Archive for the 'Technology News' Category
Photosynth Stitches Photos Into a 3-D Web Canvas
Microsoft’s name has never been synonymous with photography, visual imaging or innovative online applications. But its release Wednesday of Photosynth — a hybrid software/service that allows users to create 3-D environments by stitching multiple photographs together — suggests the company has more than a few cards up its sleeve.
In announcing the new technology, Microsoft said it has created “an entirely new visual medium.” In a video posted on Microsoft’s site, Gary Flake, a technical fellow at Microsoft, said, “Photosynth, more than any other technology that I can think of, points us in the direction of what’s to come. Photosynth will mark the beginning of an vital transition in photography and the Web.”
To create “synths,” as Microsoft calls Photosynth’s creations, users take amoung 20 and 300 overlapping photos. The Photosynth software analyzes the collection for similarities and uses that goods to estimate where a photo was taken and “recreates the environment … as a canvas on which to display the photos,” according to a release.
From Research to Product
But rather than just enabling users to create these environments on their PCs — Macs are not yet supported — Microsoft has fashioned Photosynth as an online application. Users create synths and upload source images via the Photosynth.com Web site. The site generates cipher to embed the results on Web sites — much like YouTube — but users will have to install an ActiveX control to see synths.
Microsoft expects the technology to boost MSN, where it plans to build synths an integral part of the network. MSN will feature synths of popular destinations and notable events, the company said.
Brady Forrest, a former Microsoft Live Search executive and chairman of several O’Reilly Media conferences, wrote on the O’Reilly Radar blog that the release of Photosynth “as a product is very significant for Microsoft.” Redmond…
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Intel, Yahoo Launch Widget Channel for TV Devices
“Honey, let’s see what’s on the Widget Channel.” That dialog is what Intel and Yahoo are hoping for with their announcement Wednesday of an application framework for TVs and other consumer devices called The Widget Channel.
The companies said the framework is optimized for consumer equipment with Intel architecture. The channel is designed to allow users to access and use rich Net applications, even while watching TV programs.
Yahoo’s Widget Engine
Yahoo’s Widget Engine will capability the channel. It describes the engine as a fifth-generation platform for the delivery of small Net applications that can offer substance and community features via a remote control. On the hardware side, Intel said the software framework is intended to work on a new generation of consumer devices based on its system-on-a-chip media processors. These devices can include optical media players, set-top boxes, digital TVs, and others.
Using widgets, users can selectively watch videos, follow stocks or sports teams, communicate with friends, or pull down the latest news. The widgets are based on Net services such as Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Blockbuster, and eBay and can be personalized.
The channel plus could open up TVs and other consumer electronics devices to third-party developers using JavaScript, XML, HTML and Adobe Flash. Intel and Yahoo said they will form a development kit available and offer a Widget Gallery where outside developers can publish.
Yahoo will feed the channel with its branded mini-applications. Major companies are developing widgets as well, including CBS Interactive, CinemaNow, Comcast, Disney-ABC Television Group, eBay, GE, Samsung, Showtime, Toshiba, Twitter and others.
‘Cinematic Internet’
Eric Kim, Intel senior vice president and general manager of its digital home group, said the alliance will help TV to “fundamentally change how we talk about, imagine and experience the Web.” He added that The Widget Channel will allow TV to move beyond being a…
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Digital goods Storage for the expanded Run
Long-term storage and recovery of digital info is something that everyone — from governments and businesses to home computer users — is struggling with today. Even as more and more data goes digital, there is currently no sure-fire way to ensure that such details will be accessible in the future. According to a Science Daily report, University of California-Santa Cruz (UCSC) scientists are working on a solution.
Pergamum, named after an ancient Greek library, uses hard drives to supply energy- efficient, cost-effective, long-term digital goods storage. The distributed network of intelligent, disk-based storage devices was developed by UCSC graduate students Mark Storer and Kevin Greenan and researcher Kaladhar Voruganti of NetApp.
“There is a risk that an entire generation’s cultural history could be lost whether society aren’t able to retrieve that info,” Storer told Science Daily. “Everyone is switching to digital cameras, but we’ve never demonstrated that digital info can be reliably preserved for a enlarged date.”
The researchers said they designed the system to supply dependable, energy-efficient goods storage using off-the-shelf components. The key, however, is that it additionally has the ability to evolve by moment as storage technologies change.
According to Storer, Pergamum uses individual building blocks consisting of a hard drive, a small, low-power processor similar to the kind used in an iPod, a flash memory card, and an Ethernet port. These units, called “tomes,” are connected using relatively inexpensive Ethernet switches. Each tome is like a minicomputer, but with very low ability demands, according to Science Daily. When not in use, it can shut down nearly completely.
Even when active, the devices use less than 13 watts of potential, which can be delivered by the network using ability by Ethernet technology. As a conclusion, each unit is essentially a self-contained box with a network connection. The flash memory provides low-power, persistent…
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Prevent a Tech catastrophe by Preparing for the Worst
When an explosion last June knocked out 9,000 servers at The Planet, a Texas details center, 7,500 customers were affected. Though that level of disruption is rare, it provides a sobering reminder of how reliant businesses are on high tech, and whether that technology suddenly fails how fast it can sink a business.
Prevention and catastrophe planning are key, say experts, to surviving a crash and keeping costs down by the towering haul.
Businesses “can lose so much money when their servers go down,” says Gordon Ruby of Portland-based River City Technical Services. Web sites that can’t be accessed can often immediately lose sales or advertising revenue, or billing or scheduling input. And productivity suffers. “You don’t want employees twiddling their thumbs,” says Ruby.
Smaller businesses likely don’t have IT experts on staff and a mid-size company might have a part-timer, but what whether the circuitry goes haywire while they’re on vacation?
