Laptop users may soon get longer battery life from their machines, with ZPower set to plug in its new silver-zinc batteries, which it claims last significantly longer than traditional lithium-ion batteries.
The batteries will be available in consumer and business laptops from major PC makers starting in August, according to Ross Dueber, the CEO of ZPower, although he declined to name any of the vendors on Thursday.
Silver-zinc batteries pack more energy than lithium-ion batteries, giving laptops 40 percent more run time, according to Dueber. If a laptop runs for two hours with a lithium-ion battery, it should run for closer to three hours with a silver-zinc battery, he said.
The battery's water-based chemistry also makes it nonflammable, compared to lithium-ion, which uses dimethyl carbonate, a flammable liquid. Cells can go off "like firecrackers" in lithium-ion batteries, Dueber said.
The silver-zinc batteries also won't degrade in capacity during the first year, while lithium-ion batteries can lose up to 30 percent of their capacity over that period, Dueber said. After a year, however, silver-zinc batteries start degrading at a rate similar to lithium-ion batteries.
Silver-zinc is not a new technology, said Vishal Sapru, industry manager of power systems group at Frost & Sullivan. Early batteries were mainly for one-time use in military and aerospace devices, and ZPower is adding recharge capabilities to those batteries, Sapru said.
The batteries could be good for consumers who want an alternative to lithium-ion batteries, which have received "unfortunate" publicity lately for catching fire, said Jeff Shepard, president of the Darnell Group.
"What we see here is a very strong product that will alleviate those issues. I don't know if it's going to be a silver bullet, but it could be a viable alternative," Shepard said. Because the technology is relatively new, any imperfections might not be known yet, so PC makers will take a wait-and-see approach, he predicted.
Sapru said he thinks the concerns about lithium iron batteries are overblown. "Think of how many laptops and cell phones we use and carry," he said. Companies like Valence Technologies and A123 Systems are researching phosphate material that should further reduce the fire risk.
It also remains to be seen if silver-zinc batteries can compete on price, since lithium-ion is relatively cheap, Sapru said. The silver-zinc batteries contain silver, which can be expensive.
ZPower is starting off with laptops, but it plans batteries for mobile devices like cell phones in a few years, Dueber said. The company needs to get the technology validated to encourage other vendors to adopt it.
The focus on mobile products comes partly from Intel Capital, which invested in the company in 2004, Dueber said.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
AT&T treats iPhone owners to free Wi-Fi
AT&T Inc. is offering free wireless access to iPhone owners at several thousand of its public hot spots, including those it recently acquired in a deal with the high-end coffee shop chain Starbucks, users in the U.S. reported Thursday.
Fueled by an initial report on MacRumors.com that described the free hot spot access, numerous users on Apple Inc.'s own iPhone support forum related their experiences at Starbucks, which boasts wireless at more then 7,000 of its U.S. stores.
According to the reports, iPhone owners are presented with a specially formatted page when they launch the Safari browser. The form asks them to enter their iPhone phone number. Once the number is verified, users can browse using the hot spot rather than the much slower EDGE-based data network that AT&T also operates.
Computerworld confirmed the free iPhone Wi-Fi at a Starbucks location in Eugene, Ore., this morning.
Details about the wireless access, however, are sketchy, as AT&T refused to comment. It is unknown, for example, if Wi-Fi access is unlimited or available at all of AT&T's 71,000 hot spots, which include those at bookseller Barnes & Noble and throughout the McDonald's fast food chain.
In mid-February, Starbucks announced that it was dropping T-Mobile USA as its in-store wireless provider and had instead made a deal with AT&T. At the time, Starbucks said the service would give two hours of free access a day to the coffee company's cardholders, while AT&T broadband users would have unlimited use. There was no mention of the iPhone in February.
AT&T is Apple's exclusive iPhone network partner in the U.S.
Some users and bloggers Thursday also speculated that because AT&T asks iPhone users to enter their telephone number, it may not offer free access to people who have hacked their iPhones to make calls on other mobile service providers. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel would not confirm or deny that such was the case, saying only that the iPhone is intended to be used on AT&T's network.
Fueled by an initial report on MacRumors.com that described the free hot spot access, numerous users on Apple Inc.'s own iPhone support forum related their experiences at Starbucks, which boasts wireless at more then 7,000 of its U.S. stores.
According to the reports, iPhone owners are presented with a specially formatted page when they launch the Safari browser. The form asks them to enter their iPhone phone number. Once the number is verified, users can browse using the hot spot rather than the much slower EDGE-based data network that AT&T also operates.
Computerworld confirmed the free iPhone Wi-Fi at a Starbucks location in Eugene, Ore., this morning.
Details about the wireless access, however, are sketchy, as AT&T refused to comment. It is unknown, for example, if Wi-Fi access is unlimited or available at all of AT&T's 71,000 hot spots, which include those at bookseller Barnes & Noble and throughout the McDonald's fast food chain.
In mid-February, Starbucks announced that it was dropping T-Mobile USA as its in-store wireless provider and had instead made a deal with AT&T. At the time, Starbucks said the service would give two hours of free access a day to the coffee company's cardholders, while AT&T broadband users would have unlimited use. There was no mention of the iPhone in February.
AT&T is Apple's exclusive iPhone network partner in the U.S.
Some users and bloggers Thursday also speculated that because AT&T asks iPhone users to enter their telephone number, it may not offer free access to people who have hacked their iPhones to make calls on other mobile service providers. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel would not confirm or deny that such was the case, saying only that the iPhone is intended to be used on AT&T's network.
Sun blames revenue drop on weak US economy
With its US$1 billion acquisition of MySQL now behind it, Sun reported financial results on Thursday that show the company is still struggling to boost its revenue.
The server vendor also said it plans to cut as many as 2,500 jobs -- about 7 percent of its workforce -- over the next three months.
Revenue for Sun's third fiscal quarter, ended March 30, was $3.27 billion, down 0.5 percent from the same quarter last year. Weighed down by costs associated with the MySQL acquisition, the company reported a loss for the period of $34 million, or $0.04 per share, based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
The company said it was doing well in emerging markets like India and Brazil, but things were not so rosy in the U.S.
Sun blamed the U.S. economy, rather than competitors, for the poor results. "Our third quarter was a challenging one in which U.S. macro factors ... overshadowed the progress we made in other parts of the world," CEO Jonathan Schwartz said in a conference call. "I'm disappointed."
