By Robert Johnson
March 6th, 2009 - 3:08pm ET
Young Chuck, moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The next day he drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news. The donkey died."
Chuck replied, "Well, then just give me my money back."
The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."
Chuck said, "Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey."
The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with him?"
Chuck said, "I'm going to raffle him off."
The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"
Chuck said, "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."
A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"
Chuck said, "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00."
The farmer said, "Didn't anyone complain?"
Chuck said, "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."
Chuck now works for Morgan Stanley in their OTC Default Derivative Department.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Holiday Savings from WestCoastComputerProducts
WestCoastComputer announces the start of its 10th annual Holiday savings offers. Year end deals on all office and computer supplies.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Log (Press Release) – Dec 02, 2009 – WestCoastComputerProducts,the well know Woodland Hills,California based distributor of office and computer supplies announces the start of its annual Holiday Sale .
For over 10 years now,WestCoastComputer has delivered over 1000 orders per day,from a network of 18 nationwide warehouse locations. With a seasoned staff of professionals to assist in all IT related questions,WestCoastComputer is dedicated to keeping prices low.
With our economy facing unprecedented challenges, we understand
how important it is to have value-based business relationships. You will
find that WestCoastComputer offers much more than just great pricing!
Items that will be of interest for year end office managers are toner & ink supplies, as well as magnetic media backup tapes. WestCoastComputer is well known for its rock bottom prices on optical discs .
WestCoastComputer maintains a close relationship with all major brands,including HP,Xerox,Verbatim,Sony and Imation .
The annual Sale continues thru December 31 2009 .
Visitors may access savings at the corporate website at www.WestCoastComputer.com
# # #
Based in Southern California, West Coast Computer Products has been providing a full line of over 75,000 Office products, including Data Storage, Imaging & Ink products and Janitorial supplies since 1996 .
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Friday, August 21, 2009
Analyst sees upside for chip makers in HP results
Analyst sees upside for chip makers in HP results
Dylan McGrath
Page 1 of 2
EE Times
(08/19/2009 11:43 AM EDT)
SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard Co.'s net profit fell considerably in the company's fiscal third quarter, but a financial analyst said the results—including a 2 percent year-to-year increase in PC sales and possibly record inventory lows—bode well for semiconductor suppliers.
HP (Palo Alto, Calif.) saw its GAAP net profit for the quarter ended July 31 fall 19 percent as a record $1.3 billion profit from services and double-digit sales growth in China were not enough to offset revenue declines in PC, software and servers, the company said Tuesday (Aug. 19).
"The PC supply chain has reached the leanest levels of inventory ever, in our opinion," wrote FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger in a research noted circulated Wednesday. Any seasonal uptick in demand should lead to a healthy chip pull through in the third and fourth quarters of calendar 2009, Berger wrote.
Companies such as Marvell, International Rectifier, LSI Corp., Fairchild Semiconductor and ON Semiconductor "should benefit from improving PC demand in 3Q and grow that portion of business in the high-single-to-low double digits sequentially," Berger wrote.
PC hardware and storage days of inventory (excluding Dell) fell by one day in the calendar second quarter and are now slightly below all-time trough levels set in the third quarter of 2004 and the third quarter of 2007, according to Berger.
Berger also said that analog chip stocks should benefit from stronger-than-expected quarterly results reported by Analog Devices Inc. Tuesday.
HP said its quarterly net revenue fell to $27.5 billion, down 2 percent from the year-ago period. Revenue was up 4 percent when adjusted for the effects of currency fluctuations, according to the company.
HP posted net earnings of $1.6 billion, or 67 cents per share, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), down from $2 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter, the company said.
Non-GAAP operating profit was $3 billion, or 91 cents per share, up from 86 cents per share in the prior-year period, HP said.. Non-GAAP financial information excludes $568 million of adjustments on an after-tax basis, or $0.24 per diluted share, related primarily to amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges, HP said.
CEO says business stabilizing
"Business is stabilizing, and we are confident that HP will be an early beneficiary of an economic turnaround and will continue to outperform when conditions improve," said Mark Hurd, HP chairman and CEO, in a statement.
Revenue grew 8 percent year-to-year in the Americas to $12.6 billion, HP said. Revenue in China grew by double-digit percentage, HP said, but declined in other regions of the world. Revenue from outside of the U.S. accounted for 62 percent of total revenue, HP said.
Services revenue increased 93% to $8.5 billion due primarily to last year's acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Inc. (EDS), HP said. Services perating profit was $1.3 billion, or 15.2 percent of revenue, up from $567 million, or 12.9 percent of revenue, in the prior-year period, HP said. The EDS integration is tracking ahead of plan, the company said.
HP's Enterprise Storage and Servers business reported total revenue of $3.7 billion, down 23 percent year-to-year, the company said. Software revenue declined 22 percent to $847 million, HP said, while revenue from its Personal Systems Group fell 18 percent to $8.4 billion. HP remains the No. 1 supplier of PCs worldwide.
Imaging and Printing Group revenue declined 20 percent to $5.7 billion, HP said.
HP projected revenue for the current quarter to be about $29.7 billion, which would be an increase of 8 percent sequentially.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Apple working on software fix for MacBook Pro hard drives
Owners of Apple MacBook Pro notebooks with 7200rpm 500GB hard drives have been complaining for months of clicking sounds followed by temporary stalling. According to Apple, a fix is in the works.
"We are aware of the issue and are working on a software update," Apple representative Bill Evans, told CNET News on Monday. He gave no time frame for the release of the software update.
People have been reporting that they hear a beep from the computer shortly before the hard drive clicks and then the computer stops responding. The computer is unresponsive for 10 seconds or so and then begins to work normally again.
The hard drive issue does not require the user to force-reboot the computer, which would cause any unsaved work to be lost. Simply waiting out the unresponsive system apparently works every time.
There doesn't appear to be any specific task that triggers the hard drive to enter its unresponsive state. Users on Apple's support forums are reporting that it seems to be completely random and doesn't matter where they are or what they are doing when it happens.
It does appear that the issue only affects the 500GB hard drives that run at 7200rpm.
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. A guitar player for 20 years, Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to write and record songs on a Macintosh with Logic Pro and Pro Tools. Jim is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Acronis launches Backup & Recovery 10
Staff Writers | Jul 8, 2009
The disaster recovery solution combines data deduplication, support for virtual environments, and centralised management features.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 is the next generation of the Acronis True Image solutions and supports virtual environments from VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xensource and Parallels.
The product includes a host-based Virtual Machine (VM) backup agent, enabling backup and restore of live VMs through VMware ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V APIs without installing a client in each VM.
"Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 is introduced as a comprehensive, feature-rich enterprise-level solution but priced for SMBs, which fits nicely in the A/NZ market where majority of the businesses are SMBs," said Bill Taylor-Mountford, general manager Acronis A/NZ (pictured).
"They can now take advantage of an enterprise-class service, an affordable price point and significant cost savings in an easy-to-use package."
Taylor-Mountford said some of his regional customers were involved in the beta testing process.
"The feedback was exceptionally positive. We are very confident our partners will have an even stronger second half of the year with this new offering," he said.
The solution can scale thousands of machines, enabling an IT administrator to design and execute a backup strategy to match the growth of a business.
The disaster recovery solution combines data deduplication, support for virtual environments, and centralised management features.
Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 is the next generation of the Acronis True Image solutions and supports virtual environments from VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xensource and Parallels.
The product includes a host-based Virtual Machine (VM) backup agent, enabling backup and restore of live VMs through VMware ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V APIs without installing a client in each VM.
"Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 is introduced as a comprehensive, feature-rich enterprise-level solution but priced for SMBs, which fits nicely in the A/NZ market where majority of the businesses are SMBs," said Bill Taylor-Mountford, general manager Acronis A/NZ (pictured).
"They can now take advantage of an enterprise-class service, an affordable price point and significant cost savings in an easy-to-use package."
Taylor-Mountford said some of his regional customers were involved in the beta testing process.
"The feedback was exceptionally positive. We are very confident our partners will have an even stronger second half of the year with this new offering," he said.
The solution can scale thousands of machines, enabling an IT administrator to design and execute a backup strategy to match the growth of a business.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
SanDisk, Samsung renew semiconductor agreements
SanDisk, Samsung sign agreements on chip cross-licensing and flash memory
* The Associated Press
* On Wednesday May 27, 2009, 11:09 am EDT
SanDisk Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that they renewed their semiconductor cross-licensing agreement and struck a deal guaranteeing SanDisk a portion of Samsung's flash memory output.
The deal replaces an agreement that expires August 14 and runs for seven years.
The announcement sent shares of SanDisk, based in Milpitas, Calif., up $2.15, or 15.8 percent, to $15.72 in morning trading.
The companies did not disclose financial details of the arrangement.
South Korea-based Samsung is the world's largest supplier of NAND, a type of flash memory used in cell phones and digital cameras. The company offered last year to buy SanDisk for $26 a share. SanDisk rebuffed the offer and Samsung pulled out of its bid in October, after months of negotiations.
* The Associated Press
* On Wednesday May 27, 2009, 11:09 am EDT
SanDisk Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that they renewed their semiconductor cross-licensing agreement and struck a deal guaranteeing SanDisk a portion of Samsung's flash memory output.
The deal replaces an agreement that expires August 14 and runs for seven years.
The announcement sent shares of SanDisk, based in Milpitas, Calif., up $2.15, or 15.8 percent, to $15.72 in morning trading.
The companies did not disclose financial details of the arrangement.
South Korea-based Samsung is the world's largest supplier of NAND, a type of flash memory used in cell phones and digital cameras. The company offered last year to buy SanDisk for $26 a share. SanDisk rebuffed the offer and Samsung pulled out of its bid in October, after months of negotiations.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Samsung expands memory cards to 32GB
By Lucas Mearian, Computerworld (US)
**********************************************************
Samsung has announced a 32GB NAND memory card, the highest-density embedded memory card to date and one that offers twice the capacity of previous cards.
Samsung's 32GB moviNAND card is the first embedded memory card to use 32Gbit chips based on 30-nanometer lithography technology. Current moviNAND cards use 16Gbit chips based on 40nm-class technology.
Each 32GB moviNAND device incorporates eight Samsung 30nm-class 32Gb NAND chips, a multimedia card (MMC) controller and firmware. Samsung's 30nm moviNAND card is also available in 16GB, 8GB and 4GB capacities.
Due to an explosion in the amount of personal data stored on mobile devices, the use of higher-capacity memory cards is expected to grow exponentially in the next four years. Research firm iSupply expects an eight-fold growth in 32GB and larger memory cards by 2013.
About 120 million 16Gbit NAND-based cards have shipped to data, about 13 percent of global memory card shipments. By 2013, 950 million cards are expected to have shipped, making up 72 percent of the total world shipments, according to iSupply.
