Right on schedule, Gateway has set free its P-7811 FX gaming laptop, and we got our hands on one right before you can get your own.
Our test unit shipped with the aforementioned Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.26GHz with a 3MB L2 cache, Windows Vista Home 64-bit, Intel PM45 Express Chipset, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS with 512MB of GDDR3 discrete video memory, a 17-inch WXGA screen, 200GB 7200 SATA HDD, 4GB DDR3 800MHz RAM, HDMI, 9-cell battery, and 1.3MP webcam. We're pretty pleased with the performance of the machine, although dialing up Crysis to its max settings made it choke a bit. We're still not sold on the computer's stylings, but in a dark room of gaming goodness, who's paying attention to gaudy lights and overly-shiny carbon anyway, right? Peep the hands-on pics and a brief video of Crysis in action after the break. And yes, we know we suck at the game.
August 13, 2008
Gateway P-7811FX gaming laptop unboxing and hands-on
Touch Sight camera for the blind displays photos using Braille
http://geek-seeker.blogspot.com/ for the visually impaired are nothing new, but the Touch Sight camera is one of the most unique we've seen. Designed to be held against the forehead, the camera doesn't have an LCD, but instead displays a three-dimensional representation of the image on a built-in Braille screen and records three seconds of audio to assist users in locating and managing shots. Just a concept for now, but let's hope it makes it to market -- it seems like it'd be a fun toy for the sighted as well.
3-Alarm fire burns at Apple's Cupertino campus
Uh oh. At about 10pm pacific time, a 3-alarm fire (about 66 firefighters responding) was reported at Apple's Valley Green Six building on Apple's Cupertino campus. The site which is just down the road from the Infinite Loop HQ is said to be an R&D building by Apple personnel -- Apple has not confirmed this. The fire seems to be under control with no reported injuries although it's too soon for any kind of damage estimates. As surreal as it sounds, The Mercury News reports that, "Some Apple employees stopped by to look at the scene and snap pictures on their I-phones." And fiddle, presumably. Hit the read link for a local news video report.
Sony expects to launch its 11-inch OLED TV 'XEL-1' in Europe
SEOUL, Korea (AVING) -- 
Us too, after all, it's been on sale in Japan since December of 2007 and was recently caught slumming the big box outlets in the US. It only seems natural then, that Sony would ramp production to the point that by 2009 they could meet the minimal, European demand for a $2,500-ish TV measuring just 11-inches -- million:1 contrast or not. Still, it's all a bit late if you ask us (you did right?) seeing as how Sony plans to be producing medium to large OLED panels as early as April 2009.
The Aliens is coming!
UFOs...what are they? Unfortunately, by definition, we can never know. Because, as the genius author Isaac Asimov pointed out, once you know what a UFO is, it ceases to become a UFO (as you have no identified it). Well, guess what? We know what UFOs really are - and we know how to make them. Flying discs with weird glowing orbs are a ThinkGeek specialty, and now we offer this technology to you. 
All you have to do to make your own UFOs is to pick your favorite colors of glow tube. Activate them and plug them into the holes on the Flying Disc. If you need a longer tube, you can easily connect two or more with the aptly named "connector piece." When you are done with your creation, it will look something like a mad scientist's Easter bonnet. But all you have to do is throw it to see the transformation - each line of color will become a 3D solid as it spins. You will be able to get some exercise at night, freak out your neighbors, and have fun all at the same time. Because remember, you can't spell "UFO" without "fun!"
Glow and Throw UFO Flying Disc
August 12, 2008
Upgrade Your Stubby Fingers
Ever notice how your iPhone screen only responds to your finger... or any other small appendage you have handy?
his is because it uses a technology called capacitive touch which measures the flow of electrons through your skin. The iPhone Japanese Touch Pen Stylus emulates your finger and allows you to gain precise control while using your phone. This sleek metal stylus is imported from Japan and features an angled spring loaded tip for easier on-screen dragging. The removable cap on the back unscrews to reveal a SIM eject tool. It's perfect for those of you with long fingernails or simply oversized stubby man fingers.
Product Features
Luxeed Dynamic Pixel LED Keyboard
Sure we've seen illuminated keyboards before, but then we saw the Luxeed Dynamic Pixel LED Keyboard and stopped looking. With 430 LEDs the Luxeed is capable of individually lighting each key in your choice of color. What's more it can do some amazing tricks like an animated rainbow across all the keys, or make each key light when you press it.
You get four "preset" buttons above the arrow keys you can use to instantly choose between different customizable lit skin presets. Set-up a glowing skin for your favorite game with different colors to indicate each key action... or create illuminated patterns and designs. Hey, the Luxeed doesn't have a tiny screen on each key like the legendary Optimus Maximus, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper.
Pick your Luxeed flavor of black or white. The keys of the white Luxeed have a
semi-transparent look and light up more brightly than the black. However the black Luxeed has a stylish treatment with only the letters being illuminated. Both keyboards look the best in dim lighting of course. Optionally you can pick up the matching numeric keypad to match your Luxeed, but we do warn you that the keypad is functional only, its keys do not light up. Gotcha?
States may tax iTunes, other digital downloads
If you enjoy buying music from iTunes, movies from Amazon.com's Unbox, or computer software from anywhere, be warned: the halcyon days of tax-free digital purchases may be over.
With retail e-commerce sales now estimated to exceed $130 billion a year, and iTunes song purchases topping 5 billion, state politicians and tax collectors have begun to levy new fees on digital downloads
The push stems from an odd legal quirk: because most states' tax laws were written long before the Internet existed, they may accidentally immunize downloads from taxation. This is the case even in otherwise high-tax states like California, where physical CDs are taxed heavily but iTunes downloads remain tax-free for now.
Tech industry groups like NetChoice, which counts eBay, AOL, and Yahoo as members, have been lobbying against the rise in so-called iTaxes--with limited success.
Including Nebraska and Tennessee, there are 17 states, plus the District of Columbia, that tax digital downloads, according to our earlier research: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington. (For more details, see our special report from 2006.)
The new Tennessee law (PDF) that taxes "the retail sale, lease, licensing, or use of specified digital products transferred to or accessed by subscribers or consumers" takes effect in January 2009. The Nebraska law, which taxes "sales of digital audio works (music), digital audiovisual works (movies, music videos, TV shows), and digital books," takes effect in October.
iPhone atop Flickr's cameraphone list once again
The iPhone continues to dominate Flickr's list of popular cameraphones. As pointed out by the folks at TUAW, the iPhone has once again spiked past the Nokia N95, no doubt a result of the iPhone 3G's recent launch and scads of new users taking photos with the device. Check out the graph below, but you can also look at all of Flickr's graphs by looking at the Camera Finder: 
As you may remember, we last reported on the iPhone's Flickr spike in May, when the world observed that it shot past the N95 for the first time. In many ways, the iPhone's success on one of the Internet's most popular photo sharing services isn't surprising: its ease-of-use makes taking photos and e-mailing them to Flickr extremely simple compared to many obnoxious mobile phone interfaces. In other ways, it's also a little surprising, considering that the iPhone's built-in camera isn't exactly considered the best available. The two megapixels is only the beginning—the tiny lens, lack of autofocus capabilities, and atrocious low-light photos are only some of the complaints that users have about it.
