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The WAVE Report on Digital Media
3D --- Media Creation --- Shared Space ---Published by 4th Wave, Inc.--- Issue #0536------------------9/9/05 |
The WAVE Report is Searchable on
http://www.3dlinks.com
http://www.wave-report.com
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Coming Soon: A Severe Shortage of People to Fill Management Jobs
0536.2 Server Protection
0536.3 Online Cheating
Nearly 800 Plagiarism Web Sites Make School Cheating Easier Than Ever, Secure Computing Reports
0536.4 Defrag Reminder
Breakthrough Discovery: Disk Fragmentation Slows Web Browsing
0536.5 DVD+RW Feasibility
Rewritable DVD+RW Double Layer Format to Be Finalized by Year-End
0536.6 Hardened Hard Drives
Hitachi Uses ESP & Other Shocking Technologies to Protect Hard Drive Data
0536.7 Mobile Hotspots
0536.8 Online Shopping
HP Gives College Students a Back-to-school Financial Break at hpshopping.com
0536.9 IM Threats
0536.10 IT Employment Growth
0536.11 Broadly Usable Mobility
0536.12 Embedded Processors
0536.13 Tape Piracy
0536.14 Notebook Upgrades
Hitachi Expands Retail Strategy with Do-It-Yourself Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit
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0536.1 Management Futures
***Coming Soon: A Severe Shortage of People to Fill Management Jobs
MCLEAN, VA
Sept. 7, 2005
Detailing the tried-and-true career advancement secrets that produced the nation's top business leaders, Robert J. McGovern (Rob), the founder of CareerBuilder.com and now mkt10.com, today unveiled his book "Bring Your 'A' Game: The 10 Career Secrets of the High Achiever." This must-have book for the business leaders of tomorrow maps out a proactive plan to set professionals on course today.
According to McGovern, when the baby boomers retire, it will set off a chain reaction -- an occurrence never before seen in the U.S. job market -- where attractive management opportunities will exist without qualified workers to fill the vacancies. The question is: What can a young professional do to prepare themselves to gain from this shortage trend? Fortunately there's time to prepare if they act deliberately to improve their career potential.
The problem of preparedness is one that can be traced to the "dot-com" era of the 1990s with only a select few surviving, such as CareerBuilder.com. The false hope of the '90s economy led to a generation of talented professionals unprepared to take over. These individuals were told to "make their own rules" and "be free agents," instead of laying a true foundation for a solid career in corporate America. Given this, we have a perfect storm just ahead of us where millions of management job openings will be vacant and few qualified candidates will exist to fill the openings.
"Bring Your 'A' Game" provides McGovern's 10 simple but must-have skills required for success, skills that many Gen Xers unfortunately missed. Drawing on his impressive expertise as a successful entrepreneur and a professional skills developer, the book details the tried-and-true career advancement secrets that produced the nation's top business leaders by offering real-world answers for real people wanting to work hard to be successful.
Top 10 skills such as:
1. A formal self-developed career plan
2. The ability to do the easy "stuff" well
3. A willingness to be coached
4. An action-oriented curiosity
5. The ability to communicate clearly
6. Superior people skills
7. The ability to handle corporate combat
8. The ability to learn by observation
9. Resourceful problem-solving skills
10. The ability to make sound career choices
About the Author
McGovern is a serial entrepreneur focused on sharing his career expertise and entrepreneurial spirit. McGovern was the founder and former chairman and CEO of CareerBuilder Corp., which he sold to Tribune and Knight Ridder in 2000 and 2002. Most recently, McGovern founded mkt10.com (pronounced Market 10), an online job marketplace for top performers based in the D.C. metro area, where he serves as the company's CEO. McGovern also advises national leading venture capital firms and technology companies on strategic issues like hiring and recruiting a winning executive team, mergers and acquisitions.
"Bring Your 'A' Game" is now available in bookstores and Amazon.com.
***CA Supports Microsoft's Windows Server System for Midsize Business Promotion with Integrated Protection Suite
ISLANDIA, N.Y.
Sept. 7
Computer Associates International, Inc. has introduced a protection suite for Microsoft's recently announced Windows Server System for Midsize Business Promotion that keeps customers' data safe -- so they can focus on their business.
The announcement was made at Microsoft's first-ever Business Summit for midsize companies, where Microsoft revealed its technology and customer engagement vision for midsize businesses.
