| Prev | --- August --- | Next | ||||||
| 28 | 28 | 30 | 31 | 01 | 02 | 03 | ||
| 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | ||
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | ||
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | ||
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
| --- Today --- | ||||||||
Slowly taking form again. OK, form is there, noz waiting for content.
2008-08-29 ^:
Weather - -
. (25°C ^_^ 32°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
Clear sunny skies are not good news.
If you depend on cloud-computer services.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/28/flexiscale_outage/ )
- -
Nice, let's hope the keyboard is drool resistant ...
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/28/ifa_samsung_launches_x360/ )
- -
Yes, another mini notebook, LG this time, with a big need-to-have factor and a disappointing battery. I hope one of these days someone comes out with a full-day notebook and uses that as a marketing slogan. Sure it will weigh up a bit, but well worth the effort. If you really want to use one of those current machines you need to pack either a power-brick (and a long extension cord) which pretty much destroys the advantage of the ultra portability, or you have to carry a set of spare batteries adding the same weight and bulk but in easily forgotten/lost parts.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/28/ifa_lg_x110_mini_laptop/ )
- -
Expensive textbooks have always been a problem. So there is nothing new here. Except you might expect ebook textbooks would offer advantages over their old style dead-wood parents. But they don't, any possible advantage has been nabbed by the money hungry publishers.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080828-study-students-need-open-source-e-textbooks.html )
- -
An Apple Tablet would be interesting, mainly for the Apple crowds but also for some others. Basically because if Apple does it it will do it right. Not like 99% of the Windows 'Tablets' which are plain notebooks with a special screen, usable if you really need one but not comfortable or easy.
I doubt Apple will do it but what would be cool is a twin-screen notebook, a bit like the Nintendo Game-Boy. A thin clamshell design but with a screen on both halves. Used in laptop style you type on one screen and see your work on the other. Or you use it like a magazine with a left and right screen/page. Or anything in between. Of course both sides need to be thin, like the Apple Air so a CD probably won't fit. And keeping a good balance may need some design wizardry, it needs to balance well in classic notebook position (can't have it falling over when you stop typing) but in magazine/portrait layout both sides need to be about even in weight and feel.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080828-newly-unearthed-apple-patent-raises-hopes-for-fabled-itablet.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-28 ^:
Weather - -
. (25°C ^_^ 32°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
Insisting on extra shuttle flight during the campaign is all nice. But they want a free ride. Isn't politics fun?
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/27/mccain_calls_for_shuttle_extension/ )
- -
Why not Dual-core Kumas? AMD planned the chip as a 4-core one alright but it's available with 3 cores so why not with 2.
( http://www.hardware-infos.com/news.php?news=2345 )
- -
Nagging an virus-like interfering is the best way to get people off Windows XP. There is a rather big chance though it really works and gets people off Windows. (Notice no XP mention here) .
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/27/xp_nagware/ )
- -
Nothing surprising, it had to happen, DELL is just the first. But still it's nice to see computers pick up the Atom for more or less regular boxes. The hardware is nothing fancy or stylish but looks rather bland-business like. It is an admission really that for normal standard business and home use you don't need all the multiple core and bursting memory stuff. You won't be doing big games on those, nor build huge fluffed marketing spreadsheets or database analysis stuff. But for lots of business jobs companies have rolled out web (or weblike) interfaces that don't require lots of local power.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/27/dell_revamps_vostro/ )
- -
Best indication that this copyright stuff is pure politics? Order research but ignore it when it doesn't come to the wished for conclusions.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080827-eu-pays-for-then-ignores-study-on-copyright-extension.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-27 ^:
Weather - -
Still a good mix of sun and clouds with the temperature slowly creeping up. (25°C ^_^ 32°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
*stares at empty wallet* Just ordered fuel for the winter. "there, there, li'le wallet, don't weep. You'll get filled up again."
News - -
Refresh your keys.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/27/ssh_key_attacks_warning/ )
- -
I think MS is trembling. If Psystar wins this case it would mean you can run OS/X on any PC. That will surely blow a big hole in the Apple hardware sales. But it would mean MS has to beat the Apple OS on it's own home ground. And I bet it can't.