As for other cameras that are popular on Flickr, the Canon PowerShot SD1000 managed to maintain its top spot among popular point & shoot cameras, while the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi held steady at the top of the list for all of Flickr. The somewhat poorly-marked graphs represent trends over the last year and are normalized to account for new users joining Flickr at any given time, so if you're interested to see what people have been using lately, go ahead and check out the charts.
August 4, 2008
Another Apple Magic Trick: iTunes From Free Web Video (AAPL)
We're usually wowed by Steve Jobs' latest computer or gadget. But today we're in awe of a different achievement: He's gotten customers to pay for Web video that they could easily -- and legally -- get for free.
Check out the two most popular TV "seasons" on iTunes (AAPL) right now: "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" and Stephen King's "N."
That means people are opting to pay ($3.99 for a "season pass", or $1.99 for each of three acts), for the convenience of being able to download "Dr. Horrible" to the iPods, iPhones and computers rather than surfing over to Hulu and watching the whole thing for free.
Similarly, they're paying $3.99 for a "season pass", or 99 cents for five episodes (there will be 25) of King's "N," an animated promo for his coming "Just After Sunset" short story collection, rather than watch it for free on the CBS "audience network," which includes Veoh, Yahoo, MSN and AOL.
Granted, lots of video for sale on iTunes has been availble for free before, but most of that is usually broadcast or cable TV (like AMC's "Mad Men", which is also available on Hulu, now that we think about it). "Dr. Horrible" and "N" began their lives as free Web shows from the get-go. But somehow Steve Jobs has convinced his customers to pay for them.
Bluetooth Two-Way Earpiece Communicators Reviewed (Verdict: Spy Movie Fun at 250 Feet Or Less)
被隐藏部分
Blackberry Flowberry Theme is for Closet Mac Admirers Who Can't Pull the Trigger
Bplay says Flowberry is compatible with all device software, but works best with version 4.3 or higher. The unchangeable home screen icons are: Messages, Calendar, Address Book, Media, SMS/MMS, BlackBerry Messenger, MemoPad, and Keyboard Lock
Kevin Lynch, CTO, Adobe Systems
Below are edited excerpts from our conversation:
Om Malik: How is the emergence of cloud computing impacting desktop-centric Adobe Systems as a company?
Kevin Lynch: Adobe is a 25-year-old company and that’s a great achievement because we have had the ability to change. We have changed with technological shifts. And now we are in that situation again. How software is made and sold is changing, so we are changing.
We are taking a balanced approach, and are building a hosted infrastructure. It’s not just about the cloud, but also about the desktop. There are some who are all about the cloud while others think about the desktop first. We have a hybrid approach, and we are doing that with our products like AIR.
Om: Can you talk about your online software-on-demand strategy?
Lynch: We have products like Buzzword, Photoshop Express and Acrobat.com that we are doing online. We are not deploying at the level of raw storage and raw hosting. Instead we are looking at application hosting from our customers’ perspective.
We want to be very specific about hosted online services, which are essentially about the collaboration of creative services. For instance, Premiere Express is being used by MTV where we are enabling (and sharing) video.
We are working on something called CoCoMo, which is a framework that is based on our Adobe Connect conferencing offering and uses Flex front-end technology. It’s going to be available as APIs that are use-specific. We are essentially turning Adobe Connect into components and then allowing developers to do audio- and video-sharing, for instance.
Om: So that means you guys need to learn a whole new language of building scalable infrastructure?
Lynch: We have 600,000 users of Photoshop Express and 500,000 unique visitors to the site every month. About 8 million Flash players are installed every day, and that needs a lot of bandwidth and infrastructure. So we know that, but it is a question facing all software companies going forward.
Om: Adobe Flash is one of your most well-known products. There was some talk about the latest beta version of the software allowing P2P transfers. What are you guys thinking here?
Lynch: Our current goal is to lower the cost of online video deployments so you [can] take advantage of P2P. We are being super targeted in how it is being used. Most of the overall web video traffic is in Flash. (Ed. note: Popular services such as YouTube and Blip.tv use Flash for the playback of videos.) The way we see it, for the whole web [video] to work, Flash has to work reliably, so that’s why we are taking small steps here and using P2P in a very basic form.
Om: What new features are you cooking up in Flash?
Lynch: Interactivity in videos — that is, highlighting certain items in video and making them clickable — is something we are enabling.
Om: What about Flash in mobiles? I know there have been some efforts to marry Flash at the interface level with mobile operating systems like Java.
Lynch: Mobile is really happening right now. There are a lot of screens in our lives right now and to make information accessible across these devices is important. There is no consistent runtime across these devices.
Right now, there is no single technology that has a dominant reach. I think that’s going to change over next three to four years. We are working on that, and have initiated an Open Screen Project that will make designing for multiple screens less of a challenge.
Om: You seem to have strong views about mobile and how we need to think differently about mobile as an opportunity.
Lynch: People will start to think about the small screen first, and that is a sea change. Mobile is central to the future of computing and I think all software and web companies need to look at mobile first and then from there, extend to PCs.
Om: So you like these “mobile Internet devices?”
Lynch: I am a big fan of the MIDs. I think the form factor is the sweet spot and there will be some experimentation (on design) going forward. The big challenge there is power, and batteries are a big drain.
Who has the clouds
In 10 years, which company will own the cloud computing space? That question has been the subject of long and contentious funding debates over the past year, especially here on Sand Hill Road. And while I know that predicting the future is an inaccurate science, I think that when it comes to evaluating this nascent industry, the VC community has been focusing on the wrong criteria.
Today, cloud computing offerings are application-specific frameworks that are run by companies both large and small. Google’s App Engine is a cloud for running Python applications; EngineYard is a cloud for Ruby-on-Rails; Amazon’s EC2 and S3 provide generic compute and storage clouds, and so forth. While each of these companies addresses a vertical market need, I believe that by 2018, clouds will instead be evaluated based on three generic criteria: transactions, user experience and presence. And as with any active market, it’s a safe bet that there will be plenty of companies that best showcase each of them. One of the emerging trends in cloud computing is providing infrastructure that allows businesses to perform transactions. Two companies that immediately come to mind are eBay and Amazon; both have significant infrastructure expertise and business divisions devoted to processing their customers’ transactions. Amazon in particular just launched Checkout, which facilitates highly scalable transaction services. Imagine if over the next 10 years these companies find a way to bring their scale and transaction expertise to a cloud offering across multiple industries and market segments.
