Apple is shrinking its Mac computer and bringing out a tablet that is small enough to be carried in a handbag but big enough for comfortable web surfing, newspaper reading and watching movies. The computer will revolutionize laptops as we know them because it is one flat touch-screen device without a keyboard.
Speculations have reached a feverish pitch that by 2010, the revolutionary touch-screen gadget will be in a store near you. Blogs are alive with rumours that the tablet’s launch will be announced in September by Steve Jobs, Apple founder and CEO, and launched in time for the Christmas market, reports the Telegraph.
The product is believed to have been in development for the past six years, with Jobs personally involved over the last two. If the speculation is true, it could be the next technological breakthrough for Apple, which has sold more than 200 million iPods since its launch in 2001. The tablet will be billed as the solution for people who work a lot on the move, but don’t want to be burdened with a laptop.
Pundits are predicting that our lives will never be the same. “People expect it to be the ultimate Apple surprise. This thing will knock people’s socks off,”Leander Kahney, a blogger and author of The Cult of Mac, told the Observer.
“Apple will totally rejig the computing experience. You won’t manipulate a keyboard and mouse any more but rather use an intuitive touch-screen. It will very tactile. It will be a whole new paradigm.”
Gene Munster, a technology research analyst, estimated that the tablet, with an onscreen keyboard like the iPhone, would cost around $600, putting it between the high-end iPod Touch at $399 and the Mac-Book, which starts at $999.
Agencies
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
No pay for Honeywell employees for 10 days
Honeywell has announced that its employees will have to take a mandatory 10 days off in the month of December-January without pay. Krishna Mikkilineni, President of Honeywell Technology Solutions, conveyed the decision at a public gathering in Bangalore recently, reports a media.
On this matter, a Honeywell Spokesperson said, "Even as Honeywell continues to grow its businesses in India, our employees have agreed to participate in a voluntary and temporary reduced work schedule, in consonance with their colleagues elsewhere."
Honeywell, which makes products like aviation electronics, car turbochargers and temperature control systems for buildings, has been hit badly by the global recession in all of the key businesses it supports - aviation, auto and property. In the second quarter ended June 30, its profit plunged 38 percent and revenue dropped 22 percent.
In the quarterly report, the company said that it did not expect any recovery this year from the recession, as customers were expected to keep holding off on the purchase of Honeywell parts. Sales in the aerospace unit, which makes radar systems and other aviation equipment, dropped 17 percent, to $2.7 billion. The company said that many of its airline customers were choosing to use parts from their own idled planes for repairs rather than buying new parts from the company. One of the few growth areas is military sales, where Honeywell expects a three percent growth in sales. David M. Cote, Chief Executive, Honeywell said, "We are executing very well. Unfortunately, it is a very tough economic environment."
The company has taken a number of cost cutting measures. At least for some employees in the U.S., Friday is now a half-day without pay. In India, where it has 10,000 employees, benefits like cafeteria subsidies and vacation rewards at the end of five years of service with the company have been withdrawn.
SiliconIndia
On this matter, a Honeywell Spokesperson said, "Even as Honeywell continues to grow its businesses in India, our employees have agreed to participate in a voluntary and temporary reduced work schedule, in consonance with their colleagues elsewhere."
Honeywell, which makes products like aviation electronics, car turbochargers and temperature control systems for buildings, has been hit badly by the global recession in all of the key businesses it supports - aviation, auto and property. In the second quarter ended June 30, its profit plunged 38 percent and revenue dropped 22 percent.
In the quarterly report, the company said that it did not expect any recovery this year from the recession, as customers were expected to keep holding off on the purchase of Honeywell parts. Sales in the aerospace unit, which makes radar systems and other aviation equipment, dropped 17 percent, to $2.7 billion. The company said that many of its airline customers were choosing to use parts from their own idled planes for repairs rather than buying new parts from the company. One of the few growth areas is military sales, where Honeywell expects a three percent growth in sales. David M. Cote, Chief Executive, Honeywell said, "We are executing very well. Unfortunately, it is a very tough economic environment."
The company has taken a number of cost cutting measures. At least for some employees in the U.S., Friday is now a half-day without pay. In India, where it has 10,000 employees, benefits like cafeteria subsidies and vacation rewards at the end of five years of service with the company have been withdrawn.
