Blog Currents – 2011 Nov 23

Have you ever noticed that when you shut down your computer there are some items that simply will not terminate requiring you to manually handle them? I think of these programs as viruses and at the top of the list are social networking products like Skype and Yahoo the most prevalent offenders, on my PC at least. I’m running version 5.5. of Skype and 10 of Yahoo. You would have thought that by this level of version number they would be able to handle a simple terminate request from the Windows Operating system. Of course in this case I am still using XP Pro as my main Os so perhaps the later versions are more geared towards something like Windows & instead? Still no excuse.

I just ordered a new PC. My current one is about 5 years old now and having some problems with products like Star Craft 2, well a lot of problems actually. I would like to tell you the specs but I walked into a computer wholesaler and had them figure out a spec based on what I was going to do with my PC. This is the way you should buy a new computer i.e. what are you going to use it for. I wanted to be able to at least play the new games and run SQLServer without any problems. I wanted USB 3, 6 SATA ports to attach drives to and a removable drive slot that I could load with any drive I wanted. I asked for 8 GB of RAM and a SSD drive for the OS and Apps. No monitor, no other drives except a Blu-ray combo drive. I also wanted HDMI out with audio carried on that connection. The rest I left up to them. The price will be around 45,000 Baht ($1,500) ad when it is ready I’ll let you know what I ended up with, the specs and the performance. I also forgot to mention that it comes with a real version of Windows 7 Pro. 

Industry News

Lots of Amazon Kindle news this week. The new Fire tablet is being touted as the big challenger to the Apple iPad but they are in somewhat different market spaces and there is a large gap between them in prices as well. The first data coming back from the market appears to indicate that it is Apple’s rivals that are being hit hard by the new Amazon device. In a recent survey carried out by ChangeWave nearly twenty percent of those asked responded that they were considering a new Fire tablet. Two percent had already ordered one with five percent in the very likely category. There were still three times as many people considering the iPad than the Fire. The latest data does show that about a quarter of those going for the iPad have changed their mind to the Fire however so there is some challenge to Apple but nothing major at the moment.

With the surveys out of the way there is a rumour of a new 8.9 inch version of the Fire coming out, early in the second quarter of 2012. The smaller Kindle Fire is already selling very well in US stores and the first 6 million brought in are already sold out. I’m guessing that this was unexpected for Amazon.

The Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet has been rooted by the same people that did it to the Kindle Fire. This means that a user can install applications beyond those that manufacturer is offering. Like the Fire the Nook is an Android device. Like any process that pushes the boundaries of the device this is not a simple or guaranteed process and to date there has been mixed results. The Nook is only available in the US at the moment so to get a Nook would require a mail order process for those living elsewhere.

In a take apart process performed by iSuppli they have worked out that manufacturing the Kindle Fire costs $201.71. The unit sells for $199. The company worked out that is $185.60 in parts and $16.10 for assembly. There have been claims like this made before and Amazon is in the business of making money so I suggest they are getting better bulk prices than the single breakdown costs these things work out to. As far as the buyer is concerned who cares? They get a unit for a price they are willing to pay and would have paid more. If Amazon had added say $30 to the price I’d be willing to bet that they would be selling just as fast as they have been.

If you are after a Western Digital drive at the moment then the flooding in Thailand means drives by that manufacturer will be more expensive until they get back on a better manufacturing footing. As if to mock WD a recent court decision in the US has them paying Seagate $525m because of a misuse of confidential information case. Let’s see how the appeal goes. During the summary lawyers stated that the decision will not affect the recovery and recommencement of our Thailand operations so I guess they are staying. Western Digital is also still going ahead with the acquisition of Hitachi GST.

Google is targeting security application makers that are working on anti-viral products. Chris DiBona, Google's open-source programs manager, is calling the organisations “scammers" and “charlatans”. Why? He claims that the Android smartphones and those running under iOS do not need any anti-virus protection. He does admit that there has been some malware hit these devices but that these instances have been few and low impact. So while Windows and Mac machines are subject to attack he claims that Android and Linux boxes do not.

I have been working on computer for a long time and I remember the early days of many of the platforms that have both evolved into what they are today or fallen by the wayside. What I did notice was the more popular a platform is the more likely it was to be attacked. The more popular the platform the more attention the malware writers focus upon it. Android is really only just starting to emerge as a popular platform and the instances of a Trojan attack, rather than a plain virus, is on the rise as the focus switches to the Android. According to Kaspersky the Trojan DroidDream has already infected 100,000 users.

The reason the numbers are small at the moment is simple, they started from zero and are just starting to rise. Compared to infections on the very mature Windows platform of course they look small. The more someone like DiBona say it is not going to happen the sharper the focus of those who can make it happen becomes. It boils down to a challenge and the gauntlet has now been thrown down. The growth is exponential but the numbers are still quite small, give it a bit of time and we will see just how wrong DiBona was.

Finally for this week some science stuff. Scientists at California's HRL Laboratories have developed what they claim is the world's lightest material, a nickel structure that is a hundred times lighter than Styrofoam by volume. Yes a metal structure that is lighter than foam. The group managed to build something that is 99.99 per cent open volume leaving a minute 0.01 per cent left over as solid. A few possible practical uses include thermal insulation, battery electrodes and sound-proofing. I love science.