Reader Chris W. writes:
After seeing some people asking about it, I just randomly plugged my
iPod Mini into the Airport Express to see what happens (the USB port of
course). Surprisingly enough, the Express CHARGES the iPod. So to
answer that question, you CAN charge your iPod using the Airport
Express (which negates my need to tote the power charger for it now
when I go traveling.)
Now if Apple could only have a way to pass through the Audio to the
Express from the iPod when it's plugged in, that would be a killer
little firmware update....
Indeed, you can charge iPod mini and the new Click Wheel iPods from the
USB port on AirPort Express (AX.) However, these iPods, at least with
current firmware versions, will go into Disk Mode when connected to a
data capable port (USB or FireWire) and cannot be forced back into
Audio Mode, so you can't listen to your music while charging (as you
could with the AC adapter.)
There is still much we don't know about AX, but it's unlikely that it
will ever be able to access a connected iPod.
Motorola and Apple Bring iTunes® Music Player to Motorola’s
Next-generation Mobile Phones
ROSEMONT, IL and CUPERTINO, Calif – 26 July 2004 -- Motorola, Inc.
(NYSE:MOT) and Apple® (NASDAQ: AAPL) today announced they are
partnering to enable millions of music lovers to transfer their
favorite songs from the iTunes® jukebox on their PC or Mac® , including
songs from the iTunes Music Store, to Motorola’s next-generation
'always with you' mobile handsets, via a USB or Bluetooth connection.
Apple will create a new iTunes mobile music player, which Motorola will
make the standard music application on all their mass-market music
phones, expected to be available in the first half of next year.
“We can't think of a more natural partnership than this one with Apple,
the brand synonymous with easy-to-use, legal music downloading, and
Motorola, the innovator in mobile technology,” said Ed Zander, chairman
and CEO, Motorola. “Being able to transfer songs you’ve purchased from
iTunes to Motorola mobile handsets expands the market reach for both of
us and drives new revenue for customers, delivering an amazing music
experience to millions of wireless users.”
“We are thrilled to be working with Motorola to enable millions of
music lovers to transfer any of their favorite songs from iTunes on
their PC or Mac to Motorola’s next-generation mobile phones," said
Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. “The mobile phone market -- with 1.5 billion
subscribers expected worldwide by the end of 2004 -- is a phenomenal
opportunity to get iTunes in the hands of even more music lovers around
the world and we think Motorola is the ideal partner to kick this off."
About Motorola
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is a global leader in wireless, broadband
and automotive communications technologies that help make life smarter,
safer, simpler, synchronized and fun. Sales in 2003 were U.S. $27.1
billion. Motorola creates innovative technological solutions that
benefit people at home, at work and on the move. The company also is a
progressive corporate citizen dedicated to operating ethically,
protecting the environment and supporting the communities in which it
does business. For more information, please visit www.motorola.com.
About Apple
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the
Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the
Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation
with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating
system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also
spearheading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music
players and iTunes online music store.
...from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/technology/circuits/22state.html
Apple's Pocket-Size Base Station
By DAVID POGUE
Published: July 22, 2004
IN his weekly "60 Minutes" commentary a couple of years ago, the
inimitable Andy Rooney groused about the number of cables in our lives.
"Look behind the television set in your living room. It's a rat's nest
of electrical cords," he said. "All different - no two the same. If
Thomas Edison was so smart, how come he didn't come up with one cord
that fits everything?"
Of course, it wouldn't be very hard for Mr. Rooney to answer his own
question. To find out why cords are designed to fit only specific
connectors, all he'd have to do is plug his headphones into an
electrical outlet, just once.
A slightly less painful approach might be for Mr. Rooney to look into
Apple, a company with an official corporate disgust for cables. Apple
was the first computer company to offer built-in Wi-Fi wireless
antennas (also known as 802.11 - or, as Apple more charmingly calls it,
AirPort). Apple was also the first company to offer built-in Bluetooth,
a short-range wireless technology designed to eliminate the cords
between computers, printers and other gadgets. And when a cable can't
be eliminated, Apple goes to ridiculous extremes to at least make it
good-looking and color-coordinated.
