Your reviews: Vista and rivals

Microsoft launches its new operating system, Windows Vista, on Tuesday, promising "the wow starts now". We have selected two readers to explain what they like and don't like about the new operating system and two readers who are extolling the virtues of rival systems - the open source platform Linux and Apple's Mac OS X.

1. Vista: Dan Verley 3. Linux: Paul Broadbent

2. Vista: Nick Fletcher 4. Mac OS X: Jonathan Tilney

WINDOWS VISTA

Vista has overhauled the Windows interface

Dan Verley, US

Approximately six months ago I was given an opportunity to beta test Microsoft's latest operating system (OS) Windows Vista.

I've been using Windows since 3.1 came out, so I immediately jumped at the offer. I really wasn't expecting something altogether different from previous versions, but immediately Vista proved to be in a league of its own.

The first thing you notice when you get to the desktop is the appearance. It is visually stunning.

One of the things that Microsoft has been boasting about is Windows Aero, which is an experience centered on 3D graphics.

With features such as translucent windows, smoother window performance, and Windows Flip 3D, it just adds to the overall experience.

Windows Flip 3D is by far my favourite. It's similar to Alt-Tab, but it brings up a 3D view of all the minimized windows. You can see what each window is and then select whichever one you want to view.

Even though Vista requires more resources, (probably because it is more graphics oriented) it's more stable and performs better that any version that I've ever used.

The most unique new feature is called Readyboost. When you're having performance issues due to insufficient memory, you can use a USB flash drive as an additional cache of memory to boost performance.

It's an amazing OS. I really think that this one's going to give Apple Macs a run for their money.

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Nick Fletcher, Australia

Being a software developer for the Windows platform, it is important that I keep up to date with the never-ending developments in PC technology, particularly those provided by Microsoft.

I have been using Windows Vista for about one year now and seen it mature into the final product.

A huge amount of research has been put into this new version which is evident in everything from the user interface right through to the new security model.

This latest update provides many new components but the one which will provide the greatest change for windows users is the Windows Presentation Foundation - a set of components which allow graphics designers to produce visually stunning user interfaces.

This new technology relies on the DirectX (a graphics technology provided on most modern graphics cards and also a requirement for the new Aero user interface) graphics engine to draw the interface leading providing new features such as 3D and animation.

As an operating system for your average consumer there are also lots of great improvements, the new media player, a more intuitive user experience and easier backup facilities.

I also like the way that all my existing hardware just works (although I am aware many other people have had problems).

Boot time is much improved over XP and with the deep sleep option, it allows you to resume work from an almost zero power state in just a few seconds.

Excessive demands on hardware also mean that many people may not choose to upgrade their OS, waiting instead until the PC is replaced.

Whilst 512Mb is quoted as the minimum I would say that 1Gb is needed for a wait-free session. The graphics card must also support DirectX9 in order to display the Aero user experience - another expense if you don't have one already.

In short though, I see windows Vista as a big improvement over Windows XP and would strongly suggest other PC users who have not explored beyond the Windows camp to upgrade.

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OPEN SOURCE - LINUX

Gnome is a free desktop interface for Linux

Paul Broadbent, UK

One of the advantages of Linux is its flexibility.

For the novice user it is straightforward to use, yet it also gives more experienced users radical powers over their computer which are not available in other operating systems.

Also there is a huge variety of high quality, free software available for Linux, and using a package manager it is trivial to choose one of these thousands of applications and install it in a couple of clicks.

Another significant advantage with Linux is that, unlike in Windows, there is no need to worry about security since viruses are very rare, no virus has yet spread successfully on the platform.

And using powerful desktops such as KDE and Gnome with stunning visual effects it is able to look even better than Vista and OS X.

Also, unlike Vista and OS X, Linux provides comprehensive support for languages such as Gaelic and Welsh.

Unfortunately Linux's use is less widespread than the competition, which means that hardware and mainstream games often lack official support, so they can occasionally be difficult to install.

However there are always many people on the internet ready to help out with any problems.

What really sets Linux apart is its social significance provided by the free software license. It encourages users to share the software they love with their friends, rather than making the act of sharing illegal and branding it piracy.

Also it encourages programmers to be better people, working in the open and allowing other programmers from across the world to help improve their software, rather than locking up their work with restrictive licences which prevent programmers from working together.

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APPLE MAC OS X

Apple is working on a new version of OS X

Jonathan Tilney

The first thing I noticed after switching from Windows to Mac OS X almost six years ago is its complete lack of distractions.

It is clean, uncluttered and lets me get on with my tasks.

When I see Windows' reminders, popups, and other interruptions, I appreciate its absence in OS X.

My Mac hardware and software looks great and is supremely functional.

It seems someone has taken care of even the smallest details to make it work together seamlessly.

