Browser Wars Heat Up for Microsoft

"I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant...", those were the words of Admiral Isoroku Yamoto after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and it also seems to be the feeling people have toward Microsoft and the company's entrance into the "browser wars" we are seeing today.

Back when Internet Explorer first came out, it was a high performance browser with a lot of useful functions. However, those days were finite, and Microsoft got branded with the reputation of producing crappy browsers, a reputation that IE7 and IE8 did nothing to improve upon.

In 2010, however, a long effort to reactivate the company's browser projects showed promise in IE9. As of right now, the application is still in beta form, but it has already shifted the browser market dramatically.

Internet Explorer 9 supports any and every kind of Web standard including a ton of HTML5 features like built-in video, CSS3 for advanced formatting, professional typography and SVG for smoothly resizable graphical elements. IE9 also speeds up the execution of web-based JavaScript programs. This development did manage to alert browser rivals for one top priority today, hardware acceleration. The software itself is accompanied by a push by the industry where Microsoft is educating Web developers and contributing to the development of standards.

It does appear that it may take a little while before web developers trust that Microsoft is serious about browsers again. It also seems that people still using the ancient IE6 will still be wary of upgrading. One thing is clear, Microsoft is paving the way for a new browser future where web sites as well as web applications become more fluid, interactive, polished and powerful.

In terms of Microsoft, Internet Explorer 9 has come in at exactly the right time. The battle with IE has always been against Firefox, however, Google's Chrome has brought in a new era of fierce competition. I think it is safe to say that Google knows a little something about the internet, and the company has a major agenda of web applications to pursue as well as a big enough presence on the web to allow it to make new technologies relevant by building them into its browser and web site.

Early in 2010 Chrome passed Safari by Apple for third place in the rankings of browser usage, and its growth carried to almost 10% of usage in November. A new phase of Google browser ambition is just taking off as well. The Chrome Web Store, which was designed to promote web-based applications and Chrome OS, allows people to find and purchase nearly any web app they want.

Chrome OS is much more of a departure from existing technology than just a browser. Google only offers it built into hardware. Google has done a good job with Android, but it is still unclear as to how well Chrome OS will fare with consumers and businesses.

Firefox's percentage of browser usage has remained consistently flat for most of 2010 thanks to Chrome. There are big things planned for Firefox 4 including many new features and performance enhancements. The problem is that Mozilla failed to meet a 2010 deadline and has since been pushed into 2011.

Apple's Safari has steadily increased in usage share with a few signs that the Windows version is catching on. Safari has been the principle sponsor of the open-source WebKit project, the same project both Safari and Chrome are based on. However, Google is steadily increasing.

One notable feature of Safari 5 that arrived in July was extensions that have the ability to customize the browser's behavior. Opera, the browser currently ranked 5th, is building them into Opera 11 which is the upcoming version of the browser which will match Chrome and Jetpack, the upcoming browser from Mozilla.

Adobe Systems, maker of Flash Player plug-in, had a particularly difficult year but ended on a good note. Apple, not surprisingly, did not budge on their ban of Flash from iOS devices directly, however, it did relent on blocking an Adobe tool that allows you to convert Flash apps to native apps. Google and Adobe forged an alliance due to the very public fight between Apple and Adobe which resulted in Flash support and promotion within Android.

The browser market combines competition between makers with cooperation as all the companies seek to advance the possibilities that can occur on the web. HTML5 standardization has sprouted emotional clashes between different groups involved as the specification moves more under the control of corporate powers.

The mobile market is also a big challenge to the web. Native software can offer better interfaces as well as faster performance than traditional web apps on mobile devices. However, it is still clear that the web as well as the tools for using it are clearly on the rise.

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Kingston Digital Unveils Second Generation Colorful Mini Fun USB Flash Drives

USB flash drives are some of the most convenient pieces of technology around today. They allow you to add anything from data files to word documents and even movies or music to them and transport them to any USB device for instant access. But just because you have a cool piece of technology doesn't mean it has to be boring.

That is why Kingston Digital unleashed their DataTraveler Mini Fun not too long ago, a device that added color and fun to your everyday USB flash drive. Well, everything deserves an upgrade now and then which is why Kingston Digital has just unveiled the next generation of the DataTraveler Mini Fun USB flash drive.

This latest release from Kingston features a ton of colors as well as a rubber casing and a miniature size which is reviving one of Kingston's favorite designs. According to Jim Selby, Manager of European Product Marketing for Kingston Digital Europe, "These multicolored fun devices can be 'snapped' to each other in order to construct different objects and cool shapes. Users can take apart their designs and build something new and creative every day. The versatile Kingston DataTraveler Mini Fun G2 is the perfect storage companion to help store your favorite documents, photos and music in a mini-sized drive. It's so small that you can take it anywhere."

There are three different color designs for the Kingston DataTraveler Mini Fun G2. This allows users to mix and match different sticks. The mini design and bright colors make this USB drive ideal for your home, school and travel. There are three models of this device currently available, a 2GB, 4GB and 8GB, each of which come with a different color combination.

