Technically Speaking

Imagine a harddrive that can access it’s data almost instantaneously, has no moving parts and has very low power consumption. Samsung has just introduced such a device to the general public; 32GB of storage, in a 1.8-inch enclosure, with a introductory price tag of $600 USD. The benefits of such a device is that you can extend the battery life of your laptop, much faster data access…it is said that Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise boots in as little as 35 seconds…You don’t have to worry about damaging and possibly losing the drive/data in the event of your laptop taking a fall.

With no moving parts, it does not need to spin into action or seek files in the way that conventional hard disk drives do.

The new SSD achieves a sustained read rate of 62M bps and a random read rate of 7,000 IOPS (inputs/outputs per second) for a 512-byte transfer—more than 100 times faster than most hard disk drives, the spokesperson said.

Taking advantage of this performance, a laptop PC equipped with SanDisk SSD can boot Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise in as little as 35 seconds, the spokesperson said. It also can achieve an average file access rate of 0.12 milliseconds, compared with 55 seconds and 19 milliseconds, respectively, for a laptop PC with a hard disk drive, the spokesperson said.

The new SSD features a low power consumption rate compared to the hard disk drive: 0.4 watt during active operation versus 1.0 watt.

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Rumor has it that Wyse Technology Inc is going to provide the hardware for Google’s new low-cost PC. The cost of their PC will be a low low price of $200. This is meant to be sold wordwide and if this all goes well then it would be expected that every household would have a PC alongside the TV.

The Internet giant reportedly is in talks with retailer Wal-Mart Inc. to sell the PCs, with the hardware being provided by Wyse and Google bringing in the software.

Wyse President and CEO John Kish mentioned during a presentation at the Red Herring Fall 2005 conference last month that his company was in discussions with Google focusing on a $200 PC that would be targeted at developing markets such as China and India, part of Wyse’s greater push to bring technology to such countries.

Google’s reported negotiations with Wal-Mart suggest a plan to sell such systems not only in emerging markets but also in such countries as the United States.

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It is really unbelieveable that Janet would get caught like this agian, sunbathing nude. I really wonder what is she thinking. Oh well, we might as well enjoy the show!

Ok,…I have finally made a little time to upgrade and redesign this site. It has been a long time coming but it will take a little longer than I hoped. Over the next few days I will be making change here and there to get this template to my liking. Gone is the robot at the bottom that so many have complained about. I will try to keep this version clean and simple. After this project is complete I will have to find some time to get back into the swing of thing in terms of blogging again. So hold tight and watch the magic.

Are you the type of person that just plopped down $500 and some change on a Mac Mini and now you want to crack it open and start tinkering? Well, you’re not the only one! There is already a video circulating the web detailing the intricacies of dismantling the Mac Mini. Follow if you dare. (I am not responsible if you damage your goods. Reader beware!!!) Once you get the cover off you should be able to add additional RAM or upgrade the hard drive.

If Mozilla’s track record with Firefox means anything then I would say that they have a good chance of taking a nice portion of converters. Last night, Mozilla launched a full version of their email client, Thunderbird 1.0. With it, Mozilla is hoping for a great acceptance from the masses. Check out some of the things Thunderbird has to offer…

Among its features, Thunderbird 1.0 provides a user-controlled spam filter, a built-in RSS reader and new approaches for managing and filtering through e-mail messages. It also can be used as a client for a range of popular, Web-based e-mail services such as the premium version of Yahoo Mail and Google Inc.’s Gmail that support POP3, MacGregor said.

But the foundation isn’t leaving the enterprise untouched. MacGregor said Mozilla plans to retool the application with enterprise-specific features in future versions. Currently, because it supports IMAP, Thunderbird works as an e-mail client with Microsoft’s popular Exchange server, MacGregor said.

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Once again, the main thing that Mozilla is offering is a safer way to interact with the web. If you are concerned about your presence on the web then Mozilla’s products are a must for you.

You can go here to “Reclaim Your Inbox“

Liebermann Inc., known for their Apple copy-cat style in website and product design, is “no longer in a position, from a financial standpoint, to continue doing business”. The reported reason for the company’s closing is due to the lack of interest or trust of potential investors.

In short, with no backers and - by the sound of it - too few customers, the company has simply run out of cash. This despite “the thousands of emails that are coming in on an hourly basis, expressing [site readers’] encouraging thoughts”.

