Archived Technology Notes
Published in 2013
Permanent URLIBM researchers unveil TrueNorth, a new computer architecture that imitates how a brain works
by aviva hope rutkin
Visually stimulating: TrueNorth can be used to simulate the processing of a retina. This image shows the firing of virtual neurons in such a system.
Visually stimulating: TrueNorth can be used to simulate the processing of a retina. This image shows the firing of virtual neurons in such a system.
To create a computer as powerful as the human brain, perhaps we first need to build one that works more like a brain. Today, at the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks in Dallas, IBM researchers will unveil a radically new computer architecture designed to bring that goal within reach. Using simulations of enormous complexity, they show that the architecture, named TrueNorth, could lead to a new generation of machines that function more like biological brains.
The announcement builds on IBM’s ongoing projects in cognitive computing. In 2011, the research team released computer chips that use a network of “neurosynaptic cores” to manage information in a way that resembles the functioning of neurons in a brain (see “IBM’s New Chips Compute More Like We Do”). With TrueNorth, the researchers demonstrate a way to use those chips for specific tasks, and they show that the approach could be used to build, among other things, a more efficient biologically inspired visual sensor.
“It doesn’t make sense to take a programming language from the previous era and try to adapt it to a new architecture. It’s like a square peg in a round hole,” said Dharmendra S. Modha, lead researcher. “You have to rethink the very notion of what programming means.”
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first published week of: 08/26/2013
Permanent URLImpact Of IT Trends In Mobile Cloud Computing
by cloudtweaks.com
The Rise of Mobile Commerce: Most modern businesses use mobile devices in their daily transactions. In fact, studies show that more than 30% of all mobile users spend around 27 minutes every day texting, calling or video chatting. Based on your budget, ?-commerce’ can be structured into either an app or interactive mobile site. Phone-based websites give users the convenience of accessing virtual content from any place or time. Nowadays, people walk with their handsets everywhere they go even when traveling.
Fragility of mobile devices: With the ongoing rapid development of wireless communication and internet connectivity, most modern communication devices come fitted with digital images, portable cameras and other related features. This helps users view images at high definition and also share them through instant cloud computing platforms.Today, it’s possible to make unique applications using watermarking software. This unique cloud application helps in image authentication as well as tamper localization. However, there are various demerits that mobile devices have when it comes to cloud computing. First, some of them have limited memory capacity and cannot open big files, moreover since they are portable there’s always the risk of loss due to misplacement or theft.
Increase in the Worker Mobility: Statistics show that three-quarters of all modern employees use handsets to increase their productivity. Most of them are using modern devices such as tablets and smartphones, these appliances offer users better virtual working tools that are relevant to the fast-paced corporate world. Therefore, companies should always try to find ways of supporting the use of mobile devices within the work setting. This can help employees access various communication systems, data recovery and backup solutions and applications with ease. Mobile cloud computing allows different people to access information from a common resource network, however the main advantage of this technology is that users can view files even on offline mode. It can be used by firms to save on the costs of installing different data programs for each and every employee.
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first published week of: 09/09/2013
Permanent URLInside Microsoft's $617M software deal with the DOD
by mark hoover, washington technology
Everyone knew that it was a big deal when Microsoft and the Defense Department entered into a $617 million enterprise licensing agreement a few weeks ago. But it turns out that this deal is more than just a big win; it has implications about the federal market at large.
Under this three-year agreement, the Army, Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency will have a single vehicle for buying Microsoft products such as Office 2013, Sharepoint 2013 Enterprise and Windows 8.
To reach that deal, Microsoft took a different negotiation tack to reach the deal with the Defense Department and its reseller partner Insight Public Sector.
“Any contract negotiation by nature is going to be a process where we’re smoothing out rough edges and finding out what those good common denominators are,” said Tim Solms, general manager for Microsoft’s Defense Department business. “It has been very collaborative from the beginning.”
Microsoft “brought forward the solutions that were really the most relevant and the most cost-efficient with the Department of Defense that were in line with their core initiatives,” he said.
This isn’t always easy though, since the Defense Department has many different components. Typically, the question that Microsoft must ask its customer is “What software products do you want,” which can result in different answers across the department.
Details Here
first published week of: 01/28/2013
Permanent URLinstall Linux on a vintage 68K Mac
by benj edwards
If you’re like me and happen to have a bunch of vintage Macs powered by Motorola 680x0 CPUs lying around, then you probably like to tinker with them. And what better way to tinker with obsolete hardware than by installing an obsolete version of Linux on it? It’s a difficult and time-consuming procedure with no practical purpose, of course, but when has that ever stopped us?
In this how-to, I’ll install Debian 4 (a Linux distribution) on a 68K Mac. There are some catches, and the road to functioning Linux on a 68K machine can be long and frustrating, so I’ll try to condense the process into a series of easy-to-follow steps. No matter how I simplify it, though, keep in mind that almost everything about this process is antithetical to the traditional Macintosh experience, so it is not for the faint-hearted. continued…
first published week of: 05/20/2013
Permanent URLinstead of taking your daughters to work, introduce them to technology
by adrian ott
Many years ago, when I was a senior in high school, a classmate told me he was planning to study engineering in college. I said, “What’s that?” As a 17-year-old middle-class girl who had access to education, sports, and plenty of extracurricular activities, I had no idea what an engineer did. It wasn’t until I entered college that I encountered computer science classes and ultimately entered the workforce in tech as a software developer.
