Microsoft unveils file-move changes in Windows 8

Aims to fix comical download/copy 'time to go' estimates

Microsoft has been throwing out crumbs on forthcoming features for Windows 8, but dodged serving up the main course.
Windows 8 will clean up the system for downloading files to your PC and changing file names, Microsoft has said on its newly launched Building Windows 8 blog.

The successor to Windows 7 will combine file download dialogue boxes into a single box, you'll be able to stop and pause downloads, and rather than trying to estimate how long a download has left to run, the new operating system will instead feature a graph that shows the data transfer speed, transfer rate trend, and how much data is left to transfer.

Discussing the file changes in a video on the Windows 8 blog here – a video that doesn't work in Firefox – Microsoft acknowledged Windows' downloads estimates are something of a joke.
When it comes to re-naming files, Windows users get a dialogue box with thumbnails of files where there is a naming clash – and a check box next to each thumbnail which you can tick to show which files you want to keep.
In keeping with recently established Windows engineering team tradition, Microsoft has justified the changes by quoting telemetry data gathered on Windows PC users' habits.
According to that data, copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files are "far and away the most heavily used features within Windows Explorer" and account for half of all commands.
Microsoft had justified many of the changes in its Internet Explorer 9 web browser based on telemetry data, too; the IE team being part of the Windows group.
The jury is still out on whether such telemetry-sifting is doing Microsoft any good. While IE9's market share is growing, it has failed to arrest IE's overall market slide, now approaching 42 per cent or exceeding 35 per cent, depending on whose numbers you follow.
That means IE is precisely at the point it was in 1998 when it finally nudged past Marc Andreessen's Netscape to become the most widely used browser for the fist time. From then on IE did nothing but march north, consolidating Microsoft's postition as the number-one browser maker – a title it still, just about, holds.
The telemetry data-based changes to Windows 8 that Microsoft has flagged have generated plenty of discussion on the Windows 8 blog, but Microsoft has refrained from talking about the big architectural stuff it has promised and which will have huge implications for how Windows will look and where it will work.
Microsoft is yet to explain how Windows 8 will achieve compatibility with older apps built for x86 not running on ARM; Windows 8 will be the first version of Windows running on ARM to hit tablets. It has also dodged talking about how apps will be built for the tiled interface and how apps will be built for downloaded from Microsoft's Windows Marketplace.
For that, you'll still have to wait for Microsoft's Build conference next month

Potential pitfalls in Apple CEO transition, say experts

Steve Jobs, Apple's new Chairman of the Board.

Apple's new CEO faces a challenge putting his own imprint on the company as long as Steve Jobs sticks around, a management expert said today.

Jobs, who resigned from the CEO spot yesterday, was immediately given the title Chairman of the company's board.

On Thursday, Apple named Tim Cook, formerly the chief operating officer, as the new CEO.

"It's going to be extremely difficult for the new CEO to go his own way and succeed in a context like this," said Peter Cappelli, a professor at the Wharton School and the director of its Center for Human Resources. "It's going to be difficult [for Cook] to do anything different with Jobs as chairman."

It's unclear what Jobs' role will be as chairman, but reports yesterday and today, including from long-time Apple observer Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, hinted that Jobs will continue to be involved in product development.

Most transitions of this kind -- when a CEO moves to the chairman role and a new CEO is appointed -- are fraught with trouble, but Apple is a special case, Cappelli said, because of Jobs' iconic stature in the industry and his perceived value as the firm's product development guiding hand.

"Every former CEO who becomes chairman says he will intervene only when it's something important, but then decides all kinds of things are important," Cappelli said.

If Jobs regularly overrules Cook, that puts the new CEO in a tough position, Cappelli continued. "Replacing someone like Jobs is a regression to the mean," he said. "There's no way to go but down."

Most, however, see Jobs' decision to remain with Apple, if only as its chairman, as a win for the company.

Today, for example, investors took Jobs' retirement in stride, with the news pushing Apple's stock down less than 1% by late afternoon during a day when the market overall was off 1.3%.

That was a minor blip compared to the nearly 11% drop Apple's stock experienced in October 2008 after a false report that Jobs had a suffered a heart attack made the rounds on the Internet.

And analysts yesterday were nearly unanimous that Apple is in great shape for the next two or three years -- or even longer -- simply because of the product road map that Jobs laid out before Wednesday.

Cappelli tacitly acknowledged the value of Jobs' remaining active with Apple. "The trick for them going forward is to persuade customers that they have enough of the Jobs' fairy dust even if he's not physically in the role of CEO," said Cappelli.

Michael Robinson, a senior vice president at Levick Strategic Communications, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm, pointed to other pitfalls in the transition to a new CEO.

Windows XP turns 10. But i believe the real XP was 2004's Service Pack 2

Guyz,I'm still of the opinion that Windows XP SP2 released 3yrs after announcement of Windows XP is the actual Windows XP. The question is: which is the XP users actually love? Of course, it's the SP2. Anyway,that's in my own opinion.But it will do us good to go down the memory lane:
Windows XP quietly turned 10 years old Wednesday, a milestone for the still-popular operating system that powers nearly half the world's PCs.

Microsoft did not celebrate the anniversary, eschewing any congratulatory blog post or press release.

On Aug. 24, 2001, Microsoft shifted Windows XP's status to RTM, for "release to manufacturing," a term it uses to mark the end of development and the move to duplication and release to computer makers. XP reached retail in October 2001.

One analyst questioned whether it was really the right anniversary to celebrate.

"The Windows XP that people loved wasn't [the original 2001] XP, it was XP SP2," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Kirkland, Wash.-based Directions on Microsoft, a research firm that covers only Microsoft.

Windows XP SP2, or "Service Pack 2," shipped three years later, in August 2004.

That edition, which Microsoft itself acknowledged was out of the ordinary for one of its service packs, added new functionality and dramatically boosted XP's security. Among the security-oriented changes were a revamped firewall that was switched on by default, a new Security Center that monitored bundled and third-party firewall and anti-virus defenses, and the introduction of DEP, or "data execution prevention," Microsoft's first anti-exploit technology.

"Windows XP is old," said Cherry. "Ten years in this business is a lifetime."

That's exactly what Microsoft has been saying of late.

Last month, Microsoft told customers it was "time to move on" from XP, noting that it had less than three years left in its support lifespan. Even earlier this year, executives on the Internet Explorer (IE) team called XP the "lowest common denominator" as they explained why the OS wouldn't run the new IE9, or any future browsers.

Cherry concurred, more or less.

"I've been telling [clients] to move to Windows 7," he said, adding that the newer operating system, which Microsoft launched in October 2009, was suitably stable to replace the long-running XP.

Windows XP turned 10 on Wednesday, making it official: It's an old OS.

Windows 7 is the safe bet, said Cherry, even though Windows 8 -- which analysts believe will debut between April and October 2013 -- is looming.

If Windows 8 is solid, then moving to it from Windows 7 -- rather than from the aged XP -- will be a relative breeze, since Microsoft has assured customers that any PC able to run 7 will also handle 8.

And if Windows 8 stumbles, then Windows 7 becomes the safety net that XP served for Windows Vista, the 2007 edition that most users rejected.

Cherry has expressed concern about Windows 8 before, and repeated those worries today.

"It looks like they're changing a lot in Windows 8," he said, pointing to the hints that Microsoft gave earlier this summer as well as the tidbits it's been disclosing on the "Building Windows 8" for the last week.

To Cherry, a large number of changes in Windows 8 increases the chance that something may go wrong, either during development -- in which case, the upgrade could be delayed -- or after it ships, repeating the debacle of Vista when many customers complained about device driver compatibility.