The new cards are aimed at high-end phones, music players and other mobile consumer electronics. Samsung said the higher-capacity cards offer better performance for processing and storing large amounts of multimedia content such as videos, video games and TV broadcasts.
Samsung's proprietary moviNAND chip uses a high-speed interface jointly developed by JEDEC and MMCA (MultiMediaCard Association) and the eMMCv4.3 specification that includes a power-on feature that reduces boot-up time and a sleep command to cut power consumption.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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Monday, April 27, 2009
Optical disc offers 500GB storage
A disc that can store 500 gigabytes (GB) of data, equivalent to 100 DVDs, has been unveiled by General Electric.
The micro-holographic disc, which is the same size as existing DVD discs, is aimed at the archive industry.
But the company believes it can eventually be used in the consumer market place and home players.
Blu-ray discs, which are used to store high definition movies and games, can currently hold between 25GB and 50GB.
Micro-holographic discs can store more data than DVDs or Blu-ray because they store information on the disc in three dimensions, rather than just pits on the surface of the disc
A single GE disc could be used to package up a library of high definition movies but is there pent-up consumer demand for such an offering?
News website Technology editor Darren Waters
Read more on the Dot.Life blog
The challenge for this area of technology has been to increase the reflectivity of the holograms that are stored on the discs so that players can be used to both read and write to the discs.
Brian Lawrence, who leads GE's Holographic Storage said on the GE Research blog: "Very recently, the team at GE has made dramatic improvements in the materials enabling significant increases in the amount of light that can be reflected by the holograms."
More capacity
The higher reflectivity that can be achieved, the more capacity for the disc. While the technology is still in the laboratory stage, GE believes it will take off because players can be built which are backwards compatible with existing DVD and Blu-ray technologies.
In a statement the firm said: "The hardware and formats are so similar to current optical storage technology that the micro-holographic players will enable consumers to play back their CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs."
''GE's breakthrough is a huge step toward bringing our next generation holographic storage technology to the everyday consumer,'' said Mr Lawrence in a statement.
He added: "The day when you can store your entire high definition movie collection on one disc and support high resolution formats like 3D television is closer than you think.''
Micro-holographic technology has been one of the leading areas of research for storage experts for decades. Discs are seen as a reliable and effective form of storage and are both consumer and retail friendly.
However, General Electric will need to work with hardware manufacturers if it is to bring the technology to the consumer market.
The relatively modest adoption of Blu-ray discs sales globally might be an issue with some companies who believe digital distribution and cloud computing is the long-term answer to content delivery and storage.
"This is truly a breakthrough in the development of the materials that are so critical to ultimately bringing holographic storage to the everyday consumer," said Mr Lawrence.
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Seagate 'green' HDD saves power with slower spin
Barracuda claims top spot for economy hard disks.
John E. Dunn, Techworld
22 April 2009
Barracuda claims top spot for economy hard disks.
John E. Dunn, Techworld
22 April 2009
Advertisement
Seagate has launched a ‘green' hard drive it says will allow system builders to slash disk power consumption without having to sacrifice performance.
The new SATA II Barracuda Low Power (LP) drive is physically identical to a standard 3.5 inch Barracuda desktop drive running at 7,200rpm, but special firmware slows the spin speed to a more economical 5,900rpm. Running more slowly reduces performance to some extent, but delivers less noise and less heat, which in turn allow system builders to use reduce the spec and cost on PC components such as fans and power supplies (PSUs).
However, the big pay-off is a reduction in drive power consumption of more than 40 percent. In an idle state the Barracuda LP uses 3 watts, or 5.6 watts while operating, which compares to the current Barracuda 7,200rpm's 5.0 watts in idle mode and 8.4 watts operating.
Seagate claims the drive also makes better trade-offs than rival ‘green' drive designs; Seagate figures showed Samsung's recently launched Eco Green using a whisker less power while operating - 5.5 watts to the Barracuda LP's 5.6 watts - but only at the cost of reducing spin speed and performance to 5,400rpm. Western Digital's Caviar Green used slightly more, 5.72 watts, although this is from a 5,400rpm design that first appeared almost two years ago.
The drive will be sold in capacities of 1.0TB, 1.5TB and 2.0TB, which means it will turn up initially in external USB and network-attached storage (NAS) drives, sectors that have become increasingly preoccupied with the issue of power consumption and heat dissipation. The benefits would be less pronounced for a desktop system in which the drive is only one component, but such drives clearly had a good future in the emerging niche of the low-power business PC, Seagate said.
"Growing demand for power-efficient computing systems is not just a data centre phenomenon as more builders of external storage devices, desktop PCs and home networking systems work to provide customers with products that combine power-efficiency with rock-solid performance," said Seagate vice president Joan Motsinger.
Seagate estimates that 95 percent of its 3.5 inch drive sales are for 7,200rpm drives, with higher-speed drives making up the remainder. The company would not be drawn on what sort of impression the arrival of the Barracuda LP might make on this market balance.
Pricing is $258 (approx £176) for the 2.0 terabyte model, with the 1.5 terabyte and 1.0 terabyte models costing $156 and $118 respectively.
This article was printed from Techworld : www.techworld.com
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Monday, April 13, 2009
Super Talent Announces RAIDDrive SSD with up to 2TB Capacity
Super Talent has announced its latest SSD development with a new patented product called RAIDDrive. RAIDDrive promises to increase the performance and slot capacity of PCI Express based storage solutions with up to 2TB of MLC or SLC NAND flash memory inside.
Super Talent says that the RAIDDrive is the markets largest server-based SSD solution and is an extension of its RAIDSSD product line. The RAIDDrive has a "turbocharged" DRAM cache and the RAIDDrive ES model for enterprise servers has a full battery backup for protection of data in a power loss situation. The RAIDDrive comes in three models, including the ES version and a WS version for workstations along with a GS version for gamers.
All of the drives connect to a PC with a PCIe 2.0 x8 interface and promise to deliver read speeds of up to 1.2GB/s with sequential wire speeds of up to 1.3GB/s. Super Talent says that it will reveal more performance details in June when the drives are officially available.
The maker also says that an optional feature of the series will allow the drives to be configured with internal RAID5 capability for extra data protection. The RAIDDrive ES is aimed at enterprise servers performing intensive applications like database transaction processing, business intelligence and virtualization. The WS model is aimed at workstation use for tasks including animation, video editing, oil/gas exploration, and CAD. The GS version is for gamers looking for a faster IO subsystem.
Super Talent COO, CH Lee said in a statement, "We are proud of the innovative intellectual property that our outstanding engineering team has developed. The RAIDDrive is just the latest in a series of patented products which enable us to provide differentiated products to our customers."
Super Talent says that the RAIDDrive is the markets largest server-based SSD solution and is an extension of its RAIDSSD product line. The RAIDDrive has a "turbocharged" DRAM cache and the RAIDDrive ES model for enterprise servers has a full battery backup for protection of data in a power loss situation. The RAIDDrive comes in three models, including the ES version and a WS version for workstations along with a GS version for gamers.
All of the drives connect to a PC with a PCIe 2.0 x8 interface and promise to deliver read speeds of up to 1.2GB/s with sequential wire speeds of up to 1.3GB/s. Super Talent says that it will reveal more performance details in June when the drives are officially available.
The maker also says that an optional feature of the series will allow the drives to be configured with internal RAID5 capability for extra data protection. The RAIDDrive ES is aimed at enterprise servers performing intensive applications like database transaction processing, business intelligence and virtualization. The WS model is aimed at workstation use for tasks including animation, video editing, oil/gas exploration, and CAD. The GS version is for gamers looking for a faster IO subsystem.
Super Talent COO, CH Lee said in a statement, "We are proud of the innovative intellectual property that our outstanding engineering team has developed. The RAIDDrive is just the latest in a series of patented products which enable us to provide differentiated products to our customers."
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Laser Printers Emit Toxic Micro Dust.
Reprinted from:
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer.
NaturalNews.com
NaturalNews) A new study from researchers at the Queensland Institute of Technology has shed some light on exactly what factors lead laser printers to emit toxic particles into the air, making them the single most polluting piece of equipment in the typical office.
The same research team that initially showed the threat from laser printers conducted a study comparing two different printer models, the HP 2200 and the HP 1320n. They found that the dangerous particulates emitted by printers are apparently produced by an interaction between volatile organic compounds, ozone and heat.
Individual components of each printer, such as fuser rollers and toner, were heated separately in furnaces so that researchers could observe how they emitted particulates or VOCs in response to heat. They found that each component had a given threshhold under which emissions were nearly nil, a higher threshhold at which only VOCs were emitted, and yet another at which both VOCs and particulates were produced. This threshhold ranged between 100 and 200 degrees Celsius (for a used roller and for lubricating oil, respectively).
The researchers also operated the printers in different settings to measure either the nature of particles emitted or to measure how long the particles persisted. They determined that the HP 1320n emitted roughly 100,000 percent more particulate than the HP 2200, largely due to a different pattern of particulate release. While the HP 2200 reached peak particulate emissions within only a minute, the rate of emission dropped drastically after that. In contrast, the HP 1320n also reached maximum emissions in less than a minute, but that peak was much higher than the 2200s and emissions essentially remained elevated until the end of the print job.
Toner or paper type had only limited effect on VOC or particulate emissions, leading the researchers to conclude that printer design -- namely the level of temperature control -- is the biggest predictor of emissions levels.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer.
NaturalNews.com
NaturalNews) A new study from researchers at the Queensland Institute of Technology has shed some light on exactly what factors lead laser printers to emit toxic particles into the air, making them the single most polluting piece of equipment in the typical office.
The same research team that initially showed the threat from laser printers conducted a study comparing two different printer models, the HP 2200 and the HP 1320n. They found that the dangerous particulates emitted by printers are apparently produced by an interaction between volatile organic compounds, ozone and heat.
Individual components of each printer, such as fuser rollers and toner, were heated separately in furnaces so that researchers could observe how they emitted particulates or VOCs in response to heat. They found that each component had a given threshhold under which emissions were nearly nil, a higher threshhold at which only VOCs were emitted, and yet another at which both VOCs and particulates were produced. This threshhold ranged between 100 and 200 degrees Celsius (for a used roller and for lubricating oil, respectively).
The researchers also operated the printers in different settings to measure either the nature of particles emitted or to measure how long the particles persisted. They determined that the HP 1320n emitted roughly 100,000 percent more particulate than the HP 2200, largely due to a different pattern of particulate release. While the HP 2200 reached peak particulate emissions within only a minute, the rate of emission dropped drastically after that. In contrast, the HP 1320n also reached maximum emissions in less than a minute, but that peak was much higher than the 2200s and emissions essentially remained elevated until the end of the print job.
