect can slip frustratingly out of focus. The viewer must sit in one of six zones - or “sweet spots”; move between zones and the effect blurs. For a fully fledged couch potato, that level of immobility might not be too taxing, but for a fidgety film-watcher like me it was distracting. (Philips says its new Quad Full-HD screen has bigger sweet spots, which should reduce the problem.)

Perhaps even more impressive is the ability to make computer games appear in three dimensions, so that in Lego Indiana Jones, for example, you get the sensation of travelling through the landscape, with Indy’s whip flicking dramatically off the screen.

By overdoing it, 3-D films have sometimes induced motion sickness. The trailer for Bolt, Disney’s new 3-D animation, gives an indication that the genre is coming of age: it avoids the temptation of making 3-D the main attraction and tumbling from one big effect to the next. Soon you find yourself simply taking it for granted and cooing over a cute hamster, so fluffy you want to reach out and stroke it.

TAKE YOUR BRAIN TO ANOTHER DIMENSION

How do we see in 3-D? Three-dimensional objects appear at a slightly different angle to each eye. The brain processes the two views, works out the difference between them and translates the information into a 3-D image.

What does a 3-D TV look like? Like a standard flatscreen television. However, it actually sends out not one but multiple views. As long as you’re sitting in one of several “sweet spots” within a 135-degree viewing angle, each eye will pick up a separate view. This effect mimics the angular differences produced by a three-dimensional object and fools the brain.

How is the effect achieved? There is a layer of convex lenses over the screen, each one scarcely bigger than the individual pixels that make up the panel. When a suitably processed signal passes through them, the lenses produce multiple sets of paired images aimed at up to six “sweet spots”. If you are within a sweet spot, the brain interprets the paired images as 3-D.

'Unbreakable' Encryption Unveiled

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:37:00 +0000

Perfect secrecy has come a step closer with the launch of the world's first computer network protected by unbreakable quantum encryption at a scientific conference in Vienna.

The network connects six locations across Vienna and in the nearby town of St Poelten, using 200 km of standard commercial fibre optic cables.

Quantum cryptography is completely different from the kinds of security schemes used on computer networks today.

These are typically based on complex mathematical procedures which are extremely hard for outsiders to crack, but not impossible given sufficient computing resources or time.

But quantum systems use the laws of quantum theory, which have been shown to be inherently unbreakable.

Anton Zeilinger, of Vienna University said : "Real breakthroughs are not found because you want to develop some new technology, but because you are curious and want to find out how the world is"

The basic idea of quantum cryptography was worked out 25 years ago by Charles Bennett of IBM and Gilles Brassard of Montreal University, who was in Vienna to see the network in action.

"All quantum security schemes are based on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, on the fact that you cannot measure quantum information without disturbing it," he explained.

"Because of that, one can have a communications channel between two users on which it's impossible to eavesdrop without creating a disturbance. An eavesdropper would create a mark on it. That was the key idea."

In practice this means using the ultimate quantum objects: photons, the atoms of light. Incredibly faint beams of light equating to single photons fired a million times a second raced between the nodes in the Vienna network.

Each node, housed in a different Siemens office (Siemens has provided the fibre links), contains a small rack of electronics - boxes about the size of a PC, and a handful of sensitive light detectors.

Numerical key

From the detected photons, a totally secret numerical key can be distilled, which encodes the users' data much like the keys used in normal computer networks do.

The advantage is that no-one else can know the key without revealing themselves.

As we saw in the demonstration: when an intruder did try to listen in on the quantum exchange, photons became scrambled, and a rise in the error rate at the node detectors signalled the attack. The system automatically shut down without being compromised.

More importantly, the demonstration also showed that the network is robust.

If one quantum link breaks down, the connections can be re-routed via other nodes, much as phone calls get re-routed automatically through a telecoms network, so that any two users on the network can remain in continuous secure contact.

Dr Hannes Huebel of Vienna University, operating one of the nodes, explained how robustness is now as important as security in the development of quantum encryption systems.

"We are constantly in touch with insurance companies and banks, and they say it's nearly better that they lose 10 million euros than if the system is down for two hours, because that might be more damaging for the bank," said Dr Huebel.

"So that's what we have to prove, that we have a reliable system that delivers quantum keys for several weeks without interruption, and then they might be more interested."

Polarised light

The final element of the EU-sponsored project (called SECO-QC) was the interconnection of different realisations of quantum cryptography.

There are many ways photons of light can encode a numerical key: through the direction they're polarised (like Polaroid glasses) for example, or the precise timing of their arrival.

Different schemes have different strengths and weaknesses, and a viable network would have handle whatever individual users choose to use, explained the project's director, Christian Monyk - just as a mobile phone network has to handle handsets from many manufacturers.

Quantum cryptography is a surprising outgrowth of recondite arguments that bounced around for decades about the meaning of quantum mechanics.

Albert Einstein, who discovered the quantum properties of photons of light - indeed, discovered the very concept of the photon - always resisted quantum theory's spooky behaviour, "God does not play dice", being among his oft-quoted objections.

But experiments eventually proved that he apparently does, and also laid the technical foundations for today's quantum information revolution - cryptography, teleportation, and computation.

One of the grandees of quantum science, Vienna University's Anton Zeilinger, used the occasion to argue for continued funding of fundamental science in these increasingly application-focused days.

"Real breakthroughs are not found because you want to develop some new technology, but because you are curious and want to find out how the world is," Dr Zeilinger said.

"It may not have surprised the founding fathers of quantum science that technology has advanced so that you can play with individual quantum systems, in great detail.

"Maybe this would not surprise, but what could surprise them is that people are thinking and doing practical applications."

Source

Firefox users gain location tool

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:31:00 +0000

Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox browser, has released technology that helps websites detect the physical location of computers.

The system will allow users, for instance, to find local restaurants when they travel to a new town.

The Geode project is an experimental add-on ahead of a full blown launch of geolocation technology in version 3.1 of Firefox.

Users will have control over how much location information they give.

It uses technology from a firm called Skyhook which works out a computer's location from nearby wireless networks.

Its so-called Loki system can determine location within seconds with an accuracy of about 10 to 20 metres.
Source

Normal Internet Users fail to spot fake pop-ups

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:21:00 +0000

Internet users are unable to distinguish between genuine pop-up warnings messages and false ones, a study at North Carolina State University has found.

The study examined the responses of undergraduates to messages which popped up while they did other tasks on a PC.

