SMEs held back by poor networks

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News

whiffyA survey said that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are worried about poor networking and security.

The survey, commissioned by Netgear which has something of an axe to grind, chose 500 companies with between one and 250 employees showed the SMEs’ concerns.

Three quarters of the firms said having a wireless network is essential to their business.  That figure rises to 84 percent for firms hiring more than 100 people.

A large number rely on wireless networks with 74 percent saying it makes the company more productive, and 75 percent saying it improves customer services.

But one in three firms surveyed said they had struggled to install an effective and secure wireless service.

And 31 percent thought about dropping all their IT wireless plans after they’d had bad experience with quality and reliability. A third worried about data security while a quarter weren’t sure how to introduce wi-fi into existing IT infrastructure.

HP faces problems in its two way split

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News

Tenniel's illustration of Tweedledum and Tweedledee - Wikimedia CommonsThe decision by HP to split itself into two will have implications for its business in Europe.

That’s according to a number of analysts at the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Earlier this week HP said it would divide itself into HP Enterprise, focusing on the corporate market, and HP Inc, selling PCs and printers.  Both companies will generate revenues of around $57 billion each.

The changes in Europe will impact the two HPs in between six to 18 months and affect channel, volumes, and SME (small to medium enterprises) sectors.

Giorgi Nebuloni, manager of Datacentres at IDC said: “HP will have extra work to do to align its massive customer base between client/printing devices and low end server and storage to keep a coherent approach on discounting and pricing, especially for SME customers.”

Competitors Lenovo and Dell are likely to take advantage of the changes to drag smaller resellers and distributors away from HP products to their own. IDC thinks that in the mid term the split could end up being costly for HP and both HPs will need to keep their eyes peeled in brand new markets like 3D printing and Big Data analytics.

Nobel Prize given to LED men

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News

wallwashThe Noble Prize for physics has been awarded to the three inventors of LEDs (light emitting diodes)..

The invention of the LED  was awarded to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura and has led to a market worth billions of dollars.

IHS, a market research company, said the invention of the technology in the early 1990s was worth $17.7 billion in 2013, leading to 250,000 jobs. And that’s not counting all the LED markets including lighting, signage, and consumer electronics.

IHS research manager for LEDs and lighting at IHS, William Rhodes, said the invention changed all the rules.

The market before LEDs mostly used indicator lights in toys, industrial and car applications, said Rhodes. This year over 90 percent of all displays were backlit by LEDs while LEDs will represent a third of all lightbulb sales in 2014.

Microsoft may dump Surface tabs

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News, Products

Microsoft Surface ProA report suggested that Microsoft may decide to give up the ghost on its Surface Pro 3 tablet.

According to Digitimes, sales for the product have been weak and Microsoft is disappointed with its performance.  That’s according to unnamed sources from the supply chain.

Microsoft has also failed to set up an adequate distribution chain and at the same time high prices for the products have put many people off.

Digitimes estimates that Microsoft has lost around $1.7 billion on the first two generations of its tablet.

Microsoft has another problem too. Competitors have introduced smartphones with large screens and that has affected peoples’ buying choices.

Microsoft hasn’t had much luck with hardware, with one notable exception.

That’s the Microsoft mouse.

Philips shows off 3D printed luminaries

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News, Products

lightsonDutch firm Royal Philips has shown off what it says are the world’s first 3D printed “smart” luminaries.

The luminaries are part of its “Hue” range, and Philips said that a finger swipe on smartphone or tablet allows you to create any number of personal light effects from a palette of 16 million hues, shades of white and programmable scenes.

Philips lets you create table and pendant luminaries to order at www.meethue.com while you can also order them from London store Selfridges.

Philips also showed off a bright white LED bulb which you can control from your tablet or smartphone. The Hue “lux” retrofits into existing A19 luminaries.

ConvoLightBecause your gizmo controls them you can turn your lights on and off from anywhere in the world you can get connected.  Applications include linking the app to alert you to stormy weather, link to stock tickers, link to sportsfeed, or to your Facebook page.