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/08/26/psystar_fights_back_against_apple/ )
- -
The bloody side of green.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/26/bat_barotrauma/ )
- -
nvidia conference. The Intel approach to GPU may not be the best but it surely is interesting. The main advantage of the Intel approach is that you may be able to upgrade performance without upgrading hardware to a larger degree. And the chip can be used for other things. But who buys them with that in mind.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080825-nvision-nvidia-disses-intel-cops-to-underestimating-ati.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-26 ^:
Weather - -
Ha, it's dry and perfect again. Lots of sun but still enough clouds to prevent the temperature to get out of hand. (16°C ^_^ 21°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
It's good. not because it's good but because it's good enough and doesn't get in your face. Linux fans will not like it. But I doubt they like playing help desk for their family and friends.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/25/gos_review/ )
- -
Cutting the line between organisers and mini-notebooks. It depends on the price asked but I doubt it's going to compete with the real mini-notebooks. Maybe with a next version, say 9" screen and a good battery-life and some other improvements, it gets traction on a consumer market.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/22/albatron_launches_tee_pc/ )
One thing it does show is that Windows CE still exists. CE is one of the best Windows versions available so I always wondered why MS dropped it. OK, they didn't but they crimped into a niche and made no real attempt to get it out, they only spawned Windows Mobile from it for phones. Typical MS style, they notice a market after some others start it and then put money and effort in adapting an existing product to grab that market. It's probably to late now but CE could have been a Linux stopper. Not by being better but by just being there as a cheap and stable alternative to full scale Windows. Now that they see people prefer XP on mini notebooks over Vista they can either push Windows-7 down to get it running fast and comfortable on low performance hardware. Or they can pull a new version off from CE. Your bet which one might work. (And another bet which one they will go for.)
- -
Someone once said 640Kb was all you would ever need. 64Gb won't surprise people and 640Gb is on the horizon. Hello modern world.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/metaram_16gb/ )
- -
OK, Olympics are over so it's back to business as usual in China.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/itunes_blocked_china_tibet/ )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-25 ^:
Weather - -
Autumn has settled down. What wit low temperatures and uneven bouts of rain and wind. (15°C ^_^ 18°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
Cheap gets cheaper. Well, I would rather get the higher capacity battery as standard then a price drop. I have used the EeePC for a while and it's very nice to work with. But the best part, the very portability (you forget you're carrying a PC around) is mitigated by having to pack a charger and cables.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/22/acer_us_cuts_aa1_price/ )
- -
Nice, yes, yes, good. High drool factors for the next EeePC. But the screen-size creep sets in.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/22/asus_n10_revealed/ )
- -
Nice cock-up with the White House mail system. And they'll have a hard job explaining it was not an intentional operations.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080824-white-house-memo-no-white-house-email-recovery-this-year.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-22 ^:
Weather - -
Wet all over from some nightly rain but the day is mainly dry. (15°C ^_^ 22°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
It's good to have hackers keeping governments in check. Not that gymnast ages are big issues but it makes clear how far some governments can be trusted
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/21/chinese_gymnast_age_scam/ )
- -
Well, you know, you got to choose, and security is top choice. Ok You didn't, your gov did. But at least they give you security now. America, the land of the ... secure.