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Breakthrough by IBM May Bring Us Exascale Supercomputers

If you are one of the people out there that doesn't think that a supercomputer seems good enough, then you probably work at IBM. Researchers at IBM have just made a breakthrough in using light pulses to help accelerate the transfer of data between chips. If this works out like the people at IBM think it will, then it could quite possibly increase supercomputer performance by more than a thousand times.

This technology, dubbed CMOS Integrated Silicon Nanophotonics (I feel smarter already), integrates optical modules as well as electrical modules on a single piece of silicon. This allows electrical signals created at the transistor level to be transformed into light pulses, seemingly allowing chips to communicate faster according to IBM silicon photonics research scientist Will Green.

IBM believes that this new technology will lead to massive advances in supercomputer power. The fastest supercomputers we have around today max out at nearly 2 petaflops which, for us lay people, registers into two thousand trillion calculations per second. The photonics technology could increase this number to a staggering trillion million calculations per second. Yeah, a MILLION TRILLION calculations per second, otherwise known as an exaflop. This would help IBM achieve their goal of building an exascale computer by the year 2020.

According to Green, "In an exascale system, interconnects have to be able to push exabytes per second across the network. This is an interesting milestone for system builders who are looking at building exascale systems in 10 years."

The possibility of integrating multiple photonics modules onto a single substrate or onto a motherboard is here, according to Green. Newer supercomputers already use optical technology for chips in order to communicate. However, this usually occurs at the rack level and mostly over a single wavelength. This breakthrough will allow optical communication simultaneously at multiple wavelengths.

The good thing about this technology is that it can be manufactured on a standard chip production line. Another benefit is that it also needs no special tools, making it extremely cost-effective. The current demonstration used a 130-nanometer CMOS manufacturing node. However, IBM plans on pursuing integration into "deeply scaled sub-100 nanometer CMOS processes," according to Green.

The technology aims to replace copper wires. As you know, copper wires are widely used today for data transfer between chips. Optics can get a speed increase for distances as short as a few centimeters to as long as a few miles and even consumes less power. Eventually, IBM hopes to use optics for on-chip communication between transistors as well. According to Green, "There is a vision for the chip level, but that is not what we are claiming today."

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Wozjob Apple 1 sells for Nearly a Quarter of a Million USD

Wiki Photo: The Hand built Apple-1

The Apple-1 computer was hand build in Steve Wozniak's parents garage. Steve Job's came up with the idea of selling it. The Apple-1 was first demonstrated in April 1976 at the HomeBrew Computer Club in Palo Alto.

Originally, the Apple 1 sold for $500 when it was sold to a reseller 1976. It was made out of wood and was billed as the first "personal computer." The retailer marked up the Apple-1 by 33% giving it a price of $666.66.

An Apple I reportedly sold for $50,000 USD at auction in 1999, with another apparently selling in 2009 for $17,500.

Fast forward to November 2010. This same Apple I (with serial number 82) sold for $178,000 ($213,600 including the 'buyer's premium') at Christie's auction house in London , making it by far the highest price paid for this model to date, at £133,250 ($210,000).

The high value of this particular example is likely due to the rare documents and packaging offered in the sale rather than the computer itself; namely (and amongst others) the original packaging (with the return label showing Steve Jobs' parents address, the original Apple Computer Inc 'headquarters' being their garage), a personally typed and signed letter from Jobs (answering technical questions about the computer) and the original invoice showing 'Steven' as the salesman.

Story Sources: EpochTimes, Wiki, Gather

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Record Profits For Dell Due to Increase in Demands

On Thursday, November 18th, Dell reported their third quarter earnings to be record breaking due to the increased demand for PCs and computer services. Despite this report from Dell, consumer revenue for the company only showed a 4 percent increase for the third quarter and is predicted to have little to no increase for the fourth quarter and holiday season.

Dell’s reports were pretty incredible, despite what consumer revenue says. They reported a net income of $822 million, which is a 144 percent increase from the same period a year ago, and $15.39 billion in revenues, which is up 19 percent from the same period a year ago.

“Our strong results demonstrate that we are listening to customers and delivering what they want,” stated Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell. “It validates that our strategy to offer choice and efficiency at every level of the IT enterprise computing stack is taking hold, and we are more focused than ever to being a true partner – not merely a provider – to our customers. Dell is growing in the right areas, and I'm very excited about our momentum."

Dell executives have said that the company has been focusing on “profit share” instead of market share when it comes to units sold. Chief financial officer Brian Gladden said, “I believe that the third quarter results demonstrate the strategy we have described to you over the past year is the correct one,” in a conference call with analysts on Thursday.

Dell’s Large Enterprise revenue came in at $4.3 billion, which is a 27 percent increase from last year, with an operating income of about $400 million (or 9.2 percent of revenue). Their Small and Medium Business revenue came in at $3.7 billion, which is a 24 percent increase, with an operating income of $391 million. Their consumer revenue came in at $3 billion, which was only a 4 percent increase, as was mentioned above. Dell said that for operating income the consumer segment improved to breaking even for the quarter, despite the “muted” consumer demand.

