Tag Archive for Social media

| May 22, 2012
Comments Off on Holey Optochip Transfers TBPS Using Light

Holey Optochip Transfers TBPS Using Light

Holey Optochip Transfers TBPS Using LightIBM scientists will report on a prototype optical chipset, dubbed “Holey Optochip.” It is the first parallel optical transceiver to transfer one trillion bits – one terabit – of information per second. IBM will present the new chip at the 2012 Optical Fiber Communication Conference, conference for optical communications and networking professionals.

IBM old logoThe Holey Optochip is a standard silicon CMOS chip with holes punched in it. According to ITnewsLink, it was not possible to transport terabits of data for existing parallel optical communications technology until now. Reportedly the new IBM (IBM) chip prototype will deliver ultra-high interconnect bandwidth. The new compact chip will efficiently enable bandwidth to facilitate growth. Some of the segments it is targeted at are big data and cloud computing and next-generation data center applications.

Big Blue speculates that the chip could move information eight times faster than today’s systems. Speeds that fast could transform how data is accessed, shared, and used. It could open a new era of communications, computing, and entertainment. “Reaching the one trillion bit per second mark with the Holey Optochip marks IBM’s latest milestone to develop chip-scale transceivers that can handle the volume of traffic in the era of big data,” said IBM Researcher Clint Schow, part of the team that built the prototype.

Holey OptochipThe holes in Holey Optochip allow light through the chip. They produce an ultra-compact, high-performing, and power-efficient optical module. It is capable of record-setting data transfer rates.  ITnewsLink says optical networking can significantly improve data transfer rates by speeding the flow of data using light pulses, instead of sending electrons over wires. Researchers have searched for ways to make use of optical signals widespread within standard low-cost, high-volume chip manufacturing. The Holey Optochip module is constructed with commercially available components, providing the possibility to manufacture at economies of scale.

“We have been actively pursuing higher levels of integration, power efficiency, and performance for all the optical components through packaging and circuit innovations. We aim to improve on the technology for commercialization in the next decade with the collaboration of manufacturing partners,” Mr. Schow said in a press release.

Greem light bulbThe Holey Optochip is green

The Holey Optochip achieves its speed while consuming less than five watts. IBM claims the power consumed by a 100W light bulb could power 20 transceivers. This progress in power-efficient interconnects will allow companies who adopt high-performance computing to manage their energy load while performing powerful applications such as analytics, data modeling, and forecasting.

Technical Aspects of the Holey Optochip

The article explains that parallel optics is a fiber optic technology. It is primarily targeted at high-data, short-reach multimode fiber systems that are typically less than 150 meters. Parallel optics differ from traditional duplex fiber optic serial communication.  In parallel optics, data is simultaneously transmitted and received over multiple optical fibers.

Holey Optochip with optical viasA single 90-nanometer IBM CMOS transceiver IC becomes a Holey Optochip with the fabrication of forty-eight through-silicon holes, or “optical vias.” There is one optical via for each transmitter and receiver channel. Simple post-processing on completed CMOS wafers with all devices and standard wiring levels results in an entire wafer populated with Holey Optochips. The transceiver chip measures only 5.2 mm x 5.8 mm. Twenty-four channel, industry-standard 850-nm VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) and photodiode arrays are directly flip-chip soldered to the Optochip. This direct packaging produces high-performance, chip-scale optical engines. The Holey Optochips are designed for direct coupling to a standard 48-channel multi-mode fiber array through an efficient microlens optical system that can be assembled with conventional high-volume packaging tools.

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This one does not count as a new speed record – yet. It’s not real. Once Big Blue demonstrates Holey Optochip in the real world like this and this then it probably will be the fastest toy in town. The raw speed of one transceiver is equal to the bandwidth consumed by 100,000 users at today’s typical 10 Mb/s high-speed internet access.

At one terabit per second, IBM’s Holey Optochip will offer unprecedented amounts of bandwidth to move data like machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and other Internet of Things (IoT) components as well as posts to social media sites like Facebook (FB) and Twitter, videos to YouTube and digital pictures to Pinterest.

Mad scientistBut wait what if we use WDM within the light going thru Optochip.

