Smaller Circuit Size, More Powerful Computers, New Phase Memory

Flash memory, the reigning technology for portable memory devices, may be dethroned by an upcoming technology, called Phase memory or PRAM. The new memory technology is being developed by a number of different companies lead by IBM using a variety of materials and technology. Phase memory uses a new material that can change its state of matter and retain an electrical charge.

Flash Memory
Flash memory that works in a solid state, and differs from your computer’s hard drive which requires a number of mechanical moving parts. Essentially it is a type of ROM, known as EPROM, or Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory. Additionally this type of memory does not require an electric charge to retain information. Without becoming overly technical, Flash stores information in a grid of columns and rows. Information in this grid is stored as a value of either 1 or 0. In EPROM a value of 1 indicates a blank area, where 0 has been written. For more information about how ROM works see this article on HowStuffWorks.com.

Phase Memory
Phase memory differs from Flash memory in that the material from which memory cells are constructed actually has two different states. It can switch between two states of matter, crystalline and amorphous. It is from this property that a new type of memory derives the name “Phase Change”. Neither state requires electrical power to be retained, so the material is naturally non-volatile. Meaning, it won’t lose data in the absence of electrical power. This type of memory requires less power, and is scaleable to smaller dimensions than flash memory. Meaning memory units would be lighter, faster, and more efficient. In computer applications this means that a notebook with a phase-change memory device in place of a hard drive would be quieter, lighter, and run longer when running off of the battery. If applied to cell phones phase change memory would allow companies to create smaller, lighter devices with more features. Such phones would also run longer off of existing batteries, or a comparable amount of time off of a smaller, lighter battery. For more information about phase memory and its applications see this article from PC World.

Impact
At this time the impact of this technology is negligible as it is not yet in a state suitable for broad commercial use. The earliest estimate for this type of memory hitting the market is sometime in 2008. More conservative estimates put widespread application of Phase Memory beginning in 2010 or 2015. When it does become available computer storage devices will become quieter, lighter, and faster. Portable memory devices will become smaller, and capable of storing much greater amounts of information. Whenever it does become available it looks as though phase memory will quickly become the memory standard for computers and computing devices.

RIP: VCR

When was the last time you rented a videocassette from the local video rental shop? According to a recent Nielsen study, it’s been a while. As recently as 1999 VCRs and the VHS format dominated the market with nearly 90 percent of the market share, while only about 7 percent owned a DVD player. Nielsen’s Q3 study indicates 81 percent of households now own a DVD player, while 79 percent own a VHS. The study also revealed that household rental of VHS cassettes is only about one per month compared to DVD rentals of about 2 per month. What does this mean for the video consumer? Much like when cassette tape gave way to compact disc, as DVD gradually gains market share over VHS, the VCR cassettes will be produced less and less until commercial VHS cassettes are no longer produced. VHS, like beta, will likely continue to be used in commercial video production.

While not the most staggering news in the recent Nielsen report, the study also found the following:

Computers: Over 70% of households own a computer. The majority of which belong to households with children and teens.

Internet: 95% of consumers with Internet access go online at least once a week. Almost 40% of all Internet users go online more than once a day. Nearly 80% of all online users have made purchases through the Internet. Just under 50% of online users over the age of 12 use the Internet to download and play music from the Internet.

MP3 Players: The total percentage of homes with an MP3 player has exploded since 3rd Quarter 2003, rising nearly 150%. Of the households polled those with children between the ages of 12 and 17 were nearly 2.5 times more likely to own MP3 players.

PDA: Just over 16% of homes own a PDA, the majority of which can be found in higher income homes that are 4 times more likely to own a PDA.

A breakdown of the study can be seen in the graph below provided by Ken Radio:

Vilsack Sends Appeal to Tech Savvy Voters

In a move that hearkens back to then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign appearance on Mtv, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is appealing to popular culture, and younger voters, by making use of a popular media platform. Specifically, Vilsack has begun a video blog, or vlog, using YouTube and maintains a page on MySpace. Both of which are popular destinations for younger web-savvy Internet users. MySpace alone claims to reach 89 percent of all 13 to 24 year olds. If his online bid is successful Vilsack will effectively reach the largest body of voters who represent the smallest turnout at polls.