Sun's computer systems and storage groups both missed internal expectations by $100 million, with sales particularly flagging at the high end of the product lines. In the U.S., the economic slowdown hit orders from government, retail and telecommunications customers, Schwartz said.
The bad results seemed to take financial markets by surprise. Sun's stock [JAVA] dropped more than 14 percent, dipping below $14 in after-hours trading on Thursday evening.
Its MySQL and Innotek acquisitions added 1,100 new employees during the third quarter, but Sun now plans to cut jobs before the end of the fiscal year. It expects to save between $100 million and $150 million per year by cutting between 1,500 and 2,500 jobs in the fourth quarter, said Michael Lehman, Sun's chief financial officer.
Sun shipped about 80,000 servers during the quarter, a jump of 6 percent from the third quarter a year ago. About 30,000 of those servers were x64 systems, up 26 percent from the previous year.
Sun closed its purchase of open-source database vendor MySQL at the end of February. Sun hopes the deal will help grow its revenue by opening doors at companies that are not yet Sun customers.
The server vendor also said it plans to cut as many as 2,500 jobs -- about 7 percent of its workforce -- over the next three months.
Revenue for Sun's third fiscal quarter, ended March 30, was $3.27 billion, down 0.5 percent from the same quarter last year. Weighed down by costs associated with the MySQL acquisition, the company reported a loss for the period of $34 million, or $0.04 per share, based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
The company said it was doing well in emerging markets like India and Brazil, but things were not so rosy in the U.S.
Sun blamed the U.S. economy, rather than competitors, for the poor results. "Our third quarter was a challenging one in which U.S. macro factors ... overshadowed the progress we made in other parts of the world," CEO Jonathan Schwartz said in a conference call. "I'm disappointed."
Sun's computer systems and storage groups both missed internal expectations by $100 million, with sales particularly flagging at the high end of the product lines. In the U.S., the economic slowdown hit orders from government, retail and telecommunications customers, Schwartz said.
The bad results seemed to take financial markets by surprise. Sun's stock [JAVA] dropped more than 14 percent, dipping below $14 in after-hours trading on Thursday evening.
Its MySQL and Innotek acquisitions added 1,100 new employees during the third quarter, but Sun now plans to cut jobs before the end of the fiscal year. It expects to save between $100 million and $150 million per year by cutting between 1,500 and 2,500 jobs in the fourth quarter, said Michael Lehman, Sun's chief financial officer.
Sun shipped about 80,000 servers during the quarter, a jump of 6 percent from the third quarter a year ago. About 30,000 of those servers were x64 systems, up 26 percent from the previous year.
Sun closed its purchase of open-source database vendor MySQL at the end of February. Sun hopes the deal will help grow its revenue by opening doors at companies that are not yet Sun customers.
Microsoft releases new version of Web design tools
Microsoft Thursday unveiled a version of its toolset for Web and multimedia designers that includes the first native support for its Silverlight technology across all of the products in the suite.
Expression Studio 2 includes five products: Expression Web for Web design; Expression Blend for multimedia and 3D design; Expression Design for graphic design; Expression Media for storing and sharing multimedia assets; and Expression Encoder for video encoding. The new release marks the first time Encoder is in the suite as a full-fledged product, said Wayne Smith, Microsoft group product manager for Expression Studio.
In the new release, all of the products now have support for Silverlight, Microsoft's multimedia runtime for running live and streaming video on the Web. Previously, only Expression Web had support for Silverlight, but it was very limited, Smith said.
In a sense, this is the first full release of Expression, as Silverlight is a key component of Microsoft's design strategy and overall plan to compete with Adobe's Creative Suite and its Flash technology. Expression Studio has only been in the market about a year, but Smith said the company is not sharing customer-adoption information. However, he said that judging from the interest in preview versions of Expression Studio 2, the inclusion of Silverlight should increase sales of Expression overall.
Other improvements to Expression Studio 2 include support for PHP development in Expression Web and improvements to video-file compression in Expression Encoder, Wayne said.
As part of the release, Microsoft also in June will begin offering a new subscription for the product that gives designers another way to purchase the software besides the current packaged option. Microsoft previously unveiled the subscription for Expression at its MIX 08 conference in Las Vegas in March.
In addition to giving designers Expression Studio 2, the professional subscription also will include a standard edition of Visual Studio and Office; Office Visio Professional; Windows XP; Windows Vista Business Edition; Virtual PC and Parallels Desktop for Mac. The subscription costs US$999 a year, but there will be a discount on that when customers renew their subscriptions after the first year, Smith said.
The traditional licensed version of Expression Studio 2 is available for purchase or upgrade from the first version of Expression on Microsoft's Web site now. It also should be available by mid-month in retailers such as Best Buy with an estimated retail price of $699. To encourage Adobe users to switch to Expression, Microsoft also is offering upgrade deals; information is available on the Web site.
Aside from Expression Design 2, all of the suite's tools are available for individual purchase. Expression Blend 2 is available for $499, Expression Web 2 is available for $299, Expression Media 2 for $199 and Expression Encoder 2 for $199.
Expression Studio 2 includes five products: Expression Web for Web design; Expression Blend for multimedia and 3D design; Expression Design for graphic design; Expression Media for storing and sharing multimedia assets; and Expression Encoder for video encoding. The new release marks the first time Encoder is in the suite as a full-fledged product, said Wayne Smith, Microsoft group product manager for Expression Studio.
In the new release, all of the products now have support for Silverlight, Microsoft's multimedia runtime for running live and streaming video on the Web. Previously, only Expression Web had support for Silverlight, but it was very limited, Smith said.
In a sense, this is the first full release of Expression, as Silverlight is a key component of Microsoft's design strategy and overall plan to compete with Adobe's Creative Suite and its Flash technology. Expression Studio has only been in the market about a year, but Smith said the company is not sharing customer-adoption information. However, he said that judging from the interest in preview versions of Expression Studio 2, the inclusion of Silverlight should increase sales of Expression overall.
Other improvements to Expression Studio 2 include support for PHP development in Expression Web and improvements to video-file compression in Expression Encoder, Wayne said.
As part of the release, Microsoft also in June will begin offering a new subscription for the product that gives designers another way to purchase the software besides the current packaged option. Microsoft previously unveiled the subscription for Expression at its MIX 08 conference in Las Vegas in March.
