Here is my collection of trends and predictions for year 2014:
It seems that PC market is not recovering in 2014. IDC is forecasting that the technology channel will buy in around 34 million fewer PCs this year than last. It seem that things aren’t going to improve any time soon (down, down, down until 2017?). There will be no let-up on any front, with desktops and portables predicted to decline in both the mature and emerging markets. Perhaps the chief concern for future PC demand is a lack of reasons to replace an older system: PC usage has not moved significantly beyond consumption and productivity tasks to differentiate PCs from other devices. As a result, PC lifespan continue to increase. Death of the Desktop article says that sadly for the traditional desktop, this is only a matter of time before its purpose expires and that it would be inevitable it will happen within this decade. (I expect that it will not completely disappear).
When the PC business is slowly decreasing, smartphone and table business will increase quickly. Some time in the next six months, the number of smartphones on earth will pass the number of PCs. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone: the mobile business is much bigger than the computer industry. There are now perhaps 3.5-4 billion mobile phones, replaced every two years, versus 1.7-1.8 billion PCs replaced every 5 years. Smartphones broke down that wall between those industries few years ago – suddenly tech companies could sell to an industry with $1.2 trillion annual revenue. Now you can sell more phones in a quarter than the PC industry sells in a year.
After some years we will end up with somewhere over 3bn smartphones in use on earth, almost double the number of PCs. There are perhaps 900m consumer PCs on earth, and maybe 800m corporate PCs. The consumer PCs are mostly shared and the corporate PCs locked down, and neither are really mobile. Those 3 billion smartphones will all be personal, and all mobile. Mobile browsing is set to overtake traditional desktop browsing in 2015. The smartphone revolution is changing how consumers use the Internet. This will influence web design.
The only PC sector that seems to have some growth is server side. Microservers & Cloud Computing to Drive Server Growth article says that increased demand for cloud computing and high-density microserver systems has brought the server market back from a state of decline. We’re seeing fairly significant change in the server market. According to the 2014 IC Market Drivers report, server unit shipment growth will increase in the next several years, thanks to purchases of new, cheaper microservers. The total server IC market is projected to rise by 3% in 2014 to $14.4 billion: multicore MPU segment for microservers and NAND flash memories for solid state drives are expected to see better numbers.
Spinning rust and tape are DEAD. The future’s flash, cache and cloud article tells that the flash is the tier for primary data; the stuff christened tier 0. Data that needs to be written out to a slower response store goes across a local network link to a cloud storage gateway and that holds the tier 1 nearline data in its cache. Never mind software-defined HYPE, 2014 will be the year of storage FRANKENPLIANCES article tells that more hype around Software-Defined-Everything will keep the marketeers and the marchitecture specialists well employed for the next twelve months but don’t expect anything radical. The only innovation is going to be around pricing and consumption models as vendors try to maintain margins. FCoE will continue to be a side-show and FC, like tape, will soldier on happily. NAS will continue to eat away at the block storage market and perhaps 2014 will be the year that object storage finally takes off.
IT managers are increasingly replacing servers with SaaS article says that cloud providers take on a bigger share of the servers as overall market starts declining. An in-house system is no longer the default for many companies. IT managers want to cut the number of servers they manage, or at least slow the growth, and they may be succeeding. IDC expects that anywhere from 25% to 30% of all the servers shipped next year will be delivered to cloud services providers. In three years, 2017, nearly 45% of all the servers leaving manufacturers will be bought by cloud providers. The shift will slow the purchase of server sales to enterprise IT. Big cloud providers are more and more using their own designs instead of servers from big manufacturers. Data center consolidations are eliminating servers as well. For sure, IT managers are going to be managing physical servers for years to come. But, the number will be declining.
I hope that the IT business will start to grow this year as predicted. Information technology spends to increase next financial year according to N Chandrasekaran, chief executive and managing director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest information technology (IT) services company. IDC predicts that IT consumption will increase next year to 5 per cent worldwide to $ 2.14 trillion. It is expected that the biggest opportunity will lie in the digital space: social, mobility, cloud and analytics. The gradual recovery of the economy in Europe will restore faith in business. Companies are re-imaging their business, keeping in mind changing digital trends.