Offered in 10 languages, the CA Business Protection Suite for Midsize Business for Windows includes comprehensive antivirus, anti-spyware, data backup and restore, and desktop migration technologies. CA will offer the CA Business Protection Suite for Midsize Business for Windows supporting 50 users for $6,995. This aligns with Microsoft's definition of a midsize company as having 50-1,000 employees and 25-500 PCs.
Microsoft's Windows Server System for Midsize Business promotion -- composed of Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Standard Edition; and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, Workgroup Edition -- is an easy-to-deploy solution that will provide midsize business IT professionals with simplified infrastructure management, reduced costs and complexity, and improved security. The offering, which also includes 50 new combination promotional Client Access Licenses (CALs) for Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003, also eases budget planning by providing predictable licensing.
The CA Business Protection Suite for Midsize Business for Windows:
- Helps customers fend off the onslaught of viruses while easing antivirus administration and automatically updating virus signatures.
- Detects and removes tens of thousands of "pests"– including spyware, adware, trojans, denial-of-service attack agents, and other backdoor web-based threats– safeguarding PCs from unauthorized access, information theft and diminished system performance.
- Backs up and restores desktops, laptops, and servers.
- Streamlines the capture and transfer of user settings and data during a PC refresh, operating system upgrade or desktop recovery.
Availability
CA Business Protection Suite for Midsize Business for Windows will be available in mid October through authorized resellers. Add-on packs will be available in increments of five, 10 and 20-user licenses.
***Nearly 800 Plagiarism Web Sites Make School Cheating Easier Than Ever, Secure Computing Reports; 58 Percent of High School Students Admit to Internet Plagiarism
SAN JOSE, Calif.
Sept. 7, 2005
As millions of schoolchildren log back on to school computers this week, some will be using the Internet for something other than learning -- online plagiarism. Secure Computing Corporation has reported the number of Web sites that facilitate online plagiarism has risen to 780, a ten percent increase over 12 months ago. Secure Computing enables schools to manage access to these Web sites as part of the company's education market-leading SmartFilter, Bess edition Web filtering solution used by thousands of schools worldwide.
Most of the 780 Web sites describe themselves as "essay banks" and offer digital copies of term papers and essays, some for free and others for a price. The larger plagiarism sites offer tens of thousands of essays on a wide variety of topics. Some of the Web sites even offer to write custom term papers on almost any topic. One site charges $19.95 per page for seven-day delivery, and will cater to the worst student procrastinators by providing "same day service" at $44.95 per page.
According to independent research, the online cheating problem among high school students is serious. A 2003 survey by the Rutgers' Center for Academic Integrity of 11,000 high school students found that 58 percent of students admitted to copying uncredited material from the Internet for school assignments. The popularity of online plagiarism appears to be driving the growth of the sites, leaving educators looking for solutions.
Web content management and filtering software can work as part of a program of deterrence to help educators thwart online cheating. SmartFilter, Bess edition not only allows administrators to block online plagiarism sites, but Bess can also be configured to display a school's policy on plagiarism when a student attempts to visit an online plagiarism site.
In addition to deploying filtering software, educators can take a number of administrative steps to fight online cheating, including: requiring students to document the entire writing process; requiring students to incorporate material used in the course in their writing and discussing online plagiarism in advance with students.
http://www.securecomputing.com
***Breakthrough Discovery: Disk Fragmentation Slows Web Browsing
BURBANK, Calif.
Sept. 1, 2005
Slow web browsing only caused by the internet and local network speeds? Urban lore, folks. A newly released white paper discloses how disk fragmentation slows web surfing. The paper, written for Windows IT Professional Magazine by monitoring and security software expert Joe Kinsella, reveals that fragmentation can have a severe impact -- tripling web browsing times!
According to Kinsella, "One of the most surprising results of this paper was that fragmentation affects the time to browse un-cached web pages (no doubt due to the increased file creation times in the internet cache). Retrieving 10 web pages that were not in the Internet Explorer cache took 10.4 seconds for a defragmented image, but 37.0 seconds in the high fragmentation image."
The paper also reveals the massive performance impact of fragmentation on other common applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Anti-virus scans and Microsoft Anti-spyware. The author concludes that a proactive approach is needed in dealing with fragmentation in order to maximize the performance of systems. In alignment with the growing trend, Kinsella recommends automatic defragmentation: "I strongly suggest the use of automatic defragmentation software in order to minimize the administrative cost of managing and the downtime required to implement your defragmentation policy."
