Thursday, November 6, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Software Media
With Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo! it looks like the media industry and all those who feed it and feed off it - like advertising, and to a lesser extent PR - will have another predator to fear. Not only is Google eating their lunch, but Microsoft and Yahoo!, in whatever form, look set to help themselves to breakfast and dinner too.
Nicholas reckons it's because software, and particularly software based on the Internet, is becoming . As he says, "the Net is not only a universal medium... it is also turning into a universal computer".
He points to the way in which young people in particular buy software nowadays. Rather than popping down to PC World to lay out for packaged software, they're going online and using the software already running on the Net like Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, etc. Even word processing suites are being offered for free by the likes of Google.
And it's free that is making software a media business. The media industry has long understood the power of giving utility away (or at least at a very low cost) and subsidising this with advertising. And that's basically what the like of Google and Yahoo! have always done. Having made its billions relying on people like you and me to buy software to install on our PCs, Microsoft now realises that the only way it can compete with the likes of Google is to acquire online scale, and acquire it fast.
The media industry should be quaking in its boots. Imagine another Google, just as large and just as powerful - taking more and more of the advertising budgets. It's time to rethink the business model, and that might not be a bad thing.
Note that Yahoo! is a client of Hill & Knowlton, but I have no involvement with that account.
Internet Device
Chumby Internet Device and Network Launches
Chumby Industries launches its new Chumby Internet Device and Chumby Network today. The company says it has secured deals with leading content providers like CBS, MTV Networks, MySpace, The Weather Channel, AOL’s SHOUT cast and Scripps Networks.
The Chumby is described as a little larger than a coffee cup with a Wi-Fi connection that allows people to get parts of their Internet at a glance. The device seems to be sort of an Internet connected alarm clock and even allows users to wake up to Internet radio stations.
The Chumby device retails for $179.99 with shipping included. "The richness and diversity of information on the Web has become critical to our everyday lives, so it becomes more important than ever to stay connected to our 'Internet life' and be able to access a wealth of information simply at a glance," said Steve Tomlin, founder and CEO, Chumby Industries. "The powerful combination of the free Chumby Network and the open and always-on Chumby creates a compelling offering to consumers to easily create, view and share what matters to them most from the Web without the need to browse on a PC. And media companies can showcase and monetize content on an exciting new distribution platform that reaches consumers in different parts of their lives and at different times of the day."
Handicam
Sony says its newly announced Cyber-shot W300 is the toughest most technologically advanced W series camera yet. The camera has a slim profile but packs in 13.6 megapixels of resolution. The camera is coated in scratch resistant titanium.A BIONZ processor powers the Smile Shutter feature and the camera uses improved face detection more and a D-Range optimizer. The lens is a 3x optical zoom Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens.
On the rear of the W300 is a 2.7-inch LCD. Sony’s W300 also uses 9-point autofocus and can shoot video as well as still shots. Add an optional HD cable and images and video can be sent directly to your HDTV. The camera is expected in the US in May at about $350.
Nanotechnology
Nokia announces Morph, a joint nanotechnology concept, developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the University of Cambridge (UK). Morph was launched today alongside the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition, on view from February 24th to May 12th, 2008, at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform their mobile device into radically different shapes. It demonstrates the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces. The examples of Morph phone designs include a wrist phone and a translucent card that basically just consist of an interactive user interface. The future looks bright, once again.
Mobile Technology
E-MOBILE...REDIFINING TECHNOLOGYGPRS AND WAP
GPRS and WAP let you enjoy a continuous wireless connection to data networks (Internet) and access favorite web sites, entertainment services and other web applications. With WAP, GPRS, you can go online on your cell phone. All you need is a GPRS/WAP enabled phone and activation from the service provider. Call up the Customer Care number and ask them to activate the service, afterwhich you need to download the GPRS settings as instructed and GPRS is activated.
Airtel charges Rs. 600 per month for GPRS and airtime. MMS, however is free. Reliance India charges Rs. 200 + usage charges Rs, 40 paise per minute, whereas Hutch charges Rs. 99 for GPRS + airtime.