One benefit I have found has been how little maintenance my Mac needs.

It works for 11 hours a day, all week, and is restarted once over the weekend when I run a small maintenance utility.

I don't remember the last time a programme crashed on me, and OS X itself has never crashed on me.

Security is great, as you would expect with a system based on the industrial strength of Unix, although I do practise safe computing and don't take it for granted.

This means I don't waste time on bugs and spyware (there are no viruses for OS X in the wild).

Productivity in Excel spreadsheets, word processing, email and web surfing, photo processing and music all just seems to work (co-existing with Windows users too).

I now feel like I am in charge of my computer rather than it being in charge of me.

I find it hard to find things to criticise, except perhaps to say that new versions of iWork and iLife are produced each year and it is hard to resist buying each new version, modestly priced as they are.

iPod Shuffle colors released!

In five brilliant colors and just $79, the 1GB iPod shuffle lets you wear up to 240 songs¹ on your sleeve. Or your lapel. Or your belt. Clip on iPod shuffle and wear it as a badge of musical devotion.

One size fits all

You know what they say about good things and small packages. But when something 1.62 inches long and about half an ounce holds up to 240 songs, “good” and “small” don’t cut it. Especially when you can listen to your music for up to 12 continuous hours.² In fact, iPod shuffle just may be the biggest thing in small.

Ready to wear

Clip it to your coin pocket. Clip it to your bag. No matter where you clip your skip-free iPod shuffle, you’ll have instant access to music. In silver, pink, green, blue, and orange, iPod shuffle goes with everything. Put it on, turn it up, and turn some heads.

Remix and match

The first step to wearing 240 songs is downloading iTunes — free. Then drop your iPod shuffle into the included dock, plug the dock into your Mac or PC’s USB port, and sync in minutes. Got more than 240 songs? No problem. Let iTunes autofill your iPod shuffle and get a new musical experience every time.

1. 1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less. Song capacity is based on 4 minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding; actual capacity varies by content.


2. Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.

Linux Kernel hackers offering hardware companies free driver development

Yes, that's right, the Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development. No longer do you have to suffer through all of the different examples in the Linux Device Driver Kit, or pick through the thousands of example drivers in the Linux kernel source tree trying to determine which one is the closest to what you need to do.

All that is needed is some kind of specification that describes how your device works, or the email address of an engineer that is willing to answer questions every once in a while. A few sample devices might be good to have so that debugging doesn't have to be done by email, but if necessary, that can be done.

In return, you will receive a complete and working Linux driver that is added to the main Linux kernel source tree. The driver will be written by some of the members of the Linux kernel developer community (over 1500 strong and growing). This driver will then be automatically included in all Linux distributions, including the "enterprise" ones. It will be automatically kept up to date and working through all Linux kernel API changes. This driver will work with all of the different CPU types supported by Linux, the largest number of CPU types supported by any operating system ever before in the history of computing.

As for support, the driver will be supported through email by the original developers, when they can help out, and by the "enterprise" Linux distributors as part of their service agreements with their customers.

If your company is worried about NDA issues surrounding your device's specifications, we have arranged a program with OSDL/TLF's Tech Board to provide the legal framework where a company can interact with a member of the kernel community in order to properly assure that all needed NDA requirements are fulfilled.

Now your developers will have more time to work on drivers for all of the other operating systems out there, and you can add "supported on Linux" to your product's marketing material.

This offer is in affect for all different types of devices, from USB toys to PCI video devices to high-speed networking cards. If you build it, we can get Linux drivers working for it.

For any questions about this program, please feel free to respond to this email, or contact me directly at greg@kroah.com. I will also be available at FreedomHEC 2007 held adjacent to WinHEC, if anyone wants to bring devices and work face-to-face.

Vista DRM Cracked by Security Researcher

"Security researcher Alex Ionescu claims to have successfully bypassed the much discussed DRM protection in Windows Vista, called 'Protected Media Path' (PMP), which is designed to seriously degrade the playback quality of any video and audio running on systems with hardware components not explicitly approved by Microsoft. The bypass of the DRM protection was in turn performed by breaking the Driver Signing / PatchGuard protection in the new operating system. Alex is now quite nervous about what an army of lawyers backed by draconian copyright laws could do to him if he released the details, but he claims to be currently looking into the details of safely releasing his details about this at the moment though."

OSSDI to Distribute OpenOffice.org in Schools

Xampper writes to tell us that the OSSDI (Open Source Software Distribution Initiative) is a new organization that has cropped up to help not only spread the word about Open Source Software, but to help distribute the OpenOffice.org office suite starting with less fortunate school districts. The OSSDI describes their current status as still being in its "infancy as an organization. Because of this, all of our current resources are focused on gaining supporters, raising funds, and recruiting volunteers. Plans are under-way for our first software distribution, but we must first cover our operating costs. We are also interested in becoming a registered not for profit corporation so that donors will receive tax breaks for their gifts, but the registration process can also be very costly and time-consuming."

