Tag Archive for GOOG

| August 27, 2013
Comments Off on NVIDIA Comes to Detroit

NVIDIA Comes to Detroit

NVIDIA Comes to DetroitAutomakers have made a beeline for Central California in recent years. They are setting up research and engineering facilities in the shadows of consumer electronics giants Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL). The Detroit Bureau asks if the migration be turning around? A major Silicon Valley firm, NVIDIA (NVDA), is reversing the trend by setting up a technical center in Ann Arbor.

NVIDIA technical center in Ann ArborAnnArbor.com reports the tech center will initially support about 20 employees. They will be primarily dedicated to working with the local automotive community. Danny Shapiro, director of automotive for Santa Clara, CA, based NVIDIA said that more work will likely be done at the center with supercomputing and graphics development. NVIDIA VP for worldwide automotive sales and Ann Arbor site leader Phil Hughes said. “We’re going to have software engineers, hardware engineers and field application engineers working here as well as people on the business and marketing side.” 

Who uses NVIDIA

Mr. Shapiro said the new facility will help the company’s growing team of Michigan-based engineers and executives work with automakers and suppliers. The Michigan team will develop the next generation of infotainment, navigation, and driver assistance programs. NVIDIA points out that Chrysler, Ford (F), General Motors (GM), and Volkswagen are already using NVIDIA products in their designs. NVIDIA believes having a technology center near the heart of the auto manufacturing community in Michigan makes sense.

Detroit automakers“Silicon Valley is the future, Detroit is the past,” said NVIDIA’s Shapiro. “That’s the conventional wisdom. Well, the conventional wisdom isn’t quite right. We’ve been investing in Michigan for years and we’re accelerating these efforts by opening the Nvidia Technology Center.”

Detroit Bureau points out that NVIDIA isn’t alone. Other high-tech firms opening centers in Southeast Michigan are Microsoft (MSFT) and Google, Mr. Shapiro noted. “This is where consumer electronics and safety advancements are being made that will change the driving experience for all of us,” the executive told the Detroit Bureau. “Nvidia has been fueling this trend for years. A number of our employees live in the area and are working closely with car companies.”

High-tech start-ups

DetroitWhile there’s a small but growing presence of high-tech start-ups within the Motor City itself, many of the firms setting up shop in Michigan have chosen to go to Ann Arbor the home of the University of Michigan. “All of this activity has helped make Ann Arbor a high-tech hub and not just for the Detroit area,” Shapiro noted.

Michael Finney, president of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., said Nvidia already powers in-dash instrument clusters as well as navigation and information displays in more than 4 million vehicles from automakers such as Audi, Bentley, BMW, Lamborghini, Maserati, Rolls Royce, Tesla, and Volkswagen.

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I have covered the new blood moving into the neighborhood, including SAIC, and Bill Ford’s plans to make Detroit the Silicon Valley of Mobility.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| August 13, 2013
Comments Off on Data Growth Tests Storage Capabilities

Data Growth Tests Storage Capabilities

 Data Growth Tests Storage CapabilitiesData Center Knowledge had an article by Steven Rodin, CEO of Storagepipe Solutions, that lays out the challenges that those of us charged with managing backups face every day. Storagepipe Solutions, which has been a provider of online backup services for business since 2001, has identified several emerging storage trends that organizations will need to overcome in the future.

Storagepipe Solutions logoIn the early days, the author says, organizations were primarily concerned with data protection, encryption and automation. The era of “Big Data” has changed those demands. The new demands are overwhelming most backup and storage systems. The article cites data from IBM (IBM), which claims that worldwide annual data production has actually exceeded worldwide storage capacity. Big Blue believes that demand for storage capacity is growing nearly 60 percent a year. The gap between the data that organizations produce and their ability to store it will continue to grow for years.

The Storagepipe Solutions CEO identified a number of important storage trends which are accelerating the growth rate of corporate data.  He provided a few of the most important factors.

Cheaper Storage Hardware

Cheaper HardwareHard drive capacity has fallen exponentially in price ever since Moore’s Law was introduced. This has changed attitudes to backups. The article says that today, hardware is so cheap and abundant that attitudes have shifted to a “Better keep this. We may need it someday” mentality.

New technologies, such as advancements in compression, deduplication and hardware virtualization, have improved overall storage utilization and further accelerated the rate at which the cost-per-gigabyte of storing data is falling.