According to metrics firm Net Applications, Windows 7 has been accumulating usage share at the expense of XP and Vista. At the end of July, Windows 7 accounted for 29.7% of all operating systems, while XP had a 49.8% share, the first time it had dropped under the 50% bar.

Microsoft plans to support Windows XP -- specifically SP3 -- until April 2014.

Can NewSQL could combine the best of SQL and NoSQL?

A database pioneer argues the best of SQL and NoSQL could be combined in database systems
Users who eschew traditional relational databases in favor of the newly emerging NoSQL databases might be "throwing the baby out with the bath water," warned a database pioneer before a roomful of NoSQL advocates.
Instead, SQL (Structured Query Language) can be adopted to newer systems with a few technical adjustments, giving it the full flexibility of NoSQL systems, argued Michael Stonebraker, CTO of distributed database software company VoltDB.
Stonebraker, making his argument at the NoSQL Now conference being held this week in San Jose, California, called this approach NewSQL.
While Stonebraker's company itself offers NewSQL-based database software, his advocacy for this new architecture does carry more weight than the typical vendor pitch. Stonebraker was the chief architect for both the Ingres and Postgres databases, and has contributed to many others. He also co-founded column-oriented database company Vertica, which Hewlett-Packard purchased in February.
SQL-based relational database systems are indeed as moribund as NoSQL advocates charge, he argued. But this is the fault of the database vendors themselves, not SQL. Calling traditional relational systems "elephants," he noted "Elephants are not slow because they support SQL."
Most of the commercial relational database software packages have been on the market for 30 years or more, Stonebraker charged. They weren't designed for today's automated, data-heavy transactional environments. They've acquired decades worth of questionable new features, often referred to as bloat.
"Oracle doesn't scale," he said. "If you don't need performance it doesn't matter, but if you do need performance [traditional SQL-based systems] don't deliver."
The sluggishness of database systems usually can be attributed to a number of factors, Stonebraker said. Such systems maintain a buffer pool, maintain logs for recovery purposes, as well as manage latching and locking data fields so they aren't overwritten by another operation. In one test held by VoltDB, these behaviors consumed 96 percent of the system's resources.
Many see the emerging popularity of NoSQL databases, such as MongoDB and Cassandra, as an answer to the limitations of traditional database systems.
In another session held at the NoSQL Now conference, consultant Dan McCreary explained some of the shortcomings of regular relational databases that spurred developers to create NoSQL databases.
Relational databases aren't very flexible, he said. The basic architecture was designed during the era of punch cards, and reflects a rigid approach to data modeling. If an organization needs to add another column of data, they must alter the schema, which can be tricky. The modeling process to create relational tables, called entity relationship modeling, also does not always accurately reflect how data exists in the real world.
"There are a lot of things that don't fit into tables well," he said. "It is too restrictive."
Another problem with SQL databases is that they do not scale very well, beyond a single server, McCreary charged. If the data grows beyond the capabilities of a single server, it must be sharded, or split, across multiple servers, which is also a complicated process. Also, executing some operations across multiple servers, such as outer joins, in which data from multiple tables is fused, can be problematic.

Guyz what do think?

Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO

Apple’s legendary co-founder and top ideas man Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive Wednesday, the company said, in a long expected move after he began a dramatic fight with cancer.
In a written statement, Apple, the world’s second biggest company by market capitalization, announced that chief operating officer Tim Cook would take over as CEO but that Jobs would stay on as chairman of the board.
“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” board member Art Levinson said in a statement.
No reason was given for Job’s resignation, but his health problems, including a lengthy medical leave for a liver transplant in 2009 and his increasingly gaunt appearances at public events, fueled speculation he would have to give up the everyday running of the company he co-founded in 1976.
Cook ran Apple when Jobs went on medical leave and has essentially been running day-to-day operations since early this year with the company racking up record revenue and profit.
Jobs is seen as the heart and soul of Apple, with analysts and investors repeatedly expressing concern over how the Cupertino, California-based company would handle his departure.
“The board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” Levinson said.
“Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does,” Levinson continued.
Jobs submitted his resignation on Wednesday and urged the board to implement its succession plan and name Cook as his replacement, according to Apple.
Cook was previously responsible for Apple’s worldwide sales and operations, including management of the supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries.
Jobs is a living legend in Silicon Valley. He is the beloved visionary behind the Macintosh computer, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.
Born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco to a single mother and adopted by a couple in nearby Mountain View at barely a week old, he grew up among the orchards that would one day become the technology hub known as Silicon Valley.
Jobs was 21 and Steve Wozniak 26 when they founded Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs’s family home in 1976.
While Microsoft licensed its software to computer makers that cranked out machines priced for the masses, Apple kept its technology private and catered to people willing to pay for superior performance and design.
Under Jobs, the company introduced its first Apple computers and then the Macintosh, which became wildly popular in the 1980s.
Apple’s innovations include the “computer mouse” to make it easy for users to activate programs or open files.
Jobs was elevated to idol status by ranks of Macintosh computer devotees, many of whom saw themselves as a sort of rebel alliance opposing the powerful empire Microsoft built with its ubiquitous Windows operating systems.
Jobs left Apple in 1985 after an internal power struggle and started NeXT Computer company specializing in sophisticated workstations for businesses.
He co-founded Academy-Award-winning Pixar in 1986 from a former Lucasfilm computer graphics unit that he reportedly bought from movie industry titan George Lucas for $10 million.
Apple’s luster faded after Jobs left the company, but they reconciled in 1996 with Apple buying NeXT for 429 million dollars and Jobs ascending once again to the Apple throne.
Since then, Apple has gone from strength to strength as Jobs revamped the Macintosh line, revolutionizing modern culture with the introductions of the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes online shop for digital content.

Jesus Phone gives Sprint redemption 'this October'

Mobile soothsayers speak

Sprint Nextel will become the third US wireless carrier to offer Apple's iPhone, according to the ever-loquacious "people familiar with the matter".
According to a Tuesday report by The Wall Street Journal, sources say that the struggling carrier will begin to offer the iPhone 5 in mid-October.
If that timing is correct, and if Sprint will begin offering the iPhone at the same time as do AT&T and Verizon, that would push the appearance of the iPhone 5 back a couple of weeks from the oft-rumored late-September date.
However, as the WSJ astutely points out, it would also remove any iPhone sales bump from Sprint's third-quarter financial performance – that quarter warps up at the end of September.
Sprint could use the boost. At the beginning of trading on Tuesday, its stock sagged to $3.24 per share – a far cry from its $74.28 peak in October 1999, or even this June's $5.93 12-month high.
That 1999 peak, of course, came well before Sprint's unhappy marriage to Nextel, announced in 2004 and completed in 2005. That get-together was characterized by Bloomberg as the third least-successful merger of the 100 biggies it studied during the M&A-happy period of 2005 to 2008.