Whether it’s Web sites or hard drives holding vital business info, David Lechnyr of Oregon Tech Support in Eugene says businesses must prepare for a total technology meltdown — and many don’t. When Lechnyr gets a shout from frantic businesses, he often hears the same words: “Wow, I never realized how dependent we are.”
It’s what Geoff Birkemeier of Birkemeier Consulting in Tigard calls the Catch-22 of office technology management: whether everything is working fine, many wonder why they are paying somebody to maintain it.
“People don’t realize they need it, until they need it,” he says.
Lechnyr says businesses can be out of operation for up to five days while the problem is fixed, and spend up to $10,000 in fees. It can cost thousands for emergency data-recovery services, too.
whether you want to avoid technology holding your business hostage, start planning in advance:
1. Be choosey before hiring an IT consultant. Check references and build…
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Data Center Nuts and Bolts: Servers, Networks
Routers, switches, servers … the nuts and bolts of every notes center — regardless of architecture complexity — it all begins here. [Here are some] infrastructure solutions from several of the key players.
High-Availability Server
The Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST 580 server offers mission-critical capability for hosting Microsoft Windows Server (Enterprise Edition and input Center Edition), Red Hat Advanced Server or Novell SUSE Enterprise Linux 64-bit operations, and incorporates numerous redundant and hot-plug components for system availability.
Its System Mirror mode offers no separate point of failure in the crossbars and memory, providing fault immunity for hosted application services. All main components are hot-swappable, and component replacement can be performed without an application halt. Additional priority features of the PRIMEQUEST 580 include up to 64 processors (on 32 Intel Itanium 2 dual-core sockets), 17.3 Gbps bidirectional, per-system board crossbar performance and 136.5 Gbps sustained, low-latency system bandwidth. The server has a maximum memory of 2 TB, supports up to 16 partitions and offers flexible I/ O for balanced system configuration and optimized application performance. Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif.
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Comprehensive Branch Solution
The Citrix Branch Repeater is a comprehensive branch solution that can optimize application delivery from the Citrix Delivery Center and beyond, while simultaneously providing key native Windows branch infrastructure services. Paired with Citrix WANScaler appliances in the documents center, the repeater can optimize the staging of application notes and speed dynamic input by the WAN.
By staging (pre-positioning) applications streamed from Citrix XenApp in the branch, the branch repeater speeds application installation and maintenance. The device can additionally cache Web subject matter with optional Microsoft Net safety measure and Acceleration Server to reduce page load times for branch users. WAN optimization technology integrated into the repeater minimizes latency and maximizes capacity. It plus automates all WAN acceleration mechanisms based on real-time application traffic and…
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WAN Optimization Can Speed Up Performance
Take steps to optimize application performance and catastrophe recovery in a virtual server environment.
In a virtualized environment, IT managers should pay attention to the impact WAN performance has on application performance. When virtual servers are placed in centralized locations, limited bandwidth, high latency and packet loss on the WAN can impact application performance for end users. At the same instance, the WAN can present a major obstacle for notes protection and catastrophe recovery in these environments, when large virtual images must be replicated within geographically disperse locations. For all of these reasons, WAN optimization has become a key enabler for strategic virtualization projects.
There are many reasons why enterprises turn to virtualization as a way of consolidating application servers and databases. While hardware and management costs are typically the most recognized, performance, scalability and safety measure benefits can additionally be primary drivers.
Virtual machines suffer all the same performance challenges as physical servers when accessed across a WAN. More specifically, the following WAN characteristics can all adversely impact the performance of centrally hosted virtual applications:
Limited bandwidth. Depending on the volume of notes being accessed and transferred across the WAN, bandwidth can be a major concern in a virtualized environment. WAN speeds typically operate at a fraction of LAN speeds, which formulates a natural bottleneck that can adversely impact the performance of many virtual applications.
High latency. instance is essential to physically communicate from one location to another, which can be exacerbated by “chatty” communication protocols, such as the transport control protocol (TCP). The impact latency will have on performance will depend on the type of application being hosted centrally.
Packet loss. As enterprises move increasingly to multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) and Net protocol virtual private networks (IP VPNs), packet loss is becoming a bigger problem. These networks are oversubscribed by the carriers, which can…
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For eBay, Amazon-ification Takes Hold
The Amazon effect is getting deeper at eBay. The e-commerce giant that built its business around online auctions is stepping up an overhaul aimed at getting more users to sell items at fixed costs. On Aug. 20, eBay will announce plans to slash the upfront fees it charges to list sale items by as much as 75 percent, while increasing its final sales commission.
The goal is to manufacture it easier to list items for a set, “buy-it-now” price on eBay. That, in turn, would increase the stock of items for sale and — eBay hopes — attract more buyers seeking the Web’s limitless selection and the convenience of one-click shopping. “We think that that is the biggest, most fundamental change we have made,” says Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay’s global marketplaces business.
Lower Up-Front Fees
What the change will additionally do is produce eBay look a lot more like Amazon, whose emphasis on fixed-price sales has surged in popularity as the more auction-oriented business on eBay declined. Amazon doesn’t charge sellers a cent to list items, and instead charges a commission on sales. eBay, on the other hand, has traditionally made as much as 60 percent of its shopping revenue from upfront fees — levied regardless of whether an item sells. The structure encouraged more sellers to list items for auctions, which at least guarantee a sale, than for fixed prices.
But eBay was slow to revamp its fees even as online shoppers shunned auctions in favor of fixed-price arrangements. “From 2000 to the end of 2007, eBay kind of fought the trends — they tried to keep auctions the focus of the company,” says Scot Wingo, CEO of e-commerce software company ChannelAdvisor, which advises thousands of eBay sellers. “And buyers voted with their wallets.”
Under the new fee structure, eBay will charge just…
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