Frank Taira Supit hanged himself?

The Jakarta Post quoted family members that lawyer turned airline businessman and key supporter of Amien Rais in 2004 election Frank Taira Supit had committed suicide, hanged himself in his Rempoa residence, South Jakarta.

Mr Supit is the co-founder of corporate law firm Makarim & Taira Supit, National Mandate Party (PAN), and airline company PT Efata Papua Airlines. Police is investigating the case and awaiting the autopsy result to confirm whether it was really suicide.
Mr Supit, Graduated from Harvard Law School (summa cum laude, the first Indonesian to get that), married to a Filipino. He also established PT Sigma Batara.
At Air Efata, Supit owns 8% directly and indirectly through PT Taira Markas (90%). Papua governor Barnabas Suebu reportedly owns 2%.
"Looks like he had huge professional and personal problems recently. But I'm shocked to hear the sad news," one of his friends said.
"He's a perfectionist, smart, and low profile. But I never imagine his life ended like that," another friend said.
Evening paper Sinar Harapan reported in its headline that Supit's wife Marylou reported the tragedy on Monday. Marylou declined to comment on speculations about Mr Supit's death.
The paper quoted several sources that Air Efata has been in trouble with liabilities to Angkasa Pura I, II, Pertamina, and other companies of more than Rp100 billion. The airline has reportedly invested Rp180 billion. Supit tried to restructure the company's debt with new loans from Bank Lippo, but the bank pulled out in the last minutes. Air Efata also got loans from Oentoro Surya (owner of PT APOL) and overseas institutions thanks to his reputation as respected lawyer.
He survived Marylou, and three children (Harumi Supit from his first wife, and two kids of 8 and 7 years old). He paid higher salary for pilots, co-pilots, air crews and land staffs than any airline in the country.

The Future Microchips Will Be Smaller, Faster and Will Lose Much Less Energy

One of the most important findings in transistors in the last four decades enhances the much desired development of smaller and more powerful microchips.

Intel Corp. and IBM made the technological breakthrough by using an exotic new material: tiny switches that are the building blocks of microchips. "At the transistor level, we haven't changed the basic materials since the 1960s. So it's a real big breakthrough," said Dan Hutcheson, head of VLSI Research, an industry consultant. "Moore's Law was coming to a grinding halt," an allusion to the industry maxim formulated by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, who said that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years. As a result of this principle, the chips have been smaller and faster, in an industry of $250 billion in annual sales.

The new technology, based on the metal named hafnium, helps the development of circuitry as small as 45 nanometers (1:2000 of the width

of a human hair). "We do expect that those products will deliver higher performance levels than existing products," said Steve Smith, vice president of Intel's digital enterprise group operations. "What we're seeing is excellent double-digit performance gains on media applications."

The new technology could last at least two technology generations, when circuitry will get 22 nm dimensions. "We've been doing this for 40 years and we've got to the point where some of these layers you have to make smaller wouldn't scale anymore," said IBM Chief Technologist Bernie Meyerson. "We are getting down to a stage of technology where people have wondered if you could really ever go there, and we have definitely shown a roadmap down to these unbelievably tiny dimensions," said Meyerson.

The current technology has a 5 atoms thick layer of silicon-based material, thus a lot of electricity leaks out, causing wasted power and shorter battery life. "It's like running two faucets when you only need one. You're actually wasting more water than you're actually using," said Jim McGregor, an analyst at the technology market research firm In-Stat.

These are the benefits of the new technology: smaller transistors, potentially doubling their total number in a given area, and also faster ones, with a speed increase of over 20 %, and a decrease in power leakage by over 80 %. "Consumers are going towards mobility and power-sensitive solutions. We need to not only make things smaller and more efficient but also use less power," McGregor said.

But there are many obstacles in continuing the development of new chip generations: it is increasingly difficult to create light beams narrow enough to etch circuitry on chips. "But this takes out what has been considered the biggest number one roadblock," VLSI's Hutcheson said.

The Satellite Receiving Multimedia Car of the Future

The current car radios present many inconveniences: crackling radio stations, signal loss in tunnels and difficult tuning to the correct frequency.

But recently, ESA and nine partners in the industry and service sectors have presented a new prototype at the Noordwijk Space Expo, in the Netherlands, of what would be the multimedia car radio of the future.

The new car radio functions like a satellite receiver for television channels. Instead of a large dish antenna on the car's roof, there is a special mobile antenna, flattened so that it can be integrated almost invisibly into the bodywork that picks up signals in the Ku frequency band employed by communications

satellites.