Seeing the pop-ups as a mere annoyance the majority clicked 'OK'.

Fake pop-ups are a well-known vehicle for cyber-criminals to install harmful software on PCs.

"This study demonstrates how easy it is to fool people on the web," said co-author Michael Wogalter, professor of psychology at North Carolina State University.

"Be suspicious when things pop up. Don't click OK - close the box instead," said Dr Wogalter."

Legitimate message
Participants were fooled by the fake messages 63% of the time, even when warned that some of what they would be seeing would be false.

It suggests that the wording on genuine messages needs to be rethought, said Dr Wogalter.

"I don't know if you could develop a legitimate message that could not be duplicated and used illegitimately," he said.

Tony Neate, managing director of the UK's Get Safe Online campaign advised users to install a pop-up blocker.

"Browsers and most anti-virus software offers them. Pop-ups are either downloading something malicious or trying to sell me something so I just don't want them there at all," he said.

Apple Adds NDA to App Store Rejection Notices

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:18:00 +0000

The situation regarding Apple's App Store for the iPhone is getting weirder by the day. Several applications have been rejected from the App Store based on seemingly dubious claims such as duplication of functionality (even though they didn't duplicate anything), or alikeness to default applications. Two such cases made headline news over the past few days; Podcaster and MailWrangler. The developers of these applications openly protested against these rejections, and apparently, Apple doesn't really like that. Apple now reiterates that rejections fall under the NDA, prohibiting developers from speaking up about rejections.

Podcaster was the first high-profile application that got rejected. Podcaster allowed its users to download and stream podcasts directly, instead of having to download them through iTunes first, and according to Apple, this duplicated functionality of Apple's own iTunes. The author of the application defended himself by stating that it offers several features that Apple does not offer. In addition, loads of other applications in the App Store also duplicate functionality of default applications. Obviously, Apple is rejecting Podcaster because the company plans to add similar functionality in future iPhone/iTunes updates.

The case of MailWrangler is similarly odd, since the rejection email didn't make an awful lot of sense. MailWrangler allowed you to be logged in to multiple GMail accounts at the same time, and switch between them without having to log out, like you had to do when using mobile Safari. Apple rejected the application because it deemed it too similar to the included mobile Mail application, even though they are both rather dissimilar.

These rejections caused a tidal wave of criticism, because they appeared to be completely random. The applications didn't break any of the rules set forth by the iPhone's SDK agreement, so how are developers to know - beforehand - if their application is accepted or not? In an attempt to stop these criticisms, Apple has added an NDA clause to its rejection notices:

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE

In other words, if you're an iPhone application developer, the process of designing and writing an application goes more or less like this. You spend quite some time thinking of an idea, and then you set out to design your application. After weeks and months of painstakingly implementing your idea as a working iPhone application, you submit it to the App Store, and cross your fingers hoping all your work hasn't been in vain. Sadly, it appears that you broke some invisible rule, or you duplicated default functionality even though you didn't, or you inadvertently came up with an idea Apple was already working on for a future iPhone revision - and your application is rejected. And you're not allowed to talk about it. Your wife (or husband) is really going to wonder what you've been doing all those weeks in your basement.

These policies from Cupertino are devastating for developer confidence, and one high-profile developer (of Exposure) has already stopped developing applications for the current App Store. I'm out, he says. "'I'm out' doesn't mean I'm pulling Exposure from the store. All it means is I'm not going to invest time and money into new ideas for the iPhone until this mess is resolved."

Microsoft Tears Down the Walls for a Better View

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:30:00 +0000

For the past two weeks, millions of people have watched the series of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld television ads with the Windows logo at the end and wondered: “What’s next?”

Today, Microsoft answers that question with the next phase of a multi-year, multi-million dollar Windows marketing effort designed to reconnect with consumers. And tonight, the Bill-and-Jerry “teaser” ads give way to a new series of television ads that celebrate the diversity and passion of consumers around the world who use Windows to stay in touch with the people, information and ideas that they care about.

The new ads are just a part of this major Windows marketing initiative, all designed around connecting with consumers in meaningful ways throughout their Windows experience – whether buying a PC, using a Windows Mobile device, or living life on the Web.

“Windows is truly the shared language of creativity and connection for more than one billion people,” says Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President, Online Services & Windows Business Group. “It’s a vibrant community of individuals who are passionate about how Windows helps them express their ideas and live life on their own terms. Starting today, we want to reflect the passion and excitement of this community in how we tell the story of the Windows brand.”

Tearing Down Walls
Microsoft signaled the next phase of the Windows brand campaign with full-page newspaper ads carrying the headline: “Windows vs. Walls”. The copy in the ads lays out the driving philosophy behind the new Windows marketing approach. Veghte says: “At the core, Windows is about enabling each one of us, as individuals, to live our lives without walls … I want to work when I want to work, I want to play when I want to play. I want to communicate and share with friends and family and co-workers.”

The “Life without Walls” tagline brings another key facet of the Windows brand to life: Windows connects people not only via the PC, but also via phones, devices, and the Web. The Windows platform of Windows Vista, Windows Mobile, and Windows Live were built to work together and to expand the Windows experience beyond the PC to the phone and the Web. The campaign will reflect this holistic, connected approach.

“On our journey to make sure that Windows enables a life without walls, we’ve taken a step back, reevaluated and tuned and tweaked our approach. So you’re seeing that in the advertising, in the products, in the experience at retail and on Windows.com,” notes Veghte.

Multiple Approaches for Multiple Devices
Microsoft will extend the “Life Without Walls” campaign via billboards, digital “walkway” ads in airports and other advertising components. Additionally, new outdoor and print ads show how Windows has evolved to work across multiple devices: the desktop PC, laptops, phones and TVs.

“I’m a PC” – Community, Not Competition
Another major element of this next phase of the Windows marketing initiative is a series of television and Web ads called “Real PC”. The ads feature a diverse group of faces representing the one billion people who use Windows PCs worldwide, all celebrating the sense of power and community Windows enables by declaring: “I’m a PC.” The ads will feature green architect Edouard Francois, astronaut Bernard Harris and celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Deepak Chopra, but the main focus is on real PC users of all ages and from all walks of life, such as teachers, cabbies, designers and fish mongers.