In the enterprise environment, the number one automatic defragmenter used by IT Professionals is Diskeeper. The complete Windows IT Professional white paper, The Impact of Disk Fragmentation, can be downloaded at
http://www.windowsitpro.com/Whitepapers/
***Rewritable DVD+RW Double Layer Format to Be Finalized by Year-End; Technical Feasibility Double Layer DVD+RW DL Proven
TOKYO
Sept. 1, 2005
The DVD+RW Alliance, a voluntary association of industry-leading personal computer, optical storage and consumer electronics manufacturers that support the Plus format for DVD recording, has announced that it has started discussions for a new rewritable double layer DVD+RW DL standard that will be finalized by year end. Using a double layer DVD+RW DL disc a consumer can write and re-write up to 8.5 Gbytes of information or up to 4 hours of DVD quality time-shifting recording onto a single 12 cm disc.
During the ISOM/ODS conference Hawaii (July 2005), Philips Research presented its recent achievements in rewriteable double layer DVD+RW DL recording. Good performance was presented for recording at 2.4x as well as 4x recording speeds; for both layers low jitter and high modulation values were achieved. Effective reflection of the media is around 5-7%. In order to read this low reflective media, these discs will only be readable in DVD players/recorder that are designed to be compatible.
Based on the expertise of successfully standardizing the 'write-once' recordable double layer DVD+R DL in 2004 and the new technology innovations in rewritable 'phase change' technology in the past half year, the DVD+RW Alliance, together with consumer electronics and PC drive manufacturers, will shape the new DVD+RW DL standard. Moreover, on September 29 the DVD+RW Alliance will update these consumer electronics and PC drive manufacturers on the proposed details of the rewritable double layer standard during a technical seminar in Tokyo.
About DVD+R/+RW
Today the DVD+R/+RW format is capable of recording up to 8.5 gigabytes of digital video, images or data. This equates to the storage capacity of up to eleven CD discs and the potential to store thousands of digital photographs or approximately four hours of digital video. The primary benefit of DVD+R/+RW is its two-way compatibility, meaning that DVD+R, DVD+R DL and DVD+RW media can be played in most DVD video players and DVD-ROM drives tested.
About The DVD+RW Alliance
The DVD+RW Alliance is a voluntary group of industry-leading personal computer, optical storage and consumer electronics manufacturers. The companies promote the universally compatible, rewritable DVD+R/+RW format that enables true convergence between personal computing and consumer electronics products. Over 70 companies have formally joined DVD+RW Alliance to support DVD+R/+RW technology.
***Hitachi Uses ESP & Other Shocking Technologies to Protect Hard Drive Data; Hitachi ''Extra Sensory Protection'' Technology Gives New ''Mikey'' Hard Drive A Soft Landing
BERLIN
Sept. 2, 2005
With hard disk drives increasingly used in portable consumer electronics, Hitachi has taken a number of precautionary measures to safeguard the storage component from data loss in the event of a fall. The most recent of these measures is a technology called ESP or Extra Sensory Protection, which Hitachi believes should be as essential to hard-drive-based devices as airbags are to cars.
Acting like a sixth sense, ESP uses a 3-axis accelerometer -- a type of drop sensor -- to detect a fall in as short as four inches (10 cm). This in turn activates the hard drive controller to suspend a read or write operation and park the head safely away from the surface of the disk. By "unloading" the read/write head, the drive is placed into non-operational mode, avoiding potential head/disk contact -- the most common cause of data loss. In effect, Hitachi's ESP technology renders every shock or impact to be a non-operational one, significantly increasing the overall shock tolerance of the hard drive and, more importantly, the overall safety of consumers' data.
ESP will be especially useful in emerging hard-drive-based smart phones, which may experience greater user handling and, potentially, a greater number of drops than other types of consumer devices. Hitachi is offering ESP as an optional feature on the Microdrive 3K8 -- the world's smallest one-inch hard drive, also known as "Mikey." With ESP and other Hitachi shock-proofing technologies, Mikey proves to be the most shock-resistant hard drive on the market with a non-operational shock rating of 2000 Gs. ESP will be available on Mikey in December of this year.