Cheap and Abundant Bandwidth

Abundant BandwidthInternet bandwidth is no longer a bottleneck. Bandwidth availability has accelerated the growth of file sharing and online storage. Now large files are copied and distributed at an exponential rate which has caused duplicate data to become a major source of storage waste and data growth. The CEO of the firm based out of Toronto, calculates that if one person shares a 1GB file with 500 people, that’s half a terabyte of storage consumption.

Business is Going Paperless – Email has replaced letters, eBooks and tablets have nearly replaced paper books, and digital imaging has replaced photographs and x-rays. Not only are paperless offices better for the environment, but Mr. Rodin writes, they are also more productive, flexible and better able to extract value from their business data. Many industries are using more and more video (which is highly storage intensive) for marketing online, security and communication.

Enhanced Automated Data Collection Capabilities

Automated Data CollectionAutomated data collection is one of the fastest-growing areas in the “big data” space. With every move we make, the article says we’re generating GPS data, web traffic statistics, power usage data, surveillance video, and a broad range of data which companies and governments are collecting.

The author calls automated data collection the “Pandora’s Box” of the big data revolution. The information being collected about us through the electronic devices we use every day could present a threat to our privacy, but they also have the potential to offer tremendous value to society.

Advances in Data Analysis Technology

Data AnalysisThe blog says that until recently, data analysis was almost exclusively performed on structured relational databases, maintained and organized by humans. But now, a  new approach to data storage which focuses on rapid analysis and processing of vast data volumes. Technologies like Hadoop, Cassandra, MapReduce and NoSQL have given birth to a whole new class of services, and have revolutionized the way organizations think about the data they collect. Organizations can now get more insight into their internally generated business data by integrating external feeds and databases into their reporting and analysis.

The Growing Strategic Importance of Data

In the past, data was simply a tool which assisted in decision-making and helped companies execute on their strategic objectives. But recently Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes and other brands have built their entire corporate strategy around the data they own. The DCK article states, information is power, and it’s now more powerful than ever.

Regulatory ComplianceRegulatory Compliance

Even if companies wanted to cut the amount of data they store, they wouldn’t always be able to. Laws like PIPEDA, HIPAA, Sox404 and many others are forcing companies to keep historical archives of their exponentially growing business data going back several years.

As this data grows, storage increasingly becomes a major business problem. Also, companies must plan for cost-efficient search and retrieval of these large historical data volumes to stay ready for an unexpected electronic discovery request.

As the scale and complexity of big data storage grows, it’ll quickly reach a point where manual handling is no longer practical, desirable, economical, or even possible. Automation will become absolutely essential when it comes to backing up big data.

Many big data applications have serious privacy implications for the customers that benefit from their use. So security will become a top priority for backup administrators. Gone are the days of unencrypted backup tapes.

The big data applications has created a whole new class of applications built on real-time data. These applications require much more frequent  backups to optimize Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs). Strategic big data apps will need minimized downtime. This means smaller backup windows, built-in redundancy, and server fail-over to disaster recovery sites.

That’s why many organizations are opting to outsource their data backups by partnering with experts who run ahead of the trends and who can help with the complexity of some situations.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Data protection | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| July 30, 2013
Comments Off on Smartphone Screen Kill Germs

Smartphone Screen Kill Germs

Smartphone Screen Kill GermsCell phones are filthy. I wrote about portable petri dishes back in November 2012. CNET found that 75% of Americans use their mobile phones in the bathroom to make calls, text, and play with apps. Your mobile phone carries more germs than a toilet seat. There is speculation that they have even spread Ebola. Now, thankfully, Corning has your back.

Gorilla Glass kills germs all by itselfEric Limernewest revision of Gorilla Glass is more resilient and kills pesky germs all by itself. Gorilla Glass covers 1.5 billion mobile phones worldwide, including all Apple (AAPL) iPhones.

Corning discussed its upcoming display tech at the MIT Mobile Technology Summit. The antimicrobial coating on the new glass can kill virtually all nasty microbes on the screen’s surface over a course of two hours. It’s not instantaneous, but it’s way better than having a pocket petri dish, Mr. Limer observed.

