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.

Citrix intros tablet access app

Posted on September 4, 2014 by - News

shareconnectAn app that lets you connect Android tablets and Apple iPads to business applications and networks is being introduced by Citrix.

ShareConnect lets people access and edit files using native desktop applications on business networks.And it can use business applications that require resource intensive functions running on an enterprise network.

Desktop applications, said Citrix, are optimised for tablets and open in full screen mode.  And you can use tablet functions such as swiping, pinching and zoom and can edit Microsoft Word files and the like.

The company said that ShareConnect also comes with 1GB of cloud storage from its ShareFile service.

The software is available for freedownload in Apple’s App Store and in Google’s Play store.

Jesse Lipson, a VP at Citrix said: “Not all data is stored in the cloud and many desktop apps are not fully functional through mobile apps.  With ShareConnect, users can access and edit files, use industry specific desktop apps, and even use their business neworks.”

Language goes West

Posted on September 4, 2014 by - News

Tower of BabelOne hour translation said it has released another version of WeST – software that can localise websites for other languages.

The software works by using lines of Javascript into a site’s template. It then counts the number of unique strings and gives translators an InContext interface, letting them translate directly onto the site.

The updated software also lets people based in other countries to access WeST, look at the translation and give their own feedback.

The company claims that it’s a cost effective way of providing local versions of websites without plunging much time and money into localisation.

One Hour Translation claims to be the fastest professional translation agency in the world and the largest online.  It has a community of over 15,000 translators and offers medical and legal transcription services as well as email translation, API and CMS translation plug ins too.

You can find more information on WeST by clicking here.

Phablets will beat tablets

Posted on September 4, 2014 by - News

cheap-tabletsPhablets are smartphones with screen sizes between 5.5 inches and seven inches. And, according to market research company IDC, 175 million of them will ship this year, beating the 170 million portable PCs expected to ship this year.

It’s a horrible word, phablet.

But next year the devices will ship 318 million units, more than the 233 million tablets IDC predicts will ship in 2015.

Melissa Chau, research manager at IDC, said Apple is expected to announce it’s entering the fray in the next couple of the weeks. And by 2018, she said, phablets will grow market share from 14 percent now to 32.2 percent then.

Average selling prices for phablets and smartphones are set to drop and will dominate the portable sector in 2018, with 75.6 percent of the market.

Server makers to cut out middle men

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

server-racksA report from Gartner today suggested that original design manufacturers (ODMs) are set to cut out brand vendors in the global X86 server market.

It estimates that sales of servers by ODMs directly to customers will be worth $4.6 billion by 2018, representing 16 percent or so of the market.

The traditional route to market had OEMs hiring ODMs and selling branded goods. But Gartner reckons that the manufacturers are changing their business models to directly target “hyperscale” customers, that is to say to data centres.

Data centre operators prefer ODM supplied kit because the machines are cheaper and they can customise systems.

Naveen Mishra, a research director at Gartner, said: “Direct engagement with hyperscale data centres is the biggest contributor to ODM growth.”   He said that ODM success is right now restricted to server but he thinks that similar technologies, such as storage, will follow suit.

The ODMs are largely based in China and Taiwan so can make cost efficiencies that can’t be replicated in other geographies.  They are also aggressive on pricing.

Kyocera floats solar panels

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

solarsJapanese giant Kyocera said it is cooperating with Ciel et Terre to create what it claims will be the world’s largest floating solar panel power plant.

Kyocera, which makes ceramic knives as well as solar panels and a heap of other kit, said construction will start this month on two installations on lakes in Japan.  One planned for Nishihira Pond will generate 1.7MW while the other at Higashihira Pond will churn out 1.2MW.

The companies have turned to floating installations because of shortage of space on terra firma in Japan.  But there are many reservoirs throughout the country which can be used for floating power plants.

The floating solar platforms were developed and patented by French company Ciel et Terre.

Plants on water have the advantage that they generate more juice than ground mounted and rooftop systems because they are cooled by water.  They also have the benefit of reducing reservoir evaporation and preventing algae growth.  The platforms are recyclable and the floating platforms are designed to withstand typhoons.

IT ready for Big Data

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

clouds3A survey of 100 IT decision makers from top dollar firms has revealed that enterprises are more than dabbling their toes in the ocean of Big Data.

Syncsort, which is in the Big Data business itself, said that 62 percent of its respondents will optimise their enterprise data warehouses by sending data and batch workloads to Hadoop.

And 69 percent of the people it polled said they expect to make their enterprise wide data available in Hadoop.