Developed by Hitachi Metals, the drop sensor component being used on Mikey features the ability to accurately detect a fall from three axes (X, Y, Z) simultaneously. In addition, the minute packaging of the sensor (3.4mm x 3.7mm x 0.92 mm) allows it to be placed on the smallest hard drives, including the one-inch Microdrive, where it is situated on the drive's printed circuit board. A demonstration of the drop sensor in action will be performed at the Hitachi Technology Suite at IFA all this week (Hall FG-2121).
Other Shocking Technologies
In addition to ESP, Hitachi uses a variety of shock-proofing technologies to protect the hard drive from data loss, especially on Mikey:
-- Snubbers: corner bumpers isolate the hard drive from surrounding host device components, reducing impact to the drive by up to 50 percent of what the host device actually sustains; effectively doubles the non-operating shock tolerance;
-- Head load/unload: Hitachi-patented technology, now widely used throughout the industry, moves the read/write head off disk surface while not operating to reduce incidence of head/disk contact; used in conjunction with drop sensors to comprise ESP technology;
-- Servo: series of technologies, patented by Hitachi as"TrueTrack," uses closed-loop, digital-control system to maintain precision in track positioning of the read/write head even under adverse conditions;
-- Femto slider: a 30-percent reduction in slider size– the tiny flying wing supporting the read/write head above the surface of the disk -- increases shock performance by 25 percent over previous pico slider technology.
Hitachi owns a broad patent portfolio which includes patents for shock-related technologies on hard disk drives, including the use of drop sensors.
***TRENDnet Unveils Next Essential Wi-Fi Tools
TORRANCE, Calif.
Aug. 31
TRENDnet has expanded its complete line of high-performance Wi-Fi products with two new revolutionary Wi-Fi Detectors, the TEW-509UB and TEW-429UB. Whether you are a Road Warrior, Network Administrator or anyone who spends time looking for a Wi-Fi signal, the pocket-size Wi-Fi Detectors allow you to quickly locate available wireless networks and connect with an integrated Wi-Fi Adapter. The TEW-429UB can connect to 802.11b or g networks, while the TEW-509UB supports 802.11a, b or g signals. They include an easy-to-read LCD display that provides detailed information on all of the networks within a 200ft range in less than 5 seconds. Once the user decides on a signal to connect to, the integrated Wi-Fi adapter can be plugged into the laptop to connect to the network in seconds. Due to their lightweight portability and unmatched feature set, these product stand out as the leading Wi-Fi Detectors in the market and are a must have Wi-Fi tool for anyone with a wireless laptop.
The detectors capture and display all the broadcasted details Wi-Fi signals use to distinguish themselves. Most Wi-Fi Detectors currently available in the market use LED's to show the presence of Wi-Fi signals and their relative strength. So, to find out if it is an open (HotSpot) or closed (Encrypted) network it requires the user to boot-up their laptop to get more information about the signal. The new TRENDnet Detectors units include an LCD screen that details Signal Strength, SSID (Network Name), Encryption type (eg. WEP 64/128 bit, WPA & WPA2), Channel, Source and Battery Life. This is especially helpful for mobile laptop users who frequently use WiFi Hotspots to stay connected to their business. The Detectors are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and weigh only 30 grams each. Now mobile professionals can quickly pull the Detector out, turn it on and determine if there is an available signal without booting up their laptop.
The Detectors also include a Custom Search Mode that allows users to search for networks based on the type of signal. For example, Network Administrators looking to do a site survey for security reasons can set the unit to D-Mode (Deticated) to lock on to a single network and identify gaps or extended coverage. Or if the IT staff is looking for potential rogue networks the unit can be set to S-Mode (Signal) and all networks within its range will be listed in order of their signal strength. And finally, if you are a business traveler or student you can set the unit to F-Mode (Free) to find open, unencrypted HotSpot connections to synch email, download files, or even make VoIP calls.