Signe Brewster at GigaOM wrote that during the presentation, Corning senior vice president Jeff Evenson reported that the company is working on glass that kills viruses and germs — even the drug-resistant variety. GigaOM says that the VP noted a study that found smartphones carry more microbes than the average public toilet. He displayed how the glass kills microbes over time with slides depicting them as bright green dots. After two hours, the antimicrobial glass had a million times fewer bacteria than standard phone glass. Corning’s Evenson said

“You’re eating your sandwich at your desk. Your smartphone rings. You answer it. You complete the call, put your smartphone down and you go back to eating your sandwich with the same hand. Which piece of glass do you want on that device?”

Gizmodo reports that Corning said the antimicrobial displays will be available sometime in the next two years.

Corning antimicrobial glass kills germs

And that’s not all, either. GigaOM’s Brewster also reports that Corning is developing a new transparency treatment that will make the next revision of Gorilla Glass tens of times more transparent than purified water. This should result in seeing your phone in broad daylight is about to get way easier.

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Until Corning releases Gorilla Glass 3, washing your hands is a good idea, and licking your iPhone screen is probably a bad idea. In order to clean your iPhone, Apple recommends:

Wash your handsTo clean iPhone, unplug all cables and turn off iPhone (press and hold the Sleep/Wake button, and then slide the onscreen slider). Use a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth. Avoid getting moisture in openings. Don’t use window cleaners, household cleaners, aerosol sprays, solvents, alcohol, ammonia, or abrasives to clean your iPhone. The front and back glass surfaces have an oleophobic coating. Simply wipe these surfaces with a soft, lint-free cloth to remove fingerprints. This coating’s ability to repel oil will diminish over time with normal usage, and rubbing the screen with an abrasive material will further diminish its effect and may scratch the glass.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| July 25, 2013
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The Wireless Car Frontier

The Wireless Car FrontierNow that the mobile floodgates are open, developers, manufacturers, and platform operators are trying to design wireless cars. These devices will channel the next wave of mobile usage and innovation. Some are looking at wearable tech, such as Google‘s (GOOG) Glass and the Pebbles Watch and as the natural progression of mobile technology. But computing platforms, including mobile operating systems, are also becoming ubiquitous in consumer electronics and appliances. The Business Insider writes that the greatest potential for mobile platforms and services could be cars.

mesh nicely with popular activities on mobileThe article states the obvious, cars are inherently mobile. Additionally, many of the activities people do in their cars, listen to music, look up directions, mesh nicely with popular activities on mobile. The author claims that Americans spend an average of 1.2 hours a day traveling between locations and American commuters spend an average of 38 hours a year stuck in traffic. If mobile apps and Internet-based services can shoehorn their way into the in-car environment, that means a great opportunity to expand their ability to engage consumers, absorb their attention, and gather data.

The BI explains that there is already a sizable and growing mobile market in the car. Five years from now, there will be over 60 million connected cars on the road globally, according to estimates from the GSMA and others. Car-focused telecom, hardware, and software services will drive some $51 billion in annual revenue by 2018. Pandora, for example, is now being used in 2.5 million cars and 100 car models through one of its 23 partnerships with auto brands and eight partnerships with stereo manufacturers. BI identified three ways in which mobile products and services can be integrated into cars.

Wireless car integration

handset connects with vehicle-based hardwareThe owner’s Internet-connected handset connects with vehicle-based hardware and computing systems. However, the mobile device drives all key facets of the app, including Internet access, and the car simply provides some tools to facilitate it (i.e., dashboard user interface, voice controls, speakers, jacks, and/or steering wheel-based controls). Currently, many in-dash automobile app suites in cars are nothing more than an interface that provides control over a Bluetooth or audio jack-connected smartphone.

Tethering

The connection is provided through external means, but the computing and delivery of the services happen in the car. For example, a Bluetooth or USB connection might link a car’s navigation system to your phone-stored contact list, and from that moment forward a simple press of a button in the car would guide you to a friend’s house from any location. In this scenario, the car depends on the external device to gather Internet-based data.

Embedding

Connection and intelligence are baked into the car

Connection and intelligence are baked into the car. The car houses the operating system, apps, and other services that will deliver Internet-based mobile services to the user. A mobile device might sync with whatever is in the car, but external mobile gadgets aren’t essential to running car-based apps. GM is moving in this direction with its new fleet of 4G cars. (rb- I covered the evolution of 4G here) Means of integration can be blended, and often are. (rb- I wrote about Microsoft’s move into cars back in 2011, here.)

iOS in the Car

Emily Price at Mashable reports that Apple (AAPL) jumped into the mobile products and services integration game. Ms. Price reports that the folks from Cupertino have received a USPTO patent for a touchscreen car dashboard. If Apple carries through with their patent, it would replace most of your car’s existing instrumentation. The new dashboard would make your vehicle’s controls digital, letting you control everything from the temperature in your car to the radio station using a touchscreen.