Indeed, the company said it must now “liquidate our assets in support of our financial responsibilities”. That means ensuring existing orders are fulfilled, the company said. No new orders are being accepted, it added, but promised to maintain technical support and driver software updates for an undisclosed duration.

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Over the last year, Liebermann Inc. has been known as mostly a hoax. Many people reported that the company operated with poor business ethics whiles others reported that the company didn’t exist at all. It seemed that the company fought long and hard trying to clear their name from the very beginning, but it was to no avail. I briefly followed the news of the company and finally came to the same realization that The Register did, that the company was real with real products and that they really did work as they claimed.

And the company’s collapse comes while it was on the verge of shipping a number of new systems - all due for a Q4 2004 release, according to the website - including a line of high-performance small form-factor PCs, a 5GHz personal super computer, a 64-bit Media Center PC and a Xeon-based dual-processor notebook. Liebermann claims to have working prototypes, but alas it now appears they will never see light of day.

However, many of Liebermann’s claims were not without precedent or beyond the bounds of possibility. A case in point: its November 2003 announcement of a notebook based on Intel’s desktop-oriented Pentium 4 Extreme Edition chip was widely scorned - until Dell announced one of its own three months later.

And a number of US journalists of our acquaintance claim to have received evaluation units from Liebermann and found them not too shabby. So too have Register readers who say they bought product from the company.

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I have waited for a long time to hear this news. Researchers at The University of Western Ontario have found one drink of beer or wine provides equivalent increases in plasma antioxidant activity, which helps prevent the oxidization of blood plasma by toxic free radicals that trigger many aging diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and cataracts.

The study was conducted by about 10 researchers, including experts in pharmacology and toxicology. It was led by John Trevithick, a biochemistry and kinesiology professor at Western. It involved administering five beverages (stout, lager, red wine, pure alcohol and a placebo-like non- alcoholic drink) to 20 volunteers over a period of two summers, with daily blood tests.

It was all done scientifically.

“It took them an hour or so to get three drinks down,” said Trevithick.

“We didn’t push it. They weren’t chugging.”

The scientists were trying to determine if drinking beer imparts the same benefits as drinking wine, which past studies have shown can help prevent the oxidation of blood plasma by toxic-free radicals that trigger many aging diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and cataracts.

…

The conclusion?

Trevithick said the study shows that drinking one bottle of beer a day reduces your chances of contracting cataracts or atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries caused by the buildup of plaque) by 50 per cent.

You and I might think that if drinking one beer a day can help you live longer, then drinking five will help you live forever. (This is also why you and I are not scientists.)

In fact, the study showed that drinking two bottles of beer a day is not as healthy as drinking one bottle a day, because it reduces the risk of various aging diseases by only 10 per cent.

And the bad news is that drinking three bottles of beer a day actually causes the blood to become pro-oxidant and increases the risk of such diseases 30 to 40 per cent.

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Personally, this is good and bad news. I love beer so the good is that it is good for you. The bad is that I will have to cut back on it a little for it seems that it is only good in moderation.

Sources: Slashdot, The University of Western Ontario and London Free Press.

As a follow up to the news on Microsoft’s cuts to the Longhorn project, Jim Allchin issued this press release.

From: Jim Allchin
Sent: 27 August 2004 19:45
To: Microsoft and Subsidiaries: All FTE [Full-Time Equivalents]
Subject: Longhorn update

jim

Imagine having your 54Mbps wireless network running at 10 times its current speed. The IEEE has been working to speed up the transmission of data through airwaves and two battling technologies, WWise and TGn Sync, are pioneering the task.

Both proposals to speed up wi-fi exist largely on paper and could take years to find their way into hardware.

The US Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) oversees developments to wi-fi technology, the most well known of which goes by the family name of 802.11.

There are already several different 802.11 technologies, a,b and g, that work at different speeds. The fastest works at speeds of 54mbps.

The IEEE’s 802.11n working group has been looking at ways to improve the data throughput of the wi-fi standard.

It aims to get data travelling at rates of 100mbps and more via the airwaves.

Although current wi-fi systems can already work at speeds up to 54mbps, the actual rate that data moves across them is far lower.

The differing proposals for ways to speed up data rates on wi-fi are backed by different companies.

The TGn Sync proposal has Agere, Intel and Atheros as its backers. The WWise idea is backed by Texas Instruments, Broadcom and others.