In addition to giving designers Expression Studio 2, the professional subscription also will include a standard edition of Visual Studio and Office; Office Visio Professional; Windows XP; Windows Vista Business Edition; Virtual PC and Parallels Desktop for Mac. The subscription costs US$999 a year, but there will be a discount on that when customers renew their subscriptions after the first year, Smith said.
The traditional licensed version of Expression Studio 2 is available for purchase or upgrade from the first version of Expression on Microsoft's Web site now. It also should be available by mid-month in retailers such as Best Buy with an estimated retail price of $699. To encourage Adobe users to switch to Expression, Microsoft also is offering upgrade deals; information is available on the Web site.
Aside from Expression Design 2, all of the suite's tools are available for individual purchase. Expression Blend 2 is available for $499, Expression Web 2 is available for $299, Expression Media 2 for $199 and Expression Encoder 2 for $199.
Analyst: IBM's services arm an asset for BI
If implementing business intelligence is more of an art than a science, IBM's Cognos division has a vivid palette at its disposal given IBM's stature as a services provider, Forrester Research analyst Boris Evelson suggested in a recent blog post.
"Now that SAP, Oracle and Microsoft have moved into big time, stack-independent, heterogeneous BI products, it most probably won't be long before they acquire a large management consulting firm with strong BI capabilities," Evelson wrote in part. "SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft desperately need these management consulting capabilities to continue to compete effectively with IBM. If they don't, IBM will always have that one advantage and strong differentiation."
This scenario has Rob Ashe feeling confident. Ashe is general manager of business intelligence and performance management at IBM and was Cognos' CEO before IBM acquired it for US$5 billion in January.
"There's a very significant search for know-how in this area," Ashe said in an interview this week. However, "IBM's already got such significant scale in the services area that it would take a hell of a lot of acquisitions by Oracle and Microsoft to close that gap."
Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard made a key move when it bought Knightsbridge Solutions in December 2006, Evelson noted.
That deal and IBM's $3.5 billion acquisition of PwC Consulting in 2002 allowed those companies "to take their rightful place alongside with Accenture, CGE & Y, Deloitte, BearingPoint and others as generic, vendor-neutral management consultants with strong BI capabilities," he wrote.
EMC is getting into the BI consulting business as well, evidenced by its move to buy the U.K. firm Conchango in April, Evelson noted.
While the services factor may give Cognos an up-front advantage in the BI market, it still faces an obvious challenge: integrating its BI and corporate performance management (CPM) technologies across IBM's broad catalog.
Ashe equated Cognos to the top slice of bread on a sandwich consisting of its products, IBM's burgeoning portfolio of data-centric middle-tier software, and its hardware and storage offerings. "There's virtually no overlap in that stack," he said.
But James Kobielus, another Forrester analyst, said via e-mail that Ashe needs to integrate the Cognos portfolio with IBM's range of technology "without creating the appearance that they're creating a monolithic proprietary stack or limiting customers' ability to integrate with rival SOA, database, and middleware offerings."
"Now that SAP, Oracle and Microsoft have moved into big time, stack-independent, heterogeneous BI products, it most probably won't be long before they acquire a large management consulting firm with strong BI capabilities," Evelson wrote in part. "SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft desperately need these management consulting capabilities to continue to compete effectively with IBM. If they don't, IBM will always have that one advantage and strong differentiation."
This scenario has Rob Ashe feeling confident. Ashe is general manager of business intelligence and performance management at IBM and was Cognos' CEO before IBM acquired it for US$5 billion in January.
"There's a very significant search for know-how in this area," Ashe said in an interview this week. However, "IBM's already got such significant scale in the services area that it would take a hell of a lot of acquisitions by Oracle and Microsoft to close that gap."
Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard made a key move when it bought Knightsbridge Solutions in December 2006, Evelson noted.
That deal and IBM's $3.5 billion acquisition of PwC Consulting in 2002 allowed those companies "to take their rightful place alongside with Accenture, CGE & Y, Deloitte, BearingPoint and others as generic, vendor-neutral management consultants with strong BI capabilities," he wrote.
EMC is getting into the BI consulting business as well, evidenced by its move to buy the U.K. firm Conchango in April, Evelson noted.
While the services factor may give Cognos an up-front advantage in the BI market, it still faces an obvious challenge: integrating its BI and corporate performance management (CPM) technologies across IBM's broad catalog.
Ashe equated Cognos to the top slice of bread on a sandwich consisting of its products, IBM's burgeoning portfolio of data-centric middle-tier software, and its hardware and storage offerings. "There's virtually no overlap in that stack," he said.
But James Kobielus, another Forrester analyst, said via e-mail that Ashe needs to integrate the Cognos portfolio with IBM's range of technology "without creating the appearance that they're creating a monolithic proprietary stack or limiting customers' ability to integrate with rival SOA, database, and middleware offerings."
EMC extends Mozy online storage to Macs
The MozyHome online backup service became generally available on Thursday after a long beta test and the acquisition of its creator by EMC.
MozyHome lets consumers back up the data on their desktops and laptops to a remote data center, then recover it later if their systems crash. EMC took over the service when it bought Berkeley Data Systems last October. The company, in Salt Lake City, is now called Mozy and is part of EMC's Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division.
MozyHome is already commercially available for PCs. Berkeley introduced a Mac version last April that had remained in beta since then, though both Berkeley and Mozy charged US$4.95 per month for unlimited storage with the service.
Mozy claims MozyHome for Mac is the only unlimited online backup service for Macs. It's part of parent EMC's move into the consumer space with a variety of storage options. Last month EMC agreed to buy consumer and small-business drive maker Iomega for $213 million.
Though PC users have had many options for online backup, Mac users have been left behind. Carbonite says it will have a Mac version of its system in the middle of this year, and Itronis Technologies says on its Web site that it will extend its eSureIT backup service to Macs and Linux computers, but gives no date.
With MozyHome, users can upload as much as 2G bytes of any type of content for free, with no expiration date, according to EMC. For unlimited capacity, the service still costs $4.95 per month. MozyHome encrypts the files with 448-bit Blowfish encryption and transfers them via a 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connection.
After files are first uploaded, MozyHome does incremental backups of changes made since the last upload, which takes less time, the company said. It can carry out new backups at scheduled times. In addition to the most recent backup, the service keeps 30 days' worth of older versions of files. To recover the data, users can download it from the Mozy Web site, use the Mozy client software or order a set of DVDs from Mozy.
