Technology Newsletter
13 June 2008

Welcome

This week it's all about the latest kit, as we reveal the fastest computer in the world, the next mini laptops to hit the market, and the new super–snazzy 3G iPhone.

Also: with Father's Day looming on the horizon, we take a look at some of the gadgets you could get for dear old pa.

If you enjoy reading this newsletter, why not take a look at our blog?

Hazel Butters, CEO - Prompt Communications

Technology News

World's fastest computer is child's play
By DaveWilby

The US Department of Energy has broken the record for the fastest computer in the world by creating a monster machine from 13,000 Cell processors, more commonly found in PlayStation 3 consoles, and nearly 7,000 AMD processors intended for desktop PCs.

IBM's 'RoadRunner' is the world's very first petaflop computer, running 1,000 teraflops, or trillion calculations per second, and processing information at twice the speed of the previous fastest computer, the IBM BlueGene. A spokesperson for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, home of Roadrunner, told New Scientist that the machine's daily output was equivalent to each of the six billion people on earth using a calculator to crunch numbers for 24 hours a day for 46 years. It will be used to model the reliability of the US nuclear stockpile, as well as solving other energy challenges.

Interestingly, University of Illinois' Todd Martinez stumbled on the idea of making mega-brains with games console chips while butchering his son's original PlayStation and noticing the console's chip architecture had numerous similarities with those used in supercomputing. Six years later he had gained public sector funding to start building.

"Are you going to get one of those new
3G iPhones, then?"
By DaveWilby

This was the very first question I was asked when walking in to the office this week. Steve Jobs, enigmatic ruler of Apple and all things small and gadgety, announced the company's latest iPod model on Monday, spurring a billion water–cooler conversations.

The new iPhone 3G is promised to do exactly what we'd expect. It keeps all the best features of the current much–loved iPhone and adds high–speed 3G mobile networking. It also boasts a built–in GPS and iPhone 2.0 software that supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and any new third–party applications built with the iPhone SDK.

Jobs confirmed at Apple's worldwide developer conference that the iPod 3G would be launched simultaneously in 22 countries on 11 July, floating the now much–bantered brand mantra "twice the speed at half the price ". The iPhone 3G will come in two models, 8GB and 16GB versions, priced at $199 and $299 in Apple shops in the States and available on contract from 02 and Carphone Warehouse in the UK. Unlike the original launch, Apple is very keen to push the iPhone's business capabilities this time around.

Acer and Dell jump on the mini laptop bandwagon
By Terrie Chilvers

A day doesn't seem to go by without the announcement of yet another budget mini laptop to rival the Asus Eee PC. Latest additions are Acer's Aspire One and the Dell Mini Inspiron. There aren't any specs available on the Dell yet, but PC Pro reports that the Acer laptop will feature Intel's low power Atom chipset, 512MB RAM and an 8.9 inch screen. Add that to the MSI Wind, Elonex ONE and HP Mini–Note and we could soon be spoilt for choice when it comes to cheap, dinky laptops.

ZDNet reports that the latest incarnation of the Eee (the Eee 901) was launched at the Computex technology show last week, sporting an Atom chipset and 8.9 inch screen.

Room for one more? Rumour has it that Sony is set to unleash something similar onto the market later in the year.

US Media News

By Oliver Greaves

Landmark Communications is selling the Weather Channel, and has distributed information to potential bidders on Dominion Enterprises, its portfolio of advertising websites and publications. The Weather Channel auction, which could fetch three to four billion dollars, has come down to two bidders; Time Warner , and a consortium consisting of NBC Universal, Bain Capital and Blackstone. The privately held Landmark is turning its focus towards the possible sale of its other media holdings.

Renetta McCann, global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group is stepping down. Her role is being taken on by Laura Desmond, CEO SMG/The Americas. The Publicis–owned media agency network confirmed the news on June 9. McCann, who has been in the agency for 30 years, intends to take one year sabbatical from the company starting on January 1 2009. Until then she will continue to report to Jack Klues, chairman of Publicis Groupe Media.

Linux New Media has announced the purchase of assets relating to InfoStrada's Linux Magazine. Linux Magazine was first published in 1999 and it will now be merging into Linux New Media's North American flagship magazine, Linux Pro. Linux Pro's is the fastest growing magazine in the rapidly expanding open source IT industry and offers a mixture of technical yet accessible articles on Linux and open source.

UK Media News

By Oliver Greaves

Incisive Media has named Dylan Armbrust as group publisher of its Personal Technology Group. Armbrust, who was publisher of Computer Active, will now take overall control of Incisive's technology consumer division. Armbrust will publish titles such as Personal Computer World and Computer Active Ultimate Guides. He has previously acted as editor, group editor–in–chief and publisher within the group.

Douglas Woodburn has been promoted to news editor for Incisive Media's weekly IT and communication industry magazine, CRN. Woodburn is moving from his previous role as a senior reporter. In his new role, Woodburn will be responsible for both the online and print news content for the magazine, including the security, storage, audiovisual and voice and data sectors.

