Posts by Le Dao

LEAKED: Samsung's iPhone 6 killer... the Samsung Galaxy S6

Apple Worried, more like happy!

I don't get how articles like this are given space. The iPhone 6 has already killed Samsung current mobiles, look at sales data, difficult with Samsung to compare, but they are imploding, what are Apple expected to do later this month is that announce record Sales figures.

Its a rumoured next generation Samsung phone, there are known problems with Bugs in the 820 so it will be graphically challenged using slower Samsung in house designs. 64Bit chip, how much of the android market can run 64Bit. What is it integrated with. Apple has an eco system and that is extending out to payments and health apps. Samsung obviously need do something to disrupt the ongoing positive news about Apple sales figures and how the next great device will challenge this. Will it really be better than an iPhone 6s maybe but on these specs its slower than current offerings.

Its another rushed phone,challenged by being 64Bit in a market that isn't ready, trying to grab some attention, but won't justify the R&D

Some credible competition to iOS/ iPhone would be good, don't see how this could be it, even if it were possible to deliver to the rumour. Does putting Apple in a headline really attract readership? Oh maybe thats the issue, people are still interested in what Apple is doing and more people all the time it seems, based on the sales data.

Apple Store staff outnumber queues as new iPad goes on sale

I bought one!

Mainly out of surprise, thought I would wait until April and the rush had died down. Then walked past Albion an Apple Reseller on the Strand who had them in stock and no queue. So choice was buy one with no fuss, or walk into Covent Garden and join the Queue, which was 4000+ I was told, easy decision.

Strange Apple said they were doing a lot to get the product out unlike previous launches and now we criticise them because there aren't queues and lots of people are actually getting them. Lets see what the sales numbers look like as I don't think anyone thinks this is a flop launch. As a product its a big improvement for displaying photo's which is my main reason for the iPad, which the 2 didn't massively improve.

Union enraged by secret driverless Tube plan

Train Operators

There haven't been drivers for a long time on London Underground they have been called train Operators for a long time. The Jubilee line signalling systems as also planned for Northern and Piccadilly in the future are based on the same signalling system as the DLR, so they are designed to be operator free today. Another post noted the automated status of the Vic line although this may well be further away today than it was in 1967.

I do wonder why the jubilee line is now so jerky, since the upgrade. The trains never settle at a steady sped but speed up and down as if someone is trying to match a target speed which is always changing as the movement of trains infront effects the energy and safety distance calculations. So I can't work out if we would be better off with signals or no operators.

When is a database not so relational?

Object Relational Cacheing layers abound

Don't understand the article really why is it so limited in scope.

Amazon offer MySQL and SimpleDB yes but you can run Cassandra or SQL Server, db2 pretty much what you like with different degrees of admin and support. Surely these database types do different things well. Relational databases manage data to a set of rules and make it concurrent to many users in a controlled and predictable way. They were not intended to store less structured data such as a behaviour of a customer on a web site (which is teh basis of targeted ads or recommendations) or deal with concurrency of little changing (relatively static data) accessed by large numbers of users that is the backbone of many internet sites. The majority of these databases are opensource NoSQL or not RDBMS systems have evolved due to the limitations of traditional RDBMS in this space and the lack of enterprise software in this space, enterprise will resist adopting these open systems and of course pay database vendors shed loads of wonga to adopt a web scalable solution to support the delivery of content or product information to the users, who then buy through a systems sat on an RDBMS to ensure the data is structured and reported on easily.

Its also difficult to geo cache data close to the internet with RDBMS technology but a breeze with solutions like Cassandra so understanding the problem and characteristics is important in choosing your solution

How else will the Database market maintain its greater than 30% or revenue spend within IT licence model, other than spreading the reach of an RDBMS into the solution space.

The debate for me should be what are the decisions needed to identify the database type you use for a particular aspect of a solution, getting this understood and socialised will help stop people launching systems on the wrong platform or price point.

The comments about OR mapping approaches and the issues of developers connecting the application directly to a database have been around for years, I agree with the comments but do wish developers were taught a mature way to persist data. Using a framework such as Spring / Hibernate in Java or .Net or an ESB pattern or product will avoid the majority of pitfalls due to the learned knowledge these solutions encompass. There will always be some one who wished to reinvent how to make the wheel sadly.