Veghte describes how Windows users can join the community by creating their own spots. “One of the really fun things we’ve done is to create a series of ads called ‘I’m a PC’--and we’re enabling every PC user to upload their own I’m a PC spot,” he says. “So you can upload it and we’ll publish it and amplify it on windows.com … and then we’ll do better than that – we’ll publish some of those I’m a PC spots in places like digital billboards in Times Square.”

What’s Next?
The new Windows creative elements unveiled today are part of a multi-faceted campaign and long-term marketing investment for the company. Microsoft has already started ongoing programs to improve the consumer retail experience, product experience and Web experience.

“The goal is to foster an ongoing dialog with consumers about our company and the amazing things Windows can do,” says Veghte.

HP first to raise PC prices

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:59:00 +0000

HP will react to the weakening pound by hoisting PC and server prices by “mid to high single digits” on Monday

HP will raise UK distribution prices for its desktops, laptops and servers on Monday, with some of the other big system vendors imminently expected to follow suit.

The recent weakening of the pound against the dollar has caused vendor costs to spiral by as much as 10 per cent in recent weeks, as most components are denominated in dollars. The global rise in the cost of doing business also contributed to HP’s decision.

Dave Poskett, director of Solutions Partner Organisation for the UK & Ireland at HP, confirmed to CRN that prices would be raised on Monday for all products in its Industry Standard Server (ISS) and Personal Systems Group (PSG) portfolio.

“We will finalise over the next couple of days what the increases will be, but they are likely to be in the mid to high single digits. It will vary by specific product categories," he said.

Poskett stressed prices will remain unchanged for its printer and storage ranges.

“We looked at and the cost of doing business for all the business units and at this stage it has been determined there is a requirement to raise prices for ISS and PSG, but not for the Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) or storage,” he explained.

Poskett said he hoped partners will recognise that HP is hamstrung by the economic backdrop and pointed out that HP is investing $250m into its channel this year. He also stressed that HP has a $3.6bn R&D bill to meet across its whole product portfolio.

Channel sources insisted similar price rises are imminent from some of the other big system vendors, including Acer. Acer was unavailable for comment.

Barry Dodhia, marketing manager at VAR Hemini, said: “If HP is doing it, all the others will do it very soon. The exchange rate is killing the vendors as the dollar against the pound has strengthened from about $2 to $1.75 in the last three months.”

Yahoo! offers makeovers and access to competing content

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:54:00 +0000

Yahoo will offer its 500 million users something new to look at as they plan to revamp several sections of their site, including their home page, over the next few months. Yahoo has had its troubles over that last two years. They have lost search relevance to Google, they have watched Facebook and MySpace add users to their services and that has not gone unnoticed in their pocketbook. Such troubles prompted an unsolicited takeover offer from Microsoft that was sidestepped by Yahoo shareholders. Microsoft's last offer was at $33 per share while Yahoo's stock closed yesterday under $19. Perhaps this is when Yahoo plans to fight back.

This will be their first redesign of their home page in over two years. The new design will focus on customizable mini-applications known commonly as widgets. Yahoo also intends to reach out to competitors including their advertising partnership with Google and by including media from iTunes and Amazon into their Yahoo! Music offerings.

Several weeks ago, Facebook began to offer their own site redesign but initially the use of the new design was optional. That option will end this week as Facebook will make the new design mandatory.

HP clocks up 24-hour laptop battery life

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:27:00 +0000

HP has beaten Dell - in the laptop battery longevity hype stakes, that is. It's produced a notebook with a full-day runtime, it claims - five hours longer than Dell's most recent battery life boast.

Register Hardware readers will not be surprised to learn there's a catch. Several catches, in point of fact.

First, you need to add an optional-extra secondary battery to the EliteBook 6930p to come within striking range of the claimed duration.

Punters will also need to make sure their 6930p uses not only one of Intel's new 80GB solid-state drives but also an "HP Illumi-Lite LED display". They'll have to run Windows XP - not Vista, you'll note; so much for the latest technology.

They'll also have to install new Intel graphics drivers - which presumably is pre-set to reduce the backlight and to perform other power-saving integrated GPU tweaks - and a new Bios from HP.

Do all that, and you might get you 24 hours of battery life. But not yet - HP's miracle screen, which "boosts battery run time by up to 4 hours compared to traditional LCD displays", won't be available as a system-configuration option until October.

HP also noted that "battery life will vary depending on the product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, and power management settings", so it's entirely possible you have to max out the laptop's power-conservation settings and turn the display down to its minimum brightness level to get the claimed runtime.

HP - as per all other laptop makers with the exception of Dell - didn't say how it had tested its machine to get the claimed battery life.

When Dell unveiled its 19-hour laptop - again, that's with an extra battery on board - it said it used the MobileMark benchmark to come up with that figure.

HP didn't say how much the suitably specced EliteBook will cost, but given the price of the Intel SSD, it's likely to be at least $600 on top of any given currently available 6930p HDD configuration.

Microsoft Buys European Comparison Shopping Site for $486M

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:49:00 +0000

Microsoft has agreed to buy comparison shopping business Ciao in a deal worth around US$486 million, and plans to integrate the service into its Live Search sites, it announced Friday.

The deal is a sign that Microsoft's commercial search ambitions extend to Europe, where Ciao is present in seven countries. Microsoft launched a comparison shopping and search reward site, Live Search cashback, for U.S. surfers in May this year.

The company said it expects to use Ciao to boost its MSN e-commerce services, in addition to incorporating Ciao's services into its Live Search sites.

Microsoft's $486 million offer for Ciao's parent company, Greenfield Online, tops that of a consortium led by private equity fund Quadrangle Group. In June, Greenfield made a definitive agreement to be acquired by Quadrangle for $426 million, and must now pay the consortium a $5 million fee to terminate that agreement.

Ciao, based in Munich, Germany, operates consumer review and comparison shopping portals in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.

In addition to the comparison shopping service, Greenfield also owns Ciao Surveys, which pays Internet users for responding to consumer surveys. Microsoft will sell that business to an unnamed buyer immediately upon acquiring Greenfield, it said.

Greenfield expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter. The acquisition will still go ahead even if Microsoft is unable to find a buyer for the survey business, it said.

Microsoft plans that the Ciao business will report to Rajat Taneja, general manager for worldwide commercial search at Microsoft.

After the collapse of its attempt to buy Yahoo, Microsoft is desperate to boost use of its search services, which draws far fewer visitors than those of Google and Yahoo. Attracting surfers with the offer of rebates on their online purchases through Live Search cashback is just one of the ways it is trying to catch up. The acquisition of Ciao and its established user base may allow Microsoft to extend that approach to Europe. The cashback service was itself built on an acquisition, that of Jellyfish.com.

