Author: Eva Glass

Eva Glass first rose to prominence in The INQUIRER. She continues to work behind the scenes to dig out the best stories.

Notebook shipments creep up

Posted on October 17, 2014 by - News

notebooksSales of notebooks in the third quarter of this year are only up by 2.6 percent compared to the same quarter last year, despite bullish talk by vendors like Microsoft and Intel.

Digitimes Research said shipments for the calendar third quarter amounted to 45.198 million units, with HP being the top dog worldwide.

HP had a market share of 21 percent, Lenovo 20.9 percent, Dell 12.5 percent, Acer 9.7 percent, Apple 8.5 percent, Asustek 8.3 percent and Toshiba 6.2 percent, the Taiwanese research unit estimated.

These of course are the brand names, but many of the notebooks are made by original design manufacturers (ODMs) based in Taiwan.  These ODMs accounted for a significant 36,958 notebooks in the quarter.

The ODM battle is fought between Compal (34.5%), Wistron (15.7%), Inventec (6.7%) and Pegatron (5.7%).

Digitimes Research also breaks out the shipments in terms of screen sizes with 8.2 percent being sub 12 inch models, 13 percent 12 inch notebooks, 13 percent 13 inch units, 22.7 percent 14 inch units, 47.2 percent 15 inch notebooks and 6.1 percent 16 inches and above.

The market research unit does not, however, appear to have provided figures for touch and non touch screen machines.

There’s hope for better batteries

Posted on October 17, 2014 by - News

David Prendergast, Berkeley LabScientists at Berkeley Lab think there’s light at the end of the tunnel as people quest to develop better alternatives to lithium ion batteries.

The problem with Li-ion batteries is that they sometimes burst into flames but we need rechargeable batteries with better energy density and cost reductions.

After running a series of simulations on supercomputers, David Prendergast and Liwen Wan (pictured) think a battery based on a multivalent ion, like magnesium (Mg), may well be the answer.

They think that an Mg-ion battery can provide twice the electrical current of Li-ions with the same density.  There have been problems with Mg-ion batteries but the scientists think that the problems aren’t insuperable.

“The catch for multivalent ions is that their increased charge draws more attention to them – they become surrounded in the battery’s electrolyte by other oppositely charged ions and solvent molecules – which can slow down their motion and create energetic penalties to exiting the electrolye for the electrodes. However, we found the problem may be less dire than is widely believed,” said Prendergast.

He said the simulations show that performance bottlenecks in Mg-ion batteries are related to what happens at the interface between the electrolyte and electrodes.

Essentially, Mg-ion based batteries are not as tricky as manufacturers might think as a result of the Berkeley Lab findings.

New mirror invented

Posted on October 16, 2014 by - News

mirrorzScientists claim to have invented a mirror that uses nanoscale technology to create new effects.

According to the Optical Society’s journal Optica, the boffins demonstrated a mirror that abandons a shiny surface but reflects infrared light by using a magnetic property of a non metallic “metamaterial”.

The scientis place nanoscale antennae at the surface of the magnetic mirrors and that allows the capture of electromagnetic radiation that will open up new types of chemical sensors, solar cells, lasers and other devices.

Michael Sinclair, a scientist at Sandia National Labs said: “Our breakthrough comes from using a specially engineered, non metallic surface studded with nanoscale resonators.”

The scientists are developing metamaterials whic are substances engineered with certain properties.

The magnetic mirror uses a two dimensonal array of dioelectric resonators using tellurium.  That means the design is more reflective at infrared wavelengths.

Google wants us to lick its lollipop

Posted on October 16, 2014 by - News, Products

lollipopGoogle has released a major update of Android, dubbed “Lollipop”.

According to Google, this is its thirteenth and most ambitious release of Android.

It has over 5,000 new application program interfaces (APIs) and to work on all devices.

Lollipop, it says, has a consistent design across different devices.  It also has features that lets you filter notifications so that if you’re doing something and you don’t want to be disturbed, you’ll see only the people you decide to let through.

It also includes a new battery saver feature which it claims will extend the life of a gadget by up to 90 minutes.  Android 5.0 Lollipop  also now includes multiple user accounts, guest user mode, and PIN passwords.

Use Facebook to talk to your heating

Posted on October 16, 2014 by - News

washingmachineA report suggests that pretty soon now we’ll be friending our washing machines, heating, lights and cars and telling them what we’ve had for breakfast. If we didn’t already know.

Scientists from the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil suggest that interfaces of social networking sites are likely to change to allow us to interact with things connected to the internet.

The internet of things, say the authors, could hook up with weather feeds so that your heating turns on when snow is expected.

And as things get ever more connected, you might even find that your gadgets defriend you because you’re not really needed at all.

