TechEye |  |
- Stanford claims win on light based computers
- Race to win Chromebook share hots up
- HP wins the server race
- Pirate books sites banned
- Companies remain clueless about IT
- Wax Woz to wow at Tussauds
- Avago close to buying Broadcom
- Flexible OLED panels still too expensive
- One day all chips will be wooden
- Print 3D things in your office
| Stanford claims win on light based computers Posted: 28 May 2015 03:46 AM PDT
Engineer Jelena Vuckovic said that 80 percent of the power of a microprocessor is taken up by sending data through the interconnecting wires. But she said her team has developed a process by making it practical to use light rather than electricity to shunt data around computers. Light, said the team, can carry 20 times as much data as shuffling electrons through wires. The problem in the past is that optical interconnects had to be designed one at a time and that has caused an impractical bottleneck. But the team think their inverse design algorithm allows software to fabricate a silicon structure. While the team admits that its manufacturing processes are nowhere near as precise as commercial fabrication plants, it believes that the fact it's built working devices shows that the tech can be easily mass produced at leading edge fabs. The illustration shows how infrared light enters the silicon structure from the left while the cut out patterns, created by the Stanford algorithm, send two different frequencies of the light into the pathways on the right.        |
| Race to win Chromebook share hots up Posted: 28 May 2015 03:35 AM PDT
According to Digitimes Research, Lenovo, Asustek, Google, HP and Acer will take the market on in the second half of this year. Google doesn't mind competing with its customers. The report said that it will introduce two Chromebooks – one for the entry level and one for the high level, with shipments starting in the third quarter of this year. Digitimes Research said the high end machine will have a 12.85 inch display and be powered with a Tegra 6 microprocessor. The low end model will have a 10.1-inch display and use Rockhip. The analysts believe that Google wants to compete with Apple's 12-inch iPad. No details are yet available of prices, but it's obvious that Apple won't be too worried about the arrival of the Chromebooks, while Microsoft is bound to be somewhat concerned.     |
| Posted: 28 May 2015 03:19 AM PDT
That's the conclusion of a Gartner survey of server shipments, and HP was the winner. The reason for the surge in the sales is because there was very strong demand on the hyperscale front. But while the USA has done well, because of the strength of the dollar against other currencies, other regions such as Latin America, Japan and Europe showed either small declines or flat growth. Mainframes, which IBM practically owns, showed an increase of 95.1 percent in terms of revenue. This is how the Gartner figures panned out in revenues:
    |
| Posted: 28 May 2015 02:40 AM PDT
This will mean that pirated books will be treated in the same way as pirate film or movie sites. The action requires BT, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk and EE to block sites including Ebookee, LibGen and Freshwap within 10 days. Site blocking has become the favoured tool of Big Content in Europe and the UK in particular. More than 120 domains are currently blocked by the country's major ISPs, largely thanks to action taken by the movie and music industries plus soccer body The Premier League. The Publishers Association has more than 100 members with combined revenues of £4.7 billion, went to the High Court to demand the blocking of several eBook focused download sites. They are: Ebookee, LibGen, Freshwap, AvaxHome, Bookfi, Bookre and Freebookspot. PA investigations found that over 80 per cent of the material made available by the sites infringed copyright. In total the sites are said to offer in excess of 10 million titles. PA and its members claim to have sent close to one million takedown notices directly to the sites and requested that Google remove 1.75 million related URLs from its search results. However it seems that little actually happened. In common with all previous similar actions initiated by the MPAA and BPI, The Publishers Association sued the UK's leading ISPs – BT, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk and EE – under Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Presenting a case which demonstrated mass infringement on the eBook sites in question alongside evidence that the major ISPs have "actual knowledge" that their subscribers are infringing copyright, the PA argued that the sites should be blocked without further delay. UK ISPs have long since given up defending these cases which is pretty much why the publishers won that quickly. The ISPs listed in the injunction now have 10 days in which to implement a blockade. High Court injunctions represent a new anti-piracy tool for The Publishers Association. In addition to its regular takedown work with search engines such as Google, The PA is also involved in City of London Police's Operation Creative, run out of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU). Last year PIPCU acted on The PA's behalf by taking down a domain operated by eBook site OnRead.