Last week, Apple introduced yet another way to eliminate wires from
your life. It introduced the AirPort Express, a $130 something-or-other
for both Windows PC's and Macs. There's no single pithy term or phrase
for this invention; it has more tricks up its sleeve than David Blaine.
Trick No. 1: the AirPort Express is a wireless base station. That is,
if you connect it to a cable modem or D.S.L. box, your wirelessly
equipped Mac or Windows PC can get onto the Internet and connect to
other machines in the building, at high speed and with no waiting, from
anywhere in the house - or at least within about 150 feet of the base
station, even through walls.
(Note for geeks: Like all of Apple's current wireless gear, the AirPort
Express uses the 802.11g standard - which, in English, means that it
works with both modern, superfast 802.11g laptops and the older, more
common, slower 802.11b equipment. It also offers both WPA and WEP
security, state-of-the-art password-protection systems that prevent
desperados hiding in your bushes from getting onto your wireless
network without your knowledge.)
If you already have an AirPort wireless network, the Express can act as
a wireless bridge that extends its range another 150 feet. That's a
handy perk, but it would be even handier and perkier if it worked to
extend the range of other base station brands. (Apple won't guarantee
that it doesn't work, but it won't guarantee that it will, either.)
The twist here is that the AirPort Express is literally pocket-size.
It's a round-cornered white acrylic device that looks for all the world
like the power adapter for one of Apple's laptops. In fact, Apple says
that the Express is the world's smallest Wi-Fi base station. Asus makes
one whose dimensions are slightly smaller, but only if you ignore its
external power brick; that's cheating. Apple's device is entirely
self-contained. Apple has even eliminated the power cord, instead
opting for electrical outlet prongs that rotate cleanly into the body
when not plugged in.
Now, you might reasonably wonder why the size of a wireless base
station is an advantage. Isn't that an irrelevant characteristic, like
a muffler that's available in designer colors? After all, most people
just plug into a base station behind the desk and forget about it.
But having your own personal base station means that you can move it
from place to place (like home or office) at will; the Express can even
store and switch among five different network configurations.
And if you take it with you when traveling, you can sign up for your
hotel's $10-a-day high-speed in-room Internet access. Then, instead of
remaining shackled to the desk, you can lie on the bed 10 feet away to
do your e-mail. (All right, that's not a life-or-death business
essential, but you've got to admit that it's cozy.) More practically,
your traveling companions can hop online simultaneously, sharing the
Internet signal and the $10 fee. (The AirPort Express can handle up to
10 people at once. That's one difference between this model and Apple's
standard AirPort base station, which costs $200 and handles up to 50
connections at once.)
Trick No. 2 is called AirTunes. The AirPort Express has, of all things,
a sound-output jack that you can connect to a stereo system,
self-powered speakers or even a TV. iTunes, Apple's free jukebox
software for Mac or Windows, can then wirelessly broadcast your music
(like MP3 files and songs you've bought from Apple's iTunes online
store) to the sound system from your computer. In fact, if you've
bought more than one AirPort Express (in Apple's dreams!) and plugged
them into different sets of speakers around the house, you can use a
little pop-up menu on the edge of the iTunes window to specify which
one you want: Patio, Living Room, Bedroom or whatever.
To pacify the record companies, iTunes encrypts the music before
broadcasting it, so that the sneaks in the next apartment can't
intercept it. And to pacify audiophiles, the software delivers the
music to the speakers at full original quality (as it's stored on your
computer). It sounds terrific.
There are, however, some flies in all this ointment. First, you can
only send the music to one set of speakers at a time. Rival
wireless-stereo gizmos, like RCA's Wireless Lyra, can broadcast
simultaneously to several sound systems (if you've bought a receiver
for each one).
Second, note that the connection between the AirPort Express and the
stereo is not wireless. You have to supply your own cable to connect
them. (Apple sells a $40 kit containing two beautiful white Monster
cables for connecting to your stereo - one with standard RCA stereo
connectors and one with a so-called Toslink, a digital connector
capable of carrying five-channel surround sound.) But the point is that
the AirPort Express needs a power outlet that's close to your stereo.
