Archive for March, 2011

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Will Windows XP Really Die On Cue?

March 2nd, 2011
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I’ve been happily using Windows 7 as my primary operating system ever since its release in 2009; it’s a great step up from Vista — especially Vista — or XP. A recent experience, however, makes me wonder if Microsoft can really drop support for Windows XP in August 2014 as it says it will.

A friend was starting a work-at-home contract job for a large organization. The company doesn’t provide PCs, but for security reasons has strict rules about the kind of software that can be used on the PC that the contractor provides. For example, no peer-communication software such as IRC or Skype can be installed and the company’s monitoring package will not allow it to be present. As a result, she needed a completely different PC that she could use for doing this work that was totally separate from her main computer.

Over the past six or seven years I have collected quite a few computers and parts, some of them from PCs retired as I’ve upgraded systems for family members. With all that hardware hanging around, it seemed that I could do her a favor and put together a PC that she could use. How hard could it be? Well, darned near impossible as it turns out. In the end, the computer I gave her was the best PC that 2005 had to offer.

The first thing I thought about doing was using one of the old PCs with Windows 7. After all, why not give a friend the latest and greatest that Microsoft has to offer? So I took one of the relatively recent PCs and installed Windows 7. It almost kinda sorta worked, but there was a problem with the video card that caused it to generate all kinds of video artifacts whenever the system went to sleep. I tried different video driver versions but no matter what it would not work.

No problem, though, I had several different video cards. However, none of them were good enough for Windows 7, which requires DirectX 9.0 support. So I tried a few different circa-2006 motherboards that had built-in video. Nope, they weren’t up to snuff either. And by the way, this is easier to say than it was to do. With a pile of parts there’s no easy way to know if they are good enough to run Windows 7 or not. It may take a couple of hours to set up the hardware, try an install, and find out that it’s not going to work.

Perhaps this kind of Windows 7 upgrade pain wouldn’t be so much of a problem in companies that keep a good inventory of the hardware they are running, or run a large number of similarly-configured PCs. Just having a working PC in the first place would have made it possible to run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to find out whether the PC was up to snuff. Yet based on this experience, I suspect that there are plenty of PCs in companies still running XP that don’t have the ability to upgrade to Windows 7.

Source:http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterprise_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219500

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Seagate ships 3TB desktop drive, breaking 2.1TB barrier

March 2nd, 2011
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Seagate Tuesday released its highly anticipated 3TB desktop hard disk drive, the 3.5-in Barracuda XT, thus eliminating the need to purchase extra hardware or software to overcome the previous 2.1TB drive barrier.

Last spring, Seagate had said it would ship its first 3TB HDD, the Constellation ES, by the end of 2010. That drive, for data center servers, has yet to ship.

Western Digital came out with its first 3TB internal desktop drive in January, the Western Digital Caviar Green. Western Digital had its own workaround for the 2.1TB limitation: a HighPoint Rocket 620 internal half-height SATA card, which it ships with the 3TB drive. The card has two SATA 3.0 ports and handles the emulation, if needed, to allow software to work with the larger 3TB hard drive.

Seagate said it was able to make the drive’s capacity available to PC systems through its free DiscWizard utility. Seagate added a virtual device driver to the utility to allow legacy BIOSes and OSes, such as Windows XP, to access capacity above 2.1TB on a drive. Without the driver, PCs with older OSes and BIOS designs would only be able to create volumes up to 2.1TB.

Hence, the Barracuda XT hard drive now delivers the highest available capacity on a single drive for home servers and workstations, high-definition video editing and production systems, high-performance PC gaming systems and desktop PCs.

The new DiscWizard software is available for free download on Seagate’s website.

The 2.1TB ceiling for internal HDDs was set about 30 years ago when a decision was made to limit the logical block address (LBA) range on a hard drive. The LBA specifies where blocks of data are stored on a hard drive.

Legacy PC BIOS designs and device drivers and older operating systems such as Windows XP are incapable of using hard drive capacities beyond 2.1TB. The upshot is that computers with older platforms can create partitions with up to 2.1TB of storage capacity, but must be deployed with additional software or hardware and may also require extra device drivers to overcome this limitation.

Currently, in order for PCs to recognize drives with more than 2.1TB capacity, they must use the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) standard that Intel and IBM introduced in 2007. The UEFI standard, however, has not been widely adopted.

“We believe UEFI will remain in a nascent category for a bit longer before there is broad adoption,” said David Burks, marketing director for Seagate. “We felt strongly that we needed to create a product that didn’t require UEFI for customers who wanted to use the full capacity of these big drives.”

Burks admits that UEFI will eventually be the solution across the industry for allowing older OSes and system BIOS to utilize high-capacity drives, and that the new firmware upgrade on DiscWizard is merely a “stop gap” measure for now.