The death of Windows XP will be on the new many times on the spring. There will be companies try to cash in with death of Windows XP: Microsoft’s plan for Windows XP support to end next spring, has received IT services providers as well as competitors to invest in their own services marketing. HP is peddling their customers Connected Backup 8.8 service to prevent data loss during migration. VMware is selling cloud desktop service. Google is wooing users to switch to ChromeOS system by making Chrome’s user interface familiar to wider audiences. The most effective way XP exploiting is the European defense giant EADS subsidiary of Arkoon, which promises support for XP users who do not want to or can not upgrade their systems.
There will be talk on what will be coming from Microsoft next year. Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch a series of updates in 2015 that could see major revisions for the Windows, Xbox, and Windows RT platforms. Microsoft’s wave of spring 2015 updates to its various Windows-based platforms has a codename: Threshold. If all goes according to early plans, Threshold will include updates to all three OS platforms (Xbox One, Windows and Windows Phone).
Amateur programmers are becoming increasingly more prevalent in the IT landscape. A new IDC study has found that of the 18.5 million software developers in the world, about 7.5 million (roughly 40 percent) are “hobbyist developers,” which is what IDC calls people who write code even though it is not their primary occupation. The boom in hobbyist programmers should cheer computer literacy advocates.IDC estimates there are almost 29 million ICT-skilled workers in the world as we enter 2014, including 11 million professional developers.
The Challenge of Cross-language Interoperability will be more and more talked. Interfacing between languages will be increasingly important. You can no longer expect a nontrivial application to be written in a single language. With software becoming ever more complex and hardware less homogeneous, the likelihood of a single language being the correct tool for an entire program is lower than ever. The trend toward increased complexity in software shows no sign of abating, and modern hardware creates new challenges. Now, mobile phones are starting to appear with eight cores with the same ISA (instruction set architecture) but different speeds, some other streaming processors optimized for different workloads (DSPs, GPUs), and other specialized cores.
Just another new USB connector type will be pushed to market. Lightning strikes USB bosses: Next-gen ‘type C’ jacks will be reversible article tells that USB is to get a new, smaller connector that, like Apple’s proprietary Lightning jack, will be reversible. Designed to support both USB 3.1 and USB 2.0, the new connector, dubbed “Type C”, will be the same size as an existing micro USB 2.0 plug.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Cloudera Raises $160M From T. Rowe Price, Google Ventures And Michael Dell
http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/18/cloudera-raises-160m-from-t-rowe-price-google-ventures-and-michael-dell/
Cloudera, the startup that distributes and services Apache Hadoop-based data-management software and services, has raised $160 million
When a user needs to analyze raw data to find a trend or to see if they can find valuable answers in unused data, Cloudera (built on top of Hadoop) allows them to complete more efficient queries.
Hadoop is a Java software framework born of an open-source implementation of Google’s published computing infrastructure which is fostered within the Apache Software Foundation. Hadoop supports distributed applications running on large clusters of commodity computers processing enormous amounts of data. Cloudera helps distribute Hadoop, and provides practical services around the technology, similar to what Red Hat does for the Linux framework.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oculus and Sony Throw Down With Competing VR Headsets at GDC
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2014/03/project-morpheus-oculus/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Employee Responsible For Windows 8 Leaks Arrested
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2014/03/microsoft-employee-responsible-for-windows-8-leaks-arrested/
Leaking information like company information, software, and so on can land a person in pretty hot water. If you might recall it was about a couple of years ago when copies of Windows 8 began making their way around the internet? It was discovered that a Microsoft employee by the name of Alex Kibkalo was the one responsible for those leaks.
After a year’s worth of investigation, Kibkalo was recently arrested for stealing Windows-related trade secrets. Apparently Kibkalo, a senior architect at Microsoft, was motivated to leak the Windows 8 files, which were under a strict NDA at that time, due to a poor performance review that he was given during his tenure at the company.