Sprint's Tuesday stock pricing – guess when the iPhone rumor broke? (source: Yahoo! Finance)

Investors were juiced by Tuesday's iPhone 5 rumor, however, and boosted Sprint Nextel stock as high as $3.65 when the news started to spread on Tuesday afternoon. Fourty-three cents may not sound like much, but think of it instead as 13.3 per cent, and it sounds more heartening.
Should the rumor be true, the voracious appetite of US consumers for the iPhone and the pent-up demand for the iPhone 5 would certainly be good news for beleaguered Sprint. During the first half of this year, Verizon sold 4.5 million iPhone and AT&T – which still offers the iPhone 3GS in addition to the iPhone 4 – sold 7.2 million.
Sprint sold 0 million – it has nowhere to go but up. As does its stock price, essentially.
Sprint being able to offer the iPhone 5 has one other interesting wrinkle. If Tuesday's rumor is true, only T-Mobile out of the four major US carriers would be iPhoneless. Lobbyists for T-Mobile and AT&T, however, are busily working their way through the thicket of regulatory approvals needed for their hoped-for merger – a merger that Spring most assuredly hopes will not be approved.
Perhaps allowing Sprint to offer the iPhone 5 would take some wind out the arguments against what some regulators might consider an AT&T-Verizon duopoly if the T-Mobile acquisition were to be approved.
Stranger back room deals have been arranged before. ®

HP, meanwhile, insists WebOS isn't dead so much as resting comfortably

HP, meanwhile, insists WebOS isn't dead so much as resting comfortably

Now that HP's brief foray in the tablet market has reached an anticlimactic conclusion, the vultures are circling the now-discontinued WebOS-powered TouchPad. Android fans are looking to breathe new life in the TouchPad with a port of Google's platform, while Microsoft is dangling a cache of goodies to lure WebOS developers to Windows Phone 7. Meanwhile, HP wants us to believe it can still wring value out of its mobile platform, just not on mobile devices.

A team of developers of RootzWiki have announced the launch of a project called Touchdroid, a port of Android that can run on the TouchPad. The group's plan is to first build the platform on Gingerbread. From there, project leader Thomas Somers says the team will continue to provide bug fixes for the Gingerbread smartphone build while beginning work on a full Honeycomb tablet port -- unless the dual smartphone-tablet Ice Cream Sandwich comes out in time to work with instead.

Ambitious though the undertaking may be, it's tough to view it as little more than a desperate and possibly misguided attempt to keep a DOA hardware platform on life support. Such a project would require plunking down licensing fees for Android, and what's the payoff? Not many TouchPads are out there as it is, and none are forthcoming, so the platform won't find its way onto any new machines. People who want an Android device would eschew purchasing Touchdroid because it will likely be incapable of providing the type of user experience you'd get from a true Android tablet.

Meanwhile, the poor souls who do own TouchPads, whether bought at retail price (you can still get some of your cash back) or at a bargain-bin price thanks to TouchPad fire sales, are at best going to have that poor man's Android device, which will see no apps and no useful updates.

Further, the TouchPad project could prove a juicy target for the major platform vendors out there that are laying claim to patents within Android. A cease-and-desist letter from, say, Oracle, could stop this sort of endeavor in its tracks.

Oracle wants copyright claims to remain in Google suit

Oracle opposed Google's request that a judge issue a summary judgment on the copyright issue
Oracle said that no court has ever found that APIs for software like Java are ineligible for copyright protection, in its objection to Google's request that the court make a summary judgment on Oracle's copyright allegations.
In early August, Google asked the judge in its ongoing dispute with Oracle to rule that Google doesn't infringe Oracle copyright in its implementation of Android. In an objection to that request, Oracle asked the judge to let the charge go to trial.
"No court has ever found that the APIs [application programming interfaces] for a complex software platform like Java are ineligible for copyright protection," Oracle wrote.
At issue is whether it matters that Google copies Java code, Oracle wrote. "Google does not dispute the copying. But the parties have a factual dispute over its significance," Oracle said.
Google has argued that some files it copied from Java are insignificant because they are test files. But Oracle says they are not, and further that even if they were, "test files are significant too."
Oracle also disputes Google's argument that it had to copy code because there wasn't other language it could use. "Google's copying of the names of 37 packages, 458 classes, 158 Interfaces, 2,427 methods, 893 fields, and other elements did not come about due to the existence of limited language," Oracle wrote.
Oracle also points out that Google's actions fragmented Java, "severely undercutting Java's 'write once, run anywhere' promise."
"Despite its claim that its copying was required for compatibility, the reality is Google took only the parts it wanted and created many other, incompatible APIs for Android. As a result, many programs written in Java for other platforms will not run on Android, and many programs written for Android will not run on Java platforms and devices," Oracle wrote.
"This case is not about Google creating a compatible platform. It is about Google picking and choosing some Java APIs, but not others, knowing it would create an incompatible platform," it wrote.
Also, Oracle noted that Google itself essentially asserts copyright on its own software. "Notably, Google requires its OEMs to maintain the full set of Android APIs -- including the 37 APIs it copied from Oracle -- to prevent fragmentation of the Android platform," it wrote. Android's license is similar to Java's, Oracle said.
Google now will have a chance to submit further statements supporting its request for summary judgment.
In a separate exhibit filed over the weekend, Oracle's chief corporate architect, Edward Screven, said that Google's actions have closed the door on any possibility of Oracle entering the mobile market.
When asked during a deposition if Oracle had a strategy for succeeding in the smartphone market or with a mobile platform, he said: "I think Android has basically foreclosed that. I don't believe that there is a strategy that we could adopt at this point, right, to displace Android given that they've sucked all the air out of the room for Java on smartphones."
"Java, you know, is, in my mind, pretty well locked out of the smartphone market because of Android," he said later in the deposition.
Late last week, the judge denied some additional requests from Google to file for summary judgment but allowed others. A jury trial in the case, initially filed late last year in the U.S. District Court for the District of California, is scheduled for Oct. 31.

PHP developers, please stay away from latest update 5.3.7

5.3.7 marred by serious crypto bug
Maintainers of the PHP scripting language are urging users to avoid an update released last week that introduces a serious bug affecting some cryptographic functions.
The flaw in version 5.3.7 involves the crypt() function used to cryptographically hash a text string. When using the command with the MD5 algorithm and some salt characters to help randomize the resulting hash value, the program returns only the salt, instead of the salted hash. The bug doesn't appear to affect the crypt() function when the DES or Blowfish algorithms are used.
“If crypt() is executed with MD5 salts, the return value consists of the salt only,” a bug report published on Wednesday stated. “DES and Blowfish salts work as expected.”
Despite the advisory, PHP maintainers released the update the following day. It fixed several security vulnerabilities, including a buffer overflow flaw on overlog salt in the crypt() function.
On Monday, the maintainers advised users to steer clear of the update.
“Due to unfortunate issues with 5.3.7 users should wait with upgrading until 5.3.8 will be released (expected in few days),” they wrote.
PHP gives webmasters the ability to render dynamically generated web pages that are customized to hundreds of thousands of variables, including where a visitor is located, the type of browser he's using, and when the pages are being accessed. The freely available open-source program is used by millions of websites, so a vulnerability in its source code has the ability to cause widespread security problems.
For those who can't wait until the next release, fixes are available in intermediate versions available here and here.

Guys,i guess it's better to stay - off for the now.

Why are researchers looking for an alternative to SSL encryption scheme?Does it mean it's not safe?

SSL requires that users rely on trusted third parties, but with some of those third parties compromised, researchers look for alternatives

SSL, the encryption scheme that protects virtually all secure online transaction, requires that users rely on trusted third parties, but what if they can't be trusted?

Well, it turns out they can't be, as demonstrated earlier this year by the breach linked to trusted third party Comodo, but researchers are fashioning new trust models for SSL that they say are much less susceptible to being compromised.

One proposal, called Perspectives, is being vetted by a team at Carnegie Mellon University, and a second, called Convergence, is also being run through its paces by Moxie Marlinspike, a fellow at the Institute for Disruptive Studies, a lab devoted to privacy, anonymity and computer security.

MORE SSL: Researchers' SSL offloader costs fraction of commercial hardware

Their schemes are similar and call for shifting the authentication of SSL-protected Web servers from browsers and certificate authorities to a new entity called a notary.

Traditionally, when a browser wants to set up an SSL session with a server, it asks for the server's SSL certificate. The browser verifies the authenticity of the certificate by checking whether it has been signed by a root certificate authority that the browser trusts. In practice, the browser may rely directly on other certificate authorities that are ultimately vouched for by the root authority.