Vilsack’s efforts mark the first time that the web has been used by a potential presidential candidate to reach out to voters. “I want the chance to visit with you using the technology of today and tomorrow,” says Vilsack in his MySpace Video. Essentially the digital equivalent of stumping, it remains to be seen if Vilsack’s online bid, and other campaign efforts, will generate a nomination from the Democratic Party. Nonetheless, making use of online resources and social networking represents a genuine first the American political machine.

What does this mean for the future? Potentially nothing. It is also conceivable that Vilsack is setting a precedent that other candidates will follow. A successful campaign depends on a candidate getting his (or her, let’s not discount Ms. Clinton’s chances) message to the most people in the clearest, most efficient manner. Using the internet very nearly allows a candidate to be in two places at once: online and in-person. The deciding factor will still be whether or not Vilsack A.) Reaches his target audience, and B.) Whether or not they pay attention to, or agree with what he has to say.

For more information and resources about Mr. Vilsack and his campaign see the following:
His website located here It’s worth a look. He really does have a good, clean, and informative website.
His MySpace Page located here
His YouTube Video Blog located here

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Microsoft - Novell Deal Gains Financial Support

A further step toward cementing OS interoperability between Microsoft and Novell was taken today with the announcement of significant financial support from three big financial firms. Novell initiated a deal between the two software giants, and penned the agreement in November of this year. In the terms of the agreement Microsoft pledges not to prosecute users of SUSE Linux for patent infringement. SUSE is a distribution of Linux offered by Novell.

Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and AIG Technologies announced yesterday that they have taken delivery of SUSE Linux subscriptions from Microsoft. This announcement marks these companies as among the first to take delivery of the open-source SUSE from Microsoft. This is an important show of support for the deal from three heavy-hitters in the financial field.

The deal between Microsoft and Novell has taken some flak from advocates of Free and Open Source Software. What does it mean for the average consumer? Below a certain level, really, nothing right now. Although this could be an inroad to enhanced interoperability between the otherwise bitterly competitive operating systems, the average user, and even most business users, won’t be too affected. Where we’ll start seeing an impact is in large businesses or technology companies running their network in a mixed Linux/Windows environment. The availability of SUSE Linux certificates from Microsoft, and support of Linux in a mixed environment from Novell means smoother operation of mixed environments. It might also mean more companies will gravitate toward a blended environment.

One step closer to a Universal XML File Format for Documents

Well, the day has finally arrived, the XML file formats used in Office 2007 are now ECMA standards.

This is something that can be used to extract data from office files without having to write your own document decoders (something I used to do for a living waaay back when). XML file formats is not a new thing - Office 2003 XML formats are available, like the 2007 ones, royalty free, but this time a standards body has approved the standard.

For reading I would suggest http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA102058151033.aspx followed by the ones below.

2007 Office System: XML Schema Reference

This download contains reference documentation for the 2007 Microsoft Office system XML schemas.

2007 Office System Sample: Manipulating Office Open XML Formats Files

This is a set of sample files and Visual Studio project files that illustrate how to manipulate Office Open XML format documents programmatically.

Full Article: http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2006/12...

Making the Case for Terminal Services

What would happen to your company if a laptop containing sensitive employee information was stolen from an employee’s car? How about financial records and documents? Boeing is now facing exactly this dilemma as the third laptop in 13 months was stolen from an employee vehicle. Records on the stolen notebook computer contained information on some 382,000 of Boeing’s current employees and retirees. Included in the information were names, home addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. This represents a significant breach in security and a potential for identity theft that can only be expressed in terms of magnitude.

The saving graces in this situation would appear to be that no evidence has surfaced that the sensitive information has been compromised, and the laptop was powered off at the time of theft. To access the data the thief would first have to power on the laptop then log in to the computer by providing a user name and password. Even so, Boeing is taking no chances and is currently in the process of contacting the individuals affected by the theft. By way of apology and compensation the company has offered those affected two years of credit monitoring on Boeing’s dime.