Philips also showed off Convo Lights, which can notify deaf people when there are other audible signals they might miss.

US thinks it is legal to invade foreign servers

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News

Battle_erieThe US government claims it has a constitutional right to hack the servers of foreign companies based overseas.

Apparently when the French-backed terrorists usurped their legitimate King it was with the sole aim of ruling the world and committing illegal acts in other countries.

The Justice Department made the announcement in the ongoing prosecution of Ross Ulbricht. The government believes that Ulbricht is the operator of the Silk Road illicit drug website.

The case involves how the US government found the Silk Road servers in Iceland. Ulbricht said government claims that a leaky CAPTCHA on the site’s login led them to the IP address was “implausible” and that the government may have unlawfully hacked into the site. His view is backed by Nicholas Weaver, a Berkeley computer scientist who said the story is full of holes.

Assistant US Attorney Serrin Turner countered (PDF) said that even if it were a lie such an investigative measure would not have run afoul of the Fourth Amendment.

The SR Server was located outside the United States, the Fourth Amendment would not have required a warrant to search the server, whether for its IP address or otherwise so it is acceptable.

Turner added, “Given that the SR Server was hosting a blatantly criminal website, it would have been reasonable for the FBI to ‘hack’ into it in order to search it, as any such ‘hack’ would simply have constituted a search of foreign property known to contain criminal evidence, for which a warrant was not necessary.”

The FBI denied using wiretaps in the FBI’s investigation. Ulbricht did not even become a suspect in the FBI’s investigation until well after the SR Server was searched. No information collected from Ulbricht, through a wiretap, was ever used to locate the SR Server.

Still it must be a little worrying for US citizens to know that their constitutional protection from US spooks stops at the border.

 

EMC needs to spin off VMware

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News

ElderlyspinneraActivist investor Elliott Management is trying to get data storage products outfit EMC to spin off its VMware virtualization software unit or merge with someone else.

The outfit penned a 13-page letter to the company’s board which was signed by portfolio manager Jesse Cohn and warned that EMC’s structure of combining several businesses obscured its enormous value.

Elliott, which has $25 billion under management, owns a 2.2 percent stake in EMC and said it was writing a letter to help inform EMC’s board on its “current review process” of how to maximize long-term value at EMC.

EMC’s “federation strategy” comprises a core data-storage unit, a virtualization software unit VMware, enterprise security business RSA and cloud-computing software maker Pivotal.

EMC held merger talks with HP recently that broke down. Elliott said the acquisition interest in EMC’s assets on the part of several large companies that make strategic sense.

So far, EMC has publicly said it plans to keep its company together. But pressure is building as other technology companies recently have been spinning off operations in an attempt to become more agile and capitalize on faster-growing businesses.

HTC back on track

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News

damsel-in-distress-4HTC has said that it is back on track and will not have to go to the markets to ask to lend a tenner until next Friday.

Taiwanese smartphone maker’s chief financial officer Chialin Chang told Reuters that the outfit had a  lack of debt, $1.7 billion in cash and the ability to fund itself.

Chang said in an interview that HTC can self-fund itself very sufficiently.

The company last week reported better-than-forecast third-quarter profit, but mainly thanks to cost cuts rather than improved sales.

Chang said the company now had a strong portfolio of phones at prices that will attract buyers in both developed markets and emerging ones.

“I think with a more robust portfolio we’re going to be able to show that we can grow again,” he said. “Hopefully people will feel in the next earnings call with the guidance, we can get the momentum back.”

Chang said that his company was working on other “smart devices” which means it is probably coming up with a watch like everyone else in the industry.

Meanwhile the outfit has created a “Re” camera, which can be controlled remotely from an Android or Apple phone, represents one effort to branch out beyond phones. Given that the cylinder-shaped device is waterproof and is highly portable, it could be seen as a potential competitor to GoPro Inc (GPRO.O) cameras.

Chang said that was the wrong comparison since GoPro cameras are specifically aimed at “extreme” sports while the Re, which will sell for $199 in the United States, is aimed at everyday use.

