Virtualization, Cloud Computing and Mobile: 09/16/10

2010년 9월 16일 목요일

Sensor Networks Top Social Networks for Big Data

With the firehose of information enabled by Facebook, Twitter, location-based services, and other forms of social media, the era of Big Data is upon us. However, outside of the consumer world, the stakes are much higher: While advertisers and consumers are focused on monetizing sites that have hundreds of millions of users for a few pennies each, the ubiquity of connectivity and the growth of sensors has opened up a larger storehouse of information that will not only help businesses profit, but will also boost safety and enable environmental benefits.

For example, a Boeing jet generates 10 terabytes of information per engine every 30 minutes of flight, according to Stephen Brobst, the CTO of Teradata. So for a single six-hour, cross-country flight from New York to Los Angeles on a twin-engine Boeing 737 — the plane used by many carriers on this route — the total amount of data generated would be a massive 240 terabytes of data. There are about 28,537 commercial flights in the sky in the United States on any given day. Using only commercial flights, a day’s worth of sensor data quickly climbs into the petabyte scale — for a single day. Multiply that by weeks, months and years, and the scale of sensor data gets massive.

Encoding: Cloud & Mobile Make a Perfect Match for Video

http://gigaom.com/2010/09/09/encoding-cloud-mobile-make-a-perfect-match-for-video/

Cloud and mobile computing represent two of the biggest technology trends today, with each pushing processing closer to the edge. Within the traditional data center infrastructure, we see the gravitational pull of public and private clouds. With desktop and laptop computing, we are gravitating to superphones in the palms of our hands. This shift to data stored in the cloud and accessed on handsets opens the gates to new market opportunities, including one we profiled in the past on hosted video encoding. In short, making video that is the optimal size for streaming and fits the display for all kinds of devices is tricky, so hosting that capability in the cloud is a no-brainer for many market segments.

Today, Denver-based Encoding.com announced a suite of “Mobile Made Easy” video presets which make the propagation of video content across mobile devices a simple click-and-go process for publishers, further solidifying the matchmaking of cloud and mobile. The company has consolidated the necessary settings for publishers to deliver video to a range of mobile devices including iPhone/iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and popular Samsung and Nokia phones. Where it used to take time to work through device specifications, supported audio and video formats, bit rates and screen sizes, customers can now click by device platform, bypassing the low-level video settings.

HP Buys ArcSight to Bring Security to the Cloud

Hewlett-Packard has agreed to buy security software maker ArcSight for $1.5 billion in cash, as the computer giant tries to expand the range of services it offers corporate clients. Cupertino, Calif.-based ArcSight’s products are used by corporations and government agencies to detect suspicious activity on their networks. The purchase price represents a 24-percent premium to the software company’s trading price before the offer was made.

Analysts said the acquisition of ArcSight is part of HP’s move to offer more value-added services to corporations who are trusting an increasing amount of data to the cloud, whether it’s a cloud the company itself operates or one run by a number of SaaS providers. As VMWare CEO Paul Maritz said recently, this move places an increasing strain on security systems as data flows out of the corporate network and onto a variety of third-party platforms and mobile devices. In HP’s news release about the deal, HP VP Bill Veghte said “the perimeter of today’s enterprise is porous.”

What Happens to Nokia When Cheap Android Phones Arrive?

Nokia today introduced the new C3 Touch and Type handset, a relatively inexpensive S40 handset offering a touchscreen display and connectivity features often relegated to smartphones. Alcatel last week announced an even cheaper touchscreen handset with similar features, but the device runs the Google Android 2.1 operating system. With Symbian^3 and MeeGo, Nokia is clearly shunning the idea of going with Android for its future phones, but what happens when competing Android devices challenge Nokia’s dominance of the feature phone market?

It’s easy to say that comparing a top-notch hardware maker like Nokia to a budget brand like Alcatel isn’t comparing apples to apples. From the standpoint of overall quality and expertise of design, Nokia wins hands down, and the new C3 has a premium quality to it. However, I wonder if it will matter when inexpensive, “good enough” hardware running the Android operating system comes to market, just as Alcatel’s OT-980 will next month for €99 ($129 U.S.) on a pay as you go contract. By comparison, the impressive C3 will cost €145 in the fourth quarter of 2010. Both feature 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, memory card slots and touch displays.

The point here isn’t to say that the OT-980 will outsell the new C3; it certainly won’t, as Nokia’s global presence is sure to get the C3 in the hands of people all around the world. But the OT-980 is just one infantry soldier in the Android army onslaught that’s mustering for battle.