Finally, it's a weird and heady experience to use, say, your computer
upstairs as the control center for the stereo across the room, complete
with playlists and real-time volume control. On the other hand, if
you're downstairs with the stereo, you can't pause playback when the
phone rings, see the name of the current song, or skip a truly awful
song, without having to run upstairs to the computer. (This fine print,
of course, applies to most wireless sound systems.)
Trick No. 3: On the bottom of the AirPort Express you'll find, of all
things, a U.S.B. connector where you can plug in an inkjet printer, and
then every computer on the network can send printouts to it wirelessly.
It works like a charm, and offers further proof that Macs and PC's in
the same household can all be friends. (This feature requires Mac OS X,
Windows 2000 or Windows XP.)
Now, as the usual crowd of Apple-grouches is certain to point out, you
could buy each of the Express's features for less money. A regular
802.11g base station costs about $60 at www.buy.com. If your aim is to
extend your existing network's range, you can buy a range extender from
Linksys or D-Link for $80. The idea of streaming music from a PC
wirelessly to a stereo isn't new, either; Linksys and many others sell
wireless media adapters for another $80.
But Apple is the first to combine all of these functions, effortlessly
and elegantly, and the fact that the Express comes with supremely
simple setup software, looks great and fits in your pocket or laptop
carrying case is just Wi-Fi gravy.
Apple reports having 80,000 AirPort Express pre-orders to fill, and
stores are reporting at least a three-week wait to get one. Rack up a
point for Apple in its mission to dominate the digital music world
(and, not incidentally, to infiltrate the homes of Windows PC owners),
and rack up one for Andy Rooney and the rest of us in the never-ending
battle against household cable infestations.
E-mail: Pogue(a)nytimes.com
======================
...from:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/07/22/virtualpc7/?lsrc=mcrss
-0704
Microsoft: Virtual PC 7 coming this October
By Peter Cohen pcohen(a)maccentral.com
July 22, 2004 6:05 pm ET
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday indicated that Virtual PC for Mac Version 7
will likely be released in October, though the schedule is entirely
dependent on Microsoft's efforts to ship a new service pack for its
Windows XP operating system. This is the first clarification the
company has provided about Virtual PC 7's release schedule since
confirming in May that its release would be delayed. Virtual PC enables
Mac users to run various versions of Windows software applications and
operating systems by emulating the characteristics of an actual
hardware PC on their Macintosh. Previously sold by Connectix Corp.,
Virtual PC was acquired by Microsoft in February, 2003.
Mac users have been anticipating Virtual PC 7's release as it will be
the first version to support Power Mac G5 computers -- the emulation
software needed to be extensively retooled to work with the IBM PowerPC
970 microprocessors that power the G5. Announcing Virtual PC 7's delay
in May, Microsoft's Mac Business Unit (MacBU) indicated that the
software would be released "in the second half of 2004."
On Thursday, Microsoft offered further clarification in a statement
sent to news media. "We are waiting for the release of Windows XP SP2
in order to offer the most recent, most secure version of Windows XP to
our Virtual PC for Mac customers. Windows XP SP2 release has moved to
August, which has impacted our schedule. Based on this, we anticipate
that Virtual PC 7 with Win XP Professional and Home will release to
manufacturing in September and be on store shelves by early October,"
read the statement.
"Virtual PC 7 with Windows 2000 and the Standalone and Upgrade versions
will be available a few months after this debut," said the company.
"Should the Windows XP SP2 release date change the Virtual PC 7
availability date will change accordingly."
======================
...reported by MacCentral from:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/07/23/interbrand/?lsrc=mcrss
-0704
Interbrand: Apple brand value jumps 24 percent on iPod
By Peter Cohen pcohen(a)maccentral.com
July 23, 2004 9:25 am ET
Apple may be one of the most recognizable brands in the world, but
what's that brand's actual value? Market brand consultancy Interbrand
and business publication BusinessWeek have posted their fourth annual
listing of 100 Best Global Brands, listed by dollar value. Apple is the
biggest mover on this year's chart, up 24 percent in brand value. The
consultancy attributes Apple's showing to strong sales of the iPod and
high brand loyalty.