Yahoo has already acquired a French comparison shopping service, Kelkoo, which now operates in ten European countries, and also drives Yahoo's own-brand comparison shopping service in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. -- and Taiwan.

France is also home to PriceMinister, an independent comparison shopping service that operates in France and Spain.

Google's own comparison shopping service, has been renamed from Froogle to Google Products, but is still in beta testing and appears to be an English-language-only service.

5 Tips for Configuring Your Hardwares in Linux OS

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:46:00 +0000

I have heard lots of complaints about configuring hardware in Linux distributions. This argument has had lots of merit in the past, but with each new distribution or release, managing hardware has become much easier. With Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution to date, the developers have spent an incredible amount of time adding drivers and apps to help you configure your computer. I offer these tips for configuring your hardware as examples of how easy it can be. Please remember that each computer build and its configuration may be different, so these are general guidelines. Usually there are forums dedicated to each distribution where users and developers can interact and solve specific issues.

Research Your Hardware. Just like with Windows, if you use Windows you need hardware that is supported by Windows. Wireless cards are the same for Linux. In most cases, it is black or white. Linux supports it, or it doesn’t. You can find most hardware information HERE. For laptop support, sites include:
Linuxcertified.com
Linux-Laptop.com
Emperorlinux.com

Configuring Your Wireless Card. Unfortunately, using a Linux distribution that does not have wireless drivers or apps already built in can be a bit daunting. Ubuntu and similar distros based on Debian have done a fair job of adding many drivers for wireless cards. These distros support variety of cards and many will simply work once the distro is installed. A bit of quick research might help to see if the card is supported out of the box.

One of the best articles I have found for configuring your wireless card (outside of the distribution specific forum) can be found HERE. Unless you have an older PCMCIA card, chances are that the card will be supported.

Configuring Your Graphics Card: Whether you use Nvidia or ATI for your graphics card needs, there are guides to help you. Nvidia driver installation guidelines can be found HERE. You can also visit the Nvidia home page HERE. ATI driver installation can be found HERE. The author has personally had more success with Nvidia drivers, but each user may have different results.

Configuring higher resolutions and refresh rates is not a daunting task. Ubuntu has released a simple guide to do this. You simply have to add a few lines to your xorg.conf file. To do this, use this guide. You’ll need to look up the specs of your specific card and monitor in order to add the right settings. A simple search of your product on the web should do this. If you get on “Out of Range” message, you can use the key combination Ctl-Alt +/- (plus or minus on the number pad) to revert back to a lower resolution. Again, support forums help out immensely.

Upgrade and Update: Just as with Windows, Linux upgrades and updates its kernel and software often. In the older days, updating may have been difficult, but today’s distros make it simple to do. If you can check a box and click Install, that is about it. Ubuntu uses Synaptic (a GUI based utility of Apt). Each distribution uses some form of package manager to update. It is strongly recommended that the user downloads and updates their Linux distribution with the appropriate package manager. Synaptic does a particularly good job of solving any dependency issues with programs, packages, and similar files. Advanced users can compile packages from other sources, but the risk of broken packages is greater.

Use Ubuntu (or one of its derivatives). Ubuntu is the fastest growing and currently most popular Linux distribution. Te main reason for using this particular distro is that there is lots of support from users, as well as websites that offer lots of helpful advice. One of the best I’ve found is HERE. In addition, users have found the distro to be easy to use, highly configurable, and loaded with simple, easy to use utilities. This makes the overall Linux experience enjoyable and worthwhile for the user.

Google to launch Android Market

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:12:00 +0000

Google is set to offer Android Market - its own App Store-like content distribution system for the Android mobile phone platform which will allow users to buy, download and install content for the upcoming Android devices.

On a posting for the Android Developers Blog, Eric Chuh explained that developers will be able to make their applications available via the service, which will be hosted by Google.

"Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it," he said. "We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings."

Android-based devices are set for a late September release-date in the US, with T-Mobile the carrier and HTC the handset manufacturer. The first devices will feature beta versions of Android Market and support for free applications, according to Chuh.

In related news, the winners of the first Android Developer Challenge were announced this week, with ten finalists receiving $275,000 (£150,000) for creating apps such as a taxi-ordering service and carbon footprint calculator.

AMD’s First 45nm Desktop Microprocessors Set to Arrive on the 8th of January, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:09:00 +0000

Advanced Micro Devices plans to announce its first desktop microprocessors produced using 45nm process technology on the 8th of January, 2009, the first day of Consumer Electronics Show. The code-named Deneb chips will not get truly high clock-speed boost, but will be able to offer substantially higher performance thanks to larger cache and architectural improvements.

The first desktop processors from AMD made using 45nm process technology will be AMD Phenom X4 chips clocked at 2.80GHz and 3.00GHz, sources familiar with AMD’s plans said. The new processors will support both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, but since the initial chips will be available in socket AM2+ form-factor, the chips will have to rely on dual-channel DDR2 PC2-8500 (1066MHz DDR2) memory.

Surprisingly, but the 45nm process technology will not allow AMD to reduce power consumption of its quad-core AMD Phenom X4 process considerably and the new chips are projected to have 125W thermal design power (TDP), inline with today’s higher-end Phenom X4 chips. Still, the new microprocessors will definitely have better performance-per-watt ratio compared to predecessors.

Earlier this year AMD said that code-named Shanghai and Deneb microprocessors, which are based on the improved K10 micro-architecture, will be able to offer higher instructions per clock (IPC) throughput compared to currently available AMD Phenom and AMD Opteron processors, which should transform into higher overall performance per clock. Thanks to higher IPC and larger level-three cache (6MB instead of 2MB), the new processors are likely to offer considerably higher speed than existing quad-core chips by AMD.

Pricing of the new chips will depend on their performance against competitors as well as other market conditions.

Officials from AMD did not comment on the news-story.

Walls Without Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:39:00 +0000

News Analysis. Microsoft is about to unleash its $300 million Vista marketing campaign. Can negative perceptions be changed?

That's an answer that can only come from seeing the campaign. Marketing isn't just enough. Microsoft has to do the right marketing.

According to today's Wall Street Journal, the advertising campaign will be something like "Windows, Without Walls." Reverse is the situation now. A bunch of walls stand between potential customers and Vista adoption. Reasons are many, with negative perceptions being high among them.