What will become increasingly critical is providing cloud consumers with a spectacular user experience, something nobody does better than Apple. While I realize the company is not strictly focused on cloud computing today, imagine a scenario in which it leverages the success and elegance of iTunes — essentially a cloud for selling digital media — to other markets. I can foresee a cloud computing environment where Apple allows users to build applications using their user interface templates and designs; every application developer that strives to make their application “as sexy as iTunes” could leverage this infrastructure. A current example of Apple’s approach can be found in its new MobileMe cloud, which emphasizes ease-of-use and user experience for keeping email, calendar and contacts synchronized. Elsewhere, Google Gears and Microsoft Live Mesh are also attempting to be environments in which users develop cloud applications, but they don’t seem to have the same focus on consistency of user experience.
Speaking of Microsoft, when it comes to presence in the computing space, they have an enviable position. With their software presence on the PC, mobile phone, game console, media center and even autos, they’re set up to be everywhere for at least the next decade. And the Redmond giant has recently changed its PR to emphasize software and services, which leads me to think that they’re moving to offer a wealth of cloud-based services.
The key will be leveraging their almost ubiquitous presence across nearly every aspect of the computing space to convert their hordes of desktop and IT application developers to work on their cloud in order to come up with future services for the same markets. If Microsoft can execute on this strategy, use their presence and motivate their developers, they will be a significant player in the cloud computing market in 2018.
It seems clear that the dominant cloud computing company in 2018 will be able to process transactions on the scale of Amazon and eBay, have the eye-popping user experience of Apple and the presence of Microsoft. Which cloud company do you think it will be?
Fellow GigaOM writer Alistair Croll contributed heavily to this post.
auo's liquid crystal display may be bending
Recently, the auo of Taiwan's electronic publication of the world's first glass substrate of the LCD can be bending. Qu up to a radius of its 100 mm. At present, and the glass substrate of different electronic paper display technology, this display of better quality, more expressive color.
At the same time, Partners also has a display of the world's thinnest liquid crystal display - only 0.63 mm thick! In one stroke to break their own in the FPD 2007 on the creation of a world record of 0.69 mm. The display size of 1.9 inches, weighing about 2.1 grams, brightness up to 400 nits.
August 3, 2008
IBM Prepares to Fight off Microsoft
IBM/Lotus Thursday hit back at Microsoft's boast that it plans to steal 5 million Notes customers this year by detailing a new 300,000-seat licensing deal with an Asian company and strong interest in Notes from emerging markets.
Last week, Microsoft's COO Kevin Turner told financial analysts that his goal is to have the company's messaging and collaboration software displace 5 million Notes seats this year. Turner also said Microsoft has replaced 8 million seats of Notes in the past two years.
It was another shot in a messaging and collaboration war that has been going on between the two for nearly 20 years. In the late 1990s, the two jousted using e-mail seat-count numbers that were often inflated if not outright dubious.
"It is very difficult to tell what Microsoft is talking about when they talk about numbers of seats or costs because they shove so much into their environment, but I do know we have been engaging against them and winning," says Bob Picciano, general manager of Lotus Software.
IBM/Lotus seems to be doing a better job of integrating current messaging and collaboration tools with next-generation tools like social networking.
In June at the Enterprise 2.0 conference, the two squared off on stage around social software (Lotus Connections vs. SharePoint) with IBM/Lotus showing its Connections tools as "the clear winner across the board," according to Mike Gotta, an analyst with the Burton Group who moderated the session. Gotta in his blog later chastised Microsoft, saying it "did a poor job of showing and explaining why business and/or technical decision-makers should consider SharePoint as a credible solution to meet the social computing needs of an organization."
A month later Microsoft's Turner lit into IBM/Lotus, which is now on the offensive and detailing what it calls strong fiscal second-quarter sales of Notes/Domino 8. The platform, which shipped a year ago, features a modular client architecture that can be customized as the front end for component-based applications.
The company says an Asian firm, which executives said would be named at a later date, will license 300,000 seats of Notes, as well as Lotus Symphony, IBM's open source suite of productivity applications.
IBM/Lotus says the deal is its largest ever in Asia.
IBM also listed a number of foreign companies that chose Notes over Microsoft, including Max New York Life, Reliance Industries, Vedanta, and Aviva in India; GD Development Bank, Johnson Electric, HKG Environ Protect, CED, DL Cosco Shipyard in China; Affin Bank and Trakando in Singapore; and Russian Railways in Russia.
It did not provide seat numbers.
IBM/Lotus also reported that in the fiscal second quarter it recorded its largest client win in North America: 150,000 seats in a "big six" accounting firm.
Like the Asian deal, IBM would not name the company, but IBM executives said Lotus Notes, Sametime, Connections, IBM Lotus Quickr and WebSphere Portal were picked over the Microsoft collaboration portfolio that included Exchange and SharePoint.
The battle is heating up as Microsoft's SharePoint is garnering the lion's share of coverage despite a number of issues corporate users face when considering the platform.
IBM/Lotus has been feeling the heat from SharePoint.
In May, the company released IBM Lotus Quickr Content Integrator, which provides wizards and templates for moving content in mass to Quickr from SharePoint sites. Lotus is betting the tool will help keep users on its content management platform and away from Microsoft, which could use SharePoint as the hook to get users to switch to its entire portfolio of messaging and collaboration tools.
As part of its most recent announcement IBM/Lotus noted other companies that have recently picked Lotus Notes and other Lotus software over other competitors, including Colgate-Palmolive, Ineos of Belgium, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, NutraFlo, Dutch Railways, Rohm Haas, Imerys and the Salvation Army.
New Lotus Notes 8 customers were listed as CFE Compagnie d'Enterprises of France, Virginia Commonwealth University, Winsol International, the U.S. General Services Administration, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Standard Insurance, New York Life, Kentucky Baptist Convention, Verizon, Publishers Printing, Hyatt Hotels, Union Pacific and Nationwide Insurance.
Google, Microsoft vie for Universities
And a growing number of schools are doing just that. Last week, Google announced 13 new U.S. institutions had signed up for the free, and ad-free, cloud-based services, ranging from the Collin County Community College District, in Plano, Texas, to giants such as Kent State and Indiana University.
That brings the total number of Googlized institutions worldwide to about 2,000 since the Google Apps Education Edition program was announced almost two years ago. Google says there are now 1 million active users among their students and faculty. To promote the idea, Google also announced it's launching in September the "App to School" road trip, a 10-stop tour, aboard an "eco-friendly" bus, visiting schools from coast to coast to talk about Google applications and listen to what students have to say about them.
Google isn't alone courting both IT departments and, especially, students: Microsoft's presence, with its Microsoft Live online services, makes the courtship a battlefield. Outfitting students with Windows laptops is no longer enough to ensure their loyalty. To meet and hold a new generation that's living on the Web, both companies are turning to a new generation of Web applications. Microsoft just released a new Flash-based front end to Live.