According to the reports, not only was Windows 8 leaked, but he also leaked Windows 7 files and the Microsoft Activation Server Software Development Kit which when reverse engineered
Tomi Engdahl says:
Leef Bridge 3.0
A USB Drive That Makes Transferring Your Mobile Files Faster — Kinda
http://www.wired.com/reviews/2014/03/leef-bridge-dual-usb-drive/
Anyone who’s had to move files from an Android phone or tablet to a Mac or PC knows the dance: call it the Three-Step Drag.
First, you e-mail the file or upload it to a cloud storage site like Dropbox or Google Drive. Next you open the email and download the attachment, or get the file from the cloud server. And finally you open the file on your computer. It’s all fine and good if you have an Internet or network connection. But for those times when neither are available, Leef’s Bridge 3.0 flash drive provides a flexible, if somewhat frustrating, alternative.
So while the Leef Bridge 3.0 itself works well, users still need to overcome the clumsiness of the file manager apps the drive typically needs to operate.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alan Turing Institute to be set up to research big data
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26651179
An institute named after computer pioneer and code-breaker Alan Turing is to be set up, the chancellor announced in his Budget speech on Wednesday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Unreal Engine 4 Launching With Full Source Code
http://games.slashdot.org/story/14/03/19/1855234/unreal-engine-4-launching-with-full-source-code
“Today Epic launched Unreal Engine 4 for game developers. Supported platforms are Windows, OS X, iOS and Android, with desktop Linux coming later. The monetization scheme is unique: anyone can get access to literally everything for a $19/month fee.”
“anyone can ship a commercial product with UE4 by paying 5% of their gross revenue resulting from sales to users”
Welcome to Unreal Engine 4
https://www.unrealengine.com/blog/welcome-to-unreal-engine-4
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gartner: Array makers. Think performance counts? WRONG
Crowns HDS array ‘best general purpose’ high-end kit
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/20/gartners_high_end_array_report/
A Gartner report looking at high-end enterprise storage arrays published this month has concluded that because of SSDs, an array’s performance is no longer a differentiator in its own right.
The analyst makes the point that “Product advantages are usually short-lived and temporary in nature.”
Typically the best arrays would score around 4.2 and the worst 3.5, not a great difference at all. I
Tomi Engdahl says:
VMware happy for VSANs to work alongside actual SANs
‘VSAN plus’ virtual and physical SAN span plan leaves storage admins to do the heavy lifting
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/20/vmware_happy_for_vsans_to_work_with_actual_sans/
When VMware launched its virtual storage area network (VSAN) a couple of weeks back, other software-defined storage players suddenly wanted to get in touch with El Reg to share their feelpinions on the topic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Good vs. poor documentation: Don’t be ‘that guy’
http://www.controleng.com/search/search-single-display/good-vs-poor-documentation-dont-be-that-guy/dcf481344b6b966bf2758b52c1b0f4db.html
the documentation has become separated from the program. This can happen for various reasons:
- The equipment has changed hands several times, misplacing information
- Someone saw this as an opportunity to insure continued employment by being the ‘go to’ guy
- The dog ate it
- It was never developed because the intent was “self-evident to anyone who knows what they’re doing”
- The information was intentionally stripped.
These are just a few of the many reasons. We as developers and programmers can’t do much about the first two; this is simply a fact of life and is typically caused by our end-user. Meanwhile, that pesky dog has been a haunting presence since grade school and will probably never die. But it is the last two reasons that are well within our control.
Code and configuration commentary does not have to be a literary masterpiece.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Buy Microsoft Milk When the Google Cow Is Free?
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/03/20/0250220/why-buy-microsoft-milk-when-the-google-cow-is-free
‘Why would we use Google Docs over like Microsoft Word?’ a teacher asked the class. ‘Because it’s free!’ exclaimed a grinning Schmidt.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Android Studio vs. Eclipse: Which Fits Your Needs?
http://slashdot.org/topic/bi/googles-android-studio-vs-eclipse-fits-needs/
Google’s Android Studio is a development tool for Android based on the IntelliJ IDEA platform, one that managed to attract a lot of hype when it rolled out in mid-2013. Roughly a year later, the platform is still in “early access preview,” and work on it is ongoing.