    |
| Companies remain clueless about IT Posted: 28 May 2015 02:40 AM PDT
According to a survey of 436 global business leaders, less than a quarter were confident their organisations have the smarts to succeed in the digital aspects of their business. Less than half – 45 percent – of all respondents felt they personally had the technology knowledge they need to succeed in their jobs. Organisations that do have the skills were “Digital Leaders,” yet less than a fifth of respondents (19 percent) fell into that category. Digital Leaders, the report says, were organizations that have both a compelling digital vision as well as the people, processes and technology needed to execute against that vision. For this small group of Digital Leaders, the research reveals an environment of ongoing digital education and shared ownership and accountability for digital technology initiatives among business leaders, producing not only monetary results, but also a greater confidence throughout the organization in their ability to compete and succeed in an increasingly digital future. More than 46 percent of all survey respondents indicated that they are looking to their CIO to learn about digital technology trends, presumably so they didn't have to worry about it. But nearly a third of CIOS said they were "too busy". But overcoming those challenges is critical, and within the report, survey respondents in the Digital Leader category indicate the specific ways their CIOs are assuming the role of "digital coach or master" to better prepare their organizations for future success     |
| Posted: 28 May 2015 02:39 AM PDT
Competition was stiff among the ten nominees, with everyone from Elon Musk to George Lucas in the running. But hell, Steve Wozniak created Apple by inventing its computer hardware whereas the guy who invented the rounded rectangle is already there. Woz also did dancing with stars which is more than Steve Jobs ever managed. It will take two to three months for sculptors to complete the process, starting with Wozniak holding completely still for a three-hour sitting session while 250 measurements are taken. Woz is characteristically humbled by the whole thing. "I am incredibly excited to be inducted into the Madame Tussauds family. I remember visiting the London Museum as a kid, and how cool it was to see Mark Knopfler's figure in wax," says Wozniak. "I can't wait to see my figure next to Jobs – it'll be just like old times." The only difference is that wax Jobs will be curiously silent.     |
| Avago close to buying Broadcom Posted: 28 May 2015 02:38 AM PDT
If the rumours are right, a deal could be announced this week, although negotiations are still on-going. Shares of Broadcom soared almost 20 percent to $56.40 while Avago’s rose nine percent to $143.29 as news of the deal leaked out. Avago has a market capitalisations of $36 billion and Broadcom has $34 billion respectively. Broadcom makes semiconductors for a variety of products, including set-top boxes, cell phones and network equipment. It is best known for its connectivity chips which integrate Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology, which are used widely in top-tier smartphones made by Apple and Samsung. After losing ground to Qualcomm in modem technology, Broadcom shut that unit and cut a fifth of its workforce last year. Avago could be looking to work with Broadcom’s storage business. Avago had been seeking to buy a large chipmaker and approached companies including Xilinx, Japan’s Renesas Electronics and Maxim Integrated Products. Avago, which develops semiconductor devices for the wireless and industrial markets, has been looking at expanding in areas ranging from analogue semiconductors to radio frequency technology. The company bid for Freescale earlier this year, before NXP Semiconductors bought it for $11.8 billion.
    |
| Flexible OLED panels still too expensive Posted: 27 May 2015 08:10 AM PDT
The manufacturers of organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels are looking to make more flexible active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) panels, according to a report from research company IHS. We don't have to spell out all the words in AMOLED again, but the leaders in manufacturing these flexible panels are Korean giants Samsung and LG Display. Those two manufacturers are ramping up production of flexible panels this year and IHS thinks flexible shipments are set to grow exponentially. The reason why flexible panels seem to be the order of the day is because IHS believes wearable and other form factors need them. But the snag is that smartphone makers – presumably other than Samsung and LG – find AMOLED panels to be a little too expensive for their purposes. Principal analyst Jerry Kang at IHS, said: "Smartphone makers were unhappy with the price of AMOLED panels, because higher priced performance AMOLED displays had lower sharpness than LTPS LCD displays with the same resolution. As the wide colour gamut of AMOLED displays has not been a major differentiation factor in the smartphone panel market, current AMOLED panels will eventually lose their appeal, unless prices decline further."     |
| One day all chips will be wooden Posted: 27 May 2015 06:57 AM PDT
The problem with current semiconductors today are that they are essentially toxic and non-biodegrable, and so the researchers think they can replace substrates of chips with cellulose nanofibril (CNF) a material derived from wood. Professor Jack Ma, a computer engineer professor at UW-Madison, said: "The majority of material in a chip is support. We only use less than a couple of micrometres for anything else. Now the chips are so safe you can put them in the forest and fungus will degrade it. They become as safe as fertiliser." CNF, according to the team, has a relatively low thermal expansion coefficient, making it suitable for such applications. Ma said that because mass production of current semiconductors is so chip, it could well take some time for the industry to adopt the wooden design. "Flexible electronics are the future, and we think we're going to be well ahead of the curve."     |
| Print 3D things in your office Posted: 27 May 2015 06:25 AM PDT
Zortrax said its Inventure printer reproduces features in high quality 3D devices. It includes a closed casing, double heads, easy replacement of cartridges and a 130x130x120 working area. CEO Rafal Tomasiak, who also helped design the printer, said that Inventure was created to suit office space, such as architectural studios. He said that while engineers, designers and architects are core users of 3D printers, his company also gets inquiries from both the medical and automotive industries. The printer will use a thermoplastic substance which is suitable for both prototypes and final objects with quality close to products created with injection mold technology. Zortrax did not indicate how much the 3D printer will cost.     |
| You are subscribed to email updates from TechEye To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.