As the availability of HotSpot locations continues to rapidly expand, TRENDnet looks to enable users and providers the tools they need to connect anywhere at anytime. The TEW-453APB 108Mbps HotSpot Access Point and the TEW-T1 Wi-Fi Detector are two recently launched products that have been received well by the market. In addition to the existing 802.11b /g product line-up, TRENDnet is always looking to expand the speed, range and reliability of the wireless LAN signal. The company has recently launched three new Super G wireless families powered by Atheros chipsets: Super G, Super A+G and Super G MIMO. Assured compatibility, extended wireless coverage and faster performance will appeal to power users looking to transfer large files, stream multimedia or improve the reliability of their signal by eliminating gaps in their wireless coverage.
http://www.trendnet.com/hotspot
***HP Gives College Students a Back-to-school Financial Break at hpshopping.com
PALO ALTO, Calif.
Sept. 6, 2005
In time for back-to-school shopping, HP is offering college students a program that can save them up to 15 percent on the company's latest technology products through hpshopping.com, HP's online consumer-shopping subsidiary.
The Academic Purchase Program was developed by hpshopping.com to give all qualified students access to the technology tools that can aid their academic success. New and returning college students with a valid student ID can register for the discount at the website.
From the comfort of their dorm rooms or apartments, student shoppers can take advantage of hpshopping.com's personalization features and award-winning customer service to help select the right products.
Unlike the limited selections in campus bookstores, the Academic Purchase Program offers students the complete line of HP home and dorm room offerings, including new, refurbished and hard-to-find products. Available items include HP Pavilion and Compaq Presario notebooks and desktop PCs, HP iPAQ handheld PCs, flat panel TVs, HP Photosmart digital cameras and printers, and HP LaserJet and inkjet printers.
Additionally, hpshopping.com offers an eFinance program that enables qualifying students the opportunity to purchase back-to-school products right away, with the convenience of paying over time. With the hpshopping.com eFinance card, students and other customers can save money by taking advantage of limited time no-interest and no payment promotions.
http://www.hpshopping.com/education
***IMlogic Threat Center's August Report Reveals Over 1000 Cumulative Targeted Attacks on Instant Messaging Networks in 2005; IM and P2P Attacks Increase More Than Tenfold Over Previous Year; Surge Attributed to Widespread Growth of IM Worms
WALTHAM, Mass.
Sept. 1, 2005
The IMlogic Threat Center, the industry's first global consortium to provide threat detection and protection for instant messaging (IM) and peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, has reported IM threat statistics for the month of August 2005. The report highlights a 3500 percent increase in IM threats including viruses, worms, spam over IM (SPIM), malware and phishing attacks.
The statistics released by the IMlogic Threat Center provide key metrics on the continued attacks IM networks are experiencing from malicious code and worm writers. Key data points released include:
-- Cumulative IM threats reported for the 2005 calendar year surpassed 1000 unique incidents, more than 10 times the total threats reported in all of 2004;
-- A 3,543 percent increase in reported incidents of new IM/P2P viruses, worms, and malicious code compared to the same month last year;
-- More than 1,158 IM/P2P threats in the first eight months of 2005, a 1,968 percent increase compared to the first eight months of 2004;
-- Microsoft Windows and MSN Messenger continue to receive the majority of IM attacks with 60 percent, followed by AOL Instant Messaging (33 percent) and Yahoo (7 percent). Utilizing exploits available in Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003, Zotob and IRCbot leveraged real-time chat technologies to wreak havoc at many large enterprise organizations and user communities worldwide. With more mobile workers using IM, and the increase in interconnectivity across heterogeneous networks, Zotob and IRCbot demonstrated how quickly malicious attacks can spread and infect unsuspecting users.
This most recent information validates the rise in targeted IM attacks on corporate environments and the need for both large enterprises and small businesses to prepare and defend against emerging IM threats. Current month over month and year over year trends continue to suggest that IM-borne attacks will continue to grow as hackers capitalize on the growing popularity of IM in both consumer and corporate environments. The IMlogic Threat Center encourages consumers to protect themselves by keeping operating system patches and anti-virus software up to date, and to exercise caution when using embedded links or file transfer capabilities over the IM channel. Corporate IT departments can additionally leverage IM management and security technology to protect their networks from the risks associated with unmonitored and uncontrolled IM usage. Best practices are available for both enterprises and consumers online at
http://www.imlogic.com/im_threat_center/index.asp
***Enterprise Systems Releases 2005 IT Salary Survey; Though the IT Job Market Has Grown Stronger in the Last Year, It's Been a Bumpy Ride for Many IT Staff Positions
CHATSWORTH, Calif.
