By Frank J. Ohlhorst June 22, 2009
AMD hopes to fuel server upgrades with their latest Opteron CPU, code named Istanbul. Istanbul is designed to be a drop in replacement for previous generation Opteron CPUs and brings six cores and a 50% performance boost to the table. Follow along as we upgrade a server from a four-core Shanghai to a six-core Istanbul and determine if there is any "bull" in AMD's Istanbul claims. "What if you could just increase performance with a CPU change?" AMD's answer comes in the form of a Six Core Opteron processor, code-named Istanbul. While both Intel and AMD have offered the ability to upgrade CPUs in the past, other hardware was usually required to gain any significant performance improvement, sometimes necessitating a cooling fan or power supply upgrade as well. Istanbul is different, the CPU has the same power and thermal profile as previous Opterons (such as the four-core Shanghai and four-core Barcelona), which makes upgrading a much simpler endeavor. Those performing Opteron upgrades will not have to change cooling fans, power supplies, motherboards, or anything else for that matter—all that may be needed is a simple BIOS upgrade. Simply put, by just upgrading five servers in a data center, data center managers can eliminate the need to purchase an additional server to meet performance needs. It all comes down to simple math, where one has to consider the cost of the CPUs and the time needed to perform an upgrade to see if the return on investment is worthwhile. Most will find that in this case, it is—thanks to AMD's straightforward technology and performance boost that reduces the need to upgrade other components.
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Monday, June 22, 2009
Report: FTC to go after blogger freebies
by Caroline McCarthy June 22, 2009
The Federal Trade Commission is planning to crack down on bloggers who review or promote products while earning freebies or payments, the Associated Press reported Sunday. This would, for the first time, bring bloggers under FTC guidelines that ban deceptive or unfair business practices. "New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers--as well as the companies that compensate them--for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest," the article explained. The rules could be quite strict, even extending to the practice of affiliate links--for example, a music blogger who links to a song on Amazon MP3 or iTunes that earns an affiliate commission in the process. The practice of free products for bloggers, most of whom are not bound by ethical guidelines that journalists have historically followed, has been making headlines for some time now. Microsoft, for example, created a wave of bad press a few years ago when it gave free Acer laptops preloaded with Windows Vista to several dozen bloggers.
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The Federal Trade Commission is planning to crack down on bloggers who review or promote products while earning freebies or payments, the Associated Press reported Sunday. This would, for the first time, bring bloggers under FTC guidelines that ban deceptive or unfair business practices. "New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers--as well as the companies that compensate them--for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest," the article explained. The rules could be quite strict, even extending to the practice of affiliate links--for example, a music blogger who links to a song on Amazon MP3 or iTunes that earns an affiliate commission in the process. The practice of free products for bloggers, most of whom are not bound by ethical guidelines that journalists have historically followed, has been making headlines for some time now. Microsoft, for example, created a wave of bad press a few years ago when it gave free Acer laptops preloaded with Windows Vista to several dozen bloggers.
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Want to Jailbreak the Pre? No Worries, Palm Says
by Sascha Segan 06.22.09
The Palm Pre's Mojo SDK still isn't available to the public, and coders are champing at the bit. They're so eager to program for the Pre that some folks have hacked into their Pres and are beginning to create the same sort of "jailbroken" community we've seen for years on the iPhone. Palm today made their SDK schedule clearer, and sent a surprisingly mild message out to rogue programmers. The SDK will become available "by the end of this summer," Palm says, and they'll ramp up their 'early access program' as quickly as they can before that. I was struck, though, by how conciliatory they are towards the Pre hackers. Instead of slapping them down, Palm is just saying that Mojo-based projects will be better than hacks. "We recognize that some developers will experiment in ways that cross official boundaries, but we believe that our formal offerings - and community efforts built around those offerings - will provide the best experience for the vast majority of webOS developers and users," the company says.
Read more here -->Link
The Palm Pre's Mojo SDK still isn't available to the public, and coders are champing at the bit. They're so eager to program for the Pre that some folks have hacked into their Pres and are beginning to create the same sort of "jailbroken" community we've seen for years on the iPhone. Palm today made their SDK schedule clearer, and sent a surprisingly mild message out to rogue programmers. The SDK will become available "by the end of this summer," Palm says, and they'll ramp up their 'early access program' as quickly as they can before that. I was struck, though, by how conciliatory they are towards the Pre hackers. Instead of slapping them down, Palm is just saying that Mojo-based projects will be better than hacks. "We recognize that some developers will experiment in ways that cross official boundaries, but we believe that our formal offerings - and community efforts built around those offerings - will provide the best experience for the vast majority of webOS developers and users," the company says.
Read more here -->Link
Blu-ray Won The Battle, Losing The War
by Joseph F. Kovar June 22, 2009
The developers of the Blu-ray high-definition video format may have beat HD DVD on the technology, but both are losing the war for the hearts and minds of video consumers who look to cable, satellite and the Internet for video. In a new Harris Poll, the results of which were released on Friday, only 11 percent of Americans own a HD DVD player, while only 7 percent own a Blu-ray player. About 9 percent of Americans own a Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console, which includes the ability to play Blu-ray disks, while 3 percent have an external HD DVD drive for a Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming console. The slow adoption of both Blu-ray and HD DVD comes despite the growth in the adoption of high-definition televisions. Harris Interactive, which runs the Harris polls, found in its new poll that about 47 percent of Americans now report owning a high-definition TV, up from 35 percent in May of 2008.
Read more here -->Link
The developers of the Blu-ray high-definition video format may have beat HD DVD on the technology, but both are losing the war for the hearts and minds of video consumers who look to cable, satellite and the Internet for video. In a new Harris Poll, the results of which were released on Friday, only 11 percent of Americans own a HD DVD player, while only 7 percent own a Blu-ray player. About 9 percent of Americans own a Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console, which includes the ability to play Blu-ray disks, while 3 percent have an external HD DVD drive for a Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming console. The slow adoption of both Blu-ray and HD DVD comes despite the growth in the adoption of high-definition televisions. Harris Interactive, which runs the Harris polls, found in its new poll that about 47 percent of Americans now report owning a high-definition TV, up from 35 percent in May of 2008.
Read more here -->Link
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