Author: Serkadis

As we spend more of our time (and money) online, information technology is becoming more than just a cost of doing business — it’s enabling an entirely new ways of doing business.

We see it clearly in companies such as Google or Facebook, where the cost of computing has a direct impact on the cost of goods sold. But it’s also becoming the case in banks, retail shops and other sectors of the economy where mobile,  digital or cloud strategies all are facets of the same issue: an attempt to wed the business to technology and an understanding that technology is the business.

We get it. That’s why this year’s Structure conference, on June 19 and 20 in San Francisco, will have speakers like Kevin Scott of LinkedIn. He’s going to share what he learned throughout the process of re-architecting the social networking site to brings its costs in line with its growing scale. Scott is part of a new generation of IT professionals who aren’t just trying to solve business problems with technology but are building architectures that are integral parts of the business.

Jeff Dean at Google is doing something similar — although he’s thinking at a much larger scale. The computer scientist who co-wrote the search giant’s MapReduce paper is responsible for rethinking Google’s architecture for the new era of the web, where the hardware and software must support real-time distributed systems, capable of interacting naturally with people. It’s a tall order, but he’ll talk about where IT is going and how to build systems that can handle that future.

Finally, we have a familiar face in a new role. Bob Muglia, who is the executive vice president of Juniper’s Software Solutions, will talk about how he plans to shift one of the innovators of the switching era as its business is disrupted by both the new OpenFlow protocol and the development of software-defined networking. Already, Muglia has forced the $9.65 billion company to change its business model and how it sells some of its hardware. He’ll discuss software-defined networks and what it means to be able to program the hardware infrastructure on demand and without having to physically touch the hardware.

The entire IT industry is poised between the promise of awesome opportunities as computing becomes cheaper and our ability to capture data expands, and the fear of disruption as open source hardware and new layers of abstraction threaten to tear down the barriers to entry. It’s a crazy time in IT and Structure speakers will help you capitalize on it, either from the business side or with deep dives into the future of technology. Register today so you can join us in San Francisco on June 19 and 20.

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Apple and Yahoo are said to be in talks about possibly integrating Yahoo products more into iOS and Siri. Any increased integration would only add on to existing Yahoo Finance and weather data that come on the iPhone today.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the two companies have been “discussing how more of Yahoo’s services can play a prominent role on Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices,” citing people briefed on the matter. Such possibilities could include, according to the Journal’s sources, “more content from Yahoo News and its other web properties loaded onto Apple devices or available through an expanded Siri partnership.”

A deal is not imminent, the report says.

The Journal isn’t the only publication with sources talking about this. Bloomberg cites “a person familiar with the matter” as saying executives from both companies have “discussed ways to collaborate more closely on mobile software”:

Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer has met with Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet services, to explore ways Yahoo can be more deeply integrated into the software that runs on the iPhone and iPad, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

Mayer has been very clear about how important mobile is to the company’s strategy going forward since she took over as CEO last year. This would obviously be a huge step in making sure smartphone users are accessing Yahoo content on a regular basis. Depending on what kinds of integrations we see, it could turn out to be a pretty big deal for Yahoo’s piece of the search market as well, and would give Yahoo an interesting partner should the Microsoft alliance fall apart.

We won’t go too crazy with the speculation here, but it will certainly be interesting to see what (if anything) comes of this.

French tech blog NowhereElse.fr, known mostly for frequent Apple product-related leaks and rumors has posted a couple of new allegedly leaked iPad photos showing the bezel of the upcoming device.

Obviously the authenticity of these is questionable. Either way, here’s what it looks like.

Mind blown yet?

The images do appear to confirm recent reports of a redesign. As Zach Epstein at BGR notes, “An image of the new iPad’s purported rear shell was published this past January, showing a redesigned case that closely resembles the iPad mini.”

Recent rumors have suggested that fifth-generation iPads will begin production in July or August.

You can check the original source for another shot.