SiliconIndia
Will Accenture layoff 336 executives in 2009?
Accenture, a business consulting and outsourcing company is likely to lay off around 336 senior-level managers as part of a broad-based restructuring effort. William Green, CEO, Accenture said, "We are taking this step to position Accenture better for both short-term and long-term economic improvement growth and profitability."
The company has about 177,000 employees globally, of which 4,800 are senior-executive employees. The lay off is likely to be completed by the end of November 2009. The company said that the reductions would cost about $247 million in the fourth quarter, which ends on August 31. Out of $247 million, about $128 million of the charge is for severance and related costs of workforce reductions at the senior executive level and $119 million linked to reduction of excess office space. The company said that the space reductions would be completed by the end of August, while the job cuts are expected to be completed in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
According to a projection by Goldman Sachs Group, global technology spending will decline by eight percent this year. Accenture said that it continued to expect net revenues for the fourth quarter in the range of $5 billion to $5.2 billion with operating margins between 13.4 percent and 13.7 percent. But the company also added that the restructuring charges will likely reduce its earnings per share for both the fourth quarter and the full year by 24 cents.
The company had generated net revenue of $23.39 billion for the fiscal ended August 31, 2008. In the last one year, the stock of Accenture has climbed by 11 percent on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Agencies
The company has about 177,000 employees globally, of which 4,800 are senior-executive employees. The lay off is likely to be completed by the end of November 2009. The company said that the reductions would cost about $247 million in the fourth quarter, which ends on August 31. Out of $247 million, about $128 million of the charge is for severance and related costs of workforce reductions at the senior executive level and $119 million linked to reduction of excess office space. The company said that the space reductions would be completed by the end of August, while the job cuts are expected to be completed in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
According to a projection by Goldman Sachs Group, global technology spending will decline by eight percent this year. Accenture said that it continued to expect net revenues for the fourth quarter in the range of $5 billion to $5.2 billion with operating margins between 13.4 percent and 13.7 percent. But the company also added that the restructuring charges will likely reduce its earnings per share for both the fourth quarter and the full year by 24 cents.
The company had generated net revenue of $23.39 billion for the fiscal ended August 31, 2008. In the last one year, the stock of Accenture has climbed by 11 percent on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Agencies
Sunday, August 23, 2009
LED set to change the display systems
You may soon get to enjoy facilities like flexible high-resolution home theatre displays, wearable health monitors, and biomedical imaging devices because scientists are working on a novel process for creating new classes of lighting and display systems.
John Rogers, the Flory-Founder Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, has revealed that the new process is all about creating and assembling ultra-thin, ultra-small inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) into large arrays that offer new classes of lighting and display systems with interesting properties, such as see-through construction and mechanical flexibility.
He said that such properties would be impossible to achieve with existing technologies. "Our goal is to marry some of the advantages of inorganic LED technology with the scalability, ease of processing and resolution of organic LEDs," said Rogers.
Compared to their organic counterparts, inorganic LEDs are brighter, more robust and longer-lived. Organic LEDs, however, are attractive because they can be formed on flexible substrates, in dense, interconnected arrays.
Rogers and his colleagues-including collaborators from Northwestern University, the Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore, and Tsinghua University in Beijing-say that the new technology combines features of both.
"By printing large arrays of ultra-thin, ultra-small inorganic LEDs and interconnecting them using thin-film processing, we can create general lighting and high-resolution display systems that otherwise could not be built with the conventional ways that inorganic LEDs are made, manipulated and assembled," Rogers said.
To overcome requirements on device size and thickness associated with conventional wafer dicing, packaging and wire bonding methods, the researchers have developed epitaxial growth techniques for creating LEDs with sizes up to 100 times smaller than usual.
They have also developed printing processes for assembling these devices into arrays on stiff, flexible, and stretchable substrates.
To create an array, a rubber stamp contacts the wafer surface at selected points, lifts off the LEDs at those points, and transfers them to the
desired substrate.
"The stamping process provides a much faster alternative to the standard robotic 'pick and place' process that manipulates inorganic LEDs one at a time. The new approach can lift large numbers of small, thin LEDs from the wafer in one step, and then print them onto a substrate in another step," Rogers said.
