Sayan’s BlogWorld

The 4-day event bills itself as ‘the event like no other’. It brings together 800 thought-leaders and offers the latest ideas in almost any subject area. Check out this site for presentations on some of the best new ideas and innovations.

The rise of India as a Knowledge Superpower is the flavour of the week (Feb 19, 2005 issue) at New Scientist. This issue has well over a dozen articles on India.

Some gems from the articles, “…India’s six remote-sensing satellites - the largest such constellation in the world. These monitor the country’s land and coastal waters so that scientists can advise rural communities on the location of aquifers and where to find watercourses, suggest to fishermen when to set sail for the best catch, and warn coastal communities of imminent storms…The system is also being used to extend remote healthcare services and education to the rural poor…ISRO’s projects have added between two and three times the organisation’s budget to the nation’s GDP…India is perhaps the only country where societal needs are met by the space programme in a cost-effective manner and the services are reaching the needy…90 kilometres from Pune in western India, into a home for the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) - the world’s largest, low-frequency radio telescope and India’s biggest basic science project.”
and some sombre thoughts, “…For the New Scientist reporters who have been in India for this special report, many features of the country stand out. First, its scale and diversity. With a population of more than a billion, the country presents some curious contrasts. It has the world’s 11th largest economy, yet it is home to more than a quarter of the world’s poorest people. It is the sixth largest emitter of carbon dioxide, yet hundreds of millions of its people have no steady electricity supply. It has more than 250 universities which catered last year for more than 3.2 million science students, yet 39 per cent of adult Indians cannot read or write…”

This new DIY magazine from the O’Reilly is making waves. Well I love to get this magazine but the $35 price tag is a little too much for my student budget. But I will gladly barter it for something like GMail invites or some computer fixing or web development. If any reader is willing please contact me : c.sayan at gmail.com

Paul Otellini, Intel’s President mentions some interesting things in the company’s internal blog, which got leaked.

The best line is,
“… our move to platforms, and server competition. We have a significant competitor to our Xeon product line in the Opteron line from AMD. This is the first significant competition we have seen with the market segment for “high volume serversâ€? that Intel invented. We identified this competitive threat over a year ago, and did a great job in 2004 by shipping record Xeon volumes, achieving a very rapid ramp of our 64 bit extension based product, and minimizing share loss. While I hate losing share, the reality is that our competitor has a very strong product offering. We did a good job in 2004, and cannot let up, as I expect 2005 to be even more competitive in this area. There is no quick fix or easy answer here. We will have to marshal all the resources and capabilities of Intel to compete here. This means using our advantages beyond the CPU as well. Our chipsets, compilers, ISS consulting teams, Field Sales teams in well over 500 end user accounts are all part of our response. This is what I meant in my first Blog about the shift to platforms in this area. As we make the Right Hand Turn in our cpu products, the platform is what gives the processor the “personalityâ€? to do the best job of computing for the task at hand.

Some other nice comments by Intel employees,
“…I’m somewhat disappointed that a “gaming platform” doesn’t appear to be a part of Intel’s new platform push. As a gamer & Intel employee, I find it frustrating that AMD products are repeatedly recommended as better for gaming by almost every gaming publication & online review site. While gaming isn’t as large or as critical a market as the corporate market, it does push the technology envelope for silicon based solutions. DirectX & the GPU market are a prime example. I sincerely hope that we can consider changing our view on gaming as a viable application for our products strategically rather than viewing it as only a means for “bragging rights.”…”

then some more
“…when I go into the Apple store I am blown away at the new technology that is constantly being developed for the Apple Ipod and the amount of people buying it. I know Intel is capable of developing exciting new and innovative products/solutions that have a strong market and following like Apple, I hope we get started in these new areas quickly.”

and some more
“…What are your thoughts on a couple of processors that have been getting some press lately, namely the Cell processor announced by Sony/IBM and the AMD Athlon64? The Cell processor is going to be used in the new PS3 gaming system and it was also stated that it would be used in everything from TV’s to media centers (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/29/ibm_sony_cell_debut/) The Athlon chip is generally the most recommended processor out of high end gaming magazines. What’s being done to react to these threats and regain outright market leadership, both perceived and in terms real numbers?

Does Robert Scoble, a celebrity blogger on Microsoft’s payroll, herald the death of traditional public relations? His blog - Scobleizer

Thanks to Sukumar for forwarding this article.

This is great news, I know that many friends who have had some hearing loss thanks to loud music. I think our modern lifestyle makes us sacrifice many things including our hearing.

I am right now listening to Dan Gillmor speak about grassroots media especially blogging. Dan’s personal blog is here.

The scoop in Dan Gillmor’s talk is that he was requested and has given expert opinion to the court for the Apple vs. Thinksecret lawsuit / case. He mentioned that he supports Thinksecret’s journalism.
Addendum:Dan’s new book, ‘We the media’ is available free of charge at O’reilly. You can also buy the book if you want to.

Google executives attempted to demystify the search company’s product decisions during presentations with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday.

Interesting quote by Larry Page, “Google itself was in beta for a very substantial number of years.. part of our brand is that we under-promise and we over-deliver, and being in beta is part of that. It’s part of our branding strategy.”

First a disclaimer- I don’t own a Mac, I am not a Mac addict though I have plenty of friends who are, even though I have used one from time to time and I am regular at the Mac Users group in my university. Is this article an anti-Microsoft rant or a pro-Mac eulogy or a honest look into Windows flaws or a combination of all three- I leave you the reader to decide.

Making biological tissue work with / survive and grow independently in man-made electronics and mechanical components has been a dream of many futurists and sci-fi authors. This dream is slowly becoming reality and integrated bio-mechanical systems may be a boon for prosthetics and artificial organs.

Addicted has a report on how a miniature combustion engine may give power on the move. A prototype developed by MIT and GeorgiaTech researchers, generates around 1.1W and the technology seems scalable to higher more useful power output.

Addicted has a report on how a miniature combustion engine may give power on the move. A prototype developed by MIT and GeorgiaTech researchers, generates around 1.1W and the technology seems scalable to higher more useful power output.

Dual-layer DVD with 8.5GB storage capacity are just picking up and already 1 TB optical discs are close to being commercialized. Apparently this new technology is the most commercially viable holographic storage media and it promises transfer speeds upto 1Gb/sec (thats gigabit not gigabyte).

People are finally starting to address the problem of spreading the benefits of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to the underprivileged billions around the planet. I have been fixated with this problem for more than 2 years (when co-wrote a paper)though I have not been able to devote time to it.