[via Boy Genius Report]

As useful as Windows Task Manager is on a fresh system, power-users know that third-party developers make available far more flexible solutions in terms of options.

System Explorer is one of the alternatives that pack additional functionality compared to the utility provided by Microsoft. It is free of charge and the developer makes available a porta… (read more)

There has been talk of the United States Postal Service ending Saturday mail delivery for years now. In recent months it appeared to be getting closer to reality.

Congress recently passed a resolution, however, that will keep the USPS stuffing your mailbox with Saturday junk mail for at least a while longer. The new schedule (which would have seen packages continue to be delivered on Saturdays) was set to take effect in early August. Not it remains to be seen how long we’ll be able to enjoy Saturday mail.

The USPS says the plan would have saved about $2 billion a year, and would help restore the USPS to financial stability as it continues to face obstacles of the era (digital and otherwise). At least the USPS (as far as we know) is still launching a clothing line.

Following is the USPS’s full statement:

The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service met April 9 and discussed the Continuing Resolution recently passed by Congress to fund government operations. By including restrictive language in the Continuing Resolution, Congress has prohibited implementation of a new national delivery schedule for mail and packages, which would consist of package delivery Monday through Saturday and mail delivery Monday through Friday, and which would have taken effect the week of Aug. 5, 2013.

The Board continues to support the Postal Service’s five-year business plan and the legislative goals identified in that plan, which will return the Postal Service to financial solvency. The Board additionally urges Congress to quickly pass comprehensive postal legislation, including provisions that would affirmatively provide the Postal Service with the ability to establish an appropriate national delivery schedule.

Does a browser replacement for Photoshop sound too good to be true? What if, to make it even better, it took advantage of Google Drive? Lets take it one step further and add image viewing and editing for RAW photography images, which are made from the native sensor data from a camera and are preferred by many photographers. By the end of this month, we could see all of that.

Pics.io is the service that says it can deliver all of this and it has several videos to show off the concept. For example, a browser can’t typically display a RAW image file because it essentially doesn’t know what to do with the sensor data that comprises the image. That’s why we collectively use different file formats, such as .JPG, .PNG, .TIFF and others on the web. This video shows that RAW images can be converted in the browser, viewed and even edited, although no heavy image manipulation is being done.

The support for RAW images is a big deal, but leveraging the cloud is another: The uncompressed and unprocessed data in a RAW image file causes the file sizes to be much larger than compressed versions. So if one had a high resolution Chromebook Pixel and say, a terabyte of Google Drive data to go with it — see where I’m going here? — Pics.io would be a hugely useful service. Here’s how the company describes it:

Imagine all your photos finally in one place. So you can enjoy them from any device – iPad, laptop, smartphone – without hardcore syncing and dealing with storage issues. Organized and searchable. Nope? Still not great? How about advanced post processing workflow (picture a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop)? And special algorithms to make photos of kittens even cuter. Well, maybe just the last is impossible.

There’s plenty more to see on the Pics.io site and I’m looking forward to seeing if it actually delivers. If so, I may dust off my old Canon DSLR and play with some RAW imagery in Chrome OS. Thanks much to Rick Huizinga for pointing out Pics.io. As he says, there’s one less potential barrier for people to use a web-based computer: “With a RAW photography tool, ChromeOS can now totally replace my need for a computer using a classic operating system.“

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Intel is continuing to advance its vision for new data center designs that rethink the traditional placement of components within the server and rack. After unveiling a prototype at the Open Compute Summit in January, Intel today offered details on a similar initiative by China’s largest Internet companies, and promised to release reference designs to help OEMs and end users deploy these designs.

Intel executive Diane Bryant today shared an overview of the company’s vision for “rack scale architecture” that would break apart elements of mass-market servers. Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Datacenter and Connected Systems Group, spoke at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Beijng, China.

An early example of this vision is the Project Scorpio rack, which was jointly developed by Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba and China Telecom, who worked with technical advisors from Intel. In the Scorpio rack, the fans and power supplies are shifted from individual servers to rack-level “power zones.”