The idea of integrating a satellite receiver in a car is not a novelty as in the US, more than 13 million drivers utilize the services of XM-radio and Sirius radio that broadcast to mobile satellite receivers. That is done via satellites, but enhanced by a rural network of transmitter pillars.

However, the new European multimedia system is much more advanced. Instead of new satellites and a web of ground-based transmitters which would require a huge investment, overpassing a billion Euro, the new system employs only the already existing communication satellites.

Moreover, the mobile multimedia system uses a cache memory (a hard disk or its solid-state equivalent). The received signals can be recorded (like in personal video recorders) and listened after a short time shift or much later. This ingenious technique surpasses the problem of signal loss in tunnels or obstructions disturbing the program.

This way, the driver is able to select a part of the broadcast to listen to, or pause a broadcast he/she is interested in as they stop to fuel.

The engineers were forced in their approach to develop an entirely new antenna that could be easily integrated in a car, as the large, fixed dish antennas designed to broadcast television signals via satellites were excluded for not being practical.

The project has taken three years of research, but the new technology possesses a great potential for the car industry and broadcasting.

Photo credit: BMW

What is the Human Body Made Of?

Have you ever wondered what the human body is made of?

Well, a team at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada, did and realized the first draft of the human metabolome (the totality of metabolites from the human body). The metabolites are the small chemicals found in or produced by an organism. The team has identified and characterized 2,500 metabolites, 1,200 drugs and 3,500 food components that can be encountered in the human body.

The metabolome list could trigger a new era in detecting and treating diseases.

The Human Metabolome Project (HMP) would have a much more powerful impact on medical practices than the Human Genome Project, as the metabolites point more directly to the body's health and physiology. "Metabolites are the canaries of the genome," says Project Leader Dr. Wishart, professor of computing science and biological sciences at the University of Alberta

and Principal Investigator at NRC, National Institute for Nanotechnology. "A single base change in our DNA can lead to a 100,000X change in metabolite levels."

"The results of this research will have a significant impact on the diagnosis, prediction, prevention and monitoring of many genetic, infectious and environmental diseases," stated Dr. David Bailey, President and CEO of Genome Alberta.

The metabolites are extremely sensitive in showing what a person eats, how he/she lives, the time of day, the time of year, his/her general health and even his/her mood. "Most medical tests today are based on measuring metabolites in blood or urine," Wishart says.

"Unfortunately, less than 1% of known metabolites are being used in routine clinical testing. If you can only see 1% of what's going on in the body, you're obviously going to miss a lot."

The team made up of 50 researchers based at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary completed the part of the 95 % unknown metabolites of the human metabolome in the past two and half years. "With the data in the HMDB, anyone can find out what metabolites are associated with which diseases, what the normal and abnormal concentrations are, where the metabolites are found or what genes are associated with which metabolites," Wishart says.

"It's the first time that this sort of data has been compiled into one spot. By decoding the human metabolome, we can identify and diagnose hundreds of diseases in a matter of seconds at a cost of pennies," Wishart added.

Who Killed the Webmaster?

Back in the frontier days of the web–when flaming skulls, scrolling marquees, and rainbow divider lines dominated the landscape–”Webmaster” was a vaunted, almost mythical, title. The Webmaster was a techno-shaman versed the black arts needed to make words and images appear on this new-fangled Information Superhighway. With the rise of the Webmaster coinciding with the explosive growth of the web, everyone predicted the birth of a new, well paying, and in-demand profession. Yet in 2007, this person has somehow vanished; even the term is scarcely mentioned. What happened? A decade later I’m left wondering “Who killed the Webmaster?”

Suspect #1: The march of technology

By 2000, I think every person in the developed world had a brother-in-law who created websites on the side. Armed with Frontpage and a pirated copy of Photoshop, he’d charge a reasonable fee per page (though posting more than three images cost extra.)

Eventually the web hit equilibrium and just having a website didn’t make a company hip and cutting-edge. Now management demanded that their website look better than the site immediately ranked above in search results. And as expensive as the sites were, ought they not “do something” too? Companies increasingly wanted an exceptional website requiring a sophisticated combination of talent to pull off. HTML and FTP skills, as useful as they had been, were no longer a sharp enough tool in the Webmaster’s toolbox. Technologies such as CSS and multi-tier web application development rapidly made WYSIWYG editors useless for all but ordinary websites. And with the explosion of competition and possibilities on the Internet few businesses were willing to pay for “ordinary”.

In 1995, the “professional web design firm” was single, talented person working from home. Today it’s a diverse team of back-end developers, front-end developers, graphic artists, UI designers, database and systems administrators, search engine marketing experts, analytics specialists, copywriters, editors, and project managers. The industry has simply grown so specialized, so quickly, for one person to hardly be a master of anything more than a single strand in the web.