Users can install the Barracuda XT in their PCs the same as any other drive, using Windows to format and partition the drive.

If the systems platform is Windows XP, it will only access 900GB of capacity on the drive – the portion above 2.1TB. Windows Vista and Windows 7 will recognize 2.1TB capacity on the drive. Users will then be required to download and install the DiscWizard firmware.

Once installed, the user interface will show two partitions, one with 2.1TB and the other with 900GB capacity, and allow a user to adjust those partition sizes to their individual needs. Users will not be able to create a single 3TB partition.

The new Barracuda XT differs little from its 2TB predecessor. The only real difference is that the drive has five disk platters versus four. Like its predecessor, the Barracuda XT has a 7200rpm spindle speed and uses the serial ATA (SATA) 3.0 interface specification giving it 6Gbit/sec throughput.

The drive’s 64MB cache also adds to its performance.

The drive’s suggested retail price is $274.

Source:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9212138/Seagate_ships_3TB_desktop_drive_breaking_2.1TB_barrier

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Opera: Full cross-platform hardware acceleration coming

March 2nd, 2011
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Despite Opera being a longtime developer and advocate of hardware acceleration standards, and the first major browser maker to demonstrate hardware acceleration in use, no publicly released version of Opera included the technology–until today.

Opera 11.50 is a rough alpha, unstable, not for daily use, and limited to Windows computers, but it does have hardware acceleration. This means that JavaScript-based 3D rendering can be viewed using Opera, which basically means that highly complex, non-Flash-based in-site animation will be supported by the browser.

Opera promised in a blog post that its hardware acceleration will differ from its competitors. Unlike Internet Explorer 9’s hardware acceleration–which is limited to Windows 7 and Vista, or Firefox 4’s, which is fully available on Windows 7 and Vista but limited on Windows XP, Mac, and Linux–the way that Opera has built its hardware acceleration allows it to be used in full on any computer with the hardware to support it. This means that not only will Opera’s hardware acceleration support Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X, and Linux, but that Web-enabled televisions and devices such as smartphones will also be able to use it. Opera says that any device that uses the OpenGL ES 2 standard will work with it.

The current implementation of hardware acceleration in Opera 11.50 alpha is limited to OpenGL support. A Direct3D backend is planned for future versions and before 11.50 gets pushed to the public. You can see if your installation of Opera 11.50 alpha has the OpenGL hardware acceleration working by typing opera:about into the location bar, and looking to see if the “Vega backend” entry lists “OpenGL”. If it says “Software,” then your computer graphics card doesn’t support OpenGL 2.x hardware acceleration.

Source:http://www.zdnetasia.com/opera-full-cross-platform-hardware-acceleration-coming-62207242.htm

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Can the atrix 4g really become your next pc?

March 2nd, 2011
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The PC as we’ve long known is dead — or it will be soon. As mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets become more capable, few people will need a full-blown PC or Mac. Instead, a mobile device that connects to external resources as needed — keyboards, mice, monitors, storage, and perhaps even processors — can be the computer you always have with you, using its own screen and hardware when you’re on the go.

I believe that evolution is well under way. Last fall, Apple CEO Steve Jobs all but said that’s where the Mac OS and iOS are headed, with the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.7 Lion marking the next step in the journey. But the Motorola Mobility Atrix 4G is here today with a more tangible version of the future ready to try.

The Atrix is an Android smartphone based on Citrix Systems’ Nirvana phone technology that can dock to external peripherals, using them to provide a more PC-like working experience. When docked, Atrix runs the desktop version of the Firefox 3.6 browser (in Linux), so you can run most cloud services available for your PC or Mac. (Note: Not all browser plug-ins, such as Microsoft Silverlight, work in the Linux version of Firefox.) And any Android apps you run on the Atrix can take advantage of the larger screen, keyboard, and mouse docked to the Atrix.

To see how well the Atrix delivered on this promise, I spent the weekend using it in its “lite” PC guise.

The cost of the “lite” PC transformation
The Atrix — which costs $199 with a two-year contract from AT&T Wireless in the United States — comes with the Webtop Connector app that makes docking possible, but you’ll need extra hardware to actually turn the Atrix into a “lite” PC. There are two hardware paths you can take: a laptoplike device you can carry with you, or a dock you use with external input devices to connect to a TV or monitor.

That hardware is not cheap. For the laptop option, Motorola Mobility’s Lapdock costs $400, providing an LCD screen, keyboard, trackpad, and battery in its laptop shell. If you want to use the laptop dock over a 3G connection, rather than just Wi-Fi, you need to subscribe to AT&T’s $45 DataPro plan.

Source:http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/221073/can_the_atrix_4g_really_become_your_next_pc.html

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Computer retailer to face Fair Work charges

March 2nd, 2011
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The Fair Work Ombudsman has launched a prosecution against the operators of a Brisbane computer hardware retailer for allegedly underpaying one of its workers almost $6000.

