Items tagged with working
If you're looking for the world's best boss, he may be at Facebook. But, of course, that all depends on your definition of "best." In Facebook's early days, when competition was fierce and Facebook was still proving itself, Mark Zuckerberg would occasionally order a "lockdown." As you may imagine, such a thing was called for when a huge issue popped up, and he simply couldn't stomach leaving the house until it was addressed. At a recent event in California, Mark actually confessed that "lockdown" still exists today, even after the company went public. He confessed that things are a bit different now. Before, Facebook's entire staff could fit into a single houeshold. Now, many offices are required,...
Read more...
Besides being a low-ranking Marvel Comics super-villain, Trapster is a free application that went live on the App Store last Friday, allowing users to share information real-time on speed traps.Besides the iPhone (naturally the highest-profile device in the bunch), the app runs on GPS devices like Garmin and TomTom, as well as on smartphones such including Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia S60 and N95 and other Java/J2ME phones. How does it work? You click on button in the app or call a toll-free number to report a speed trap. Other user's phones will alert them as they approach the trap. Trapster learns the "credibility" of traps based on how many users agree with the report. Trapster...
Read more...
Apple sent an e-mail out to its MobileMe service members today, apologizing for the hiccups in getting the $99 per month MobileMe service up and running, announcing that the service was now finally fully operational, and even offering a conciliatory, free 30-day extension to all current MobileMe subscriptions. Apple's e-mail (click the image to read the e-mail) MobileMe is an updated version of Apple's .Mac ("Dot Mac") subscription-based online service, which has been around since 2002 (or even as far back as 2000 if you count its original iteration as Apple's free, Mac-only, online service called iTools). The new MobileMe service rolled out at the same time as the release of the iPhone...
Read more...
YouTube may rule supreme in the melded world of online video and social networking, but Microsoft has a new trick up its sleeve that it hopes might steal some eyeballs away from the competition. Launching today in 20 countries and 12 languages is Microsoft's Messenger TV service, integrating online video directly into Microsoft's Live Messenger application. "Watching online video is no longer about one person in front of their computer, it's now a social experience. Users can now share a selection of free content and watch it at the same time as their friends through Messenger TV."Microsoft has partnered with a number of popular content providers, such as MTV, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, National...
Read more...
Initially Microsoft showed little interest in the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project until the orders started to pour in. The thought of all those laptops going to developing countries (and even Alabama school districts) sans a Windows OS seems to have made an impact.As soon as MS saw how many sales they were passing up, they decided that they'd develop a variant of XP specifically for the OLPC and its limited storage capacity. Then we heard that there might be a dual-boot setup in the works, and now this:“Microsoft is not developing dual-boot Windows XP support for One Laptop Per Child’s XO laptop."Perhaps we'll just have to wait a while to find out, but it does seem a bit odd that...
Read more...
While it's no secret that Microsoft has been working on getting Windows XP to run on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation's XO-1, they also said in December that it wasn't exactly an easy process. Despite this, Wednesday, the chairman of the OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, indicated they are working on a dual-boot version of the XO-1."We are working with them very closely to make a dual-boot system so that, like on an Apple, you can boot either one up. The version that's up and running of Windows on the XO is very fast, it's very, very successful. We're working very hard to do both," said Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of OLPC.It's a brand-new development for the XO laptops, as the low-cost notebooks...
Read more...
What's everybody doing at work? According to Patricia Wallace, a Johns Hopkins University professor and author of "The Internet in the Workplace: How New Technology Is Transforming Work," we're goofing off by looking at all sorts of things on the internet. How much are we slacking? About a fifth of our working time is spent engaging in personal activities. Seems low. A recent survey by online compensation firm Salary.com showed about six out of 10 employees in the United States acknowledged wasting time at work. About 34 percent listed personal Internet use as the leading time-wasting activity in the workplace. Employees said they did so because they were...
Read more...