Later this year, Mozy will extend Mac support to MozyPro and MozyEnterprise, which are backup services designed for businesses, the company said.
Mozy claims more than 700,000 users worldwide, including 20,000 businesses. It is backing up more than 7.5 petabytes of data across multiple data centers, the company said. More than 43,000 people participated in the Mac beta test, according to Mozy.
MozyHome lets consumers back up the data on their desktops and laptops to a remote data center, then recover it later if their systems crash. EMC took over the service when it bought Berkeley Data Systems last October. The company, in Salt Lake City, is now called Mozy and is part of EMC's Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division.
MozyHome is already commercially available for PCs. Berkeley introduced a Mac version last April that had remained in beta since then, though both Berkeley and Mozy charged US$4.95 per month for unlimited storage with the service.
Mozy claims MozyHome for Mac is the only unlimited online backup service for Macs. It's part of parent EMC's move into the consumer space with a variety of storage options. Last month EMC agreed to buy consumer and small-business drive maker Iomega for $213 million.
Though PC users have had many options for online backup, Mac users have been left behind. Carbonite says it will have a Mac version of its system in the middle of this year, and Itronis Technologies says on its Web site that it will extend its eSureIT backup service to Macs and Linux computers, but gives no date.
With MozyHome, users can upload as much as 2G bytes of any type of content for free, with no expiration date, according to EMC. For unlimited capacity, the service still costs $4.95 per month. MozyHome encrypts the files with 448-bit Blowfish encryption and transfers them via a 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connection.
After files are first uploaded, MozyHome does incremental backups of changes made since the last upload, which takes less time, the company said. It can carry out new backups at scheduled times. In addition to the most recent backup, the service keeps 30 days' worth of older versions of files. To recover the data, users can download it from the Mozy Web site, use the Mozy client software or order a set of DVDs from Mozy.
Later this year, Mozy will extend Mac support to MozyPro and MozyEnterprise, which are backup services designed for businesses, the company said.
Mozy claims more than 700,000 users worldwide, including 20,000 businesses. It is backing up more than 7.5 petabytes of data across multiple data centers, the company said. More than 43,000 people participated in the Mac beta test, according to Mozy.
EMC extends Mozy online storage to Macs
The MozyHome online backup service became generally available on Thursday after a long beta test and the acquisition of its creator by EMC.
MozyHome lets consumers back up the data on their desktops and laptops to a remote data center, then recover it later if their systems crash. EMC took over the service when it bought Berkeley Data Systems last October. The company, in Salt Lake City, is now called Mozy and is part of EMC's Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division.
MozyHome is already commercially available for PCs. Berkeley introduced a Mac version last April that had remained in beta since then, though both Berkeley and Mozy charged US$4.95 per month for unlimited storage with the service.
Mozy claims MozyHome for Mac is the only unlimited online backup service for Macs. It's part of parent EMC's move into the consumer space with a variety of storage options. Last month EMC agreed to buy consumer and small-business drive maker Iomega for $213 million.
Though PC users have had many options for online backup, Mac users have been left behind. Carbonite says it will have a Mac version of its system in the middle of this year, and Itronis Technologies says on its Web site that it will extend its eSureIT backup service to Macs and Linux computers, but gives no date.
With MozyHome, users can upload as much as 2G bytes of any type of content for free, with no expiration date, according to EMC. For unlimited capacity, the service still costs $4.95 per month. MozyHome encrypts the files with 448-bit Blowfish encryption and transfers them via a 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connection.
After files are first uploaded, MozyHome does incremental backups of changes made since the last upload, which takes less time, the company said. It can carry out new backups at scheduled times. In addition to the most recent backup, the service keeps 30 days' worth of older versions of files. To recover the data, users can download it from the Mozy Web site, use the Mozy client software or order a set of DVDs from Mozy.
Later this year, Mozy will extend Mac support to MozyPro and MozyEnterprise, which are backup services designed for businesses, the company said.
Mozy claims more than 700,000 users worldwide, including 20,000 businesses. It is backing up more than 7.5 petabytes of data across multiple data centers, the company said. More than 43,000 people participated in the Mac beta test, according to Mozy.
MozyHome lets consumers back up the data on their desktops and laptops to a remote data center, then recover it later if their systems crash. EMC took over the service when it bought Berkeley Data Systems last October. The company, in Salt Lake City, is now called Mozy and is part of EMC's Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division.
MozyHome is already commercially available for PCs. Berkeley introduced a Mac version last April that had remained in beta since then, though both Berkeley and Mozy charged US$4.95 per month for unlimited storage with the service.
Mozy claims MozyHome for Mac is the only unlimited online backup service for Macs. It's part of parent EMC's move into the consumer space with a variety of storage options. Last month EMC agreed to buy consumer and small-business drive maker Iomega for $213 million.
Though PC users have had many options for online backup, Mac users have been left behind. Carbonite says it will have a Mac version of its system in the middle of this year, and Itronis Technologies says on its Web site that it will extend its eSureIT backup service to Macs and Linux computers, but gives no date.
With MozyHome, users can upload as much as 2G bytes of any type of content for free, with no expiration date, according to EMC. For unlimited capacity, the service still costs $4.95 per month. MozyHome encrypts the files with 448-bit Blowfish encryption and transfers them via a 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) connection.
After files are first uploaded, MozyHome does incremental backups of changes made since the last upload, which takes less time, the company said. It can carry out new backups at scheduled times. In addition to the most recent backup, the service keeps 30 days' worth of older versions of files. To recover the data, users can download it from the Mozy Web site, use the Mozy client software or order a set of DVDs from Mozy.
Later this year, Mozy will extend Mac support to MozyPro and MozyEnterprise, which are backup services designed for businesses, the company said.
Mozy claims more than 700,000 users worldwide, including 20,000 businesses. It is backing up more than 7.5 petabytes of data across multiple data centers, the company said. More than 43,000 people participated in the Mac beta test, according to Mozy.
IT security lessons from Chrysler's data loss
The disappearance of a DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Canada Inc. data tape -- which contained customer names, addresses and social insurance numbers -- can serve as a strong warning for enterprise data protection, analysts say.
The auto giant's lending division recently told the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that sensitive personal information from thousands of Canadian auto customers had gone missing in transit from Farmington Hills, Mich. to a Quebec credit agency. The mainframe data tape, which was shipped via United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), has been missing since early March."
