Archive for October 12th, 2008

Red Hat Unveils Integrated Linux-Based HPC Platform

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Red Hat Unveils Integrated Linux-Based HPC Platform

Red Hat, a provider of open source solutions, has announced the delivery of an integrated Linux-based High Performance Computing (HPC) platform with the global availability of the Red Hat HPC Solution, an all-in-one stack that customers can leverage to deploy, run and manage their HPC clusters.

Historically, according to the company, building and managing HPC clusters has provided cost and expertise challenges for IT departments faced with lengthy deployment timelines and tedious integration work requiring extensive training, planning and upkeep.

“With our HPC Solution, we’re enabling our customers to focus on their business goals and competitive advantage without needing to worry about the challenges of deploying and managing their HPC cluster – we’re taking care of this for them,” said Scott Crenshaw, vice president, Platform Business Unit at Red Hat. “We’re delivering the first Linux-based solution that allows our customers to deploy a fully integrated high-performance computing environment in minutes rather than in weeks or months. No one else in the industry has yet been able to deliver this type of compelling Linux solution for HPC clusters.”
(more…)

Mandriva Linux 2009.0 is out – but do you care?

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Mandriva Linux 2009.0 is out – but do you care?

The first time I ever saw Mandrake Linux (Now Mandriva) was on a retail store shelf. That was probably 9 years ago and to be honest in the last few years I personally haven’t seen Mandriva running much (as I shoulder surf desktops at conferences) – though it’s hard to tell.

Mandriva Linux 2009.0 is now out and it might help to improve the adoption numbers, especially for those who prefer the KDE Linux desktop.

Mandriva 2009.0 includes KDE 4.1 (a whole lot more stable than KDE 4), a new GUI installer and improved boot times according to the release notes. Mandriva also claims that its installer is now capable of detecting low-resource systems or netbooks, and installing an appropriate environment.

Linux bloat is a real problem for low resource systems. In my own experience I tend to spend the first hour (or more) of any new release installation turning off services that are installed by default that I’m likely to never need or use. Having an installer that can detect a low-resource system is a positive step forward overall in helping to make for faster and more efficient systems.

Mandriva at this stage in its maturity faces more than just technical challenges – there are significant marketing challenges too. Traditional competitors like Red Hat, SUSE and Debian are still there and the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution is also grabbing a lot of mind and market share.

It’s not just good enough anymore (if it ever really was) to just be better than Windows – for Mandriva to make a dent it need to be better and somehow differentiated than other Linux distros as well.

Source: blog.internetnews.com

Google’s Android ‘opens up’ the smart phone

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Google’s Android ‘opens up’ the smart phone

With the hype surrounding Apple’s iPhone 3G launch in Canada, not to mention Research in Motion’s BlackBerry and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, one might think there’s hardly room for yet another contender in the highly competitive smart-phone space.Google would beg to differ.

The web-search giant’s much-hyped Android mobile phone platform is about to roll out in the U.S. on Oct. 22, beginning with the HTC T-Mobile G1 handset ($179 U.S., with two-year contract). Now before you ditch your existing phone, bear in mind the G1 will only launch in the U.S. initially (as was the case with the iPhone), but phone manufacturer HTC says Canadians can expect an Android-powered handset “sometime in ’09.”

Here’s why it might be worth the wait.The G1 has a large touch screen that resembles an iPhone, but it also sports a BlackBerry-like trackball and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Unlike other platforms, though, Android has an open operating system: Google is giving away the software to developers.

Google wanted Android to be innovative. “There was no good reason why it shouldn’t do things your PC can do,” Erick Tseng, product manager for Android at Google Inc., told The Gazette. “This isn’t just about Google, but rather the amazing third-party applications created by developers with unfettered access to the phone’s hardware, software and network.
(more…)

Firefox for Mobile coming next week for Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Firefox for Mobile coming next week for Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

Mozilla will release an alpha-build of their new Firefox Mobile browser by the end of next week, initially only for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. The software, codenamed Fennec, is intended for preliminary code checking with a touchscreen-centric device, according to Jay Sullivan, Mozilla vice president of mobile, and precedes a Windows Mobile version that will drop “in a few months”. As well as the multifunction search & address ‘awesome bar’, Firefox for Mobile will support swipe-gestures for calling up control and contextual menus, and use the same Gecko rendering engine as the desktop version of Firefox.

That means full JavaScript capability, together with AJAX. Part of that functionality is used by a new geo-location interface, and Sullivan hopes that the existing developer community will begin to look at what existing and new Firefox plugins can be ported to Fennec. One such official plugin soon to see release is Mozilla Weave, synchronizing desktop and mobile versions of the software.

The eventual Firefox Mobile beta release – which will be more stable for general users, compared to the alpha – is expected sometime in 2009. Sullivan estimates two or three further alpha versions before that happens.

Source : slashgear.com

Which Web 2.0 Companies Are in Trouble?

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Which Web 2.0 Companies Are in Trouble?

I came across this interesting article from Rafe Needleman about web 2.0 startups which will not make it through the economic downturn. Here are my thoughts on some of the companies on his list:

Twitter: I agree the company needs to generate revenue and showing some ads wouldn’t hurt the business model that much. As I mentioned recently – I have started to use this service regularly – but I am not promising I will have time to continue.

Zillow: This site seems to be used by virtually everyone who owns a house – is shopping for one or is curious to see how much their friends and coworkers are worth. You enter an address and get a home price. Cool stuff – but at some point it does need to generate revenue. I did see an ad for State Farm Insurance on Zillow today so I am not sure this site is doomed. Then again, I don’t know what the site’s expenses are.

Pandora: I would be devastated if this one was to die off. The ability to play customized music based on a single song or artist is amazing. I do know the company has agreements with AT&T and Sprint to stream music for a small fee. Hopefully this along with the in-home consumer-electronics agreements it has will keep it going.
(more…)