Or better yet QAM 16 or even QAM 64

Or even more betterer QAM 256 running inside each wavelength of WDM.

 

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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| February 9, 2012
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Social Network Safety Tips

Social Network Safety TipsIn case you have lived under a rock, social networking sites are very popular. LinkedIn (LNKD) has over 100 million users; 1 billion tweets are posted on Twitter each week and Facebook is approaching 1 billion users. Despite these numbers, they also open users up to more computer viruses and online threats according to a report from Webroot. A Help Net Security article details a few of the threats social network users face. They include:

Social networking malwareBogus e-mails from “friends”: The blog warns that hackers lure users into taking actions they shouldn’t. They do this by making it seem as if a friend within their social network has sent them an in-network e-mail. Only the e-mail is from a hacker who’s hijacked the friend’s account.

Malicious links or bait: This type of scam involves personal messages to users. The messages encourage victims to click on a link. Doing so can do a number of things including sending users to a fake website. There they are prompted to download and install an executable file that turns out to be a virus that infects the user’s PC explains the author.

Identity theftIdentity theft: Social network users who share personal information with their entire network of friends leave themselves vulnerable to hackers. Oversharing details like birth dates, addresses, pets’ names, and other details make it easier for attackers to guess your password and access Yout profile based on the personal information shared reports Help Net Security.

To help increase your PC protection, Webroot advises users to install updatable Internet security software and keep a few simple rules in mind, such as:

Be skeptical – E-mails, friend requests, Web site links, and other items from sources you do not know could be malware.

Social networking privacyUse privacy settings – Social Networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, offer privacy settings that let you control who sees your posts and personal information. Use them to control who access to your page, contact information, etc.

Protect your password – Choose your passwords wisely, incorporate numbers, letters, and special characters, and never use the same password at more than one site.

For those who may need new internet security software, you should select a program that has a multi-level security program to:

  • Block viruses, spyware, spam, Trojans, worms, rootkits, and keyloggers;
  • Make your PC invisible to hackers;
  • Encrypt passwords and remember them for you;
  • Offer multi-layer identity protection;
  • Provide firewall security.
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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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| February 2, 2012
Comments Off on Never Check Email First Thing In The Morning

Never Check Email First Thing In The Morning

– Updated 03-18-12 – Science writer David Bradley on his blog ScienceText also recommends, “Avoid social networking and email first thing.” I know it works for me, I walk around and talk to staff before I get tangled up in the work everybody else wants me to do.

—

Never Check Email First Thing In The MorningSid Savara a widely regarded personal development trainer published 7 Reasons You Should Never Check Email First Thing In The Morning at his site sidsavara.com.

#1 – Ignorance Is Bliss … fully Productive – When it comes to email, ignorance is bliss. That’s why if you’ve got something important you want to make progress on, the author offers these four words for success:

SPAM computerDon’t check your email – As soon as you get in, work on something important for 30-45 minutes, and only then check your email. If you can stand it, wait even longer. The article suggests that as long as you’re ignorant of everything else that’s going on outside, you can concentrate on what you want to work on.

Any new information you get can cause you to get distracted.

#2 – It’s Not Your Todo List – Mr. Savara you know what is most important for you to work on the first thing in the morning you should go ahead and do it! By checking email, you risk doing what someone else wants you to do. Or more bluntly, when you check your inbox, the emails you get are a to-do list someone else makes for you.

Who is in charge of your time – you, or the person emailing you?

Lack of Direction#3 – It’s An Excuse To Lack Direction – The author says that checking email is a low-priority activity and that you may be checking email first thing in the morning because your to-do list has gotten off track somewhere. He argues that when you don’t have a clear list of priorities, checking email becomes an urgent activity that you do at the expense of your important ones.

#4 – Reaction vs “Proaction” – When you check your email, you end up with more work to do – and because we’re in “check email” mode, we start replying to them at the expense of the task we were just working on. Rather than actively setting an agenda, email forces you to react to items as they come in – regardless of their true priority.