Apple ranked 43rd overall, up from 50 last year. Interbrand indicates
that Apple's brand value for 2004 totalled $6.851 billion, up from
$5.554 billion, or a 24 percent annual rise. Overall, Apple ranks in
the same vicinity as motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson, food company
Heinz, fashion company Louis Vuitton, financial institution UBS and
video game maker Nintendo. Coca-Cola, Microsoft Corp., IBM, GE, Intel,
Disney, McDonald's, Nokia, Toyota and Marlboro made up the top ten list
of best global brands.
Interbrand calculates the global brand value of these companies as the
net present value of the earnings that the brand is expected to
generate from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004. The 100 most valuable
global brands were determined by whether they produced significant
earnings in global markets and if there was sufficient marketing and
financial data publicly available to prepare a reasonable valuation.
=======================
...from:
http://www.nykris.com/template.php?id=64
pPod
21 July 2004 - Today NYKRIS launched pPod - the world’s first iPod
based interactive audio service.
pPod combines text, spoken word audio, and music to deliver a guide to
London’s public loos – truly a convenience for iPod users on the move!
Entertaining audio reviews and even accompanying sound tracks such as
Handel’s ‘Water Music’ and ‘Cosmic Winds’ will help users to locate
their nearest (and loveliest!) loos.
Instructions
To get pPod onto your iPod first download the NYKRIS_pPod.zip file
by clicking the 'download pPod' link at the bottom of this screen
Unzip file, then open 'Install.txt' for full installation
instructions
Please note: This service will only work on third-generation or
higher iPods
NYKRIS specialise in making engaging and easy to use interactive
services across the web, interactive kiosks and mobile devices.
Philip Read, NYKRIS' managing director said ‘We’re all aware that
opportunities to deliver interactive services are developing all the
time, with new types of PDA, mobile phone and MP3 player hitting the
market every month. NYKRIS’ work is all about creating the best type of
interactive experience no matter what sort of device we’re delivering
to. Working on a service like this is an excellent opportunity for us
to think about how interactive services might be developed for the iPod
– a device that has so far been used primarily for portable audio.’
‘We’re currently exploring other iPod based services that could be
developed, including an interactive audio guide to gigs and clubs –
something that we think could be particularly attractive to iPod fans.’
Philip Read, Managing Director
...from:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/07/19/duke/index.php?
redirect=1090243274000
Duke to give incoming freshmen iPods
By Peter Cohen pcohen(a)maccentral.com
July 19, 2004 11:20 am ET
On Monday Apple introduced its fourth generation iPod, a 20GB or 40GB
model featuring the same kind of "Click Wheel" interface as found on
the iPod mini. During an interview with MacCentral, Greg Joswiak, vice
president of Hardware Product Marketing at Apple, explained that Duke
University would be offering iPods to incoming freshmen. New details
about the program have come to light.
On August 19, 2004, Duke University will be distributing more than
1,600 20GB iPods to all incoming freshman during their orientation as
part of an effort to "creative uses of technology in education and
campus life," according to a statement. Another 150 are slated for
other academic and support needs, and all of them become the property
of their recipients. Computer ownership isn't mandatory for incoming
freshmen, so Duke will enable those students to hook up their iPods to
computers at labs around campus.
The iPods will be preloaded with content related to Duke campus life,
including freshman orientation information and the academic calendar.
What's more, a special Duke Web site modeled on Apple's own iTunes site
will offer course content for download, including language lessons,
music, recorded lectures and audio books. Duke students will also be
able to purchase music through the site.
This is a pilot program between Duke University and Apple, which will
be evaluated after a year. It's being paid for by Duke using strategic
planning funds that have been set aside for one-time purposes, rather
than with funds that might otherwise have been used for other
operational programs.
Duke Vice President for Information Technology Tracy Futhey said the
University is hoping that the iPod program will motivate students and
faculty alike to use iPods as educational tools. "We think the power
and flexibility of these devices offer some real advantages over other
media used to distribute educational content such as CD-ROMs and DVDs,"
said Futhey.