"Too many enterprise decision-makers are accepting out of hand all of the fear, uncertainty and doubt being proliferated on the Internet by those who do not know about which they speak," said C. Marc Wagner, a services development specialist at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Crash Course Marketing
Marc rightly identifies real perception problems. Many IT managers I have talked to are satisfied with Windows XP, and they have heard too much about Vista's compatibility and usability problems. It could take a whole lot of marketing to change widespread negative perceptions, assuming Microsoft can do so effectively.

I've got my doubts about what Microsoft can do. According to the Journal, Microsoft is paying Jerry Seinfeld $10 million to appear in some of the advertising. This wouldn't be Jerry's first stand-up gig for Vista. Last year, HP featured the comedian in "The Computer Is Personal Again" commercials. In November, Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows product management, told me that Microsoft would do more co-marketing campaigns like HP's.

GOT A TIP OR RUMOR?
Newer HP marketing "Crash Course" features Shaun White giving "tips for school and beyond." I have to laugh. Why would any PC company use "crash" in marketing a Windows PC?

I'm wondering about what's really coming, when the ad campaign launches, which, according to the Journal, will be in early September. The supposed "Windows, Without Walls" campaign uses comedians, just like HP's "The Computer Is Personal Again" campaign. Are the Journal's rumors mixed up? Will Microsoft and HP be working together? Or is Microsoft just lifting ideas from HP's campaign?

Several of my colleagues called HP's Jerry Seinfeld ads "silly." I think they're OK, but Microsoft would have to do a whole lot better to turn around negative Vista perceptions. The Journal claims the new ads would also feature Microsoft's semi-retired chairman. Does nobody at Microsoft remember the debacle of putting together Bill Gates with Jon Stewart for the Consumer Electronics Show keynote a few years back? If Jon Stewart can't make Bill Gates funny, nobody can—not even Jerry Seinfeld.

Flame-broiled Vista
Microsoft's agency is Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which has a reputation for catchy, but sometimes offbeat, ad campaigns. The firm embraces the Web and viral marketing campaigns, like the Subservient Chicken for Burger King.

The ad firm is credited for reinvigorating Burger King's brand, but I wonder at what lost identity? Apparently somebody did some research and found that the majority of Burger King customers are males under 30. Burger King commercials are clearly targeted to this demographic, but so strongly as to alienate other customers, methinks. The Kick'n Chicken or I Am Man commercials are good examples of the male-focused approach.

I don't regard Burger King as a cool or hip brand because of the Crispin Porter + Bogusky advertising campaign. Do you?

I'm concerned that the new Windows ad campaign will too much resemble Microsoft's "Mojave Experiment" in style: Punchy and offensive, which is how I would characterize some of the Burger King marketing. Mojave Experiment inspires for the freshness of its approach but not its execution. Telling customers they're stupid is no way to break down walls of negative Vista perceptions.

For sure, whatever the agency does, it will broadly cover most media channels, including the viral Web. The question: What story will Microsoft's new marketing campaign tell? Good marketing is about effective story telling.

Same Facts, Different Perceptions
Microsoft is largely responsible for Vista's negative perceptions. The company can blame bloggers and the news media, which may have spread negative perceptions, but Microsoft started them by breaking the golden rule of product marketing: Never promise more than you can deliver. Its companion: Always deliver more than you promise. Microsoft created early negative perception problems by first, in October 2003, showing off great Vista features that were pulled over the next two years. Microsoft failed to deliver on its Vista promises.

"Microsoft made lots of 'blue sky' promises about Vista early on in the development cycle which got pulled in the 2005/06 time frame," Marc said. "This hurt Vista from the start."

My wife drags me to church on Sundays. Last week's sermon was about perceptions. The pastor spoke about how different events or truths have different perceptions based on the viewer. I perked up and wondered what he thought of Windows Vista (He has the Basic edition on a six-month-old laptop).

The pastor used the biblical example of Jesus Christ and his disciples observing people making offerings at the Temple. One woman put in the equivalent of just a few pennies. From one perspective, she offered the least of everybody. But Jesus told his disciples that her offering was greatest because she gave all that she had from her poverty. Same event, but different perceptions, the pastor said.

Windows Vista is a better operating system than at launch, particularly after release of Service Pack 1. It's not exceptionally better than Windows XP, but definitely an improvement. Many of the operating system's failings, particularly application and driver compatibility, have been fixed. One fact, but different perceptions. Many people still believe that Vista is a big problem.

Microsoft's $300 million has to turn around IT executives' negative perceptions. Microsoft's task is daunting, because the company has to change the perceptions of people who deployed Vista with a bad experience.

Marc is one of the converted. Same facts, and positive perceptions. "Personally, I have Vista running on five different systems being used for both professional and personal applications." He emphasized: "I haven't seen a Vista problem since March of 2007."

Intel Classmate Notebook Gets Touch, Tablet Upgrades

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:38:00 +0000

The Intel Classmate Notebook design is about to get an upgrade that will give the laptop touch-screen capabilities and tablet features. In addition, the new Classmate design will include the Intel Atom processor and an updated software stack meant for students in the classroom and their teachers. At the Intel Developer Form, Intel showed a working Classmate notebook model running a modified version of Microsoft Windows XP, but Intel is also supporting Linux.

SAN FRANCISCO—The Intel Classmate PC notebook is undergoing a makeover that will add touch-screen and tablet capabilities to the low-cost laptop for students, and these versions of the Classmate will also include the Intel Atom processor.

At the Intel Developer Forum here, Intel representatives were showing off the new Classmate design that is expected to hit retail shelves and the education IT market by the end of 2008. While some of the original Classmate designs used the older Intel Celeron processor, these updated laptops will come standard with single-core Atom processors.

Intel also announced a dual-core Atom processor at IDF, but that chip is not expected to make its way into the Classmate design anytime soon, said Jeffery Galinovsky, a regional manager for Intel's Classmate PC Ecosystem.

The Classmate PC is Intel's own version of the low-cost laptop and it competes, at some level, with the One Laptop Per Child XO. Unlike the OLPC nonprofit project, the Intel Classmate notebook is more of a design than an actual product, and it provides a way to supply low-cost PCs and to give local manufacturers, as well as Intel, a way to make a profit.

In July, Intel and Portugal announced an agreement that would bring 500,000 locally made Classmate PCs into the country for use in the classroom.

