http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2008, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Fri, 16 May 2008 17:31:49 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/19743/OLPC_Could_Be_the_IBM_Global_Services_of_Laptop_Programs/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19743/OLPC_Could_Be_the_IBM_Global_Services_of_Laptop_Programs/ Back in November of 2006, I wrote a piece about the One Laptop Per Child Project. I was afraid that the project's focus on creating a whole new paradigm (the Sugar UI) would ultimately intervene with the actual goal of the project: teaching stuff to kids. Ivan Krstic, former director of security architecture at OLPC, wrote an essay in which he heavily criticises the OLPC project. Wed, 14 May 2008 09:02:01 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 81 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19729/Memristors_Discussed_on_Talk_of_the_Nation/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19729/Memristors_Discussed_on_Talk_of_the_Nation/ Today's NPR Talk of the Nation Science Friday radio program discussed the recent Memristor advances for the non-Electrical Engineer: "The possibility of such a circuit element, known as the "memristor," was first described in 1971, but no one was able to find a device with the properties of that missing element. Now, a group of scientists at HP Labs has found that in nanoscale materials, the "memristance" property becomes easier to see. The finding could lead to lower power, instant-on computers, as well as novel types of circuitry. HP Senior Fellow Stanley Williams, one of the discoverers of the modern memristor, talks about the find and its potential applications." The 13 minute program is available online Fri, 09 May 2008 21:44:17 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Hardware, Embedded Systems 14 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19721/Windows_XP_Eee_PC_Cheaper_than_Linux_Variant/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19721/Windows_XP_Eee_PC_Cheaper_than_Linux_Variant/ As we all know, the Eee PC, running a modified Xandros, has been a major hit for Asus, and because of that, also a major hit for Linux. The device proved that a computer with a pre-installed Linux distribution can still be s successful machine, and many hoped that this would push Asus and other vendors to produce more computers with Linux pre-installed. This hope could be in vain after all if the new Windows XP-based Eee PC has anything to do with it. Wed, 07 May 2008 18:11:09 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 120 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News Dan Warne http://www.osnews.com/story/19704/Practical_Memristor_Discovered/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19704/Practical_Memristor_Discovered/ First theorized in the 1970's as the fourth basic circuit element, a practical memristor implementation has finally been discovered at HP Labs. If practical manufacturing can be scaled up, memristor technology could become the new standard for computer memory -- memory that combines the speed of DRAM, the persistence of Flash memory, and the bit density of hard drives. In addition, memristors can work as analog as well as digital devices, and hold promise as the basis for building neural networks Thu, 01 May 2008 18:47:18 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Hardware, Embedded Systems 26 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News james_parker http://www.osnews.com/story/19684/Review_Roundup:_Asus_Eee_PC_900/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19684/Review_Roundup:_Asus_Eee_PC_900/ When Asus released its Eee PC, praise was almost universal. People loved the device's size, low price, and the fact it came with Linux appealed to many geeks. Consequently, the device sold rather well, and was a hit for Asus. However, the device had two major shortcomings: its small screen (7" 800x480), and its relatively short battery life. Asus took the critcism to heart, and came up with the Asus Eee PC 900, which has a 9" 1024x600 screen. So, what's the verdict? Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:12:11 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 51 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19677/OLPC_Might_Become_Windows_Only/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19677/OLPC_Might_Become_Windows_Only/ The road to the One Laptop Per Child has been riddled with humps and bumps, such as hardware issues, the failure of the 'G1G1' scheme, and the inability to reach the USD 100 price mark, culminating in the resignation of the project's president yesterday. Now, Negroponte, the project's founder and chairman, has stated something that might alienate the project's strongest supporters even further: the OLPC might evolve into using Windows XP only. Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:50:58 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 66 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News happykid http://www.osnews.com/story/19651/Virtualization_Has_Come_a_Long_Way/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19651/Virtualization_Has_Come_a_Long_Way/ A Geeks.com article examines the latest in virtualization technology, and the hypervisor, a hardware execution layer contained in modern processors from AMD and Intel. Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:49:43 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Hardware, Embedded Systems 4 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19646/A_Year_Later_Sales_of_Linux_on_Dell_Computers_Continue_to_Grow/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19646/A_Year_Later_Sales_of_Linux_on_Dell_Computers_Continue_to_Grow/ About a year ago, Dell made an important move. Pushed by thousands of comments in its IdeaStorm website, the company started offering Ubuntu preloaded on a small selection of its machines. Initially only a US-based program, but later on, some European countries followed. However, criticism was not absent; buyers complained the machines were hard to find on Dell's website and that Dell did not do enough to promote sales of the Ubuntu machines. Today, Dell has commented on the whole Dell-Ubuntu marriage. Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:23:51 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 46 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News Moulinneuf http://www.osnews.com/story/19624/Official_Eee_PC_Windows_XP_Build_Tested/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19624/Official_Eee_PC_Windows_XP_Build_Tested/ "Asus has big plans for its little laptop and to the dismay of purists and Penguinistas, those plans centre on Windows. The company expects to sell five million Eee PCs this year, and Asus CEO Jerry Shen predicts that 'about 60 percent of these' will run XP rather than the Xandros OS with which the mini-note debuted." Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:14:33 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 31 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News Dan Warne http://www.osnews.com/story/19621/The_Ten_Most_Beautiful_Computers/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19621/The_Ten_Most_Beautiful_Computers/ Every now and then, a computer comes along that makes a mark, that sets a trend, or that simply stuns you - but not because of its internals, its processor or its software, but because of its appearance. Through the history of computing, there have been a number of computers that were actually designed to appeal not just because of raw technology alone, but also because of stunning looks. Read on for a countdown of my ten most beautiful computers. Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:29:46 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 111 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/19613/Interview:_Gordon_Moore/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19613/Interview:_Gordon_Moore/ SEMI, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment trade group, interviewed Gordon Moore, the retired chairman and CEO of Intel Corporation, which he co-founded in 1968. Moore is widely known for 'Moore's Law', a 1965 prediction that the number of components on a computer chip would double every year. The interview details the early days of semiconductor manufacturing. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:31:18 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 3 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19583/Displayport_Goes_Internal/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19583/Displayport_Goes_Internal/ "Intel's next generation laptop platform, code named Montevina, has a nice feature that remains quite unheraleded, Displayport. Not only does it allow you to drive an external DP monitor, it uses it internally." My take: So let me get this straight. We are finally leaving the days behind where TVs were TVs and computer monitors were computer monitors, entering a brave new world where a TV can be a computer monitor and vice versa, all thanks to DVI/HDMI - and now we're getting Displayport on computers, recreating the wretched OR situation of yore? If I had any hair, I'd be pulling it out right now. Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:40:54 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 34 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19573/Computing_in_2020:_Erasing_the_Boundary_Between_Human_&_PC/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19573/Computing_in_2020:_Erasing_the_Boundary_Between_Human_&_PC/ "It's easy to view the computer interface as nearly static. Since the advent of mouse-driven, windowed interfaces over 20 years ago, much of human-computer interface (HCI) has gone the same route. But a proliferation of mobile devices is beginning to change that and, even if that weren't the case, important differences are developing in what information is available to computers, and how we access it. In March 2007, Microsoft Research invited 45 leading researchers to discuss where HCI would be in 2020; a report summarizing their conclusions has now been made available." Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:24:45 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 5 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19549/Review:_Asus_U6S_Notebook/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19549/Review:_Asus_U6S_Notebook/ "The U series from Asus has been one sort of an X factor in ultraportable notebooks for the past generation or two. Not being from a company like Dell, HP, or Lenovo, it tends to not get as much attention, but emerged as interesting alternatives. These models are most popular with PC builders and people already familiar with the Asus brand. The U6S is a 12.1" notebook with a Core 2 Duo T7500 processor and a weight of 3.5lbs." Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:25:18 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 2 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19531/Keyboard_PC_Design_Recalls_Amiga_Era/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19531/Keyboard_PC_Design_Recalls_Amiga_Era/ "Fashion often repeats itself, with dated products reborn into popular products. Just think of VolksWagen's Beetle or BMW's Mini. And now we can add the Commodore Amiga to the list, sort of, thanks to a new all-in-one PC with a look rather reminiscent of the home computer." This design was also used by the MSX, my actual first computer experience (apart from a Binatone Mk. IV). Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:33:17 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Hardware, Embedded Systems 30 http://www.osnews.com/topics/32 News