Not Unique, But A Step on the Journey

That in itself is not a unique concept, as there have been a number of designs that have shifted fans and power to the rack level, including various blade chassis, the CloudRack from SGI/Rackable and the Open Compute designs. But Intel sees Scorpio and similar efforts as the first step toward a larger rethinking of the server rack.

A prototype of  the next phase was on display at the Open Compute Summit in the form of a photonic rack featuring technology from Intel, Corning, Quanta Computer and Facebook, which uses high-speed optical network connections to “disaggregate” the server, taking components that previously needed to be bound to the same motherboard and spreading them out within a rack.

The Intel/Quanta rack separates components into their own server trays – one tray for Xeon CPUs and another for its latest Atom CPUs, another for storage. When a new generation of CPUs is available, users can swap out a the CPU tray rather than waiting for an entire new server and motherboard design. The design is enabled by silicon photonics, which is at the heart of Intel’s interest in next-generation rack design.

Moving Beyond Proximity

Silicon photonics uses light (photons) to move huge amounts of data at very high speeds over a thin optical fiber rather than using electrical signals over a copper cable. Intel’s prototype can move data at up to 100 gigabits per second (Gbps), a speed that allows components to work together even when they’re not in close proximity to one another.

Intel’s strategy for evangelizing new rack designs involves participating in collaborative efforts like Open Compute and Scorpio, but also putting forward its own vision for how silicon photonics can revolutionize rack design (See Meet the Future of Data Center Rack Technologies by Intel’s Raejeanne Skillern, for more details). The next phase is a “modular refresh” of components, which is of particular interest to Facebook.  When a new generation of CPUs is available, users can swap out a the CPU tray rather than waiting for an entire new server and motherboard design.

At IDF Beijing, Intel articulated this vision of how rack scale architecture will change how servers are built and refreshed. “Ultimately, the industry will move to subsystem disaggregation where processing, memory and I/O will be completely separated into modular subsystems, making it possible to easily upgrade these subsystems rather than doing a complete system upgrade.”

Separating the processor refresh cycle from other server components would create some interesting possibilities for Intel, which currently works closely with OEMs to coordinate the inclusion of new chips in new server releases. Facebook hardware guru Frank Frankovsky has said the ability to easily swap out processors could transform the way chips are procured at scale, perhaps shifting to a subscription model.

For now, Intel is developing a reference design that utilizes Intel technologies – including Xeon and Atom SoCs, Intel Ethernet switch technology and silicon photonics – that can be used by OEM providers to develop and deliver racks. The company has already developed a design guide for the Open Compute Project featuring intra-rack optical interconnect scheme that utilizes a New Photonic Connector (NPC).

Here’s a slide from Intel’s IDF Beijing presentation that outlines its vision for rack scale architecture (click for a larger image):

Mad Men returned to AMC on Sunday night after much anticipation from die hard fans of the popular series. For those who didn’t get to enjoy the show when it first premiered, AMC made it available to wach online for free.

AMC announced today that the episode is now available to watch on Android, iPhone, and Kindle Fire (for a limited time) via the AMC Mobile app. The episode is two hours long.

“The AMC app will also give you a sneak peek of next week’s episode, a behind-the-scenes video from every episode, and the current broadcast schedule for Mad Men,” the network notes in a blog post.

The next episode airs on Sunday at 10/9c. Here’s a preview:

I don’t think they’ll be giving us that one for free.

Tumblr announced that it is shutting down its Storyboard project. According to reports, the company has laid off the tour-person team behind it.

Storyboard launched last May. Here’s an overview:

Here’s what Tumblr had to say about its demise on its Staff blog:

A year ago, Tumblr did something unprecedented — we created an editorial team of experienced journalists and editors assigned to cover Tumblr as a living, breathing community. The team’s mandate was to tell the stories of Tumblr creators in a truly thoughtful way — focusing on the people, their work, and their stories. The result of this ambitious experiment was Storyboard.