Since the start of 2008, OEMs from Hewlett-Packard to Acer have been trying to duplicate the marketing success that Asustek Computer has enjoyed with the launch of its low-cost Eee PC, which is designed for children and adults in emerging markets. In addition to the Classmate, Intel has also designed a different version of its Atom processor specifically to work with this new category of low-cost laptops that the chip maker has called "netbooks." The dual-core Atom processor announced at IDF is designed for use in these types of low-cost notebooks, for now.

While the updated version of the Classmate retains the clamshell design of the original, Intel has also incorporated tablet features into the notebook that work with a 9-inch display.

"The students like to move around and like to interact with their environment and other students," Galinovsky said. "It's hard with a clamshell design to do that. It's a little bulky and wants to tip if you have it at a weird angle. To make that easier, we allow the Classmate to retain that clamshell design for classroom work but when students want to move around, they can fold it into a tablet."

The Classmate retains a handle that students can also use to move the notebook around. Students can write on the touch-screen with a stylus. The Classmate also retains an accelerometer that will allow for the rotation of the screen image when using the tablet features of the notebook.

Intel adopted a single-touch capability into the notebook with a feature called "palm rejection" that will allow a student to lean on the laptop with his or her hand and still write without interference. The palm does not register with the touch-screen. Intel has open APIs to allow developers to write applications for the education market and is also working with software developers to create applications that will work with the touch-screen.

At IDF, Intel was demonstrating Classmate PCs running a Microsoft Windows XP operating system designed for the education market. Intel also supports a number of Linux operating systems and the chip maker said it expects Ubuntu's education edition operating system to work on these notebooks at the launch later in 2008.

The Intel Classmate PC sells from $200 on the low end of the market to $500 in some retail stores. Intel does not have a specific price set for the tablet version of the Classmate yet.

China Blocks Apple's ITunes, Amazon Over Tibet Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:34:00 +0000

Chinese authorities appear to have blocked access to Apple's U.S. iTunes Music Store, following the release of the 20-song "Songs for Tibet - The Art of Peace" collection Wednesday.

Users in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen confirmed that since as early as Wednesday morning, Beijing time, they began receiving "unknown error" messages when they tried unsuccessfully to access the store. Although Apple does not operate an iTunes Store in China, users may download free content such as podcasts, and those with U.S. credit cards may buy content from the U.S. store.

Although Amazon.com remains available in China, its pages for both the "Songs for Tibet" CD and download page fail to load, returning: "The connection was reset. The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading," the most common error message received for blocked sites.

Attempts by IDG News Service to reach both the iTunes Music Store and the Amazon pages failed Friday morning, but succeeded when using a VPN (virtual private network).

The block comes during the final days of the Beijing Olympics, which has seen unfettered access to numerous politically-sensitive Web sites. It also comes almost exactly a month after the first Apple Store in China opened in Beijing, which signalled a more direct approach by the iPod maker to engage a market it previously saw mostly as a manufacturing base.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

David Wolf, head of Beijing-based consultancy Wolf Group Asia, who noted the blocking on his blog Wednesday morning, said "Apple has just learned that the choices you make across your business can affect your prospects in China. Success in China does not mean avoiding such conflicts, but in dealing with them intelligently and proactively." Wolf's blog is also blocked in China, as are all other Typepad-hosted pages.

"Songs for Tibet" includes music from artists including Sting, Alanis Morissette and John Mayer and is intended as "to support peace initiatives and Tibetan cultural preservation projects important to the Dalai Lama."

China sees Tibet as an inseparable part of its territory, whereas most Tibetans seek support independence for their homeland. The Chinese government regards the Dalai Lama as a "splittist," or separatist. The issue of Tibetan independence flared up in March, when anti-Chinese protests turned violent, resulting in the deaths of both Chinese and Tibetans. Pro-Tibetan independence activists overseas then targeted the Olympic torch relay with protests and attempts to seize the torch.

Nvidia Plans to Add Another Graphics Card into GTX 200 Lineup

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:23:00 +0000

In a bid to better compete against ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card, Nvidia Corp. plans to add another product into the GeForce GTX 200-series lineup. Few details are now clear, however, another card in the family will almost surely make Nvidia’s products more competitive in the lineup.

Currently Nvidia and its add-in-board partners sell two versions of the GeForce GTX 200: the premium-class GTX 280 with 240 shader processors (SPs), 80 texture units (TUs), 32 render back ends (RBEs) and 1GB of GDDR3 memory connected using 512-bit interface as well as high-end GTX 260 with 192 SPs, 64 TUs, 28 RBEs and 896MB of GDDR3 memory connected using 448-bit interface. The GeForce GTX 280 has GPU clocked at 602MHz, SPs operating at 1296MHz and memory working at 2214MHz, whereas the GeForce GTX 260 is clocked at 576MHz, 1242MHz and 1998MHz, respectively.

Already in September the company plans to add another board into the lineup, which will have the same clock-speeds with the GTX 260 model, but with 216 SPs, 72 TUs, 30 RBEs and 896MB of GDDR3 memory connected using 448-bit interface. Expreview web-site claims that the new board will be an upgraded version of the GTX 260, however, since silent increase of performance of an already existing graphics card will cause a lot of confusion on the market, it is highly likely that Nvidia will introduce the GeForce GTX 270 instead.

The price of the novelty remain unclear, however, if it costs $299, it will be a serious competitor to ATI Radeon HD 4870 from graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices. There are chances that the presumable GeForce GTX 270 will cost $399, $100 more than the GTX 260, but still $100 less compared to the GTX 280.

Nvidia did not comment on the news-story.

Windows Vista 64Bit is ready to take off

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:24:00 +0000

For many moons, I've been raising the issue of how people get to 64-bit Windows 7, which is a big compatibility shift from 32-bit Windows XP. The obvious answer is via Vista, but is that 32-bit Vista and/or 64-bit Vista? The price includes both, so it's up to you.

Initially, Vista was a bit short of drivers, or else had some bad drivers. That made 32-bit Vista the obvious choice for most people, because 64-bit drivers were even rarer. The same thing applied to software compatibility, only more so, because while it does run 32-bit programs, 64-bit Vista is much less forgiving about rubbish programming.

Now it looks as though the dramatic improvements in Vista drivers etc could be feeding through into the 64-bit version (possibly with a bit of help from the Windows Server market, which is now almost all 64-bit). Anyway, according to Chris Flores on the Vista team's blog:

20% of new Windows Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to Windows Update in June were 64-bit PCs, up from just 3% in March. Put more simply, usage of 64-bit Windows Vista is growing much more rapidly than 32-bit. Based on current trends, this growth will accelerate as the retail channel shifts to supplying a rapidly increasing assortment of 64-bit desktops and laptops.

