IBM made an announcement this week regarding a breakthrough that could lead us
closer to optical computing. The milestone was reached in practical on-chip
optical data transmissions by using a device called a Mach-Zehnder
electro-optic modulator (MZEOM).
The device, which is up to 1,000 times smaller than previous similar products,
managed to send 100 times more data between processor cores using a tenth of
the power than in a similar transfer over traditional copper wires. The MZEOM
device uses a
combination of laser and electrical inputs to carry data over a fiber optic
system, so by using light to transmit data as opposed to electricity much more
can be transmitted at a fraction of the energy cost and heat generation. IBM's
breakthrough results in the capacity to have thousand's of emitters on a single
processor die which may be the first step between silicon and optical
computers.
Toshiba
announced its entry into the solid state disk (SSD) storage market this week
with a 128 gigabyte (Gb) capacity module. The company said it will begin
sampling SSD drives as early as February next year with production on modules
beginning in March and the drives hitting the market in May. Speculation over
price drops on solid state drives followed the announcement as they still
remain high today at over US$500 for 32Gb units. Toshiba also stated that it
would be using NAND flash technology that will "support fast read-write speeds,
parallel data transfers and wear leveling, and achieve performance levels
comparable to those of single-level NAND flash SSDs".
The major factor for the majority of consumers at the moment is the high price,
which makes solid state drives still inaccessible to the mainstream market.
Internet
The fourth-largest search engine company launched a service this week that will
give its users more privacy. The AskEraser service from Ask.com will enable
users to make their searches more private by being able to erase them. Leading
search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft typically keep a record of
search terms typed by users; the information can be relayed to a computer's
internet address and possibly be used for targeted advertising.
With AskEraser turned, on these records will be instantly deleted by Ask.com.
The Oakland-based search company hopes the service will differentiate it from
more prominent search engines such as Google. "It works like a light switch,"
said Doug Leeds, senior vice president for product management at Ask.com. The
service can be turned on or off with a simple click and would be a selling
point with users who were particularly alert about protecting their privacy.
Analysts
have begun working on profitability figures for search giant Google following
reports that it plans to launch an online storage service. Industry research
company iSuppli estimates that over 4 million users could be using the Gdrive
service initially. This would enable Google to offer 50Gb of space to every
user and still turn a profit. The company would need to purchase 210,000
1-terabyte (Tb) hard disks to support this initial number of users and at a
cost of $0.25 per GB the figures represent a gross expense of about $52.5
million.
An average revenue of around $50 per user could be achieved in return turning
into an annual revenue potential of $210 million for Google. Profits could be
significantly higher depending on how Google structures its fees for storage
over 50Gb, stated Krishna Chander, senior analyst for storage systems at
iSuppli.
Software
Detailed changes to its flagship operating system, Windows Vista, were posted
by Microsoft this week as it scheduled to release public beta of Service Pack 1
(SP1). The 17-page document details notable changes in Vista SP1 Release
Candidate 1 (RC1). The beta version is opened to the public for testing and bug
reporting before the final release is rolled out early next year.
Many additions, improvements and enhancements were touted by Microsoft for
Vista including better hardware support, improved reliability and security.
Performance and power consumption improvements were also included as SP1
promises Vista will copy local files 25% faster and read large images faster.
The patch also includes all security updates from the launch of the operating
system at the start of this year through November as well as a number of other
changes.
Another
update for Microsoft this week is Service Pack 1 for Office 2007. The early
release of the update comes around a year after the software suite was made
available to businesses. With Vista SP1 taking the limelight this new update
adds largely stability and performance improvements only. Microsoft said the
download is available now and customers can also order a CD online with the
update. The company said it will make the service pack available through
automatic update at a later date.
Gaming
The blogs were buzzing this week with talk of the online video trailer for
gaming company Rockstar's latest iteration of the popular Grand Theft Auto
series this week. The two-minute trailer entitled Move up, ladies shows
cut scenes from the up-and-coming release of the game Grand Theft Auto IV,
which is due to hit the shelves in the first half of next year on PC, Xbox 360
and PS3.
Martin J
Youngis an Asia Times Online
correspondent based in Thailand.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
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Toshiba
announced its entry into the solid state disk (SSD) storage market this week
with a 128 gigabyte (Gb) capacity module. The company said it will begin
sampling SSD drives as early as February next year with production on modules
beginning in March and the drives hitting the market in May. Speculation over
price drops on solid state drives followed the announcement as they still
remain high today at over US$500 for 32Gb units. Toshiba also stated that it
would be using NAND flash technology that will "support fast read-write speeds,
parallel data transfers and wear leveling, and achieve performance levels
comparable to those of single-level NAND flash SSDs".
