Linked by Kroc Camen on Thu 30th Sep 2010 12:12 UTC
"I am truly shocked that so many people are being duped by BlackBerry's recent announcement of their tablet, the PlayBook. I have read endless comments from people who are saying they can't wait to get this tablet computer. Well, I think I have some bad news for you folks. There is no evidence that the PlayBook exist as advertised. Why do I say this? I will make it brief..."
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Member since:2005-07-06
True, but the operating system can go very far in determining battery life. My Android phone, the Motorola Cliq, has a friggin' huge battery but barely makes it through a day of light browsing once or twice an hour, and a couple of phone calls and texts. Why? It has a low power, efficient processor, and an energy efficient screen so those aren't the culprits. The cell and WiFi radios are no different than any other Motorola smartphone when it comes to power draw, so it's not them either.
No, I'll tell you why: Because it's running the older, less efficient version 1.5 of the OS, and the MotoBlur UI that runs on top of the OS is constantly polling data, even when you set the phone in "Battery Saver" mode. This device is a clear case of the software, not the hardware, running the battery down. I'm looking forward to the 2.1 update mostly for the gain in battery life.
No, I'll tell you why: Because it's running the older, less efficient version 1.5 of the OS, and the MotoBlur UI that runs on top of the OS is constantly polling data, even when you set the phone in "Battery Saver" mode. This device is a clear case of the software, not the hardware, running the battery down. I'm looking forward to the 2.1 update mostly for the gain in battery life.
That's the power management functionality aspects of the operating environment, which are higher level functions, not scheduling, I/O ops, or microkernel versus monolithic, etc.
Member since:2010-03-08
Actually, proper scheduling can make devices more power-efficient.
As an example, usual round robin algorithms run software whenever it can run, keeping the processor busy and energy-hungry as long as one task is active and it's not put in a sleep state.
A power-efficient scheduling algorithm could swap out some tasks under certain conditions, so that the processor can be put to rest more often. E.g. pausing a game when it's put in the background in order to read some mail won't hurt its functionality the tiniest bit, and CPU use during the time spent reading the mail will drop from 100% (game running in the background) to a few % (scrolling text from time to time).
Defining which tasks are swapped out can be the role of a high-level API, but as you see the ability to swap a task out and stop scheduling it must first be provided at a low level.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2005-06-29
True, but the operating system can go very far in determining battery life. My Android phone, the Motorola Cliq, has a friggin' huge battery but barely makes it through a day of light browsing once or twice an hour, and a couple of phone calls and texts. Why? It has a low power, efficient processor, and an energy efficient screen so those aren't the culprits. The cell and WiFi radios are no different than any other Motorola smartphone when it comes to power draw, so it's not them either.
No, I'll tell you why: Because it's running the older, less efficient version 1.5 of the OS, and the MotoBlur UI that runs on top of the OS is constantly polling data, even when you set the phone in "Battery Saver" mode. This device is a clear case of the software, not the hardware, running the battery down. I'm looking forward to the 2.1 update mostly for the gain in battery life.