=================
...from:
http://www.macminute.com/2004/07/19/hpipod
HP iPod to be released in September
July 19, 2004 - 10:53 EDT HP and Apple announced today that the
HP-branded iPod will be available in September. "HP has chosen iPod and
iTunes as the best products to integrate in to our digital
entertainment strategy," said HP CEO Carly Fiorina. "We decided to wait
for this amazing new fourth generation iPod, as it will offer our
customers an even better experience. HP's version of the new iPod will
be available in September." In early January, HP said that it would
begin selling a branded version of Apple's iPod and bundling iTunes
with its desktops and notebooks as part of a new partnership with Apple
=================
Get iPod and iPod mini Update
iPod Updater 2004-07-15 supports all models of iPod and iPod mini,
including the new Click Wheel iPod. This update includes the latest
available software for each model of iPod or iPod mini.
Download and install the iPod Updater 2004-07-15 then connect your iPod
or iPod mini to yor computer. The iPod Updater will automatically
determine if an update is required.
New for Click Wheel iPods
▪ Shuffle songs with one click
▪ Create multiple On-The-Go playlists
▪ Delete songs from On-The-Go playlists
▪ Select reading playback speed for audiobooks
▪ Hear the clicker user interface sound through headphones
▪ Charge via USB 2.0 connection
▪ Enjoy improved playback performance
Updates for iPod with a Dock connector and iPod mini
▪ Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 or later and the iTunes Music Store
▪ Improved playback performance
▪ Support for the Apple Lossless Encoder, to enable compressed music
encoding at high quality
Updates for iPod without a Dock connector
▪ Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 or later and the iTunes Music Store
▪ Improved playback performance
http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/
...from:
http://www.mozilla.org/security/shell.html
What Mozilla users should know about the shell: protocol security issue
On July 7 a security vulnerability affecting browsers for the Windows
operating system was reported to mozilla.org by Keith McCanless, and
was subsequently posted to Full Disclosure, a public security mailing
list. On the same day, the Mozilla security team confirmed the report
of this security issue affecting the Mozilla Application Suite,
Firefox, and Thunderbird and discussed and developed the fix at
Bugzilla bug 250180. We have confirmed that the bug affects only users
of Microsoft's Windows operating system. The issue does not affect
Linux or Macintosh users.
On July 8th, the Mozilla team released a configuration change which
resolves this problem by explicitly disabling the use of the shell:
external protocol handler. The fix is available in two forms. The first
is a small download which will make this configuration adjustment for
the user. The second fix is to install the newest full release of each
of these products. Instructions on administering these changes can be
found below.
How to update
Mozilla, Firefox and Thunderbird users on Microsoft Windows operating
systems should update in one of the following ways.
• To install the security patch for Mozilla or Firefox, follow these
instructions:
1. Click Install Patch.
2. In the Software Installation window, click the "Install Now"
button.
3. Exit and restart your Mozilla or Firefox browser.
• To verify the fix in your Firefox or Mozilla application, be sure
to restart the browser and then follow these steps:
1. Type about:config into the address field and hit Enter.
2. In the Filter toolbar, type shell.
3. Look for the preference listing
network.protocol-handler.external.shell.
4. If you see the preference listed with the value of false then
your application has been patched.
• To install the security patch for Thunderbird, follow these
instructions:
1. Right-click the Patch and choose save link as.
2. Save the file, shellblock.xpi, to your Desktop.
3. In Thunderbird, go to the Tools menu and select the Extensions
item.
4. In the resulting Extensions window, click the "Install" button.
5. Use Windows file picker to select the shellblock.xpi file from
your Desktop and click OK to dismiss the file picker.
6. Click OK on the Software Installation window.
7. Exit and restart Thunderbird.
• To download and install new Mozilla releases releases, follow the
instructions below:
1. Download Mozilla 1.7.1 to your Desktop and double-click the
mozilla-win32-1.7.1-installer.exe icon.