The scientists at Bahia say that we will soon find ourselves waking up to what they dub a “social web of things”.  Think, for example, that in the future you can send a text message to your house to fiddle about with the heating. You will not be necessary in the future, and, says the team: “The archicture could be extended to remove the intermediate, us, from the equation and so give us domestic bliss with minimal intervention.”

Fitness spurs sensor market

Posted on October 16, 2014 by - News

fitnessWith a flood of gadgets aimed at people who like to be fit as well as machines used by medicos, shipment of the sensors used in the devices is set to increase sevenfold from 2013 to 2019.

The types of sensors used in these devices can be broken down into motion sensors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensor for health, environment and user interfaces, according to IHS.

But out of these categories, motion sensors will be the dominant technology and under this umbrella are accelerometers, gyroscopes, proximity sensors and MEMS displays.

The top dog in the sensor market is ST Microelectronics – it sells sensors as bundles along with microprocessors and wirless chips.

IHS said that the worldwide market for sensors in wearables will reach 466 million units in 2019, up from 67 million in 2013.

Semi spending set to soar

Posted on October 16, 2014 by - News

Samsung rules the roostSemiconductor capital spending will be worth $64.5 billion this year, up 11.4 percent from 2013.  And capital equipment spending will increase 17.1 percent in 2014.

So says market research firm Gartner in a report that indicates that the increases are driven by strong memory average selling prices (ASPs) as well as higher consumer demand for gizmos and gadgets.

The report said that there’s undersupply on  DRAM and that will continue next year, but then we’ll see one of the characteristics of semiconductor swings and roundabouts.  Companies build extra capacity in times of drought only to find they’ve built too much.  Gartner said we’ll see oversupply in 2016.

Samsung, and SK Hynix are both ready to ramp up DRAM manufacturing in order to meet the pent up demand.

Memory capital spending will increase by 4.5 percent this year, but in the long time demand will be flat, said Gartner.

Hard drives may become CPUs

Posted on October 15, 2014 by - News

tornadoUniversity of Sheffield scientists believe that hard drives used for storage on computers could act as CPUs as well.

Dr Tom Hayward, from the university’s Faculty of Engineering, said: “Magnetic materials are useful for data storage because they can retain information without consuming energy.  A computer built around a CPU made of magnetic materials should be much more power efficient than existing technologies, as it should be able to function with minimal energy consumption.”

How can it be done?

The team said it is possible to create logic gates from magnetic materials.  “In wires of magnetic material, magnetism can form into swirling ‘tornadoes’, known as magnetic vortex domain walls,” said Dr Hayward.

The team used vortices where the magnetism turns clockwise to represent 0 and anticlockwise vortices to represent 1.

While the work so far has focused on simulations, the team is now ready to build experimental prototypes of logic gates and see whether they can be made smaller and run faster.

Android faces smartwatch challenge

Posted on October 15, 2014 by - News

fobwatchNo one is entirely sure how succcessful smartwaches can be and the jury is still out on the matter.

But market research company ABI Research believes that after Apple releases its smartwatch in 2015, Android will face a real challenge.

ABI predicts that Android’s market share for smartwatches will drop below 50 percent, while iOS is likely to take 50 percent of the market.

The market for such devices is still quite small – Thomas McCourtie, an analyst at ABI said that by the end of this year there will be six million Android wearable devices shipped and that will rise to 15 million in 2015.

applepieHe said: “Judging by the previous sales performance of newly released Apple products, we anticipate a high number of sales of the Apple watch upon its initial release. The high number of loyal and affluent multiple Apple device owners alone will drive significant number of sales.”

This pie chart shows what he believes will be the market share in the wearable market next year.

TSMC will make iPad processors

Posted on October 15, 2014 by - News

blue-appleGiant semiconductor manufacturer TSMC will churn out the microprocessors for Apple’s next iPad.

That’s the word on the Taiwanese street. Digitimes reports that TSMC is already making Apple A8 CPUs for iPhone 6 smartphones.

Apple is expected to announce the next generation of its iPad in the New Year – amidst consistent reports that sales of tablets are flagging.

The CPUs will be built on a 20 nanometre process and, the report added, is codenamed the A8X.

Shrinking the die to 20 nanometres accounted for 10 percent of its revenues in Q3 2014.

TSMC turned over $6.87 billion in its third financial quarter of this year.

“Odd couple” HP and EMC refuse to merge

Posted on October 15, 2014 by - News

Tony_Randall_Jack_Klugman_Odd_Couple_1972The maker of expensive printer ink,  HP has ended merger talks with EMC after months of useless negotiations.

Reuters reported that its deep throats in HP said hopes to merge two of the tech industry’s largest enterprise-oriented firms had been dashed.

Pressure is building on EMC to do some spinning off  in an attempt to unlock shareholder value, become more agile, and capitalise on faster-growing businesses.

