I ran across this blurb on Slashdot today, and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with the writer. After seeing the phones companies like Nokia and Sony-Ericcson release in Europe, and *especially* the crazy hi tech phones available in Japan it seriously begs the question. Why are cellphones in the United States technically a generation or more behind ones available in countries like Japan? Slashdot reports...
knapper_tech writes "After seeing the iPhone introduction, I was totally confused by how much excitement it generated in the US. It offered no features I could see beyond my Casio W41CA's capabilities. I had a lot of apprehension towards the idea of a virtual keypad and the bare screen looked like a scratch magnet. Looks aren't enough. Finally, the price is ridiculous. The device is an order of magnitude more expensive than my now year-old Keitai even with a two-year contract. After returning to the US from Japan, I've come to realize the horrible truth behind iPhone's buzz."
We ran across an interesting analysis of AMD's Thermal Design Guidelines over at Investors Hub. It appears that AMD is speed binning their 65nm parts based on current leakage, indicative of there being issues with their current 65nm fabrication process. AMD seems to have also further enhanced sleep states by allowing C3 Sleep States in their desktop Brisbane parts, ostensibly to lower idle current draw.
On the surface it appears that AMD's still a little wet behind the ears with 65nm, something Intel's mastered for quite some time now. Investors Hub reports...
If you look at the IDD current of their C1 states, you get an idea of the leakage at various voltages. I looked at their current CZ (F3 stepping, 90nm) and their DD (G0 stepping, 65nm) parts at the max P-state (1.2-1.3V for 65W TDP parts and 1.3-1.35V for 89W TDP parts) and min P-state (1.1V for all products).
I pay special attention to their 3800+ part, which was their downbinned part for 90nm (therefore, highest leakage), and their higher bin parts, which presumably require binning for low leakage in order to fit in the power envelopes. Note that with the new price cuts, AMD's new 90nm downbin is a 4200+ part, which is not listed in this already outdated thermal guide. For 65nm, their downbinned part was the 3600+ part. Today, it is 4000+. Note that you can see the part name in the ID Tag.
As publishers who rely on advertising to survive it would be remiss of us to fail to remind our readers that advertising in and of itself isn't an "evil" concept. What is continually disturbing is the application of "adware" as a supposedly legitimate advertising methodology. In reality most "adware" is just mildly annoying and generally involves trading the same sort of personal information you often trade willingly in retail stores (if you've *ever* used a "Bonus Card" in a retail store to get special prices, you've submitted to exactly the same sort of information gathering done by "adware").
In advertising, you decide where to "draw the line" when it comes to your customers. In our case, for instance, we've avoided things like pop-ups, pop-unders, interstitials, and using mailing lists because we think such things are annoying and go too far.
Microsoft seems to be extending the definition of exactly what "too far" may be in a patent application filed June 5th. The patent is for garnering "contextual" data from your local machine, applications, software, and files. To say this is an order of magnitude greater intrusion than garnering data from your browsing habits is a bit of an understatement we think. Information Week Reports....
In two patent applications filed this month, Microsoft may be foreshadowing future Windows features, including updates to the taskbar and ad-supported versions.
The first patent application, filed on July 5, details advertising software that uses applications and data on a computer, rather than the Web, to provide context for and trigger advertising. "Web-based advertising is limited to targeting based on a user's interaction with a webpage or search application in communication with a portal or search engine," the patent application notes.
Overall, the software is like adware that figures out what ads to display based on files on the hard drive and what's being displayed on the screen at a given moment. The advertising software, which could be part of the operating system, a standalone app, or an application feature, would use information gleaned from documents, music, computer status messages, and e-mails as context for ads. However, the software could conceivably gather information on every file on a user's hard drive and send it to advertisers, and the application does little to assuage security and privacy concerns.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 13, 2007 – Intel and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) today announced they have agreed to work together to bring the benefits of technology to the developing world through synergy of their respective programs. Under the agreement, Intel and OLPC will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content. Intel will also join the board of OLPC.
OLPC is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to bring learning opportunities to the most remote and poorest children of the world by providing connected, low-cost and rugged laptops to each and every child in their daily lives.
The Java Runtime environment is ubiquitous. Used by every browser, many software applications, and a plethora of mobile devices, it's a hard to avoid and subtly pervasive piece of technology. Now, Google's Security team reports that they have discovered vulnerabilities in Sun's Java Runtime Environment that threaten the security of all existing implementations of the platform. While we're confident Sun will issue an update for it's PC JVM environment, where does that leave embedded devices and mobile platforms? Wow. This is definitely a week of *ALL* encompasing problems! ZDNet Asia reports...
