Category: News

Solar panels go through the roof

Posted on March 20, 2015 by - News

solarsA report said that total global solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity will be 498 gigawatts in 2019, a 177 percent increase over capacity in 2014.

IHS said that last year the market became supply driven. That trend will continue until 2019 when the use rate of module projection will exceed the peak usage rate in 2010. That is when the global market really started to soar.

As this chart from IHS shows, China leads the pack in using solar panels, followed by Japan, the USA, the UK, Germany and India.

Screen Shot 2015-03-20 at 11.03.43

And there’s good news if you’re in the mood to buy, because the average selling prices of standard modules will fall by 27 percent between 2015 and 2019.

Thin film modules aren’t experiencing stellar growth patterns, but IHS believes that this year market share for those will be around seven percent.

That market share is likely to remain at around seven percent between now and 2019.

 

Chromebooks upset the PC apple cart

Posted on March 20, 2015 by - News

chromebookThere’s more bad news for the PC market as it appears that Google Chromebooks are taking market share in the low end and the education markets.

ABI Research said Chromebooks, which rely heavily on the cloud, start up much faster than Windows PCsand are pretty affordable too, have “gained traction” in the North American market.

And it’s not just home users who are buying them – organisations are buying them too, with shipments close to five million last year.

Analyst Stephanie Van Vactor said that cloud services and the collapse of economies worldwide were the impetus for designers and developers to create cheap and cheerful devices, like the Chromebook.

“Chromebooks were the result, and the ‘anytime anywhere” access to content is a mobile-centric game changer,” she said.

The education market in particular has a yen for Chromebooks, mostly because of Google Apps for Education, she said. The business and the education sector together accounted for 62 percent of Chromebook shipments.

Another factor is the price. The average selling price for a Chromebook is $226 in the States, while it’s $420 for a tablet – presumably an Apple iPad.

“Google has taken to heart the popularity of mobile devices and developed a personal computing device that is a functional solution,” said Van Vactor. She said: “This style of computing works for the on the go lifestyle people are becoming accustomed to and will continue to impact the future of computing as the market shifts and changes.”

Devices fail in 2015

Posted on March 20, 2015 by - News

A not so mobile X86 PCThe outlook for PCs looks pretty grim in 2015, according to data released by Gartner.

The market research outfit said that PCs and ultra mobiles will deliver revenues of $226 billion this year, but that will be a 7.2 percent decline.

You have to take the current strength of the US dollar into account, Gartner warned, but even after that, the global market will show a 3.1 percent drop during the year.

Gartner forecasts that so called traditional PCs – that includes desktops and notebooks – will fall from 252,881,000 units this year, to 236,341,000 units in 2017.

The firm said that PC vendors are raising their prices to stay profitable but this is having a Catch 22 effect because it’s forcing customers to keep their purses tightly closed. Home users are also not expected to lash out on new devices.

Mobile phones will grow by 3.5 percent during this year and Gartner believes that rather than buy PCs, people will buy smartphones instead. Tablet sales will suffer because of that.

Roberta Cozza, a research director at Gartner, said: “Following rapid growth, the current mature consumer installed base for tablets is comparable to that of notebooks. Not only is the tablet segment nearing saturation in mature markets, but the influx of hybrids and fabulist will compete directly with tablets in emerging markets.”

She seems to think that despite Apple’s high prices, many users of high end Android devices will move to iOS.

Back up kit worth over a billion

Posted on March 20, 2015 by - News

emcboxThe market for customised backup appliances reached $1 billion worldwide in the fourth quarter of last year.

This market represents standalone disk products that use software, disk arrays, server engines, and more specifically data coming from backup software.

IDC said that the market for this kind of kit rose by four percent in 2014 and generated revenues of $3.26 billion.

Annual capacity in 2014 rose by 42.8 percent compared to 2013 to a staggering 2.68 exabytes.

Liz Conner, a research manager at IDC, said reasons for the rise in revenues included better software, data tiering, file sharing, data analytics and more investment in integrated systems.

In the fourth quarter, top of the storage pile was EMC with 63.8 percent market share, dwarfing the other players Symantec (11.5%), IBM (6.7%), HP (4%) and Quantum (2.3%).

 

ICO demands transparency for government outsourcing

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

parliamentThe Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said today that when the government outsources technology it’s often very opaque.

Head of Policy at the ICO Steve Wood said freedom of information laws haven’t always been able to follow the public pound.

“We’re calling on public authorities and contractors to consider transparency from an early stage, before a contract is even signed. And we’re asking whether the government might need to step in to make sure the public can access the information they should be entitled to from big government funded contractors,” he said.

Expenditure on outsourced public services represents half of the £187 billion the government spends on goods and services. Sometimes, the ICO said, it is hard for people to negotiate their way through outsourcing contractors’ deals.