Oh; by the way borders are mentioned but nobody mentions, aloud, that states and counties have borders that can be crossed to.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/21/what_civil_liberties/ )
- -
Roadblock ahead for the space program.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/21/kennedy_crawlerway/ )
- -
MS plus some serious browser holes with IE-8.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/20/microsoft_xss_filter/ )
Yes, all nice. But no reason to switch away from Opera.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/21/opera_update/ )
- -
Unlike the original British Harrier the new US F38 has weight problems. Americans and weight have a curious relation ship.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/21/runningjump_jet_for_rn_carriers/ )
- -
Ares is another American with weight problems. Roadblock ahead for the space program.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/21/kennedy_crawlerway/ )
- -
Small notebooks are one thing. to small notebooks are another. Not to say I wouldn't love to have one but this is one size to small. The 9" mini notebooks are about the perfect balance between portability and usability as a notebook. Things like this under 6" fall in the organiser class of devices. I remember my old Psion 3A fondly
Fujitsu Biblo ... ( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/21/fujitsu_vista_scc/ )
- -
Almost on the other side of the scale you get a +18" laptop. the nice big screen is the focus here but I am not very fond of the way it points. Sure it's large and clear and the size makes it comfortable (is you don't keep it on your lap) but it's not made for doing work, it squarely aimed at the entertainment and advertising market. Perfect for films and adds on the side of web pages work documents and spreadsheets need hight more than extra width.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/21/review_acer_aspire_8920g_934g64bn/ )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-21 ^:
Weather - -
They predicted unsettled weather and rain for the night. So we had a cool and clear one. And they predict Unsettled weather for the day. Right, grey and overcast but dry all day with one outbreak of sun at noon and a beautiful sunset as the sun dips under th clouds. (14°C ^_^ 21°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
Of course Intel likes Netbooks or ultra portables. Most of them run on it's new Atoms.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/20/idf_netbook_gain_core_loss/ )
- -
Debian getting forward with it's mobile plans.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/20/freerunner_debian/ )
- -
MS keeps paying Novel.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/20/novell_microsoft_expand_interoperability/ )
- -
With cloud computing, privacy becomes a pie in the sky concept. "But it's all about phones and email." you say, as if data stored in data centers is actually different. It isn't.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/20/cloud_computing_privacy/ )
- -
Privacy may be in doubt but there is an advantage in cloud computing. IBM thinks data backup and recovery has a cloudy future. And it may well be.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/20/ibm_cloud_computing_data_centres/ )
- -
There is not one browser to fit all.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080820-webkit-vs-firefox-choice-is-a-victory-for-integrators.html )
- -
Hardware updates on the way. With new versions of consoles coming out just five or six years apart the hardware is bound to get updates in between.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080820-sony-readies-new-hardware-onslaught-with-ps3-psp-refreshes.html )
- -
Dual core-Atoms. Aren't that becoming molecules?
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080820-intel-announces-dual-core-atom-chains-it-to-945c-chipset.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-20 ^:
Weather - -
It rained a lot during the night and now the weather gods are trying to blow-dry the world. Looks more like late October than late August. (16°C ^_^ 23°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
Not bad for MS. I mean a third switch from Vista to XP. That obviously is bad for Vista but for MS it's good. For the same changes those 30 could swap to Linux.
Ok, that's one third, now what did the remaining two thirds do ? ... ^_^
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/19/windows_xp_vista_7/ )
- -
Auctioning is not the fairest method to assign new top-level domains. But it's no worse than others to break tied request. While some would argue that all domains bar none should be given to the US, I would proposed that some limit is build in to prevent a single owner getting to many domains.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/19/icann_backs_domain_auctions/ )
- -
Alienware. That,s no note book. That's a note-rocket. It won't do a full day gaming on battery of course
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/19/review_alienware_area_51_m15x/ )
- -
22nm is still far off but work on it isn't. And chip plans for it aren't either.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/19/idf_intel_architecture_roadmap/ )
- -
NASA gets nerveous as trouble is brewing up with the Russians soon being the only ones to do manned space flights to the ISS. Maybe asking the Chinese to step in could increase the fun. And spice up the NASA board room discussions.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/19/nasa_ares_i_brief/ )
- -
It looks nice and desirable. And expensive. Typical Lenovo. People realised that moving from 15" to 17" laptops was good for desktop-replacement boxes. Portable office machines and stow-away home boxes. They also came down to earth again realising those huge boxes were useless for mobile computing. So we are back to small notebooks with 13" screens.
Curious, going back ten years in time we had similar sized notebooks. And similar priced notebooks as well. As the size goes down the price hikes up again.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/19/lenovo_x300_goes_centrino_2/ )
- -
Canonical is late to join but it is an important move. And they join ahead of MS ...
