WWDC 2011: Mac OS X Lion highlights

wwdc 2011 apple stefano paganini ios5 lion
With 3000 new APIs, is Mac OS X 10.8 a major upgrade?
First hints from Apple:
– new Mail,
– Autosave feature OS-wide
– Launchpad: gesture OS-wide that run any desktop app
– Mission Control: a new tool to control all Macs inner workings
– gesture control over most apps
– full screen apps (and a new paradigm for developers)

I like AirDrop: a new USB-drive killer that’s a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi data exchange protocol that resembles a lot bluetooth pairing and photo sharing.
It will be really useful among all users.

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WWDC 2011, Apple’s about to unveil iOS5, Lion and cloud solutions

wwdc 2011 apple stefano paganini ios5 lionApple’s WDDC 2011 is here to stay!
While there’s no evidence that an iPhone 5 (too much hyped) may be introduced, it’s almost for sure that Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5 will be presented as well as the music cloud solution that everyone in the industry (competitors or not) have been waiting for.

As usual, any presentation hosted by Steve Jobs himself will boost interest and online cravers…

Stay tuned, this evening!

Posted in App world, Apple, Cloud computing, Digital music, iOS, iOS 5, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, Tech industry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Google’s Schmidt on Facebook, management failures and regret

eric schmidt googleRemember Google’s motto “don’t be evil”?

Former CEO Eric Schmidt statements may push Big G’s trend towards sanctity a bit further.

Remember Buzz, what about Orkut? (besides being popular in South America…)

Google leadership and commitment in search market may be one key. to understand such major social-network failures.

It’s almost unimaginable that Big G behemoth has been unable to turn ‘social’, it’s an interesting lesson to hear the very word of a former top CEO (and still in charge at G) about failure, regret and … competitors!

So, I guess it’s a good lesson for everybody to listen to Dr. Schmidt lesson on the rise and fail (and rise again) of high-end web management.

Speaking at the D9 tech conference outside of Los Angeles Tuesday evening, Schmidt said that for five years, he’s been aware of the competitive threat posed by upstart social networking websites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Schmidt even wrote internal memos about the threat, he said, but was so focused on running Google’s day-to-day operations that he didn’t give the issue the necessary attention.

In an interview with AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher, Schmidt described Google’s social stumble as his biggest regret.

“I clearly knew I had to do something and I failed to do it,” Schmidt said. “CEOs need to take responsibility. I screwed up.”

Pressed by Swisher and her cohost, Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg, about why he didn’t focus more on social networking, Schmidt had a simple answer:

“I was busy,” he said.

So what of Google’s feisty young competitor?

“Facebook’s done a number of things which I admire,” said Schmidt.

Turning to the exploding market for internet services, Schmidt said that traditional desktop and PC-based computer systems are becoming obsolete, as Web-based, so-called “cloud services” proliferate. In cloud computing, data is storied in remote servers and accessed via the web.

Schmidt called cloud services “the death of IT as we know it.”

Wrapping up his D9 interview, Google’s Eric Schmidt had one last piece of advice for anyone worried about online security:

  • Use Google’s Chrome Browser
  • Use two factor authentication in Gmail
  • Get a Mac

Macs aren’t susceptible to all the Windows PC viruses out there, Schmidt said. Schmidt said he was speaking as a proud former member of Apple’s board.

[Via Wired and The Register]

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iPad 2 in China: setting new ‘outselling’ records

apple store beijingiPad 2 Sells out in China in under 2 hours: that’s the news.

The launch of the Wi-Fi only iPad 2 in China at the beginning of May once again garnered massive interest outside its Apple Stores and redefined a couple of things.
Mass-queueing for an iconic product and the paradigm for new emerging tech-hungry markets (China, namely).

The queues were huge outside the flagship Apple Beijing store although many of the waiting customers were thought to be scalpers and queues starting forming at around 5pm, waiting for the next morning opening.

Scalpers are becoming a major frustration to many people as they buy up as much stock as possible to sell on at a profit.
Some stock goes to other countries while the rest gets sold outside the store it was purchased from.
Customers buy if off the street to avoid having to wait in the lines.
The Beijing Apple Store even had a sign outside forbidding scalpers to sell in the district.

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Tech bubble – again?

economist tech bubbleCurrent issue of The Economist has a cover story that looks like a dejavù: a tech bubble report – and a tech bubble burst warning.

Same again, only different

So is history indeed about to repeat itself? Those who think not point out that the tech landscape has changed dramatically since the late 1990s. Back then few people were plugged into the internet; today there are 2 billion netizens, many of them in huge new wired markets such as China. A dozen years ago ultra-fast broadband connections were rare; today they are ubiquitous. And last time many start-ups (remember Webvan and Pets.com) had massive ambitions but puny revenues; today web stars such as Groupon, which offers its users online coupons, and Zynga, a social-gaming company, have phenomenal sales and already make respectable profits.

