Come on, join the party.

O2 is coming in from the cold and joining the mobile broadband market. The move, announced yesterday, will mean that the last of the UKs big operators has finally joined the market. The major downside to this announcement is that the package will only be available to existing customers. Users signing up for an 18 month contract receive a free USB modem and a monthly 3 Gb download limit all for the price of £20 per month. However, if you want a monthly rolling contract you’ll have to put some money up to cover the cost of the modem - £120. Ouch! There’s an added sting. If an existing customer leaves any part of their existing O2 package in the during the first three months of mobile broadband usage then O2 will up your monthly charge from £20 to £30. At this point, I’m not so sure this is a great incentive.

“My arm, my leg…”

O2’s offering is definitely not the cheapest but, compared to, say, Orange, not the most expensive either (before you ask, it’s £25 per month for a comparable deal from Orange). The mobile operator is also investing around £500m in its 3G networks which should see mobile broadband speeds increase from the current 1.8 Mbps to 3.6 Mbps. This cash injection is part of O2’s commitment to providing the best mobile broadband service possible. Or is it so that they are ready for the release of the 3G iPhone? I’ll let you work it out. After all, O2 won the iPhone contract!

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Plugging the holes.

Apple has announced patches for security holes in its Safari browser. The issues range from remote code execution to cross site scripting vulnerabilities. Patches are also available for browser based overflows and a JavaScript buffer overflow.

These issues affect both Windows and Apple users although Microsoft users will have to download all four patches. OS X updates for CSS and JavaScript have already been deployed.

Patches are available via Apple’s Software Update service or via the Safari download page.

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Gazing into technologies crystal ball.

What to know the future trends in technology? Well, Gartner have produced a list of technological changes that can influence life, both personal and business related, over the next 20 years.

The areas of innovation are:

1. Self-charging devices
2. The development of hardware and software based around parallel processing
3. Full gesture and speech recognition (Will it my interpret my manci arm waving?).
4. Language translation services in Real-time
5. Storage that can that last around 100 years
6. Code reuse and automation code designed to increase programmer efficiency by 100-fold
7. Development of schemes so show businesses the financial benefits of investment in IT

Gartner has stated that, effectively, IT leaders should always at emerging technologies that will have potentially, have a dramatic, and positive, impact on the way their business is conducted.

CIOs should ensure that they identify challenges to their organisations IT benefits and how, through the adoption of new technologies, this relates to business trends.

I agree, the wording pretty much means: “but into the latest stable technology to stay ahead of the competition”. Can you argue with that?

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Sun keeps the open love flowing.

MySQL 5.1 will be available this quarter according to Sun.

But when? The UNIX vendor has not given a firm date as yet. Expect to hear more on this soon.

Features you can expect to see in this upgrade include enhanced replication, partitioning and event scheduler. The partitioning features will allow for faster query responses whilst replication enhancements will see the addition of row based and hybrid based replication.

Unfortunately the new scheduling service will only be available to Enterprise subscribers.

MySQL will retain both open source and subscription based licences. Good news. Further, Sun have confirmed that there will be no change to the Open Source licence for MySQL.

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World domination: Phase 2.

Googles mapping format, KML (Keyhole Markup Language), has been accepted by the Open Geospatial Consortium as an open standard. The standard will be used for describing some components of geopraphical data. Within Google Earth, KML is used to manage the display of geospatial data when whizzing around Googles virtual repersentation of Mother Earth.

Although Google already shares the data format openly there are hopes that the OGC recognition will encourage more companies to adopt KML. Rivals such as Microsoft already use the format (could this be another case of ‘embrace and extend’?) in Virtual Earth and Live Maps.

How kind of you to offer.

Do you really think it’s about being nice? I don’t. Yes, I agree we need industry standards but I’m sure that certain parties have more of a vested interest. Once a file format is accepted as a standard the company that created the code has a huge say in how data is collected and presented. Just take the recent battles over the adoption of OpenDocument Format (ODF) versus Microsofts Open Office XML (OOMXL). Do you see what I mean?

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Citrix launches into virtualisation.