By fiddling with the way wi-fi transmits data the WWise group claims it can reach speeds of 540mbps. Using a more standard approach the group believes it can boost speeds to 135mbps.

Details about TGn Sync are sketchy but it too is aiming for speeds in excess of 500mbps.

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The technology is currently in its infancy so we should expect to start seeing the results in a couple years. At that time we will be able to say bye-bye to wired networks.

Microsoft is starting to signs of concern towards the rapid growth of Linux. As an effort to keep their competitive edge in the market, Microsoft has released a “XP Lite” version of the OS. Initially, it will be available in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and a couple other unspecified Asian countries and it will be marketed as “Windows XP Starter Edition”, shipping in October.

Analysts say Linux poses a growing threat to Microsoft’s dominant Windows operating system, used on more than 90% of the world’s computers.

A so-called ‘open source’ system which PC users can install on their machines and modify without paying a licence fee, Linux has made significant inroads into the software market in Latin America and Asia.

Earlier this year, computer giant HP began shipping computers equipped with Linux to China and India.

Linux is also championed by Microsoft critics who say the firm’s dominance of the global software market makes computer systems more vulnerable to potentially disabling viruses.

Microsoft’s new software - dubbed “XP Lite” - will feature lower resolution graphics and limited options for networking computers together.

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Microfsoft’s commanding control of the OS market is being eaten away by Linux for a few good reasons. First, Linux is much cheaper and in some cases free. Secondly, the software that runs on Linux is, once again, very cheap or most likely free, and it does the same things that the high priced Microsoft software does. Thirdly, Linux is well-known for being a very stable OS. Microsoft has become more stable with the release of XP but it has taken a great amount of time for Microsoft to get its products to that standard. Linux basically started off stable. and lastly, as of yet, Linux hasn’t been viciously attacked by viruses. These four facts make Linux very appealing to prospective buyers and others looking to switch. I think Microsoft is making a good move for trying to keep its OS lead but is it enough and isn’t it a little late?

This gadget is billed as the next generation of keyboards. Easy to learn and quick to gain typing speed. Within 60 hours of use, one could get to 60 wpm typing speed. After using a keyboard for so long, the AlphaGrip may appear completely alien and daunting to learn. AlphaGrip has this to say about that.

Q: How difficult is it to learn to touch type on the AlphaGrip?
A: The answer to that depends on several factors: It takes much less time to learn to touch type on an AlphaGrip than it does on a standard keyboard because your fingers naturally fall on all the buttons necessary to type, unlike the keyboard which requires formal classroom training to learn how to move your fingers from side to side and up and down 5 rows of keys. AlphaGrip users, in contrast, can easily teach themselves to touch type on the AlphaGrip’s Enhanced Qwerty letter layout (for touch typists there is a 70% letter/finger correlation between the AlphaGrip and a standard Qwerty keyboard).

Nevertheless, typing with your hands in a vertical orientation is different than typing with them in a horizontal one, so it does take time to become proficient. It takes only a few minutes to learn to touch type on an AlphaGrip (defined as using the proper fingers on the proper keys to generate the correct characters without looking at your fingers). It is developing the finger memory necessary to speed type that takes awhile. The learning time will vary depending upon your familiarity with game controllers or musical instruments, finger dexterity, and your memory.

When you grasp the AlphaGrip, your fingers naturally rest on practically all the buttons you need to type the letters of the alphabet, major punctuations, and commands. That means you barely have to move your fingers to type. The AlphaGrip comes with decals that can be placed on the front of the device that show you where the characters are located on the back so you don’t have to turn it over to locate them. Regardless, you will likely memorize where the letters after just an hour or two of use.

After about 1 - 5 hours of training, you should be typing at a rate of 10 – 15 wpm, which is equal to the average text entry rates of the pen stylus, predictive phone keypad, or miniature keyboard. For each additional hour or two of use, you should increase your typing speed by 1 - 2 wpm, reaching typing speeds of 30 - 60 wpm in 30 - 60 hours.

Q: The AlphaGrip prototypes look so daunting - I would be afraid to even try one?
A: We appreciate your reaction. In order to “push the limits” of an AlphaGrip’s potential functionality, our early prototypes were intentionally “loaded” with 2 number pads, many redundant buttons, function keys, plus all the characters you can generate on a full size keyboard. Our AG-5 is a much simpler looking AlphaGrip, but does not sacrifice functionality.

