Loading ...The technology that refuses to die
by Bradley Hughes, Senior Analyst, IDC Canada -
The first fax machine was invented in 1861 and, amazingly, the need for fax capabilities is still demanded by business today.
In the first half of 2007, the market for MFPs (or All-in-Ones) with fax capabilities has grown 25% from the first half of 2006. This is happening in a situation where the MFP market itself has only grown 5% over the same period of time. Meaning that nearly 40% of MFPs shipped in Canada in the first half of 2007 had fax capabilities.
Now there is a chance that end-users are finally realizing that there are fax capabilities within many MFP models (IDC does not track the stand-alone fax market) but the tenacity of fax technology and the fact that it is still relevant is incredible.
For some reason, scanning & emailing (or scanning to email) just isn’t cutting it. Perhaps people like hearing that familiar fax squelch when a connection is made. Or they enjoy that lonely time standing in front of the fax ensuring it goes through properly. I don’t know but to heck with the notion of the paper-less office, we’ve got to at least get to the fax-less office first.
Posted on September 28th, 2007 by Brad Hughes and filed under Computer Science | 2 Comments »Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
Loading ...Intel goes tick tock
By Joaquim P. Menezes -
“Our tick-tock strategy” – is how Intel CEO, Paul Ottelini, described his company’s game plan to alternate the latest silicon technology, with a new microprocessor architecture.
Otellini’s presentation at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco was calculated to impress.
And some of the stuff he outlined did sound impressive.
For instance Otellini held up a plate-size wafer containing what he said were the world’s first 32-nanometer (nm) semiconductors.
There’s a huge gee-wiz element to this technology.
32-nm enables the creation of transistors so small that more than 4 million of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence.
Okay we’re impressed. But what’s the practical benefit of this super-shrink technology?
Intel is going to produce 32 nm-based commercially available chips in two years, and in the meantime, it says it will start shipping the industry’s first mass-produced microprocessors based on 45-nm technology Nov. 12.
So what’s the deal here?
Are we just witnessing another phase in the ongoing game of one-upmanship between Intel and arch-rival AMD, which has also announced plans to produce 45-nm and 32-nm chips in mid-2008 and 2010 respectively.
Posted on September 19th, 2007 by Joaquim Menezes and filed under Computer Science | No Comments »Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
Loading ...Floored by a coffee table
Having gone to roughly a million technology demonstrations in the last 10 years, I’m a skeptic. I’m rarely thrilled by a demo. Especially one on a Saturday when I have my nine-year-old’s exquisite company. So I blew off an invite for a Saturday show by Microsoft without a second thought.
As it happened, my daughter and I accidentally wandered into the Microsoft Surface demonstration at the Sheraton in downtown Toronto Saturday afternoon. I was not impressed by the technology. I was completely floored. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on September 17th, 2007 by Dave Webb and filed under Future Technology | 1 Comment »Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
Loading ...Deperimeterization and realism
You gotta love this industry for the ever-evolving vocabulary. My neologistic experience this week was stumbling upon the word “deperimeterization.” The actual concept isn’t new to me, but there’s an awkward grace to the expression that appeals. (I approached Computerworld editor Shane Schick — a bit of an eye-roller when it comes to such ham-fisted constructions — and he bet me a bag of chips I couldn’t use “deperimeterization” and “disintermediation” in the same sentence.)
The notion is that, with the increased need for collaboration among suppliers, customers and partners, security focus has to shift away from the perimeter and toward applications, servers and endpoints. While it wracks nerves some, this deperimeterization is necessary for the disintermediation of collaborative processes. I’ll take the salt and vinegar, Shane. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on September 14th, 2007 by Dave Webb and filed under Security | No Comments »Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
Loading ...Unconventional RFID - The HP Smart Shelf
Radio Frequency Identification or RFID is usually thought of as an asset/inventory-management technology, and that indeed is one key way the technology is used today.
However, other non-conventional but fascinating applications of RFID are possible, and a group of us witnessed some of these during a media visit to the HP Canada’s RFID Labs (they call it the RFID Customer Experience Centre) located at the company’s headquarters in Mississauga, Ont.
John Keogh, Director, RFID & Supply Chain Solutions, HP Canada, who conducted the demo, clarified that this “Centre” is not an R&D lab in the strict sense of the term, but rather an Applications lab.
“The focus is on how you actually apply the technology.”
Most applications showcased in the lab, Keogh noted, were not developed in a vacuum but in response to specific business needs of HP customers. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on September 12th, 2007 by Joaquim Menezes and filed under Computer Science | No Comments »Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
Loading ...What a wonderful - HDMI 1.3 - world
By Joaquim P. Menezes
Remember Louis Armstrong belting out in that gruff voice: “I see trees of green…red roses too…”
“I see skies of blue….. clouds of white…” “The colours of the rainbow…so pretty in the sky…”
Were Armstrong around today - and if he owned a High Definition Multimedia (HDMI) 1.3 compliant device and media - he would be able to see all those colours and objects – green trees, blue skies, white clouds, resplendent rainbows – with amazing vividness, all their subtle tonal variations, and intricate nuances.
What’s so hot about HDMI version 1.3 – the specification that was released in June 2006?
Most of the hype surrounding this spec relates to its support of what in technical terms is referred to as “Deep Colour.”
Posted on September 10th, 2007 by Joaquim Menezes and filed under Computer Science | No Comments »Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
Loading ...The Great Printer Emissions Scare of ‘07
by Bradley Hughes, Senior Analyst, IDC Canada -
About 10 years ago I worked with somebody who constantly complained about the quality of the air and smell around his desk which happenned to sit next to a printer. Management thought he was a whiner and eventually they found a trumped up way to get relieve him of his duties. Turns out he may have been right.
Last month a bomb got dropped in the laps of laser printer vendors (particularly HP) when the Queensland University of Technology in Australia published a study on airborne ultrafine particles being emitted by laser printers. Although the story is a bit old people continue to ask me about it so here is a quick primer on the situation culled from the research report itself as well as some fine reporting from ZDnet.
Number of printers tested: 62
Number of printers that emitted NO particles: 37
Number of printers considered HIGH particle emitters: 17
Were any trends detected?
No. HP may have been responsible for 16 of the 17 printers considered high emitters but they were also responsible for 29 of the 37 non-emitters. As well the HP LaserJet 5 was both a high emitter and a non-emitter.
What do the particles consist of?
We don’t know. No testing was done of the ultrafine particles themselves.
Is laser toner carcinogenic?
We don’t know — testing in lab rats did not find any abnormalities.
Is this just a problem for HP?
No. Unfortunately though 51 of of the 62 printers tested were HP devices. Thus far no one has pointed out that Canon manufactures the print engines in HP’s laser devices. If memory serves correctly it was Sony who ended up bearing the brunt for the Great Exploding Laptop Scare of ‘06 not Dell. Only one Canon printer was tested (it was a low emitter) as well no models from Samsung, Lexmark, Brother or Xerox were tested.
What does this all mean?
That the research thus far is inconclusive but definitely warrants more. From the actual study’s discussion section:
The high standard deviation of the average emission rates estimated in this study also indicates that the particle emission process and the behavior of individual printers are complex and that they are still far from being completely understood. Many factors, such as printer model, printer age, cartridge model, and cartridge age may affect the particle emission process and all of these factors require further study.
What’s the cynical blogger take on it?
Prepare for a lot of marketing material laying claim to “zero emission” printers.
