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Daynotes    ^


 

Slowly taking form again. OK, form is there, now waiting for content.

New Year, and a slight change.
 


 


 

2009-01-31  ^:

Self - -

Yep. Another year down.
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-30  ^:

Weather - -

Et es cold. Lovely clear sky with start in the morning, later only one remains visible in the otherwise blue sky. (-8°C ^_^ -3°C)
 

Wurk - -

Auch.
End of the month and a few of the contract are not extended. So IT is three man down.

The economy is down and we feel it in operations. Far less movements and trucks. We don't feel in in IT however. We just get more work and more changes pushed our way then usually. I get the idea that manager seeing a drop in business want to make up by increasing in planning.
If only managers knew how to plan.
 

Self - -


 

News - -

Oh dear! How terrible! Users will have to choose a browser.
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/microsoft_ec_browser_warning/ )
 

- -

The economy bites.
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/wd_q2fy09_results/ )
 

- -

How just two digits boot up a new wave of iPhone speculation. Just read your XML files.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/29/iphone_firmware_clue/ )
 

- -

More cores are better. Of course. But there is a limit.
Well, I don't think there is actually a limit on the number of cores on a chip. But doubling the number doesn't double the performance. The actual limit on processor performance is getting the data in and out. Intel had to leave their beloved buss architecture because it couldn't cope with more than one core (heck even a single core was overtaxing it). I am not sure about the Atoms but most modern chips (*) these days have a memory controller on board and have dropped the bus in favour of some direct connection. That can cope better but isn't enough. AMD went with 3 HT links per chip which was over generous on the original single core Opterons and worked fine on dual core ones. With 4 and more bandwidth is again limiting but you can't just add data paths without getting an explosion of contacts pins and lanes on the motherboard.
Software is an issue but software is easy to change. And basically the only software that really needs to be able to cope is the OS and/virtualisation stuff. A normal text processor of database engine
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/gartner_counts_cores/ )
(*) Embedded processors are a different story.
 

- -

Windows-7 will probably bet a couple extra versions later on to cope with more cores ^_^
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/30/microsoft_netbook_sku/ )
 

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Interested in developing? Check Moblin.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/30/moblin2_alpha1_release/ )
 

- -


( -- )
 

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It sounds like a simple vengeance for being fires action. But writing scripts like that takes a lot of planning, it's not a few hundred keystrokes you do on an afternoon.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/fannie_mae_sabotage_averted/ )
 

- -

I always like the iRiver players. Not because they are so good but rather because the do things differently. It's not simply following trends.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/29/review_media_player_iriver_spinn/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-29  ^:

Weather - -

Pretty cold on the bike. I needed some minutes to get the ice out of my bears when I got to work. (-6°C ^_^ 0°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

Anyone remember the old 5MB drives? Say hello to 2TB drives
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/27/review_internal_hard_drive_wd_caviar_green_2tb/ )
 

- -

New toys.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/28/usaf_directed_energy_weapon_materials_push/ )
 

- -

New patent on a power connector.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/28/apple_power_connector/ )
I think I am going to patent warm water.
 

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So Toshiba it is. Took Fujitsu quite a time to get the sale signed.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/fujitsu_sells_hdd_toshiba/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-28  ^:

Wurk - -

To much of it. And starting with a network-down situation so I can't check the news.
 

Self - -


 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-27  ^:

Weather - -

Serious frost on my car this morning. And there is gone be more frost tomorrow, cause we did have a lot of sun during the day. so lost of water evaporated. Now, with no wind and the sun gone it condenses again into a dense mist. (-5°C ^_^ 3°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

It does make some sense to bring all the MS Live together in one brand. Though just lumping it all in one box and shake it a bit won't make it appealing.
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/26/microsoft_office_live_windows_live/ )
 

- -

Nope, Linux isn't going to win over Windows anytime soon. But for other reasons. Most users at home don't care what is installed all they want is to unpack the box connect the cables en start browsing. They want to be able to install their kids games alongside their own games. If it comes with Linux preinstalled that's fine as long as there is a browser on the desktop and some (automatic) pickup that installs boxed and online games.
Same with businesses. They want boxes that can be unpacked, configured with a simple "ghost" image and plugged in. If the users can open a spreadsheet and create a slide show presentation they don't care whether it's MS Office or OpenOffice that runs. If everybody in the office uses the same stuff new people adapt and fit in easily.
But 99.9% of boxes come with Windows preinstalled. And for home users there is no incentive to ask or switch. Business can save a bunch on licences but licences are a comfort item and the cost is tax-deductible (easy buffer to shift around on the balance sheet).
Only when Linux gets into the preinstall business it stands a chance of winning.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/26/dziuba_linux_desktop/ )
 