One example of that is Gateway, which has now gone all 64-bit with its black "back-to-school desktops". And since the chips (AMD in this case) and Vista are already 64-bit, there's not much difference in price.

Moving to 64-bit Vista allows access to 8GB or more memory and provides better performance, particularly when with multitasking. If you're running, say, Autodesk, Avid, SoftImage or even the 32-bit Adobe Creative Suite 3 all day, then going to 64-bit Vista is obvious. Whether it's worth the risk for ordinary users with obscure bits of "long tail" software is another matter. The blog warns of the need to check for drivers and software compatibility issues at the Windows Vista Compatibility Center.

In any case, the bigger benefits won't come through until there is more software optimized for 64-bit systems, such as the versions of Adobe Lightroom (edit: just released), PhotoShop and Sony Vegas Pro expected in the autumn.

So, how many people have moved to 64-bit Vista already? If you are thinking of moving on from XP to Vista, were you even going to consider it?

Update: Ed Bott has also blogged Suddenly, 64-bit Windows is mainstream at ZD Net. He says: "Using data from its Windows Update servers, Microsoft calculated that 1.45% of all Windows Vista machines were running x64 Vista editions in March of this year. By June, that figure was up to 5.18%." That would be a maximum of 9 million machines, based on Microsoft's claim of 180 million paid for copies of Vista. How many installed copies is another matter, but the number could grow quite quickly. People who mainly want to do online stuff and email don't need as much backwards compatibility -- and Vista offers more than either a Mac or Ubuntu.

YouTUBE is going to stream Olyimpics

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:11:00 +0000

The Olympic content will reach 77 territories where digital rights have not been sold, or have been acquired on a non-exclusive basis, the International Olympic Committee said Monday. The IOC did not release financial details of the deal.

The package from Beijing will include highlights, news and daily clips of the competitions and will be directed primarily to Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

"For the first time in Olympic history we will have complete global online coverage, and the IOC will have its own broadcast channel and content production facilities," said Timo Lumme, the IOC's director of television and marketing services.

Internet users outside the 77 territories will blocked from seeing the clips through a technology called "geo-blocking."

The IOC made online broadcasting available to a handful of territories four years ago in the Athens Olympics, and to 23 territories for the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Cisco Acquires Pure Networks

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:31:00 +0000

SAN JOSE, Calif. - July 23, 2008 - Cisco today announced its intent to purchase privately held Pure Networks, a Seattle-based leader in home networking-management software and tools. Pure Networks' home networking-management solution allows users to easily set up and manage a home network and connect a range of devices, applications and services within a home.

Cisco believes the industry is amid a transition from Home Networking 1.0, in which home networks are largely designed to share a broadband connection that links PCs and peripherals, to Home Networking 2.0, in which the multimedia-enabled home will be comprised of a multitude of disparate network devices, applications and services that are connected to one another. The acquisition of Pure Networks provides Cisco with a fully integrated home networking-management solution that will also serve as the foundation for the development of new applications, tools and capabilities for consumers to use in an increasingly "connected life" at home, at work and on the go.

Pure Networks currently partners with Cisco to provide the software infrastructure and tools used to create the Linksys Easy Link Advisor (LELA) which allows a consumer to more easily set up, organize, manage, secure and use a home network. The acquisition strengthens Cisco's vision of the network as the cornerstone of the "connected life" by enabling further development of the existing LELA platform which will serve as the base for new multimedia-enabled applications, tools and capabilities. Pure Networks' products and solutions can also provide the foundation for service providers to manage home networks on behalf of consumers.

"With the rapid proliferation of networking technology and new consumer electronics devices, the ability to quickly and easily connect to a range of devices, content and services throughout the home is becoming paramount to achieving a satisfying consumer experience," said Ned Hooper, senior vice president for Cisco's Corporate Development and Consumer Group. "Pure Networks' network-management innovations will provide Cisco and Linksys with a key underpinning to take home networking to the next level of ease of use."

The Pure Networks acquisition follows Cisco's "build, buy, and partner" innovation strategy focused on capturing market transitions to expand existing product categories and enter new markets. By attaining Pure Networks' valuable network-management technology and intellectual property along with a dedicated research and development team, Cisco will be able to further advance its consumer strategy.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay approximately $120 million in exchange for all shares of Pure Networks. The acquisition of Pure Networks is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to be complete in Cisco's first quarter of fiscal year 2009. Upon the close of the acquisition, Pure Networks' employees will remain in Seattle and be integrated into Linksys, led by Mike Pocock, Linksys senior vice president and general manager.

Intel Steps In Embedded Market With Atom Chip

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:14:00 +0000

Taking a jab at the embedded market, Intel on Wednesday said it was working on new x86 chips to use in devices ranging from consumer electronics to mobile phones.

Intel is developing more than 15 system-on-chips based on the x86 core found in Intel's Atom chip, which can be found in mobile Internet devices and low-cost laptops.

By using the Atom core, the company is trying to increase performance and drop power consumption on the new chips, said Gadi Singer, vice president of Intel's mobility group, at a press event in San Francisco.

Information and entertainment centers in cars, for example, will be much richer and demand higher-bandwidth connections to the Internet, so chips need to deliver better performance-per-watt, Singer said. The new chips will include subsystems to accelerate applications for video decoding and security.

Intel has already said it is working on an Atom successor codenamed Moorestown, due for release in 2009-2010 timeframe. The platform includes an SOC code-named Lincroft, based on a 45-nanometer Atom core.

The company also has chips based on the Atom core under development for set-top boxes, including Canmore, which will be released later this year, and Sodaville, due for launch next year.

Although the power-efficient design fits well in mobile devices, Intel enters as a challenger, not an incumbent, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64. Arm is the market leader in the mobile space.

"The issue for Intel is whether can they begin to exploit the ubiquity of ... software environments and technical expertise surrounding x86 to start chipping away at Arm," Brookwood said.

Many other architectures, including PowerPC, used by Freescale and Motorola, and MIPS (million instructions per second), used by Broadcom, are strong players in this market, Brookwood said. The PowerPC architecture has a strong presence in the telecommunication and automotive space, Brookwood said.