A spokesperson for federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart told ComputerWorld Canada Wednesday that its office has received about 50 inquires from individuals that might have been affected by the data loss. The commissioner's office said it is still determining the next course of action.
"We're communicating to Chrysler directing to determine actually what took place and what's being done to remedy the situation," spokesperson Anne-Marie Hayden said. "I can't say for sure whether we've had a formal compliant from an individuals or not, but that may well take place in the future."
Hayden did not mention UPS specifically, but said the commissioner's office would be discussing the matter with all other relevant parties involved.
Chrysler Financial Services Canada could not be reached for comment at press time.
The case draws parallels to a major Canadian data loss incident last year, where CIBC's mutual fund subsidiary Talvest Mutual Funds lost a backup drive containing personal and financial data of 470,000 individuals while it was in transit between Montréal and Toronto. That data breach was also investigated by the Privacy Commissioner's office.
The major issue in both cases, according to one Canadian security observer, is the measures that these companies took before the data went missing in action. Info-Tech Research Group's James Quin said the loss of a generic backup data tape is not too concerning -- especially if it's only a slice of information from the server. But the Chrysler case, he said, presents an entirely different story.
"It was a discreet set of data, where there was one data pool that have been backed up onto this tape and sent out," Quin, senior research analyst with the London, Ont.-based research firm, said. "The beginning, middle and end of all the data was on this tape, which does make it more accessible. As long as you've got a tape reader, you will be about to get this information."
Even more concerning for Quin though, and what should serve as a warning sign for all enterprises, is the fact that Chrysler has not mentioned the magic 'e' word throughout this entire ordeal.
"At no point has a representative from Chrysler Financial come out and say that this tape was encrypted," he said. "Without definitively saying this, it indicates to me that it probably wasn't."
John Pescatore, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner Inc. agreed, saying that while most identity theft has not been linked to lost data tapes, companies can never be too careful when it comes to encryption.
"In cases where a laptop has been stolen or a backup tape is missing, companies have always been quick to say that their information was encrypted and no data was at risk," he said. "The bottom line nowadays is that all companies should be moving toward full encryption of their backup tapes."
IDC Canada's David Senf, director of security and software research, offered another viewpoint, saying that because most Canadian firms are not too worried about losing data in this way, they spend precious little resources in preventing the data loss from occurring in the first place.
"The top focus remains on endpoints and e-mail," Senf said. "The numbers vary by sector but on average, one out of every five firms is concerned with the loss of data from a drive or tape going missing. This is in comparison to four out of five companies concerned with preventing data loss from e-mail.
"IDC research finds that Canadian firms spend too much time trying to detect that a breach or loss of data has occurred rather than planning to prevent from happening in the first place," he added.
As for how companies can protect themselves from similar breaches in the first place -- especially since the data was lost by Chrysler's courier service -- Quin said enterprises will need to take every measure possible to keep data transports in-house. While it might be sufficient for noncritical data to be shipped by third parties, he said, transferring data covered by government regulations -- such as personal data -- should be done by employees if possible.
"The way an organization can ensure the highest level of security is to deliver it themselves and not off-load it to a third-party," he said. "Anytime you send information out of the enterprise, it's out of your control and you open yourself up to some risk. Maintaining control of your data in all its forms is really an enterprise best practice."
Pescatore disagreed, saying an employee would be just as likely to lose a package as a courier service would. His solution is for enterprises to further protect themselves by purchasing more insurance for shipped goods.
"You can get higher levels of insurance on any items you're sending, so if it's lost, stolen or damaged, you can get some financial payments back," he said. "It raises the cost of what you pay UPS or FedEx, but it's probably less expensive than having your own people do it."
The auto giant's lending division recently told the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that sensitive personal information from thousands of Canadian auto customers had gone missing in transit from Farmington Hills, Mich. to a Quebec credit agency. The mainframe data tape, which was shipped via United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), has been missing since early March."
A spokesperson for federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart told ComputerWorld Canada Wednesday that its office has received about 50 inquires from individuals that might have been affected by the data loss. The commissioner's office said it is still determining the next course of action.
"We're communicating to Chrysler directing to determine actually what took place and what's being done to remedy the situation," spokesperson Anne-Marie Hayden said. "I can't say for sure whether we've had a formal compliant from an individuals or not, but that may well take place in the future."
Hayden did not mention UPS specifically, but said the commissioner's office would be discussing the matter with all other relevant parties involved.
Chrysler Financial Services Canada could not be reached for comment at press time.
The case draws parallels to a major Canadian data loss incident last year, where CIBC's mutual fund subsidiary Talvest Mutual Funds lost a backup drive containing personal and financial data of 470,000 individuals while it was in transit between Montréal and Toronto. That data breach was also investigated by the Privacy Commissioner's office.
The major issue in both cases, according to one Canadian security observer, is the measures that these companies took before the data went missing in action. Info-Tech Research Group's James Quin said the loss of a generic backup data tape is not too concerning -- especially if it's only a slice of information from the server. But the Chrysler case, he said, presents an entirely different story.
"It was a discreet set of data, where there was one data pool that have been backed up onto this tape and sent out," Quin, senior research analyst with the London, Ont.-based research firm, said. "The beginning, middle and end of all the data was on this tape, which does make it more accessible. As long as you've got a tape reader, you will be about to get this information."
Even more concerning for Quin though, and what should serve as a warning sign for all enterprises, is the fact that Chrysler has not mentioned the magic 'e' word throughout this entire ordeal.
"At no point has a representative from Chrysler Financial come out and say that this tape was encrypted," he said. "Without definitively saying this, it indicates to me that it probably wasn't."
John Pescatore, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner Inc. agreed, saying that while most identity theft has not been linked to lost data tapes, companies can never be too careful when it comes to encryption.
"In cases where a laptop has been stolen or a backup tape is missing, companies have always been quick to say that their information was encrypted and no data was at risk," he said. "The bottom line nowadays is that all companies should be moving toward full encryption of their backup tapes."
IDC Canada's David Senf, director of security and software research, offered another viewpoint, saying that because most Canadian firms are not too worried about losing data in this way, they spend precious little resources in preventing the data loss from occurring in the first place.
"The top focus remains on endpoints and e-mail," Senf said. "The numbers vary by sector but on average, one out of every five firms is concerned with the loss of data from a drive or tape going missing. This is in comparison to four out of five companies concerned with preventing data loss from e-mail.