Toner or paper type had only limited effect on VOC or particulate emissions, leading the researchers to conclude that printer design -- namely the level of temperature control -- is the biggest predictor of emissions levels.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Google Voice: A Dutiful but Klutzy Secretary
By COURTNEY BANKS,WSJ. 04/06/09
(See Correction & Amplification below)
At 10:24 p.m., a message pops up in my Gmail inbox: hey tony it's emily calling i just wanted to talk to you and i also wanted to see if you had alrighty the it's my started lunch because we need to know how many people are coming.
No, it's not a straggler that survived the spam filter: it's a voicemail message from my sister, Emily—freshly transcribed and delivered to my Gmail inbox. The "Tony" in question is me, Courtney (the cyber transcriber has particular difficulty with my first name).
I'm a bit confused about what the rest of the message means, till I click on the embedded sound file and learn that Emily wants to know if I've RSVP'd to her sorority's upcoming brunch. A few more clicks and I've responded to Emily with a text message—without fishing my cell out of my purse or dialing a number.
video
Worth It?: Google Voice
2:54
WSJ's Courtney Banks reviews Google Voice, a new phone-management service that offers voice mail transcription, international calling and a dedicated phone number for multiple phones.
This is courtesy Google Voice, a free calling and voicemail application that Google launched (to a limited group of subscribers) in mid-March. Google Voice operates under the premise that you don't need multiple telephone identities in order to have the convenience of more than one phone. Instead of calling your home phone, work number, cell, or smartphone, people can simply dial your "Google number," which then rings all or some of your phones (up to six).
You determine which callers reach which phones (i.e., if your mom calls, your cell and home phone ring; your boss goes to your Blackberry; an overly ardent admirer goes straight to voicemail). Google Voice also records, transcribes, e-mails, and archives your voice messages, lets you send texts from the Web, offers free U.S. and cheap long distance calling, and allows you to control how and when you take a call.
I spent a week testing the beta-version of Google Voice to see how well it achieves the revolution of simplicity and efficiency it promises.
The online interface is similar to Gmail's, and I can only assume that once fully launched, Voice will join its fellow Google family members—Calendar, Documents, etc.—at the top of your Gmail inbox for easy access. Once set up with my account, I entered the "real" phone numbers that I wanted to ring when people called my Google number. I added a few contacts, sent out a mass text alerting friends and family to my new Google number, and waited for the phone to ring.
[Google Voice]
A few minutes later, my phone starts to buzz; "Unknown Number" flashes on the caller ID. I answer, and a woman's voice announces: "Call from: Mom. To accept, press 1. ." You can set your preferences so that unlisted callers are asked to identify themselves before the call goes through.
Since I'm at work, I direct my mother to voicemail, but I decide to listen in first to see if her message is urgent. This feature allows your voicemail to function like your home answering machine: you can listen while the caller leaves a message, and opt to pick up. A minute later, the voicemail transcription and sound file arrive in my inbox.
The actual transcription (which is done by computer) is far from flawless—it doesn't seem like Google has assigned its most accurate automated typists to the task. Most messages I got looked something like the one above: I could make out the gist but only about 75 percent of the words were accurate. A message from my roommate Monique began, "Hey Connie it's Bernie."
Voicemail transcription is not novel, and a few other companies offer the service at a fee. To compare, I tested YouMail, which has several subscription levels ranging from $3.99 per month for basic service to $329 for a year of premium transcription. YouMail uses human transcribers, and the accuracy was near dead-on. Like Google Voice, YouMail sends the transcription as a text message straight to your phone.
Google Voice also offers free calling within the U.S., and extremely competitive rates for calls abroad (two cents a minute for much of Europe, China, and Japan). Google connects the international call and debits the cost from your Google account; your phone bill registers it as a local call. I called Vienna from my cell phone and was only charged a few pennies. I even checked my cell phone records to be sure.
Google Voice is like having your own personal switchboard operator and a dutiful but klutzy secretary. However, if you don't have phones literally dropping out of your pockets, the total switchover to Google Voice may be more trouble than it's worth. Many people, myself included, won't be too keen to take on yet another new phone number, train people to call them on it, and remember to dial the extra digits to make outgoing calls (so the Google number will register on the recipient's caller ID).
I don't deny that Google Voice has some brilliant features, many of which I'll use—I'm just skeptical whether it's brilliant enough to inspire a mass conversion.
Write to Courtney Banks at cfb2101@gmail.com
Friday, April 3, 2009
SYMANTEC AND THE CONFICKER WORM
SEFUL PRODUCT INFORMATION: SYMANTEC AND THE CONFICKER WORM :
There has been a lot of news about the Conficker Worm this week and Symantec is on the front lines in protecting internet user’s private information from this malicious software. Here is some useful copy you can use for your sites to let customers know what they can do to protect themselves against the latest in internet threats.
Sometimes called Downadup or Kido, the Conficker Worm has infected a large number of computers around the world. As yet, not much is known about the virus or what it is specifically set to do but some researchers estimate that millions of computers have been infected with the threat since January. Current users of Symantec’s Norton security products are protected.
With the latest versions of Norton AntiVirus 2009, Norton Internet Security 2009, and Norton 360 Version 3.0, internet users can protect themselves against Conficker. If customers are unable to reach Symantec’s web site, they may already be infected. In that case, they will need to get to a computer that is not infected, download their specialized Conficker removal tool and run it on the infected machine before installing new antivirus software.
The Conficker worm allows its creators to remotely install software on infected machines but no one is exactly sure what it will do. What is assumed is that the worm will be used to create a botnet that will be rented out to criminals who want to send SPAM, steal IDs and direct users to online scams and phishing sites.
The worm mostly spreads across networks. If it finds a vulnerable computer, it turns off the automatic backup service, deletes previous restore points, disables many security services, blocks access to a number of security web sites and opens infected machines to receive additional programs from the malware’s creator. The worm then tries to spread itself to other computers on the same network.
The Conficker Worm specifically targets all users of Windows XP and Window Vista. Mac and Linux users are not vulnerable to this software.
Computers that are not configured to receive patches and updates from Microsoft and who are not running an up to date antivirus product are most at risk. Users who do not have a genuine version of Windows from Microsoft are most at risk since pirated systems usually cannot get Microsoft updates and patches.
Advice to Stay Safe from the Downadup Worm:
• Run a good security suite (like Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton 360 Version 3.0)
• Keep your computer updated with the latest patches. If you don’t know how to do this, have someone help you set your system to update itself.
• Don’t use ‘free’ security scans that pop up on many web sites. All too often these are fake, using scare tactics to try to get you to purchase their ‘full’ service. In many cases these are actually infecting you while they run. There is reason to believe that the creators of the Conficker worm are associated with some of these fake security products.
• Turn off the ‘autorun’ feature that will automatically run programs found on memory sticks and other USB devices.
• Be smart with your passwords. This includes:
o Change your passwords periodically
o Use complex passwords – no simple names or words, use special characters and numbers
o Using a separate, longer password for each site that has sensitive personal information or access to your bank accounts or credit cards
• Use a password management system such as Identity Safe (included in Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton 360 Version 3.0) to track your passwords and to fill out forms automatically.
• Run Norton Internet Security 2009, Norton AntiVirus 2009 or Norton 360 Version 3.0. You can also try Norton Security Scan.
Check out Symantec on CBS’s 60 Minutes from last Sunday: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4901282n
**************************************************************************************
SECURE ONLINE BACKUP FROM WESTCOASTCOMPUTER.COM & IBACKUP
There has been a lot of news about the Conficker Worm this week and Symantec is on the front lines in protecting internet user’s private information from this malicious software. Here is some useful copy you can use for your sites to let customers know what they can do to protect themselves against the latest in internet threats.
Sometimes called Downadup or Kido, the Conficker Worm has infected a large number of computers around the world. As yet, not much is known about the virus or what it is specifically set to do but some researchers estimate that millions of computers have been infected with the threat since January. Current users of Symantec’s Norton security products are protected.
With the latest versions of Norton AntiVirus 2009, Norton Internet Security 2009, and Norton 360 Version 3.0, internet users can protect themselves against Conficker. If customers are unable to reach Symantec’s web site, they may already be infected. In that case, they will need to get to a computer that is not infected, download their specialized Conficker removal tool and run it on the infected machine before installing new antivirus software.
The Conficker worm allows its creators to remotely install software on infected machines but no one is exactly sure what it will do. What is assumed is that the worm will be used to create a botnet that will be rented out to criminals who want to send SPAM, steal IDs and direct users to online scams and phishing sites.
The worm mostly spreads across networks. If it finds a vulnerable computer, it turns off the automatic backup service, deletes previous restore points, disables many security services, blocks access to a number of security web sites and opens infected machines to receive additional programs from the malware’s creator. The worm then tries to spread itself to other computers on the same network.
The Conficker Worm specifically targets all users of Windows XP and Window Vista. Mac and Linux users are not vulnerable to this software.
Computers that are not configured to receive patches and updates from Microsoft and who are not running an up to date antivirus product are most at risk. Users who do not have a genuine version of Windows from Microsoft are most at risk since pirated systems usually cannot get Microsoft updates and patches.
Advice to Stay Safe from the Downadup Worm:
• Run a good security suite (like Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton 360 Version 3.0)
• Keep your computer updated with the latest patches. If you don’t know how to do this, have someone help you set your system to update itself.
• Don’t use ‘free’ security scans that pop up on many web sites. All too often these are fake, using scare tactics to try to get you to purchase their ‘full’ service. In many cases these are actually infecting you while they run. There is reason to believe that the creators of the Conficker worm are associated with some of these fake security products.
• Turn off the ‘autorun’ feature that will automatically run programs found on memory sticks and other USB devices.
• Be smart with your passwords. This includes:
o Change your passwords periodically
o Use complex passwords – no simple names or words, use special characters and numbers
o Using a separate, longer password for each site that has sensitive personal information or access to your bank accounts or credit cards
• Use a password management system such as Identity Safe (included in Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton 360 Version 3.0) to track your passwords and to fill out forms automatically.
• Run Norton Internet Security 2009, Norton AntiVirus 2009 or Norton 360 Version 3.0. You can also try Norton Security Scan.
Check out Symantec on CBS’s 60 Minutes from last Sunday: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4901282n
**************************************************************************************
SECURE ONLINE BACKUP FROM WESTCOASTCOMPUTER.COM & IBACKUP
Monday, March 30, 2009
Leaving PCs on overnight costs companies $2.8B a year
SAN FRANCISCO — Even during an economic meltdown, when companies are scrambling to cut costs, businesses are wasting billions of dollars by leaving their PCs on at night.
U.S. organizations squander $2.8 billion a year to power unused machines, emitting about 20 million tons of carbon dioxide — roughly the equivalent of 4 million cars — according to a report to be released Wednesday.