This creates a chain of trust that branches off from a root authority to authorities it trusts to authorities they trust.

If any link in one of these chains of trust is compromised, attackers could acquire false certificates for sites. These invalid certificates could be used to trick browsers into trusting them, and that sets browser-to-server communications up for man-in-the-middle attacks.

That is the scenario in the Comodo breach, in which one of its trusted partners issued nine phony certificates.

With Perspectives and Convergence, rather than relying on certificate authorities and the root certificates that ship with browsers, trust is placed on a notary. Notaries are servers that routinely check and record what certificates Web servers present over time.

When a browser receives a certificate from a server, it doesn't seek confirmation that the certificate is linked to a root authority. Instead, it asks a notary whether it matches the certificate that the server has been regularly issuing over a period of time. If so, that is a good indication that it is a legitimate certificate for that site.

The upside is that this kind of trust model doesn't rely on a small static set of certificate authorities, says David Andersen, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon's computer science department, who heads up the Perspectives project. "You don't put all your eggs in one basket," he says. "We run all the Perspectives notaries, so you end up trusting us. We don't like that."

New IBM computer chip mimics the human brain : It can recognize your handwriting

• IBM unveils new computer chip prototype that mimics how the human brain behaves
• SyNAPSE project aims to let computers process and react to information without programming
• Technology may one day monitor storms, traffic and even the freshness of produce, IBM says

Making computers behave like humans has taken another step forward.

IBM on Thursday announced it has created a chip designed to imitate the human brain's ability to understand its surroundings, act on things that happen around it and make sense of complex data.

Instead of requiring the type of programming that computers have needed for the past half-century, the experimental chip will let a new generation of computers, called "cognitive computers," learn through their experiences and form their own theories about what those experiences mean.

The chips revealed Thursday are a step in a project called SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics). The two chip prototypes are a step toward letting computers "reason" instead of reacting solely based on data that has been pre-programmed, IBM says.

"Imagine traffic lights that can integrate sights, sounds and smells and flag unsafe intersections before disaster happens," said Dharmendra Modha, the project leader for IBM Research. "Or imagine cognitive co-processors that turn servers, laptops, tablets and phones into machines that can interact better with their environments."

The chips' processing power is not unlike that of IBM's Watson supercomputer that beat two human champions on "Jeopardy!" this year.

Other scenarios the researchers envision: A computing system that could monitor the world's water supply -- measuring things like temperature, pressure, wave height and acoustics -- then give a warning when it thinks a tsunami is likely.

Or imagine a sensor that a grocery store owner could use to read sights, smells and temperatures and give an alert that produce may have gone bad.

"The computers we have today are more like calculators," Modha told tech blog VentureBeat. "We want to make something like the brain. It is a sharp departure from the past."

One of the prototype cores contains what amounts to 262,144 programmable synapses, and the other contains 65,536 learning synapses.

Using the chips, IBM researchers have built a "brain wall" at a San Jose, California, lab. The long-term goal? A one-square-centimeter chip with the equivalent of 1 million neurons and 10 billion synapses.

Modha and other researchers say that using current programming techniques, any computer that approached what they're trying with the SyNAPSE project would have to be larger and would suck up more energy.

For the next phase of SyNAPSE, IBM has assembled teams from Columbia University, Cornell University, the University of California, Merced and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Phase 2 of the project has been rewarded $21 million in funding from DARPA, the U.S. military's research branch.

Nokia to bring Windows Phone 7 smartphones to China Mobile

China Mobile and its more than 600 million mobile phone users could help Nokia fend off competition from Android devices and Apple's iPhone
Nokia plans on launching Windows Phone 7 handsets through China's largest mobile phone carrier as the handset maker tries to fend off competition from Android devices and Apple's iPhone.
The smartphones would operate on China Mobile's 3G network using the TD-SCDMA standard, said Nokia executive vice president Colin Giles during a speech in Beijing on Friday. China Mobile has more than 600 million users or about two-third of the country's total mobile phone subscriber base.
Giles, however, did not give a specific launch date, and only said the phones would be introduced some time in the future.
Nokia reigns as the top selling handset manufacturer in China. But the company has struggled to maintained that position as sales for Android devices and Apple's iPhone grow, according to analysts.
Nokia's financial report for the second quarter indicated this downward trend as its mobile device shipments for China sank to 11.3 million, a 53 percent decline from the previous quarter. In the report, Nokia said competition and pricing tactics from rivals drove down shipments for the company's smartphones. Distributors and carriers also purchased fewer devices due to already higher inventory levels for Nokia products.
Globally, Nokia saw smartphone sales fall 32 percent in this past quarter. But the company hopes to reverse those fortunes once it begins launching smartphones running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has said he's confident the devices will first ship later this year and then in higher numbers in 2012.
Nokia's move to launch smartphones through China Mobile will allow the company to tap a vast user base, said C.K. Lu, an analyst with research firm Gartner. But the devices may not appeal to most customers given their estimated high price.
"Nokia's strategy is to use Windows Phone to position its smartphones as higher-end devices," Lu said. "But if you want the mass market, you have to drive down the price."
He noted Android handsets have already reached the low-end market and cost 1,000 yuan ($157) to buy an Android device. A user would then need to buy the SIM card separately along with a service package. In comparison, Nokia's Windows Phone 7 devices will probably cost at around $300, according to Lu.
"I think this Windows Phone 7 will help them, but I don't think it will have a big effect," he added.
For the first quarter of 2011, Nokia had a 22 percent share of China's smartphone market, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. Samsung had a 18.1 percent share, while Motorola grabbed a 12.9 percent share.

Sprint cancels WiMax version of BlackBerry PlayBook

The operator said it reached a mutual decision with RIM not to offer a WiMax version of the PlayBook tablet

Sprint has decided not to offer a WiMax version of the BlackBerry PlayBook, the company said Friday.
"We apologize for any inconvenience but, the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook Tablet that was announced in January for summer availability will no longer be coming to the Sprint network," Sprint said in a statement.
The operator currently offers a Wi-Fi-only version of the tablet. A customer could connect that device to a Wi-Fi hotspot that uses WiMax on the back end, such as the Mifi, and connect to Sprint's WiMax network that way.
Sprint said it was a mutual decision between the operator and Sprint not to offer the WiMax PlayBook.
RIM said it will focus on LTE, the 4G technology more widely adopted, instead of WiMax. "RIM has decided to prioritize and focus its 4G development resources on LTE," it said in a statement.
"Testing of BlackBerry 4G PlayBook models is already underway, and we plan to enter labs for network certifications in the U.S. and other international markets this fall," it said.
RIM said in February that it would make PlayBooks that run on LTE and HSPA+, technology used by both T-Mobile and AT&T. RIM said it planned to launch the tablets in the second half of this year. It did not mention its HSPA+ plans on Friday.
The PlayBook has some unique features but has struggled to overcome some weaknesses, namely that it doesn't include key native apps including e-mail. Users must connect their BlackBerry phone to the tablet to use email. It faces stiff competition from the likes of the iPad and Android tablets, both of which had head starts on the PlayBook.