The researcher says that shifting position and repeating the stamping process can transfer LEDs to other locations on the same substrate, and, in this fashion, large light panels and displays can be crafted from small LEDs made in dense arrays on a single, comparatively small wafer.
Given that the LEDs can be placed far apart and still provide sufficient light output, Rogers says that the panels and displays can be nearly transparent. He even envisions the creation of flexible and even stretchable sheets of printed LEDs, which can have potential use in the health-care industry.
"Wrapping a stretchable sheet of tiny LEDs around the human body offers interesting opportunities in biomedicine and biotechnology, including applications in health monitoring, diagnostics and imaging," Rogers said.
A research article describing the researchers' work has been published in the journal Science.
Agencies
John Rogers, the Flory-Founder Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, has revealed that the new process is all about creating and assembling ultra-thin, ultra-small inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) into large arrays that offer new classes of lighting and display systems with interesting properties, such as see-through construction and mechanical flexibility.
He said that such properties would be impossible to achieve with existing technologies. "Our goal is to marry some of the advantages of inorganic LED technology with the scalability, ease of processing and resolution of organic LEDs," said Rogers.
Compared to their organic counterparts, inorganic LEDs are brighter, more robust and longer-lived. Organic LEDs, however, are attractive because they can be formed on flexible substrates, in dense, interconnected arrays.
Rogers and his colleagues-including collaborators from Northwestern University, the Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore, and Tsinghua University in Beijing-say that the new technology combines features of both.
"By printing large arrays of ultra-thin, ultra-small inorganic LEDs and interconnecting them using thin-film processing, we can create general lighting and high-resolution display systems that otherwise could not be built with the conventional ways that inorganic LEDs are made, manipulated and assembled," Rogers said.
To overcome requirements on device size and thickness associated with conventional wafer dicing, packaging and wire bonding methods, the researchers have developed epitaxial growth techniques for creating LEDs with sizes up to 100 times smaller than usual.
They have also developed printing processes for assembling these devices into arrays on stiff, flexible, and stretchable substrates.
To create an array, a rubber stamp contacts the wafer surface at selected points, lifts off the LEDs at those points, and transfers them to the
desired substrate.
"The stamping process provides a much faster alternative to the standard robotic 'pick and place' process that manipulates inorganic LEDs one at a time. The new approach can lift large numbers of small, thin LEDs from the wafer in one step, and then print them onto a substrate in another step," Rogers said.
The researcher says that shifting position and repeating the stamping process can transfer LEDs to other locations on the same substrate, and, in this fashion, large light panels and displays can be crafted from small LEDs made in dense arrays on a single, comparatively small wafer.
Given that the LEDs can be placed far apart and still provide sufficient light output, Rogers says that the panels and displays can be nearly transparent. He even envisions the creation of flexible and even stretchable sheets of printed LEDs, which can have potential use in the health-care industry.
"Wrapping a stretchable sheet of tiny LEDs around the human body offers interesting opportunities in biomedicine and biotechnology, including applications in health monitoring, diagnostics and imaging," Rogers said.
A research article describing the researchers' work has been published in the journal Science.
Agencies
$1 salary for Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will receive a base salary of $1 for fiscal 2010, according to a regulatory document filed Friday.
That's a decrease of $999,999 from last year. But Ellison won't exactly be starving. He is the world's fourth wealthiest person, according to Forbes.
And according to Oracle's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ellison's base pay of $1 million in fiscal 2009 only accounted for 1.2 percent of his total compensation anyway. Ninety-seven percent was in the form of stock.
Still, Ellison's new $1 base pay puts him on the salary pedestal with the likes of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
"The compensation committee recognizes that Mr. Ellison has a significant equity interest in Oracle, but believes he should still receive annual compensation because Mr. Ellison plays an active and vital role in our operations, strategy and growth. Nevertheless, during fiscal 2010, Mr. Ellison agreed to decrease his annual salary to $1," Oracle said in the filing.
Oracle's fiscal 2010 began June 1.
Ellison, who is 64, founded Oracle in 1977. According to the SEC filing, he owns 1.18 billion shares of Oracle, or 23.4 percent of the company's total stock.
Agencies
That's a decrease of $999,999 from last year. But Ellison won't exactly be starving. He is the world's fourth wealthiest person, according to Forbes.