Eclipse, on the other hand, is the granddaddy of IDEs; although it doesn’t offer native Android support, it does have some nice tools to help you build Android applications—one such tool is the Google Plugin for Eclipse, made by Google.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel’s desktop processors, Senior Vice President Lisa Graff says that computer enthusiasts are desktop computers, the most important advocates. – They asked us to give them more. We will respond to the request by offering more cores, better over-clocking possibilities and higher speeds.
Intel introduced the game developers event in the unlocked Devil’s Canyon code known as the fourth-generation Intel Core processor, a special type. Next summer will go on sale the processor runs cooler, and a new interface, the chip encapsulation materials are expected to create significant improvements in performance and overclocking.
Source: Elektroniikkalehti
http://www.elektroniikkalehti.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1098:intel-kosiskelee-pelaajia&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Use of traditional hard disks on laptops is not justified in any other reason than sometimes price.
Laptop can start 20 times faster if the main memory is a solid-state type (starts like tablet).
On laptops is also important in power consumption. Micron’s new solid-state drive consumes 6 percent of the power that it takes to run a mechanical disk (in normal operation, M550 disc consumes 0.15 watts of power).
SATA 128 GB SSD costs $ 99. A terabyte of flas disk price is $ 530.
Source: Elektroniikkalehti
http://www.elektroniikkalehti.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1091:ssd-on-ainoa-jarkivalinta&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reality check: Java 8 finally catches a multi-core break
Making a ‘feature’ of security
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/20/java_8_security_multi_core/
Java 8 is important because it’s the base spec for enterprise Java, as well as feeding the free and open-source implementation of OpenJDK loved by open-sourcers like Red Hat.
Lambda Expressions make building multi-core a reality for ordinary programmers because it implements closures through a re-write of the underlying JDK libraries. Libraries will now do the low-level work of dividing up the task of parcelling up pieces of an application’s performance to run on different parts of a of a processor, or processors’, different cores.
This makes it easier to write multi-threaded code, as code jockeys no longer need to program their apps manually to utilize different processors and cores.
Multi-core is a tick in the box in today’s world.
C++ aficionado Herb Sutter has been saying since 2005 that devs need to write apps that are multi-threaded to take advantage of the speed and performance of multiple cores rather than relying on chip makers to boost the a single processor’s clock speed or its cache.
second big development in Java 8 and a big, new “feature” being touted by Oracle: security.
Java last year was stung by 42 security flaws, 19 severe.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GNU C Library Alternative Musl Libc Hits 1.0 Milestone
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/03/20/1336223/gnu-c-library-alternative-musl-libc-hits-10-milestone
Musl is a lightweight, fast, simple, MIT-licensed, correctness-oriented alternative to the GNU C library (glibc), uClibc, or Android’s Bionic. At this point musl provides all mandatory C99 and POSIX interfaces (plus a lot of widely-used extensions), and well over 5000 packages are known to build successfully against musl.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel unveils next generation desktop computers despite struggling PC market
Powered by updated chips with Iris Pro graphics
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2335414/intel-unveils-next-generation-desktop-computers-despite-struggling-pc-market
CHIPMAKER Intel has unveiled several devices including desktop PCs powered by updated chips with Iris Pro graphics, despite the slowing PC market.
The new class of device is a PC built into a 20in touchscreen with a battery and the ability to slot into a docking station.