Suspect #2: Is it the economy, stupid?

Then again, perhaps the disappearance of the Webmaster can better be explained by an underwhelming economy rather than overwhelming technology. Riding high on the bull market of the late 90’s, companies were increasingly willing to assume more risk to reach potential customers. This was especially true of small businesses, which traditionally have miniscule advertising and marketing budgets. Everyone wanted a piece of the Internet pie and each turned to the Webmaster to deliver. More than just a few Webmasters made a respectable living by cranking out a couple $500 websites every week.

Once the bubble burst in early 2000, the dot-com hangover left many small businesses clutching their heads and checking their wallets. As companies braced to solely maintain what they already had, the first cut inevitably was to marketing and advertising. In-house Webmasters were summarily let go, their duties hastily transferred to an already overworked office manager. Freelance Webmasters were hit even harder as business owners struggled to first take care of their own. The gold rush had crumbled to fools’ gold even faster than it had started.

While a few Webmaster were able to weather the storm—mostly those with either extraordinary skills or a gainfully employed spouse—the majority were forced to abandon their budding profession and return to the world of the mundane.

Suspect #3: The rise of Web 2.0

Another strong possibility is that the Internet has simply evolved beyond the Webmaster. “Web 2.0″ is the naked emperor of technological neologisms; we all nod our head at the term but then stammer when pressed for a definition. As far as I can tell, Web 2.0 is mostly about rounded corners, low-contrast pastel colors, and domain names with missing vowels. But it also seems to be about an emphasis on social collaboration. This may seem like a no-brainer given the connectedness of the Internet itself; however, thinking back to Web 1.0 there was a distinct lack of this philosophy. Web 1.0 was more an arms race to build “mindshare” and “eyeballs” in order to make it to the top of the hill with the most venture capital. Even the Web 1.0 term of “portal” conjures up an image of Lewis Carroll’s Alice tumbling down a hole and into an experience wholly managed by the resident experts–the Webmasters. Despite the power and promises to be so much more, the web wasn’t much different than network television or print. Even the most interesting and successful business models of the Web 1.0 era could have been accomplished years prior with an automated telephone system.

It wasn’t until after the failure of the initial experiment did people begin to rethink the entire concept of the Internet. Was the Webmaster as gatekeeper really necessary? If we all have a story to share, why can’t everyone contribute to the collective experience? Perhaps it was the overabundance Herman Miller chairs, but Web 1.0 was inarguably about style over substance. Yet, as anyone who’s ever visited MySpace can attest, today content is king. With all of us simultaneously contributing and consuming on blogs, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, and SecondLife, who needs a Webmaster anymore?

Sing and Search the Internet

The search engines are more and more powerful, allowing you to search for all kinds of information including jobs, blog posts, videos, news and even products to buy. At this time, Google is the most known search engine on the internet, being continuously challenged by Yahoo, Ask or Live Search. From time to time, other companies are trying to design innovative services meant to compete with the ones provided by the giant firms.

Midomi is one of the interesting services that were designed to represent a new search technology on the internet that is currently unavailable on the most

known search engines.

“midomi is the ultimate music search tool because it is powered by your voice. Sing, hum, or whistle to instantly find your favorite music and connect with a community that shares your musical interests. Give it a try. It's truly amazing! Our mission is to build the most comprehensive database of searchable music. You can contribute to the database by singing in midomi's online recording studio in any language or genre. The next time anyone searches for a song, your performance might be the top result,” it is mentioned in the description of the search technology.

The idea presented by the midomi is simple: all you need to do is go to the official website of the service, press on the Start Voice Search button and then sing your song. The solution will record your voice and then look for a song that matches your query and return certain results. Midomi is not only a search technology, but it also represents a large community of users that are continuously posting new recordings for songs from all around the world, offering you the possibility to search using predefined or prerecorded sounds.

If you want to test this exciting search engine, you should follow this link and try to avoid blaming your singing talent if the service doesn’t return any relevant result.

What is Better than Sex?

I guess you would do anything to find out what is that thing that makes people forget about sex, wouldn't you? I felt the same but after finding out what that thing was, I kind of had a feeling of being misled. I suppose you will feel the same but, what the heck, here it goes.

According to a survey conducted by the UK mobile phone retailer Dial-a-Phone, 30 percent of the men and a pretty good slice of the number of women (approximately 42.5 percent) would answer their cellphone while they have sex.

If that is not a clear sign that they would enjoy more talking with their friends, with the family members or who knows with what other individuals, then what is? And if that survey is true, the things seem to go on the same down falling route as in the case of the dinosaurs :). Where will we be and how many of us will still think of sex if the mobile phone manufacturers keep releasing better and better handsets each day?