And according to Oracle's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ellison's base pay of $1 million in fiscal 2009 only accounted for 1.2 percent of his total compensation anyway. Ninety-seven percent was in the form of stock.
Still, Ellison's new $1 base pay puts him on the salary pedestal with the likes of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
"The compensation committee recognizes that Mr. Ellison has a significant equity interest in Oracle, but believes he should still receive annual compensation because Mr. Ellison plays an active and vital role in our operations, strategy and growth. Nevertheless, during fiscal 2010, Mr. Ellison agreed to decrease his annual salary to $1," Oracle said in the filing.
Oracle's fiscal 2010 began June 1.
Ellison, who is 64, founded Oracle in 1977. According to the SEC filing, he owns 1.18 billion shares of Oracle, or 23.4 percent of the company's total stock.
Agencies
Is Intel set to acquire two software firms?
Intel has quietly snapped up two software companies in the last 30 days with aim of boosting development of applications that take better advantage of chips with more than one processing core.
In a company blog, the chipmaker indicated the acquisition of Cilk at the end of last month and then Rapidmind earlier this week. Both are small companies that employ under than 50 people. The acquisitions follow the purchase of software company Wind River Systems in June.
"Over the last few years, there has been a gradual emergence of multicore microprocessors. It's put parallelism in more and more machines," James Reinders, chief evangelist and director of marketing and sales at Intel, said in a phone interview Friday, explaining why Intel bought the two firms.
"If you look at traditional applications, ones that we use everyday, it's fair to say that most are not exploiting parallelism--at least not to the full extent," Reinders said.
A multicore processor is defined as any chip with more than one processing core. Today, almost all Intel chips that go into laptops, desktops, and servers have at least two cores. The challenge for Intel is to make sure that applications take advantage of all the cores--so-called parallelism. This has historically presented a challenge for software programmers.
"The operating system does stuff for applications in parallel," Reinders said, referring to operating systems such as Windows. "But considering that we can produce more and more cores every year, to truly get the benefit of what the future holds, applications need to change. And most applications haven't changed," he said.
The goal is to facilitate the development of parallel programming. "How do we help software developers tackle parallel programming? Both companies had teams of experts that had been focused on this problem. So, they're kindred spirits," he said.
Writing about Cilk in a blog, Reinders said Intel sees "great opportunities for Cilk to integrate with our parallel tools...including Intel Parallel Studio." The firm's technology enables "mainstream programmers to develop multithreaded (or parallel) applications...Providing a smooth path to multicore for legacy (older) applications that otherwise cannot easily leverage the performance capabilities of multicore processors," according to Cilk's Web site. Original Cilk research was done at MIT.
Rapidmind was founded five years ago as Serious Hack and grew out of work at the University of Waterloo. It boasts advanced technology for helping software developers with data parallel programming for multicore processors and accelerators.
The cost of the two acquisitions was not disclosed.
CNET.com
In a company blog, the chipmaker indicated the acquisition of Cilk at the end of last month and then Rapidmind earlier this week. Both are small companies that employ under than 50 people. The acquisitions follow the purchase of software company Wind River Systems in June.
"Over the last few years, there has been a gradual emergence of multicore microprocessors. It's put parallelism in more and more machines," James Reinders, chief evangelist and director of marketing and sales at Intel, said in a phone interview Friday, explaining why Intel bought the two firms.
"If you look at traditional applications, ones that we use everyday, it's fair to say that most are not exploiting parallelism--at least not to the full extent," Reinders said.
A multicore processor is defined as any chip with more than one processing core. Today, almost all Intel chips that go into laptops, desktops, and servers have at least two cores. The challenge for Intel is to make sure that applications take advantage of all the cores--so-called parallelism. This has historically presented a challenge for software programmers.
"The operating system does stuff for applications in parallel," Reinders said, referring to operating systems such as Windows. "But considering that we can produce more and more cores every year, to truly get the benefit of what the future holds, applications need to change. And most applications haven't changed," he said.
The goal is to facilitate the development of parallel programming. "How do we help software developers tackle parallel programming? Both companies had teams of experts that had been focused on this problem. So, they're kindred spirits," he said.