Intel also detailed new fourth generation Core processors coming later this year, including a chip codenamed Devil’s Canyon
Tomi Engdahl says:
CEO Says One Laptop Per Child Project Has Achieved Its Goals
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/03/20/182252/ceo-says-one-laptop-per-child-project-has-achieved-its-goals
“A blog post at OLPC News last week went viral with the claim that the nine-year-old One Laptop Per
Child project is dead”
“response from the OLPC Association itself was brief, saying that its mission is ‘far from over’ and citing ongoing projects to distribute laptops in Central America.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Introduces Hack: Statically Typed PHP
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/14/03/20/1924211/facebook-introduces-hack-statically-typed-php
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gartner gurus: Storage array market GREW at the end of 2013
Don’t forget that came after an abysmal third quarter
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/21/gartner_gurus_see_storage_array_growth/
According to Gartner: “Worldwide external controller-based (ECB) disk storage vendor revenue totalled $6.3bn in the fourth quarter of 2013, a five per cent increase from $6.0bn a year ago.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bono bests Bezos in Fortune’s ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ list
That Apple CEO? #33. The US president and UK prime minister? M.I.A.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/21/bono_bests_bezos_in_ifortuneis_worlds_50_greatest_leaders_list/
Fortune has published its list of the worthies they deem to be the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders”, and the tech world is represented in the top 10 not by a Zuckerberg, Page, Ellison, or Brin, but by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whom Fortune describes as “an extremely rare combination of visionary and master builder.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Announcing the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 (DK2)
http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/announcing-the-oculus-rift-development-kit-2-dk2/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Project Mystic’s Potential Competitors To VMware: Bring It On
http://www.crn.com/news/storage/300072030/project-mystics-potential-competitors-to-vmware-bring-it-on.htm
As first reported by CRN, VMware and EMC are teaming up to develop “Project Mystic,” an EMC-branded converged infrastructure appliance based on software VMware is developing that could be integrated by distributors on industry-standard server hardware.
Converged infrastructure combines server, storage, networking and virtualization technologies from multiple vendors in such a way that they can be managed as if it were a single appliance.
The best-known converged infrastructure offerings to date are those from multiple vendors
Other vendors, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Dell and Oracle, have converged infrastructure offerings based almost exclusively on their own technologies.
Project Mystic’s biggest potential target, however, could be the market held by developers of hyper-converged infrastructure technology, which differs from converged infrastructure in that the server, storage, networking and virtualization technology is all software-defined rather than coming from separate hardware components.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DARPA, IBM Neurosynaptic Chip and Programming Language Mimic the Brain
http://singularityhub.com/2013/08/11/darpa-ibm-neurosynaptic-chip-and-programming-language-mimic-the-brain/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Optimizing virtualization with KVM and NO_HZ
http://www.enea.com/Embedded-hub/whitepapers/white-papers/Optimizing-virtualization-with-KVM-and-NO_HZ1/?_cldee=dG9taS5lbmdkYWhsQG5ldGNvbnRyb2wuZmk%3d
The new Linux kernel feature NO_HZ, also referred to as dynticks, attracts an increasing number of Linux developers and followers. NO_HZ makes it possible to minimize the frequency of the OS tick, thereby improving the real-time characteristics in Linux systems.
By comparing virtualization (KVM) with and without NO_HZ, we observe that virtual environments benefit from uninterrupted execution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This changes everything: Microsoft slips WinXP holdouts $100 to buy new Windows 8 PCs
Buy ‘em out, boys
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/22/microsoft_windows_xp_100_dollars_windows_8/
In an attempt to lure people off its 13-year-old Windows XP operating system, Microsoft will pay $100 to XP users who upgrade to a new Windows 8 PC.
The promotion, run via the Microsoft Store website, is open to users who ditch their Windows XP systems and buy new machines.
The money-off offer applies to PCs costing $699 or more that are bought from Redmond’s online shop.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Only 60 per cent of general practitioners in the EU use of e-health services, the EU’s new statistic reveals. Reading has risen 50 per cent since 2007.
Despite the increased numbers of electronic systems continues to be used mainly for data storage and reporting. Only ten percent of the study doctors had told the patient appointments electronically.
The study revealed that most e-services are used in hospitals in Denmark, where service penetration is 66 per cent. Second is the self-extremely flexible part of Estonia, where the reading is 63 per cent. A shared third place come to Finland and Sweden 62 per cent.
In particular, the EU will miss the opportunity for patients to check their own data electronically. It is currently possible only nine per cent European hospitals.
Source: Tietoviikko
http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/suomi+jaa+karkisijoilta+terveysitn+hyodyntamisessa/a976775
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCIe Storage Spec Group Incorporates for Added Clout
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1321609&
The NVM Express Work Group has decided to incorporate itself to further the NVM Express (NVMe) specification for accessing solid-state disks (SSDs) on a PCI Express (PCIe) bus.