Google+ rolls out Games page, Angry Birds

Google's new social network, Google+, took a big step forward Thursday by adding games to its site.
Google+, which is less than two months old, said Thursday afternoon that it's beginning to roll out a games button at the top of users' streams. The highly popular Angry Birds is one of the first games to be added to the site, along with Zombie Lane and Edgeworld.
Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering at Google, announced the gaming news in a blog post. Gundotra noted that users will be able to click on a Games button that will be placed above their streams. The button takes them to a games page, allowing games to be available when users want them and hidden when they don't.
"The experiences we have together are just as important to our relationships," wrote Gundotra. "We want to make playing games online just as fun, and just as meaningful, as playing in real life. That means giving you control over when you see games, how you play them and with whom you share your experiences."
Google Plus
Continuing coverage: Google+
And that's going to be an important feature for Google+, which has grown quickly since its launch, according to Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research.
"Games are a real complement to social networking," said Gottheil. "When people play games with other people, it is often more about being with other people than about the game itself. It actually fits the Circles model well. If you're a serious gamer, you want to talk about the game with other players, but that bores the rest of us silly."
And Gottheil also noted that adding games to the site, while not surprising, is a smart move. If people are able to access great games and engage with Circles of gamers, it easily could draw more users to the fledgling network.
"I think Facebook has to be nervous about Google+ taking away some of its time-on-site more than taking away users," he added.
In today's blog post, Gundotra noted that users will find their high scores, other games that friends have played recently and invitations to play with friends and family. And he also noted that Circles will only be updated with a user's scores and game play if they are interested in gaming, as well.
"Today we're starting to gradually roll out games in Google+," wrote Gundotra. "We look forward to making them fully available to everyone in Google+ soon. When you see a Games page in your account, please give games a try and send us feedback. Look for the "send feedback" button in the bottom right-hand corner of any page in Google+."

Personal Computer (PC) clocks 30yrs today

On 12 August 1981, the world changed

IBM announced its new machine, the 5150, on 12 August 1981. It was no ordinary launch: the 5150 wasn't the 'big iron' typical of Big Blue - it was a personal computer.

Here's the original 1981 announcement (PDF).

IBM's Personal Computer: the 5150
Source: IBM

IBM came late to the party. Through the 1960s and 1970s, it had focused on corporate computing: expensive mainframe and, later, mini computers. But by the end of the 1970s, it had seen the likes of Tandy's TRS-80, Commodore's Pet and Apple's Apple II win support from smaller businesses, individuals and even in some of the big companies IBM traditionally targetted.

IBM bosses realised there was clear demand for a single-user system, and while their emphasis on big machines would continue, it was clear that the personal computer was an opportunity open for exploitation.

The 5150 - the machine that would eventually be called, simply, the IBM PC, was developed by what was at that time a little known part of the company, the Entry Systems Division, based in Boca Raton, Florida.

IBM advertises its latest personal computer

A 12-strong team was assembled under Don Estridge, the Development Director of the project, codenamed 'Chess'. Lewis Eggebrecht was brought on board as Chief Designer.

Rather than create the 5150 from scratch, Estridge's engineers used existing parts from a variety of other companies, seemingly in marked contrast with IBM tradition. The company made a virtue out of the fact that it made the components used in its machines. When you bought an IBM computer, it had IBM's imprimatur of quality through and through.

Google Chromebooks molt, grow fresh browser

Two month olds get new lease on life
Google has released a new version of Chrome OS – the browser-based operating system that first arrived less than two months ago – offering VPN hooks, 802.1x secure Wi-Fi , and what the company claims is a 32 per cent faster resume time.
The new stable release is based on Chrome 13, so it also includes "Instant Pages" – a service that attempts to accelerate your Google searches by rendering pages before you actually click on them.
Chrome OS officially arrived on June 15 atop two Google Chromebooks: one built by Acer, the other by Samsung. The OS is essentially a modified Linux kernel that runs a single local application: Google's Chrome browser. It moves (most all of) your applications and data to the interwebs.
Google pitches Chrome OS as an operating system that's eternally improving. The Chrome browser is on what used to be considered a rapid six-to-eight-week release cycle, and Chrome OS will updated just as rapidly, with updates automatically pushed down to devices. "One of the things that excites us about Chromebooks is that unlike other computers, the user experience automatically gets better over time," Google says in a blog post announcing the latest release.
The flip side is that compared to traditional desktop operating system, Chrome OS is rather limited. And it does even less if you lose your internet connection.
Though Google claims a 32 per cent faster time with the new release, the resume time on our Samsung notebook was already so fast, we didn't really notice an improvement. Chromebooks use solid state flash drive rather than old school hard disks, and they not only resume quickly but boots quickly. Ours boots in about ten seconds.
The OS now supports VPNs using L2TP over IPsec with pre-shared keys. It lets you mount Android devices via USB. And Google's Clound Print tool now lets you grab documents and save them as PDFs on Google Docs, the company's online word processor and file storage service. Google has also rolled out various big and crash fixes.
Separately, several Google partners have apparently released web-based applications to coincide with the new OS release. Google's Chrome Web Store now offers a Netflix app; Amazon's Kindle Cloud reader, which lets you read Kindle ebooks even when offline; and a "tech preview" of the Citrix Receiver, which lets you run traditional desktop applications on Chromebooks. When you complain that Chromebooks don't run good old fashioned Windows apps, Google inevitably points to Citrix Receiver.

IBM says PC going way of vacuum tube and typewriter

One of the engineers of IBM's original PC says the technology is being eclipsed by smartphones and tablets
Thirty years ago, IBM created the first personal computer running Microsoft's MS-DOS. Today, IBM and Microsoft seem to have very different views on the future of the PC.
IBM CTO Mark Dean of the company's Middle East and Africa division, one of a dozen IBM engineers who designed that first machine unveiled Aug. 12, 1981, says PCs are "going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT, and incandescent light bulbs."
IBM, of course, sold its PC division to Lenovo in 2005. Dean, in a blog post, writes that "I, personally, have moved beyond the PC as well. My primary computer now is a tablet. When I helped design the PC, I didn't think I'd live long enough to witness its decline. But, while PCs will continue to be much-used devices, they're no longer at the leading edge of computing."
Dean's remarks continue a debate over whether we are now in a so-called "post-PC" era, in which smartphones and tablets are replacing desktops and laptops. Not surprisingly, Microsoft -- seller of 400 million Windows 7 licenses -- isn't a fan of that term.
"I prefer to think of it as the PC-plus era," Microsoft corporate communications VP Frank Shaw writes in a blog post of his own.
In Microsoft's vision, it's the PC plus Bing, Windows Live, Windows phones, Office 365, Xbox, Skype, and more.
A VISUAL HISTORY: Windows after 25 years
"Our software lights up Windows PCs, Windows Phones, and Xbox-connected entertainment systems, and a whole raft of other devices with embedded processors from gasoline pumps to ATMs to the latest soda vending machines, to name just a few," Shaw writes. "In some cases we build our own hardware (Xbox, Kinect), while in most other cases we work with hardware partners on PCs, phones and other devices to ensure a great end-to-end experience that optimizes the combination of hardware and software."
Shaw notes that the Apple II, Commodore PET, and other devices preceded the first IBM 5150 PC running MS-DOS but says it was the IBM and Microsoft partnership that "was a defining moment for our industry" and fulfilled "the dream of a PC on every desk and in every home."
The first IBM PC even predates the Macintosh and Windows, which launched in 1984 and 1985, respectively. Shaw says he still owns his first computer, the IBM Personal Portable booting MS-DOS version 5.1.

WSJ: FTC's Google investigation focused on Android, search

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which began an antitrust investigation into Google a month and a half ago, is looking specifically at Google's relationship with Android handset makers and at whether Google favors its own services in search results, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Google said in late June that the FTC had initiated a review of its business, but it said it didn't know exactly what concerns the FTC had.
Citing people familiar with the investigation, the Wall Street Journal said Wednesday that the FTC is looking into the deals that Google makes with smartphone makers that use its Android phone software.
That sounds related to allegations made by Skyhook Wireless, which has sued Google, alleging that handset makers must use Google's location services if they want to include the Android Market on their phones.
The FTC is also investigating whether Google is taking information like local business reviews that is collected by competitive sites for use on its own sites, the Journal reported. The agency also wants to know if Google is giving its own sites, such as Places pages and Google Finance, higher placement in search results than competitive sites.
Google did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the report.
Google is also facing a separate antitrust investigation launched last year by the European Commission. That investigation is focused on a similar issue -- whether Google abused its dominant position in search to promote its own services.