[Via The Economist]

Posted in China, Economy, Entrepreneurship, Financial, Magazine, Marketing, News, Social initiatives, Social marketing, Social Media, Social network, Startup, Tech bubble, Tech industry | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Google’s ChromeBook: the (very) next big thing?

Google announced ChromeBook: a sort of notebook (built by Samsung and Acer) that may fall in the $300 price line and that uses just one piece of software – Chrome.

The ChromeBook strongly relies on Cloud services and is an always-connected device (otherwise becomes pretty useless with no local memory).

Is it a fast-screaming notebook? Nope, no Gibson’s “Burning Chrome” here (no pun intended)!

I’m quite a Chrome power-user and eager to see how it works; while I’m trying to get news and more details on the ChromeBook, check this Big-G introductory video.

Check here for pre-orders on Amazon!

Posted in Chrome, ChromeBook, Cloud, Cluster, Computer, Google, Google Chrome | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

HP 12C turns 30 years old: Wall Street Journal celebration of a venerable calculator

HP 12C, the Wall Street-oriented calculator, turns 30… and counting!
WSJ reports on this time achievement and comments 12C it’s “diabolical”!

Oddly enough HP 12C, without any wireless connection, not even an infrared-printer output, is still so popular among financial experts.
It’s simple, so rugged and reliable that even the iPhone app (even though well done) can’t match the real thing!
It’s amazing that, just like all other pocket calculators from HP, users report they’ve never been prompted for battery replacement – in years, and that’s an issue so critical these days when all our techno-family keeps on crying for a power outlet to recharge!

The HP 12C’s functions include all the basics–such as calculating APR, NPV, and IRR–and statistics are a snap. For students new to financial calculators, this is an excellent place to start. For the most part, the manual reads like a minitextbook, walking you through sample problems and situations followed by graphs and tables demonstrating the technique–and you can even check your results. The section on creating programs does seem to be written for the technically ignorant, addressing in detail how you could possibly benefit from using programs, but it’ll still help you get the job done.

I remember my first HP programmable calculator (and HP-28C back in 1988) and have been in love with RPN toys since then.
I even witnessed the ‘fight’ between Texas Instruments AOS and RPN fanatics in the early 80s.
My collection include a HP 41CV (along with a lot of accessories), a HP 35, HP 32IIS and a huge “portable” HP 75C… check pictures some here.

Check HP Museum’s page on HP 12C for full details on this small piece of financial history!

It’s available now on Amazon for less than $70…

[Via WSJ]

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Cray XE6: supercomputers back from the past

crayThanks to a ComputerWorld link, I discovered there’s still a Cray supercomputer brand – and market too!

My fault, Cray is still alive and kicking…

The Cray XE6 supercomputer is designed to solve tough questions.
Built upon the Cray XT product line’s proven petascale technologies and scalable to over 1 million processor cores, the Cray XE6 system has the scalability, reliability and flexibility science and engineering demand.

Cray eventually survived the 80s and 90s falling of supercomputing architecture (no more Cold War to compute on… by the way) and emerged with new scalable architectures based on low-cost processors – this time AMD.

Software architecture now relies strongly on Linux clustering – as expected – and promises outstanding performances as well (check here Cray software specs).

I recall the time when X-MP and Y-MP supercomputers were starring in several Hollywood movies; I saw my very first Y-MP for real only in 1998 – not working anyway.

What about raw performance?

Cores: 1,536 or 2,304 processor cores per system cabinet
Peak Performance: 12.2 to 20.2 teraflops per system cabinet

Some Cray video resources available here.

[Via ComputerWorld]

Posted in Cluster, Computer, Cray, Data center, Linux, Supercomputer | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook offers social media marketing guide to boost traffic and sales

facebook marketingA free guide is always welcome.
A well-thought-out and useful one it’s even better!

Facebook is offering social media marketers some insight on how to increase brand engagement and generate traffic and sales with the social giant.
The document, titled Best Practice Guide: Marketing on Facebook, offers marketers tips on how to maximize the results of their Facebook marketing campaigns.

The Best Practice Guide also offers insight on how marketers can build brand loyalty, strengthen customer relationships, gain word-of-web referrals and use Facebook to get more information about their target audiences. Each of these sections highlights the importance of generating quality social content and fostering user-generated content.

In a nutshell: quite simply, Facebook encourages marketers to “Create great content that encourage sharing, and keep it fresh.”

Download link here [PDF file]

[Via Brafton]

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Posted in Facebook, Free guide, How-to, Marketing, Social marketing, Social Media, Social network | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Martha Graham’s anniversary: a dancing Google Doodle

martha graham google doodleMartha Graham‘s 117th birth anniversary is celebrated today by a really nice Google Doodle: an animated dancing performance that strictly recalls the famous dancer and coreographer.

Graham invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience.

More on this artist here.

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