NVMe is a standardized register interface, command, and feature set for PCIe-based storage technologies such as SSDs, designed specifically for non-volatile memory. It is optimized for high performance and low latency, scaling from client to enterprise segments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft to rebrand ‘Windows Azure’ as ‘Microsoft Azure’
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-to-rebrand-windows-azure-as-microsoft-azure-7000027590/
Summary: Microsoft will rebrand its cloud platform from ‘Windows Azure’ to ‘Microsoft Azure’ as part of the company’s push to emphasize its cross-platform services prowess.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Now arrives in Chrome for Windows and Mac
http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/03/24/google-now-arrives-chrome-windows-mac/#!BheMq
Google Now has finally arrived on the desktop. Google today announced Google Now is being pushed to the Chrome stable channel for Windows and Mac “starting today and rolling out over the next few weeks.” This means Google Now notifications will finally be available to desktop and laptop Chrome users, in addition to Android and iOS users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla Appoints JavaScript Creator Brendan Eich As Its New CEO
http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/24/mozilla-appoints-javascript-creator-brendan-eich-as-its-new-ceo/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft issues less-than-helpful tips to XP holdouts
Don’t click on bad stuff and back up a lot, Redmond tells refuseniks
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/25/microsoft_issues_lessthanhelpful_tips_to_xp_holdouts/
Redmond’s recognition of the problem appears in a new ”Cyber threats to Windows XP and guidance for Small Businesses and Individual Consumers” document, that identifies five likely risks XP holdouts will face and offers advice on how they might be ameliorated.
If you never connect to a network, Microsoft’s mitigations would probably mean you could use your XP machine safely. For the rest of us, learning about firewall exceptions looks like the best alternative
Or install Linux, an operating system utterly likely to leave an XP machine eminently usable and secure.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is 2014 the Year We Hit the Technology Tipping Point?
http://www.workintelligent.ly/technology/trends/2014-3-10-technology-tipping-point/
Earlier this year, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer said more users would access its content on mobile devices and tablets than on personal computers. That’s the type of trigger that has her and many pundits proclaiming 2014 as a “tipping point” for technology.
Is 2014 the Technology Tipping Point? Let’s look at a few things that are impacting the scales in 2014.
Mobile’s Shift Is Well Underway
Sparking New Business Models
Make Friends With The Machines
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thunderbolt and pricing: We dig into the GTech GDrive Mobile
Portable 1TB USB 3.0 HDD with a difference
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/25/review_gtech_gdrive_mobile_with_thunderbolt/
The words “Thunderbolt” and “expensive” never seem to be very far apart and it has to be said that there are plenty of 1TB USB 3.0 drives available for £50-£60. So paying three times that amount for Thunderbolt connectivity with a slightly more expensive 7200RPM hard disk drive inside doesn’t seem to add up
Tomi Engdahl says:
Schoolkids given WORLD’S CHEAPEST TABLETS: Is it really that hard to swallow?
What’s the point of one device per child?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/25/aakash_tablet_india_project_comment/
For some time now The Register has been tracking an effort by the Indian government to provide their schoolchildren with low cost tablets. The subsidised cost of the devices for Indian families is slated to be 1,500 rupees (£14, $24), with the unsubsidised version available to the rest of the world for £30.
The decision to subsidise tablets for schoolchildren has attracted a lot of criticism, almost all of which misses the mark completely.
The most simple of problems is the hardest to resolve: if you crank out low-end commodity tablets for kids, they are going to break and break often – as occurred in a similar project in Thailand. Any such programme needs a way to cope with this.
Is an OLPC or a low-end tablet going to let a child in a developing country learn Autocad? No. Will it allow them to become familiar with Microsoft Office or any of the other “standard” technologies of the developed world? No. Are they even particularly useful as devices to type up homework or any of the dozens of other mundane “chore-like” tasks that students have to perform? No.
That’s not the purpose of these devices.
A “worthless”, low spec, outdated-before-it-is-launched £30 tabled that no person from the developed world would ever want can contain dozens of times more information than Encarta 1994. When and where internet access is available, it can give those children access to all of humanity’s collected knowledge.
Will every kid that gets their hands on one of these tablets dive in, learn, and explore? Certainly not.