The number of Android devices sold by 2014 is expected to rival that of Nokia’s Symbian platform according to Gartner, and while the pundits and analysts can often be wrong, the consumer won’t care. The general public will see a cheaper outlay for comparable hardware, smartphone-like connectivity, and an app store. I’m still here at Nokia World feeling more positive about the overall strategy that Nokia has put forth, but the consumer side of me is concerned. Am I just being paranoid, or should Nokia worry about their longtime dominance in the lower end of the market?

Put Windows on Your iPhone or iPad With Parallels Mobile

Parallels Desktop 6 recently launched, and we were all over that with a review. Today, Parallels Mobile is live for the iPad/ iPhone/ iPod touch. Parallels Mobile lets you access any virtual machine running on your Mac with Parallels Desktop 6 over Wi-Fi or 3G. The app is free for the taking, but you need the desktop program for it to be of any use. The Parallels Mobile connection takes place using the Parallels server, with login required using the credentials used to register Parallels Desktop 6.

Accessing remote desktop sessions from the iPad has been possible since day one with apps such as LogMeIn Ignition. I’ve been using Parallels Mobile for a solid day, and the draw is that no other app is required. You already have Parallels Desktop 6, and working with the free Mobile version, the two work together to make the connection happen. Parallels Mobile does a good job using the iPad touchscreen to full effect, even while accessing Windows 7 as reviewed.

Internet Founder Tim Berners-Lee Details 4 Concerns About Future of Mobile Web (Nokia World 2010)

This morning at Nokia World 2010 in London, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, widely known as the inventor of the Web, addressed the audience in a keynote speech where he spoke about the future of mobile technology, including both the positive impacts it brings as well as the areas of concern. After encouraging developers to build for the Web, so as to deliver applications that work on all types of devices, even the ones that haven't been invented yet, he then proceeded to detail areas which need addressing, specifically privacy, accountability, network neutrality and the 80% of the world that doesn't have access to the World Wide Web.

The Mobile Web Today: Location is Just "Tip of the Iceberg"

Berners-Lee began his keynote by discussing the improvements we've seen in technology in recent years, most notably the ability of our devices to be location-aware. However, he says, "location-awareness is just the tip of the iceberg." Devices already know so much about you: your geographical position, which way is up, which direction you're headed, etc., but future devices may know more than this. For example, they may know about your medical information and your physical state. Perhaps they could tell when you're excited by measuring heart rate increases, he said.

Nokia and Intuit Announce Partnership for Mobile Marketing Services

At Nokia World 2010 in London, Nokia's EVP of Mobile Phones, Mary McDowell, brought Intuit's Global Business Division president Alex Lintner on stage for an announcement regarding a new partnership between the two companies. The partnership is a strategic alliance for a first-of-its-kind service designed to help small business owners around the world increase revenues through a mobile marketing service offering. This service will include a combination of offers, advertising and location-based features that will direct customers to where they can find products to buy in their own neighborhoods.

According to McDowell, the partnership will increase foot traffic to small businesses that adopt the service by at least 10%.

Specifics about how the technology will be implemented and distributed were not delved into in any detail, but at one point McDowell referred to this suite of services as an "app." The app will connect businesses to potential customers over multiple channels, including social networking services like Facebook and Twitter, as well as SMS and email. Location-based services will also play a role, which will be tied into Nokia's Ovi Maps, something that McDowell said will be an important part of the new offering.

Now Any iPhone App Can Be an Augmented Reality Browser

Augmented reality (AR) is a fast-growing trend for mobile application developers, but few tools exist that make including the emerging technology in an app quick and easy. Many popular brands have published content on various mobile AR browsers, but it's not too surprising that they might want to include the technology in their own apps. Layar, the most widely used mobile AR browser, is looking to fulfill this need with the release of Layar Player - a few lines of code iPhone developers can use to embed full AR Layar content in their apps.

Popular high-end vendors like metaio and Total Immersion offer licensed SDKs that can be used to develop full-blown applications from the ground up, but some brands may want a simpler solution to add some AR flare to an existing app. Just as the popular app RedLaser offers embeddable barcode scanning (as used by Target and other brands), Layar now lets iPhone app developers include AR layer browsing directly within their apps. Oh, and it's free.

By dropping a few lines of code in an existing iPhone app, developers can fully embed their Layar content layers within their own apps. Layar likens the ease of use to embedding a YouTube video on a web page. For AR content developers with layers published on Layar, they can now include this AR view directly in their own apps.

The ease of use Layar Player provides is an attractive solution for brands that may not want to dive in head-first into augmented reality with a full-blown app. Target, for example, which implemented RedLaser's barcode scanning SDK, could similarly use Layar Player to let app users find store locations in an AR view.