Categoria: HardwareSoftware

Categorie
HardwareSoftware

Big Tech is saving the US economy

Just a pity they are not paying tax

The US economy might be being propped up by the success of technology heavyweights.

Apparently the only reason the US is not seeing an earnings recession is because the likes of Google, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook etc are hitting the targets Wall Street want. 

Technology is the only sector showing improved third-quarter analyst expectations. They seem unaffected by the slower global growth and the strength of the US dollar, which has gutted everyone else.

Technology profits were the biggest contributor to S&P 500 earnings after financials, are now seen growing 3.1 percent in the third quarter, up from the 2.4 percent growth predicted a month ago.

It is curious really because while these companies prop up Wall Street expectations the effect on the rest of the world is pretty illusionary. They generate a lot of money, but a big chunk of it is sat in cash piles off-shore to avoid paying tax. So while the results are good for Wall Street balances they are not changing the life of the American economy at all.

Autore: Fudzilla.com – Home

Categorie
HardwareSoftware

Firefox, un processo diverso per ogni scheda aperta

Firefox 48, la più recente versione del browser di Mozilla, è molto più di un semplice aggiornamento. Su desktop, infatti, è stato finalmente portato al debutto il progetto Electrolysis ossia l’architettura multi-processo sulla quale Mozilla stava lavorando da anni e che per lungo tempo, purtroppo, era stata accantonata.

Grazie a Electrolysis, “le fondamenta” di Firefox vengono separate dal contenuto di ogni singola scheda aperta. Se una pagina web dovesse cominciare a consumare troppe risorse o provocasse un malfunzionamento del browser, il problema sarà limitato alla singola scheda e non avrà alcuna conseguenza sull’intera applicazione.

Firefox, un processo diverso per ogni scheda aperta

Mozilla è sicura che la novità consentirà di risolvere quei problemi di performance e stabilità che per lungo tempo hanno fiaccato il browser opensource.

L’attivazione della nuova funzionalità, tuttavia, sta avvenendo a poco a poco. L’obiettivo è, evidentemente, quello di controllare che Electrolysis funzioni come stabilito e che gli utenti non lamentino “alcun problema della prima ora”.

Per verificare se Firefox sta già usando l’architettura multi-processo per la gestione delle varie schede aperte, è sufficiente digitare about:support nella barra degli indirizzi. Accanto alla voce Finestre multiprocesso si dovrà leggere 1/1 (Attivato).
In caso contrario, si potrà digitare about:config, fare clic su Farò attenzione, prometto, cercare browser.tabs.remote.autostart e farvi doppio clic per modificare il valore dell’attributo in true.

Nel caso in cui si fossero installate delle estensioni, bisognerà creare un nuovo parametro (tasto destro, Nuovo, Booleano), assegnargli il nome browser.tabs.remote.force-enable e il valore true.

Dopo aver riavviato il browser, digitando nuovamente about:config, si leggerà 1/1 (Attivato dall’utente) in corrispondenza di Finestre multiprocesso.

Firefox 48 propone poi una barra degli indirizzi ulteriormente migliorata: vengono adesso proposti suggerimenti pertinenti ai termini inseriti dall’utente.

Autore: IlSoftware.it

Categorie
HardwareSoftware

car2go a Milano anche con smart forfour: una prima mondiale

Il country manager di car2go l’aveva già anticipato quando lo avevamo incontrato poco più di un mese fa: la flotta di auto in car sharing per la città di Milano andrà ad arricchirsi anche con veicoli più grandi. La flotta di Milano sarà rafforzata, infatti, dall’arrivo di 50 veicoli smart forfour a metà settembre. Si tratta di una prima mondiale e vede protagonista il capoluogo lombardo, dove il car sharing sta avendo un successo decisamente spiccato.

Smart forfour è la sorella più grande (a quattro posti come dice il nome) della più famosa e piccola fortwo. Lunga circa 350 cm e larga 167 cm mantiene un DNA da citycar, ma permetterà anche spostamenti in famiglia oppure con carichi ingombranti, due delle richieste più forti del pubblico.

La novità porterà una revisione del processo di noleggio delle auto: l’intero processo di noleggio delle smart forfour funzionerà attraverso l’app di car2go. Per iniziare il noleggio sarà, quindi, necessario scaricare l’app car2go e non sarà più possibile aprire il veicolo con la tessera car2go. Lo smartphone sarà la tecnologia chiave per accedere al servizio.

Autore: Le news di Hardware Upgrade

Categorie
HardwareSoftware

Western Digital Adds Helium-Filled WD Gold 10 TB HDD to Lineup

Western Digital has this week introduced its new 10TB datacenter-class helium-filled WD Gold hard drive. This drive, according to WD, boasts higher performance compared to its predecessor combined with lower power consumption. The new WD Gold 10 TB will be Western Digital’s flagship HDD for data-centers and will compete against hard drives of similar capacity from Seagate and HGST.