Facing court are Wi-Man Pty Ltd and Macquarie Technology Group International Pty Ltd.

Also facing court is Paul Desmond Wallace, a director, shareholder and manager of the companies.

The two companies have imported and distributed computer hardware, mainly wireless modems for radio devices.

Documents lodged in the Federal Magistrates Court in Brisbane allege Mr Wallace was involved in the companies underpaying an accountant $5946.

It is alleged the accountant was employed by Wi-Man from September, 2006 to June, 2008 and by Macquarie Technology Group International from July, 2008 to April, 2009.

Wi-Man allegedly failed to pay the employee $1408 in accrued annual leave entitlements on termination in June, 2008.

Macquarie Technology Group International allegedly failed to pay $3593 in accrued annual leave entitlements on termination in April, 2009 and wages of $945.

Fair Work Ombudsman executive director Michael Campbell says the employer’s failure to rectify the underpayment was a key factor in the agency’s decision to litigate.

Wallace was allegedly involved in Wi-Man committing one breach of workplace laws and in Macquarie Technology Group International committing two breaches. He faces maximum penalties of $6600 per breach and the companies each face maximum penalties of $33,000 per breach.

The Fair Work Ombudsman is also seeking Court Orders for back-payment of the entitlements allegedly still outstanding.

Source:http://www.insideretailing.com.au/Latest/tabid/53/ID/10203/Computer-retailer-to-face-Fair-Work-charges.aspx

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Apple is among the companies in the computer hardware industry with the smallest short interest (aapl, hpq, ncr, dell, sgi)

March 2nd, 2011
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Below are the top five companies in the Computer Hardware industry ranked by the lowest short interest ratio. A low short interest ratio may indicate that there are only a few people who are bearish on the stock.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a short interest ratio of 0.5 based on average daily volume of 20 million shares and 10.9 million shares short. That equates to 1.2% of the 921.3 million shares outstanding.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) has a short interest ratio of 1.2 based on average daily volume of 20 million shares and 23.9 million shares short. That equates to 1.1% of the 2.2 billion shares outstanding.

NCR (NYSE:NCR) has a short interest ratio of 2.3 based on average daily volume of 1 million shares and 4.2 million shares short. That equates to 2.6% of the 159.3 million shares outstanding.

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) has a short interest ratio of 2.5 based on average daily volume of 22 million shares and 56.9 million shares short. That equates to 3% of the 1.9 billion shares outstanding.

Silicon Graphics International (NYSE:SGI) has a short interest ratio of 2.9 based on average daily volume of 672,000 shares and 2 million shares short. That equates to 6.5% of the 30.3 million shares outstanding.

SmarTrend currently has shares of Silicon Graphics International in an Uptrend and issued the Uptrend alert on December 03, 2010 at $8.04. The stock has risen 93% since the Uptrend alert was issued.

Source:http://www.zacks.com/research/get_news.php?id=060l6073

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Intel completes $7.68 billion McAfee purchase

March 1st, 2011
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Intel announced Monday that its acquisition of computer security company McAfee is officially complete.

The deal was first revealed in August 2010, when Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, revealed it would be paying $7.68 billion in cash for McAfee. At the time, that amounted to about $48 per share.

Computer security, online or not, has often had little to do with the hardware. Chip makers focus on making powerful, fast and efficient processors, leaving the art of antivirus and encryption to the software engineers. With this latest acquisition, however, Intel is shifting its philosophy to more dramatically wed hardware and software.

“In the past, energy-efficient performance and Internet connectivity have defined computing requirements,” said Renée James, Intel SVP and general manager. “Intel has added security as a third pillar of what people demand from their experiences with personal computers and other connected devices.”

McAfee and its president, Dave DeWalt, now report to Intel’s Software and Services Group, which is headed by James.

Whether it’s McAfee and Intel or some other tech entity, the next generation of IT security leaders has a lot of work to do. As quickly as new technologies, new products and new features proliferate across consumer services and devices, so do security threats and privacy holes surface.

Part of the problem is the sheer magnitude of data. Consider, for a minute, all trends that point to the waterfall surge of smartphone usage taking place around the world. The fun in smartphones might be using applications so cute and teeny we call them “apps,” but, in reality, those apps house mountains of personal data: bank account information, medical histories, etc. Computer security in the 21st century is no walk in the park.

Accounting for this completed acquisition, Intel expects first quarter revenue to be $11.7 billion, plus or minus $400 million. Intel predicts that full-year growth percentage will float somewhere in the mid-to high teens, compared to a previous estimate of approximately 10 percent.

Source:http://vator.tv/news/2011-02-28-intel-completes-768-billion-mcafee-purchase

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