Top 10 African Women in ICT:Only 1 Nigerian made the list.Not good enough!!

In honour of woman’s day in South Africa, ITNewsAfrica is profiling 10 leading women who have made a significant contribution to Africa’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector and occupy high profile positions in this fast paced, and sometimes cut throat industry.

Here’s our list of top 10 African women in ICT.

1. Nombulelo Moholi

Nombulelo was appointed Telkom SA CEO in March 2011 after a lengthy evaluation process. She became the first black woman to head up a JSE listed telecommunications company in South Africa. Moholi is a qualified engineer with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University of Cape Town. Moholi has completed executive management programmes at Stanford and Harvard University.
Nombulelo has over 23 years experience in the telecoms industry. She joined Telkom as GM of payphones in 1994 and spent 11 years at the helm. She then moved to Nedbank for 3-year tenure as a chief strategy and corporate affairs officer. She subsequently returned to Telkom SA as MD for the business unit.

2. Thoko Mokgosi-Mwantembe

Thoko is the CEO of Kutana Investments Group. She has vast experience in South Africa’s telecommunication industry, (including Managing Executive: Consumer Sales and Marketing at Telkom.. Mokgosi- Mwantembe has held several senior positions including divisional MD for Siemens, CEO of Alcatel SA and CEO of HP South Africa.
She currently sits on the Vodacom board of directors. Thoko holds an MSc in Medicinal Chemistry from Loughborough University and a BSc from the University of Swaziland. Thoko is a recipient of several awards including the 2007 BWA Businesswoman of the Year Award in the corporate category, ICT Achiever of the Year Award, Top ICT Businesswoman in Africa Award and ICT Personality of the Year.

3. Felleng Sekha

Felleng is a non- executive director of Business Connexion, a South African black owned ICT company. She was also the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board deputy chairperson and has chaired the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and the National Telecommunications Forum. Ms. Sekha holds a BA in Law from the Universities of Lesotho (NUL) and LLB from Universities of Cape Town, and a post graduate diploma in Media Communications and Information Technology law from the University of Melbourne.
Sekha has worked for the Centre for the Development of Information and Telecommunications Policy, Telkom SA as corporate accounts manager, MTN SA as GM for business development and and led the team that successfully set up MTN in Nigeria from 2001 to 2005. She currently owns an NGO, Platinum Ring, whose aim is to create entrepreneurial and career opportunities for young South Africans.

4. Zandile Mbele

Zandile was appointed as Executive: Public Sector for Internet Solutions in 2010 and as Executive Director of Transformation for the Group in 2008. She plays a significant role as the group’s Executive Sponsor for some key Public Sector Accounts for Dimension Data, IS and Plessey.

Zandile serves as the Director of Plessey Pty (Ltd) and Chairperson of Plessey South Africa, and represents the Group on the board of National Association of Business (NAB). Zandile has more than twenty years experience in the Media, Regulatory and ICT sectors and has served as an Executive for Regulatory Affairs at Sentech, a state owned signal- distribution company; she represented Sentech in the High Frequency Co-ordination Committee (HFCC) a sector member of the ITU.

She also served on the first Parliamentary appointed Board of the Universal Service Agency, an organisation tasked with bridging the digital divide in South Africa.

Prior to joining Sentech Zandile held the following positions; General Manager: Group Corporate Marketing at Metropolitan Holdings and Managing Director at Hive Communications.Mbele has an MBA from Durham Business School, an MA in Journalism from City University in the UK and an Executive Management Diploma from UCT Business School.

5. Dr. Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane

Dr. Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane has 25 years experience in the broadcasting, film and telecommunications sectors in the US and in South Africa. Currently she is a member of the Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development. In 2007 she won the South Africa Most Influential Business Women in Business and Government Award in the ICT category.
Mokone Matabane is the former CEO of Sentech and Co- Chair of Independent Broadcast Authority (IBA). Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts and an MS from the University of Syracuse, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Texas.

Mokone – Matabane was a South African delegate to International Telecommunications Union Plenipotentiary, USA. She has served in various media related positions including the Texas Education Committe to review & develop new curriculum for radio, TV and related fields.

6. Doreen Ramphaleng-Motlaleng

Doreen Ramphaleng-Motlaleng is the MD of Infomatix, a software technology company based in Gaborone, Botswana.
Doreen was conferred with the ‘Top ICT Businesswoman, 2009’ award, by the African ICT Achievers Awards Board. This great achievement is a lucid inspiration to other women intending to journey into the world of business.

The Top ICT Business Woman award is conferred by the African ICT Achievers Awards Board in honour of a woman in the ICT sector for her significant contribution to her organization and society at all levels. It recognises any deserving woman for achievement and excellence in the field of ICT in the private sector.

She is currently President of Citizen Owned Businesses in Information Technology (COBIT) in Botswana.

7. Betty Mwangi-Thuo

Betty Mwangi-Thuo joined Safaricom in December 2007 and is charged with managing the New Products Division comprising the globally acclaimed M-PESA business and Safaricom’s Value Added Service roadmap for product innovation and GSMA projects. In June 2010 she was featured by MCI (Mobile Communications International) as one of the top women in mobile.

Mwangi has over 10 years experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to joining Safaricom she was Chief Marketing Officer at Afsat Communications Ltd, responsible for developing and managing the distributor network for the iWay business in 26 African countries. She also worked with GlaxoSmithKline for a number of years in various senior management positions.

Mwangi is a Kenyan citizen and has a B. Eng (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Victoria University of Manchester and also has an MBA from the University of Leicester – both in the UK. She is also a Chartered Marketer and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Kenya Institute of Management.

8. Isis Nyong’o

Isis Nyong’o is InMobi’s Vice President and Managing Director for Africa. Isis is currently managing InMobi’s African business strategy and facilitating the expansion of the company’s continental base.
Isis previously led Google’s business development initiatives in Africa, where she specialised in mobile partnerships and was responsible for the development of Google’s Africa content strategy. Nyong’o has led the development of mobile strategies in Africa for brands such as MTV and Google.

9. Funke Opeke

Funke Opeke leads Main One Cable Company in Nigeria. She is an experienced telecommunications executive who founded Main Street Technologies. Opeke returned to Nigeria in 2005 as the Chief Technical Officer of MTN Nigeria Communications (MTN) after a twenty-year career in the United States.
Prior to her return, she was the Executive Director of Verizon Communications Wholesale Division. Subsequent to MTN, Ms. Opeke advised Transcorp on the acquisition of NITEL and briefly served as the interim Chief Operating Officer, post acquisition of NITEL. She obtained a first degree in Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, New York.

10. Angela Gahagan

Angela Gahagan is the MTN Business managing executive and a twice-nominated candidate for the Business Woman of the Year award.

Gahagan started her career in 1977 in the financial consulting field, after obtaining her OND Business Studies and Institute of Bankers’ qualifications at the Poole College of Education in Britain, Angela remained in the financial industry sector until 1993 when she moved into the position of Special Project Manager at Amalgamated Appliances (Pty) Ltd.
In 1994, Angela became the financial manager at Knight Piésold (Pty) Ltd and moved onto a managing director position for MediTrac (Pty) Ltd in 1999. In 2002, Angela was appointed to the position of Operations/Client Services Director for Medscheme.

It was in 2004 that Angela began her career at Verizon Business SA (then UUNET SA (Pty) Ltd in the capacity of Customer Services Executive and soon after promoted to Country Manager for the Verizon Business’s operations in Southern Africa, which included South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Kenya and Zambia.