Executives from the two companies were still trying to hammer out a deal as recently as last week, but talks bogged down on price.  We guess EMC really could not believe that printer ink had the same value as gold.

HP suspended its stock buyback program ahead of its November 25 earnings because the company said it is in possession of material non-public information. Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak noted on a conference call that the non-public information pertains to a possible acquisition.

It is not clear what the two were thinking of merging.  A straight-up merger of the two companies would have created one of the industry’s largest providers of data storage, and created a computing giant with deep penetration in the business of providing computing hardware and services to corporations.  However last week HP announced its plan to split off  into HP Enterprises, a tech infrastructure, software and services business, and HP which will play in the PC and printer markets.

Elliot Management, which owns 2.2 percent of EMC, has been vocal about wanting EMC to merge or spin off some of its assets, such as software subsidiary VMWare. EMC has said that it wants its company to stay together.

 

Tablets pushed out by smartphones

Posted on October 15, 2014 by - News

cheetahAs smartphone screen sizes get bigger, tablet market share is shrinking.

That’s according to Gartner, which said that tablet sale growth is falling and in 2014 will represent less than 10 percent of all gizmos in 2014.

Hardware buyers are hanging onto their tablets and while sales will amount to 229 million units this year – up 11 percent from 2013, the overall trend is down.  For example, in 2013 tablet sales grew by 55 percent.

Gartner beliees that shipments of PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones will hit 2.4 billion units this year.  Ranjit Atwal, a research director at Gartner, said the relationship between PCs, ultramobiles and mobile phones is getting ever more complex.

He thinks some people won’t replace a tablet with a tablet but are taking an interest in hybrid or two in one devices.

Gizmos using the Android operating system will hit one billon this year, he said.

Windows for mobile devices in mature markets is growing, but growth is snail like, rather than cheetah like, according to Gartner.

Tesla car is a big computer

Posted on October 15, 2014 by - News

Tesla Model SThe people at market research company IHS are known for taking apart PCs, iPhones and iPads to find out what the bill of materials (BOM) is.

Now IHS has gone that little bit further and taken a Tesla Model S apart.  We guess a Tesla Model S would make a reasonable meal for Monsieur Mangetout but it doesn’t appear he was called in to have a snack.

IHS suggests that the Model S is more of a computer than a car.  Andrew Rassweiler, director for materials at IHS, said: “It’s like looking at the components from the latest mobile device from an Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy. When it comes to the user facing segment of the Model S’s electronics, the company has radically departed from business as usual in the automotive market.”

He said the cost structure of the electronics, the use of large displays, mobile microchips suggess the Model S is more like a smartphone than a traditional car.

Components include a 17-inch display, an Nvidia Tegra 3 1.4GHz quad core microprocessor and a OM twice the cost of the highest end “infotainment” unit.

Rassweiller said that the display is 10 inches larger than most car head units, with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,200.

IHS said it hasn’t finished taking the car apart yet, so perhaps Monsieur Mangtout – who once ate a plane – has a treat in store.

Battery will warn you before it explodes

Posted on October 14, 2014 by - News

Picture, Stanford UniversityScientists at Stanford University claim to have developed a so-called “smart” lithium ion battery that warns people before it overheats and bursts into an inferno.

The scientists claim that the early warning system uses a very thin copper sensor deposited on top of a conventional battery separator.

The use of such a device is clear, following a recent accident where a person’s smartphone burst into flames while she was using it.

Yi Cui, associate professor of materials science at Stanford, said: “Our goal is to create an early warning system that saves lives and property.  The system can detect problems that occur during the normal operation of a battery, but it does not apply to batteries damaged in a collion or other incident.”

Last year Boeing grounded its 787 Dreamliner fleet after batteries caught fire.  Then there was the famous incident in 2006 when a Dell notebook caught fire in Japan.

But while the odds of batteries catching fire are one in a million, said Cui, hundreds of millions of computers and smartphones are sold every year.

The smart separator will alert people when it’s time to change their batteries, just in case.

Google plays Amazon red herring

Posted on October 14, 2014 by - Moving People, News

red herringAs Google continues to be investigated by the European Union, chairman Eric Schmidt has decided to deflect criticism by saying that Amazon is its biggest search rival.

In a speech in Berlin, Schmidt – who has repeatedly denied that Google is a monopolistic player – he also took time to diss rivals Bing and Yahoo, saying they don’t matter at all.

According to the BBC, Schmidt said that people didn’t see Amazon as a search engine but most people go there when they want to buy something, rather than Google.

How Schmidt thinks this kind of argument will have any weight with the European Union is hard to fathom.

He said: “Amazon is answering users’ questions and searches, just as we are.”

Google isn’t the be and end of it all, added Schmidt. In a note of paranoia he suggested that somewhere will be new technology that will topple it from its premier position.