"IDC research finds that Canadian firms spend too much time trying to detect that a breach or loss of data has occurred rather than planning to prevent from happening in the first place," he added.
As for how companies can protect themselves from similar breaches in the first place -- especially since the data was lost by Chrysler's courier service -- Quin said enterprises will need to take every measure possible to keep data transports in-house. While it might be sufficient for noncritical data to be shipped by third parties, he said, transferring data covered by government regulations -- such as personal data -- should be done by employees if possible.
"The way an organization can ensure the highest level of security is to deliver it themselves and not off-load it to a third-party," he said. "Anytime you send information out of the enterprise, it's out of your control and you open yourself up to some risk. Maintaining control of your data in all its forms is really an enterprise best practice."
Pescatore disagreed, saying an employee would be just as likely to lose a package as a courier service would. His solution is for enterprises to further protect themselves by purchasing more insurance for shipped goods.
"You can get higher levels of insurance on any items you're sending, so if it's lost, stolen or damaged, you can get some financial payments back," he said. "It raises the cost of what you pay UPS or FedEx, but it's probably less expensive than having your own people do it."
AT&T to launch mobile TV in 58 US markets
AT&T will launch its mobile television service on Sunday, behind schedule and nearly a year after competitor Verizon Wireless began offering broadcast TV services.
AT&T's Mobile TV will only be available on two high-end phones, LG's touch-screen Vu and Samsung's Access. The Vu costs US$399.99 and the Access $299.99, although consumers can get a $100 mail-in rebate. Both require two-year service plans.
AT&T had planned to launch Mobile TV by the end of last year. The service will be available in 58 markets, AT&T said.
Much information on Mobile TV was already released at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas in March. But AT&T has revealed pricing, which is in the same range as Verizon's service.
Mobile TV packages start at $13 per month for four channels: CBS Mobile, Fox Mobile, NBC 2Go and NBC News 2Go. Next is a $15-a-month deal for the "basic" package with more channels and $30 for the "plus" service, which includes unlimited TV watching and mobile Web browsing.
AT&T's pricing is close to Verizon's, which offers a limited package for $13 per month, a eight-channel deal for $15 and a $25-a-month package that throws in unlimited air time, e-mail and basic video clips.
All told, AT&T's Mobile TV encompasses 150 simulcast or time-shifted programs from CNN, ESPN, Comedy Central, CBS, NBC, Nickelodeon and PIX, part of Sony Pictures Television, among others.
Like Verizon, AT&T is employing technology from MediaFLO USA, part of Qualcomm, to deliver the service. MediaFLO broadcasts the programming on a network separate from AT&T's cellular network, using parts of the unused television broadcast spectrum.
LG's Vu has a music player, a 2.0-megapixel camera and Bluetooth. Samsung's Access has an internal antenna for TV reception, a camera, external stereo speakers and stereo Bluetooth.
Verizon launched its V Cast Mobile TV service in March 2007. The service is compatible with four handsets: Samsung's SCH-U620, LG's VX9400 and Voyager and Motorola's z6tv.
AT&T's Mobile TV will only be available on two high-end phones, LG's touch-screen Vu and Samsung's Access. The Vu costs US$399.99 and the Access $299.99, although consumers can get a $100 mail-in rebate. Both require two-year service plans.
AT&T had planned to launch Mobile TV by the end of last year. The service will be available in 58 markets, AT&T said.
Much information on Mobile TV was already released at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas in March. But AT&T has revealed pricing, which is in the same range as Verizon's service.
Mobile TV packages start at $13 per month for four channels: CBS Mobile, Fox Mobile, NBC 2Go and NBC News 2Go. Next is a $15-a-month deal for the "basic" package with more channels and $30 for the "plus" service, which includes unlimited TV watching and mobile Web browsing.
AT&T's pricing is close to Verizon's, which offers a limited package for $13 per month, a eight-channel deal for $15 and a $25-a-month package that throws in unlimited air time, e-mail and basic video clips.
All told, AT&T's Mobile TV encompasses 150 simulcast or time-shifted programs from CNN, ESPN, Comedy Central, CBS, NBC, Nickelodeon and PIX, part of Sony Pictures Television, among others.
Like Verizon, AT&T is employing technology from MediaFLO USA, part of Qualcomm, to deliver the service. MediaFLO broadcasts the programming on a network separate from AT&T's cellular network, using parts of the unused television broadcast spectrum.
LG's Vu has a music player, a 2.0-megapixel camera and Bluetooth. Samsung's Access has an internal antenna for TV reception, a camera, external stereo speakers and stereo Bluetooth.
Verizon launched its V Cast Mobile TV service in March 2007. The service is compatible with four handsets: Samsung's SCH-U620, LG's VX9400 and Voyager and Motorola's z6tv.
Infogrames to buy rest of Atari for $11 million
Infogrames Entertainment plans to buy the rest of beleaguered video games pioneer Atari for US$11 million, the companies said Wednesday.
Infogrames, based in Lyon, France, owns 51.4 percent of Atari's stock. The merger will give Atari shareholders $1.68 per share in cash.
The deal must be approved by shareholders. Atari plans to call a special meeting on the merger after July, the companies said. However, since Infogrames owns a majority of shares, it could push the deal forward without the approval of Atari's current shareholders.
Infogrames said the merger will allow it to have more control over restructuring Atari to become a bigger player in the North American market. It will also loan Atari $20 million to keep its operations going until the deal is complete.
Atari dominated the video game console market in the late 1970s and early 1980s with classic games such as Pong, Asteroids and Space Invaders. But game and console makers such as Nintendo and Sega later stole Atari's crown. The company never fully recovered.
In May 2007, Atari said it would cut its workforce by 20 percent and spend between $800,000 and $1.1 million on restructuring the company.
Since last October, Infogrames has been working with Atari to stabilize and focus its distribution efforts. The Atari Group, which operates in the U.S., Europe and Asia, produces games such as Alone in the Dark, V-Rally, Test Drive, Backyard and licenses others such as Dragon Ball Z.
Those games are produced for a variety of platforms, including Sony's PSP and PlayStations 2 and 3, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's DS, Wii and GameBoy Advance.
In March, Jim Wilson, a video-game industry veteran, was appointed as Atari's CEO. Wilson most recently worked as executive vice president and general manager of Sony Wonder, part of Sony BMG’s home entertainment business.
Infogrames has owned the Atari name since 2001, and it has been releasing games under the Atari moniker since then.