2. Follow the instructions in the Mozilla Install wizard.
1. Download Firefox 0.9.2 and to your Desktop and double-click the
FirefoxSetup-0.9.2.exe icon.
2. Follow the instructions in the Firefox Install wizard.
1. Download Thunderbird 0.7.2 to your Desktop and double-click the
ThunderbirdSetup-0.7.2.exe icon.
2. Follow the instructions in the Thunderbird Install wizard.
We value our users' safety and security and will continue to make all
efforts to release secure products and respond quickly when security
vulnerabilities are identified in our software. Future versions of
Mozilla Firefox will include automatic update notifications, which will
make it even easier for users to be alerted to security fixes. The
Mozilla Security Team would like to thank Keith McCanless for the
original bug report and test case, and apologize for incorrectly
omitting mention of his report in the initial version of this document.
...from:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?
pid=remotedesktopclient
Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac
Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac allows you to connect from
your Macintosh computer to a Windows-based computer and work with
programs and files on that computer.
With Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac, you can:
• Access everything available for Microsoft® Windows® from your
Macintosh desktop.
• Copy and paste information between Macintosh and Windows programs.
• Print from Windows programs to the printers connected to your
Macintosh.
• Use Windows terminal servers to provide groups of Macintosh users
in the workplace with access to Windows-only programs.
To connect to a Windows-based computer, you need network access and
permissions to connect to the computer, and the computer must be
running Terminal Services or Remote Desktop Services. The following
Windows products support Remote Desktop connections:
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
• Windows NT® Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
Download at:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/
DOWNLOAD/MISC/RDC.xml&secid=80&ssid=9&flgnosysreq=True
Last Updated: May 05, 2004
...from:
http://www.colsa.com/cover_page/news_front/news_details/news_details.htm
COLSA Corporation of Huntsville, AL and Apple Computer Corporation of
Cupertino, CA jointly announce the acquisition of one of the largest
and most powerful computers in the world. COLSA has contracted with
Apple to deliver for COLSA’s government customer, the Aviation and
Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), the
components for a supercluster computer system with more than 3000
processors. The system will consist of 1566 dual-processor,
rack-mountable Xserve G5 units. These units employ Apple’s new 2.0 GHz
G5 CPU, one of the most powerful processors in the new generation of
64-bit computer chips. COLSA will build, install, test, and operate the
Apple Computer component supercluster computer system for its Army
customer.
The new system will be delivered to COLSA’s Hypersonic Missile
Technology facility located at its newly renovated Research &
Operations Center in Huntsville in June. The supercluster will be
employed to model the complex aero-thermodynamics of hypersonic flight,
including applications related to missile interceptors and scramjet
engine performance.
At its peak, the new supercluster has a performance capability of
greater than 25 TFlop/s, meaning that it is capable of calculating more
than 25 trillion floating point operations per second. A floating point
operation, or Flop, represents an arithmetical operation on a pair of
numbers and is a standard performance measure for scientific computing.
On the basis of this performance capability the system would rank as
the one of the most powerful computer on the planet as measured by the
TOP500 List (on the net at www.top500.org). On today’s TOP500 listing,
the new supercluster would be second only to Japan’s 40 Tflop/s, $350
million dollar Earth Simulator computer. At approximately $5 million
dollars for 25 Tflop/s, the system will set a new price-performance
standard for high-end scientific computing.
The Xserve G5 supercluster system is expected to be on-line and in
production for work by COLSA’s Research, Development and Engineering
Center (RDEC) customer of the Research, Development and Engineering
Command (RDECOM), located at Redstone Arsenal, AL by late Fall of this
year. This acquisition is the second phase of a multi year COLSA
program to create a center of excellence in Huntsville for
computational modeling and simulation. Through the continued efforts of
Senator Richard Shelby, (R.), AL, a long term supporter of bringing
this advanced capability to Huntsville, the new system will benefit
both the U.S. Army and NASA for the National Aerospace Initiative and
their research and development objectives.