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Clouds going to schools. IBM has always been good at moving it's stuff into universities. But I wonder. Now that "clouds" are popping up everywhere someone aught to search for a new hot trend.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/26/ibm_clouds_in_schools/ )
Oh, and IBM should, I think, go one step down in education and get -smaller- clouds into the pre-university grades. Getting high schools involved means you reach more people.
 

- -

Obama gets things a bit right. Cutting federal regulation and letting states set some rules.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/27/obama_on_tailpipe_emission/ )
 

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Going virtual on the Mac.
( http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/01/a-quick-look-at-virtualbox-21.ars )
 

- -

Yes, it's slick and styley and sporty. Just like all the other electric cars on the board. Slick and styley but impractical. I haven't seen an electric car yet where you can pack your wife and the small kid in a safety seat, with a buggy in the booth for trolleying around later.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/26/dowle_p1_goes_electric/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-26  ^:

Weather - -

Just a touch of frost in the morning but nothing of the predicted rain. (-1°C ^_^ 7°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

- -

Yay, Belgium becomes more of a police state.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/23/belgium_censorship/ )
 

News - -

The good and bad of Mac. Not much doubt about most of the good things, but the bad is rather contested.
The Apples I like best were the LE and the Mini. Not because they were superb but rather because they were the only Macs I ever had
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/24/best_and_worst_macs/ )
 

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The new Acer. Bigger everything except the price. Th only "bigger" I like is the battery. If you need a bigger screen, bigger keyboard, go get a real laptop, I prefer things to be small enough to carry.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/23/acer_intros_10in_aa1/ )
 

- -

LG comes up wit a netbook. Yep just another clone same as so many others. A good point though is that it has G3 enabled and ready. A rather expensive way to surf.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/23/review_netbook_lg_x110/ )
 

- -

Good by Craig.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/23/barrett_retires/ )
 

- -

AMD back on track with execution from it's fabs.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/26/amd_shanghai_adds/ )
 

- -

Fuel cells are going small indeed. Not much power but it works nicely without pumps and circuitry so it is ideal form mobile applications.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/23/worlds_smallest_fuel_cell/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-23  ^:

Weather - -

It's raining. And no drizzle of hard short showers but a heavy and steady downpour. And yesterday's strong wind just got stronger, even the leafless trees are swaying and creaking. (4°C ^_^ 6°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

Oh Shiny!
Well, as long as the body is not displaying (fast) moving pictures while driving this OLED car could be fun.
I always thought a modular, custom car would be a great idea. The only problem is that it must of course pass safety standards.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/22/edag_light_car_geneva/ )
 

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Politics. Putting up a plan first and a budget later.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/22/obama_cyber_security_plan/ )
 

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Keeping the president in contact. Yay for BOB (Barack Obabama Blackberry).
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/22/obama_keeps_his_blackberry/ )
 

- -

Recession? Nope, just a BSOD on the economy, so you only have to reboot it.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/23/ballmer_recession/ )
 

- -

Layoffs at MS are curious. They have a large percentage of people working there that are on short term contracts. Are they counted in the cuts? Or are they cutting out full employees and re hiring them on short terms? So there are cuts and you would expect them to be in the less well performing parts but then Steve Balmer goes on to name just a couple of those for growing.
One thing is sure, they invest in Cloud, as in cloudy-communications.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/23/microsoft_job_cuts_analysis/ )
 

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Grinding down the Java. It's not only cuts at Sun that will impact the OpenSource community.
But it works two ways.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/23/sun_first_cuts/ )
 

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Intel has been bitten by licence issues before so of course they want to talk about it. It won't prevent AMD from splitting off the foundries. At worst it may have a minor impact on what those foundries produce.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/23/amd_intel_cross_licensing_deal_foundry_formation_uncertainty/ )
 

