IFA consumer electronics fair opens in Berlin
The trade fair is one of the world's biggest consumer electronics and home appliances shows
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IFA consumer electronics fair opens in Berlin
In search of tablet computers’ sweet spot: screen size and battery life
Apple has some competition from a slew of companies. But it made its design decisions in a vacuum: so why did it go for the features that it did, and do they matter more than others? Here's a question: why is the screen of Apple's iPad 9.7 inches across? Why that size? Why not bigger? Or smaller? If we examine this question, we may be able to figure out the answer to another question: how are the slew of tablets being released now (hello Samsung) going to fare in the market? Consider what the iPad was going up against when it was being designed: the range of Windows-based tablet computers, which would have had screens in the 12 to 13-inch range; the Amazon Kindle, a dedicated e-reader, with a 7" screen; and the Kindle DX, launched in May 2009, which has a 9.7" screen
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In search of tablet computers' sweet spot: screen size and battery life
Dell tops Hewlett-Packard’s bid for cloud computing specialist 3Par
America's two largest computer manufacturers lock horns as they seek to profit from expected growth in online IT services Texas-based computer maker Dell has struck back at its larger US rival, Hewlett-Packard, in their struggle to buy data storage firm 3Par by slapping down an improved offer of $1.52bn as the two hardware manufacturers jostle for position in the potentially lucrative market for so-called "cloud computing". America's two largest computer manufacturers are going head-to-head in a rare outright confrontation to take over 3Par, a hitherto obscure business which is considered well placed to benefit from higher information technology spending when the corporate world eventually stages a recovery from the recession. Dell's bid of $24.30 a share is a sharp rise from its earlier $18 offer, which was made a week ago
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Dell tops Hewlett-Packard's bid for cloud computing specialist 3Par
John Aris obituary
Computer engineer who encouraged the use of PCs in business John Aris, who has died aged 76, was a pioneer of the application of computers for business use. In the late 1970s, he was one of the first to recognise that the future of business computing lay with smaller, cheaper machines more than with mainframes; and with widely available pre-programmed applications rather than custom-built software. Working at the Imperial Tobacco Group, he was one of the first computing managers in the world to oust a mainframe in favour of end-user-managed minis and to encourage the advent of personal computers. John's career in computing began in 1958 when he was recruited to the Leo (Lyons Electronic Office) computer team by J Lyons, then the major food business in the UK, and initiators of the notion that the future of computers lay in their use as a business tool. At the time, the prevailing view was that work with computers required a trained mathematician. The Leo management thought otherwise and recruited using an aptitude test. John, an Oxford classics graduate, passed with flying colours, noting that "the great advantage of studying classics is that it does not fit you for anything specific". When a series of mergers brought about the formation of International Computers Ltd (ICL) in 1968, John became chief systems engineer and had the unusual experience of explaining to the board of the new company what, in the eyes of its customers, its products were for. After a spell as ICL's technical director for western Europe, based in Paris, in 1975 he joined Imperial as head of computer development. With this move from a supplier to a user company, John discovered that he had underestimated the knowledge and skill of users at all levels. He used that insight at first within Imperial, and subsequently, from 1985, as full-time director of the National Computing Centre (NCC), set up by the government to encourage computer use, and of the computer club Impact, a forum for users. Many of the UK's leading companies and public sector bodies participated in Impact: in reviews, detailed comparisons with best practice, seminars, debates and lectures. As NCC director, John had to concentrate on moving away from a heavy financial dependence on government contracts. Perhaps the most striking achievement of his term of office was selling NCC-developed telecommunications standards-testing software to the official standards bodies of both the US and Japan as their main enforcement tool. He succeeded in raising the NCC's non-government revenue by 71%. Nonetheless, he had to reduce the workforce substantially when the government contracts dried up, and in 1990 he resigned. Born in London, John was a clever child, and his parents, an insurance executive and a painter, who were far from rich, gambled on his winning an Eton scholarship, which he did. His father was a keen amateur actor and John's brother Ben became a well-known professional actor, but John's stage career never progressed beyond schoolboy productions. Aged 15, he decided that classics was more interesting than mathematics, his best subject, and pursued it, despite teachers' disapproval
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John Aris obituary
My bright idea: Dennis Shasha: Nature can improve our computers
The professor of computer science believes the next great leap in computing will be programming machines to behave in almost evolutionary ways Robots on Mars that can fix themselves and computers built from DNA: not science fiction but the work of scientists at the forefront of computing. Dennis Shasha, 55, is a professor of computer science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the author, with Cathy Lazere, of Natural Computing: DNA, Quantum Bits and the Future of Smart Machines (Norton), a survey of research in fields as disparate as engineering and medicine. This New Yorker sees an emerging common theme: that the future of computing lies in a synthesis with nature. What can computers learn from biology? We should look at the history of the two fields and how surprising it is that they should come together. Computing was really born of physics and of this "clean-room" mentality – and a lot of computing is still like that. When one tries to control every bit of accuracy and tries to ensure that nothing could possibly go wrong – well, this is very different from the messiness of nature. But as computers become more mobile and autonomous – either they can gain their own power from the environment or they have a long battery or are wireless – their problems become quite different. Instead of problems being algorithmic, which means they can be expressed as a recipe – you do one step and then the next and you finally arrive at an answer – now their problem can be: how do I survive? If the problem is how do I survive, then all of the survival mechanisms that organic nature uses become relevant. And robots that can repair themselves are an example of