=============================
...from:
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/ucla.html
UCLA Plasma Physics to create 256 Xserve G5 cluster
July 5, 2004 - By Andrew Feder, Contributing Editor
According to officials, UCLA's Plasma Physics Group recently purchased
some 256 Xserve G5s and is in the process of building a Virginia
Tech-style parallel super computing cluster. The cluster will employ
256 Dual G5 Xserves running Mac OS X Server to form a 512-processor
parallel supercomputing cluster. The cluster is being deployed for
Plasma Physicist Warren Mori by a team at UCLA Academic Technology
Services led by IT Infrastructure manager Bill Labate.
The cluster's estimated cost is close to $1 million, which was largely
funded by a grant to Mori from the National Science Foundation. Mori
proposed the cluster in October 2003, at which point many platforms
were evaluated. Xserves running Mac OS X Server proved to be the most
cost-effective, straightforward and appropriate choice for the
application, plasma physics research.
Officials with the "Dawson Project," as it is known, told Think Secret
that the cluster is currently under construction and that the Xserves
are arriving in groups. The team has been installing the Xserves for
the last few weeks, and expects the cluster to be up in running in
another couple of weeks as the remainder of the servers arrive.
The Dawson team has received some, if not all of its Xserves (pictured
below) despite heavy demand and shipping delays on the dual servers. As
Think Secret recently reported, Apple is on the verge of quelling the
harsh backlog on dual Xserve orders.
UCLA Physics is no newcomer to parallel computing with Macs. In 2002 a
group working with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory created a parallel
computing cluster using 33 dual-processor 1GHz Xserves to achieve over
217 Gigaflops. The cluster used Pooch and MacMPI X, a development of
AppleSeed, an ongoing project begun by physics researchers at UCLA in
1998.
Earlier this month, the COLSA Corporation announced the building of
"Mach 5," a Mac OS-based supercomputer cluster which is expected to be
one of the fastest in the world. The cluster is to be made up of 1566
dual-processor Xserve G5 1U rackmounted servers and is expected to
perform at over 25 Tflops/seconds. Mach 5 will be used by the US Army,
at a cost of $5.8 million, to model the complex aero-thermodynamics of
hypersonic flight. Mach 5 is expected to rank as one of the most
powerful supercomputers on the planet, according to the June 2004 Top
500 supercomputers list. Mach 5 will rank second to Japan's $350
million Earth Simulator.
Although the Plasma Physics Group's cluster pales in comparison to
Virginia Tech and COLSA's, it is another step in the right direction
for Apple as it vies for market share in the higher education arena. We
are beginning to see, albeit slowly, the introduction of Mac OS-based
servers into industry, government, and higher education as Apple makes
inroads in these deeply sought after markets.
...from:
http://www.umanitoba.ca/ist/gartner/intraweb/research/121200/121276/
121276.html
How to Stop the Destructive Overuse of E-Mail
8 June 2004
Nikos Drakos Maurene Caplan Grey
Excessive dependence on e-mail threatens to destroy valuable
organizational knowledge. Attention to human factors, usability and
flexibility is key to shifting e-mail traffic to appropriate systems.
E-mail has become end users' tool of choice for ad hoc communication
and carrying out more-complex coordination, collaboration and
management activities. Aside from its negative effect on productivity,
unchecked e-mail growth will endanger valuable organizational
knowledge. To attract users to more-natural, activity-specific
alternatives, enterprises must give special attention to human factors,
usability and flexibility concerns — especially where alternatives to
e-mail are already in place but underused. In the long term, excessive
reliance on e-mail is likely to be symptomatic of inflexible business
processes.
Analysis
The ease of use, ubiquity and flexibility of e-mail have made it the
most-popular tool for person-to-person communication. But even a casual
examination of a typical inbox reveals usage patterns that go far
beyond simple communication. E-mail is used for activity coordination
and management tasks (for example, scheduling meetings or tracking
progress), group discussions and decision making, finding people or
distributing information. Furthermore, these e-mail-based
collaboration, coordination and discovery patterns typically are
present across the spectrum of business processes.
[...]