The Web is less about the individual and more about a personal experience of participating in a group for work and play, says Jeff Keltner, business development manager for Google Apps Education Edition. "There is a personal experience, but it moves away from [being centered on] the one machine," Keltner says. "All I need today is an Internet connection and a Web browser."
Google's education outreach began with Arizona State University (ASU), which outsourced its entire e-mail operation for 65,000 students to Google's Gmail, giving users a range of services unavailable on the school's existing e-mail system, such as 6GB of storage, built-in chat, and search, without spam headaches or downtime. It saved ASU about US$400,000 per year in IT infrastructure costs, according to Adrian Sannier, ASU's University Technology Officer.
"Your [IT] people are saying, 'we can do it,'" Sannier told the opening day audience this week at the Campus Technology 2008 conference. "And they can. They can build pyramids, too." His voice rose dramatically. "But there's no money in it!"
The idea, he told his audience, is "to get someone else to do it. Someone really big."
Google and Microsoft offer a somewhat customized version of a Web portal with services. Both can create an extension to their respective e-mail domain with the school's name, for example, studentname@gmail.schoolname.edu, though for some customers there's no visible change. When students graduate, the school notifies Google or Microsoft, which then ends the student account, while offering the student the option to continue with either a free or paid "post-graduate" online service.
Drexel University earlier this year launched a pilot to give some of its 20,000 students a choice of four e-mail systems: its own Exchange-based enterprise e-mail, Gmail, Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail and Microsoft's Exchange Labs, which is a pilot program for online, Exchange-based hosted e-mail, launched about six months ago and based on what will be the Exchange 14.0 release. Schools can create mailboxes that use the e-mail and calendar features of the Outlook Web Access client, Web-based self-service management, and the features associated with a Windows Live ID.
Right now, there are 863 Gmail accounts and 255 Hotmail accounts, with far fewer for Exchange Labs. All Drexel students for now are still issued with a Drexel-based e-mail account for official communications, says Drexel CIO John Bielec. The university plans a full-scale roll-out of the program this fall.
"Any service you currently offer, [companies like] Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and others will offer," he says. "It doesn't make sense to be in those businesses."
In Google's case, besides Gmail, there is Google Docs, for online creating and sharing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations; Google Sites, which lets users build simple group Web sites, and add and share files and attachments of all types. Also part of the package are APIs that link into back-end services or applications, such as directories and single sign-on programs, and round-the-clock online and phone tech support.
Googlizing such services is controversial on campuses, although not with students. Abilene Christian University (ACU) in Abilene, Texas, outsourced e-mail to Google in March 2007, after CIO Kevin Roberts struggled to deal with faculty and staff objections to the proposal, including the two most frequently and fiercely cited by opponents: security and privacy. Roberts laid out Google's privacy policy and the proposed contract with ACU, already vetted by the school's legal counsel.
And he told critics that they were "grossly mistaken" if they believed that ACU's own Sun Microsystems-based e-mail system involved zero security risk, a point echoed by ASU's Adrian Sannier. "You've just got to get over the idea that you, your Ma, and your 10-gauge are keeping your data more secure than Google is," he told his audience.
Keltner says Google will not share your data (with certain specific exceptions such as responding to a subpoena), keeps your data as long as you want it, removes your data when you delete it, and lets you take it with you if you go somewhere else.
At ACU, when Gmail went live, the worries died. "Once we went live, the privacy concerns just immediately went away," Roberts says. Eighty-percent of the 5,000 students signed on day one. By the end of the first semester only one person remained on the legacy e-mail system.
Users discovered a wealth of possibilities that never existed before. One of Roberts close friends is an ACU English professor who tells his students they can if they wish grant him editor access to papers they're writing for him in Google Docs, allowing him to offer comments and suggestions during the writing process.
ACU is saving about $100,000 a year on software licenses and hardware. A full-time programmer has been re-assigned from e-mail to implementing a new project around the Apple iPhone, which would have been impossible otherwise, Roberts says. And the entire university community is on the receiving end of a continuous stream of new Google applications and features.
"You don't get too many 'no brainer' decisions in your career," Roberts says. "But this was one of them."
Microsoft confirms Danger acquisition was a $500 million purchase
Its now official, Microsoft spent $500 million on the purchase of Danger. Of course this does not come as much of a surprise, after all that figure was the exact number that was rumored several months back. However, thanks to Microsoft’s most recent quarterly report this number has been confirmed.
Microsoft filed its quarterly report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, and in addition to financial revelations about its recent acquisitions, the tech titan also gave a more formal glimpse at how it views and plans to deal with the growing threat posed by Google and Apple, as well as longtime nemesis open source. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer touched on many of these issues last week at the start of the company's financial analysts meeting.
In a section titled "Challenges to our business model may reduce our revenues and operating margins," Microsoft reiterated that its bottom line may suffer if it has to drop the prices of its products to compete with Linux.
Proponents of open-source software continue efforts to convince governments worldwide to mandate the use of open-source software in their purchase and deployment of software products. Although we believe our products provide customers with significant advantages in security, productivity, and total cost of ownership, the open-source software model continues to pose a significant challenge to our business model. To the extent open-source software gains increasing market acceptance, sales of our products may decline, we may have to reduce the prices we charge for our products, and revenue and operating margins may decline.
In the same section, Microsoft also pointed to the business model challenge posed by its main search rival which has far more scale. The report seems to express admiration for the business model and says the company is throwing "significant resources" at attempting to emulate it.
Another development is the software-as-a-service business model, under which companies provide applications, data, and related services over the Internet. Providers use primarily advertising or subscription-based revenue models. Recent advances in computing and communications technologies have made this model viable and enabled the rapid growth of some of our competitors. We are devoting significant resources toward developing our own competing software plus services strategies. It is uncertain whether these strategies will be successful.
Another section addresses the threat posed by Apple, while conceding that competing with the model may prove expensive.
An important element of our business model has been to create platform-based ecosystems on which many participants can build diverse solutions. A competing vertically-integrated model, in which a single firm controls both the software and hardware elements of a product, has been successful with certain consumer products such as personal computers, mobile phones and digital music players. We also offer vertically-integrated hardware and software products; however, efforts to compete with the vertically integrated model may increase our cost of sales and reduce operating margins.
Also in its report, Microsoft confirmed that it spent $500 million for its acquisition earlier this year of Sidekick maker Danger.
The company also made its larger $1.3 billion purchase of Norway's Fast Search and Transfer and closed its $5.9 billion Aquantive purchase. Other deals made during the year added another $1.1 billion, Microsoft said.
Other interesting Microsoft facts from the report:
Microsoft now occupies 2 million square feet of real estate that it owns and 8 million square feet of leased space.