Although Intel has been a player in the embedded space for 30 years, in the past it has seen platform and compatibility problems, Doug Davis, vice president of Intel's digital enterprise group.

Intel's earlier XScale chips, built using Arm's core, affected its ability to lead with its own architecture, Davis said. The company ultimately sold the handheld processor unit to Marvell Technology for US$600 million in 2006.

By building Intel architecture in the new chips, Intel will deliver compatibility and the standardize software for use across multiple devices, Davis said.

The company also announced eight system-on-chips for set-top boxes on Wednesday. The EP80579 chips, made using the Pentium M core, runs between 600MHz and 1.2GHz, integrates a memory controller, and consumes between 11 watts to 21 watts of power. The Pentium M architecture was used to develop the chips as the design was available during chip development, Davis said. Going forward, all system-on-chips will be designed using the Atom processor core.
Source

iPhone 3G is finally unlocked

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:47:00 +0000

A group from Brazil has managed to unlock Apple's iPhone 3G handset just days after its release.

The unlocked iPhone is displayed and demonstrated in an online video on a Portuguese-language news blog.

An unlocked iPhone can be used with any Sim card and service provider.

IPhone user Bruno MacMasi said in an interview with Gizmodo that the unlocking process involved modifying the Sim hardware so that the International Mobile Subscriber Identity can be overwritten and removed from the original network.

A similar process was used to unlock the original iPhone last year.

Separately, a group of researchers known as the iPhone Devteam has released the first 'jailbreak' software releases for the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 2.0 software update.

The 'jailbreak' term refers to the process of removing the software controls which prohibit users from installing software outside of the iPhone App Store.

The group, which has asked not to be linked to directly for bandwidth purposes, is currently offering a software utility which automatically performs the jailbreak process.

Unlocked and modified handsets have been an issue ever since Apple first released the iPhone. Users initially were eager to remove the strict controls over installing software and run the handset with other carriers.

While the iPhone App Store has allowed for the distribution of third-party applications, there remains a dedicated group of users wishing to run older third-party applications and software which have not been approved for the Store.

Apple has attempted to remain relatively neutral on the matter. The company said that, while the jailbreak processes will void the warranty and possibly cause damage to the phone when new updates are installed, no special efforts will be made to deliberately disable or 'brick' hacked iPhones.

New 1.5TB Hard Drives from Seagate

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:56:00 +0000

One terabyte hard drives still cramping your decadent data storage lifestyle? No more tears. Seagate is rolling out 1. 5TB HDDs this August.

Seagate's 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11 will purpose four platters to cram the scale - tipping unique uncooked capacity into an eleventh begetting of its flagship drive. The storage firm points out its the single largest hard drive capacity bump connections the last 50 oldness.

Now the style suggests, the HDD spins at 7, 200RPM. The 3Gb / s SATA I interface has a far-off data proportion of up to 120MB / s.
Seagate artist ' s rendering of what the drive would attending according to mastery space

The disks are also sympathetic pressure 1TB, 750GB, 640GB, 500GB, 320GB, and 160GB varieties take cover cache options of 32MB and 16MB.

Yesterday, Hitachi rolled out its second genesis of 1TB hard drives, using three platters of 375GB each. A bit of basic arithmetic so suggests both Hitachi and Seagate are dealing lie low platters of roughly the twin density.

Hard inroad manufacturers positively savvy keeping pricing details mum until oblivion turn, also this occasion is no mismatched. Realize some ravaging to the billfold, but the upshot is the price of 1TB HDDs may drop thanks to a sequel.

Seagate also announced a different couple of 500GB hard drives for notebooks. The 2. 5 - inch Momentus drives will embody offered money 5, 400RPM and 7, 200RPM variations, lie low 8MB of cache and 16MB of cache respectively.

The drives are offered harbour a gratuitous - fall sensor technology that helps prevent damage when dropped. According to Seagate, the sensor detects installment changes importance acceleration equal to the conscription of force and parks the rabble wipe out the disk to prevent contact keep from the platter prerogative a free lunch fall of in that stubby owing to 8 inches and within 3 / 10ths of a second.

Momentus 5400.6 and 7200.4 hard drives will impel shipping leadership the fourth nook of 2008.

HP Executive Pleads Guilt for IBM Theft

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:46:00 +0000

A former vice president at Hewlett Packard has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from IBM and passing them over to his new employers.
Atul Malhotra, a vice president of imaging and printing services at HP since 2006, admitted that he accessed and copied confidential dossier from his previous task seeing sales director notoriety the IBM Global Services division.
Shortly following un derivative imprint his new business he passed the secrets, approximating to IBM product costs and materials to two senior HP vice presidents fix e - mail messages adumbrate the subject line " For Your Sight Sole – confidential. " HP and IBM both cooperated fully hold back the investigation.
Malhotra faces a acute of 10 senescence control prison, a fine of $250, 000 and a three - while expression of supervised release.
Sentencing influence this position has been set for October 29 by U. S. District Intermediary Judge Jeremy Fogel, who accepted the plea at the federal courthouse in San Jose, California.

Microsoft's XP SP3 Patch Fixes Anti-Virus Glitch

noreply@blogger.com (Abhik) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:17:00 +0000

Microsoft issued a hotfix for Windows XP Service Pack 3 last week that it says "could resolve" a Windows registry corruption problem associated with third-party security software. The problem was first discovered just over a month ago, and it notably affected users of Symantec's Norton Antivirus suite of products.

Some users who installed XP SP3 reported seeing garbled system entries that cluttered the Windows registry. The corruption in the registry led to problems such as lost Internet and wireless connections, along with uninitiated restarts caused by sporadic registry subkeys.

Microsoft provided an explanation for the problem in a Knowledgebase posting on Friday. The issue "occurs when the Fixccs.exe process is called during the Windows XP SP3 installation," the KB article explains. "This process creates some intermediate registry subkeys, and it later deletes these subkeys. In some cases, some antivirus applications may not let the Fixccs.exe process delete these intermediate registry subkeys."

When the problem occurs, "certain applications" within Windows, such as "Device Manager and Network Connections" may be unable to function, Redmond added.

Symantec had responded with its own solution before Microsoft's hotfix. On June 5, the security application and consultancy issued a patch via its LiveUpdate service that prevents the registry corruption from occurring.

Symantec users wanting to upgrade to Windows XP SP3 or Vista SP1 must first run LiveUpdate from within their security software, and then reboot the PC before attempting the upgrade.