About half of 108 million office PCs in the USA are not properly shut down at night, says the 2009 PC Energy Report, produced by 1E, an energy-management software company, and the non-profit Alliance to Save Energy. The report analyzed workplace PC power consumption in the USA, United Kingdom and Germany.
Wastefulness does not just affect a company's bottom line, it creates environmental concerns, the report says. If the world's 1 billion PCs were powered down just one night, it would save enough energy to light the Empire State Building — inside and out — for over 30 years, it says.
"Workers do not feel responsible for electricity bills at work, and some companies insist PCs remain on at night so they can be patched with software updates," says 1E CEO Sumir Karayi. He says 63% of employees surveyed said their companies should take more steps to save PC power.
"It is scary how much energy is wasted," says Michael Murphy, senior manager of global environmental affairs at Dell, a business partner and customer of 1E. It has used 1E software to efficiently manage its 50,000 PCs globally, saving about $1.8 million a year.
Simply shutting down PCs at night can save a company with 10,000 PCs over $260,000 a year and 1,871 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the report says.
"PCs can be a tremendous drain on electricity," says Doug Washburn, an analyst at Forrester Research. "During a nine-hour workday, it isn't always in use because of lunch, meetings and other things."
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Friday, March 27, 2009
SANDISK intros world's first Button Backup USB flash drive
EW DELHI, INDIA: SanDisk Corporation today launched an innovative new family of SanDisk USB flash drives in India, including the world's first backup USB flash drive with simple backup software activation at the touch of a button.
The SanDisk Ultra Backup USB is the first offering of the company's new SanDisk Ultra USB product line. With capacities up to 64 gigabytes1 (GB), the SanDisk Ultra Backup USB flash drive is designed to protect computer users' photos, music, videos, personal and business documents, and other types of digital files, with the simple touch of a button without the need for any software installation. The drive protects onboard digital content with a dual layer of security, including password-protected access control and ultra-secure AES hardware-based encryption.
The new SanDisk USB product family includes three different product lines:
* The SanDisk Ultra Backup USB flash drive offers the added protection and peace of mind that consumers expect from the minds behind flash memory.
* The popular SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drive which provides simple, reliable and portable storage, plus access to a variety of U3 applications.
* The SanDisk Extreme Contour provides increased security protection and higher performance levels, enclosed in a sleek, elegant industrial design.
SanDisk Ultra Backup USB Flash Drive: Back up critical files with the simple touch of a button With no cables required, or any complicated software to install, the new SanDisk Ultra Backup USB flash drive is a complete backup solution that provides an incredibly easy way to protect digital files. It uses patent-pending backup technology with capacities up to 64GB, large enough to back up average consumer requirements, as well as critical small business files and documents. In addition to one's digital personal life, these products protect critical work files with a dual layer of both password protection and AES hardware encryption. This ensures content stays private and secure (via data scrambling at the flash controller level) when the drives are either physically removed for portability, or stored away for safe keeping.
The explosion in global sales of laptops and mobile devices has exponentially increased the vulnerability of digital files. Computer users can quickly lose precious photos, music, videos and professional work files due to drops, spills, theft, viruses and other incidents. PC Magazine (www.pcmag.com) conducted a research study on annualized notebook failure rates published in July 2008 which found that more than 24 percent of business notebooks need repair each year due to failures.
Visit us again today at : www.WestCoastComputer.com
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Samsung: Solid state will match hard-drive price
Samsung expects solid-state drives to reach price parity with hard-disk drives within the next few years amid steep annual price declines in flash memory chips.
Solid-state drives, which use flash memory chips as the storage medium, typically offer much better performance than hard-disk drives. But they cost more. Currently, opting for an SSD instead of a hard-disk drive will add anywhere between $100 and $600 to the cost of a laptop, depending on the capacity of the SSD.
Dell's Alienware Area-51 laptop (above) and Dell's Studio XPS 16 come with a 256GB solid-state drive option
Dell's Alienware Area-51 laptop (above) and Dell's Studio XPS 16 come with a 256GB solid-state drive option
(Credit: Dell)
In a phone interview, Brian Beard, flash marketing manager for Samsung Semiconductor, said reaching price parity with hard-disk drives is just a matter of time. "Flash memory in the last five years has come down 40, 50, 60 percent per year," he said. "Flash on a dollar-per-gigabyte basis will reach price parity, at some point, with hard disk drives in the next few years." Samsung makes both SSDs and HDDs.
Beard explained why a cost gap persists between solid-state drives and hard-disk drives. "The difference in cost is fundamentally very different. A hard drive has a fixed cost of $40 or $50 for the spindle, the motors, the PCB (printed circuit board), the cables," he said. "To make the hard drive spin faster (increase speed) or to add capacity doesn't really add a lot of incremental cost to the drive." (The price for most laptop-class hard-disk drives on the market is between $60 and $100 at retail, Beard said.)
"When you contrast this with SSDs, they also have a fixed cost for the PCB and the case and the controller, which is lower than the fixed cost of a hard drive," according to Beard. "But as you scale the capacity of the SSD up, the cost scales linearly. For example, if the spot price of the flash chip itself is $2, a 64GB drive is going to cost $128 just for the flash and then you would add the fixed cost of the PCB and the case, he said. So, the cost will double as you double the capacity, according to Beard.
This argument, however, works in favor of lower solid-state drive pricing too--as flash memory prices drop and densities and capacities increase. And Beard added that "there's a lot of pressure for OEMs (PC makers) to match the price to the traditional pricing in the hard-drive industry." Samsung is also a PC maker and faces the same pressures.
And what will happen to the price of SSDs this year? "The rest of the year is quite unpredictable. Because the SSD price is directly tied to the price of flash, no one knows. Everyone is just giving their best guess as to what will happen in the flash market," he said. To date, flash memory prices have dropped so much that chipmakers can't make money.
"Every major flash manufacturer posted major losses in Q4. So flash and SSD manufacturers are under a lot of pressure to make a profit," Beard said.
Where is the price-per-gigabyte sweet spot for solid-state drives going to be later this year? "On the business side, the sweet spot is 64(GB) moving to 128. On the consumer side it's definitely 128 moving to 256," he said.
Samsung SSDs with a capacity of 256GB have been shipping since January. Dell offers these drives in some laptop models already. 256GB drives are just now "rolling out into mass production," Beard said. "We'll start shipping it to some of our smaller customers about right now."
Note: Currently, on a Dell Studio XPS 16, opting for a 128GB SSD instead of a 7200rpm 320GB HDD adds $200 to the price of the system. Opting for a 256GB SSD adds $400.
Brooke Crothers is a former editor at large at CNET News.com, and has been an editor for the Asian weekly version of the Wall Street Journal. He writes for the CNET Blog Network, and is not a current employee of CNET. Contact him at mbcrothers@gmail.com. Disclosure.
Solid-state drives, which use flash memory chips as the storage medium, typically offer much better performance than hard-disk drives. But they cost more. Currently, opting for an SSD instead of a hard-disk drive will add anywhere between $100 and $600 to the cost of a laptop, depending on the capacity of the SSD.
Dell's Alienware Area-51 laptop (above) and Dell's Studio XPS 16 come with a 256GB solid-state drive option
Dell's Alienware Area-51 laptop (above) and Dell's Studio XPS 16 come with a 256GB solid-state drive option
(Credit: Dell)
In a phone interview, Brian Beard, flash marketing manager for Samsung Semiconductor, said reaching price parity with hard-disk drives is just a matter of time. "Flash memory in the last five years has come down 40, 50, 60 percent per year," he said. "Flash on a dollar-per-gigabyte basis will reach price parity, at some point, with hard disk drives in the next few years." Samsung makes both SSDs and HDDs.
Beard explained why a cost gap persists between solid-state drives and hard-disk drives. "The difference in cost is fundamentally very different. A hard drive has a fixed cost of $40 or $50 for the spindle, the motors, the PCB (printed circuit board), the cables," he said. "To make the hard drive spin faster (increase speed) or to add capacity doesn't really add a lot of incremental cost to the drive." (The price for most laptop-class hard-disk drives on the market is between $60 and $100 at retail, Beard said.)
"When you contrast this with SSDs, they also have a fixed cost for the PCB and the case and the controller, which is lower than the fixed cost of a hard drive," according to Beard. "But as you scale the capacity of the SSD up, the cost scales linearly. For example, if the spot price of the flash chip itself is $2, a 64GB drive is going to cost $128 just for the flash and then you would add the fixed cost of the PCB and the case, he said. So, the cost will double as you double the capacity, according to Beard.
This argument, however, works in favor of lower solid-state drive pricing too--as flash memory prices drop and densities and capacities increase. And Beard added that "there's a lot of pressure for OEMs (PC makers) to match the price to the traditional pricing in the hard-drive industry." Samsung is also a PC maker and faces the same pressures.
And what will happen to the price of SSDs this year? "The rest of the year is quite unpredictable. Because the SSD price is directly tied to the price of flash, no one knows. Everyone is just giving their best guess as to what will happen in the flash market," he said. To date, flash memory prices have dropped so much that chipmakers can't make money.
"Every major flash manufacturer posted major losses in Q4. So flash and SSD manufacturers are under a lot of pressure to make a profit," Beard said.
Where is the price-per-gigabyte sweet spot for solid-state drives going to be later this year? "On the business side, the sweet spot is 64(GB) moving to 128. On the consumer side it's definitely 128 moving to 256," he said.
Samsung SSDs with a capacity of 256GB have been shipping since January. Dell offers these drives in some laptop models already. 256GB drives are just now "rolling out into mass production," Beard said. "We'll start shipping it to some of our smaller customers about right now."
Note: Currently, on a Dell Studio XPS 16, opting for a 128GB SSD instead of a 7200rpm 320GB HDD adds $200 to the price of the system. Opting for a 256GB SSD adds $400.
Brooke Crothers is a former editor at large at CNET News.com, and has been an editor for the Asian weekly version of the Wall Street Journal. He writes for the CNET Blog Network, and is not a current employee of CNET. Contact him at mbcrothers@gmail.com. Disclosure.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Wall Street Economics
By Robert Johnson
March 6th, 2009 - 3:08pm ET
Young Chuck, moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The next day he drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news. The donkey died."
Chuck replied, "Well, then just give me my money back."
The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."
Chuck said, "Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey."
The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with him?"
Chuck said, "I'm going to raffle him off."
The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"
Chuck said, "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."
A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"
Chuck said, "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00."
The farmer said, "Didn't anyone complain?"
Chuck said, "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."
Chuck now works for Morgan Stanley in their OTC Default Derivative Department.
March 6th, 2009 - 3:08pm ET
Young Chuck, moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The next day he drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news. The donkey died."
Chuck replied, "Well, then just give me my money back."
The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."
Chuck said, "Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey."
The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with him?"