It ended the year with $23.66 billion in cash and short-term investments, up slightly from the $23.41 billion it had as of June 30, 2007.
253 million Internet users and 80s post-marketing
Chinese Internet users is still the mainstay of the following 30 years of age and younger groups, the groups of Internet users account for 68.6 percent of Chinese netizens, the total number of Internet users over 2 / 3.
80 after the literal meaning is that in 1980-89-born population, some people have predicted that, after 80 "Beat Generation", "not the most responsible generation", "Yu Wei generation," and "the most selfish Generation, "and" the most rebellious generation. " After the narrow 80: 80-89, refers to people born and, by extension, after 80: 80 refers to people born after.
According to "China Statistical Yearbook," the data in 1980 to 1989, those born between about 204 million. This generation of more than 200 million Chinese people have been known as the "80 after."
In 1980 when the country to promote a couple birth of a child. 1984 to 1987, according to the actual situation in rural areas, central to the fertility policy has been adjusted to allow hygiene in the rural areas of the regeneration of a girl child. At the same time the rural population base, so the Chinese people born in the 1980s, in fact most children in rural areas. As a whole should be at least 80 ethnic groups after the 3 / 4.
July 1, 1986 will go into effect, "People's Republic of China Compulsory Education Law", was born in the early 1980s many children start compulsory education, so that more of the rural population has begun to enter after the 80 cities, and the city after the owners began 80 Competition.
But the 253 million Internet users and 204 million of 80 after the two data, to a certain extent, reflected in 80 Internet users after the proportion of ethnic groups.
Mainly young Internet users, including students and the community just as soon the young people. These two groups of media contacts is the most important feature:
First, the life trajectory of the media surrounded the campus media, Focus Media, mobile TV, outdoor signs, such media dissemination of information in a time of relative uncertainty, a comprehensive brand communication to a certain extent Limitations.
Second, to a certain extent dependent on networks, including Internet and mobile phone networks. Network people become entertainment, social, an important platform for access to information.
Third, information and entertainment have a certain preference, the mainstream official media show a certain degree of resentment and conflict, even watch TV but do not look at cctv South Korea, Taiwan's entertainment; do not see what Daily newspaper. . . So the mainstream media's access is very limited.
Fourth, housing men and woman home not a small proportion, interpersonal little direct interaction. Living in a small circle of relatively limited scope, access to information networks rely on search engines and other tools, shopping on the Internet a greater degree of dependence, many of the means of subsistence through door-to-door manner.
Fifth, the autonomy of the strong, rebellious nature, and do not like言听计从, the authority showed no reason for the conflict, I believe their feelings, believe in themselves.
Faced with such a group, how do the brand marketing »
Fast moving consumer goods is whether they can be spread on the track of life, can meet them to feel » Whether through convenient access to » What kind of attitude and their dialogue »
Durable goods are to meet their needs, whether in their economic sustainability of the » There is not enough personality » Is not able to represent them in the image and status »
The current master of the situation after 50s, 60s, 70s post-marketing whether enough IN, can understand what we think » What we need » What we are doing »
Personal view is that, I just I just consumer brands, because no one more than we know ourselves. So, although I undergraduate professional, vehicle engineering, but I will not do high-grade automotive customers, because to me as the representative after the 80 ethnic groups are not currently a luxury car the core consumer groups; I will not do high-grade flats, Because we are not a majority of 80 luxury flats after the consumer groups.
I will only choose life after 80 and we are closely related to products related to the brand. Because we understand our own needs » We also understand that and how our own dialogue is the most effective.
August 2, 2008
Panoramio picture address changes
It is depressing that, mw2.google.com this address is in China's telecommunications lines are unable to access, IP address Ping could not Netcom lines available. Results from Google Earth View, click on the photos after all are not showing. As shown below.
To allow the use of the Internet networks of China Telecom Beijing Olympic venues to see the photo, I appeal to the China Telecom deal with the timely, Panoramio pictures can be stored address from the telecommunications normal visit.
by http://geek-seeker.blogspot.com/
Fuji brings FinePix Z200fd to the US
Valhalla, NY, July 31, 2008 – FUJIFILM U.S.A, Inc. today introduced a new model in its ultra-compact, fashionista Z-series lineup – the FinePix Z200fd. Versatility and style abound in four striking colors combinations; this glam-cam is sure to turn heads wherever you decide to capture the moment.Fujifilm USA today announced the ultra-compact FinePix Z200fd. This camera was introduced in the rest of the world back in May, but now it's our turn to check it out.
Here are its specs:
FinePix Z200fd [specs to come]
black/red combo
the link to read more about those) and auto redeye removal
get you started, as well)
Feature Happy
Despite being only 20.0mm thick, the 10-MegaPixel FinePix Z200fd touts cutting-edge technology and advanced features including a Fujinon 5x optical zoom lens, a high-resolution, scratch-resistant 2.7" LCD and sensitivity settings of up to ISO 1600 that enable partygoers to take beautiful, natural-looking images without flash, retaining the atmosphere of twilight and late-night events.
Featuring Fujifilm's acclaimed Face Detection Technology, now working in tandem with automatic red-eye removal, the FinePix Z200fd makes it easy to capture your friends' good sides. At the press of a button, this mode identifies up to 10 human faces in a scene, and sets the correct focus and exposure, regardless of where subjects are located within the frame. The FinePix Z200fd then instantly checks each detected face for red eye, and if found, corrects it automatically in the camera, avoiding the process of editing later.
Timing Is Everything
The FinePix Z200fd debuts Fujifilm's new Couple Timer Mode and Group Timer Mode, ensuring you can appear in every shot you take, even when there's no-one else around to take the picture! Working in conjunction with Face Detection Technology, these self-timer modes automatically capture the image when the camera has detected faces in a frame.
Couple Timer Mode detects two faces in a frame and will automatically take the picture as the two faces come closer together. This mode has three settings so users can set the timer to detect faces at specific distances, depending on how close you really are!
Group Timer Mode automatically sets the timer to take the shot when up to four faces have been detected in the frame. Users can simply select the number of faces in the frame, and then jump in front of the camera to pose with the group – ensuring that you appear in the stunning shots you take with the Z200fd.
Other noteworthy features found on the FinePix Z200fd include:
stabilized CCD with high ISO sensitivities for total anti-blur protection.
succession -- one with and one without the flash -- saving both. This convenient
function lets the user perform an on-the-spot picture comparison and decide
whether the FinePix Z200fd produced the most pleasing photo with flash, or
without.
convenient functions, and lets the operator swiftly scroll and select anything
from scene positions to thumbnails.
sized 640x480 pixels (VGA) or 320x240 pixels (QVGA)image size, and allows for
in-camera editing, such as Illustration and Painting to add an artistic flair,
saving time from downloading it and adjusting it on a PC.
sound. Great for when you're out and you don't have your video camera on-hand.
the camera, with five pre-set file folders that can be easily downloaded to your
computer for convenient image management. Pre-set folders include: Travel,
Family, Favorites, My Pictures, and Events.
within a scene, and then varies the flash intensity accordingly. It also
leverages the high sensitivity of the FinePix Z200fd to enable the camera to use
less flash, preventing that "blasted with light" effect that so many digital
camera flashes leave you with. The result is pleasing, natural tones with no
flash "wash-out".