In March 2009 Verizon Business SA was acquired by MTN and Angela was appointed in the Executive role to head up the merged ISP businesses owned by MTN where she has already led a successful M&A transition and continues to drive a business that is showing strong growth.

While there are not less than 5 South Africans,we can only find 1 Nigeria on this list.Does it mean our women are not trying?

Policy coming on software testing, standards

While the IT community awaits the national software blueprint, it may not business as usual again for local and foreign software makers as the Director of National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) has said that the policy, when fully implemented would set standards for software acquisition and importation in the Nigerian market which has so far remained the exclusive preserve of foreign vendors.
The National Information Technology Development Agency is the clearing house for IT projects in the public sector. The NITDA DG who spoke last week in Lagos at the 3rd phase of ICT4D workshop said that the policy is expected to protect local developers in the country whose products lack local patronage because of preference for foreign one.
With the commitment of regulatory agency in building local software, Professor Angaye disclosed that NITDA, under the current financial year was trying to set up centres where Nigerian local software can be tested to international standards, adding that NITDA had completed a NIS analysis for IT parks and software centers.
He said that this is expected to boast the economy by producing practitioners, adding that youths can have the opportunity of doing web analysis for job creation.
“We had early in the year set up a committee to come up with a software policy. The committee will make available a draft policy. The policy will eventually set the pace for software acquisition and importation. We need to protect the local market, that is our resolve,” Angaye said, adding that it was time local developers retool for global competitiveness.
 Local software must be tested to global standards
The NITDA boss said that it is when software developed in the country have been tested for quality, using global standards that they can get local patronage.
“It is going to be world class software testing centre where the quality of any software developed in the country will be evaluated. Majority of local software applications have not been tested. That is the only way that they get local patronage”.
There is need to set up appropriate mechanism for quality assurance and global standard for testing and certification of software developed in Nigeria.
The fundamental nature of the testing is to help indigenous software developers attain products that will meet international standards, thereby becoming globally competitive.
There is need to regulate the development of software and hardware for effective services. There has been a lot of scam messages from Nigeria, stressing the need to monitor the networks so as to identify the Internet Protocols (IP) where such messages were coming from. The government is providing a enabling environment for local software makers.
The government is ready to support local software makers but these products need to be authenticated by appropriate authority. That is the apparent truth,” Angaye said.
Meanwhile, Chairman, National Software Policy Committee, (NSPC) Prof. Wole Akinyokun hard earlier told participants at the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria roundtable that Nigeria must work hard to develop its indigenous talents for the challenges ahead, adding that Nigeria cannot afford to miss out in this critical assignment of software engineering for job creation.
“What is the future of Nigeria without indigenous software? Software is the centre of gravity of human existence. We must leverage on the opportunities available in the local software application for job creation,” he said. “ It is a resource that must be tapped to building our economy and provide jobs for our ever growing unemployment rate,” he said.

Nigeria needs 25 million PCs to attain MDGs, says Zinox boss

If Nigeria intends to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 especially in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry, the nation needs to deploy a minimum of 25 million Personal Computers (PCs) in the next three year, Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Technologies Limited, disclosed at the weekend.
Ekeh, who made this revelation at a celebration of 10 years of ICT revolution organised by the ICT Publishers Alliance in Lagos, said that 3.7 million of these PCs should be deployed for each of the 6 geo-political zones. According to him, 2.5 million PCs should be deployed in Abuja, further adding that it would encourage even development; hasten the realization of the MDGs by 2015 thus placing the nation firmly on the road to actualising vision 20:2020.
“These PCs would be targeted at youths who leave secondary school with 6 ‘Alphas’ , and all graduating students from the polytechnics, Colleges of Education and Universities. The machines are to be funded by the federal government under an arrangement that requires all corporate persons to pay 1 percent ICT tax for a period of 5 years.  “On the alternative savings from the sovereign wealth fund could be ploughed into the provision of these PCs in the next three years”, he added. According to him, these 25 million PCs are produced and delivered by the indigenous Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
Ekeh stated that this would address the problem of capacity building as Nigerians acquire more technical competencies. He said that prices would be forced down appreciably enabling the local OEMs to compete with their foreign counterparts, adding that Nigerian banks are not lending money to local OEMs and vendors because of unpredictable patronage.
“Boost the local industry with 25 million PCs and you can be sure that banks would line up with all kinds of finance packages. Besides, the deployment of large numbers of PCs would boost participation in the development of software applications, the internet and social media and we can start talking of the ICT revolution in real terms”.
This huge investment, according to Ekeh, will power domesticated technology and place in the hands of Nigerian youths the equipment to launch an era of ‘unlimited possibilities’. “These young men and women would form the nucleus of a new generation of job providers while kick starting a new knowledge economy.
Those of them who go into paid employment would be IT savvy enough to introduce a new era of efficient service delivery in public and private sectors.  The Zinox boss criticized government’s inability to provide employment for graduates averaging 600, 000 per year because they still concentrate on deploying outdated solution in a digital century.
“This generation closely interconnected by satellite television, social media and the internet would give rise to a new ICT based work culture, increasing productivity and self sufficiency; reducing corruption and the kinship that leads to ethnicity; and enabling a self interpretation of faith that would undermine religious extremism”, Ekeh posited.
Industry analysts say Nigeria’s low PC penetration hold significant prospects for local OEMs as growth in PCs penetration will be sustained by increasing awareness levels in the population, especially the youth, spurred by education, the internet and deliberate initiatives from industry stakeholders.

Apple opens iCloud to developers

People enrolled in Apple’s Developer Program can now transfer their MobileMe accounts to iCloud using Apple’s new portal

People enrolled in Apple's Developer Program can now transfer their MobileMe accounts to its hyped, yet-to-be-released iCloud service.
Developers itching to try out Apple's new cloud service can point their browsers to me.com/move to start the transition, which was first reported by 9to5Mac. Apple will port over a user's Mail Contacts and Calendar information. Apple says that dashboard widget sync, dock item sync, keychains, signatures, mail account rules, mail smart boxes, and mail preferences will no longer be available after moving to iCloud.
The silver lining: users can continue to use their MobileMe Gallery, iDisk, and iWeb publishing until June 30, 2012 –- even if they transition to iCloud.
The general MobileMe-subscribing public cannot use the website to transfer their service just yet. Leslie Horn of PC Magazine reports that non-developers are greeted with a message that says "this account is not eligible" when trying to use me.com/move.
When iCloud is publicly released in the fall users will get 5GB of free storage for documents, backups contacts and calendars. An additional 10GB will cost $20 per year, $40 for 20GB, and $100 for 50GB.
The service will keep a user's data in sync between Apple devices and PCs that he or she owns. It will certainly be popular among Apple fanboys and users who have multiple iOS devices. Those of you who don't fit that bill might want to check out Harry McCracken's cost comparison between iCloud and its competition.

R.I.P. Old Twitter; New Twitter takes over

After nearly a year, old version is gone
That's it. The old Twitter design officially is gone and the New Twitter look and feel is all that's left.
Twitter unfurled a newly redesigned interface last fall, but the company allowed people to use the old interface until today.
The microblogging site announced in a tweet this afternoon that after nearly a year the old interface is history.
"New Twitter rollout: complete! All users now have the same Twitter.com experience & can access our latest features," the company said.
The newer version of the site, which is known on Twitter as #NewTwitter, has an expanded sidebar on the right with new features like maps of geo-location tagged tweets and embedded pictures and videos. The redesign also enabled users to click on tweets to drill down into them for more information.
Early last week, the company alerted users that if they were still using the old version of Twitter, time was running out. "If you're currently using Old Twitter, we want to let you know that you'll be upgraded to New Twitter this week," the company tweeted.

