Category Archives: Tech News
Cisco Challenges Skype Deal Over Openness
According to a BBC Technology article, “Cisco to challenge Microsoft Skype deal at EU court”. This sounds like an interesting case, as it, for the first time that I’m aware of, is asking for interoperability between different video services. It is also an interesting problem because, as Elizabeth M Young at Helium points out in “Why Cisco is challenging Microsoft Skype deal”, “The problem for Cisco is that Cisco has the same open standards problem as Microsoft”.
Fascinating “Gumby-Like Robot”
Yesterday, Fox News interviewed Bill Nye the Science Guy in “Researchers Develop Flexible Gumby-Like Robot”. It has an amazing video of a robot that crawls like a spider going under a pane of glass to the other side. You really gotta see it to believe it!
If this gets developed, the possibilities are endless.
Windows 8 Buzz
[Note: This was supposed to publish last week, but for some reason did not.]
There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8.
For one thing, the How-To Geek seems to think Windows 8 will boot faster. Perhaps it will, but will it boot better? Will there be a choice to whether or not there will be a clean boot? Don’t most people already know how to use hibernate anyhow?
Of course, the changes are particularly targeting mobile users. MSNBC.com’s Technolog seems to think “Windows 8 does what Apple doesn’t”.
Can Apple Survive After Jobs?
Rather than a Geek Friday segment, I want to focus on the main technology business news of the week. It’s been said numerous times: Apple is Jobs. So, the news this week that Jobs is stepping down is big news indeed.
Those who would predict Apple’s imminent demise, however, are barking up the wrong tree. Apple is not ready to topple any day now.
Having said that, can Apple thrive? To survive is what big companies do best. However, look at HP. All the surviving it did, yet it is evident it is continuing on a downhill trek and becoming an obsolete entity. Will Apple follow the same path as Commodore, HP, IBM and others? Time will tell.
Skype and HP: Tech Business News Recent Highlights and Lowlights
Last week, the big news in the US Business section of MSNBC.com was about “Hewlett-Packard’s bewildering strategy shift”. It seems HP wants to become the latest IBM.
Actually, we already have an IBM. Do we really need another? IBM created the first IBM PC, which began the PC revolution. Until that point, personal computers were varied and proprietary. It was next to impossible to share files between various computers, let alone run the same programs on them. Ironically, it was more of a reluctant bowing to public pressure that caused IBM to enter the personal computer realm to begin with. In 2005, IBM bowed out of the PC hardware business.
German Scientists Break 26 Tb/s Data Transmission
What bogs down network bandwidth more than video? Not much. Scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology recently decided they needed 26 Terabits per second speed. Since it didn’t exist, they invented it. The result, as Gizmag reported 23 May, is a “World record 26 terabits per second data transmission achieved”.
According to the article, this means that 700 full DVDs could be transmitted in one second. That should boggle your mind for a moment.
Arrrrggghhh!!! Skype Down for Many Users
[Updated 4:30 pm EST]
Late this morning, "Skype Down for Many Users" was reported by Mashable. Now, Mobilized reports “Skype Details Problems, Says May Take Hours to Fix”.
Skype runs on computers known as “supernodes”. Not all of them are running the same version of Skype, it seems, and it appears “some versions of Skype” are having problems today.
They are working on the issues, and I have seen on-again-off-again service today. Fortunately, I was able to login long enough to forward calls to my cell phone.
PS: I have added the Skype Twitter feed to the sidebar for now to follow the status.