‘Fireworks,' ‘Beach,' ‘Party,' and ‘Under Water' offering a one-touch setting
for almost any situation.
formats suitable for use on auction websites or to add a creative flair to your
images.
print-style image on the LCD. The FinePix Z200fd will show up to 100 images in
micro form. Control buttons are used to move over specific images and select
them. This makes it easy to quickly find a single image by being able to jump to
particular segments of images in the time sequence.
wireless image transfer to a compatible device.
picture cards and SD/SDHC media cards.
"The FinePix Z200fd lets you focus on your style with the perfect digital camera for consumers looking for a combination of cutting-edge technology and a chic, sophisticated design," said David Troy, marketing manager, Consumer Digital Cameras, Electronic Imaging Division, FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc. "We believe consumers shouldn't have to sacrifice performance for form or function."
The FinePix Z200fd will debut in September at a retail price of $299.95.
Firefox 3 Chipping Away Safari Market Share, Summer Browsing Patterns Reverse IE Decline
Firefox, on a daily basis, has been exceeding a market share of 20% more often than ever before in July. Net Applications today published the July result earlier today, which does not show quite so dramatic numbers. Apparently, IE7 reversed its decline into a marginal sequential growth most likely due to a change in audience mix during the summer months, while Firefox grows further on the heels of the recent Firefox 3 release, chipping away market share from Safari.
The biggest surprise in Net Applications’ July browser survey is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), which saw a marginal growth over previous months. The bounce-back also slowed, which saw its share drop slightly.
In July, IE recorded a 73.02% share, up marginally from 73.01% the month before. It appears that many IE users made the switch from IE6 to IE7 during the month as IE6 lost 0.64 points over the previous month, but IE7 gained 0.65 points in the same period. Another contributing factor that worked for IE market share are most likely changes in summer browsing patterns and a slightly different audience in NetApplications’ survey pool, which consists of about 160 million users.
Firefox’ share of the market throughout July was 19.03%, down 0.19% from 19.22% in June. If we compare changes in FF2 and FF3 market shares during the June-July period, we notice that FF3 gained 3.36%, while Firefox 2 lost 3.11%. The combined FF2 drop and FF3 growth suggest that more FF2 users who downloaded FF3 actually choose the software as their default browser, ditching FF2. The obvious conclusion is that Firefox was successful at chipping away share from other browsers, most notably Apple’s Safari (which showed a 0.17 point decline in July), Opera (0.04 point decline), and other web browsers, possible earlier Firefox versions (0.16 point decline).
As we previously reported, Firefox recently was climbing above 20% market share more often on particular days. Since Firefox 3 is little over six weeks on the market, it is to be expected that many users install the software to testdrive new features. However, while it is apparent that Firefox has been gaining share and the trend curve is heading up, the early state of the browser may skew the result in favor of Mozilla and it is too early to even guess what percentage of those who downloaded Firefox 3 will actually continue to use the browser on a daily basis.
When Microsoft releases IE8 later this year, the same effect could work towards an increase of IE market share. In any case, Firefox has come a long way to close in on 20% market share market, which would be a huge milestone for Mozilla.
Apple’s Safari browser took the third spot in July with 6.14% market share, down 0.17 points from 6.31% market share in June. The 0.17 loss is mainly the result of a 0.21 point decline of Safari 3, while Safari 3.1 gained 0.11 points. The overall decline comes after months of growth, which suggests that Safari was especially vulnerable during the Firefox 3 launch period.
The release of the iPhone 3G on July 11 has brought large gains in web browsing share for the device. Prior to launch, iPhone usage share had leveled off, but has since resumed its upward trend now. For instance, on June 1 0.19% of users were browsing the web using an iPhone. Following June 11, when the iPhone 3G was introduced, that share increased to 0.22% (recorded yesterday).
Both Netscape and Opera are currently listed at 0.69% share.
Facing competition Nokia begins to slash phone prices
Recent reports are claiming that Nokia has begun to make some price cuts on
selected music and media phones, in some cases up to 10-percent. In addition to
the selected music and media models, Nokia has also made some smaller price cuts
across the rest of their models. The Nokia 5310 and 5610 music phones as well as
the 8GB N81 saw the largest cuts.
These price cuts come as a response to increased competition in the mobile
phone market, however Nokia still holds a solid 40 percent overall, and this
news will just make it a little tougher on some of their competition.
Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight stated that “Nokia has always been
extremely tactical with its pricing, pinpointing sweet spots in different
segments of the market and making adjustments to wrongfoot competitors.” This
means that things may just get a little tougher for rivals such as Sony
Ericsson, who already made almost no money during the April-June quarter and
actually cut 2,000 jobs in response.
Cheuvreux analyst David Hallden referred to this move as a ‘Crazy Ivan’ and
feels that this was just “a way to run away from competition.”
In addition to the cuts from Nokia we have even seen some carriers slash
pricing on Nokia handsets. Rogers Wireless recently cut the price of the 8GB N95
in half in an effort to make it more attractive as compared to the newly release
iPhone 3G.
Office 2008 for Mac + Any Mac = A Great Deal
Office 2008 for MacHomeandStudent Edition
Office 2008 for Mac 
Office 2008 for MacSpecial Media Edition .
From work to home to school, your life is full—and you need to be ready for all of it. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac helps you easily create and manage great-looking papers, presentations, and reports so that you can work smart instead of working hard.
Manage your notes and time with Notebook Layout View in Word 2008; use professional templates and polished graphics to create great-looking reports; and confidently share documents with friends and family—whether they are on a Mac or a PC.
Last month, I posted to Mac Mojo about Solver and Excel
2008, where I explained that the Excel team was working hard to bring Solver
functionality back for Office 2008 customers.
Today, I am delighted to
announce that Solver is definitely coming back to Excel 2008. This is
very, very, very good news for anyone that uses Excel for linear
programming or nonlinear optimization problems (Mac-using MBA students, I'm
looking at you...).
Here are the three things you should know:
site of Frontline Systems (www.solver.com/mac).
time for back to school!).
So how was this accomplished, and how
does it work?
Technical Approach
Developing a Solver for Excel
2008 presented some interesting technical challenges. In Excel 2004, Solver
relies on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to function. Since VBA is not a
part of Office 2008, we had to find a way of identifying those areas that needed
VBA and replacing them with something equivalent.