On Thursday Dell also announced that its new Inspiron Duo laptop was just made available for pre-order. All of these announcements come a day after the announcement that Dell communication chief Ron Garriques was leaving the company. This has caused some speculations about what will happen to Dell’s plan of creating a line of cell phones.

In the conference call though, Garriques resignation from the company was barely even addressed. The questions were focused more towards the “management changes” at Dell and the impact that the tablet industry will have on the company. Executives responded by saying that Dell’s 2011 tablet release will address “all the opportunities we see for tablets.”

Michael Dell went on to say, “We are very much in the mobile space, working very much with both Android and Windows Mobile 7 and encouraged with the development of both of those and see them as a great opportunity for us.”

Steve Felice, the president of consumer small and medium business for Dell, made an apparent reference to tablets and the general mobile space by saying, “We want to mainstream the supply chain, the sales capability, and the marketing capability. All of this is aimed to bring this more to scale in faster fashion than we normally envisioned.”

In the conference call Dell did not present any target revenues for the fourth quarter. Instead the company said, “Fourth quarter revenue is expected to track in-line to slightly up from the third quarter as commercial demand remains stable while consumer demand remains more muted.”

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HP Will Be Paying Out $16.25 M in Settlement

HP is a very well-known technological name, but the company is really not having the best of years so far in 2010. It’s not their sales numbers or their products; it’s something very different that they had complete control over. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced that HP will be paying out $16.25 million in order to settle e-rate fraud charges.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission say that contractors for HP “wined and dined” certain Dallas public school officials so that they would be able to obtain insider information that would assist them in winning competitive e-rate contracts from the school system. These contracts are a government program that work to fund Internet connections in public schools and libraries.

Now, HP’s contractors did more than just take workers from the Dallas Independent School District and the Houston Independent School District out to dinner or something like that. These contractors bought the school officials lavish gifts that included things like yacht trips and tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl. All of these gifts helped HP to secure the contracts that they wanted. These contracts included more than $17 million worth of HP equipment. The government was tipped off about HP’s dealings with the school districts. This prompted the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission’s investigation of the allegations.

As a result of HP’s dealings and of the Federal Communication Commission’s investigations, they will be paying out $16.25 million. The FCC says that most of the money will be returned to the e-rate program. They have also said that in the future they will make sure that HP follows all of the e-rate requirements so that this does not happen again.

"The FCC's compliance agreement with HP ensures that HP will train its employees thoroughly on the FCC's gift and other e-rate rules and provides for audits of HP's e-rate business," said the general counsel of the FCC, Austin Schlick. "If HP fails to monitor its e-rate activities closely and abide by e-rate program requirements, it will face substantial penalties."

HP said that they have now dismissed all of the contractors that broke the rules concerning the e-rate contract. “HP requires that all employees and partners adhere to lawful and ethical business practices," stated the company. "The activities at the center of this investigation occurred more than five years ago, the partner relationships have been terminated, and the employees involved are no longer with the company." They also added, “HP fully cooperated with the authorities, and the matter is now resolved.”

The chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, said, “Broadband is key to our children's 21st century education. That's why one of the FCC's top priorities is making sure e-rate works to benefit students and libraries. Today's settlement shows the extensive efforts of the FCC and DOJ to protect the e-rate program from waste, fraud, and abuse, and to deter misconduct in the future."

The FCC edited the e-rate program slightly in September so that there would be no misunderstandings or abuses concerning the rules about soliciting or receiving gifts within the program. They also added a few rules to make sure that the bidding process was completely fair for everyone that is involved.

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New Wireless Solar Keyboard from Logitech

Logitech is a Swiss peripheral device manufacturer that makes PC accessories including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers, and webcams. They also produce home and computer speakers, headphones, wireless audio devices, and audio devices for MP3 players and mobile phones. The newest innovation in their computer peripheral department is the Wireless Solar Keyboard K750.

This keyboard brings together all of the latest technology. It features integrated solar panels on the top of the keyboard that collect the power for the K750 so that you can use it without batteries or power cords inside or outside of the office. Logitech has made the incredible claim that when the keyboard is fully charged it can last for up to three months in a pitch black room.

The keyboard has a very sleek design. It is mostly black, except for the slim white frame, and is about one-third of an inch thick. The keys were designed in the chiclet style and have an extremely comfortable feel. The keyboard features an on/off switch that allows you to conserve power when you aren’t utilizing the K750. There also is an indicator light that lets you know when the charge of the keyboard is getting low.

Logitech includes their Unifying Receiver with the Wireless Solar Keyboard K750. It is a thumbnail USB device that gives you the ability to use your keyboard wirelessly. The receiver also features the special ability to sync up to six Logitech peripherals with the one USB device. Another great feature is the solar power app that will allow K750 users to install a lux meter that will measure ambient light levels and the battery life of the keyboard. This app will be available to download on November 15th.

The Wireless Solar Keyboard from Logitech is not shipping yet, but it is available for pre-order. The keyboard will be shipping a little later this month and will cost $79.99. I think that this keyboard is awesome. It’s incredible that when charged the keyboard can last up to three months. Also, wireless really means more convenient to me, which is important. I think that this solar keyboard will definitely be a hit. This is a great keyboard from a great company.

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