Mr. Savara says he prefers taking proactive actions. Work on the things that are important to you, regardless of whether they’re urgent or simply at the top of your inbox. Stop wasteful actions, and focus on productive actions instead.

social networking#5 – Searching For Excuses Blindly checking email (or Twitter, or Facebook, or any number iTime wasters) is usually just searching for an excuse to not do the work that must be done according to the author. Don’t fall into that trap. Don’t give yourself an out by checking your email for an excuse to fail. He urges, don’t check your email  – acknowledge the task you need to get done and do it.

Cross that bridge – it’s not going away.

#6 – There’s No Set Time Limit – Meetings get a bad rap for being a waste of time – but at least you usually know how long a meeting will last. But do you know how long you’re going to spend on email once you open your inbox, odds are you don’t know – or you’ll underestimate it.

The problem is, checking email only takes a minute but you can get sucked into follow-up activities that result from opening your email, and there’s no way of knowing how much time these will take. You have a set time limit for how many productive hours you have in a day don’t let email suck you in and cause you to devote more time to it than you can afford.

#7 – It Builds Expectation – A lot of people say, “But I have to check my email! People expect a response from me in the morning!” The author believes that there are some requests that need immediate responses, but they’re much less frequent than you might think.

TimeHe argues that people expect a response from you in the morning because you’ve always responded first thing in the morning and you’ve built that expectation. The more often you check email, the more often people will expect you to check it. Just stop checking it first thing in the morning, and people won’t expect it anymore.

Mr. Savara recommends the following email rules:

  • Only check if there is something specific you are looking for. Most important – don’t go fishing around. Check it with a specific plan, a specific email you’re looking for from a specific person.
  • Separate low-value emails via filters (“rules” in outlook) or separate email addresses so you don’t even see them in your inbox when you check
  • Set a time limit. Commit to checking for 5 minutes, just to look for that one piece of information – and have your exit strategy ready. Before you open your inbox, decide what you’ll do if 1) the email is there 2) the email isn’t there 3) the email is incomplete. Don’t be reactionary – proactively decide what action you will take based on the outcomes you expect.
Related articles

 

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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| January 26, 2012
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Your Dog Can Run, But He Can’t Hide

Your Dog Can Run, But He Can't HideThere is a new pet-oriented Global Positioning Systems (GPS) on the market. The new GPS system now makes it possible to constantly track your best friend according to a report in MIT’s Technology Review. The GPS devices made just for pets are generally small enough to be attached to a dog or cat collar which allows Owners to track their furry companion’s every paw print in real-time.

GPSThe New Jersey Star-Ledger points out unlike microchips embedded in the skin of an animal which store identifying information, these devices aren’t invasive, and owners don’t have to wait for a stranger to find and bring their lost pet to an animal shelter to scan the chip.

“This could easily be a multi-million-dollar category,” David Lummis, a “pet market analyst,” at New York-based market research firm Packaged Facts, recently told the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Dog owners are now more “crazy” about their four-legged friends than ever. If the recession is any indication, Mr. Lummis told the paper that the $58 billion pet products industry has merely slowed a few percentage points during the recession.

tagg logoThat kind of consistent growth has attracted the attention of Qualcomm (QCOM) the biggest maker of mobile phone chips.  San Diego-based Snaptracs, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, has released Tagg the Pet Tracker.

The rechargeable Tagg device can be attached to a collar (provided it’s not a spiked or bejeweled one), plus a home base unit. Owners are able to set a virtual perimeter for the dog to wander. TR says a text message or email alert will be sent if Fido strays too far. The device has a battery life of some 30 days and is water-resistant; it’s intended for dogs (or cats) 10 pounds or heavier. The necessary hardware and one year of Verizon (VZ) service cost $200 according to Technology Review. The service costs $5 a month after that. It’s a small price to pay, Dave Vigil, president of Snaptracs told the paper, considering pets are becoming increasingly “like family members.” Users can also find their pets at any time through a computer or smartphone.

Jessie and WileyGPS giant Garmin (GRMN), has also entered the dog lo-jack market. The paper says the Olathe, Kansas-based company released the GTU 10 device, a 1.7-ounce gadget. Garmin users can also set up a perimeter and receive alerts, or track real-time from a mobile device or computer. The GTU 10 operates on AT&T‘s (T) wireless network and costs $200 for the first year and $50 a year after that.