The WD Gold 10 TB drive (WD101KRYZ) shares the hermetically-sealed 3.5” platform with the WD Gold 8 TB, which was introduced earlier this year. The new drive is based on multiple PMR (perpendicular magnetic recording) platters, features a 7200 RPM spindle speed, a double-size 256 MB DRAM cache and is based on the SATA 6 Gbps interface (right now, WD does not offer Gold HDDs with SAS interface). Just like the other WD Gold HDDs, the new 10 TB model was designed for a variety of server applications, including small to medium-scale machines, as well as rack-mount data center servers and storage enclosures. The drive is promoted as being optimized for RAID environments and supports enhanced RAFF technology that protects against vibration (by monitoring linear and rotational vibration in real time) as well as head positioning system with two actuators, which increases positional accuracy. In addition, the WD Gold 10 TB also supports time-limited error recovery technology (TLER), which prevents drive fallout caused by extended HDD error recovery processes.

Comparison of Western Digital’s WD Gold HDDs
  WD101KRYZ WD8002FRYZ WD6002FRYZ WD4002FRYZ
Capacity 10 TB 8 TB 6 TB 4 TB
RPM 7200 RPM
Interface SATA 6 Gbps
DRAM Cache 256 MB 128 MB
NAND Cache Unknown No Yes Unknown
Helium-Filling Yes No
Data Transfer Rate (host to/from drive) 249 MB/s 205 MB/s 226 MB/s 201 MB/s
MTBF 2.5 million
Rated Workload (Drive Writes Per Day) 0.151 0.189 0.251 0.377
Equivalent of 550 TB of Writes per Year
Acoustics (Seek) – 36 dBA
Power Consumption Sequential read 7.1 W 7.2 W 9.3 W 9 W
Sequential write 6.7 W 7 W 8.9 W 8.7 W
Random read/write 6.8 W 7.4 W 9.1 W 8.8 W
Idle 5 W 5.1 W 7.1 W 7 W
Warranty 5 Years
Price $ 847.99 $ 595.99 $ 406.99 $ 270.99
$ 0.084 per GB $ 0.074 per GB $ 0.067 per GB $ 0.067 per GB
11.79 GB per $ 13.42 GB per $ 14.74GB per $ 14.76 GB per $

The WD Gold 8 TB model released earlier this year already featured a number of performance and energy efficiency optimizations and the WD Gold 10 TB hard drive is designed to improve even further. The 10 TB drive offers a 249 MB/s sustained sequential transfer rate (up from 205 MB/s in the case of the 8 TB model). Moreover, maximum power consumption of the WD Gold 10 TB is 7.1 W (down from 7.4 W for the 8 TB model, and significantly less than 8.6 W consumed by HGST’s Ultrastar He10). Western Digital does not reveal many details about how it managed to improve performance and energy efficiency, but it is logical to assume that increased areal density, an enlarged cache, and further tweaks of electronics are responsible. As for reliability, just like other WD Gold series HDDs, the new one is rated for 2.5 million hours MTBF and comes with a 550TB of writes per year rated workload, which at the rated write speed gives 100 minutes of full sequential writes per day.

Western Digital’s Gold 10 TB hard drives are currently available at select U.S. distributors, resellers and will shortly be sold in the company’s online store. The HDD costs $ 847.99 when bought from CDW.

Gallery: Western Digital Adds Helium-Filled WD Gold 10 TB HDD to Lineup

Autore: AnandTech

Categorie
HardwareSoftware

EU net neutrality plans going backwards

Ericsson worried about too many controls

Ericsson head of European affairs, Peter Olson has warned that new net neutrality guidelines drawn up by EU regulatory body Berec are taking the mobile industry “one step backwards”.

Olson said he liked the original net neutrality regulation, included in last year’s telecoms reform package, but thinks Berec’s interpretation of the package for national regulators is not heading in the right direction.

“I am worried that the implementation guidelines from Berec are actually going one step backwards, it is bringing back some of the language we don’t want to have, which makes it very prescriptive,” said Olson, whose comments were made prior to last week’s deadline.

The GSMA also said that it is deeply concerned about the guidelines which it thinks are overly-prescriptive in their reliance on ex-ante prohibitions, as opposed to the ex-post approach set forth in the regulation.

IT said that the way the draft is worked paves the way to litigation and heads down the back of the garden to the potting shed of legal uncertainty.

Both Olson and the GSMA claim that Berec attempts to introduce a definition on specialised services, which could actually slow down their development.

But Berec appears to be between lobby groups trying to reach some kind of consensus. For example, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) wants Berec to apply strong and clear net neutrality rules.

EBU’s head of European Affairs, Nicola Frank said the implementation of net neutrality rules must not result in the creation of an internet ‘slow lane’ alongside internet ‘toll roads’ which are prohibitively expensive or restricted on the basis of the network’s strategic interests.

Autore: Fudzilla.com – Home