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OpenSource goes cloudy. Well, it is hip and trendy still so why not?
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/22/progs_go_cloudy/ )
 

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Windows versus OX-X. They start to look similar but they still work different. The difference isn't in the Dock or task bar but in the menu. ... Read on.
On the Mac every application runs only once, with it's menu at the top of the screen. On Windows Every window runs an application with the menu at the top of the window. Windows can open multiple documents in one app via the MDI but that is not sexy anymore. It's only sexy when you call it different, like tabbed-browsers.
( http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/dock-and-windows-7-taskbar.ars )
 

- -

Print you chip. Well, not high-end CPUs of graphic card stuff.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090122-polymer-brings-printable-circuitry-moves-closer-to-reality.html )
 

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AMD spins them off, Intel closes them. Fabs aren't hot anymore. Sure, old fabs are not producing hot chips and they are competing with more modern fabs. But still, upgrading on
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090122-feeling-squeeze-intel-closes-older-profitable-fabs.html )
 

- -

Sure a lot of people are disappointed. Thing is, if you buy a $1000+ dollar notebook and it isn't perfect you still say it's great. Saying it isn't is like admitting (to yourself) that you highly overpayed. If you spend just a couple of hundreds you can shrug it off easier so you can admit it wasn't a good buy.
Another point that leads to disappointment is that a lot of people that want/need a notebook is, bought a netbook instead because it was cheap and looks just like a regular notebook. If you buy a compact car you shouldn't grumble because you family of six won't fit. As regular notebooks keep dropping in price this type of mistakenly bought netbooks is going to be less common
( http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/netbook-user-satisfaction.ars )
 

- -

Part four of the netbook guide.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/22/netbook_linux_guide_4/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-22  ^:

Weather - -

There's been a lot of wind all week. And it turned a bit so I had to bike to work with the wind head-on. (3°C ^_^ 6°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

The speed drop is hardly noticeable and better graphics are welcome. But for an entry notebook it's still way over priced.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/21/apple_tweaks_macbook_spec/ )
 

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Heu ... I thought VM Ware was already doing that. Maybe it's only the server virtualisers that run under the OS.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/citrix_intel_pc_virt/ )
 

- -

Great. deafening pills. The the noise volumes in clubs can go up even further.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/johns_hopkins_ear_volume_knob_pills/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-21  ^:

Weather - -

Still very windy. (1°C ^_^ 5°C)
 

Wurk - -

Users calls : "Good morning. I have been messing around with an order and I think is messed it up."
My reply: "yes, you did."
Business as usual
 

Self - -


 

News - -

I like IBM and I am not enthusiast about the EU court cases. But I wonder why it took so long for this case to come up. IBM undeniably has a monopoly on Mainfraimes. For years already.
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/ibm_eu_probe/ )
 

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Optically written hard disks. Or going all the way to non-spinning 'disks'. The future looks strange.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/laser_light_magnetic_switching/ )
 

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And 3.5inch drives are being replaced by 2.5 inch ones even in big storage arrays.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/dot_hills_sff_array/ )
 

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Acer One with a size-up screen. Just a bit bigger and a few minor hardware tweaks, but then, it's hard to improve on the original. The resolution of the screen is the same so the pixels will be bigger, good news for your eyes. Of course the extra size without added features is bad news for portability.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/20/acer_10in_aa1_spied/ )
 

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Who's notebook is it? It remains company property of course. Unless its handled under the same rules as a car-leasing service, in which case the employee actually pays for it (in part).
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/whose_notebook/ )
 

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Integrated graphics have matured a lot. They have always been 'good enough' for basic office tasks. The main problem was that they grabbed a part of your system memory so you slow your system down with slow graphics and reduced memory. Things are much better these days. But the same basic problems exist.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/20/review_round_up_desktop_integrated_gpus/ )
 

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Next gen Atoms. With improvements, basically they integrate the whole chip set.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/more_pineview_details/ )
 

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Curious to see IBM doing well while the rest of the economy sinks.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/ibm_q4_2008_numbers/print.html )
 

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Darwin
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/copper_thieves/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-20  ^:

Weather - -

Clear skies and a blinding moon. even though its only about quarter moon it's incredibly bright. Also strange is that it's mid January with nit a cloud in sight and yet there is no frost. (2°C ^_^ 6°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