Will Mobile Payment phase out ATM?

When the automated teller machine (ATM) was adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)  and implementation carried out on the GSM networks, Nigerians were  relieved owing to stress of queues in banking halls.
Mobile money was also introduced with the aim of reaching the unbanked especially in the areas where ATM cannot be deployed.CBN  granted approval in principle to 16 operators in 2010 to roll out mobile money networks across the country. Through the networks, customers will be able to use their mobile devices to send and receive monetary value from agents across the country.
The companies that were granted licences are Pagatech, Ecobank Plc, Fortis Micro Finance Bank, United Bank for Africa Plc/Afripay, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc/MTN and First Bank of Nigeria Plc.?Others are Stanbic IBTC Plc , Paycom, M-Kudi, Chams, Eartholeum, e-Tranzact, Parkway, Monitise, FET and Corporeti.?They were expected to have put in place technological infrastructure and wide agent networks to actualize the mobile money system in the country. Although, the four-month pilot periodn April 30,  and the companies are now expecting their permanent license from the CBN in a couple of weeks.
Experts have agreed that there is every possibility that mobile money business may phase out ATM in the nearest future. According to the Chief Executive Officer, Pagatech, Mr. Tayo Oviosu, the CBN has lots of new policies and regulations that is driving towards more  of a cash less society  and getting more unbanked people.
“I think mobile money is the right force in achieving this and statistics show that close to 80 per cent of Nigerians do not have access to formal financial services, which include savings account, insurance or easy and safe way to transfer money to their loved ones. All these things point to why we got interested in mobile money because there is high mobile phone penetration”.
Telecoms operators have lots of money to make from mobile money because people will send SMS ,make calls and use their data services. It is clear to them that they have to upgrade their network. They should ensure that their customer service works the way it should. We have designed that network in such a way that despite the poor network, our network would still work perfectly.
The Principal Associate, Mobile Money Africa, Mr. Emmanuel Okoegwale however pointed out that there is no way that ATM could displace by mobile money business.
“Mobile money cannot displace ATM instead it will help with the penetration and adoption.ATM provides cash out points for mobile money and as we speak mobile money  providers are  integrating to interswitch quickteller.Mobile money and ATM are complimentary and I don’t see conflicts in short term or future”, he said.
Okoegwale, also explained further that with an average roll out budget for technology, marketing and agency network of close to $3m in the first year, there was the need for concerted efforts from the regulator, government and international development agencies to provide the much needed support for the mobile payment service providers. This, he said, was necessary bearing in mind that the ultimate purpose of mobile financial services was to reach the under-banked and underserved communities that were currently not served by formal financial services. “The relevance of the mobile money system in a country of over 150 million people with a little over 22 million bank accounts, Okoegwale, said, “Mobile money will make sense in communities where formal financial services are lacking.”
On the issue of security, Paga Co-Founder, Head Sales and Distribution, Jay Alabraba hinted that security as you know is not black or white , saying, “ It is about creating ways to curb fraudsters from gaining access to other peoples account. One of such avenues is by transacting a business with a  PIN number, which is known to only the individual. Every transaction done by individuals if the rules are not flouted is safe. There is every possibility of that but an individual must know one or two things about himself before transactions could be completed.
“Security is paramount to us and our technology team has skills in building security for systems. Security will continue to evolve because as new ideas come up on the hackers side, we would have taken two steps ahead. Now, the Java applications with our agents and only one person can log on to that account now. No personal information would be saved on mobile phones and gate keepers would always be on ground to monitor transactions in case of fraud. There is intelligence in the security system that we have.
“There is every possibility of that but an individual must know one or two things about himself before transactions could be completed. Security is paramount to us and our technology team has skills in building security for systems. Security will continue to evolve because as new ideas come up on the hackers side, we would have taken two steps ahead. Now, the Java applications with our agents and only one person can log on to that account now. No personal information would be saved on mobile phones and gate keepers would always be on ground to monitor transactions in case of fraud. There is intelligence in the security system that we have”.

I absolutely agree with Mr Oviosu.

Twitter to open-source streaming data analyzer

Expanding the field of complex event process software with another offering, Twitter will release as open source its software for analyzing live large-scale data streams, called Storm.
Twitter acquired the software when it purchased BackType in July. BackType offered a service that analyzed the impact of an organization's Twitter feed, summarizing how often Twitter messages were repeated by others.
Although the software has been compared to Hadoop, Storm is best suited for analyzing live data streams, such as millions of Twitter feeds.
This approach could provide a speedier and more practical alternative to the traditional approach of real time analysis, which can involve storing the data first in a database, data store, or data warehouse. Its use is not limited to Twitter, however. Storm could be used to study other forms of unstructured, frequently updated data. "The beauty of Storm is that it's able to solve such a wide variety of use cases with just a simple set of primitives," said Nathan Marz, in a blog posting announcing the pending release.
The user creates a query, or search term, that will continue to run against an ever-updating stream of data until the query is terminated. Because Storm can be distributed across multiple servers, it is capable of analyzing large amounts of data.
This sort of analysis is sometimes called CEP (complex event processing). Oracle, StreamBase, SAP, and other companies also offer CEP software. Unlike most of these products, however, Storm does not have a built-in storage layer, relying instead of external data stores, Marz pointed out.
Twitter will launch the software next month at the Strange Loop conference in St. Louis.

Microsoft warns users to always check that the regularly-belittled prompt (in Windows) is really on

Microsoft this week urged users to keep an oft-criticized Windows security feature turned on, even as it said that more malware is disabling the tool.

User Account Control (UAC) is the feature that debuted in Vista and revised in Windows 7 that prompts users to approve certain actions, including software installation.

UAC was "universally hated" in Vista, and was a major complaint about the unsuccessful operating system, a Gartner security analyst said more than two years ago.

"From a usability standpoint, no one was happy. And from a security standpoint, no one was happy either, because we knew that people get 'click fatigue,'" said John Pescatore of Gartner in the months before Windows 7's launch.

Microsoft took the complaints to heart, and downplayed UAC in Windows 7 after its data showed users got irritated when they faced more than two such prompts in a session at the computer.

This week, Microsoft's Malware Protection Center (MMPC) said that malware was increasingly turning off UAC as a way to disguise its presence on infected PCs.

To disable UAC, attack code must either exploit a bug that allows the hacker to gain administrative rights -- Microsoft calls those flaws "privilege elevation" vulnerabilities -- or trick the user into clicking "OK" on a UAC prompt.

Apparently, neither are difficult.

Some of the most-common threats now in circulation -- including the Sality virus family, Alureon rootkits, the Bancos banking Trojan and fake antivirus software -- have variants able to switch off UAC, said Joe Faulhaber of the MMPC team in a post to the group's blog.

One worm, dubbed "Rorpian" by Microsoft, is especially enamored with the anti-UAC tactic: In more than 90% of the cases involving Rorpian on a single day, MMPC observed the worm disabling UAC by exploiting a four-year-old Windows vulnerability.

Nearly one-in-four PCs that reported malware detections to Microsoft had UAC switched off, either because of malware antics, or because the user turned it off.

UAC has not been problem-free on the technical side, either. Months before Windows 7's debut, a pair of researchers revealed a bug in the feature that hackers could use to piggyback on preapproved Microsoft code to trick Windows 7 into granting malware full access rights.

Although Microsoft initially dismissed their reports, it later changed UAC.

Faulhaber provided a link to instructions for switching UAC on or off on Vista. They can also be used on Windows 7, but the final step is to pull the slider to "Never Notify" to turn off UAC.

Some malware, including major threats like the Alureon rootkit, secretly turn off Windows' UAC prompts.