Giving credit to the guys that made this study, you should also know that 24 percent of the participating women also declared they would

rather give up sex instead of their handsets for a whole month. I suppose this would be a pretty good way for the monasteries to assure the nuns follow the celibacy oath: give a nun a couple of hundred cellphones to keep her busy and the danger of her wanting some male attention reduces dramatically :).

Flic Everett, the relationship expert (as he calls himself) from Dial-a-Phone, has expressed his total disagreement about the whole thing and said to “never ever answer your phone during sex...There's a time and a place for mobile phones! Turning them off occasionally or even switching them to silent will make your loved-one feel as though they have your attention.”

Furthermore, besides being something way better than sex in the mind of some troubled humans from the United Kingdom, the phones also are an important part for some of us when having to start a new relationship or even when wanting to end one without having to deal with our “worse” half's discontent.

As the relationship expert from Dial-a-Phone has once again said: “singletons consider their mobile phone their most valuable dating weapon - arranging dates and getting to know prospective partners through text messaging (sending on average 12 before they meet up) to relaying the success of the date during the event to their mates (four out of five contact a mate during a date). "

Concluding all the things I wrote above, I guess one single word could sum up very well where we are heading to in case cellphones become better than ever before and things follow the pattern discovered by Dial-a-Phone: EXTINCTION! (you have remembered the dinosaurs didn't you? :) (they probably also had cellphones or at least something veery similar).

Inside the Lucasfilm datacenter

"Where can you find a (rhetorical) 11.38 petabits per second bandwidth? It appears to be inside the Lucasfilm Datacenter. At least, that is the headline figure mentioned in this report on a tour of the datacenter. The story is a bit light on the down-and-dirty details, but mentions a 10 gig ethernet backbone (adding up the bandwidth of a load of network connections seems to be how they derived the 11.38 petabits p/s figure. In that case, I have a 45 gig network at home.) Power utilization is a key differentiator when buying hardware, a "legacy" cycle of a couple of months, and 300TB of storage in a 10.000 square foot datacenter. To me, the story comes across as somewhat hyped up — "look at us, we have a large datacenter" kind of thing, "look how cool we are". Over the last couple of years, I have been in many datacenters, for banks, pharma and large enterprise to name a few, that have somewhat larger and more complex setups."

Debian Gets Win32 Installer

"Debian hacker Robert Millan has just announced the availability of a Debian-Installer Loader for win32. The program, inspired by Ubuntu's similar project, features 64-bit CPU auto-detection, download of linux/initrd netboot images, and chainloading into Debian-Installer via grub4dos. The frontend site goodbye-microsoft.com/ has been set up for advocacy purposes. Here are some screenshots."

Google TV - An Elaborate Hoax

A heavily produced YouTube video from Mark Erickson at “Infinite Solutions” shows users how to get in on the super-secret (and non existent) Google TV beta. It involves sending yourself an email and then logging in and out of Gmail multiple times until a tv icon appears in the Gmail logo. In the comments to the video, some users have tried logging in and out of Gmail hundreds of times without it working.This is almost certainly a fake, as Google Blogoscoped reports. Erickson then posted a second video to prove the authenticity and saying that Google had increased the login requirements “substantially”. A+ for effort and originality. Both videos are below.

Google

Sphere It

Intel, IBM Announce Chip Breakthrough

Intel announced a major breakthrough in microprocessor design Friday that will allow it to keep on the curve of Moore's Law a while longer. IBM, working with AMD, rushed out a press release announcing essentially equivalent advances. Both companies said they will be using alloys of hafnium as insulating layers, replacing the silicon dioxide that has been used for more than 40 years. The New York Times story (and coverage from the AP and others) features he-said, she-said commentary from dueling analysts. If there is a consensus, it's that Intel is 6 or more months ahead for the next generation. IBM vigorously disputes this, saying that they and AMD are simply working in a different part of the processor market — concentrating on the high-end server space, as opposed to the portable, low-power end.

Intel announces 45nm breakthrough

1/27/2007 2:17:45 PM, by Jon Stokes

It's a shame that Intel happened to pick a Saturday when I'm trying to move to make major news with their upcoming 45nm process. This means that I can't do more than quickly summarize what was announced, but I can point you to two good articles that can take you further if you want to know more.

In a nutshell, Intel has announced a pair of advances in their 45nm process that will cut down drastically on leakage current (see below for more), enabling the company to make the transistors on their next generation of chips much smaller without worrying so much about current bleeding through when the transistor is in the "off" position. The first of these advances is the use of a high-k gate dielectric, a first in commercial semiconductor production. The dielectric is essentially an insulator that can now be made very thin without allowing electrical current to seep through (due to quantum tunneling) when the transistor is in the "off" position.

To complement this high-k dielectric, Intel has also moved to a metal gate electrode. This metal gate electrode is more compatible with the new hafnium-based dielectric than the polysilicon electrode used in previous process steps.