It is not the majority of individuals who grow up to be inventors, engineers and scientists in any society. They are a rare lot, and governments need to both nurture the young and fledgling as well as provide inviting environments for the mature and practicing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Twitter experimenting with showing how many people saw your tweets
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/21/5534710/twitter-experimenting-with-showing-how-many-people-saw-your-tweets
354
inShare
How many people saw your last tweet? A new Twitter experiment is answering that question for some users, adding the number of views a tweet has received underneath every post.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Return of the DirectX vs. OpenGL Debates
by Jarred Walton on March 24, 2014 3:55 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7890/return-of-the-directx-vs-opengl-debates
With the announcement of DirectX 12 features like low-level programming, it appears we’re having a revival of the DirectX vs. OpenGL debates—and we can toss AMD’s Mantle into the mix in place of Glide (RIP 3dfx).
At the Game Developers Conference 2014, in a panel including NVIDIA’s Cass Everitt and John McDonald, AMD’s Graham Sellers, and Intel’s Tim Foley, explanations and demonstrations were given suggesting OpenGL could unlock as much as a 7X to 15X improvement in performance. Even without fine tuning, they note that in general OpenGL code is around 1.3X faster than DirectX. It almost makes you wonder why we ever settled for DirectX in the first place—particularly considering many developers felt DirectX code was always a bit more complex than OpenGL code.
The key to unlocking improved performance appears to be pretty straightforward: reducing driver overhead and increasing the number of draw calls. These are both items targeted by AMD’s Mantle API, and presumably the low level DX12 API as well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Best Video Cards: March 2014
by Ryan Smith on March 24, 2014 9:00 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7888/best-video-cards-march-2014
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook To Buy Oculus VR, Maker Of The Rift Headset, For Around $2B In Cash And Stock
http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/25/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-the-rift-headset-for-around-2b-in-cash-and-stock/
“I’m excited to announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement today.
Zuckerberg says that their efforts with Oculus will continue to focus on gaming initially, and that the company will continue to operate independently of Facebook. But after gaming, Zuckerberg says, they’re going to expand into a variety of other arenas.
“Over the next 10 years, virtual reality will become ubiquitous, affordable, and transformative,” concludes the Oculus post, “and it begins with a truly next-generation gaming experience. This partnership ensures that the Oculus platform is coming, and that it’s going to change gaming forever.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook buying Oculus VR for $2 billion
Mark Zuckerberg has big plans for virtual reality.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/25/5547456/facebook-buying-oculus-for-2-billion
“Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won’t be changing and we hope to accelerate.”
Zuckerberg says that Facebook will “focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games.” But he makes clear that after Oculus sees through its gaming ambitions, Facebook will expand the product into new territory.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Buys Oculus VR For $2 Billion
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-to-buy-oculus-rift-for-2-billion-2014-3
Facebook is buying Oculus VR, a startup that makes virtual reality headsets, in a $2 billion deal.
Console gaming companies have sensed the threat of Oculus
According to a statement from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company plans to expand Oculus beyond gaming
Zuckerberg expanded on that in a conference call following the announcement, saying he believes virtual reality will be the next big computing platform after mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public
http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2014/03/25/microsoft-makes-source-code-for-ms-dos-and-word-for-windows-available-to-public.aspx
On Tuesday, we dusted off the source code for early versions of MS-DOS and Word for Windows. With the help of the Computer History Museum, we are making this code available to the public for the first time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nvidia unveils next-generation graphics processor with 3D memory
http://venturebeat.com/2014/03/25/nvidia-unveils-next-generation-graphics-processor-with-3d-memory/
Nvidia chief executive Jen-Hsun Huang unveiled his company’s latest graphics-processor architecture, code-named Pascal, that will put a “supercomputer in the space of two credit cards.”