Server virtualistion is fast becoming the norm. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) as a model for IT has been kicking around for quite some time. Now, with a little help from Citrix, VDI for the masses is just around the corner. The headache filled days of managing desktop hardware may soon be over. Desktop virtualisation will provide significant cost reductions through centralised provisioning and updates. The days of techies running back and forth across the shop floor may be coming to an end (I know; if only!). Xen Desktop also provides greater mobility: user desktops can now delivered on-demand to any location. No more lugging your desktop replacement around. Citrix has indicated that the primary market for this technology will Microsoft Windows desktops.

Nuts and bolts.

The system has been designed to utilise a ‘Golden Image’ - sound familiar to you? This will allow IT managers to provision a basline image to all users. If a special case arises where additional components or applications are needed they can be bolted on prior to delivery.

The virtualisation roller coaster.

Citrix has indicated that a number of large companies have voiced an interest in the new software for around 30,000 to 40,000 seats. The software is currently in public Beta with the full release due to be out by 20th May. UK prices are not currently available.

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“At the cliff edge, drive straight ahead…”

Microsoft are to launch a free application that will plan routes for car journeys. The new system called Clearview (let’s see how long it takes for someone to find a more ‘apt’ name!) will be a step up from current methods. Historical traffic data will be used in conjunction with information such as known side streets, weather conditions and local events to plan the quickest route for the user. The concept was conceived when Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft AI researcher, was stuck in traffic. Odd that, eh? “It was awful” he said. “Everything seemed to be back up”. Wow! Really? That’s what traffic jams are about!

The system is currently being rolled out across 72 cities in the US and will be available through Microsoft Live.

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Hi tech advance throttles traditional approach.

IBM has been working on producing a new memory format that could see traditional media go the way of the dinosaurs. Data will be stored using a technoloy called ‘domain walls’. Apparenly, the boffins have worked out that data can be read by exploiting weak electro magnetic fields generated by the spin of electrons (pint to anyone that put that into laymans terms for me!).

According to IBM, the technology is still about 8 years away from being commercially available (how DO they reach these figures?). But, when released, should provide faster, cheaper and more reliable storage than is currently available. Current estimates suggest that the capacity will be around 100 times that of existing hard disks.

More information available here.

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The boys from Taiwan did good.

Let the heavens tear asunder and the earth shatter! HP will not be using Intel hardware for its new line of low cost laptops. Taiwanese chip manufacturer Via has won the contract to supply HP with the C-7M processor for laptop models such as the 2133 which is due to ship in the third quarter.

Competition from Intel was stiff and the decision surprising considering Intels recent release of Centrino Atom which has been designed for hardware such as the 2133. Two factors helped swing the decision:

1. The thermal requirements of the C-7M met the needs of HP.
2. A simple case of timing; the C-7M was ready to rock.

Anyway, the deed is done but we’re sure Intel will also score some notable wins with Atom.

And now the specs…

We’ve dropped in a small subset of the 2133 specification in case you’re interested. Don’t ask us about the price because the official UK prices haven’t been released but US prices are shown below:

Price $499 - 899

Weight 1.19 Kg

CPU 1, 1.2 or1.6 Ghz Via C-7M processor

OS Windows Vista or SuSe Linux Desktop

Display 8.9″ at 1280 x 768 pixels

Storage 120 or 160Gb hard disk

Battery 2 hours on a 3 cell and 4 hours on a 4 cell

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‘Tube’ is here, nearly.

In the dark and dank backrooms, developers are hard at work. Their goal? The ‘iPhone killer’. This monday, 07 Jan 2008, Nokia announced that it is still working towards its answer to the iPhone.

Slides produced at Evans Data Developer Relations Conference show a device very similar in design to Apples phone offering. The device will feature an interface controlled by touch, much like the iPhone. Other capabilities such as the abilitiy to upload photos and images are planned for the ‘Tube’.

What does that mean for us, the poor old consumer? Well, we’re not sure. Hopefully Nokia won’t award the supply contract to a single mobile phone supplier who will then charge outrageous sums of money for the privilege of owning a ‘Tube’. Then again, who knows?

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