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080818-linux-foundation-gets-a-boost-as-canonical-signs-on.html )
- -
Another one late to join the trend is Dell, finally getting real about it's Ultra portable. Not a bad one but not an exceptional one in the market either.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080818-dells-eee-killer-to-ship-with-ubuntu-preinstalled.html )
- -
Things are getting smaller and faster. And if the trend continues those chips will produce power instead of consume it. Maybe.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080819-as-idf-begins-intel-ibm-tout-next-gen-process-technologies.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-19 ^:
Weather - -
. (16°C ^_^ 25°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
Acer Aspire One is the the subnote I get. I have used to Asus EeePc for a while and there is much to like about it. But I like the Acer keyboard better.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/18/review_acer_aspire_one/ )
News - -
No, I don't like Silverlight. But for the same reason that I don't like Adobe Flash and most other "multi media stuff". After getting a 5Mb multi media-enhanced screen telling you your search item was not found you may understand. And getting a copyright info page with a voice-over and animated background is funny. Once.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/18/silverlight_pros_and_cons/ )
- -
AMD isn't dead in the water. It has some interesting stuff in the pipeline. Probably not enough to really catch up with Intel but good enough to stay in the race for a bit longer.
New chips and assorted chip sets for next year.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/18/amd_shanghai_new_chipset/ )Some new light on it's Fusion chips to.
( -- )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-18 ^:
Weather - -
It should be nice and cool. But it still gets pretty warm though nicely under airco levels. . (17°C ^_^ 24°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
MS is trying to avoid the shock and auww is caused with the Vista release. Windows 7 will come early and with less surprises.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/15/windows_7_blog/ )
- -
Intel does make good chip sets. But Intel also knows what is wrong with them.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/15/intel_bogger_g45/ )
- -
Disaster strikes. As in the Arctic isn't thawing completely. Sure, it's no climate disaster, just a disaster for green politics and green-fan clubs. Though they will probably, as usual, ignore the facts.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/15/goddard_arctic_ice_mystery/ )
- -
Counting servers. Just 8.5 servers per rack sounds low if you look at blades and high-density packing, heck even with a standard set of blade servers you can squeeze about 4 times as many in. But of course then you may need a couple of racks for storage, full of and without servers. And probably another rack with networking stuff. So bringing that average down again.
Oh, I wonder how many servers MS is running purely on internal jobs.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/14/microsoft_servers_count/ )
- -
Cobol rules. Even in California, governator or not.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/14/cobol_california/ )
- -
( -- )
- -
I really should be playing with PHP.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/15/processing_xml_php/ )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-14 ^:
Weather - -
We got a few heavy showers during the night but now the sun is bright and warm. (17°C ^_^ 26°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
Legal music sharing in a P2P system.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/13/legal_p2p_shocker/ )
- -
( -- )
- -
Yummy storage system. With a very flashy announcement ... ahum. Yep IBM style
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/13/xiv_silent_launch/ )
- -
Oops. Probably the largest BSOD ever.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/13/olympics_blue_screen_death/ )
- -
Just the idea of a quad core notebook is silly. It's in the same league as 17" and taller screens. Nobody needs that type of power in a laptop, yes people want it (and Impressive). But apps that need a quad CPU need tons of memory and heaps of disk space and a racing graphics subset. To be laptopable it would also need a truckload of batteries. Nope for real road going laptop systems a single or dual core chip with plenty of memory and long battery life is a better option.
So the chip is not going to be a notebook processor workhorse. But it makes for a fine desktop-replacement chip -in a notebook case with a five-minutes battery. And a low-power server thing.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/14/intel_core_2_qx9300_details/ )
And Dell will of course build a notebook. Probably Apple to, maybe even first but Apple doesn't show future plans. Say MacMini Quad? ....
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/13/dell_preps_quad_core_mobile/ )
- -
Seems a lot of people don't like MS and the way it forces them around.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080813-ibm-vp-office-openxml-a-dead-end-microsoft-will-back-odf.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-12 ^:
Weather - -
We got some heavy thunderstorms tonight. So the world is really wet today. But the sun breaks out at times. (25°C ^_^ 32°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
Damn, I just got a mail from the Tax guys. They want 670€. From me.