Chuck said, "I'm going to raffle him off."
The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"
Chuck said, "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."
A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"
Chuck said, "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00."
The farmer said, "Didn't anyone complain?"
Chuck said, "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."
Chuck now works for Morgan Stanley in their OTC Default Derivative Department.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sun, Rivals Seek New Uses for Flash-Based Storage
By DON CLARK.WSJ.03/10/09
Chips called flash memory that have transformed many consumer products are beginning to shake up corporate computer rooms, with Sun Microsystems Inc. emerging as a surprise innovator.
The computer maker, though it lags rivals in data-storage hardware, has been pushing a redesign of servers and storage systems to take advantage of flash-memory chips. In its latest gambit, Sun is trying to popularize a tiny circuit board that can squeeze more flash chips, saving money, space and electricity.
But other companies are pushing rival flash-based products, which are emerging as one of few bright spots as corporations scale back their technology buying because of the recession.
"It's been growing extraordinarily fast, so it's a major focus area for us in 2009," said Bob Wambach, senior director of high-end storage marketing at EMC Corp., which added flash-based storage systems in January 2008.
[sun microsystems flash memory] Stec Inc.
Flash-memory chips became a mainstay of portable devices like iPod music players because they retain data when electrical current is switched off. They are also faster than disk drives; flash-based alternatives called SSDs, for solid-state drives, allow computers to boot up and retrieve files quickly.
Speed improvements in disk drives have been slower. So companies that need high performance have faced costly options.
They include expensive drives that spin at very high speeds, and arrays of drives that store data near the outside edge of disks so it can be fetched quickly.
Companies such as Stec Inc. and Texas Memory Systems Inc. began offering storage modules based on flash memory for military and commercial customers with specialized needs. Such products have gotten more affordable, as competition among chip makers to serve the much larger consumer market has caused prices to plunge. EMC uses such "enterprise" SSDs, as they are called, as does Sun in storage systems it introduced in November.
The price of flash-based technology remains high. Jim Handy, an analyst at the research firm Objective Analysis, estimates that a 500-gigabyte hard drive costs makers of storage systems around $50, where an enterprise SSD that stores 32 gigabytes would cost them $3,000. Factoring in the speed difference, however, the flash-based technology is less expensive in terms of the cost of handling transactions per second, he estimates.
Another concept is to use flash memory as a kind of accelerator. Backers of the approach include Fusion-io and Violin Memory Inc.; Texas Memories is offering a similar product Tuesday.
But some customers worry that flash chips can fail if data is written and erased too many times. Addressing that issue was a major focus of Michael Cornwell, who helped Apple Inc. develop flash-based devices such as the iPod and joined Sun in 2007.
Mr. Cornwell, Sun's lead technologist for flash memory, approached chip makers that include Samsung Electronics Co. to modify their products. The companies estimate the collaboration brought a five-fold increase in the endurance of Samsung's flash chips.
Rather than simply replacing hard disks, Mr. Cornwell favors new combinations that exploit DRAM and two kinds of flash chips -- one best at reading data, and another at storing it -- along with high-capacity disk drives. He estimates such a "hybrid" storage pool fetches data 3.2 times faster than conventional alternatives and save electrical power.
Sun also plans to produce compact servers with no disk drives. "We have some really compelling designs coming out," Mr. Cornwell said.
Sun is proposing that other companies follow its lead in installing flash chips on circuit boards measuring about 69 millimeters by 30 millimeters, less than a third the size of a typical drive-sized SSD. This "open storage module," also allows air to flow more efficiently to cool servers, Mr. Cornwell said.
Gene Ruth, an analyst at the Burton Group, notes that other companies have their own ideas about the best way to exploit flash technology. But the right combination could produce "a killer product that will change the industry. And I think that Sun has a leg up there," he said.
Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Changes Abound on New Tax Forms
For many taxpayers, the good old standard deduction is looking better than ever.
Thanks to tax-law changes, millions of people who claim the standard deduction are eligible for additional breaks on their 2008 tax return. For the first time, they can claim an additional amount for state and local real-estate taxes. They can also claim an additional standard-deduction amount to reflect casualty losses from federally declared disasters.
[tax report] Alamy
A9X9BB Tax buttons on calculator
There are other significant changes on 2008 tax returns. Many people may be eligible for a new first-time home-buyer tax credit. Additionally, the IRA maximum deduction amount for 2008 rose. So did the amounts of income exempt from the alternative minimum tax, or AMT.
"If you just proceed thinking that what you did last year is what you have to do this year, you're going to miss out on a lot of important new developments," says William E. Massey, senior tax analyst for the tax & accounting business of Thomson Reuters in New York.
Another change affects millions of people who use their car for work. Usually, the Internal Revenue Service issues only one standard business-mileage rate for the entire year. But for 2008, the IRS issued two rates -- one for the first six months and a different one for the second six months -- to reflect a surge in gasoline prices. The IRS also issued two separate rates for those who use their car or other vehicles for medical or moving purposes.
The change that has probably triggered the greatest confusion is the "recovery rebate credit." It's designed to help millions of people who didn't get the full economic-stimulus payment last year but now may be eligible for some or all of it because of a change in circumstances, such as lower income in 2008. Many people simply don't understand it. IRS officials say that about 15% of all returns filed so far this year had mistakes involving this credit. For more details, see the IRS Web site (www.irs.gov).
Here is a guided tour of major changes on federal returns for 2008 -- and advice from experts on how to benefit from them.
Standard deduction. Nearly two-thirds of all federal income-tax returns take the standard deduction each year, instead of itemizing deductions such as charitable donations. The basic standard deduction is $10,900 for joint filers and $5,450 for most singles. There are higher amounts for those who are 65 or older, or blind.
For 2008, taxpayers can claim an additional standard deduction amount for net losses in places declared to be a federal disaster area. They also can claim an additional amount -- up to $500 for most people or as much as $1,000 for married couples filing jointly -- for real-estate taxes paid. If you're not sure whether to take the standard deduction or itemize, crunch the numbers both ways.
Home-buyer credit. This new credit for first-time home buyers could help many taxpayers, but it's complex. In general, you're considered a "first-time home buyer" if you buy your main home in the U.S. after April 8, 2008, and before Dec. 1, 2009, and if you (and your spouse, if you're married) didn't own any other main home during the three-year period ending on the date of purchase, according to the IRS's new Form 5405.
The maximum amount of the credit depends on when you bought the home, says IRS spokesman Eric Smith. Generally, the maximum credit is $7,500, or $8,000 if you buy the home in 2009 (or half that amount if married filing separately), or 10% of the home's purchase price, whichever is smaller.
For homes purchased in 2008, the credit operates "much like an interest-free loan," the IRS says. You generally have to repay it over a 15-year period. But for homes purchased this year, you don't have to repay the credit if the home remains your main home for 36 months after the purchase date, says the IRS's Mr. Smith. If you bought the home this year and qualify for the credit, you can claim it either on your 2008 return this year or on your 2009 return to be filed next year, he says.
[Tax Facts]
You can't claim it if your adjusted gross income, with certain modifications, is $95,000 or more, or $170,000 or more if you're married and filing jointly. You also can't claim it if you bought it from "a related person," such as your spouse or parents. For more details, see the new Form 5405 and the accompanying instructions.
IRA contributions. The maximum deductible IRA contribution amount was generally $5,000 for people under 50 in 2008, up from $4,000 in 2007, says Jackie Perlman of H&R Block. The maximum amount is $6,000 for those who were 50 or older by the end of last year. For more details, see IRS Publication 590.
Alternative minimum tax. Congress took steps last year to prevent tens of millions of people from being caught by the AMT, a parallel tax system originally designed to prevent a small number of high-income Americans from escaping federal income taxes completely. This AMT "patch" included raising the AMT income-exemption amounts for 2008 to $46,200 for most singles, or $69,950 for married couples filing jointly or a qualifying widow.
Mileage rates. If you use your car for work, you have a choice on how to deduct the cost. You can use your actual expenses or rely on the IRS's optional standard mileage rates. The business mileage rate was 50.5 cents a mile for the first half of 2008 and 58.5 cents in the second half. This applies also to the use of vans, pickups or panel trucks.
The IRS rates for medical and moving purposes were 19 cents for the first half of 2008 and 27 cents in the second half. For 2009, the IRS rates are 55 cents for business mileage and 24 cents for medical or moving purposes.
There's a separate rate for using your vehicle for charitable purposes: 14 cents a mile for 2008 and 2009. That rate is set by law, not by the IRS.
* * *
New tax withholding tables will mean more take-home pay for many workers.
The IRS said Saturday that it has issued new withholding tables to reflect the "Making Work Pay" credit signed into law recently by President Barack Obama as part of the stimulus package. The new tables are on the IRS Web site.
"For most taxpayers, the additional credit will automatically start showing up in their paychecks this spring," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Business Solutions / Smart Ways to Cut Costs
BEN WORTHEN,WSJ 02/17/09
If the early returns are any indication, the hot technology for 2009 will be...anything that can save money.
With the recession in full effect, businesses are cutting costs across the board, and information-technology departments are no exception. Eighty-five percent of businesses expect to cut their spending on new tech projects this year, according to Forrester Research Inc., and half of them are planning on spending cuts of more than 15%.
"Just about every company I meet with these days wants to talk about cutting costs," says Bobby Cameron, an analyst at Forrester, which is based in Cambridge, Mass.
But cutting costs doesn't have to mean hacking away at the IT budget and getting by with less in the way of equipment and personnel, an approach that can hobble a business. In some cases, the smartest thing to do is to invest in new, more-efficient systems that will save money over the long haul. Or, it might pay to shift from in-house software to online alternatives, or to use online services to reduce routine expenses like travel or phone calls.
Sometimes the savings are immediate. Sometimes an up-front investment is required. In either case, the right approach can cut costs without damaging a business, and may even improve it.
In With the New
Replacing older, less-efficient IT hardware can cost a lot up front, but can also deliver big savings fairly quickly. Christopher Rence, chief information officer at Minneapolis-based Fair Isaac Corp., which helps businesses determine the credit-worthiness of customers, has roughly cut in half the number of servers the company uses by replacing various older models of the back-office data processors with new, top-of-the-line machines from Hewlett-Packard Co.
Mr. Rence says the project, which began a couple of years ago and is expected to continue for the next year and a half, is paying for itself. Because the new machines are more powerful and more efficient, each one does the work of several of the older models. Reducing the number of servers the company uses has cut his energy bills and the amount of storage space he needs, as well as software costs. He has also been able to reduce support staff by 25% over the past 18 months.
Heading for the Web
Other businesses are saving by using Web-based software instead of programs installed on their computer systems.