The new chip architecture — which can be designed into many kinds of chips — will incorporate both graphics processing unit (GPU) and a central processing unit (CPU) on the same chip. And for the first time, it will incorporate 3D memory, or memory cells stacked in three dimensions
The device will use Nvidia’s high-speed NVLink technology, which will speed data communication
The large amount of memory and NVLink enable something called Unified Memory, which simplifies the programming of games and other applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook’s Open Compute guru Frank Frankovsky leaves to build optical storage startup
http://gigaom.com/2014/03/25/facebooks-open-compute-guru-frank-frankovsky-leaves-to-build-optical-storage-startup/
Frank Frankovsky, one of the men responsible for Facebook’s foray into building hardware, has left the social networking giant to form his own startup.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Drivers and firmware cannot be updated on Windows 8.1-based devices
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2913760
After you perform the push-button reset features on a Windows 8.1-based device, you cannot update drivers and firmware.
This issue occurs because a driver or firmware dependency is added to Windows 8.1. After you perform the push-button reset features, the new value cannot be handled correctly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 8 BREAKS ITSELF after system restores
Driver and firmware updates impossible without patch
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/26/windows_8_push_button_restore_update/
Windows 8 includes a feature called “push-button reset” that restores a computer to a previous known good state, or performs a factory reset.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New-wave offshorers present exotic new risks
Asian tigers can bite
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/26/offshore_emerging_asian_economies_ip/
A need to drive down costs is forcing many multinationals to look at emerging Asian offshore locations such as Indonesia and Vietnam, but IP security and privacy concerns continue to hold them back, according to a new report.
Gartner’s Leading Locations for Offshore Services in Asia/Pacific 2014 report, paints a mixed picture.
“advantage needs to be balanced against low ratings for language, government support, the labour pool and infrastructure.”
Despite the competition from emerging locations, the more mature Philippines and Malaysia remain decent choices for “higher-end IT infrastructure, help desk, application and business process services”, said Gartner.
Unsurprisingly the advice from Gartner on which location is the best fit for your company comes down to a hefty dose of due diligence, taking in factors such as hiring, training, legal, security, and attrition.
Thailand, for example, was highlighted as the only major location to show a positive improvement in ratings.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Is Ending the Free Ride
http://valleywag.gawker.com/facebook-is-about-to-make-everyone-pay-1547309811
Facebook pulled the best practical joke of the internet age: the company convinced countless celebrities, bands, and “brands” that its service was the best way to reach people with eyeballs and money. Maybe it is! But now that companies have taken the bait, Facebook is holding the whole operation hostage.
Update: To be perfectly clear, none of this will affect the average Facebook user’s ability to freely use Facebook—only entities that use Facebook as a promotional tool.
A source professionally familiar with Facebook’s marketing strategy, who requested to remain anonymous, tells Valleywag that the social network is “in the process of” slashing “organic page reach” down to 1 or 2 percent.
The alternative is of course to pay for more attention. If you want an audience beyond a measly one or two percent, you’ll have to pay money—perhaps a lot of money, if you’re a big business.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ask Slashdot: What Do You Consider Elegant Code?
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/14/03/26/0116227/ask-slashdot-what-do-you-consider-elegant-code
Tomi Engdahl says:
ODMs a ‘threat’ to Euro server biz? Well, yes, says HP exec
They’re heeeere (in the US) and they’re coming to Europe
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/03/26/hp_service_provider_odm/
HP Europe is braced for the looming “threat” from Far Eastern ODMS that are building custom servers to order for bulky service providers.
Some cloudy firms are bypassing the traditional bulky server firms to buy complete- and partial sub-systems with local configuration managed by large integrators.
According to IDC’s 2013 data, the ODM Direct segment, which includes firms such as Quanta Computer, Wistron and Compal Electronics, grew 57.3 per cent to $2.8bn as the market declined 4.4 per cent to $49.7bn.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP bypasses Microsoft in device-as-a-service assault
‘Google is a flagship partner because of focus on cloud and SMB’
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/03/26/hp_device_as_a_service/
HP is trying to prise open SME wallets by rolling out a device-as-a-service pilot Stateside – with wider deployment in Europe set for the summer.
The model is pretty much based on the managed print services product that HP has been touting for years.
End customer buys the spec they want – albeit the range is currently limited to a single desktop and two notebooks – and they configure the application via the portal.
“Google is a flagship partner because of their focus on cloud and SMB. Microsoft is also a key partner for HP and offer in the bundles,” he said.