Sept. 7, 2005
Enterprise Systems (ES), a provider of real-world business and technology information for managers of large, high-volume computer systems and infrastructure, has released the findings of an extensive IT salary survey for 2005.
Key findings include:
-- Application programmers saw the largest jump in salaries across the IT staff positions for the second year in a row, and now average $56,500 -- a rise of 6.6 percent over last year's survey.
-- Systems programmers had the toughest year in terms of salary and bonuses with base salaries dropping nearly 5% to $67,150 in 2005.
-- Database administrators make more than most IT line positions with premiums paid to those working in the IMS and DB2 environments.
-- IT executives responsible for building and deploying customer-facing systems are getting the highest rewards.
-- The western United States, which felt the pain of recent IT layoffs and cutbacks perhaps more acutely than other regions, is now rebounding strongly and leading the way in salaries.
-- More than one out of five IT professionals (22 percent) feel their jobs are likely to be outsourced at some point in the future.
This salary survey of 1,170 enterprise-IT sites tracked salary figures for IT managers and professionals across a broad spectrum of organizations. The survey covers seven IT line positions and eight IT management positions.
This report also examines: salary by region, industry, and company size; job satisfaction and security; and average number of hours worked per week.
http://www.esj.com/2005itsalary
0536.11 Broadly Usable Mobility
***Action Engine Releases Results of Worldwide Mobile Usability Study: 'Ease of Use' Key to Uptake of Mobile Data Services
BELLEVUE, Wash.
Sept. 6, 2005
Shattering the mobile usability barrier, Action Engine Corporation has announced that it has released the findings from the Action Engine Worldwide Mobile Usability Study, its first annual worldwide study on the usability of mobile data services and application delivery. The study included participants who were located in various countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.
The survey questions were developed from the usability criteria defined in "The 7 Rules of Mobile Data User Experience," a paper written by wireless industry expert, Elliott Drucker. Since 1998, Drucker has been featured regularly in the publication Wireless Week and is considered to be a leading authority on wireless usability and network design.
Through the results of this survey several key conclusions can be found about the mobile user experience with wireless data services and applications:
Usability is the #1 Purchasing Influencer: When asked which factor most influenced their purchasing decision, 59% of respondents cited 'Ease of use/Positive user reviews' as their most important buying criteria, exceeding 'Value for Price.' For respondents based in Europe, this percentage rose to 95%, demonstrating the strong impact that usability has on product sales.
Cost and Complexity Prevent Usage: 34% of those surveyed indicated that they are not using mobile applications despite the availability of faster networks and new mobile data services. Of the people who had not used these services, 46% of respondents listed cost as their number one barrier to using data services and 28% listed complexity of use as the second reason they are avoiding new services. Assuming those barriers were reduced, 70% of respondents indicated that they would use mobile applications like news, weather, and sports scores at least 2-5 times a week.
Email is Not the Killer Mobile App: Respondents ranked interest in News, Weather, Travel, Driving Directions, and Mapping applications above Communications applications, like Email and Instant Messenger.
Users Want More Personalization Options: 85% of those surveyed indicated that having mobile applications remember their favorites and preferences was important or very important.
Speed is the Key: Fewer trips to the network and 'fast response times' were listed as the most important features for respondents who use mobile applications. 76% of respondents indicated that two or less trips to the network would be all that was tolerable when using a mobile application. Respondents also indicated that they would not expect to spend more than 5 minutes online while using a mobile application.
Off-Portal Downloads are the Most Popular Delivery Mechanism: Respondents indicated that the most popular place to purchase a mobile application is from a third-party mobile downloads Website rather than the mobile or PC Websites of their own service provider/mobile operator. 10% of respondents said that they only use the mobile applications that come preinstalled on their phone. 49% of people said that monthly subscriptions would be their ideal payment method for mobile applications.
***SBS Technologies' New Conduction-Cooled 3U CompactPCI Single Board Computer Ideal for Rugged Applications
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
Sept. 7, 2005
SBS Technologies CV1 SBC brings high-performance computing power of the Freescale G4 PowerPC host processor to demanding PCI-based embedded applications
-- Freescale MPC7447A/7448 G4 processor
-- Marvell Discovery III MV64460
-- 3U CompactPCI form factor
-- Convection or conduction-cooled versions
-- System or peripheral slot operation
-- On-board PMC site for additional I/O
-- Linux, VxWorks and SBS Ready Driver support
SBS Technologies continues its role in the embedded computer market by introducing a powerful new G4 PowerPC Single Board Computer (SBC). Available in convection- or conduction-cooled versions, the 3U CompactPCI CV1 high-performance SBC supports core processor speeds of up to 1 GHz and bus clock rates of 167 MHz. The CV1 is ideal for military applications, such as unmanned aerial vehicles deployed in harsh environments, as well as high-performance applications that must work in an extended temperature range of -40 degrees C to +85 degrees C.