Meanwhile just over half of the respondents are likely to spend between five to 10 percent of their budgets on Big Data projects.

Over seventy percent of the respondents work for companies with turnovers of over $50 million plus.

It seems that the IT guys don’t have problems proving the benefits of Big Data to the senior suits that authorise the buys.  It appears from the survey that less than 25 percent of those polled have problems allocating budgets to their Big Data plans.

Teradata snaps up Think Big Analytics

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

doshAnalytic data company Teradata has bought Think Big Analytics.

The reason it’s bought the company is for its Hadoop and big data consulting capabilities, it said in a s statement.

Teradata didn’t say how much it paid for the firm, but said Think Big’s team will stay in place.  It will continue to use the Think Big brand.

CEO Mike Koehler said it is Teradata’s third buy in six weeks. All, he said, will help to achieve its goal of being the market leader.

“Think Big’s consulting expertise enhances Teradata’s capability to advise customers on the best way to leverage diverse, open source big data technologies to grow their businesses,” he said.

Think Big, said Teradata have heaps of experience with a number of Hadoop distributions including Hortonworks, Cloudera, and MapR.

Firm makes 3D food printer

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

candyA start up said it will make a 3D food printer that will be able to churn out sweets.

3D Ventures aims to make the machine cost less than $500 and the first product in its range, dubbed Candy, will not only make cookies, but even print chocolates.

How will it work? The company says that people can design food on their PCs and then transfer it to an SD card.  The dispenser can be filled with semi-solids.

3D Ventures is aiming to fund the machines with Kickstarter money. A rep said: “It is a great way to spend time with family, and with Candy, users know exactly what is going into their food and can make it look any way they like.”

He added that the company wanted to turn 3D industry “on its head” by selling it at a great price.  It’s aimed at impulse buyers, and professional confectioners.

Tere’s a video all about it here.

 

Woe never ends for Renesas

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

renesas-chips (1)Japanese chipmaker Renesas is still in trouble and might have to make even deeper cuts to its organisation.

The outfit has just finished a restructuring and is focusing its business on the automotive and industrial sectors and has pulled it back into the black after years of losses.

However Renesas Chairman and CEO Hisao Sakuta said that the company still had too many people and he expects people to quit.

Renesas was hit hard by the March 2011 earthquake which shut a key chip plant for months and sent customers looking for other suppliers.  The company was rescued by government-backed funds but had to sell an integrated chip factory in northern Japan to Sony.  Renesas SP Drivers will be sold to Synaptics for $475 million.

Renesas has so far cut more than 10,000 jobs and racked up $3.3 billion in cumulative net losses over the last four financial years.

It had its fifth round of a voluntary early retirement programme in September which was taken up by 361 employees.  So far the group work force had shrunk to 27,200 as of end-March from 42,800 two years earlier.

Last week, Renesas unveiled a chip using new technologies that it aims to eventually apply to autonomous driving, which merges together feeds from cameras fitted to the car to create a 3D image and can detect pedestrians within several meters of a vehicle.

Test shipments of the chip begin this month, while full production and supply will likely begin in 2016, Renesas said. It is also developing technologies that will enable valet parking of a car by itself, without a driver inside.

Google serves up tat

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

telescopeSearch engine Google has come up with a novel way of getting people to update their browsers to something a little more recent.

Users of browsers which can remember the use of shoulder pads and Duran Duran are suddenly getting served up search results which are just as old.

An Opera 12.17 user complained on a Google help desk that, Google’s homepage reverted to the old version him. If he searched for something, the results are shown with the current Google look, but the homepage itself is the old look with the black bar across the top. It seemed to affect only the Google homepage and image search. However he still got the latest news.

Opera is currently using version 24, version 12 was bought out in June 7, 2011.

A Google spokesman said that there was not a fault with Google, in fact it was proof that the “encouragement” to upgrade was working perfectly. He suggested politely that if the user wanted a modern Google they should run a modern browser to support it.

“We’re continually making improvements to Search, so we can only provide limited support for some outdated browsers. We encourage everyone to make the free upgrade to modern browsers — they’re more secure and provide a better web experience overall,” the spokesman wrote on the thread.

Strangely, the help desk thread continued with people using old browsers insisting that there must be a fault with Google’s programming. After all, there was nothing wrong with working with the same version of Safari which was blessed by Steve Jobs while he was young and healthy is there?