Writing about Cilk in a blog, Reinders said Intel sees "great opportunities for Cilk to integrate with our parallel tools...including Intel Parallel Studio." The firm's technology enables "mainstream programmers to develop multithreaded (or parallel) applications...Providing a smooth path to multicore for legacy (older) applications that otherwise cannot easily leverage the performance capabilities of multicore processors," according to Cilk's Web site. Original Cilk research was done at MIT.
Rapidmind was founded five years ago as Serious Hack and grew out of work at the University of Waterloo. It boasts advanced technology for helping software developers with data parallel programming for multicore processors and accelerators.
The cost of the two acquisitions was not disclosed.
CNET.com
Larsen and Toubro to set up commercial banks
The financial services arm of construction and engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is planning to set up a commercial bank as part of its efforts to have a presence in the entire gamut of financial services in the country.
L&T Finance, which already holds 4.69 percent in City Union Bank, said here Thursday that there were related advantages of starting a bank especially to provide services to corporate partners.
Apart from L&T Finance, the group has floated another non-banking finance company (NBFC), L&T Infrastructure Finance, as well as incorporating a general insurance company, L&T General Insurance.
"Our long-term vision is to be present in the entire gamut of financial services including asset management, general and life insurance and bank. Our vision is to be a wholesome financial services player but no time frame has been fixed to achieve that," said Larsen and Toubro's executive vice president for financial services N. Sivaraman.
Various options will be looked at -- going alone, partnering another company or acquisition -- before a decision is taken, Sivaraman told reporters.
However, Larsen and Toubro's first expansion move in the financial services field will be in the general insurance sector through its investment arm L&T Capital Holdings.
"We don't find a need for a foreign partner for funds. For assessment of risks, it is actually based on local experience. A foreign partner brings in expertise in pricing of the risk. We can do that on our own," Sivaraman said.
According to him, though there are talks about the Indian general insurance sector moving towards consolidation, buying out the stakes of existing promoters did not enthuse Larsen and Toubro.
"The foreign promoters of Indian general insurance companies are here for the long run. Further, an existing company may come with a baggage which we do not want."
The non-life insurance company is expected to start business in 2010.
About floating a bank, Sivaraman said: "There are relative advantages of having an NBFC and a bank."
"There are two agendas for holding a stake in a bank. The first one is to have a share in the business. The second is the availability of banking services to our trade partners in opening letters of credit and other banking products."
The lending portfolio of Larsen and Toubro's two NBFCs at the end of last fiscal stood at around Rs.7,500 crore, which is expected to grow this year.
L&T Finance will also raise Rs.1,000 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures for business deployment.
Agencies
L&T Finance, which already holds 4.69 percent in City Union Bank, said here Thursday that there were related advantages of starting a bank especially to provide services to corporate partners.
Apart from L&T Finance, the group has floated another non-banking finance company (NBFC), L&T Infrastructure Finance, as well as incorporating a general insurance company, L&T General Insurance.
"Our long-term vision is to be present in the entire gamut of financial services including asset management, general and life insurance and bank. Our vision is to be a wholesome financial services player but no time frame has been fixed to achieve that," said Larsen and Toubro's executive vice president for financial services N. Sivaraman.
Various options will be looked at -- going alone, partnering another company or acquisition -- before a decision is taken, Sivaraman told reporters.
However, Larsen and Toubro's first expansion move in the financial services field will be in the general insurance sector through its investment arm L&T Capital Holdings.
"We don't find a need for a foreign partner for funds. For assessment of risks, it is actually based on local experience. A foreign partner brings in expertise in pricing of the risk. We can do that on our own," Sivaraman said.
According to him, though there are talks about the Indian general insurance sector moving towards consolidation, buying out the stakes of existing promoters did not enthuse Larsen and Toubro.
"The foreign promoters of Indian general insurance companies are here for the long run. Further, an existing company may come with a baggage which we do not want."
The non-life insurance company is expected to start business in 2010.
About floating a bank, Sivaraman said: "There are relative advantages of having an NBFC and a bank."
"There are two agendas for holding a stake in a bank. The first one is to have a share in the business. The second is the availability of banking services to our trade partners in opening letters of credit and other banking products."
The lending portfolio of Larsen and Toubro's two NBFCs at the end of last fiscal stood at around Rs.7,500 crore, which is expected to grow this year.
L&T Finance will also raise Rs.1,000 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures for business deployment.
Agencies
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)