First look at the moons poles. Thanks to the Indian satellite.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/19/nasa_chandrayaan_1_radar_crater_images/ )
 

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Some people have bad memories about backup, I have good memories about restore. But indeed most backup software was/is not cut out for personal use. Of course using a RAID mirroring setup with a journaling file system.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/19/no_windows_time_machine/ )
 

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We'll be drowning in satnav signals. I wonder whether some of those satellites are able to interfere and jam the signals from others? That would be a very valuable military ability so I suspect it is there. Not that it matters much, much of the 'navigation' can be done based on the mobile phone network.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/19/china_looking_at_satnav_club_membership/ )
 

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Opera applauding the EU bashing of MS. But does anyone wonders how he might get Opera on a Windows PC is there was no IE included to reach out to the internet and download sites? Forbidding the egg if you are in a chicken)and)egg situation is not a solution.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/19/opera_microsoft_european_commission/ )
And when is the EU going to tackle Apple because it bundles it's own browser?
 

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AMD is not going to compete head-on with Intel's atom. So you may find the odd netbook with a Neon but that won't be an attractive buy. What you will probably see is a range of 12 to 14 inch notebooks. Thin and light yet wit a good battery life (I am hoping) and a screen that is large enough for actual use. (Yes, I like the less then 10" screens but for a full day's work they are a bit hard on the eyes. Especially older eyes.)
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/19/neo_in_2009/ )
 

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Cisco going into servers?
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/cisco_servers/ )
 

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Virtual is the magic word these days. And Virtual machines are useful. But it is telling that Microsoft needs a VM to run standard Windows software on Vista. The same trick that IBM needed to run Windows apps on OS2 more then 15 years ago. At least Win7 is just a new Vista so it will have the ability to run normal Windows programs.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/19/vista_desktop_virtualization/ )
(yes, I am still wondering why IBM dropped OS2.)
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-19  ^:

Weather - -

Grey and drab but dry. Untill the afternoon then we get a couple of quick changes. Some short bursts of hard blinding sun and a couple of equally short rain and hail showers, all the while there is a hard blistery wind raging. (99°C ^_^ 99°C)
 

Wurk - -

I do the backups and tape-swapping on the AS400 here. So I do notice when the IT-manager does some restore or backup. I notice because the tapes are no longer in sequence or in the machines they belong to. *sigh*
 

Self - -


 

News - -

There is a line. but it's not all clear to see and hard to capture in law
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/kid_pic_prosecutions/ )
 

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Toshiba netbook. Of course it's all business. But strangely the price isn't over the top.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/16/review_netbook_toshiba_nb100/ )
 

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About time something like that comes out. Patching up superficial wounds by just spraying something on. Yes, it is intended for the military now, but show me one ambulance crew that doesn't want it.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/darpa_wound_spraygun_cement/ )
 

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Slow economy means delayed launches. And probably better products. Better? Yep, more time to test and iron out imperfections.
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/lynnfield_postponed/ )
 

Unless of course you also (have to) cut back staff which does the refining and testing. It is good to see though that AMD management cuts it's own wages as well, all to often we see layoffs and cuts while management raises it's own bonuses.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/amd_q1_2009_job_cuts_wage_reductions/ )
 

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Some are not happy with the new fighters. But then it's well known that there are to many compromises made in the F35. But it still remains a good plane to fly.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/f35_controversy_kopp_latest/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-16  ^:

Weather - -

. (99°C ^_^ 99°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

MacMini on Atoms. Some doubt about the performance, sure they are fast enough to run OS-X and apps. It won't be snappy but it's not going to be an anchor as the article fears. It is a dual-core version of the standard netbook chip and those are good enough to run Linux and XP. OS-X may be a bit more demanding than XP but not by much so a dual-core Atom will cope.
Sure it won't cope with demanding tasks but the current crop of Minis are not much better in that respect. When comparing a dual cored Atom Mini with my G4 Mini will probably see a nice performance increase. Comparing to the current crop of Core2 chips it will probably be a performance decrease (though the nVidia chip may paint over that). And it is indeed uncommon to get a new version of a system to be less performant than the previous one. Which probably means it will drop in price, back to the pre-Intel Mac Mini levels.
Two points I see in the Apple future here.
If it works I expect a Mac Netbook to crop up. Probably a 10 inch copy of the Mac Air. Also probably way over priced compared to the other netbooks but at least a small one in their catalog.
And a new product. At the moment they have three desktops, the Mini, the iMac and the big Power. By moving the Mini one level down they open up room for a new desktop. Probably on a par with the current iMac but with a couple of expansion slots (do you hear twin graphic cards, SLI?) making it perfect for multi display setups. All without endangering the big dual socket PowerMacs
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/mac_mini_ion/ )
 