Bruce Maas, CIO at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, recently switched the university's 50,000 email and calendar accounts to an online provider, Zimbra, which is owned by Yahoo Inc. Previously, the university relied on a hodgepodge of old systems that required a team of full-time staffers to manage. The online software from Zimbra only requires two people to manage. "That's lean and efficient," says Mr. Maas.
"Cost was a major factor" in the decision to switch, Mr. Maas says, as well as the ability to free up staffers for other projects. The new system also is more functional than the old one. For example, people can add events to one another's calendars. That means, for one thing, that new students' class schedules can be automatically loaded onto their accounts. That kind of help bolsters student retention, Mr. Maas says, as most of those who drop out do so in the first freshman semester, when they are overwhelmed with all the new responsibilities of living on their own.
Help Online
Some companies are turning to online services to cut travel costs. TechInsights is a San Francisco-based division of United Business Media Ltd. that provides customer data to electronics companies. Ideally, TechInsights' sales team would meet prospects face to face. But the company has trimmed much of its field staff and can't afford to send sales reps jetting across the country unless it's to meet with one of the company's biggest customers, says Paul Way, senior vice president of media. "It's not possible in this environment," he says.
Last year, TechInsights decided to put together interactive online seminars for potential customers. The company uses Webcasting software from San Francisco-based ON24 Inc., which charges between $800 and $20,000 per event, depending on the number of attendees and what features a customer chooses. The events Mr. Way conducts typically cost a few thousand dollars.
He says it's hard to compare the effectiveness of in-person meetings with that of the Webcasts, in part because salespeople still usually meet with clients to close deals. But he says it's a much more cost-effective way to introduce prospects to TechInsights' products.
Online services can also be used to cut phone costs. Mentor Graphics Corp., a Wilsonville, Ore., maker of design software, is in the process of switching to Internet phone service from making calls over phone lines. In the past such a move would have been prohibitively expensive, because outfitting a business with handsets capable of receiving and placing calls this way costs as much as $1,000 per phone. But instead, Mentor is using software from Cisco Systems Inc. that allows a personal computer to act as a telephone; workers connect their headsets directly to the computer and dial on the screen.
Every call becomes a local call, meaning the company saves big on its phone bill. The system isn't perfect: Because the calls are competing for space on the network with emails and other digital traffic, the clarity of a call sometimes suffers. "But compare that with the cost and it's worth it," says Ananthan Thandri, Mentor's CIO.
—Mr. Worthen is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau.
Write to Ben Worthen at ben.worthen@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page R5
If the early returns are any indication, the hot technology for 2009 will be...anything that can save money.
With the recession in full effect, businesses are cutting costs across the board, and information-technology departments are no exception. Eighty-five percent of businesses expect to cut their spending on new tech projects this year, according to Forrester Research Inc., and half of them are planning on spending cuts of more than 15%.
"Just about every company I meet with these days wants to talk about cutting costs," says Bobby Cameron, an analyst at Forrester, which is based in Cambridge, Mass.
But cutting costs doesn't have to mean hacking away at the IT budget and getting by with less in the way of equipment and personnel, an approach that can hobble a business. In some cases, the smartest thing to do is to invest in new, more-efficient systems that will save money over the long haul. Or, it might pay to shift from in-house software to online alternatives, or to use online services to reduce routine expenses like travel or phone calls.
Sometimes the savings are immediate. Sometimes an up-front investment is required. In either case, the right approach can cut costs without damaging a business, and may even improve it.
In With the New
Replacing older, less-efficient IT hardware can cost a lot up front, but can also deliver big savings fairly quickly. Christopher Rence, chief information officer at Minneapolis-based Fair Isaac Corp., which helps businesses determine the credit-worthiness of customers, has roughly cut in half the number of servers the company uses by replacing various older models of the back-office data processors with new, top-of-the-line machines from Hewlett-Packard Co.
Mr. Rence says the project, which began a couple of years ago and is expected to continue for the next year and a half, is paying for itself. Because the new machines are more powerful and more efficient, each one does the work of several of the older models. Reducing the number of servers the company uses has cut his energy bills and the amount of storage space he needs, as well as software costs. He has also been able to reduce support staff by 25% over the past 18 months.
Heading for the Web
Other businesses are saving by using Web-based software instead of programs installed on their computer systems.
Bruce Maas, CIO at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, recently switched the university's 50,000 email and calendar accounts to an online provider, Zimbra, which is owned by Yahoo Inc. Previously, the university relied on a hodgepodge of old systems that required a team of full-time staffers to manage. The online software from Zimbra only requires two people to manage. "That's lean and efficient," says Mr. Maas.
"Cost was a major factor" in the decision to switch, Mr. Maas says, as well as the ability to free up staffers for other projects. The new system also is more functional than the old one. For example, people can add events to one another's calendars. That means, for one thing, that new students' class schedules can be automatically loaded onto their accounts. That kind of help bolsters student retention, Mr. Maas says, as most of those who drop out do so in the first freshman semester, when they are overwhelmed with all the new responsibilities of living on their own.
Help Online
Some companies are turning to online services to cut travel costs. TechInsights is a San Francisco-based division of United Business Media Ltd. that provides customer data to electronics companies. Ideally, TechInsights' sales team would meet prospects face to face. But the company has trimmed much of its field staff and can't afford to send sales reps jetting across the country unless it's to meet with one of the company's biggest customers, says Paul Way, senior vice president of media. "It's not possible in this environment," he says.
Last year, TechInsights decided to put together interactive online seminars for potential customers. The company uses Webcasting software from San Francisco-based ON24 Inc., which charges between $800 and $20,000 per event, depending on the number of attendees and what features a customer chooses. The events Mr. Way conducts typically cost a few thousand dollars.
He says it's hard to compare the effectiveness of in-person meetings with that of the Webcasts, in part because salespeople still usually meet with clients to close deals. But he says it's a much more cost-effective way to introduce prospects to TechInsights' products.
Online services can also be used to cut phone costs. Mentor Graphics Corp., a Wilsonville, Ore., maker of design software, is in the process of switching to Internet phone service from making calls over phone lines. In the past such a move would have been prohibitively expensive, because outfitting a business with handsets capable of receiving and placing calls this way costs as much as $1,000 per phone. But instead, Mentor is using software from Cisco Systems Inc. that allows a personal computer to act as a telephone; workers connect their headsets directly to the computer and dial on the screen.
Every call becomes a local call, meaning the company saves big on its phone bill. The system isn't perfect: Because the calls are competing for space on the network with emails and other digital traffic, the clarity of a call sometimes suffers. "But compare that with the cost and it's worth it," says Ananthan Thandri, Mentor's CIO.
—Mr. Worthen is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau.
Write to Ben Worthen at ben.worthen@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page R5
Monday, February 16, 2009
Your Budget: Use It or Lose It
When it comes to office budgets, 'tis the season to use it or lose it. You know the drill. Your 2008 budget for office supplies was x, and you've spent a lot less than x. Guess what? That smaller number is your new 2009 budget... unless you act fast.
While it's important to be a good steward of your department finances, especially now, you could actually save your company money and work more efficiently next year by making the most of your 2008 budget today.
Stock up and save. Many office supply stores have year-end sales with huge savings on an entire range of products. And, most offer volume discounts. Assess your current supplies and poll others in your department to see what they will need, preferably for several months or longer. Be sure to consider all the "consumables" you use like ink, toner, paper and pens. Rather than ordering a few items here and there throughout the year, consolidate your first quarter's needs into one shopping list. This will make you more efficient and save on number of trips, gas and delivery expenses.
Organize for year-end. Sure as the seasons change, when December hits, there's always the need to wrap up the year, finalize files and pack away the documents you need to save. Color-coded files, binders, tab dividers, and storage boxes are ideal for things you need to keep, shredders for things you don't.
Plan for the new year. In addition to files and personal planners for the new year, think about any new projects on the horizon. Do you have the right computer system? Software? The right filing and desktop tools? Does your audiovisual equipment meet your changing needs? Take advantage of year end to gear up for the new one.
Your local office supply dealer will be happy to help you find ways to stretch your budgeting dollar even further and plan for a successful 2009. Give us a call today.
800-270-9885
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While it's important to be a good steward of your department finances, especially now, you could actually save your company money and work more efficiently next year by making the most of your 2008 budget today.
Stock up and save. Many office supply stores have year-end sales with huge savings on an entire range of products. And, most offer volume discounts. Assess your current supplies and poll others in your department to see what they will need, preferably for several months or longer. Be sure to consider all the "consumables" you use like ink, toner, paper and pens. Rather than ordering a few items here and there throughout the year, consolidate your first quarter's needs into one shopping list. This will make you more efficient and save on number of trips, gas and delivery expenses.
Organize for year-end. Sure as the seasons change, when December hits, there's always the need to wrap up the year, finalize files and pack away the documents you need to save. Color-coded files, binders, tab dividers, and storage boxes are ideal for things you need to keep, shredders for things you don't.
Plan for the new year. In addition to files and personal planners for the new year, think about any new projects on the horizon. Do you have the right computer system? Software? The right filing and desktop tools? Does your audiovisual equipment meet your changing needs? Take advantage of year end to gear up for the new one.
Your local office supply dealer will be happy to help you find ways to stretch your budgeting dollar even further and plan for a successful 2009. Give us a call today.
800-270-9885
***********************************************************************************
Universal®
Universal® File Storage w/Lift-Off Lid, Letter/Legal, Fiberboard, 14 x 17 x 12, WE, 12/Ctn»
Universal®
Universal® Hanging File Folders, 1/3 Tab, 11 Point Stock, Legal, Standard Green, 25 per Box»
Universal®
Universal® Colored File Folders, 1/3 Cut, One-Ply Top Tab, Letter, Assorted, 100/Box»
Friday, February 13, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
AMD undercuts Intel to offer more bang for the buck
MD has officially released new Phenom II processors in both triple and quad core flavors and priced them to undercut Intel’s Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad lines.
AMD Phenom II X3The Phenom II X3 triple core parts are available with clock speeds of either 2.6GHz (model 710) or 2.8GHz (model 720) and priced at $125 and $145 respectively. This pricing means that the 2.8GHz model is $20 less and 20% faster at 3D processing than Intel’s Core 2 Duo E8400.
The Phenom II X4 quad core parts run at 2.6GHz (model 810)and 2.8GHz (model 920) and are priced $175 and $195 respectively. Performance-wise the 810 is slightly faster than Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q8200 and comes in at only $5 more.
Both the Phenom II X3 and X4 processors use 45nm architecture and all except the 920 have a TDP of 95W (the 920 has a TDP of 125W).
Monday, February 9, 2009
Aussies develop optical chip that could lead to terabit Ethernet
Experimental optical chip is efficient enough to reach terabit speeds
Tim Greene (Network World) 04/02/2009 09:36:00
Danish and Australian researchers have developed a chip that efficiently reads 640Gbps optical transmissions and could help pave the way to terabit Ethernet.