There has been much concern over the security and privacy of social networking sites. Much of the flak has been directed at the sites themselves. But a study run by security company Sophos showed, once again, that the real security hole, lies in users.By creating a fake ID around a green frog name "Freddi Staur" (which is an anagram of ID Fraudster), and inviting 200 real users to be its friend, Sophos showed just how easy it is to get private info. Without any "hacking" whatsoever, the tub toy managed to acquire a treasure trove of personal data. About 73 people were willing to post their birthday, while others willingly included places of birth, employers' names and addresses,...
Read more...
It's called social networking iTunes-style. Today Apple unveiled web widgets designed to facilitate social networking between iTunes users. It allows customers to share their purchases, reviews, and favorite artists. Called My iTunes, the service includes three flash-based widgets that use a customers account information to create customized lists of music based on that users purchase history. The widgets can be placed on a user's blog, Web site, or social networking profile.Three widgets are currently available: the first lists recent purchases; the second shows music that the user has reviewed on iTunes; and the last shows a "tag cloud" of the artists the customer has purchased through...
Read more...
Graphene is a one atom thick piece of carbon, and its very efficient conductive properties and nano-scale size would make it really useful as a replacement for copper connections on computer chips. The graphite in your pencil is made of lots and lots of graphene. The trick has been to make it in the one atom thickness. Saroj Nayak and other researchers at Rensselaer Institute have now done the research to show that the process of making graphene nanostructures is at least feasible. The size of computer chips has shrunk dramatically over the past decade, but has recently hit a bottleneck, Nayak said. As copper interconnects get smaller, the copper’s resistance increases and...
Read more...
According to a report on the Digitimes wesbite, NVIDIA and Intel have reached some sort of agreement where NVIDIA will trade some of its GPU technology for more / better cooperation from Intel. "Nvidia has had discussions with Intel and has already reached several agreements for cooperation, noted the sources, adding that details of the agreements remain unknown. Nvidia Taiwan declined to comment on the report. Executives of Nvidia recently met with the company's partners in Taiwan to explain the company's plan in the motherboard market, pointed out the sources." What exactly "cooperation" means is unlcear. But, with AMD and ATI now merged and Intel working on its own GPU technology, NVIDIA...
Read more...
Charlie from The Inquirer has been lurking behind closed doors at IDF in Bejing and stumbled upon a couple of HP workstations with interesting GPU configurations. One machine had a pair of NVIDIA GPUs, the other a pair of ATI GPUs. What they both had in common, however, was that they were PCIe 2.0 compliant. "That was a move that took me, personally, by complete surprise. Neither set of cards were identified, but they both were running two cards on 5Gbps links. It was only about a month ago that NV showed off their chips behind closed doors at the PCIe SIG meeting. ATI wasn't there. Now, they are both here, and both are working." Check out the pics and more of the story...
Read more...
New Intel Wireless Product for Laptops Extends Networking Speed and Range New Compatibility Program for Intel Centrino Users with Wireless-N SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 23, 2007 - Intel Corporation today introduced the Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N network connection, an upgrade to the wireless component found inside Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology and other Intel-based laptops that helps consumers better connect to wireless networks. As notebook PCs increasingly download broadband-intense content such as movies, videos and music, a more powerful networking solution is needed. Based on the draft 802.11n Wi-Fi specification, the Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N technology addresses that need by offering...
Read more...
The folks at VR-Zone have posted a rumor that ATI is currently reworking the already delayed R600 GPU in an effort to minimize PCB size and get a better handle on thermals. Supposedly already at a staggering 12" in length, the original PCB layout is easily one of the longest graphics cards in history. The obvious goal here is to design a PCB which will be at least as "short" as the GeForce 8800 GTX, though there are some considerable design hurdles to overcome to do so. In addition, the team will be utilizing this time to further increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the heatsink assembly to keep the hot new GPU running cool. With the GeForce 8800 GTX...
Read more...
DigiTimes reports that Gigabyte will be transferring its motherboard and graphics card division over to the new joint venture with ASUS called Gigabyte United Incorporated. From January 2007 on, the joint venture will avoid competition between the two Tier-I vendors and allow the joint venture to utilize the resources of each company. Despite the fact that the retail motherboard and graphics card business will be heading towards the joint venture, Gigabyte will remain a key ODM partner for outsourced graphics card and motherboard production. Gigabyte United will have permanent and exclusive licensed use of the Gigabyte brand and trademark...