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Mainframe versus Blades. Well, yes they are growing together. But the trend is net set by blades, most companies work with one main supplier and only look outside for extra stuff. Has been that way for years.
( -- )
 

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Byby tape. Backup on disk.
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/15/prostor_lands_ibm/ )
 

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A limit to multi core chips? Well, actually nothing new here, the on-off connection between the chip and memory-storage has always been a limiting factor. So limiting it forced Intel off the buss
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/15/sandia_boffins_multicore_dropoff/ )
 

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An inside glimps of Palm OS. More to come.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/15/what_is_inside_palm_webos/ )
 

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More OS news from Apple as it -slowly- moves to a more consistent interface for all it's products. I am doubtful about the effectiveness though. Sure it makes for an easy transition between products but a button on a 3 inch phone screen is different from a button on a 30 inch computer screen.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/15/os_x_and_marble/ )
 

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The market for PCs did hit the wall. And I doubt it will recover to the 10+ % growth figures ever again. Most of the market is saturated already with all the growth coming from 'less developed' regions. Most places that need computers have them so it's all moving to a replacement market with some growth areas but those are unlikely to grow together, so while you may hit, say 20% growth in some place that will be countered by 0% growth in others.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090115-pc-market-hits-wall-in-4q-it-market-to-tank-in-2009.html )
 

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Nailing the RIAA ^_^
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090115-judge-calls-riaa-objections-spurious-will-stream-hearing.html )
 

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Invisible. Well it won't make your car invisible but it may make the bums and scratches on it invisible.
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090115-new-cloaking-surface-throws-an-electromagnetic-curveball.html )
 

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While certifications are not important where I work it still useful to know about them. They give an idea of where the job market is moving.
( http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=464 )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-15  ^:

Weather - -

It is to hot already. At least for biking to work with winter clothes on. (5°C ^_^ 6°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

Reshufling the cards in the hard disk business. Toshiba can make a good deal buying the Fujitsu business
( http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/14/fujisu_selling_hdd_business_to_toshiba/ )
 

- -

Another silly patent being enforced years after laying it down.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/14/xpoint_sues_intel_et_all_patent/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-14  ^:

Weather - -

Still raining. (0°C ^_^ 5°C)
 

Wurk - -

Fun
 

Self - -


 

News - -

Laying out the perfect city. Rats however are not people. To get the real "best" layout you would have to test with rats on foot and rats in cars. And with rats that don't want to wander but just want to get to work and back.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/13/israeli_urban_renewal_rat_plan/ )
 

- -

AVG going behavioural. About time virus scanners decrease their dependence on stupid variable signatures.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/13/avg_sana_acquisition/ )
 

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Excentric stuff. But a cool car.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/13/timbuctoo_flying_car_exped/ )
 

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Faster disks. Yaya
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/13/seagate_refreshes_cheetah/ )
 

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-13  ^:

Weather - -

Whatever snow remained is now being rained away. (2°C ^_^ 5°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

UFO-logists called in. Top secret military getting uneasy. Untill they find some bird crap.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/12/ufo_crash_site_sealed/ )
 

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Cadillac going electric. Chrysler driving electric. A good sign that they are not just sitting on the bail out money but progressing with the plans. But also an indication that they still don't get the idea of smaller more efficient and practical cars.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/12/detroit_gm_unveils_converj/ )
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/12/detroit_chrysler_switches_circuit/ )
 

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Fast wireless connections are the way to go but it will take some time to get a stable market.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/12/transferjet_flogging_dead_horse/ )
 