Many people don't
realize this, but Solver is not actually a Microsoft product. Rather, the Solver
code is owned and developed by a Nevada firm called Frontline Systems. Frontline
creates and sells a line of industrial-strength Solver products that are used in
commercial and government settings. Their basic, free version of Solver has
shipped with Excel for many, many years.
Frontline are the most
knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to Solver, and, once MacBU
began hearing from customers about Solver's absence, we began working with
Frontline to figure out how to solve the problem (pardon the pun).
The
final solution was to package up Solver's functionality into its own Mac OS X
application, Solver.app, and then use AppleScript to communicate between Solver
and Excel. This approach is simple, elegant, uses proven Apple technologies, and
results in an experience that is very, very similar to that of using Solver in
Excel 2004.
(It's also worth pointing out that this approach required us
to 'eat our own dogfood' - Solver was developed using the same AppleScript
techniques we recommend for other developers who want to build on top of
Office 2008.)
How It Works
We have attempted to
make the process of obtaining and using Solver as simple as
possible.
Obtaining Solver
The process of downloading Solver is
(eerily!) similar to the process for getting any other Mac software off the
Internet:
folder you like).
That's it! You're all installed.
Using
Solver
Once Solver is on your machine, it's ready to start working with
Excel. To use Solver:
/Applications folder). Solver will open (see Figure 1).
in Excel to serve as constraints or targets, setting your options for the model,
and then clicking 'Solve'. Solver will attempt to solve the model and will let
you know if it finds a solution. 
Figure
1 - Solver.app Running On Mac OS X
Next
Steps
As mentioned, above, Solver will be available as a free download
from Frontline's Web site by mid-September.
We will put up a notice right
here on Mac Mojo when the bits are available for download; if you read Mac Mojo
through RSS, you'll be notified very quickly (and if you don't get Mojo through
RSS, why not? Try Safari or NetNewsWire
for a great RSS experience). Frontline will also have an announcement on their
Web site.
I'd like to close on a personal note. One of the first things I
learned first-hand at Microsoft is that software is a team sport: nothing
happens in this business unless a lot of good people, each with their own unique
talents, work very hard to make it happen. This project (especially coming
together as quickly as it did) was no exception. In addition to the thanks owed
to my colleagues in Excel, all of us here at MacBU owe a huge "THANK YOU" to our
friends at Frontline Systems, who were above-and-beyond professional,
responsive, and just plain wonderful to work with.
So: Solver. Free
download. Mid-September. Watch this space for details.
1.3 Megapixel USB Digital Microscope
This 1.3 Megapixel Digital Microscope allows you to capture some higher resolution images and video and display them on your PC using a simple USB connection. View specimens collected around the house, backyard, your desk, or the fridge. Look at the micro-printing on a dollar bill or examine the traces on your motherboard. This microscope provides you an easy way to zoom in on a wide variety of objects to satisfy your curiosity of the world around you. Ever wondered what lint looks like or the mold growing on your week-old bagels? Now you can find out.
Simple plug and play operation with included software that allows you to magnify objects and view them on your PC up to 200X and take snapshots and time-lapse movies. You can also manipulate images with drawing and painting tools. The microscope is detachable from the stand to allow you to get closer to large objects.
textile, printed circuit board (PCB) inspection, jewelers, hobbyists, tinkerers,
crime scene investigation, medical, serial number identification, quality
control, parts assembly
XP, Vista, Mac OS9, OSX)
August 1, 2008
aTV Flash brings GUI installer, Apple TV 2.1 support
As a quick primer: aTV Flash has enabled Apple TVs with support for like support for DivX, Xid, AVI, and WMV formats, surfing the web with Safari, checking weather forecasts, and much-sought-after USB mass storage for some time now. The only catch has been that setting all this up involves some fairly unfriendly scripts and a USB flash drive.
With version 3.2, aTV Flash now sports a GUI installer for those allergic to Unix and the Terminal. It also supports the latest Apple TV 2.1 update, which means that all the support for codecs and external USB storage doesn't require downgrading to a previous, less capable version of the Apple TV software. The update also adds regular FTP support to aTV Flash's previous SFTP and SSH capabilities.
All this useful functionality doesn't come cheap, though. aTV Flash has no demo to download and try out, and a license with simple installation instructions costs $50, which includes one year of free updates. Extra years can be purchased for $10 each, and "lifetime" updates costs $30. On the upside, Apple Core says aTV Flash in no way voids the Apple TV's warranty. We aren't positive whether that's accurate, but we'll agree with 43Folders: it's probably bet to dive into aTV Flash on the premise that you proceed at your own risk.
Expect a review of aTV Flash's installation process and performance in the coming weeks. Considering that its features make the Apple TV a far more appealing device, we're very interested in whether aTV Flash can live up to its promises.
LG Announces First Blu-ray Disc Player With Capability to Instantly Stream Movies From Netflix to the TV
NEW YORK, July 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Building on a
groundbreaking technology partnership announced earlier this year, LG
Electronics and Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) today announced plans for the
first Blu-ray disc player that will have the added benefit of being able to
instantly stream a growing library of movies and TV episodes from Netflix
directly to the TV.
Available this fall, the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player will play
high definition Blu-ray discs, up-convert standard DVDs to 1080p and allow
Netflix subscribers to instantly stream more than 12,000 choices of movies
and TV episodes from Netflix to the TV for no additional charge.
LG Electronics and Netflix will demonstrate the BD300 Network Blu-ray
Disc Player for the first time tonight at LG's 2008 Summer Line Show at
Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. (The event is open to invited
media only.)
Instantly streaming content from Netflix to the TV via the LG BD300
Network Blu-ray Disc Player will rely on a wired broadband connection and
Queue-based user interface. Netflix members will use the Netflix Web site
to add movies and TV episodes to their individual instant Queues. Those
choices will automatically be displayed on members' TVs and available to
watch instantly through the LG player. Once selected, movies will begin
playing in as little as 30 seconds. With the BD300's accompanying remote
control, Netflix members will be able to browse and make selections right
on the TV screen and also have the ability to read synopses and rate
movies. In addition, they will have the option of fast-forwarding and
rewinding the video stream.
"As Blu-ray player sales are expected to triple in three years,
consumers are craving content and seeking a premium home entertainment
experience," said LG Electronics USA President Teddy Hwang. "The BD300 is
another LG industry first and provides consumers with an advanced high-def
disc player with unparalleled flexibility and networked access for services
such as Netflix."
Consumers craving more content will appreciate the BD Live feature,
which provides real-time interactivity for movie enthusiasts seeking
extras, new previews or special content while BonusView provides
picture-in-picture access to Blu-ray disc special features. To further
personalize and simplify the home theater experience, the BD300 includes
LG's SimpLink(TM) technology, which allows users to control similarly
equipped LG TV and AV products via convenient on-screen menus or directly
from the product itself.