Infogrames, based in Lyon, France, owns 51.4 percent of Atari's stock. The merger will give Atari shareholders $1.68 per share in cash.
The deal must be approved by shareholders. Atari plans to call a special meeting on the merger after July, the companies said. However, since Infogrames owns a majority of shares, it could push the deal forward without the approval of Atari's current shareholders.
Infogrames said the merger will allow it to have more control over restructuring Atari to become a bigger player in the North American market. It will also loan Atari $20 million to keep its operations going until the deal is complete.
Atari dominated the video game console market in the late 1970s and early 1980s with classic games such as Pong, Asteroids and Space Invaders. But game and console makers such as Nintendo and Sega later stole Atari's crown. The company never fully recovered.
In May 2007, Atari said it would cut its workforce by 20 percent and spend between $800,000 and $1.1 million on restructuring the company.
Since last October, Infogrames has been working with Atari to stabilize and focus its distribution efforts. The Atari Group, which operates in the U.S., Europe and Asia, produces games such as Alone in the Dark, V-Rally, Test Drive, Backyard and licenses others such as Dragon Ball Z.
Those games are produced for a variety of platforms, including Sony's PSP and PlayStations 2 and 3, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's DS, Wii and GameBoy Advance.
In March, Jim Wilson, a video-game industry veteran, was appointed as Atari's CEO. Wilson most recently worked as executive vice president and general manager of Sony Wonder, part of Sony BMG’s home entertainment business.
Infogrames has owned the Atari name since 2001, and it has been releasing games under the Atari moniker since then.
Adobe establishes Open Screen Project for Flash, AIR
Adobe launched a new community development project on Thursday aimed at using its Flash and AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) technologies to create a consistent application interface across all devices -- whether they are smartphones, PCs or set-top boxes.
The Open Screen Project is aimed at bringing digital content providers, device manufacturers, service providers and developers together to provide a user experience for both Web-based content, using Flash, and client-side applications, using AIR, across the myriad devices people use to connect to the Web, said Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch.
Flash is Adobe's runtime and player for delivering rich media on Web sites, while AIR is a desktop runtime that allows people to bring applications coded for the Web to the desktop to run locally.
Lynch noted that because of the complexities of developing applications for different hardware form factors, neither Web-based applications nor ones that are downloaded to a device and run locally are guaranteed to have the same look and feel or render in the same way -- or even run at all.
"If you look at the current experience, content doesn't work reliably; you can't easily install applications, you can't get applications on a device," he said.
Indeed, while both the Java and Flash runtimes have allowed Web applications to run on myriad handheld devices, neither has so far allowed for a seamless transfer between formats of applications. Smartphones, which are increasingly becoming the norm for mobile-phone users, in particular are a largely untapped territory for Flash, Lynch said.
Adobe's Flash technology, for example, is currently not able to run on Apple's iPhone; Web sites running Flash will not render on the iPhone's Safari browser. Adobe is working to bring Flash to the iPhone, Lynch said, and the Open Screen Project should help with this effort.
Flash is currently on 500 million mobile devices via the Flash Lite technology and should be on 1 billion devices by 2009, Lynch said, but the Open Screen Project wants to take that one step further. The company wants to create one Flash and one AIR runtime that can run across PCs and other smaller form-factor devices that are beginning to replace PCs as people's primary way to access the Web.
One of the specific problems Adobe wants to solve with the Open Screen Project is the ability to automatically update software on devices over the air so people using them will have the latest versions of the Flash player and AIR. Lynch noted that Flash has used the automatic update model successfully to bring the Flash player to Web users. "That update to Flash Player 9 -- 61 percent of the PCs connected to the Web had the update in less than three months," he said.
Bringing that same ability to devices would be a boon for bringing a consistent user experience through Flash and AIR on devices, but only cooperation between people creating the devices, and application and content providers, can facilitate this because of the complexity of developing the technology, Lynch said. "It's really important to ... keep the runtime [on devices] fresh," he said. "We can't do that alone."
So far, for the Open Screen Project, the company has signed on carrier partners NTT DoCoMo of Japan and Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan; smartphone and handset manufacturers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, LG and Toshiba; component providers ARM, Intel and Marvell; and content providers MTV and NBC Universal.
Adobe is not just promoting the Open Screen Project outside of the company; it has unified its mobile and desktop Flash and AIR development teams internally so they are working on one consistent platform for all devices, Lynch said.
"The mobile teams and desktop engineering are now together in a group I'm leading called the Experience and Technology Organization," Lynch said. He added that achieving the goal of the group and the Open Screen Project will be no small task, but the company is embracing the challenge.
In the meantime, to facilitate more third-party adoption of Flash on devices, Adobe has removed the licensing restrictions for proprietary media formats used with Flash -- Shockwave Flash (SWF) and Flash Video (FLV) -- so developers can now create their own third-party Flash players.
Lynch said Adobe will still try to offer the industry's best Flash player, but it wanted to give other people free access to the formats to reach its goal for the Open Screen Project. "We're removing that restriction to increase the confidence of people in the industry adopting Flash as the core format across devices," he said.
AIR is currently available in its 1.0 version, while Flash's latest available version is Flash 9. Adobe does not have a time frame for the next major releases of its runtimes yet, but it expects the first fruits of the Open Screen Project to appear in them, Lynch said.
The Open Screen Project is aimed at bringing digital content providers, device manufacturers, service providers and developers together to provide a user experience for both Web-based content, using Flash, and client-side applications, using AIR, across the myriad devices people use to connect to the Web, said Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch.
Flash is Adobe's runtime and player for delivering rich media on Web sites, while AIR is a desktop runtime that allows people to bring applications coded for the Web to the desktop to run locally.
Lynch noted that because of the complexities of developing applications for different hardware form factors, neither Web-based applications nor ones that are downloaded to a device and run locally are guaranteed to have the same look and feel or render in the same way -- or even run at all.
"If you look at the current experience, content doesn't work reliably; you can't easily install applications, you can't get applications on a device," he said.
Indeed, while both the Java and Flash runtimes have allowed Web applications to run on myriad handheld devices, neither has so far allowed for a seamless transfer between formats of applications. Smartphones, which are increasingly becoming the norm for mobile-phone users, in particular are a largely untapped territory for Flash, Lynch said.
Adobe's Flash technology, for example, is currently not able to run on Apple's iPhone; Web sites running Flash will not render on the iPhone's Safari browser. Adobe is working to bring Flash to the iPhone, Lynch said, and the Open Screen Project should help with this effort.