It’s well documented that girls need more exposure to tech and science careers--they also need more female role models. Why is it that we can easily name legends such as Gates, Jobs, Dell, and Zuckerberg for their technical contributions? Yet most people cannot name the woman who saved millions of lives by inventing Kevlar (Stephanie Kwolek). Or the Nobel Laureate who invented radioimmunoassay (RIA) testing that revolutionized medical research (Rosalyn S. Yalow). Or the woman who founded the first word processing company, Redactron, in 1969 (Evelyn Berezin).
These women deserve to be widely known for their significant contributions. But most importantly, our daughters need female role models.
This Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. No doubt, it is a fantastic initiative. However, in 2013 many freelancers and entrepreneurs work from home. And many employees don’t work in offices anymore. continued…
first published week of: 04/22/2013
Permanent URLIntel CEO is focused on mobile chips, wearable technology
by james delahunty
Intel's new CEO, Brian Krzanich, said he is focused on pushing out Intel Atom chip technology for smartphones, tablets and wearable technology.
Krzanich took over as Intel boss in May, being promoted from the posts of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer after Paul Otellini stepped down from the CEO post.
His top priority is the roll-out of chips for smartphones, tablets and wearable technology, seeking to push Intel into a space that it overlooked for too long while chip rivals thrived. He also said Intel continues to work on its push into television, but is taking a caution approach.
"We believe we have a great user interface and the compression-decompression technology is fantastic," Krzanich said, according to the Retuers news agency.
"But in the end, if we want to provide that service it comes down to content. We are not big content players." continued…
first published week of: 07/22/2013
Permanent URLIntel's New CEO Faces a Major Challenge
by jessica leber
Intel's new CEO Brian M. Krzanich, elected by the board … to replace retiring chief executive Paul Otellini, is a longtime Intel insider whose vision must now guide the company through a time of tumult in the computing industry.
The world’s largest chipmaker faces challenges due to slumping PC sales, and has made only small inroads into the mobile computing world so far. The vast majority of smartphones and tablets use ARM-based designs, and as a result, Intel’s market share for all CPUs shipped has dropped dramatically over the last few years. continued…
first published week of: 05/13/2013
Permanent URLInternet criminals: so reliably dumb at hiding their tracks
Shouldn't catching a sextortionist be a little bit harder than this?
by nate anderson
It’s a good thing for the rest of us that so few criminals are truly "masterminds"—and thus end up so easy to find. Case in point: the FBI's arrest, announced today, of an alleged sextortionist named Karen "Gary" Kazaryan in California.
First, let's be clear on the charges. According to the FBI, the 27-year-old spent huge amounts of time breaking in to e-mail and social networking accounts—usually Facebook—and then scouring them for sexually provocative photos. If found, the photos were then used to approach the account holders and blackmail them into making further displays, usually over Skype, to the watching hacker. If they didn't comply, the original photos might be posted to their Facebook page.
Here, for instance, is how FBI Special Agent Tanith Rogers describes a November 20, 2010 encounter between the hacker, who had obtained a topless photo of a woman in a hot tub from one victim's Facebook account, and two sisters:
Details Here
first published week of: 02/04/2013
Permanent URLIT Governance helps Esri UK achieve ISO 27001 certification
by www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk
IT Governance, the global leader in information security and ISO 27001-compliance expertise, has announced that Esri UK has successfully achieved certification to ISO 27001 with the help of IT Governance’s consultants.
As a major provider of enterprise-wide geographic information systems (GIS), Esri UK’s main drivers, on embarking on the project, were to meet compliance requirements, adopt information security best practice and differentiate themselves from competitors.
Nick Rigby, non-Executive Director, Esri UK said, “Like many organizations that pursue standards-compliance and certification, our initial drivers came from Government in terms of contract requirements. Having previously gained ISO 9001 certification we embarked on the process of gaining ISO 14001 and, more recently, on ISO 27001. We evaluated the benefits of an international management systems standards-based approach and found that it brought us significant benefits in addition to the tick-in-the-box aspect when tendering.
Rigby added, “Furthermore, at IT Governance’s suggestion, using PAS 99 we adopted an Integrated Management System (IMS) approach to this work. We now believe that a management systems approach is helping us to grow our business through the development of processes and procedures based on the ISO standards frameworks that we have successfully adopted, which will also, soon, include ISO 20000.” continued…
first published week of: 12/02/2013
Permanent URLIt’s Over For Paid Apps, With A Few Exceptions
by sarah perez
p>Is it over for paid mobile apps? That’s the general thinking these days, as the App Stores fill up with “good enough” alternatives to paid apps, while major publishers game the charts with free offerings that make millions which can then be used for their ongoing user acquisition efforts. That’s one of the reasons why the top charts of the App Store have gotten so difficult to break into for new publishers today, in fact.
The evidence for the trend toward free apps was rehashed again in a series of blog posts and other online discussions over this past weekend, written by those in the know – app developers themselves who are today still trying to make things work. But the data presented was largely anecdotal. App developer David Smith and his wife spoke spoke it. Elsewhere, Instapaper founder Marco Arment wrote about his struggles to determine the appropriate business model for his own new app, Overcast.
These were more personal tellings of the same story which has been reported through harder data for months on end. But that data contains some nuances which shouldn’t be ignored, especially for paid app developers trying to squeeze out profits from a less competitive niche. Yes, apps overall are trending toward free, and a majority of the App Store is composed of free apps – but there are a few areas where a paid app might still work…at least, for now. continued…
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first published week of: 10/07/2013
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