OS in the CarThe article claims “iOS in the Car” should be released in 2014. Cars that support the service will allow your iPhone 5 to connect to your car’s in-dash system make phone calls, send and receive messages access your music, and get directions. Siri support will also let you do all of those things hands and eyes-free.

The blog reports that “Siri Eyes Free” is available in General Motors‘s (GM) Chevy Spark and Sonic via the Chevrolet MyLink system. According to reports sometime in 2014 Apple iOS will be available in 15 more car brands including:

• Acura
• Audi
• BMW
• Chrysler
• Ferrari
• Honda
• Infinity
• Jaguar
• Kia
• Land Rover
• Mercedes-Benz
• Nissan
• Opal
• Toyota
• Volvo

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Detroit moile cityI covered Ford (F) Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. plan to re-position Detroit as the “Silicon Valley of Mobility.” Hopefully, AAPL has figured out how to multi-thread iOS. I gave up my iPhone because it could not mult-thread. Every time I went to answer a call, I got 5 or 10 email pop’s that I had to deal with before I could answer the call. This kind of behavior could be catastrophic in a car.

What if you need to do two things at the same time, like shift from forward to reverse and turn on the air conditioning.

Then there is the privacy issue. Will AAPL give all the data they collect to the NSA or your insurance company?  

 

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| May 21, 2013
Comments Off on Hotmail is Dead

Hotmail is Dead

Hotmail is DeadHotmail is dead. Microsoft (MSFT) has completed the transition from Hotmail to the new Outlook.com. The Hotmail replacement has more than 400 million accounts. According to a blog entry at Office.com most Hotmail users will not notice much difference. They can continue to use those accounts as long as they choose and can claim an Outlook email address whenever they like.

HotmailWriting in the company blog, Dick Craddock, Outlook.com’s group program manager said that Hotmail had more than 300 million active accounts that had to be moved. MSFT completed the epic live upgrade in only six weeks. The upgrade from Hotmail to Outlook.com required communicating with hundreds of millions of people, upgrading all their mailboxes, and making sure they preserved every email, calendar, contacts, folders, and personal preference.

The new Outlook email client has several different features from Hotmail, such as two-factor authentication, an updated calendar, and app as well as integration with cloud service Skydrive and Skype. it allowed users to connect easily with Facebook (FB), Twitter, and LinkedIn (LNKD).

GigaOm reports that MSFT will even allow collaboration with Google users. They report that:

.Outlook.com logo.. if you’re reading an email from a Gmail user, you can reply with a chat icon from your Outlook.com inbox. Or, if you and your Google-oriented buddy are collaborating on a document in Microsoft Skydrive (as opposed to, say, Google Drive), you can send an instant message to your Google contact with the click of a button. Microsoft is also rolling out Google Chat integration.

All of these new features haven’t thrilled everyone, Mr. Craddock is quoted in the IBT, “Of course, whenever a widely used consumer service makes any substantial change, there will always be some folks that don’t like it, and that shows up in the feedback…”

Microsoft logoHotmail was one of the first web-based email services. Founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith it was launched on July 4 1996 as “HoTMaiL”. Microsoft bought the web email service in 1997 for an estimated $400 million, and it was rebranded as “MSN Hotmail”.

Outlook.com was launched in February 2013.  It’s based around Microsoft’s Metro design language, and closely mimics the user interface of Microsoft Outlook.

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AmazedFor anyone who has ever had to be involved in a hot email upgrade, you should recognize the technical feat moving Hotmail to Outlook.com really was despite occasional problems. During most email system upgrades, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. There will be power or network issues that will interrupt the mailbox transfer across the wire, there will be users with 32 Gb of email messages, there will be people who file their active messages in the trash can (yes, I’ve seen it) there will be strange shared calendars and accounts that just won’t transfer unless you move them item by item to find the corruption.

Kudos to MSFT for migrating Hotmail to Outlook.com, lets see if it matters in the face of Google’s (GOOG) Gmail and Doc’s.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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