News - -
nVidia is feeling the pinch. No body needs discrete graphics cards for plain business or home use anymore. So the card market is down to upgraders which go for the low end cards. Or gamers who go for the top end. The once profitable middle ground is drying up fast. But there aren't enough to gamers around.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/12/nvidia_quarter_ouch/ )
- -
Graphics cards moving out of the mainstream market? Don't worry, there are still enough around for playing.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/12/review_gpu_bangs_for_buck/ )
- -
And if you want something really fast it's available. Nope, gamers don't want space-saving desktops.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080812-amd-takes-performance-crown-from-nvidia-with-new-4870-x2.html )
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/12/amd_launches_4870_x2/ )
- -
The chances of Nokia and Google getting in bed together are slim. Very slim. Linux Mobile stands a better chance of getting cozy with either. Cozy but not merging. I guess there will be quite q lot of applications available in Symbian an Linux versions and some running on Android but the platforms won't unify.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080812-no-convergence-for-open-mobile-platforms-devs-go-own-way.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-11 ^:
Weather - -
It's a rain day. Not with a continuous rain (25°C ^_^ 32°C)
Wurk - -
Self - -
News - -
( -- )
- -
VIA quiting the chip set business is practically a sign that the PC market has shifted. For years the computer builders determined what was in their box. Intel dominated the Impressive market but there were enough alternatives with extra/other features to choose from. Having multiple vendors means you get a good choice and you are more likely to be able to add extra functions that other builders don't. But with VIA out there are just three players left in the PC field.
AMD killed part of the Impressive market by integrating the memory interface on the CPU. This made the North bridge superfluous. PS, Intel will integrate the memory controller into the CPU as well when they abandon the old front-side-bus architecture in their next version of Core2s. It made the South bridge more important. But after a spate of heavy competing and feature bidding things settled down to full integrated sets all having basically the same features. The only big difference being the quality and type of integrated graphics.
And there are just three players in that market. Intel of course only builds for it's own CPUs and buss structure, AMD-ATI build for it's own architecture mostly and soon probably exclusive (unless Intel grants them a new bus licence) and nVidia hanging in by making the best chip sets for both.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/11/via_to_quit_pc_chipset_biz/ )
- -
Yes, we all like to blame MS when some crook hacks into our system. But Intel got some flaws as well. And you can bet AMD and IBM and others have dangerous bugs in their hardware to.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/11/intel_flaws/ )
- -
Intel's next Core generation will be number 7. I suppose they are still using an old pentium to calculate numbers there. The curious thing is that they won't be low power chips.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/11/intel_unveils_core_i7/ )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-11 ^:
Weather - -
Warm still after a rainy night and there aren't much clouds. But it isn't sunny either. (18°C ^_^ 24°C)
News - -
Light and mind bending material. It's long been relegated to SF, ant typically not top quality SF at that. But it's coming. And it could have more than just plain invisibility effect, it sounds like the perfect radiation defense. Forget that laser-gun, it's deathly rays are light and will bend around.
Of course all you need to make the invisibility stuff unusable is plain mud and dirt. Let the enemies troops wade trough a muddy beach and you see your targets again.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/10/invisibilty_will_soon_be_within_our_grasp/ )
You won't of course be able to buy an invisibility-cloak and wear it to that effect, it doesn't really work that way. But it has it's uses.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080811-meta-material-does-not-render-anything-invisible.html )
- -
True enough. The only EeePC version you find in the marketing folders are loaded with Windows. And quite a lot of shops simply don't bother with the Linux version. The "it runs on Windows" line is used to indicate that it is a real computer, not some single-function limited tool.
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/08/09/gos_linux_desktop/ )
It's a bit like electrical cars, everybody thinks it is nice and good and all that, but still everybody goes for an internal-combustion engine car.
- -
Flexible, stretching computer circuits. Apart from the tight fitting spandex clothes notation there are plenty of uses for stuff like this. Combined with a flexible screen you get completely unbreakable notebooks. Wearing you jogging-MP3 players as a headband.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/08/every_friday_is_touchscreen_stretchpant_friday/ )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-08 ^:
Weather - -
Heavy rain and thunderstorms they said. Yep it drizzled a bit. (18°C ^_^ 24°C)
News - -
So the world isn't been cooked by our emission. Thank goodness. Otherwise this wind-energy stuff might kill us off.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/07/rooftop_wind_turbines_eco_own_goal/ )
- -
Linux-Mobile has open-source issues. Most of it's stuff isn't. Good work but still very far to go.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/08/limo_opensource_patents/ )
- -
Cutting wages never falls easy. Definitely not at the IBM chip production lines.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/07/ibm_chip_people_cuts/ )
- -
Open source with hardware. It is an interesting concept.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/07/openmoko_opens_schematics/ )
- -
Auwww, someone at the patent-and-trademark office is thinking. Clearly someone that needs to be removed from there.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/07/dell_cloud_computing_trademark_sent_back/ )
- -
No firewall is perfect. Not even the chinese one
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/07/torbrowser_olympics/ )
- -
The Mini laptop market becomes crowded. Which is a good thing as it will keep prices reasonable.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/07/minibook_laptop/ )
- -
Getting consumption down is easy. But it does take work and it requires a fair bit of investment. Not likely to be cost effective in the short run and companies only look at the short term effects of things like this.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080806-corporate-pc-power-consumption-difficult-to-trim.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-07 ^:
Weather - -
Baking hot yesterday. Hot enough to cook up a haze that traps the heat so no night's cooling. and it remains hot all day (25°C ^_^ 32°C)
News - -
Hole plugged. But what will the next one be?
