Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Blockenspielâ¦you know, for kids!

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yankodesign/~3/323871899/

Bust out the aspirin and put down that toy AK-47 fully automatic machine gun you were thinking about buying Junior for his birthday and think about giving the gift of music. Check out the latest in getting your groove on like a tyke, this ‘AMK’ is a modular sound toy specially designed for preschool children. Kiddies can independently play and combine sounds through plugging these uniquely programmed music blocks. Designed by Berlin based PKNTS, this has my vote for a “minor” hit.

Designer: PKNTS Studio [ Video ]

In interaction with the computer, single sounds and entire sets can be transferred to sound blocks.

The children can independently play and combine the sounds through plugging these blocks.

Daniel Jarosch, Henrik Klingel, PKNTS

Chocolove

Source: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2008/06/chocolove.html

Who doesn't love chocolate? Chocolove creates premium, organic chocolate. From their website:

"The idea was simple - a selection of distinctly flavored chocolate bars made with all-natural ingredients and the classic techniques of Europe's finest chocolatiers. The package design would resemble a love letter sent from a distant land, and inside each wrapper - a classic romantic poem. The cocoa content would be clearly indicated on the front of each wrapper, the tasting notes would be simple and approachable, and the price, affordable."

Chocolove now offers limited edition "bars of origin." I love that they've taken the language of the wine-world, and have translated it to chocolate. They produced 45,000 bars for each location. And the packaging is a testament to craftsmanship and history behind each bar.

Even the descriptions sound like they were taken from a wine journal:

Made from Trinitarios, a variety from Trinidad, this chocolate is true to the varietal; complex with hints of fruit. The aroma is like a glass of wine. The flavor starts with hints of tangy tropical fruits and wood, then transitions to dried fruit and on to a light dry finish.

Sign me up for a tasting!

Inside Microsoftâs Internet Infrastructure & Its Plans For The Future

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/323671717/

A few minutes after she delivered a speech at our Structure 08 conference in San Francisco, I caught up with Microsoft’s corporate VP of global foundation services, Debra Chrapaty, for a video chat. I think a more appropriate title for her would be Mr. Softie’s Internet Infrastructure Czar. I found her very knowledgeable, engaging and open with her opinions. “We have some new innovations up our sleeve that are going to knock the socks of anything anyone is doing, including our friends down south,” she told me. She didn’t name Google, of course, but we all know who she was talking about.

Her candor was one of the reasons I wanted decided to share the video with you guys. The common theme of the conversation: Microsoft is spending liberally to build out its Internet infrastructure, including upgrading its backbone network and scaling out its data center infrastructure by adding new technologies.

When I asked her exactly how much Microsoft was spending on it, she dodged the question, saying just that it was a big number. This much we do know: Two years ago, the company was spending close to $2 billion on its infrastructure; it has since undertaken the development of six data centers, with parts of two networks already online.

Facts About Microsoft-Owned Data Centers
Adding 10,000 servers a month
New data centers being planned/under construction are equivalent of over 15 US football fields of data center space.
Plans to cut of 30% to 40% in data-center power costs company-wide over the next two years.
Current network backbone runs at about 100 gigabits per second, but soon Microsoft plans to bump it to 500 Gigabits. I think this could be big for Level 3, long time partner of Microsoft.
Building out its own CDN (Edge) network - 99 nodes on a 100 gigabit per second backbone.
For Microsoft, total data grows ten times every three years. The data in near future will soon approach 100s of petabytes. This includes data from all of their online services.
Source: Microsoft, GigaOM

Location	Status
Quincy, Washington	Opened April 2007, construction continues
When complete, it will consume 48 megawatts of energy. Microsoft can tap up to 72 MW of energy coming from hydro power. Microsoft is paying about 1.8 cents per kilowatt, but will rise to between 2.6-to-2.9 cents per kilowatt as more capacity goes online. Two data centers in this location.
San Antonio, Texas	Under Construction, planned opening September 2008
It will be 447,000 square feet on 44 acres. Microsoft is building two data centers here
Dublin, Ireland	Under Construction
first Windows Live data center outside the U.S.
Northlake, Illinois	Under Construction, Phase one to go live in October 2008
The first floor of this facility is going to be entirely made of containers and would house Microsoft search.
Iowa	TBD
Source: Microsoft

Watch the video to get the full low-down, but if you’re in a hurry, here are some highlights, including her quotes from our conversation.