this? In the history of space travel, it's been easier to build a computer program to guide a spaceship to Mars than it has been to build a robot that can navigate the terrain there with anything like the skill of goat. A professor of robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) called Rodney Brooks saw a problem with what's known as the "monarch" model: sensors provide data to some kind of higher intelligence, which in turn figures out a model of the world before sending a set of decisions to a set of actuators (wheels, for instance). But it's very hard to construct a model of the real world. Brooks thought that the real world is its own best model, and that it's much better to have very low-level intelligences, which can work together. One intelligence may say: "Do not collide with anything" – something fundamental to avoid a bad outcome – whereas another one may say: "Explore as much as possible." But if that one conflicts with the first one, than the first one wins. And so on. As a result, in the 80s, Brooks was able to construct very simple robots that didn't need much computing power but which were able to achieve things that other robots couldn't. He suggested sending lots of little robots to Mars, which should just be let go, as opposed to highly controlled robots, which would be very expensive, could easily break and would in fact be very hard to control over all that distance
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My bright idea: Dennis Shasha: Nature can improve our computers
Robby Krieger: ‘You have to keep upgrading’ | Celebrity squares
The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger is annoyed by built-in obsolesence, but is keen to get his hands on a 3D TV What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? In my studio I've got Pro Tools on my Mac, and it's made it a lot easier to record. Pro Tools was a big leap in digital recording. When was the last time you used it, and what for? I've just been recording my son's band, called Darkroom, and we did about 10 songs – written by my son, Waylan, and some of his bandmates
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Robby Krieger: 'You have to keep upgrading' | Celebrity squares
Multi-tasking media consumption on rise among Britons, says Ofcom study
16 to 24-year-olds particularly adept at juggling act, cramming nine and a half hours of media into six and a half hours of actual time Britons are juggling several types of media at the same time to sate their appetite and leave enough time for everything else in their lives, the Ofcom study reveals. The average media consumer's digital day is seven hours and five minutes. From breakfast radio to peaktime evening TV, via surfing and texting at home or at our desks, media takes up 45% of our time. The actual amount being consumed is even higher, Ofcom believes, with the boom in mobile computing helping Britons to multitask. "The ability of people to surf the web on their laptop while also watching TV has given people a licence to roam while staying connected," said Peter Phillips, Ofcom's strategy and market developments partner. A fifth of our media time is this kind of "simultaneous" consumption. Those aged between 16 and 24 are particularly adept at this juggling act, and are mopping up more media than any other age group. They cram nine and a half hours worth of media into six and a half hours of actual time – data that suggests the cliche of the youngster loafing in the lounge is an unfair one. "Sixteen-to-24-year-olds go out more, and spend less time watching TV," Phillips commented. He also acknowledged that this multitasking can mean we devote less attention to any one media source, although this was more pronounced when using new technology. It appears we are simply better at combining reading, landline calls or TV watching with another activity without our attention drifting. Discovering that teenagers are happier than their parents to combine web surfing, phone calls, tweeting and TV is not exactly a revelation, and Ofcom's research does show that some other truisms also still apply.
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Multi-tasking media consumption on rise among Britons, says Ofcom study
Apple manager denies bribery charge
Executive pleads not guilty in US court to charges that he took bribes from Asian suppliers in return for inside information An Apple executive pleaded not guilty last night to charges that he took bribes from Asian suppliers in return for inside information. Paul Devine, a global supply manager at the company, is accused of accepting more than $1m (£639,000) in kickbacks over several years from manufacturers keen to supply accessories for iPhones and iPods. He was arrested last Friday, and appeared in federal court in San Jose in handcuffs yesterday to face 27 charges including money-laundering and wire fraud
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Apple manager denies bribery charge
Updating PCs in a small business | Ask Jack
Kate Sellers runs a small business with an ageing fleet of computers. She'd like to replace some stragglers, but can she speed up the rest? I run a small business with an ageing fleet of computers. We're looking to replace the three or four that are really struggling (at a guess they must be at least five years old, but could be older) and we'd like to keep the cost down. We don't need monitors and we need Microsoft Office; presumably it is cheaper to buy it bundled with the system. The default option would be Dell, but we were disappointed with our last purchase – a Vista machine that is subject to frequent slowdowns and crashes. Do you have any recommendations
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Updating PCs in a small business | Ask Jack
Concert pianist Lang Lang: ‘I feel left behind all the time’ | Celebrity squares
Concert pianist Lang Lang wishes he could spend more time practising video games What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? The new 3D television – I just got the Sony Bravia, and it's really cool. I can play games and watch football games in 3D – I watched them during the World Cup. You enjoy the distance and the way the third dimension works – you feel like you are inside that world. When was the last time you used it, and what for? I watched the games of the World Cup – many games were shown in 3D, as was the final. What additional features would you add if you could? I believe that with 3D TV, in addition to watching football and playing video games, we need to do live-streaming of events, such as concerts, in 3D. Do you think it will be obsolete in 10 years' time? Maybe we'll have 4D TV by then? Who knows – probably. We will have everything in 3D in 10 years, such as computers and so on. And by then, we won't need the glasses to watch 3D TV any more. What always frustrates you about technology in general? Sometimes technology is developing much faster than our abilities – we have to learn how to use it all the time. But the good news is that technology is helping us to get faster results
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Concert pianist Lang Lang: 'I feel left behind all the time' | Celebrity squares