January 2005 News
- Search and you will find
- The return of the code generator
- Intel reveals dual-core plans
- George Orwell would have loved RFID
- Gates is blue-screened at CES
- Blue is the colour of the future
Search and you will find
Evolving search technology will soon make it possible to find that piece of information that you saved but has strangely gone missing. Having finally accepted that not all of us file things in a well-structured manner, putting search-keys into the file being non-intuitive and that most of us have good short-term memories and awful long-term memories the information stores need to be searchable. The race has begun with Desktop Google out of the box and the competition hotting up during 2005, even MS has thrown its hat into the arena via MSN with the butler hanging in with some class.The return of the code generator
Model-driven architectures (MDA) have generated considerable interest among IT organisations looking for improved rigour and productivity when developing systems. Although defined by the Object Management Group the formal structures are not likely to be used in the tactical implementation. So although modelling is good, structured definitions are more likely to be used to drive "code generation" by the initial MDA offerings. Don't forget the UML, just don't expect to see it win the battle in the short-term.
Intel has detailed its processor roadmap for the short-term, including plans for dual-core chips for desktops, mobiles and servers.
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2006
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| Mobile | Sonoma platforms: Pentium M 533MHz bus | Napa platforms: dual-core CPU | |
| Desktop | Smithfield: dual-core Prescott-class CPU | ||
| Server | Montecito: dual-core Itanium | Xeon dual-core chips |
George Orwell would have loved RFID
It is as small as a grain of rice, it can be implanted under the skin and when passive doesn't need a power supply. Radio Frequency Identification technologies can be used in many different ways including the management of people so the possibility of implementing a Big Brother solution is getting closer. Initially RFID will help in the supply-chain from manufacturer to consumer but what will be next ................
Gates is blue-screened at CES
Bill does not have a good track record demonstrating new technology. To be "Gates-sted" has happened to us all so we could sympathise with a colleague but if it is Bill himself we are glad, very glad. MS did not have a happy CES, Bill blue-screened whilst demonstrating MS Mediacenter's integrated digital photography capabilities and later a tablet PC would not connect to the internet. We have got aquarium and log-fire DVD's maybe the next CES hot product will be an MS blue-scree DVD.
Is Blue is the colour of the future?
The take-up of the
Blu-Ray format is growing every month. The next-generation optical disc
format developed by the Blu-Ray Disc Association (BDA) can hold 25GB (50GB)
of data (2 hours of HDTV or 13 hours of SDTV). It is expected that Blu-Ray
technology will replace all current VCR and DVD recorders within the next
few years. The HD DVD competition is still cheaper but is limited to 30GB
so with the insatiable appetite for storage Blu seems to have the edge.
Shorties
- Tesco has gone offshore with 400 IT jobs being established in Bangalore.
- Sainsbury's IT system ignores fresh food for London stores leaving the shelves empty. At least the backup system was available - tins and frozen.
- Oracle has finally swallowed PeopleSoft. Lets hope the users don't end up with indigestion.
- Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is to offer a new 1" microdrive with a 10GB capacity for highly portable devices.
- Symantec captures Veritas creating a single supplier of secure information management.