Read more...
Fudo over at The Inquirer reports that NVIDIA has begin designing their own CPU architecture. Based out of the new design center in Portland, Oregon the new architecture will serve as the foundation for the company's upcoming merged CPU/GPU products. At this time, the rumor mill expects the first products from these efforts to hit the market in 2008. Unfortunately, little is known whether NVIDIA's CPU architecture will be limited strictly to "merged" CPU/GPU designs or if they are aiming to do battle across all levels with AMD and Intel. With Microsoft also taking steps to design their own CPU architecture, it is not too wild an idea to imagine NVIDIA offering...
Read more...
The NY Times has posted an extremely interesting article regarding Microsoft's new efforts to design their own CPU. To this end, Microsoft has formed what is tentatively known as the "Computer Architecture Group" and will utilize resources from both the Redmond headquarters and Santa Clara campus. Although many will be quick to assume Microsoft is gearing to do battle with Intel and AMD on the PC front, there is a distinct possibility that Microsoft's true goal with this effort is to tackle the consumer electronics market in general. Looking at the scalability of Sony's Cell architecture and its ability to be used in everything from the Playstation 3 to televisions...
Read more...
Cortina Systems Purchases Intel's Optical-Networking Components Business SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sep. 11, 2006 - Cortina Systems Inc. and Intel Corporation today announced that they have completed the sale of product lines and associated assets of Intel's optical-networking components business to Cortina. Cortina has emerged as a leading supplier of advanced communications semiconductor solutions for the carrier infrastructure market segment. The acquisition will give Cortina a large portfolio of enterprise and infrastructure communications products and will position it to become a leading communications semiconductor company. The sale will enable Intel to focus its investments on its core...
Read more...
Fujitsu to Showcase Industry Leading Hard Disk Drive Technology at Storage Networking World Spring 2006 SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., one of the world's leading suppliers of innovative computer products including hard disk drives, peripherals and biometric security solutions, today announced that it will showcase its leading 2.5" Serial ATA (SATA) and small form factor (SFF) Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) hard disk drives inside market-ready storage systems at Storage Networking World, April 3-6, 2006, in San Diego, Calif. Given the constant change in system requirements, the need for flexibility and scalability is essential. At the event, Fujitsu will display...
Read more...
Hey folks, tonight Kingston announces their new numbering system for ValueRAM used in Intel servers. If the ram is is designated with an "I", you can be sure it's been validated by Intel's validation group. Good night! Kingston Launches Line of Validated ValueRAM Modules for Intel-based Servers Parts Designated with an "I" Provides Extra Measure of Convenience, Quality Assurance for ValueRAM Server Memory Customers Fountain Valley, CA May 4, 2005, Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the world's leading independent memory manufacturer, today announced that, as part of its participation in the Intel Memory Validation Program, it is enhancing its current line of ValueRAMR products...
Read more...
Hey folks, how's it going? Corsair sent us a notice today, they've produced a document that takes a look at the importance of memory latency and it's impact on performance. If your interested, you can download the PDF file: Here. Here's the rest of your news... Wireless Networking: Setup and Security @ Bigbruin "There are definitely additional issues that could be considered when setting up a wireless network, but covering these basics will make a wireless network much more secure than it was straight out of the box. Many people are confident that no one would be interested in their home network and feel security is just one more headache of technical mumbo-jumbo that they would rather not...
Read more...
We're starting off the morning with some interesting reads from around the web. If you are looking for a good networking basics article, the Tech Zone has you covered, while Hexus.Net has information on MSI's DBS system. There's something about quad video that makes be curious. Check it! Seagate 100GB Portable External HDD @ Bjorn3D: "On the go? Always away from home or the office? Looking for a way to take a big chunk of data along with you wherever you may roam? With the arrival of USB portable drives in sizes all the way up to several GB of data, the desire to go portable with all of your data is fast becoming the norm. Enter Seagate's portable external USB 2.0 100GB HDD ready...
Read more...