Just imagine what the people who were using quill pens thought when they saw the first typewriter over 130 years ago!

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AlphaGrip is taking pre-orders now and pricing is starting at $99. So if you are adventurous and looking to try out a different way of typing, this may be the tool for you.

321 Studios calls it quits after a long fight with the MPAA and gaming software makers such as Electronic Arts and Atari.

“321 Studios regrets to inform you that it has ceased business operations including . . . the sale, support and promotion of our products,” the company said on its website. “Despite 321 Studios’ best efforts to remain in business, injunctions entered against 321 Studios by three US Federal courts earlier this year has resulted in 321 Studios no longer being able to continue operating the business.”

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Well that was a major blow towards our rights to make backup copies of our digital media. Will another company step up and continue the fight? I’m sure that the MPAA will go after other offenders.

A newly created form of glass has the ability to clean itself, with only water. The glass has a 15 nanometres thick film of titanium dioxide coating that when ultraviolet radiation contacts it causes a photocatalytic effect. This photocatalytic effect breaks down the dirt allowing i to be washed away with just water.

SELF-CLEANING GLASS
1 - Dirt, glass, Nano-scale Activ coating containing microcrystalline titanium dioxide
2 - Sun shines on window. The UV rays trigger a chemical reaction in Activ coating, called a photocatalytic process, which breaks down dirt
3 - When water hits glass, a hydrophilic effect is created. Water spreads evenly over the surface, instead of droplets, so runs off and takes dirt with it

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The glass cost slightly more than conventional glass and may have other useful attributes such as breaking down E-coli on surfaces, and decomposing pollutants in the air.

A new Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) for IEEE 1394 over IEEE 802.15.3 has been approved by the 1394 Trade Association. The PAL allows companies to move forward in the development of devices that will utilize the newly approved wireless architecture. The goal of this standard is to create devices that can be easily connected to transfer data quickly.

The new Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) for IEEE 1394 over IEEE 802.15.3 was approved Monday. In a statement, the trade association said: “The PAL is designed as a standard convergence layer between the 802.15.3 MAC and applications developed for wired 1394. It builds upon the 1394 infrastructure–for example, data formats, connection-management schemes, and time synchronization procedures–and takes advantage of the excellent quality of service available in 802.15.3.”

Snider said developers working on wired 1394 products can now move quickly to work with RF developers to wirelessly connect a variety of devices, such as set-top boxes, HDTVs, tuners, and DVD players, all of which will be able to interoperate in home networks. Wireless bridges will incorporate wired 1394 nodes as well as a wireless 802.15.3 node. FireWire can transmit data at 400 Mbps speeds.

Bandwidth reservation policy for the wireless protocol is “first come, first served.” Peter Johansson, chairman of the association’s Wireless Working Group, said in a statement: “The specification is deterministic. As with 1394, the PAL does not attempt to assign bandwidth priorities to one product or task over another. . . .It is very efficient and very fair and takes advantage of the technical sophistication of the 802.15.3 MAC.”

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This wireless standard is already being used in the devolopment of new devices and some prototypes should emerge by year end. The 1394 Trade Association has also agreed to work with the WiMedia Alliance to jointly develop collaborative products. Expectations are to see some pretty cool devices developed in light of the new standard. It will be exciting to see how they change our gadgets.

Thanks Slashdot

It is time for Kate’s word game again. I am not instituting my own rules this time for I am pressed for time. I will try where I can.

I is for…

Ith and the ideotechnic actions of a youth.(Absinthe & Cookies)

Infinitely strong nanotechnology-based fibers.

ICANN Verisign’s Technology

Intolerant behavior.

Intimate knowledge of poker.

Infest the south with infamous lovers.

Ingenuity of NASA. (Aero/astro Tech)

Well, Kate is playing the word game again and has asked if others would like to play too. I’m going to play today but I have added a small twist. I usually talk about technology here so to make this post fit in with the site’s theme I have added a bit of tech to each entry. I hope you enjoy it.

W is for those that understand the technical workings of government.

W is for the country that should not wage war against a technological giant.

W is for the one that is technically wily.

W is for the techniques of women

W is for Wednesday Wanderings without tech.

W is for future wishes of technology.

W is for watching the technicalities of a monkey’s behavior.

W is for a technical wonderment.

And the best for last…

W is for WTF is that doing on my hi-tech engine? [via Geisha asobi blog]