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/06/kaminsky_black_hat/ )
- -
Shedding the disk to become (more) portable. But what's the point? Yes, it's portable but you still need a bunch of other stuff to connect negating the portability.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/07/iomega_screenplay_tv_link/ )
- -
Silly patents. Though, a few more of those techniques and you can dispense off with the cashier, so it ain't that silly. The unions might not approve of this.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/06/ibm_paper_or_plastic_patent/ )
- -
Transmeta is still alive? Well, well, well, I thought they had been gobbled up by some.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/06/transmeta_nvidia_longrun/ )
- -
IBM throws Power6 open for open source clustering and other games.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/06/ibm_nuclear_supercomputer/ )
- -
Putting the heat up a notch on the RIAA spies.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080805-university-wants-cease-and-desist-order-for-mediasentry.html )
- -
Phishing goes everywhere. The only thing you need is a place where people 'meet' and some gullible users.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080805-brazilian-hackers-stalk-twitter-try-to-wax-the-unwary.html )
- -
Trying to get it right now that fuel prices meet reality.
( http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/fuel-economy-challenges.ars )
- -
Cloud computing gets more and more attention. I suppose that, in a couple of years time people will wake up and notice we are mostly back to pre-PC days, with all data and application stored on big corporate machines and everybody renting a dumb-terminal.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080806-atampt-has-head-in-the-clouds-with-synaptic-hosting.html )
- -
Stateless computing is a bit of a sidestep into clouding. An idealised view.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080806-stateless-computing-the-future-of-the-cloud.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-06 ^:
Weather - -
Lots of sun. To much actually. (25°C ^_^ 34°C)
News - -
I think IBM has been in bed with all the big distros now. Calling them all favourite at some time. I guess the message is clear, IBM doesn't like MS.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/05/ibm_ubuntu/ )
Ubuntu on the desktop and SuSE on the server. And MS on the deskside, where the bin is.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/05/ubuntu_ibm_linux_distros/ )
- -
Security at the security firms is not what you would hope for.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/05/missing_laptop/ )
- -
Wow, 500GB CDs. Ok, Blue-ray (BR) disks and in the lab only. Still, impressive feat.
Heu ...
but what is the market for this type of stuff?
Music? Silly. A single disk would contain more music than you can listen to in a lifetime.
Film? You'll watch your eyes blind if you cant to see a whole disk in one sitting.
Games? A bit more likely but you need a silly big game to fill up a disk of that size, filling it with option no one will ever use. And the features you ship will be passé the moment the disk leaves the shop.
Nope, music, film and games don't need disks that big, it's easier to use the internet as medium. It's easier to download extra stuff and patches than stick with one obsolete bunch of bits.