“We are building data centers but I don’t want to say not just data centers. We are already on to our second generation data centers. More utilization, better density and more power efficient.” For Chrapaty, power efficiency is not just talk, it’s her mission — she is the driving force behind Microsoft’s server utilization.
“Infrastructure is a differentiator. I use FedEx as an example. They are world’s most predominant distribution company. It wasn’t that they had a great brand or they had all these plans. No, what they did was find these strategic landing fields where they could get in and out quickly to key distribution points across the globe. It defined their company. I think the same is true in the infrastructure now. Data centers are already becoming a scarce resource.” Google realized this a long time ago; Microsoft is now demonstrating how it can put money to work and build an advantage over others.
Like Google, Microsoft is taking the design of servers into its own hands. “We are doing some unique things in the mother board designs, server designs, and because we are Microsoft, operating systems.”
She’s a big champion of container data centers, which essentially act like the trailers on long-haul trucks, optimized and packed with all sorts of gear — servers, switches, storage systems — that’s wheeled in and plugged into the power grid and the network. Sounds like Rackable Systems and Verari are major suppliers of these containers to Microsoft; the company is making extensive use of them in their Chicago facility.
Her comments indicate that Microsoft has plans to offer managed services to large corporations.
She lets us know first that they are building a IOWA data center, which is huge for Iowa. Google has one in Iowa too.

Apple Supposedly Working on iPhone With Slide-Out Keyboard (Realllly?) [Rumor]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/324278354/apple-supposedly-working-on-iphone-with-slide+out-keyboard-realllly

Apple marring the form factor of the iPhone to create a mutant with a slide-out keyboard just to please business users sounds about as far out there as it gets, but that's exactly what the Reg is suggesting. According to their reports (unclear whether it's from "inside Cupertino" or "inside mobile operators" 'cause of their wording), "whether or not [Steve Jobs] ever makes it work, he is already trying to make a 'slide-out' keyboard for a corporate version of the iPhone" that he's showing prototypes of to certain operators. If this thing ever came to light, it would be way next year and not aimed at consumers.

We're going to say this emerging from the depths of Apple seems pretty unlikely—as much as Apple might want to crib marketshare from BlackBerry and Co. (which rests in part on the keyboard), we just don't see Apple making hardware just for business users, especially potentially bulky, less than aesthetically perfect hardware. (Though Apple would obviously pretty it up.) Besides, you do get used to the keyboard—though driving while texting your mom isn't as easy. [The Register]

ATI's Nvidia GeForce GTX 280-Killer Is Water-Cooled, Super-Powered [Ati]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/324382405/atis-nvidia-geforce-gtx-280+killer-is-water+cooled-super+powered

ATI's probably pretty mad Nvidia stole some of the excellent mid-range Radeon HD 4850's thunder by dropping the GeForce 9800 GTX+ for a mere $30 more. So they're hitting back with a special Radeon HD 4800 card designed solely for the crushing of Nvidia's top-of-the-line GTX 280 graphics card in pure performance.

Code-named "Super RV770," it has pre-installed water-cooling and an unlocked BIOS so you can push the core speed to 950MHz (maybe beyond 1GHz) with a memory bandwidth of 150GBps, even more than the GTX 280.

Diamond's Radeon HD 4870 XOC Black Edition (which launched today for Smooth Creations' build-to-order gaming PCs) is actually the first "Super RV770" card, though it's not clocked quite as high as AMD's super spec. TG Daily expects announcements from other ATI partners like Asus and Sapphire to be coming up shortly. Of course, this is all talk 'til we see some benches. [TG Daily]

Xbox 360 Live Dashboard Getting Motion-Controlled 3D Interface [Rumor]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/324560965/xbox-360-live-dashboard-getting-motion+controlled-3d-interface