The ICO conducted a survey and 75 percent of people said that private companies acting on behalf of public authorities should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

 

Ofcom draws a super broadband line for BT

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

btlogoUK regulator Ofcom said that from the 1st of April, BT will have to maintain a margin between its wholesale and retail superfast broadband that’s enough to allow competition from other providers.

The regulator said that the rules will allow BT to keep its current flexibility to set its own wholesale fibre prices but it must not set those prices in a manner that will stop others from matching its prices and making a profit.

While BT is the biggest retail provider of fibre broadband services, it is forced under regulation to let other operators sell superfast broadband to ordinary people too, using a process dubbed virtual unbundled local access.

Ofcom seems happy enough that BT is, at the moment, allowing other companies to compete in the superfast market but wants to make sure that continues in the future.

What’s triggered Ofcom’s interest is that BT is a new entrant to the sports content market and gives BT Sport free to superfast broadband customers. The regulator wants to make sure that it doesn’t have an unfair advantage over the competition.

The number of people using superfast broadband in the UK is now 3.7 million, with providers offering speeds of up to 76Mbit/s. The industry eventually wants to offer speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s in the future.

Intel, Google, TAG to make smart watch

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

Swiss Watches the BrandEver eager to join the fashion bandwagon, chip giant Intel has joined up with TAG Heuer and Google to create a smart watch which they will launch before the end of the year.

TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver told a press conference at a Swiss watch trade show that the deal is a “marriage of technological innovation with watchmaking credibility”.

The watch will use the Android Wear platform and use Intel chips but it’s unclear quite how much it will cost when it’s released.

Intel suit Michael Bell, who is the general manager of Intel’s new devices group, said that making a luxury watch in collaboration with TAG Heuer and Google brings the vision of wearable technology that bit nearer.

The Google man, David Singleton, said that the Swiss watch has inspired generations of artists and engineers. And Google. He said that Google can now imagine a better, beautiful and smarter watch.

Apple releases its range of smart watches next month, and much will depend on whether that is a flop or a success. Intel has never been particularly brilliant at creating reference designs that have long battery lives and its other ventures into consumer technology have all, without exception, been damp squibs.

TAG Heuer doesn’t make cheap watches, so you probably have to have a chunk of disposable income to impress – or alternatively depress, your friends.

 

How people solve problems

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-03-19 at 15.24.39Scientists at Aarhus University have devised a computer game that they say has given insight into the way people solve problems.

The game – called Quantum Moves – has been played 400,000 times by regular people. It involves moving atoms around a screen and scoring points for the best moves.

And that means ordinary people are helping research into quantum physics, according to research director Jacob Sherson. He said that a human’s way of solving a problem is very different than a computer’s approach to similar problems.

The whole idea is to help build quantum computers by providing data. Sheraton said: “The players showed us that there’s an unexploited capacity for ingenuity in the human brain. We see solutions that a computer would never have allowed, and which optimise the process.”

Initial research said that females are better at solving problems than males.

“It would be very interesting to find that the feminine brain has a different – and more efficient approach than the masculine,” said Sherson.

The insights from Quantum Moves means that the university has developed another game called Quantum Minds, which the team hopes will give even better insight into the way our brains work.

And you can try it out yourself, by going to this web page.

Samsung signs up Mediatek

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

Samsung HQ Silicon Valley - MM picGiant Korean chaebol Samsung has signed a deal with Mediatek to supply application processors for smartphones, with shipments set to start in the second half of this year.

So says Digitimes Research, which said that currently there is a hole in Samsung’s lineup. Samsung currently uses Marvell and Spreadtrum to provide applictation processors.

But apparently Samsung is unhappy with its two suppliers because it’s claimed supply and support was indifferent.

Mediatek actually competes with Samsung in both the Chinese and Indian markets but it seems that because of the range of the products it supplies.

But it seems a deal has been satisfactorily struck.

It is something of a puzzle that Samsung feels it needs to turn to Mediatek because the Korean company has advanced semiconductor fabrication equipment and expertise of its own inhouse.

But Digitimes Research speculates that Samsung still needs help from outside, particularly in the wearable marketplace.On the face of it, the Mediatek partnership is intended to bolster Samsung’s low end range of phones, but it may also begin to supply its high end models too.

 

Opera buys privacy company

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

tim-cook-securityOpera Software bought a Canadian company called SurfEasy, for an undisclosed amount.

SurfEasy has a VPN (virtual private network) system aimed at securing smartphones, tablets and PCs, Opera said.

A VPN adds an extra level of net security to filter traffic between the web nd devices.

Opera said that over 90 percent of US net users are now worried about their online privacy and want to protect themselves when they’re online.

Opera, which has 350 million users worldwide said that privacy and security has always kept that as its top priority

The CEO of Opera, Lars Boilesen, said more and more people are looking for security on phones and other devices.

The said Opera will collaborate with the SurfEasy team to create joint products, using the Opera browser as the basic foundation for the collaboration.