The breakthrough comes not on the laser end of the connection by boosting the speed of transmission, but rather at the receiving end where very high speed, error-free reception is required to sort out multiple wavelengths of signals that have been multiplexed at the sending end.
The discovery comes just as 100Gbps Ethernet is in its infancy but predicted to become more common over the next three years.
The new receiver technology described in an article to be published February 16 in the journal Optical Express relies on a 5 cm optical waveguide, a dramatic reduction in size over competing technology that requires 50 meters of special optical fiber and is inherently unstable, according to the Optical Society of America.
The researchers say the compact size of their waveguide makes it possible to integrate it with other components to make faster optical chips.
Current top-speed optical networking employs optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM) that creates 64 10Gbps channels on a single wavelength, according to Leo Spiekman, a co-chairman of the Optical Fiber Communication conference scheduled for March in the US.
In order to demultiplex such an OTDM stream, a second control wavelength of light is introduced to the signal stream to read a particular channel. In current demultiplexers, that process takes place on spools of fiber where the length is so great that the signal and the control streams get out of phase, he says. The device from the researchers is short enough so this dispersion is not a problem, Spiekman says.
The experimental all-optical demultiplexing is done with a chip made of the material chalcogenide, the researchers say.
"You need this type of technology to make terabit speeds on single channels," Spiekman says. "This is one of the enablers for you to go to terabit Ethernet at some point in the future."
The researchers are led by Leif K. Oxenløwe of the Technical University of Denmark and scientists at the Centre for Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems in Australia. CUDOS is a research consortium between five Australian Universities: The University of Sydney; Macquarie University; University of Technology, Sydney; Australian National University and Swinburne University of Technology.
100 Gigabit Ethernet trumps OC-768 by 2012, firm say.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Watch TV on your iPhone with TubeStick.
February 5, 2009 12:15 PM PST
If you're like my colleague Eric Franklin, who'd rather watch Speed Racer on his iPhone than on a big screen, you're in for some good news.
Equinux, the company that provides the TV-watching solution The Tube for Mac, announced Wednesday its all new hardware TV tuner called TubeStick. The device, when coupled with free iPhone apps Live TV and TubeTogo, allows you to watch TV right on the screens of your iPhones and iPod Touches.
With Live TV, you can stream live television programs directly via Wi-Fi to your iPhone from your Mac that runs The Tube. TubeToGo, on the other hand, allows you to access and program TV recordings on the iPhone via the Internet while on the go.
The TubeStick hybrid brings the joys of your TV to your tiniest of screens.
(Credit: Equinux)
TubeToGo also offers the possibility to share published recordings with friends. TubeToGo uses MobileMe or any other FTP server for online storage.
Both Live TV and TubeToGo applications are now available for free download at the iTunes App Store and are compatible with Equinux's TV receiver TubeStick.
TubeStick also works with Windows-based Media Center, with limited functionality.
The new TubeStick TV hardware receiver comes in two versions: the TubeStick hybrid that supports both digital and analog television is available right now in the U.S for $99.95. The TubeStick for DTT/DV-T is only available in Europe and costs 49.95 euros (about $65).
TubeStick comes with everything you need, including the TV receiver, the matching white miniantenna, an adapter for external antenna and a USB extension cable, and The Tube software for your Mac, which costs $39.95 if you buy it separately.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Green printer uses coffee dregs as ink.
We've seen plenty of printers in our time, but this one is most definitely to our taste. Korean designer Jeon Hwan Ju, likely a beans person, has percolated a potent brew that utilizes coffee or tea dregs as the replacement ink.
The result is the RITI inkbox, which probably is good for only sepia printouts, but is the kind of green tech we like very much. Coffee or tea dregs are placed into the cartridge, mixed with a little water. However, using this requires powering it along with a little muscle, moving the cartridge left and right in the slot while drawing on the paper. Not quite the most efficient workhorse for your home business, but at least it's the only aromatic printout you can personalize, from Lipton to Lavazza.
(Source: Crave Asia via Core 77)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
DRAM prices spike after Qimonda bankruptcy.
DRAM prices spiked last week over supply concerns after Qimonda filed for bankruptcy protection.
Dan Nystedt (IDG News Service) 02/02/2009 12:06:00
******
DRAM chip prices spiked last week over supply concerns after chip maker Qimonda filed for bankruptcy protection in Germany, and prices will likely continue to climb, Gartner said Monday.
The price of the most popular 1Gb (gigabit) chip rose as much as 16 percent compared to a week earlier, the market researcher said in its Semiconductor DQ Monday Report. DRAM prices across all capacities increased 8.7 percent on average compared to a week earlier.
Prices will likely move higher this week, warned Gartner analyst Andrew Norwood.
"The full effect of [the Qimonda] news will not be felt until the brokers and traders in Asia respond to the news," he wrote in the report.
The biggest spot market for DRAM is in China, where the bulk of the world's desktops and laptops are assembled. But last week was a public holiday for China and much of the rest of Asia, where people celebrate the Lunar New Year. When traders in the region return to work on Monday, they may send prices higher.
DRAM chips are produced in such volume that a spot market exists for them, where traders buy and sell them like commodities such as oil and gold. Similar to how a disrupted pipeline or fighting in a sensitive area may cause oil prices to rise, major shocks to the DRAM market, like Qimonda's bankruptcy filing, can cause DRAM prices to spike. Around three-fourths of all DRAM go into PCs.
Over the longer term, DRAM prices are likely to trend downward again.
The DRAM market continues to face significant oversupply, so much so that even if Qimonda stopped production immediately, which it has not, there is plenty of DRAM available to meet all needs, according to market researcher IDC.
"The market's situation was created by significant over-investment in capacity during 2007 and early 2008 — periods of demand that often exceeded expectations — that has led to significant oversupply today," IDC said in a report last week.
Falling demand for computers and other electronic devices amid the global economic downturn has also reduced demand for DRAM.
IDC predicts the global DRAM market will shrink 12.1 percent this year to US$22.84 billion because of oversupply and bloated inventories. Revenue in the market declined 17 percent last year to $25.98 billion.
The DRAM market will not recover until the second half of 2010 when global demand for electronic devices recovers, IDC said.
Dan Nystedt (IDG News Service) 02/02/2009 12:06:00
******
DRAM chip prices spiked last week over supply concerns after chip maker Qimonda filed for bankruptcy protection in Germany, and prices will likely continue to climb, Gartner said Monday.
The price of the most popular 1Gb (gigabit) chip rose as much as 16 percent compared to a week earlier, the market researcher said in its Semiconductor DQ Monday Report. DRAM prices across all capacities increased 8.7 percent on average compared to a week earlier.
Prices will likely move higher this week, warned Gartner analyst Andrew Norwood.
"The full effect of [the Qimonda] news will not be felt until the brokers and traders in Asia respond to the news," he wrote in the report.
The biggest spot market for DRAM is in China, where the bulk of the world's desktops and laptops are assembled. But last week was a public holiday for China and much of the rest of Asia, where people celebrate the Lunar New Year. When traders in the region return to work on Monday, they may send prices higher.
DRAM chips are produced in such volume that a spot market exists for them, where traders buy and sell them like commodities such as oil and gold. Similar to how a disrupted pipeline or fighting in a sensitive area may cause oil prices to rise, major shocks to the DRAM market, like Qimonda's bankruptcy filing, can cause DRAM prices to spike. Around three-fourths of all DRAM go into PCs.
Over the longer term, DRAM prices are likely to trend downward again.
The DRAM market continues to face significant oversupply, so much so that even if Qimonda stopped production immediately, which it has not, there is plenty of DRAM available to meet all needs, according to market researcher IDC.
"The market's situation was created by significant over-investment in capacity during 2007 and early 2008 — periods of demand that often exceeded expectations — that has led to significant oversupply today," IDC said in a report last week.
Falling demand for computers and other electronic devices amid the global economic downturn has also reduced demand for DRAM.
IDC predicts the global DRAM market will shrink 12.1 percent this year to US$22.84 billion because of oversupply and bloated inventories. Revenue in the market declined 17 percent last year to $25.98 billion.
The DRAM market will not recover until the second half of 2010 when global demand for electronic devices recovers, IDC said.
Monday, February 2, 2009
MicroNet offers 16TB Genesis V RAID .
The Genesis V supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60 and JBOD configurations
Peter Cohen Macworld.com
The system can accommodate up to 16 terabytes (TB) of storage in a 3U rackmount configuration.
The Genesis V supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60 and Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD) configurations.
Features include online RAID level/stripe size migration, online capacity expansion and RAID level migration, volume set expansion, array roaming , always-on UPS connectivity and secure login access.
The Genesis V has a dual 4X mini Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) host bus interface and either an SAS or 3Gb/s SATA II drive bus interface, for up to 400 MB/s per channel data throughput.
The 3U rackmount system features 16 drive bays, each capable of support a 1TB drive mechanism.
The Genesis V RAID rackmount system is priced starting at $3,529.
Peter Cohen Macworld.com
The system can accommodate up to 16 terabytes (TB) of storage in a 3U rackmount configuration.
The Genesis V supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60 and Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD) configurations.
Features include online RAID level/stripe size migration, online capacity expansion and RAID level migration, volume set expansion, array roaming , always-on UPS connectivity and secure login access.
The Genesis V has a dual 4X mini Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) host bus interface and either an SAS or 3Gb/s SATA II drive bus interface, for up to 400 MB/s per channel data throughput.
The 3U rackmount system features 16 drive bays, each capable of support a 1TB drive mechanism.
The Genesis V RAID rackmount system is priced starting at $3,529.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Western Digital launches 2TB hard disk drive .
Over 10 percent of the 3.5-inch hard drive market is already at 1TB or higher.
Melissa Perenson (PC World (US online)) 28/01/2009 07:37:00
Interesting times among hard disk manufacturers. Western Digital continues to solidify its role as a leader in the drive industry. Though the company is not normally known for being at the forefront of capacity jumps, today it became the first manufacturer to announce the jump to 2TB in a single drive. The previous capacity high-point was Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB drive.
Seagate, often first to market with new capacities, is currently drowning in issues with its flagship Barracuda 7200.11 series; drives in that series are reportedly having self-bricking issues.
The drive packs four 500GB platters, with 400 gigabits per square inch areal density. The drive is also part of WD's Green Power line of hard disk drives. This line of drives first shipped a year ago, and was the first to actively bill themselves as environmentally friendly drives due to lower power consumption. The 2TB drive has several WD technologies inside that enable its combination of capacity and power performance. StableTrac reduces vibration by securing the motor shaft at both ends, which in turn allows for accurate head tracking during read and write operations; IntelliPower, which WD says adjusts the balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms for optimal balance between performance and power consumption; IntelliSeek, which optimizes seek speeds to enable lower power consumption, noise, and vibration; and WD's NoTouch ramp load technology, which keeps the recording head from touching the disk media.