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A new generation of laptop chips is coming. With both AMD -cpu and gpu- and Intel stepping in the low end notebook scene is about to get a make-over. And the netbook market is going to get pushed down. I expect a lot of cross-over with companies bringing out virtually the same box with different processor memory and storage configurations at different price points.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/06/amd_yukon_launch/ )
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/12/amd_mobility_radeon_hd_4000_series_gpus/ )
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/12/intel_takes_on_amd_neo_chip/ )
  Extra to note here is that optical drives are being squeezed out. CD, DVD and BlueRay are all interesting formats but they are large and delicate and require large power hungry drives. I suspect they will go the way floppy drives are gone. First getting dropped from portables and then, slower,from desktops on the computer stages. Yes people (and journalists) are still looking for them but while they grumble when they are missing from full scale notebooks it's a given when talking about netbooks and ultra thin notebooks. For the time being external drives are in for a booming market.
(On the Music/film stage to they are going. They are out and away from portable players already and, like cassette and VCRs, they are moving out on home players. Being replaced with iPod docs and USB interfaces and memory slots.)

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Programming errors? We don't program errors!
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/13/top_25_programming_errors/ )
 

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Been following Mac Secrets with half an eye, maybe I should open that eye fully ^_-
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/12/mac_secrets_coreui/ )
 

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2009-01-12  ^:

Weather - -

It's almost not freezing in the morning. and effectively thawing later. Byby snow. (-2°C ^_^ 3°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

Great. There is no hiding.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/09/tech_dragnet/ )
 

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Oh dear. The US president flying in a French plane. Mon dieu!
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/09/air_force_one_replacement/ )
 

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Another form of cost cutting. Moving and scrapping tech-shows is not popular but everybody does it. There is not much profit in these shows.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/09/canceled_it_shows/ )
 

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Angular laptop? It rather reminds me of a piece of origami. It also looks deliciously flat and thin
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/10/ces_asus_concept_laptops/ )
 

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Road map for flash.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/09/ssd_and_hdd_capacity_increases/ )
 

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Opera 10 is on the board. Alfa still but I guess worth trying to take a look. I use Opera as my main browser so
( http://www.opera.com/browser/next/ )
 

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Another chip for netbooks. *yawn* Well not actually a Yawn moment. It fits below the Intel Atom in power, so you won't be running Windows on it. But it fits well below Intel on consumption so you won't run out of juice as fast. Sucking 8 hours of work out of a standard battery set sounds just ideal. Few people will want to work for a full day on a netbook but if you can get 8 hours of work you can have it on and ready for the occasional use for about a week.
I am not sure it will work that way though. The biggest power consumer is going to be the screen, second the processor. And with flash based book the third is a tie between memory and cooling fan. When in standby the memory and chip set are the biggest consumers with the processor on third place. With this Frescale Arm chip the cooling falls away and the chip itself probably ties with memory. Makes a big difference on the active consumption but on the inactive state it hardly matters.
I use my Acer A1 as addessbook-calender most of the time, but keeping it on stand-by for just a couple of days drains the battery. What I really want is a netbook that works just like my old Psion 3a did. That worked -as calender address book- for a couple of weeks on just two standard AA batteries. So an extra efficient chip would be good but not good enough.
( http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2009/01/07/new-freescale-processors-target-linux-netbooks )
 

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Just five reasons?
( http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090111-five-reasons-to-seriously-consider-buying-a-netbook.html )
 

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2009-01-09  ^:

News - -

Just reloading all those batteries must be a nightmare, worthy of reporting. But I would rather know what the programs and chips are that guide the robot.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/08/dad_battery_challenge_droid_sub/ )
 

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Water cooling for CPUs is rather common (well ...) but water cooling for graphic cards is less so. Even less common is water cooling installed by the manufacturer.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/08/review_graphics_card_sapphire_hd4870x2_atomic/ )
 

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Interesting take on a netbook. I have never been fond of swivelling screens and convertible notebook/pad computers. but Those netbooks are light enough to work. Maybe.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/08/asus_eee_t91/ )
 

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The new Palm looks great and probably is very good. But also not likely to be good enough to save Palm
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/08/palm_launches_pre/ )
 

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See-trough isn't just for sexy clothes. It works for screens too.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/09/ces_video_samsung_see_thru_oled/ )
 

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The real Vista is about to be launched. It will be called Windows 7 but it actually is what Vista should have been.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/08/windows_7_beta_one_review/ )
 

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Well, it has got 'cloud' in its name so it must be good. And it probably is what with 1000 ATI graphics chips and a bunch of AMD Phenomss in it.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/09/amd_render_cloud/ )
 

