Cloud computing by Microsoft has taken another step

Article first published as SkyDrive App's Integration in Windows 8 on Technorati.

Microsoft is going to integrate a desktop app version of SkyDrive, its cloud storing service, for Internet Explorer in Windows 8, as announced by Microsoft’s official Building Windows 8 blog.

SkyDrive service is storing about 10 petabytes of data and is in use by 17 million people at this time.

Mike Torres and Omar Shahine, group program managers for SkyDrive, have written in a company blog post that Microsoft is going to change SkyDrive "from a website today into a true device cloud for Windows customers."

"With Windows 8, we wanted to make sure that your files would be instantly available and up-to-date as you move between PCs — without configuring add-ons or using a USB drive," they further wrote.

This SkyDrive app is included in the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 and is available to use from any Metro-Style app. Consumer Preview of Windows 8 is going to be launched on February 29.

"This will bring a file cloud to every Metro style app, allowing you to open files in your SkyDrive and save them right back to your SkyDrive just like you would on your local hard drive," the blog post says.

Microsoft is also featuring "drag-and-drop upload and download support for SkyDrive, anywhere access to your data, offline access, and the power of Windows Explorer to manage your files and folders."

The blog post has also announced to fetch files through SkyDrive.com. Through the fetch files feature, users will access the files of their own desktop, from any computer, if the SkyDrive feature is on.

Omar Shahine and Mike Torres has described this as,

When designing the new SkyDrive, we knew not everyone would want to put 100% of their files in the cloud just yet. People are selective, and while some will move all of their files into SkyDrive, others will want to start slowly and use SkyDrive just for roaming some important documents and pictures from their Windows Phone camera roll. Knowing that most people would still have files on a remote PC that weren't available through SkyDrive, we built a new feature that allows you to "reach across" the Internet to access any file, stream videos, or view photo albums from a remote PC that is running SkyDrive on the desktop. For any remote folder or file, you can also choose to "copy to SkyDrive," so that you'll always have it across your devices.

Samsung's Board has approved the separation of LCD business

Article first published as Samsung Board has approved the Spin-off of LCD businesses and operations on Technorati.

Samsung Electronics’ Board of Directors has approved the separation of LCD businesses and operations. The separated corporation will be launched by the company as Samsung Display Company Ltd. on 1 April. This new corporation will be started with a capital of 750 billion won ($668 million).

Although, the company has come closer to the separation of the company as a new entity after board’s approval but it still needs the approval of shareholders.

The company has taken this decision as the demand of LCD products is decreasing in this era of fast technological progresses and the company wants to keep in pace with new advancements. Moreover, the supply of LCD products has also been increased by manufacturers.

Samsung is the largest TV and flat screen manufacturer and the deceleration of the sale of LCD products could affect the company most. So, the company has planned to focus on the new technologies such as Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) to maintain competitiveness.

"The spin-off will allow us to make quicker business decisions and respond to our clients' needs more swiftly," said Donggun Park, executive vice president and head of Samsung's LCD business.

"Through enhancements in business competitiveness, we will continue to provide superior products and services for the market," he added.

Time will tell that this strategy of Samsung for increasing competency and operations will work or not.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Single atom transistor

Article first published as Transistor Made of Single Atom on Technorati.

Scientists from the University of New South Wales have developed the world’s smallest transistor that is made up of a single atom.

The team of researchers precisely placed the phosphorus-31 isotope on the Silicon base in an ultra-high vacuum chamber with the help of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) and developed a single atom transistor, which could be a better foundation for scalable quantum computing. Scientists have precisely positioned the atom, so that it must be at an effective place with reduced error margin.

“Our group has proved that it is really possible to position one phosphorus atom in a silicon environment - exactly as we need it - with near-atomic precision, and at the same time register gates,” lead author Dr. Martin Fuechsle from UNSW said.

Phosphorus-31 has been selected by the researchers as it has two possible nuclear spins and it could be an ideal isotope for solid-state quantum computing. Moreover, phosphorus and silicon would be compatible with the CMOS sensors used in processors these days.

“But this device is perfect”, says Professor Michelle Simmons, group leader and director of the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology at UNSW. “This is the first time anyone has shown control of a single atom in a substrate with this level of precise accuracy.”