It is a Luddite world, claims PayPal co-founder

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News

LudditePeter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, said that we live in a world where science is hated and real technological progress has stalled.

Thiel told the Gartner Symposium/IT this week that there is little innovation out there and he blames the fact that we are living in a financial, capitalistic age.

He said that this is a period in history when  people generally dislike science and technology. Movies “all show technology that doesn’t work, that … kills people, that it is bad for the world.”

Terminator, The Matrix, Avatar, Elysium and Gravity. The message of Gravity is that “you never want to go into outer space”. The movie industry is reflecting and feeding a public bias against science, he said.

Thiel added that technology has a much different meaning today than it did in the 1950s or 1960s. During that period, it meant computers and rockets, underwater cities, new forms of energy and all sorts of supersonic airplanes. Since then, there “has been this narrowing” view that technology is mostly information technology, he said.

While advances today may be enough to dramatically improve business efficiencies and create great new companies, “it’s not clear it’s always enough to take our civilization to the next level,” said Thiel.

Thiel thinks that there is a lack of any conviction. If you have conviction around getting certain things done, a very short list of things, that’s how you really push for progress,” whether in a corporation or government.

He said that the Manhattan project, which built a nuclear bomb in 3.5 years, and led to the moon landing in the 1960s was a complex coordination around a well-defined plan, which is very out of fashion.

Su in, Read out at AMD

Posted on October 9, 2014 by - News

readChipmaker AMD has announced that its Chief Operating Officer Lisa Su will replace Rory Read as chief executive officer.

Read has been doing the job for three years and analysts do not seem sad to see him go, they are only concerned about the timing. Earnings announcements are next week and an exit like this would suggest that the news is bad.

AMD has seen its market value nearly halved since Read took over in 2011 as the company lost market share to Intel. The outfit has been expanding into new markets such as game consoles and low-power servers and it aims to obtain half of its revenue from those additional businesses by the end of 2015, but progress has been too slow for the cocaine fuelled of Wall Street.

Su however is a popular choice amongst investors and customers.

It is not clear how Read was pushed out. Asked repeatedly on a conference call about the unexpected timing of AMD’s leadership change, Read said it was the result of a long-term succession strategy.

He said that the changeover was well planned, well understood.

Read’s response to the slump in PCs was to slashed the company’s workforce, hire a new senior management team, including Su, and launched AMD’s move into new markets, including ARM-based servers, digital signs and medical devices.

Su, who is 44, said her top focus would be on product development and that she would also simplify AMD and sharpen its focus. She joined AMD in 2012 and is widely seen as one of AMD’s most valuable executives.

AMD promoted Su to chief operating officer in June, increasing expectations among investors that she might eventually replace Read.

AMD said its board was discussing with Su the terms of her employment. She is currently paid an annual base salary of $650,000, the company said.

Read will remain with the company as an advisor until the end of the year.

Gartner reads IT tarot cards

Posted on October 8, 2014 by - News

Tarot cards - Wikimedia CommonsMarket research company Gartner said it has identified the top IT trends for 2015.

Organisations, said Gartner, cannot afford to ignore these trends when they’re doing their strategic planning.  And while that doesn’t mean companies have to invest in all the trends, companies should certainly be aware of them.

Some of these trends we’ve already got a clue about – the first is “computing everywhere” – that is to say taking into accounts needs of mobile users and connected screens.

And then we come to the internet of things which really means the digitisation of everything – be it your tie, your suit, your boots or your lightbulbs.

Gartner also thinks that 3D printers are about to take off, with shipments growing by nearly 98 percent next year.  New industrial, biomedical and personal applications will show 3D printing is viable and cost effective.

Analytics is important because all of this digitisation means that there will be masses of data and it should be used to aid businesses.

And, again, all of this digitisation means that machines will get smarter with the invention of clever algorithms that let systems understand what and where they are.

Cloud computing, said Gartner, will converge with mobile computing giving rise to coordinated apps delivered to any device.