What we’ve accomplished with Storyboard has run its course for now, and our editorial team will be closing up shop and moving on. I want to personally thank them for their great work. And please join us in wishing them well.

Tumblr itself topped 100 million blogs last month. A recent survey indicated that it tops Facebook in usage among teens.

The 2013 National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas this week brought news from Dell, Avere and Arista Networks.

‘Dell Create’ Cloud Service Will Cater to Media & Entertainment Clients. Dell announced Dell Create, a multi-vendor cloud service for content creators, designed to help large broadcast companies, studios, creative shops and other media and entertainment customers dramatically improve their content workflows with a centralized IT environment. The process for Dell Create includes getting an understanding of the customer environment, recommending the best workflow, and then developing a recommendation for an up-to-date networked infrastructure based on customer direction. “Dell Create is based on direct customer feedback and the pain points those customers experience in the workflow process,” said Chad Andrews, Dell Media & Entertainment vertical strategist. “Dell Create offers customers a COMPASS (Collaborative Multi-vendor Platform-as-a-Service) computing model that enables customers to benefit from an ecosystem of best-of-breed vendors that share a pool of common technical resources, dramatically reducing costs and eliminating redundancy.” At NAB 2013, Dell is showcasing its portion of the StudioXperience Sponsored by Intel, where a number of media technology providers have embraced the Dell Create vision.

Avere unveils hybrid storage. Avere Systems unveiled its next generation FXT 3800 hybrid Edge filer, which contains both Flash/Solid State Drive (SSD) media and Serial Attached SCSI hard drives (SAS HDD) and delivers significant performance gains in benchmark testing. With this new hybrid technology, Avere can now automatically tier data across four media types: RAM, SSD, SAS and SATA HDDs, delivering maximum performance for the hottest files, while at the same time moving cold data out of the performance tier and onto SATA to minimize costs and shrink the data storage footprint. “With the new FXT 3800, Avere continues to be on the cutting edge of file system storage innovation and gives companies a new way to think about the way they purchase data storage,” said Benjamin Woo, analyst with Neuralytix. “Customers can now receive the greatest amount of flexibility and choice by leveraging all four media tiers of storage, while defining the performance and efficiency requirements based on the activity of the data.” The Avere FXT 3800 Edge filer contains 144GB of DRAM, 2GB NVRAM and 800GB of SSD to accelerate the read, write and metadata performance of most active data.

Arista selected by EditShare.  Arista Networks  announced that EditShare, Inc. will incorporate Arista 7050T-52, 10GBASE-T, low-latency switches for its networked shared storage architecture and collaborative editing solutions. “With 10GbE it’s like night and day – workstations connecting to EditShare architectures through the Arista 1G/10GBASE-T switches transfer files in a snap” said Andy Liebman, CEO and Founder of EditShare. The 7050T-52 Series switches provide 48 ports of 100/1000/10GBASE-T to server and storage nodes and will support existing connection to 1GbE workstations and to those who migrate to 10GbE.

I’m on record for the past two years saying that larger screened smartphones are what many people want. I saw the light in late 2010 when I tried my first 7-inch tablet. Yes a tablet is very different from a phone, but I still see much convergence and opportunity here. What got me excited? The experience of a highly portable device with larger display made content consumption so much more enjoyable.

Since then we’ve seen flagship smartphones, mostly running Android, with displays first at 4-inches, quickly followed by 4.3 and 4.5-inches, now up to 5-inches and even beyond. You’d think that’s great if people want larger screens on their phones, and according to T-Mobile, 77 percent of their customers do. But can this growth in Android flagship phone displays actually hurt the most used mobile phone platform? It already has lost at least one customer.

See you later, Android!