Kotaku's pirate ear to the ground is picking up from sources that the Live dashboard will be updated with a spanky new interface option: what Crecente says is a Minority Report-like 3D interface that'll make use of that long-rumored motion controller. (In addition to those 80 functions that didn't materialize in a Spring Update.) The "motion controls will allow users to sort of slide through the different levels of this floating menu system." Sounds slick, it was taking me too long to flip through all those blades. [Kotaku]

Everex Going Bigger With Tiny Cloudbooks and Adding Next-Gen Wireless Joy [Mini-notebooks]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/324482617/everex-going-bigger-with-tiny-cloudbooks-and-adding-next+gen-wireless-joy

The mini-notebook market is heating up, with today bringing stats and shots of the Asus's latest Eee PC with its tiny screen and keys that might work with normal hands. Then later, we get news of a leak about Everex, Asus's competitor in this market, about its next Cloudbooks, including one with a 10.2-inch screen and 3G connectivity, and another with an 8.9-inch screen and WiMax.

No definite word on if they'll be using Intel's Atom processors or competitors from Via, or if they'll be XP or Linux machines, but the makers of the reference design, FIC, would confirm a screen resolution on the 10.2-inch model at 1024x600. It will also feature a 1.3-Megapixel camera, 2GB RAM, card reader, dual USB 2.0 and an express card slot.

Less details are known of the 8.9-inch model, though the specs should be similar, including resolution. The devices might be subsidized by 3G carriers like AT&T or Sprint—if they ever hit the US shores, which there's no promise of.

We liked the Cloudbooks we've seen so far, and we can't wait to see if a slightly larger model will actually be usable for those of us with big, bear-like hands. [PC Advisor, via Slashgear]

OCZ reveals Core Series SATA II 2.5 SSDs: 128GB for $479

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/324053481/

Filed under: Storage

¡Aye carumba! OCZ Technology just made us do a double take this morning with the introduction of its all new Core Series SATA II 2.5 SSDs. Hailed as the "world's first truly affordable high-performance SSD for consumers," these drives check in at $169 (32GB), $259 (64GB) and $479 (128GB), which -- as you undoubtedly recognize -- are amazing price points. Each unit utilizes NAND flash technology, possesses a 1.5-million hour mean time before failure and delivers 120 - 143Mbps read / 80 - 93Mbps write speeds. The sub-0.35ms seek times are also worthy of a tip of the hat, and the low power consumption just makes things unnecessarily sweeter. OCZ doesn't mention a definitive ship date, but we're hoping that "available" mention means "right now."

[Via Electronista]

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Fujitsu unveils LifeBook P8010 Pink Gold Edition with WWAN

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/324107827/

Filed under: Laptops

Fujitsu's LifeBook P8010 was a star in its own right, but just months after its release, that original version is already looking stale. The newfangled LifeBook P8010 Limited Pink Gold Edition sports a sure-to-be-polarizing high-gloss finish, integrated 3.5G (HSDPA) WWAN, 12.1-inch WXGA SuperFine widescreen panel and Intel's Core 2 Duo SL7100 processor. You'll also find essentials like a 1.3-megapixel camera, dual-layer DVD writer, a battery good for six hours and a fingerprint reader. Looks like this one will go for $2,899 over in Australia (that's around $2,748 in Yankee dollars), but we've no word on whether it'll roll out globally.

[Via BoingBoing]

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"First" US WiMAX deployment goes live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/324142608/

Filed under: Wireless

Bet you didn't see this one coming. With everyone's eyes fixed firmly on Sprint's supposedly forthcoming US WiMAX deployment in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, DC, DigitalBridge Communications has snuck in to steal a little of the spotlight. As we speak, America's "first" (um, really?) mobile WiMAX deployment has gone live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming courtesy of Alvarion's BreezeMAX gear. The firms are hoping that high-brow tourists that come to tackle the black diamonds of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will also bring their WiMAX-enabled device and / or WiMAX card to send enviable photos back home, but only time will tell if folks find value in the offering. DBC is expected to expand the network's reach in the area (which currently hits 3,000 homes and businesses), and then "add mobile capabilities throughout its 200,000-household footprint."

[Image courtesy of TerryDreams]

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