When Google starts messing with database, electronics companies mess with netbooks and computer manufacturers get into the smartphone market, did you really think that the oldest informatics giant would just sit and watch?
So IBM declared it will invest 100 million bucks within the next 5 years in research for the mobile market. Specially after internal documents estimate this market will grow almost 200% by 2011, reaching an audience of one billion users.
An appetizer of what we can expect from the Big Blue is already being tested in the form of managing systems for content created and updated by users, as well as application management services on the go for external workers and “analyzing customer information to get manageable business intelligence based on evolving user preferences, users context and transaction history, allowing companies to customize mobile portals and recommend the right products to the right customers at the most opportune time”.
As IBM’s chief technologist said, "Mobility and the associated analytics will change virtually every enterprise business process". Better take it seriously…
More here.
Contrary to what other researches praised, Nielsen claims that there are as many 55+ year old users as the 13-24 demographics. Some other interesting data they found about the U.S. users:
- 37% watch videos on iPhone, which is 6x more likely than “regular” users;
- 40% have an income of over 100 thousand. That’s double compared to the 20% of the general market;
- 88% surf the web – 4x more than the “regular” user;
- 75% download apps – 5x more;
- Roughly, 1.2% of all blog posts are about the iPhone. Including this one. =o)
More info here.
It sounds as a prank, but it’s not. Neither is a mistype. A new technology could improve the access to your hard drive a hundred thousand times faster.
The process, known as spintronic once it not only uses electrons and its charge but also the spinning of them to read information, happens with the use of ultrashort laser pulses. This was all derived from the magnetoresistance discovery of a French and a German scientists that got the Nobel in physics in 2007.
Now, picture that 10 TB dvd being read 100 thousand times faster. More info here.
Scottish researchers presented a prototype of a battery powered by… air! The concept is really simple; the battery gets oxygen from the air, generates a reaction with carbon and produces energy.
Besides clear advantages as the cost reduction, since air is free, and not using heavy metals that harm the planet, is the capacity of the battery, which could last up to ten times more than current lithium ones.
The researchers’ goal now is to develop a commercial version that can be used firstly for small electronic devices, such as mp3 players and cell phones.
A university in Melbourne, Australia, has published a study that says that browsing sites like Facebook during work hours improves your production. Yet many companies censor or restrict sites, instant messaging, etc.
According to the research, those who shut down a little from business tasks and get some air for ideas can later concentrate better and increase productivity by 10%. The question is how much time is ok and from what point it becomes a mess, right? Well, the data show that those people who worked better after a break spend around 20% in non-business activities.
Coincidence or not, if you saw the recent Google documentary, all tech and development employees have the right to use 20% of their working hours in personal projects – unsupervised.
++++++++++
PS: no, we ain't dead whatsoever, just had a biiig project going on, thus the absence in the past couple of weeks. Blogging should be ok from now on. =o)
Comments