Sascha Segan at PC Mag is done with Android and screen sizes are the sole reason. After speaking with several phone manufacturers, the issue is one of “moar”, he says: Consumers in the U.S. and Canada equate value with phones packed with as many features and top hardware components as possible. We want more screen space, more functions, more of everything in our mobile devices. So based on the trend of larger screens, Segan isn’t likely to switch back to Android any time soon, if ever. As he put it:

“But the Android world has been seized by the tyranny of moar. To switch back, I need a decent one-handed phone. Like about 25 million other Americans and Canadians, I take public transportation to work, and I really like to play games standing up.”

I know Segan personally as we’re peers in our industry and often see each other at trade shows and launch events. Truth be told, we’re both smaller than average in size. And yet, while I understand his complaint, I’m actually fine with larger devices. Why the difference? I am, and always have been (even with the original iPhone), primarily a two-handed smartphone user.

Could others follow suit? It depends on how big phones get

Regardless, Segan makes an excellent point. In today’s market — and likely for some time — if you want a top o’ the line Android smartphone, you’ll either need hands sized like Andre the Giant (and pants pockets to match) or you’re going to use your handset with two hands in most circumstances. Who knows; small tablets might replace smartphones for many as our perceptions of portability evolve.

There’s an alternative of course: Android phones start getting too big for a large audience and consumers turn to smaller devices that run iOS, Windows Phone or BlackBerry 10. Obviously, one person leaving Android due to flagship phone sizes isn’t even close to being a trend. Looking forward, however, this could become an issue if handset makers continue down this path.

And I see no reason why those who make phones will stop with the “bigger is better” approach to design. The top selling Android phones these days tend to be larger than average. Add in the fact that we now have high-resolution 1080p display panels, and there’s even more room for phone screens to grow.

After all, after a certain pixel density, there’s little benefit to cramming more pixels in a smaller screen. The new 1080p screens should still look just as good to most people on a 6- or 7-inch device as they do on the 4.7-inch HTC One or 5-inch Samsung Galaxy S 4. Maybe “moar” is better for now? If not though, opportunities for Android competitors could get as big as the screen on Android flagship phones.

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Many American schools may be gaga for iPads, but elsewhere Google Apps and Chromebooks’ affordability are winning educators. Today, the search and information giant reveals that Malaysia will roll out Apps to “10 million students, teachers and parents”, Felix Lin, director of product management, explains. “As part of this initiative they are also deploying Chromebooks to primary and secondary schools nationwide”.

In the Malaysian Ministry of Education report, I don’t see this number but reference to 10,000 schools and separate ones identifying “2.9 million students enrolled in primary school” and “2.3 million students enrolled in lower and upper secondary school”. The current, official student tally from the Ministry’s website is 5.23 million students. Including teachers and parents likely explains the larger number.

The technology adoption, which the country hasn’t independently confirmed, is part of a 13-year long program to reform Malaysia’s education system. The report outlining the initiative doesn’t mention Google, Apps or Chromebooks. However, the report is from September and may be out of date.

“In the very near future, every student will have access to a 4G network at their school through 1BestariNet”, according to the report. “This network will serve as the basis for the creation of a virtual learning platform that can be used by teachers, students and parents to share learning resources, run interactive lessons, and communicate virtually”.

However, the country will deploy Acer and Samsung WiFi Chromebooks. Google would give no numbers, but I assume much less than the number for Apps.

That said, the twain are in some ways inseparable. IT specialist Derrick Wlodarz, who writes for BetaNews, asserts “that districts that have already invested in the Google Apps for Education path will naturally have the most seamless integration of Chromebooks”. He identifies benefits to schools:

I personally like the proposition that the Chromebook makes. Just as the Surface potentially affords a school district simple management through Active Directory, Google’s Chromebook takes this same notion and simplifies it a few degrees. Whereas a traditional IT department usually controls policies through Active Directory, a fleet of Chromebooks can be controlled by people with little technical background like teachers or even school execs…

When it comes to installation, Chromebooks require 69 percent less labor. And the biggest eye-opener for educational IT departments has to be the fact that Chromebooks require 92 percent less labor in long term support. With tightening school budgets, these are cost savings that are hard to laugh at.