The new 45nm process will be used for Intel's forthcoming Penryn microarchitecture, which is basically just a die shrink of Woodcrest with more cache.

According to David Kanter at RealWorldTech, IBM and AMD don't plan to move to a similar high-k dielectric until the 32nm process node, a decision that may put them at a disadvantage versus Intel at 45 nanometers. Kanter summarizes the situation as follows:

The high-k dielectrics and metal gates will give Intel an advantage on their 45nm process. However, this transistor level advantage will not directly translate to microprocessor performance, without corresponding advances or clever engineering to address wire delay. It will be up to Intel's MPU designers and marketers to make the most of these benefits, by increasing clock speed or reducing power. The real question is whether the combination of high-k dielectrics and metal gates will shut the window of opportunity for AMD, when they introduce their own 45nm process in mid to late 2008, and only time will tell where the chips will fall.

For an in-depth look at the new announcements, be sure and head over to RWT and read David's article. If you want a more high-level overview with more background and big-picture perspective than I've provided here, John Markoff at the New York Times has a good piece on it that's worth checking out. Also, Robert Scoble has a video tour of the new fab if you're interested in seeing where all the magic happens.

Leakage current and clockspeed: a primer

When you're reading up on this announcement, many of you will probably need a refresher on the relationship between feature size, leakage current, power dissipation, and clockspeed. To help you out, I'm going to paste in a short discussion of power density from one version of Chapter 12 of my book, Inside the Machine. (I'm not sure if this is the final copy that's in the book or not, though, since I'd have to hunt around and compare this text with what's in the proofs).

Power Density

The amount of power that a chip dissipates per unit area is called its power density, and there are two types of power density that concern processor architects: dynamic power density and static power density.

Dynamic Power Density

Each transistor on a chip dissipates a small amount of power when it is switched, and transistors that are switched rapidly dissipate more power than transistors that are switched slowly. The total amount of power dissipated per unit area due to switching of a chip's transistors is called dynamic power density. There are two factors that work together to cause an increase in dynamic power density: clockspeed and transistor density.

Increasing a processor's clockspeed involves switching its transistors more rapidly, and as I just mentioned, transistors that are switched more rapidly dissipate more power. Therefore, as a processor's clockspeed rises, so does its dynamic power density, because each of those rapidly switching transistors contributes more to the device's total power dissipation. You can also increase a chip's dynamic power density by cramming more transistors into the same amount of surface area.

Figure 12-1 illustrates how transistor density and clockspeed work together to increase dynamic power density. As the clockspeed of the device and the number of transistors per unit area rise, so does the overall dynamic power density.

Figure 12-1: Dynamic power density Static Power Density

In addition to clockspeed-related increases in dynamic power density, chip designers must also contend with the fact that even transistors that aren't switching will still leak current during idle periods, much like how a faucet that is shut off can still leak water if the water pressure behind it is high enough. This leakage current causes an idle transistor to constantly dissipate a trace amount of power. The amount of power dissipated per unit area due to leakage current is called static power density.

Transistors leak more current as they get smaller, and consequently static power densities begin to rise across the chip when more transistors are crammed into the same amount of space. Thus even relatively low clockspeed devices with very small transistor sizes are still subject to increases in power density if leakage current is not controlled. If a silicon device's overall power density gets high enough, it will begin to overheat and will eventually fail entirely. Thus it's critical that designers of highly integrated devices like modern x86 processors take power efficiency into account when designing a new microarchitecture.

Inside the Windows Vista Kernel

Reader trparky recommends an article on Technet (which, be warned, is rather chaotically formatted). Mark Russinovich, whose company Winternals Software was recently bought by Microsoft, has published the first of a series of articles on what's new in the Vista kernel. Russinovich writes: "In this issue, I'll look at changes in the areas of processes and threads, and in I/O. Future installments will cover memory management, startup and shutdown, reliability and recovery, and security. The scope of this article comprises changes to the Windows Vista kernel only, specifically Ntoskrnl.exe and its closely associated components. Please remember that there are many other significant changes in Windows Vista that fall outside the kernel proper and therefore won't be covered."

Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate – Comparison

With Windows Vista just two days away I thought I would provide you with a detailed comparison between the various editions of Windows Vista. And as the saying goes... one picture is worth a thousand

words, the images at the bottom illustrate all the features of the operating system according to edition.

But of course, you will also be able to judge the differences in your own house. Buy a Windows Vista DVD with a license for Home Basic. Although the license is just for Home Basic, you will be able to install and test all the editions of the operating system, with the exception of Enterprise, which is available only via volume licensing.