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2009-01-08  ^:

News - -

It has been done before and it's never stuck around. There are advantages to having a full computer stuck in the keyboard but there is also a big disadvantage. Like just count the number of cables hanging off your average PC. I thing the EeePC desktop linked with a wireless keyboard is a much better option.
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/07/asus_eee_keyboard/ )
 

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Good use for fuel cell technology. And also great for testing. Sure the functioning even under bad conditions can be tested in the lab, but letting the military actually use it means you get all usability problems ironed out.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/07/fuel_cell_stretchers/ )
 

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Intel feels the pinch. And if they do then you can bet the rest of the IT industry is all but KO on the ground.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/07/intel_q4_prelims/ )
 

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SHXC is for you. Well, if you want more and want it faster at least, and who doesn't want more and faster storage?
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/07/ces_shxc_format_launched/ )
 

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64 bit COBOL. Few people were waiting for it. But those that did are rewarded. Finally.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/07/64-bit-cobol-for-aix/ )
 

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Sony does a Netbook too. But not your average cheap stuff. Most of the price goes to a huge SSD and a very high resolution screen. (And that Sony sticker isn't cheap either of course.)
( http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01/08/ces_sony_launches_vaio_p/ )
 

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2009-01-07  ^:

  (Mail Remarks about words)


 

2009-01-06  ^:

News - -

It's not an easy time for taking over businesses.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/05/fujitsu_says_no_deal_for_wd/ )
 

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OK Jobs isn't dead. So the stock jojo can continue.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/05/jobs_speaks_health/ )
 

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Sonys PS3 may be less than the huge success it hoped for, but they still lead the gamers charts
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/05/ps2_most_played_2008_nielson_yearly_roundup/ )
 

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The year has started so it's time to check out last years Darwin award winners.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/02/darwin_award_2008/ )
 

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NASA's current big success story. Five years on Mars and still working.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/05/mars_rovers_anniversary/ )
 

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2009-01-05  ^:

Weather - -

Snow is fun. Especially when driving a car in it. The roads are being cleared according to the news but I think they are talking about other roads. All I travel on is nicely packed fresh snow. I didn't drive like a crab (sideways). Well not most of the time at least. It remained snowing, just lightly, by evening there was a healthy blanket, 15cm thick. Except on the roads, they got mostly clear. (-03°C ^_^ -02°C)
 

Wurk - -

Just got our New-Year pep-talk from the IT manager. ...
A funeral sounds more up-beat.

 

Self - -


 

News - -

For once MS doesn't go cursing and screaming at illegal pre-releases.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/02/windows_7_beta_bittorrent/ )
 

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2009-01-02  ^:

Weather - -

Still freezing but only lightly. But also completely grey and cloudy so it stays cold all day. Not often that the minimum and maximum stay the same. (-3°C ^_^ -3°C)
 

Wurk - -


 

Self - -


 

News - -

I bet everybody would hate it. Me included. But more stringent speed-control could actually be a good thing on roads.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/30/motor_speed_governor_ploy/ )
 

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Sir Pratchett. Sounds good and is well deserved.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/31/pratchett_knighted/ )
 

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Silent NewYear on Zune. Probably not a huge disaster for Microsoft, just one more slip and people are so used to broken MS stuff that they don't really worry. A bit inconvenient.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/31/zune_death/ )
 

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Atoms reign is not over but at least there are others stepping in on the game. All good chips but late so they will have a hard time convincing manufacturers. Most of them are also avoiding direct competition by targeting a slightly different market, though that may not be a good choice. Ex, AMD has a good chip coming, aimed just above the Atom on performance. That will most likely exclude them form the netbook market cause along with higher performance it sports a higher consumption. So it has to compete with the low end Core2 chips. And with top end Atoms cause sure as chips bake Intel can pump up the performance of Atom without a problem. A hike from 1.6GHz to say 2.0GHz, which they no doubt can do without blinking, would of course increase consumption but it probably would level up the chip to the AMD part. So AMD's advantage will be short lived. The VIA Nano chips have the same problem, A bit better performance and a slightly higher consumption. Their market position is so low that Intel doesn't have to react but if they threaten to grab more Intel can and will react.
( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/31/netbook_chips/ )
 

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