FourFourTwo.com has a new editor appointed by Haymarket Consumer Media—Gary Parkinson. Parkinson joins FourFourTwo.com after working on the magazine as the editor. Commenting on his new role, Parkinson said: "FourFourTwo has long been recognised as the leading football magazine brand in the UK and is well–respected around the world. The challenge is to claw the same kudos for the brand's online presence in a crowded, well–entrenched market which includes some very big hitters indeed."

Tech Totals

By Zachariah N. Hofer-Shall

$199
The cost of the new "twice as fast—half the price" 3G iPhone in the US

$75
The minimum monthly plan required for 3G iPhone ($40 for 450 minutes of talk, $30 data plan, $5 text messages)

$1975
The total minimum cost throughout the required two year AT&T contract with a new 3G iPhone, $160 more than the original iPhone plan

Source: Gizmodo

Is old media dead, or is Microsoft?
By James Gerber

Late last week, Steve Ballmer boldly declared that old media will be dead within 10 years. He stated "there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form."

Them's fighting words.

Ballmer threw down the gauntlet, and the old media came back with a bold prediction of its own: Microsoft will be dead within 10 years. Columnist Bill Virgin suggests that Microsoft is failing to achieve its strategic goals. Its effort to buy Yahoo is indicative of its failure in search. In devices, its Xbox has done well but the Wii is more popular, and the Zune hasn't been able to catch up to the iPod. In desktop and applications, Vista was a bomb and people are starting to use hosted applications (aka cloud computing).

It's a great argument between the two and my personal take is that Microsoft is the one more likely to go under. The writer's most salient point was that newspapers have existed since the 1690s in America, and have weathered changing technology such as radio, TV and now the internet. There will always be a demand to have something printed and ready at the spur of the moment at the very least and even if the market shrinks drastically, I don't see that changing. Microsoft, on the other hand, has not been very successful lately in moving into new markets and if its current business dries up, it is doomed. Open source is also a tremendous threat to the company. Firefox, for example, has risen from 0% of the browser market in 2003 to a projected 20% in July. If an open source desktop is created that spreads at that rate or faster, Microsoft could be in trouble. The internet already runs on open source (literally, with over 80% of the HTTP servers). Why not the desktop?

If Microsoft had been around for 300 years, I might be inclined to side with it, but the world of technology moves so fast that obsolescence is one market misstep away.

Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) Releases Poll Results
By Mike Kane

On Monday, June 2, the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) released the results of its latest poll. The poll rates analysts and analyst firms across a number of fronts, including Analyst of the Year, won by Forrester's Ray Wang, and Most Important Analyst Firm of the Year, also won by Forrester. The survey was only open to analyst relations (AR) practitioners, so it provides an interesting 'insider' perspective on the analyst relations industry.

You might be pleasantly surprised to find that the top tier firms did not completely dominate the results. A number of smaller AR firms were ranked highly in all categories, including Freeform Dynamics, MWD, and RedMonk.

The results of the poll demonstrate that integrity, independence and market knowledge are the analyst qualities most valued by AR practitioners. The positive results of the survey indicate that analysts and analyst firms of all sizes are demonstrating these qualities.

What to get a tech–loving dad for Father's Day
By Zachariah N. Hofer-Shall

With Father's day just around the corner (that's this Sunday for those who've forgotten) we thought it would be nice to use this section to help with a few gift suggestions for any tech–dad. Sure the typical necktie might work for your average father, but if your dad likes gadgets and gizmos why not find something better; something that requires batteries!

If your father loves summer barbeque as much as he loves gadgets then he would love the Chef's Remote Thermometer allowing full grill temperature monitoring from up to 100 feet away or take a look at the Motorized Grill Brush to make cleanup a breeze. For the sports–nut dad, take a look at the SportsCast Wireless Baseball Scorecard which provides live scoring for every single Major League team updated via satellite. Or at least this will do until ESPN's "The Ultimate Remote" is available.

Finally, if you really want to spoil your father this year then go with the ultimate gift: the Countertop Beer Tap. This cooler has enough electronic features to please a gadget guy, plus holds enough beer to please any guy. He's had a long year—doesn't he deserve a freshly tapped beer straight from the kitchen?

Apprentice UK Quotes of the Week

"Roulette equals gambling, equals debt, equals misery."
Nick Hewer channels the spirit of Yoda in the Apprentice season finale.

"Lee—you're hired."
And so it ends, with Lee McQueen claiming victory and a well–paid job with Sir Alan Sugar.

Website of the Week

By Dave Wilby

NME Radio

When I was 13 years old, the UK music magazine New Musical Express, known to everybody simply as NME, was a must–buy bible of indie cool and youth angst found in every respectable shoe–gazer's biro–scrawled army–surplus rucksack. Published since the 1950s, it has charted subsequent explosive decades of rock 'n' roll, psychedelia, punk, pop, Brit–rock and digital music. Sadly when I was an avid NME reader, hardly any of the bands featured in its pages could be heard on the largely chart–based broadcast radio then available.

Now that's all changing, and from 26 June NME readers can enjoy NME Radio in glorious uncompromising broadband glory. The online station is set to feature the best in alternative music, news, gig guides and live sessions. Also, in preparation for launch, NME Radio is streaming an exclusive two–hour show hosted by record–breaking podcast DJs Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington. Catch the show repeated twice a day until 23 June.

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