This is the third such theft at Boeing since the fall of last year, despite internal policies requiring employees to work off of the server behind the firewall. Policies that were personally enforced by management at Boeing. Managers manually verified that no one was storing sensitive information on notebooks that would be used in the field.

So how does this happen? The short answer is it only takes one person storing information locally as a convenience to cause a crippling breach in a company’s domain.

So how are such losses prevented? There are a number of ways to avoid this kind of exposure.

• Use an electronic password key such as RSA. This kind of enterprise level encryption will ensure that a thief can’t access stolen information simply be entering a user’s password. The password in this case is determined via RSA. Tough, but not invulnerable.
• Format notebook hard drives at the end of every working day. Labor intensive, costly, and impractical if the notebook is stolen before it can be re-imaged. However, it does eliminate the risk of employees storing information locally on a notebook long-term.
• Provide all employees with USB memory keys. Practical in the sense that no information is stored locally on the notebook, but dangerous in the sense that USB keys are easily lost or stolen.

The above suggestions might work to one extent or another, but the best way to ensure that sensitive information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands on the theft of company property is for it to never be stored on the notebook in the first place. This can be done through a virtual desktop accessed through terminal services. Using terminal services an employee’s desktop is actually running off of a server located in a secure data center. At no time is an employee storing sensitive information on a notebook that is used in the field. The company can set permissions in terminal services allowing only certain users access to applications or data. Further, terminal services can be configured to prevent a user from saving an open document on a local hard drive. From the employee’s perspective, they can access their virtual desktop from anywhere with an Internet connection. Wherever they are, their desktop is always the same. If a laptop is ever stolen that system’s connection to the user’s desktop can be blocked, ensuring that no theft of data can take occur. The biggest limitation for terminal services is the dependency on an Internet connection.

The best way to ensure your data, and in this example the identities of your employees, is protected is to never let it leave your place of business. Terminal Services allows you to do just that.

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For more information about terminal services visit the links below.
Wikipedia’s article
Microsoft’s Remote Desktop
ZEROi from SADA Systems

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The Anatomy of SPAM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6038236.stm
From BBC Online:

A daily chore of modern life for many is the morning trawl through a full inbox deleting spam email. But just where does it all come from and why do spammers use bizarre text, names and images in their emails?

To the expert eye a typical spam is laden with clues to its origin. Click on the links below to find out more.

SENDER

“Iverson Vernie”: An implausible name that sounds human to computers if not people. This helps to offset the “spamminess” of the message. Plus it is in capital letters which also helps to bust the scoring systems often used to spot spam.

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E-MAIL ADDRESS

“eieeeyuuyuioeeiiayi@fleetlease.com - Clearly fake. All the letters before the @ sign come from the top line of the keyboard starting at the left. The spammer generated this e-mail addresses by running their finger along that line when putting the spam run together.

However, this could provide useful forensic information when tracing spam campaigns or spam groups. Another clue is given by the fact that the company owning the domain, Fleetlease, rents vehicles - there’s no reason to think it is really pushing pills.

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SUBJECT

Bad spelling marks it as spam as does the exclamation point. But it avoids mentioning what the message is actually about which might help it sneak past some spam filters.

BODY IMAGE

The body of the message is actually an image rather than text. Again this is another trick to defeat spam filters which find it impossible to view what is in bitmap or jpegs.

This image was called from another computer based in Hungary. The net service offered by this company is free which is probably why it is being used as a source for these images. Spammers hate paying for anything.

It could also be a checking mechanism which records which e-mail address responded. “Live” addresses are much more valuable than ones that never react.

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ASSOCIATED WEBSITE

This is apparently linked to a company in Wisconsin, but the details held on the net about it are likely to be fake given that there is evidence the server is physically located in South Africa. The server hosting this site hosts another 90, most of which are touting drugs of one kind or another.

The net address for this site is well-known as a source of spam and is actively blocked by many organisations. It is thought to be one of many used by the Yambo Financials spam gang.

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EXTRA TEXT

Spammers regularly use large lumps of text to try to convince filtering systems that a message is legitimate. Extracts from books are popular but random text like this is too. What should be noted is that nowhere in this mail does the text actually mention what the message is about. The only mention of the drugs it is offering for sale is in the image.