Apple’s iWatch delayed – report

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

Taroko Gorge, Taiwan. Picture Mike MageeManufacturers on high tech island Taiwan are reporting that Apple’s iWatch is unlikely to see the light of day until 2015.

Speaking under terms of anonymity to Taiwanese wire Digitimes, the vendors say there’s still a way to go because components are still in their engineering verification stage and then has to undergo production verification testing.

And, more than that, vendors who make the components that go into the iWatch haven’t yet received firm orders from Apple.

Although Apple is holding one of its signature press conferences on September 9th, the company is unlikely to announce the iWatch then, Digitimes says.

Yesterday Swatch said it would enter the now rather competitive arena of wearable technology with a smart watch.  The jury is still out whether the world and its dog actually wants to wear this kind of device, however.

Microsoft tried to introduce a smart watch in the 1990s but the idea went down like a lead balloon.

Tech VCs flock to London

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

london-undegroundDN Capital is going to create a $200 million VC fund based in the Smoke and will invest o software digimedia, mobile apps and e-commerce firms.

But it’s not the only VC firm to set up shop in London. Tech investments worth around $1.4 billion have arrived over the last six months.

The firms include Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, Santander and Google Ventures.  And Dan Cobley, who used to run Google Europe said he will set up Brightridge Capital in London with funds reckoned to amount to $84 million.

London & Partners, Mayor Boris “No Man is an Island” Johnson promotional company, thinks that London is the place for investors looking for high growth.

Gordon Innes, CEO of London & Partners said that the Smoke “is increasingly the place to be for investors.  Funds based in London have access to the cream of the European technology scene, meaning they have the opportunity to invest in the great companies being created in booming clusters such as London’s Tech City”.

Windows XP refuses to die

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

Microsoft campusData from StatCounter Global Stats showed that Windows XP s still the world’s second most popular operating system.

That’s despite the fact that earlier this year Microsoft pulled the plug on XP, apart from on embedded devices.

StatCounter said that Windows 8.1 now has more volume than Windows 8.0 – representing 7.5 percent of OS share.

Windows 7.0 refuses to go away – it has a market share of 50.3 percent in the USA, with XP on 12.9 percent.  Windows 7 is expected to be EOLed next year, forcing the world+dog over to 8.1 in preparation for the introduction of Windows 9.

The figures are based on 15 billion page views per month to over three million websites – it’s possible to distinguish between 8 and 8.1 because the latter has a distinct user agent.

StatCounter data is here.

Logicalis buys into wi-fi outfit

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeIT firm Logicalis said it has taken a 51 percent stake in a German company.

ITUMA, which is privaly owned, offers wi-fi services including 3D in location navigation, product promotions and retail ordering.

Why is Logicalis interested in this kind of stuff?  President and COO Mark Rogers said because it can get exclusive rights to the wi-fi products and services.  He said: “[It] is expected to achieve significant market penetration, driven off the back of customers’ investment in wireless or in pre-packaged managed and cloud services.”

He also said that will complement its existing partnership with Cisco and Logicalis will offer services across all the countries it operates in.

The software ITUMA has allows indoor navigation, product information and location.

ITUMA CEO Simon Marg said that the deal will allow it to spread its wings to Logicalis’ customers and companies across the world.

EU watchdog investigation approves Micros takeover

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

watchdogEU watchdogs, which have been snuffling around the hindquarters of Oracle’s $5.3m takeover of Micros have barked that the deal has come up smelling of roses.

Oracle’s $5.3m takeover of retail and hospitality technology firm Micros Systems still has to get shareholder approval.

However, the EC said the planned purchase of the Columbia, Maryland-based company, announced in late June, raises no competitive issues as far as the EU was concerned and can go ahead.

The commission thought that the combined market share of Micros and Oracle was limited and many strong competitors would remain after the acquisition.

Micros sells mobile and cloud services, consulting, hardware, and point-of-sale software for restaurants, hotels and retail. Its own board unanimously approved the transaction.

It had been suggested that Larry Ellison only wrote a cheque for Micros to divert attention away from a series of disappointing quarterly results from Oracle, a cloud strategy that is still forming, and concerns about application growth.

It was the biggest deal that Oracle had done for a long time. In fact, it was the largest since Oracle bought Sun Microsystems in 2010 for $7.4billion. In 2008, it paid $8.5bn to take over BEA Systems but its most expensive purchase remains PeopleSoft, bought for $10.3bn in 2005.

Oracle president and CFO Safra Catz said that the sale would make Oracle a lot of dosh straight away and help the company to expand over time.

Micros management and employees will form a dedicated business within Oracle.