Single atom transistor would come in the processors in the near future as it is still a very expensive technology.

This research has been published online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

WiFi and processors in combination by Intel

Article first published as Combination of WiFi and Processors on a Single Chip is Among Intel’s Next Projects on Technorati.

Intel Corp. has unveiled a small device dubbed “Rosepoint” at International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) this week. This small device is a 32nm system-on-chip (SoC) has an integrated digital 2.4 GHz WiFi radio with a dual-core Intel Atom Processor. According to the company, this small device can be not only miniaturized but also will result in low cost fitting in mobile devices.

“Energy efficiency has been Intel’s goal for many years now,” said Justin Rattner, chief technology officer at Intel, in a call with reporters. “We do it to minimize the energy impact on the environment but also to make Intel’s products more scalable across the computing continuum.”

The company has to work a lot in this regard as this breakthrough design needs a lot of research due to the interference caused by the wireless radio and processors’ radiations’ interference. The company has to develop a cover up material that can not only protect against radiation but also has noise-cancelling methods, so that both the components may exist on the same chip without disrupting each other.

The company is also thinking on the addition of digital cellular radio chip in the near future. According to the company, such technology will come in the market by three years or so.

Further Reading:

Wired

Two new Android smartphones by ZTE

Article first published as Two New Android Operated Smartphones by ZTE on Technorati.

ZTE Corporation, Chinese technological company, has announced two new smartphones, the PF200 and N910, to be revealed at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012, which will take place in Barcelona, Spain next week.

These smartphones by the company will be operated at Google’s Android 4.0 i.e. Ice Cream Sandwich. These are LTE handsets with with 1.2GHz and 1.5GHz chipsets.

ZTE PF200 has 4.3-inch qHD touchscreen an 8-MP main camera and a 1080p Full HD capable front-facing camera for video-calling. It also gets near field communications (NFC) and mobile high-definition link (MHL)-HDMI output to connect to home audio and video devices. The phone also supports 3G/UMTS, GSM, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, WiFi, A-GPS and digital living network alliance (DLNA) streaming support.

The ZTE N910 has WVGA (800 x 480) capacitive touch screen and LTE FDD, CDMA and EVDO connectivity; along with a 5-MP main camera having autofocus and flash and a 1080p HD capable front video camera. It also comes with GPOS, WiFi and Bluetooth, along with DLNA streaming support.

European regulators nod for Roche's Zelboraf

European Drug Regulators have approved the skin cancer drug, Zelboraf containing active ingredient Vemurafenib, for the treatment of BRAF V600 mutation-positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma, which is a fatal form of skin cancer.

Roche, manufacturer of Zelboraf, has announced this on Monday.

From SayPeople,

Zelboraf can be used as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients, whose late stage skin cancer have spread to other parts of the body and become inoperable. It can be given as a twice daily pill.

Further Reading:
SayPeople

Stronger adhesion gained through biomimetics

Article first published as Substance From Gecko Feet Holds a Lot of Weight on Technorati.

Researchers from University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed very strong sticky substance that has the ability to hold 318 kg or 700 pounds of a substance on a smooth wall without slipping.

Researchers extensively studied the adhesive forces in the feet of gecko, which is a small tropical lizard with hooked ridges in feet allowing it to climb smooth vertical surfaces. The sticky nature in the feet of gecko is able to hold 4 kg of material on the wall, without slipping, as it has high-capacity, dry and reversible in nature.

They have named “Geckskin” to the adhesive material.

"Our Geckskin device is about 16 inches square, about the size of an index card, and can hold a maximum force of about 700 pounds while adhering to a smooth surface such as glass." said Alfred J. Crosby from Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and one of the authors in this study.

Geckskin can be released from the wall or attaching surface with negligible efforts despite of its highly strong sticking ability. After release it can be used many times without any loss of effectiveness. Researchers have reported that it can attach a 42-inch television on the wall, can be released from the wall with little force and can be attached on any other surface without leaving any residue behind.

The researchers have published their findings in the journal of Advanced Materials.

Source:

UMassAmherst