Curious what the new versions of Microsoft Office are all about, and what they contain? See the chart below.

Specific information, right ouf of Microsoft’s mouth can be found here:

Does Windows Vista Equal More Job Opportunities?

IDC, an international economic reporting agency says, “Yes.” In a recent study released by the reporting company the growth in total IT employment is expected to grow by more than one percent. While that may not sound like an especially large number, but considering that total IT employment in the United States has a base of more than 10 million, this number is fairly significant. Below are some other interesting findings from IDC’s study:

• For each dollar of Windows Vista-related revenue Microsoft receives in 2007, the IT industry at large will reap more than $18 in revenues.
  
• Microsoft partners will invest about $10 billion preparing and rolling out their Windows Vista-related products.
  
• Microsoft partners and others in the IT industry are expected to generate over $70 billion in revenues in 2007 directly tied to Windows Vista.
  
• In 2008, 80% of Microsoft client operating systems shipped into enterprises will be Windows Vista.
  

Information for this post was gathered from the Windows Vista Team Blog and the IDC report. To see the full report click here

SADA Produces Holiday Banner Ads for Harry and David

Purveyor of fine fruit and gift baskets, Harry and David, brighten up holiday advertising with rich media banner ads from SADA Systems Inc. SADA Systems is providing Harry and David with banner ads to be placed on a number of websites. The ads are being placed to promote holiday gift lines available from Harry and David. Gift packages feature a variety of gourmet treats and fresh fruit.

“SADA is pleased to offer their services to Harry and David for the holiday season,” says Tony Safoian president and CEO of SADA Systems, Inc. “This is an important time of year for Harry and David, and we appreciate the opportunity to help them promote their holiday products.” One banner has been completed in various versions for early placements. These placements are currently available online, and others will become broadly available as we approach the holiday season. Media rich banner ads created by SADA Systems feature Flash animation, and are designed to make consumers aware of the holiday offerings from Harry and David. Each ad links to the Harry and David website where business and consumer customers alike can order holiday gifts for clients, friends, and family.

About Harry & David
Harry and David are providers of fine gifts and gift-baskets, and known particularly for the Royal Riviera Pears that come with every gift basket. The company was founded in the early 20th century as an orchard business specializing in the export of Royal Riviera pears to the European market. During the depression Harry and David Holmes, for whom the company is named, traveled to New York and San Francisco to present their pears to the industry leaders of the day. They presented the pears as business gifts for any occasion that could be ordered by mail. They received their first orders in 1934. The company has grown since, and is now the premier provider of gift and fruit baskets available through mail, over the Internet, or at one of many retail outlets throughout the country.

SADA Systems Donates Time to New Jaycees Website

SADA Systems Inc. has donated their time and resources to provide the Universal City/North Hollywood Junior Chamber (Jaycees) with a state of the art website. The UCNH Jaycees are a leadership and development civic organization for young adults in the San Fernando Valley.

Tony Safoian, president and CEO of SADA Systems expressed excitement about developing the new website. “This is a great opportunity to show our support for this terrific community leadership organization.” The new website will be developed by SADA Systems. Aside from an aesthetic overhaul the new website will incorporate new technologies, allowing increased interaction with the website for both visitors and Jaycee members.

In addition to launching the new website SADA will be providing the Jaycees with Google’s suite of web-based applications, appropriately named Google Apps for Your Domain. Staff of the Jaycees will have access to a web-based Calendar powered by Google and personal Gmail accounts. Access for non-staff members will be limited to the events calendar on the new Jaycees website. Deploying the Google Apps presents members and staff with a powerful, freely-available alternative to what would otherwise be a costly custom application.

2006 Jaycee President Jack Witt is pleased at the recent level of support from SADA Systems. He stated, “SADA is a true partner in growing and enhancing the local community; young professionals can now discover the Jaycees on the Internet and get involved in projects which can develop their life and leadership skills.”

The Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) is an international organization with chapters in nearly every country. Members include adults aged 18-40 that range from young professionals interested in networking and socializing to regular, every-day folks that just want to do something good in their community.