 

Osborne backs the internet of things

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

gosborneGeorge Osborne, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, has promised to throw £40 million into research into the internet of things (IoT). He made the announcement during yesterday’s 2015 budget speech in the House of Commons.

And, in addition, Osborne said that it will spend a further £100 million in R&D on smart cities and future infrastructure in the UK.

Osborne said the UK government was still committed to improving net connections and wants to spend £600 million for better networks and ultrafast broadband across the UK.

The government is also spending money on looking at digital currency and improving wi-fi connections in public places.

Osborne said the IoT would connect everything from urban transport to medical devices to household appliances.

The £40 million will be used to create business incubators for startups that will work on the government’s smart cities initiative.

The tech industry is investing hundreds of millions in IoT applications, but so far there is a distinct lack of standardisation and there are worries about security when billions of devices are all potentially connected to each other.

Poor internet connections cost UK £11 billion

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

DaisyA survey commissioned by the Daisy Group estimates that slow net connections cost the UK a staggering £11 billion a year.

The research was carried out by One Poll on Daisy’s behalf, and surveyed 2,000 adults.

According to the report, 72 percent of the estimated 30 million workers in the UK use the net as part of their daily tasks.

Thirty nine percent of the respondents said home net connections were “much faster” than the ones used for work.

Daisy product manager Jan Wielding said too many businesses used basic ADSL connections aimed at home users. “These are the businesses that struggle to cope with the high bandwidth demands of software and apps that workers use.:

Wielenga said this was unacceptable, particularly when fibre and dedicated Ethernet are cheaper than ever and widely available.

Over 60 percent of the people surveyed said they used their smartphones for non related work activities. And when the business net goes down, nine per cent scurry to see if there are other jobs going, using their smartphones.

The survey appears to show that the average British worker loses 38 hours of productivity a year because of downtime or slow access – meaning something like £494 worth of productivity is lost a year.

Wielenga said that there is a lack of awareness in small to medium enterprises that a government sponsored Super Connected Cities scheme will subsidise the the cost of a much faster connection.

Daisy is hosting a webinar on the 26th of March, in conjunction with the CBI, to help SMEs through the maze.

OpenPOWER reveals hardware plans

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-03-19 at 09.25.15The OpenPOWER Foundation – a group backed by Google, IBM, Nvidia, Mellanox, Tyan and others, revealed its hardware plans to capture data centre business.

OpenPOWER has over 100 members worldwide and IBM claims, for example, that Power 8 microprocessors offer something close to 60 percent better price performance than the competition. The competition, by the way, is mainly Intel.

IBM claims the Power 8 microprocessor is the first CPU designed specifically for Big Data and analytics workloads.

OpenPOWER members showed a number of hardware elements in their plan to grab data centre business.

IBM and Wistron showed off a prototype of a high performance server using tech from Nvidia and Mellanox. IBM will deliver two systems to Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, with a throughput five to 10 times faster than existing supercomputers.

In the second quarter of this year, Tyan will release its TN71-BP012, using an OpenPOWER customer reference system and aid at large scale cloud projects.

Nviia, Tyan and Cirrascale have developed the Cirrascale RM4950, which is a GPU accelerated developer platform which will be available in volume in the second quarter of this year. That’s aimed at big data analytics and scientific computing applications.

Public wi-fi hotspots hit new high

Posted on March 19, 2015 by - News

1980-radio-shack-catalogThe number of public wi-fi hotspot deployments totalled 5.69 million and show no sign of slowing down at all.

Figures from ABI Research reveal that they will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.2 percent between this year and 2020, and by the end of that time there will be 13.3 million of them.

Liam Jye Su, a research associate at ABI, said: “Wi-fi deployments have been surprisingly robust, and more and more public locations have signed up on a free or ‘premium’ basis. This has discouraged the participation of third party operators in some locales because there is a need for the upgrade of service, coverage and legacy equipment, only beneficial for operators with significant economies of scale.”

Some mobile operators are re-considering their attitude to public hotspots because of the high cost of sales with a low return on investment on residential wi-fi. British Telecom and China Telecom, for example are entering partnerships with third parties.

Wi-fi hotspots also have the benefit for operators of offloading mobile data traffic, more especially in urban environments.

Germany bans not quite Uber alles

Posted on March 18, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-03-18 at 16.23.53A German court has ordered taxi service Uber to stop operating commercial services and threatened severe fines if the company breaches any transport laws.

A Frankfurt regional court said that if Uber broke the order, it would be fined 250,000 Euro, according to Reuters.

The Frankfurt court hasn’t stopped Uber from operating its service for taxis and limos.

Uber said it will appeal against the decision with its German general manager saying it regretted the decision the court made.

Aber will continue to offer its UberBLACK and UberTAXI services in Germany.

A company called Taxi Deutschland filed the suit against Uber because it would replace qualified taxi driers with unlicensed casual workers.

The judges appear to believe that Uber doesn’t just violate German laws, but European laws too.