Another competitor is Retriever. TR says Retriever has similar functions with virtual fences and alerts but adds a social networking element. Retriever will share Spot’s location with a friend, presumably so if your dog gets loose while you’re out-of-town, you can help steer the on-site rescue. To judge from its site, Retriever appears to not yet be on the market, nor is a projected price listed.

Technology Review also notes other products in this niche. Global Pet Finder, is not available any more on Amazon (AMZN) as of this article. The SpotLight device costs $169.99 and is limited to T-Mobile coverage. SpotLight costs $179.88 per year for a subscription. The Love My Pets device and 1-year subscription cost $189.95 use the Sprint (S) network. The Love My Pets system costs $14.95 per month for a subscription according to a CSR.

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Qualcomm’s goal is to encourage new uses of its radio chips, not to make a hit product. These products are part of the Internet of Things. As the Apple (AAPL) iPod and iPhone have shown, people are willing to shell out a lot of cash for things, but it is in the services where the money is to be made on the Internet of Things. Content is still king.

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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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| October 18, 2011
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Staff End Runs Security

When I am reclining in my Bach Seat, contemplating sharing tech services, my mind wanders to the consumerization of IT. The iPads have made an official beachhead and Skype has made it inside the perimeter. So I should not feel alone being concerned about security according to recent reports from Trend Micro and Cisco (CSCO).

employees bypass security roadblocks to engage in social networkingHelp Net Security reports that despite more workplaces regulating social networking site access, employees bypass security roadblocks to engage in social networking. The research by Trend Micro says that employees are finding ways around security roadblocks, making social networking a way of office life around the world. Trend Micro’s 2010 corporate end-user survey, found that globally, social networking at the workplace steadily rose from 19 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2010.

The survey also found that laptop users are much more likely than desktop users to visit social networking sites. Globally, social networking usage via laptops went up by 8 percent from 2008 to 2010. In the U.S., it increased by 10 percent In 2010, 29 percent of laptop users versus 18 percent of desktop users surveyed said they frequented these sites at work.

social networking is one of their organization's three greatest security risksThe survey also found that laptop users who can connect to the Internet outside of the company network are more likely to share confidential information via instant messenger, Webmail, and social media applications than those who are always connected to a company’s network.

A 2010 Cisco survey, which looked at the security impact of personal gadgets and social networking in the workplace, found that employees are consistently (Cisco’s words) finding ways around security policies. 68 percent of those surveyed by Cisco said that employees use unsupported social networking applications. Heavy use of unsupported collaboration, P2P, and cloud applications were also reported. More than half said social networking is one of their organization’s three greatest security risks. More than a third reported that their company lost data or experienced a breach because of employees using unsupported devices.

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So why is Facebook such a problem for enterprises? For one, it is a huge time waster. Datacenter Knowledge reports that Facebook users spend a total of more than 16 billion minutes on social networking site Facebook per day. Facebook VP of Technical Operations Jonathan Heiliger stated that 3 billion photos are uploaded to Facebook each month and users view more than 1 million photos every second during a presentation at the Velocity 2010 conference

The more popular the social network, the more effective social networks become as malware distribution platforms. KOOBFACE, the “largest Web 2.0 botnet,” controls and commands compromised machines globally. This demonstrates the scale of the threat and emphasizes the need to educate users and implement strong policies.

Trend Micro says that trying to just prevent users from accessing social networks from work could potentially increase the risk to an organization as users look for ways around computer security possibly increasing the chance of exposure to security threats. The lesson, in Cisco’s view, is that you better find the technologies–and resources–to support personal devices and applications because they will be used regardless. “The best strategic approach is to focus less on restricting usage and more on effective solutions to ensure highly secure, responsible use,” said Fred Kost, Cisco’s director of security solutions.

Call me old-school but it seems that employees have always learned to work within reasonable company boundaries. Another option for those organizations that need web 2.0 in the organization should take a look at Palo Alto Networks who have developed a firewall that can block the wasteful parts of social media and leave some parts of the web 2.0 app accessible.

Consumer technologies evolve faster than the IT department budget, and it could be a constant game of catch-up trying to accommodate the latest rogue gadgets and widgets. Ultimately, rogue IT use is not so much a failure of technology, but a failure of policy and policy enforcement.

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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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