X-ray vision
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the EPFL in Switzerland have developed a novel method for producing dark-field x-ray images at wavelengths used in typical medical and industrial imaging equipment.Dark-field images provide more detail than ordinary x-ray radiographs and could be used to diagnose the onset of osteoporosis, breast cancer or Alzheimer's disease, to identify explosives in hand luggage, or to pinpoint hairline cracks or corrosion in functional structures.Up until this point, dark-field x-ray imaging required sophisticated optics and could only be produced at facilities like the PSI's 300m-diameter, $200m synchrotron. With the new nanostructured gratings described in this research, published online January 20 in Nature Materials, dark-field images could soon be produced using ordinary x-ray equipment already in place in hospitals and airports around the world.Unlike traditional x-ray images, which show a simple absorption contrast, dark-field images capture the scattering of the radiation within the material itself, exposing subtle inner changes in bone, soft tissue, or alloys. The overall clarity of the images is striking. The improved sensitivity in measuring bone density and hairline fractures could help diagnose the onset of osteoporosis. Because cancer or plaque cells scatter radiation slightly differently than normal cells, dark-field x-ray images can also be used to explore soft tissue, providing safer early diagnosis of breast cancer or the plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease.Security screening equipment equipped with dark-field image capability could better identify explosives, whose micro-crystalline structures strongly scatter x-ray radiation. And because x-rays penetrate a material without damaging it, dark-field images could help reveal scattering-producing micro-cracks and corrosion in structures such as airplane wings or the hulls of boats."Researchers have been working on dark-field x-ray images for many years," explains Franz Pfeiffer, a professor at EPFL and researcher at the PSI. "Up until now these images have only been possible using sophisticated crystal optical elements." Crystal optics, however, only work for a single x-ray wavelength and thus are highly inefficient. "Our new technique uses novel x-ray optical components, in the form of nanostructured gratings, that permit the use of a broad energy spectrum, including the standard range of energies in traditional x-ray equipment used in hospitals or airports," adds Christian David, Pfeiffer's colleague at PSI. "This opens up the possibility for adapting current imaging equipment to include dark-field imaging."Pfeiffer plans to collaborate with the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), a joint center with the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva and their associated hospitals, to develop an adaptation for existing medical equipment. "When combined with the phase contrast imaging technique that we developed in 2006, we now have the possibility of providing the same range of imaging techniques in broad-spectrum x-ray imaging that we do with visible light."
Wireless System
The technology, developed by Bedminster, N.J.-based Magnolia Broadband, Inc., enables carriers to double the number of customers they serve with each mobile phone tower.
The next generation of the technology -- currently being tested in Korea -- is even more powerful, promising to give customers GPS-like tracking capabilities on each mobile phone in the network, enabling them, as one expert told TechNewsWorld, to track where one's 18-year-old daughter is after her high school prom, or where one's teenage son is, two hours past curfew.
IT Management advice
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Dream PC
I gonna make you all really jealous with my new PC. My quest for new technology has really helped me find my dream PC.
It all started with need of new graphic card to enable me to play latest games and for 3D animation work. I have done lot of research and always wanted to have latest and best technology. Then I heard about water cooling system for graphic card. Oh! You are shocked! Confused ! Well its not my typing mistake. EN8800GTX Aqua Tank/HTDP/768 actually cool down GPU temperature by 12 degrees. It’s a product of Asus. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and check on Asus website. I am already in love with this Product and I am sure you will too soon.
Water cooling system, 768 DDR3 dedicated memory. Its PCI Express card with TV out socket, DVI port, Dual DVI port, HDTV out, Direct X, Open GL, HDCP.
Pure copper design with fan water block. Most amazing thing is that you can also control fan speed by switch provided on it. (these are really amazing) 10,000 hrs no need to refill liquid in it, I bet 10,000 hrs will go very fast with such machine.
One more good thing about its cooling pipe its black and sexy looking pipes which runs on 12V, for which, off course you will need separate power supply (2 six pin connector).
Well after buying this I was sure that it wont work with my old motherboard and power supply, so I had to buy new motherboard, so again new research begun but this time I was sure that I wanted to go for Asus only. Keeping in mind my budget and suitability to this card I decided to buy Asus P5N32 SLI – Premium which is very sexy with Quad-SLI ready motherboard. Both my graphics cards on sli give 32 X bandwidth in total. Some of great features of this motherboard are Intel core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Duo compatible. nVidia nForce 590 SLI Intel edition , Dual channel 667, SupreamFX and so on. It has AI Gear, AI NAP, 8 phase power design which make my system more cooler and quieter system. It has optional fan for water cooling which is good for my graphic card.
CPU off course supposes to be Intel C2D E6600, which is perfect for my kind of work. HDD Seagate 160 X 2 with RAID configured. Corsair 1 GB X 2 (2GB) DDR2 800 MHZ. Asus 550 Watts PSU.
Well after buying all above stuff I was left with no money for new monitor so I am using my old one now but I have already chosen which one I would go for, that is PG191 from Asus, real world class performance I have ever seen. For chassis I am still looking for it, it has to be good to suite my sexy graphic card.
Computer Technology
Hafnium-based Intel® 45nm Process Technology
Two words: relentless innovation. Using dramatically new materials including hafnium-based circuitry, new Intel® 45nm Hi-k metal gate silicon technology helps to dramatically increase processor energy efficiency and performance for an unprecedented computing experience.
With this breakthrough transistor technology, Intel is manufacturing serious advantage into every hafnium-based Intel 45nm Hi-k chip.
These revolutionary new processors empower a more enjoyable computing experience for your gaming, multimedia and multitasking, at work, at home, and at p