Intel's Tri-Gate gamble: It's now or never

Sounds like times they are changing

Great article, would have thought this reflects the challenge that ARM and devices like the Ipad are having on the computer market, which is massive.

Intel and Microsoft have had an effective duopoly on the business, timing the increase in Windows bloat and performance demands with processor releases so we all keep upgrading and buying more powerful machines. That cash cow is dying, the other great market was Servers and with the evolution of the cloud fewer standard server designs will evolve and the constant cyclic refresh of servers can be reduced as grid and virtualisation allow mixed capacity systems to happily share workloads and there is probably less spare capacity as workloads are more tightly managed. The economics of energy may push an initial refresh cycle and sales if its a lot more energy efficient , but you wonder about the economics of the size of investment and price competitiveness of efficient chips against ROI, particularly where the high CPU numbers are against low cost ARM cores and you need partner to switch platform to use your cpu/chipsets

Intel therefore is faced with reducing demand in its core markets and a new rapidly growing market that it is poor in. No surprise its throwing cash at the problem, can't wait to see what they do about graphics to partner the faster processors. ARM's advantage at the moment is in some ways tied to its better package as much as the faster CPU and the only strong driver for more powerful mobile devices is to push more engaging games or Augmented Reality at us and I suspect Google is best positioned in that marketplace, if it manages its platform well.

On the enterprise server front with the release of more powerful CPU's with lower energy footprints I think the sales volumes will be smaller than in the past as the overall shrinkage of data centre numbers continues.

Fastest way for Intel to grab market share of fab plant production and increase its stranglehold on the market would be to fab ARM/ATI packages with its 22nm processes ahead of the pack.

Fukushima's toxic legacy: Ignorance and fear

Why don't readers listen?

Thought this was a clear and logical presentation of the facts, maybe a few embellishments but reality is the real story is when 10,000's of people died from the Tsunami why was the story all about something that was just a risk?

Its easier to fuel empathy and emotion about something thats happening whether real or not, rather than telling the true lives stores of the devastation that actually happened. Its really hard to make rubble look or sound exciting. The Japanese don't play ball either as they are too dignified and wont show their emotions publicly, so no wailing in the street scenes. I do wonder why we view the news as anything other than entertainment these days. You cannot have a good running story unless its got minute by minute updates, an air of secrecy, and some experts to interview. You cannot let complex politics muddy the story or hard situational facts as both these confuse our broader viewing population so the story runs and runs based upon speculation and moving images. This story died because of north Africa, following the same old formula, will anyone go back and say well the actual situation in the power station was xxxxxxx. and the number of people impacted by radiation was yyyy and the number of people we killed due to hypertension induced by fear was more.

The scaremongering elicited some phone calls to my home about using umbrellas to keep the plutonium away in the rain - does anyone measure on public health the effects of mass hysteria the news causes due to raised blood pressure? What was even more interesting this was some Chinese friends who were unaware back at home China will shortly have 140 Nuclear Reactors and its own independent Nuclear Industry. These are largely built on the coast, lets hope Japan doesn't suffer a west Coast earthquake that impacts the China Seaboard.

My view of the helicopters is that was actually a PR stunt to show the world they were doing everything they could, rather than a real attempt to achieve anything useful in cooling the fuel rods. made great television for a few moments. Shame no one was able to put a camera on the front edge of the Tsunami, al la hollywood blockbuster........ no it was all too sudden, real and tragic.

App Store not invited to web's date with destiny

What about copyright

I think you miss a key point, certainly if you're rupert Murdoch or any content provider that generates content which has value but then gets given away by the freedom of the web. Apps become a great business mode, its controlled its manages and respects copyright and earns value as google cannot just index and give it away. The challenge is the apps store model may well turn into the browser. why couldn't google, microsoft or yahoo build out cloud services that any device would share and services pertinent to that device would be available. This isn't far from where google and Microsoft are now and I cannot believe a more Apple model of the world wide web isn't around the corner for anyone who wants the convenience of the app store as opposed to the freedom of the current web.

Does human behaviour or history give any clues to how this might go, well I think convenience will win for the majority...sadly