“To date, more than 3,000 schools worldwide, from Edina, Minnesota to Port England, New Zealand, have deployed Chromebooks”, Lin says. Malaysia could add 10,000 to the number.

We’ll see how much of a ghost town Google+ is tonight when Halle Berry shows up for a hang out to promote the new Brad Anderson flick The Call.

Google+3 hours ago

Have you ever dreamed of meeting famous movie stars? Today you can Hangout with the award-winning actress Halle Berry live from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

The actress will talk to Brazilian fans about her new movie The Call. 

---

Diamond Films Brasil originally shared:
Quer entrevistar a Halle Berry Ao Vivo para todo o Brasil?

Participe da promoção e concorra a fazer parte do Hangout On Air com atriz de Hollywood Halle Berry!

Acesse o site e participe! 106    1 Powered by socialditto

Last year, Berry was injured on the set of the film (which at the time was called The Hive). Now you have something to ask her about.

And of course, there’s always Catwoman.

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk spoke in Austin at the Texas Capitol on Wednesday morning, calling for support of a bill that would make it legal for Tesla to sell its electric cars directly to the public from its own stores. Texas (like some other states) has franchise laws that forbid automakers from operating their own dealerships.

Tesla wrote in a statement:

Electric vehicles simply cannot be sold side by side with gas vehicles because they will always be a minority item in terms of sales and service volume. Existing franchise dealers have an inherent conflict of interest between selling gasoline cars, which constitute the vast majority of their business, and selling the new technology of electric cars.

Tesla’s resistance to the Texas Automobile Dealers Association reminds me of some of the newer transportation companies like Uber, Relay Rides, SideCar and Lyft are facing policy and legal opposition in some cities and states. Per usual, technology and business innovation is moving faster than policy can keep up with it.

Tesla already has two “stores” in Texas where they can show off the cars, but can’t talk about pricing and can’t actually sell anything directly to customers. And in true Tesla and Elon Musk competitive style, the new bill is pretty narrow specific for a company like Tesla. House Bill 3351/Senate Bill 1659, which was filed by Senator Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls) and Representative Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin), permits U.S.-based companies that make 100 percent electric cars (so no hybrids) to sell directly to customers. Tesla says it’s narrow so it affects the dealers as little as possible.

Tesla has been innovating around its stores since it launched the first one years ago. The company hired George Blankenship to lead the store experience, and Blankenship previously helped design Apple’s store experience. Here’s my interview with Blankenship at our RoadMap event November 2012 (RoadMap 2013 info is here).

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Seth Rogen stars in a new video appearing on Funny Or Die called “Seth Rogen = Worst Person in the World”. The video features Rogen “breaking bad” after deciding that doing something charitable means he never has to do anything good again. As an added bonus, Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston makes an appearance.

The video is a promotion for Hilarity For Charity.

Google recently launched Enhanced Campaigns in AdWords, a controversial move in the advertising world. Controversial as they may be, they’re not going away, and Google is encouraging advertisers to upgrade. Either way, upgrades will start happening automatically on July 22.

So if you haven’t gotten your feet wet yet, you may want to pay attention to the webinars on Enhanced Campaigns that Google has been providing. We recently shared one that focused on Google Shopping and Enhanced Campaigns. A new one that Google has provided deals with Enhanced Campaigns on the Google Display Network:

This week, Google announced ad group mobile bid adjustments for Enhanced Campaigns.

On Quora, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales reveals a lot of interesting insight into what makes Jimmy Wales tick.

One time, we learned that psychos keep him from voting in elections. Another time, we found out what he thinks about people who think he has the power to shut down Wikipedia. Recently, we learned that he will probably buy Google Glass.

Today, we see Wales having some Chuck Norris humor fun.

Read Quote of Jimmy Wales’ answer to Jimmy Wales: Is Jimmy Wales the Chuck Norris of Quora? on Quora

You can’t find this stuff on Wikipedia.