WD notes that, according to market research firm Trend Focus, over 10 percent of the 3.5-inch hard drive market is already at 1TB or higher.
More about Leader Computers, Seagate, Speed, Bill, Leader, Trend Focus, Western Digital, IntelliSeek,
Melissa Perenson (PC World (US online)) 28/01/2009 07:37:00
Interesting times among hard disk manufacturers. Western Digital continues to solidify its role as a leader in the drive industry. Though the company is not normally known for being at the forefront of capacity jumps, today it became the first manufacturer to announce the jump to 2TB in a single drive. The previous capacity high-point was Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB drive.
Seagate, often first to market with new capacities, is currently drowning in issues with its flagship Barracuda 7200.11 series; drives in that series are reportedly having self-bricking issues.
The drive packs four 500GB platters, with 400 gigabits per square inch areal density. The drive is also part of WD's Green Power line of hard disk drives. This line of drives first shipped a year ago, and was the first to actively bill themselves as environmentally friendly drives due to lower power consumption. The 2TB drive has several WD technologies inside that enable its combination of capacity and power performance. StableTrac reduces vibration by securing the motor shaft at both ends, which in turn allows for accurate head tracking during read and write operations; IntelliPower, which WD says adjusts the balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms for optimal balance between performance and power consumption; IntelliSeek, which optimizes seek speeds to enable lower power consumption, noise, and vibration; and WD's NoTouch ramp load technology, which keeps the recording head from touching the disk media.
WD notes that, according to market research firm Trend Focus, over 10 percent of the 3.5-inch hard drive market is already at 1TB or higher.
More about Leader Computers, Seagate, Speed, Bill, Leader, Trend Focus, Western Digital, IntelliSeek,
Monday, January 26, 2009
What your hard drive will look like in five years?
Hard disk drives may soon be replaced by solid-state disk (SSD) drives
Lucas Mearian (Computerworld)
19 January, 2009 09:43:00
As solid-state disk (SSD) technology closes in on hard-disk drive (HDD) capacity and price, experts say it may not be long before spinning disks are a thing of the past and a computer's storage resides in flash memory on the motherboard.
By making the drive part of a system's core architecture -- instead of a peripheral device -- data I/O performance could initially double, quadruple or more, according to Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist with market research firm In-Stat.
"Instead of using a SATA interface, let's break that and instead of making it look like a disk drive, let's make it look like part of the memory hierarchy," McGregor said. "Obviously, if you break down that interface, you get more performance."
Currently, Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) is the bus used to transfer data between a computer and storage devices, be it HDDs or SDDs in a 1.8-in., 2.5-in. or 3.5-in. disk drive form factor. SSD manufacturers have been fitting SSDs into a hard disk drive case to fit it into existing computer architectures.
Within three years, McGregor said SSDs with 256GB capacity -- already on the market -- will be close to the same price as hard drives. (A 256GB SSD for the new 17-in. MacBook Pro from Apple is a US$900 build-to-order option, for instance. A 250GB HDD goes for about a tenth that price.) That will signal to manufacturers that it's time to consider an interface change. And, while SSDs will be lagging behind the 500GB to 1TB capacities of hard disk drives for some time to come, McGregor argues that users don't need that much storage anyway.
"We've already seen this trend in the netbook space, and we will see it more in the notebook platform. Storage will begin to look more like a memory module than a hard drive," said Dean Klein, vice president of Micron Corp.'s SSD group. "There's a move afoot to make it more like a card-edge connector, so the SSD would not have the cost of a mechanical connector. It would just have gold-plated fingers on the edge: No enclosure, just the circuit board."
Disk drive vendors are doubling the capacity of drives every 12 to 18 months, but In-Stat's data indicates that the average storage requirements of users increase in a more linear way. And, while HD video can drive a huge swing in storage requirements, the advent of on-line libraries and storage services tend to even out the trends, McGregor said.
According to In-Stat, SSD prices have been dropping 60% year over year. Currently, the price of consumer-grade SSD costs from US$2 to $3.45 per gigabyte, with hard drives going for about 38 cents per gigabyte, according to Gartner and iSuppli.
"Two years ago, SSDs cost $17.50 per gigabyte, so it's obvious that consumer NAND flash memory will soon be a true contender to hard disk drives -- it's just not there yet," Gartner analyst Joseph Unsworth said. "I think you need to get to 128GB for around $200, and that's going to happen around 2010. Also, the industry needs to effectively communicate why consumers or enterprise users should pay more for less storage."
ntel's and Micron's upcoming SSDs are be based on 32Gbit chip technology. The companies are expected to be the first to break the US$1 per gigabyte barrier with their consumer SSD products, which will cost about 99 cents a gigabyte, according to Jim Handy, an analyst at Objective Analysis.
Klein argued that using an SSD in its native state, as NAND chips on a board without an enclosure, will reduce cost, weight, power use and space.
Within the next year, Micron expects to bring to market a high-end SSD that could achieve 1GB/sec. throughput by using a PCIe interface rather than traditional SATA or SAS. The transfer speed is four times that offered by Intel Corp.'s newest, enterprise-class SSD, the X25-E.
In a video on Micron's blog site, Joe Jeddeloh, director of the vendor's Advanced Storage Technology Center, demonstrated the technology using a two-processor, eight-core Intel Xeon PC and a card with two SSDs and 16 flash channels. A blurry readout showed the SSD reaching 800MB/sec. throughput, with Jeddeloh claiming that it "will be hitting a bandwidth of 1GB/sec. and at least 200,000 IOPS," or I/O operations per second.
The card was directly connected to a PCI Express (PCIe) slot, bypassing SATA or Serial Attached SCSI interfaces. While PCIe has the same throughput as SATA II -- 3Git/sec -- PCIe offers more channels.
Using file transfers ranging from 2KB to 2MB, Jeddeloh demonstrated 150,000 to 160,000 random reads per second in the video. "That's what flash can do when it's managed correctly," Jeddeloh said.
While Micron's SSD technology is aimed at high-end applications that would run on Fibre Channel SANs, such as transactional databases or streaming video, Klein said consumer-grade computers using SSDs directly connected to a PCIe bus with four lanes (x4 slots) could soon achieve similar results.
Physical PCIe slots may contain from one to 32 lanes of data. Currently, PCIe Generation 1 offers 250MB/sec. throughput per lane. The second generation of PCIe is expected out next year and will offer twice the throughput, or 500MB/sec. per lane. While SATA 3.0, expected out this year, also doubles throughput, it only offers one lane.
"Each lane of that x4 PCIe is as fast as a SATA 3.0's 6Gbit/sec bus," Klein said. "So I can be four times as fast on that one slot as an SSD could be on a SATA 3.0 connection. That's really the direction things are going."
Friday, January 23, 2009
Seagate hard disk fix breaks some.
Craig Simms, CNET.com.au
21 January 2009 12:03 PM
Seagate yesterday released a fix to a bug in its current generation of drives that caused them to become undetectable by a computer. Users have found, however, that the fix breaks 500GB drives — the fix has since been retracted.
A member of Seagate's community forums raised the issue in November 2008, with Seagate taking close to two months to offer a fix.
The bug affects a significant portion of not only Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 drives, but Barracuda ES.2 SATA and Maxtor DiamondMax 22 drives. Forums across the internet have been filled with warnings not to buy drives that feature the SD15 revision of firmware; however, Seagate's own documentation shows that SD16, SD17, SD18 and SD19 are also affected within certain model numbers.
This is not the first time Seagate has had a firmware issue with the 7200.11 series of drives. The SD04 and SD14 firmware revisions were found to be under-performing because they weren't accessing the full cache of the drives, and were replaced with version AD14 to fix this.
The new SD1A firmware was meant to be preventative only, but some users have found success updating and reviving already dead drives, according to Seagate's forums.
Users of Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 500GB product, however, have found that the update "bricks" their drives — terminology used in the tech industry to mean that the unit is dead.
Seagate has since removed the firmware update, claiming that it is "In Validation".
US customers have been offered free data recovery should the firmware bug have resulted in data loss — CNET Australia is waiting on confirmation to see if this is also offered locally, and what impact this has on hard drives included in stand-alone units such as DVRs.
The affected drives are listed below.
Drive type Drive model Firmware revision
Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS
ST3640330AS
ST3750330AS
ST31000340AS SD15, SD16, SD17, SD18
Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS
ST31000333AS
ST3640323AS
ST3640623AS
ST3320613AS
ST3320813AS
ST3160813AS All
Barracuda ES.2 SATA ST3250310NS
ST3500320NS
ST3750330NS
ST31000340NS All
DiamondMax 22 STM3500320AS
STM3750330AS
STM31000340AS MX15 or higher
DiamondMax 22 STM31000334AS
STM3320614AS
STM3160813AS
All
21 January 2009 12:03 PM
Seagate yesterday released a fix to a bug in its current generation of drives that caused them to become undetectable by a computer. Users have found, however, that the fix breaks 500GB drives — the fix has since been retracted.
A member of Seagate's community forums raised the issue in November 2008, with Seagate taking close to two months to offer a fix.
The bug affects a significant portion of not only Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 drives, but Barracuda ES.2 SATA and Maxtor DiamondMax 22 drives. Forums across the internet have been filled with warnings not to buy drives that feature the SD15 revision of firmware; however, Seagate's own documentation shows that SD16, SD17, SD18 and SD19 are also affected within certain model numbers.
This is not the first time Seagate has had a firmware issue with the 7200.11 series of drives. The SD04 and SD14 firmware revisions were found to be under-performing because they weren't accessing the full cache of the drives, and were replaced with version AD14 to fix this.
The new SD1A firmware was meant to be preventative only, but some users have found success updating and reviving already dead drives, according to Seagate's forums.
Users of Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 500GB product, however, have found that the update "bricks" their drives — terminology used in the tech industry to mean that the unit is dead.
Seagate has since removed the firmware update, claiming that it is "In Validation".
US customers have been offered free data recovery should the firmware bug have resulted in data loss — CNET Australia is waiting on confirmation to see if this is also offered locally, and what impact this has on hard drives included in stand-alone units such as DVRs.
The affected drives are listed below.
Drive type Drive model Firmware revision
Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS
ST3640330AS
ST3750330AS
ST31000340AS SD15, SD16, SD17, SD18
Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS
ST31000333AS
ST3640323AS
ST3640623AS
ST3320613AS
ST3320813AS
ST3160813AS All
Barracuda ES.2 SATA ST3250310NS
ST3500320NS
ST3750330NS
ST31000340NS All
DiamondMax 22 STM3500320AS
STM3750330AS
STM31000340AS MX15 or higher
DiamondMax 22 STM31000334AS
STM3320614AS
STM3160813AS
All
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