Short-Term Remedies for Excessive Dependence on E-Mail
Many enterprises have already deployed tools that provide explicit
support for common communication, coordination and collaboration
patterns — for example, virtual meetings, shared spaces, discussion
forums and project management. Such support may be available through
specific collaboration products, or as part of a broader intranet or
portal deployment.
Short-term remedies for excessive e-mail dependence are underused.
There are many reasons why users rely too much on e-mail instead of
various, more-specific alternatives — but there are just as many
tactics and strategies to reverse this overreliance.
The first reason for users' aversion to alternative communication and
coordination tools is that they're often unaware of such tools and have
received inadequate end-user training. This is the place to start
remediation. Enterprises are increasingly developing e-mail
productivity training programs, which include technologies and usage
standards (see "Making E-Mail More Productive"). Any such program
should include specific guidelines about when to use e-mail as opposed
to alternatives such as instant messaging, Web conferencing or another
enterprise communication infrastructure. Training can be delivered via
various channels:
• Just-in-time training — for example, short videos that can be
included as part of the desktop software image
• Lists of top-10 e-mail usage standards, distributed to employees on
laminated cards
• E-mail productivity management training
Next, there are important human issues to consider, such as cultivating
trust, recognizing and satisfying privacy concerns, and encouraging
participation. The last item — encouraging participation — usually
requires an enterprise to rethink employee incentives and rewards to
overcome natural information-hoarding tendencies, as well as a natural
aversion to discipline. Without active leadership, encouragement and
appropriate responses to human issues, users will continue to prefer
the almost-private world of e-mail.
E-mail gives users control over who they trade information with and
how, as opposed to other forums or applications in which users lose
control of their contributions on submission. This is especially
problematic in cases where the rules of engagement (that is, who can
access a contribution or what they can do with it) are unclear or not
enforced. Trust is a belief system. Enterprises should support
communication mechanisms that take an individual's "trust levels" into
consideration (see "Choose the Right Communication Channel to Build
Trust").
A third reason for users' aversion to alternative communication and
coordination tools is the poor usability and inflexibility of alternate
e-mail tools.
[...]
E-mail traffic growth can be one of the obvious symptoms of inflexible
or inappropriate business processes that force employees to broadcast
or cascade messages to increasingly larger numbers of co-workers. Such
bursts of e-mail traffic can be a force for good, however, as long as
they're used to identify and rectify a broken process or exploit a new
opportunity. Unfortunately, too many enterprises treat only the
symptoms (in some extreme cases, they ban the use of e-mail) and fail
to recognize the fundamental causes of and appropriate responses to
problems.
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iPods pose security risk for enterprises, Gartner says
By Laura Rohde, IDG News Service
July 06, 2004 9:20 am ET
The iPod may be popular, but also poses such a major security risk for
businesses, that enterprises should seriously consider banning the iPod
and other portable storage devices, according to a study by research
firm Gartner Inc.
The devices, using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or FireWire (IEEE
1394), present risks to businesses on several fronts: from introducing
malicious code into a corporate network, to being used to steal
corporate data, the Stamford, Conn.-based research company said in its
report "How to Tackle the Threat From Portable Storage Devices,"
published Friday.
The report pointed to a variety of devices, including pocket-sized
portable FireWire hard drives, like those from LaCie Group SA or
Toshiba Corp., or USB hard drives or keychain drives, such as the
DiskOnKey from M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. Gartner also named
disk-based MP3 players, like Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod, as a security
risk as well as digital cameras with smart media cards, memory sticks
and compact flash.
Gartner advised companies to forbid employees and external contractors
with direct access to corporate networks from using these privately
owned devices with corporate PCs. Companies should also consider a
"desktop lockdown policy," disabling universal plug and play functions
after installing desired drivers, to permit the use of only authorized
devices.
The report conceded that the devices themselves can be quite useful
within corporations, making it "unpractical and counterproductive" to
introduce an outright ban.
Companies should take a multipronged approach to portable storage
devices, Gartner said, including using personal firewalls to limit what
can be done on USB ports. The use of products for selectively
controlling ports and encrypting data should also be considered, the
company said. Additionally, digital rights management technology should
also be used by enterprises that want to protect intellectual property,
Gartner said.