However, the single Vista DVD will permit you to install Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate and to test drive each edition for free for 30 days. How? Well... during the installation process of the operating system you will be asked to enter the license key. The license key will define the edition of Windows Vista that will be deployed. However, you have the possibility to not enter any license key, install whichever version you prefer and test it. As I've said above, the operating system will deliver a 30 days Initial Grace period with full functionality. You will then be able to upgrade to either Home Premium, Business or Ultimate via Windows Vista Anytime Upgrade.

This is a method that will keep you from spending $399 for Windows Vista Ultimate, when the $239 Vista Home Premium is more than enough for your needs.

Oscillations In the Sun's Magnetic Field Cause Ice Ages on Earth

What makes the Earth pass through Ice Ages?

Robert Ehrlich of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia thinks that the sun havs cycles of rise and fall on timescales of around 100,000 years. He made a computer model depicting how temperature fluctuates in the sun's interior.

Standard says the temperature of the sun's interior is maintained constant by gravity and nuclear fusion.

Ehrlich made his suppositions based on the fact that slight variations should be possible on the research of Attila Grandpierre of the Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which in 2005 found that magnetic fields in the sun's core could generate small instabilities in the solar plasma, correlated to local oscillations in temperature.

The computer model reveals that some oscillations could enhance one another, turning into long-lived temperature variations. The sun's

interior temperature would oscillate around its medium temperature of 13.6 million kelvin in cycles of 100,000 or 41,000 years.

These timescales coincide with Earth's glaciations: in the past two million years, ice ages have installed approximately each 100,000 years and before their rhythm was at each 41,000 years.

The most accepted idea is that the glaciations are provoked by subtle changes in the Earth's orbit, named the Milankovitch cycles: Earth's orbit gradually shifts pattern from a circle to a slight ellipse and back again roughly every 100,000 years, changing the amount of sun heat the Earth receives.

But Milankovitch cycles cannot explain why the glaciations shifted frequency a million years ago. "In Milankovitch, there is certainly no good idea why the frequency should change from one to another," says Neil Edwards, a climatologist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK.

And the temperature shifts provoked by Milankovitch cycles seem not to be big enough to induce glaciations; they should be enforced by feedback mechanisms on Earth, like an alteration of carbon dioxide circuit made by the ice, the weakening of the greenhouse effect. "If you add their effects together, there is more than enough feedback to make Milankovitch work," he says. "Milankovitch cycles give us ice ages roughly when we observe them to happen. We can calculate where we are in the cycle and compare it with observation," he says. "I can't see any way of testing [Ehrlich's] idea to see where we are in the temperature oscillation."

Ehrlich agrees that his theory is hard to prove, as variation over 41,000 to 100,000 years is too slow to be studied. "If there is a way to test this theory on the sun, I can't think of one that is practical," he said. There would be one way: red dwarfs, much smaller stars than the sun and consequently with short enough oscillation periods to be watched.

Image credit: NASA

The Oldest Person in the World

The oldest person in the world is now Emma Faust Tillman, 114 years, born near Greensboro, North Carolina, in November 22, 1892, after the death of Emiliano Mercado del Toro, at his home in Puerto Rico aged 115 years and 115-year-old Julie Winnifred Bertrand of Canada, last week.

Emma lives in Hartford, Connecticut. The woman and her parents were former slaves in the decades following the U.S. Civil War.

Guinness World Records has confirmed this. “Emma's family is characterized by longevity: Though none of her 23 siblings have matched her 114 years, three sisters and a brother lived past 100,” said her great-nephew John Stewart Jr.

Tillman graduated in 1909 as the only black student in her high

school and later worked as a cook, maid, party caterer and caretaker for children of several wealthy families.

She also worked as a household servant for the actress Katharine Hepburn. "At 114, she's lived a good, honorable, straight life," said Stewart, who is 76. "Her comment is always, 'If you want to know about longevity and why I lived so long, ask the man upstairs."

"Sometimes, she doesn't feel like talking," Stewart said. "But when you're 114, you can call your own shots."

“Tillman never smoked, drank or wore eyeglasses,” Stewart said. “Until a few months ago Tillman spent much of her time caring for an ailing roommate more than 20 years her junior, who has since died.” said Karen Chadderton, administrator of the Riverside Health and Rehabilitation Center, where Tillman lives.

"About a month ago, she started feeling less energetic," said Chadderton. "During the morning she has energy, she's up and about, in a wheelchair, but in the afternoon, once she goes to sleep, she doesn't want to be bothered."

The International Committee on Supercentenarians says there are at this moment 86 people aged 110 or older in the world today, out of which 80 are women. The world's next-oldest person is the Japanese Yone Minagawa, born in 1893. “Tillman is the youngest title holder in six years,” said Robert D Young, senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records. “Her ascent to the top position was particularly speedy. The average time for a person to be the world's oldest was about eight months,” Young said.