For backups and archiving it is growing up to almost enough capacity to compete with tape. But only for big companies, small businesses and homes either do no backup what so ever or do backups on external disks. BR disks are pretty new and unproven so they have a big disadvantage competing with tape. They only have two real advantage over tape, one is price -maybe- and the other is file-seek times. No big company is going to throw away it's tapes and tape libraries to switch over untill the price advantage is real and the reliability is proven. So maybe in ten years time. And if they do they may well switch to hard disks. Even big companies are looking at disks cause they are pretty reliable, especially in RAID setups, and fast. One of main advantages of external hard disks disks over tape and BR is that you scan switch to a larger capacity type of disk without having to invest in new extra equipment. Going from last years 400GB tape to new 1TB tape means not only buying a bunch of new tapers but also buying new tape drives. With the risk that they can't read the old drives. The same will probably happen with BR disks except that they will probably evolve faster (=your investment becomes obsolete faster). With disk you plug in a bigger disk in the same interface and interfaces don't change that fast. Having a good set of disks also means you have emergency spare disks in case one of the main storage drives fails. Disks are -still- more expensive than tape or BR but the difference isn't earth shattering.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/05/pioneer_500gb_bluray_disc/ )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-05 ^:
Weather - -
Mostly dry with some afternoon rain. Well that's the prediction. But there was no rain at all, just a couple of shin clouds passing by. (19°C ^_^ 26°C)
Wurk - -
Not to many calls but irritating. It looked like they were conspiring, I got relative long periods without call but when I got one there were usually two or three people calling at the same time.
News - -
Interesting tidbit details about the AMD Fusion chip. That it will be baked at the TMSC foundries is the most surprising bit.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/05/amd_fusion_details_leaked/ )
- -
The Zune isn't going well enough and MS can't make it fly better. So it's time to subcontract the song-sales to Nokia (and soon others). MS hopes to build a wider market for Zune and it may well help cause it suddenly isn't all locked down by one company. No one (xpt some spinheads) expects a Zune Phone (zPhone?) but I wouldn't be surprised to find music playing Nokia phones coming to the market.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/04/zune_nokia_deal/ )
- -
48 cores. Wow. Well, OK, it is impressive but not earth shattering.
Mixing different types of cores reminds me of the i486 which basically combined two chips (i386, i387).
You see we started off with single core chips having basically a single execution unit. Things like the i8080. Slowly more execution units crept in, first in graphics, and other specialised chips, later in mainstream chips. Like the original i486 having one floating point execution unit and one integer unit or the original Pentium with a whole set of integer and other units. Chips became out of order and the number of execution units became an indication of prowess. The idea was if you can't make the units faster, increase the number of units
Later full chips got bonded together so we end up counting cores.
But is a graphics chip with a single 'core' having some hundreds of execution units, as the latest nVidea and AMD chips have, better or worse than a chip with 50 something 'cores'? Where do you draw the line between cores and execution units?
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/08/04/larrabee_gpu_benifits/ )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-04 ^:
Weather - -
Most of the weekend was hot and sunny. The rain started on sun day evening (just after I ignited the BBQ, of course) and went on all night. Now it's not raining anymore but quite some streets are inundated. (16°C ^_^ 24°C)
Wurk - -
The phone was ringing when I got in at 06:55. And I put it down at 19:30.
News - -
Sorry, no time
( -- )
(Mail Remarks about words)
2008-08-01 ^:
Weather - -
The night temperature sank to a staggering 24#176;C. I prefer night temperatures around 0. (25°C ^_^ 34°C)
News - -
IT jobs are less hot again.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/31/it_jobs_good_or_bad/ )
- -
Copyright crazy.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/31/stormtrooper_helmet_war/ )
- -
NASA dropped the ball for space-shuttling while it looked way into the future. the AS AF picked up the ball though and has kept the X37 project going.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/31/us_spaceplane_demo_to_launch/ )
- -
Curious view of Silicon Valley life. Cuil may not be your favourite search engine but it works .
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/31/inside_cuil/ )
- -
I'll be getting the AVG update. But I'll have to do some checks first (base V8 doesn't run with my version of Windows2000Pro.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/31/avg_engine_update/ )
- -
No doubt Apple is looking into other chip sets and chips but switching isn't likely to happen soon. Not unless there is a substantial advantage to be gained. I suppose they are looking at other chip sets more with a view of making OS/X compatible than actually using it in their hardware. And no, they are not going to just sell OS/X to run on bog standard PCs as a Windows replacement. Not yet.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080731-analysis-why-apple-wont-drop-intel-chipsets-any-time-soon.html )
- -
Fuel-cell advances are made all the time. This recent set could drive the cost down.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080731-fuel-cell-improvements-raise-hopes-for-clean-cheap-energy.html )
(Mail Remarks about words)
A day you don't learn something is a wasted day.
A day you don't teach something is a lost day.