Flash is currently on 500 million mobile devices via the Flash Lite technology and should be on 1 billion devices by 2009, Lynch said, but the Open Screen Project wants to take that one step further. The company wants to create one Flash and one AIR runtime that can run across PCs and other smaller form-factor devices that are beginning to replace PCs as people's primary way to access the Web.
One of the specific problems Adobe wants to solve with the Open Screen Project is the ability to automatically update software on devices over the air so people using them will have the latest versions of the Flash player and AIR. Lynch noted that Flash has used the automatic update model successfully to bring the Flash player to Web users. "That update to Flash Player 9 -- 61 percent of the PCs connected to the Web had the update in less than three months," he said.
Bringing that same ability to devices would be a boon for bringing a consistent user experience through Flash and AIR on devices, but only cooperation between people creating the devices, and application and content providers, can facilitate this because of the complexity of developing the technology, Lynch said. "It's really important to ... keep the runtime [on devices] fresh," he said. "We can't do that alone."
So far, for the Open Screen Project, the company has signed on carrier partners NTT DoCoMo of Japan and Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan; smartphone and handset manufacturers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, LG and Toshiba; component providers ARM, Intel and Marvell; and content providers MTV and NBC Universal.
Adobe is not just promoting the Open Screen Project outside of the company; it has unified its mobile and desktop Flash and AIR development teams internally so they are working on one consistent platform for all devices, Lynch said.
"The mobile teams and desktop engineering are now together in a group I'm leading called the Experience and Technology Organization," Lynch said. He added that achieving the goal of the group and the Open Screen Project will be no small task, but the company is embracing the challenge.
In the meantime, to facilitate more third-party adoption of Flash on devices, Adobe has removed the licensing restrictions for proprietary media formats used with Flash -- Shockwave Flash (SWF) and Flash Video (FLV) -- so developers can now create their own third-party Flash players.
Lynch said Adobe will still try to offer the industry's best Flash player, but it wanted to give other people free access to the formats to reach its goal for the Open Screen Project. "We're removing that restriction to increase the confidence of people in the industry adopting Flash as the core format across devices," he said.
AIR is currently available in its 1.0 version, while Flash's latest available version is Flash 9. Adobe does not have a time frame for the next major releases of its runtimes yet, but it expects the first fruits of the Open Screen Project to appear in them, Lynch said.
HP researchers build intelligent memory
Researchers at Hewlett-Packard have developed a working unit of a memory circuit that has existed in theory for 37 years, which could ultimately replace RAM and make computers more intelligent by tracking data it has retained.
The technology, called memristor, could allow computers to make decisions by understanding past patterns of data it has collected, similar to human brains collecting and understanding a series of events.
For example, a memristor circuit could be capable of telling a microwave the heating time for different food types based on the information it has collected over time, said Stanley Williams, senior fellow at HP.
A memristor circuit requires lower voltage and less time to turn on than competitive memory like DRAM and flash, Williams said. "Because it [uses] less voltage and less time, of course, it uses much less power," Williams said. Denser cells also allow memristor circuits to store more data than flash memory.
Through prototypes, HP is trying to show circuit designers what memristor is capable of doing. "What we have done is confirmed a concept for a new electronic device that was originally proposed nearly 40 years ago," Williams said.
Memristor is the fourth fundamental circuit element, joining the other three -- resistor, capacitor and inductor -- that had been known for 150 years, Williams said. The element has properties that cannot be duplicated by any combination of the other three elements, Williams said.
"It is as fundamental to electronic engineering as a chemical element is to chemistry or an electron is to physics," Williams said.
In a 1971 academic paper, Leon Chua, a mathematician and professor at the University of California at Berkeley, wrote that memristor would have properties similar to a synapse in a brain. The synapse makes connections between two neurons, and the more often a signal is sent to a synapse, the stronger the synapse gets.
"That is a very different type of behavior than anything that had been observed before in circuit elements," Williams said.
HP is not going to reproduce all the functions of a brain in memristor, but the company is trying to build a relatively simple computing machine that operates on a different principle from today's computers, Williams said.
The scientists created the memory by applying a charge on a circuit with blocks of titanium dioxide. The actual resistance of the memristor changes depending on the amount of current flowing through the circuit, Williams said. When the current is turned off, the memory retains the information it has acquired.
Although the concept of memristor has existed for a while, the memory prototype is an academic device that will first work its way to academia. It could hit the commercial semiconductor market in five years, Williams said.
The technology, called memristor, could allow computers to make decisions by understanding past patterns of data it has collected, similar to human brains collecting and understanding a series of events.
For example, a memristor circuit could be capable of telling a microwave the heating time for different food types based on the information it has collected over time, said Stanley Williams, senior fellow at HP.
A memristor circuit requires lower voltage and less time to turn on than competitive memory like DRAM and flash, Williams said. "Because it [uses] less voltage and less time, of course, it uses much less power," Williams said. Denser cells also allow memristor circuits to store more data than flash memory.
Through prototypes, HP is trying to show circuit designers what memristor is capable of doing. "What we have done is confirmed a concept for a new electronic device that was originally proposed nearly 40 years ago," Williams said.
Memristor is the fourth fundamental circuit element, joining the other three -- resistor, capacitor and inductor -- that had been known for 150 years, Williams said. The element has properties that cannot be duplicated by any combination of the other three elements, Williams said.
"It is as fundamental to electronic engineering as a chemical element is to chemistry or an electron is to physics," Williams said.
In a 1971 academic paper, Leon Chua, a mathematician and professor at the University of California at Berkeley, wrote that memristor would have properties similar to a synapse in a brain. The synapse makes connections between two neurons, and the more often a signal is sent to a synapse, the stronger the synapse gets.
"That is a very different type of behavior than anything that had been observed before in circuit elements," Williams said.
HP is not going to reproduce all the functions of a brain in memristor, but the company is trying to build a relatively simple computing machine that operates on a different principle from today's computers, Williams said.
The scientists created the memory by applying a charge on a circuit with blocks of titanium dioxide. The actual resistance of the memristor changes depending on the amount of current flowing through the circuit, Williams said. When the current is turned off, the memory retains the information it has acquired.
Although the concept of memristor has existed for a while, the memory prototype is an academic device that will first work its way to academia. It could hit the commercial semiconductor market in five years, Williams said.
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