Google's Security team has discovered vulnerabilities in the Sun Java Runtime Environment that threatens the security of all platforms, browsers and even mobile devices.
"This is as bad as it gets," said Chris Gatford, a security expert from penetration testing firm Pure Hacking.
"It’s a pretty significant weakness, which will have a considerable impact if the exploit codes come to fruition quickly. It could affect a lot of organizations and users," Gatford told ZDNet Australia.
Australia's Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) analyst, Robert Lowe, warned that anyone using the Java Runtime Environment or Java Development Kit is at risk.
If you thought that Sony was the only console manufacturer having a really bad day, guess again. After many months of public complaints and outcries, Microsoft has publically admitted that *ALL* (as in every single one ever sold) Xbox360's have a design defect that can lead to their failure. Though Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft's Xbox360 Division refused to elaborate on the issue, the general consensus is that it's one of botched thermal design management and inadequate dissipation of heat leading to component failure. All of the nearly 12 million units currently in the hands of consumers are affected. Though Microsoft has not issued a global recall, they have tripled the warranty coverage period, and are expected to have to dole out over $1 Billion to correct the situation. CRN Australia Reports...
(Editor's Footnote: We really had no idea just how much of a firestorm this would create, both for the gaming community or us personally. Microsoft now has the entire audio content of the conference call CRN Australia based their story on available, and you can listen and decide for yourself what is (and more importantly isn't) being said right here. Future politicians could learn something from this...)
Microsoft has admitted that every one of the 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles sold in the past 19 months suffers from a design flaw that could cause the device to fail.
The firm will extend the warranty coverage from one to three years to compensate consumers, but does not plan to instate a recall or exchange programme.
Microsoft gaming chief Robbie Bach claimed in a conference call with financial analysts that the design issues surfaced recently.
Though it's not clear why he's left, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess why David Orton, former President and CEO of ATI Technologies, has called it quits. The most recent generation of ATI Chipset and GPU products hasn't exactly been a "poster child" for what a smooth and timely product launch should be. Analysts and hacks have all surmised that teething troubles and a general culture clash between the two giant semiconductor firms has caused more problems than it's solved for the x86 sector. This seems to be more evidence of the same. The Inquirer reports...
The former president and CEO of ATI Technologies is quitting AMD at the end of the month. According to a press release, Orton said he was leaving AMD with mixed feelings. What that means we're not quite sure.
They say the internet has become the great "equalizer" in our modern world, and to a great degree this is absolutely true. Still, it's a bit of a shock when bloggers at the Strategic Security Blog run across Google Earth satellite photos of a new series of Chinese nuclear submarine.
A commercial satellite image appears to have captured China's new nuclear ballistic missile submarine. The new class, known as the Jin-class or Type 094, is expected to replace the unsuccessful Xia-class (Type 092) of a single boat built in the early 1980s.
The new submarine was photographed by the commercial Quickbird satellite in late 2006 and the image is freely available on the Google Earth web site.
In it's native market, Japan, The Nintendo Wii can seemingly do no wrong. Last month's sales figures show 270,974 Wii consoles sold versus 41,628 PS3's and a meager 17,616 Xbox 360's. Can you say 6:1 in favor of Wii? Worldwide it's still a one horse race, with the Wii outselling the PS3 by a factor of 3. The BBC Reports...
Nintendo's Wii console outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan last month by six to one, says research.
Nintendo sold 270,974 Wii consoles last month while Sony sold 41,628 PS3s, according to Enterbrain, a Japanese publisher that tracks console sales.
Nintendo has sold about 2.76m Wii consoles in Japan since the launch last December, while Sony has sold 970,270 PS3s since it debuted last November. About 17,616 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in June.
Last week, Phil Harrison, PlayStation's head of worldwide studios, told US Game Informer magazine that pundits should not judge the success of the console based on the launch software line-up.
Our contributing editor Chris decided to be our official press presence (i.e. guinea pig) and braved the rampaging mobs outside the Apple Store at a local Oklahoma City Mall. Along with local television news, 193 soon to
be iPhone owners were along for the ride as well, awaiting the 6:00pm
"reopening" of the Apple Store.