In January, prior to the 2008 International CES(R), LG Electronics and
Netflix announced their technology partnership to provide a set-top box for
consumers to stream movies and TV episodes from the Internet to the TV
beginning in the second half of the year.
"LG Electronics is establishing itself as the innovation leader in
consumer electronics, combining the best of broadband and Blu-ray
connectivity," said Netflix Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO Reed Hastings. "LG
Electronics was the first of our technology partners to publicly embrace
our strategy for getting the Internet to the TV, and is the first to
introduce a Blu-ray player that will instantly stream movies and TV
episodes from Netflix to the TV."
About LG Electronics USA
LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North
American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a global force and technology
leader in home appliances, consumer electronics and mobile communications.
In the United States, LG Electronics sells a wide range of stylish,
innovative digital appliances, consumer electronics (digital display and
digital media) products and mobile phones under LG's "Life's Good"
marketing theme. For more information, please visit http://www.LGusa.com.
About Netflix, Inc.
Netflix, Inc. (Nadsaq: NFLX) is the world's largest online movie rental
service, with more than eight million subscribers. For one low monthly
price, Netflix members can get DVDs delivered to their homes and can
instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed to their TVs and PCs, all
in unlimited amounts. Members can choose from over 100,000 DVD titles and a
growing library of more than 12,000 choices that can be watched instantly.
There are never any due dates or late fees. DVDs are delivered free to
members by first class mail, with a postage-paid return envelope, from over
100 U.S. shipping points. More than 95 percent of Netflix members live in
areas that generally receive shipments in one business day. Netflix is also
partnering with leading consumer electronics companies to offer a range of
devices that can instantly stream movies and TV episodes to members' TVs
from Netflix. For more information, visit http://www.netflix.com/.
Hitachi Shows Technical Feasibility Of Perpendicular Magnetic Recording At 610 Gbit/in2
Hitachi has successfully verified an areal recording density of 610 Gbit/in2, using conventional perpendicular magnetic recording with continuous recording media and a software detection model. This achievement provides further evidence that hard drive capacities have the potential to advance at a rate of 40% annually. Application of this technology to future HDD products is expected to result in products that deliver larger capacities, smaller sizes and greater energy efficiency.
Hitachi will present its findings at The Magnetic Recording Conference (TMRC), taking place in Singapore from 29th to 31st , July 2008.
"These results are based on many years of experience with design optimization and material technology for perpendicular recording heads and media. We applied this knowledge to the development of heads and media with an ultra-narrow track pitch of 65nm, indispensable in achieving a recording density of 610 Gbit/in2. Development of iterative signal processing technology for high density recording further increased density and capacity," said Hiroaki Odawara, Research Director, Storage Technology Research Center, Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi believes that HDDs are an indispensable storage resource for digital home appliances and recording equipment such as large-scale corporate or public databases, PCs and HDD recorders. As the volume of information worldwide continues to grow rapidly, even greater HDD capacity will become necessary.
Perpendicular magnetic recording is now the current mainstream HDD technology. Hitachi GST demonstrated 230 Gbit/in2 in April 2005, 345 Gbit/in2 in September 2006, and has now shown extendability to 610 Gbit/in2. This growth supports the theory that technology can support storage capacity growth of 40% annually. It has been predicted, however, that the current perpendicular recording, which uses a continuous film media will eventually reach a limit in achievable recording density, and therefore, new head and media using alternative technology such discrete track recording, bit patterned media and thermally-assisted recording, are also being considered. These new methods are still being developed, but hold potential for much greater advancements in areal density growth.
Write- and read- head technology for 65nm level track pitch
Continued hard drive advancements require the ability to squeeze more and more, and thus, smaller and smaller data bits onto the recording media, necessitating a decrease in recording track pitch, as well as continued miniaturization of the recording heads to read those bits. As the track pitch narrows, the magnetic field from the write-head interferes with the recorded data in an adjacent track, causing problems such as rewriting or even deletion of data.
To minimize this effect and contain the magnetic field of the head to the relevant track, researchers at Hitachi and Hitachi GST developed a wrap-around shield (henceforth ‘WAS’) write head for narrow pitch tracks by employing a WAS structure, where the main magnetic pole of the write-head is wrapped with a magnetic shield. A TMR (Tunneling Magneto-Resistive) head, able to maintain a sufficient S/N ratio, was also developed for when the sensor width is narrowed. Technology to optimize the write- and read-head was developed using a separated write- and read- head, and analyzing the performance of each.
New media technology with high S/N ratio for 65nm level track pitch
A recording layer was developed with an anisotropy field gradually increasing in the thickness direction. Generally, the greater the anisotropy field, the more difficult it is to reverse the direction of the magnetic current. However, Hitachi found that in the newly developed recording layer, reversal in a magnetic moment occurs from the area with a low anisotropy field, and this in turn, assists reversal in the areas with a high anisotropy field, thus maintaining high thermal stability as well as achieving high writing capability.
The signal and noise information of the media was also analyzed based on a micro-magnetic model, and an optimal design for the head-and-media combination was developed.
Reed-Solomon error correction code-free iterative signal processing technology
In conventional hard drives, in order to read data without errors, an error correction code is attached when data is recorded. The code, however, occupies recording area, thus reducing user space. A new signal processing technique, iterative decoding, which does not require a Reed-Solomon error correction code, was developed for the hard drive. This new technique increases user space by approximately 4%, enabling a further increase in storage capacity equivalent to an HDD with a recording density of 635 Gb/in2.
http://geek-seeker.blogspot.com/
Save Time and Typing with Outlook 2007's Quick Parts
Outlook users, if you find yourself entering the same things into email messages, you should take a look at the Quick Parts feature, which saves snippets of both text and images for easy reuse. While Gina briefly mentioned this feature in her guide to Tweaking Outlook to empty your inbox faster, let's take a closer look at how to use it.
Open up a new email and create the "Quick Part" that you want to save for later re-use, then find Quick Parts in the Text section, and choose "Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery".
Give it a name and a brief description so you can easily find it later.
Now, any time you want to enter that snippet of text, you can simply pick it from the drop-down button menu. Hovering your mouse over it will show you the description that you entered above.
If you want to edit your Quick Parts, you can right-click on any one of them, and choose "Organize and Delete" from the menu.
This will bring up the Building Blocks Organizer window, where you can preview, delete, insert, or get back to the Edit Properties dialog that you were shown when first saving it. Unfortunately you can't actually edit them from within this dialog.
If you want to edit from Outlook, you'll have to insert it, make your changes, and then save it with the same name, and you'll be prompted to "redefine" the building block. Why they couldn't just say "replace" I don't know.
For even quicker access, I'd recommend adding Quick Parts to your Quick Access Toolbar, which is very easy to do from the right-click menu we used above.
If you are more of a keyboard junkie you may already be using Lifehacker's own Texter, but for the mouse-oriented, this feature can be a time saver. What would you use it for?
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