The last three in Gartner’s list are software defined apps, web scale IT and risk based security.

McAfee dabbles in democracy

Posted on October 8, 2014 by - News

McAfee HQ in Satan ClaraSecurity company McAfee, which is a subsidiary of the Intel Corporation, has given us its thoughts about how we could vote online or e-vote in the future.

Online voting isn’t particularly new – Baltic country Estonia held national elections using an e-voting system.  Other countries including India, France, Brazil and Australia have introduced electronic voting machines.

Yet Michael DeCare, president of McAfee said that wasn’t quite enough.  He said: “A greater emphasis on security could empower a new era in digital democracy.  People need to have trust and confidence in the process. Pilot programmes could be the route to earning public trust on a small scale.”

He claims obstacles to online and e-voting are largely hard to overcome and has little public acceptance.

People, he said, are worried about hacking and “lost votes cannot be regained”.

He doesn’t seem to have an answer to this question of public trust. But as people are wary following the thousands of security breaches that take place every year, it’s down to vendors like McAfee not to pose such questions but to provide the answers.

Berners-Lee speaks up for people

Posted on October 8, 2014 by - News

Sir Tim Berners-LeeThe inventor of the world wide web said today that data should belong to each of us.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee was speaking at a keynote speech at IPExpo Europe in London.

He hit out at the notion that data belongs to corporations like Facebook and Google who collect it and then use it to make money out of everyone.

He said that using big data for advertising purposes gave him a queasy sensation and rather than big data we should be interested in rich data.

He told the conference that big companies are, essentially, spying on us all and this is a real threat.

Collecting your own data from different gizmos you use and different transactions you make gives you a perspective on yourself that is much more valuable than feeding that data to large corporations.

Berners-Lee described what would become known as the world wide web 25 years ago.

We’re all running out of juice!

Posted on October 8, 2014 by - News

alkaline batteryAs we’re soon going to be swamped by even more smartphones, tablets, wearable devices and notebooks there’s an urgent need for better battery technologies real soon now.

That’s according to ABI Research which said that by 2019 there will be eight billion devices on the planet – a billion more than there are people right now.

If you’ve got a smartphone, you probably realise that the smarter they get the more electricity they take and that trend is going nowhere but upwards over the next few years.

ABI Research points out that the holy grail doesn’t lie with lithium and graphite batteries, nor with micro USB chargers.  But it claims that silicon anode batteries from the likes of Leyden Energy and Amprius, as well as germanium based devices may hold out hope for the charging nightmare we even now face, in 2014.

“The opportunity is enormous,” said Nick Spencer, a senior director at ABI Research. “The average advanced market home has over 10 untethered devices with rechargeable batteries today.” Spencer reckons that if wearables take off, along with electric cars and the internet of things, the demand will be even greater.

But, thinks TechEye, we’ve been promised better battery technology for years and thus far no-one has picked up that particular baton. So let’s see how it all pans out.

Google to gobble up smartphone market

Posted on October 8, 2014 by - News, Products

smartphones-genericWant an Android smartphone for around 100 bucks?  Go to India, because that’s where the action is.

Market analysts at IDC said Google has introduced what it describes as the “first wave” of Android One devices in India in collaboration with local gizmo makers Spice, Karbonn and Micromax.

Google – now it’s a hardware company – has produced a reference design that makes it nice and easy to create devices using Mediatek MT6582 system on a chip (SoC) devices.

And Google isn’t letting it end there because it’s already teamed up major mobile firms Airtel and Reliance and pulled in Amazon too to give added value to the reference designs.

According to IDC, it won’t end there, because after capturing the Indian smartphone market it will also launch similar products in Indonesia and then Brazil.

IDC thinks Google is set to sell heaps of phones and “redefine”  cheap smartphones with “good enough” specs.

OK – Samsung and Apple can battle it out at the high end and while there are plenty of Indian folk who can afford to lash out on these, there are an awful lot more folks who, quite simply, can’t.

Google hasn’t got a presence in the Chinese market, said IDC, but can make gazillions out of other major markets.