The CV1 incorporates sophisticated power management technology, and gives engineers ample I/O to work with by providing two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two 32-bit 33/66 MHz PCI bus interfaces, an RS-232 and an RS-422/485 serial I/O ports and ten general-purpose I/O lines to the backplane with separate interrupts and interrupt masking capability.
The CV1 implements a PCI/cPCI bridge that handles 32-bit data transfers to and from the CompactPCI backplane, which allows the CV1 to operate as a system controller or peripheral processor card through its dual mode capability and eliminates the need to stock multiple configurations.
The CV1 supports the Linux, VxWorks and other operating systems as well as the SBS Ready Driver interoperability program.
***IPTV Operators Can Now Track Video Piracy to Its Source with New Digital Watermarking Technology from Verimatrix; Breakthrough Digital Watermarking Enhances Verimatrix Content Authority System and Meets Strict Guidelines from Content Providers
SAN DIEGO
Aug. 31, 2005
Verimatrix has announced an additional level of digital watermarking capabilities that detect piracy to the culpable individual's set-top box. As an optional component to the Verimatrix Content Authority System (VCAS), the user-specific digital watermarking system is the industry's first to embed an electronic fingerprint in video content as it is played back at the set-top box.
Verimatrix protects content and video streams, as well as detects digital piracy at its point of origin, with carrier-class solutions designed specifically for today's bi-directional IPTV networks. Verimatrix developed VCAS as a software-based content security solution built on the principles of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and X509 digital certificates combined with digital watermarks. VCAS inserts three different types of watermarks so that the complete history of a media file can be determined: within the primary data center, at each edge site (or point-of-presence), and a third watermark, called a user-specific watermark, on each client device.
The user-specific digital watermark is a machine readable electronic fingerprint, which is embedded in the video stream. The watermark is invisible to the naked eye, but survives the transition from digital to analog and also commonly-used transcoding methods. The absence of one or more watermarks means that acts of piracy are being conducted before the media file arrives at the individual's set-top box.
***Hitachi Expands Retail Strategy with Do-It-Yourself Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit; High Performance 100 GB Hard Drive Offered At Major Retail Stores
SAN JOSE, Calif.
Sept. 7, 2005
To support two new growth trends in the consumer notebook segment -- hard drive upgrade and external storage -- Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is offering a complete upgrade solution that consumers can install themselves. The solution includes both a new internal hard drive for upgrade and tools to create an external storage device using the existing hard drive. The Hitachi Travelstar 2.5-inch Hard Drive Upgrade Kit will be available later this month at major retail stores nationwide.
The new Travelstar upgrade kit consists of a 5400 RPM 40, 60, 80 or 100 GB capacity hard drive, complete installation instructions, Apricorn EZ Gig II Hard Drive Cloning and Upgrade software, a high-speed Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 hard drive enclosure (USB 1.1 compatible), a one-meter USB cable and auxiliary power cables. The Travelstar hard drives will also be available in retail stores as stand-alone internal drives which are recommended for professional installation.
Over the past several years, there has been a notable upswing in the use of notebook PCs as desktop replacement systems. The explosive growth of Internet downloads, digital entertainment and personal data stored on hard drives is prompting consumers to use external storage devices as back-up solutions or as data repositories. The combination of these market trends makes Hitachi's dual-purpose hard drive upgrade solution well-timed.
Hitachi's entry into retail with a 5,400 RPM 2.5-inch product taps the highest-growth segment for notebook hard drive upgrades. 5,400 RPM hard drives represent the natural upgrade progression for most notebook users, given that the vast majority of hard drives used in notebook systems today are 4,200 RPM.
Product Availability
The Travelstar 2.5-inch Upgrade Kit will be available later this month at retail stores nationwide. Both the stand-alone drive and the drive with upgrade kit are available in 40-, 60-, 80- and 100-GB capacities.
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