Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Steve Jobs explains why Macs don't sport "Intel Inside" stickers
In a recent interview, outgoing Intel CEO Paul Otellini explained how he passed up on an opportunity to get Intel chips inside the original iPhone.
According to Otellini, Apple and Intel couldn't come to terms regarding cost. Further, Otellini explained that he simply had no way of knowing how successful and ubiquitous the iPhone would go on to become.
While there's no way to know for sure just how seriously Apple was considering Intel as a partner for the iPhone, I couldn't help but laugh at the notion of an iPhone sporting an "Intel Inside" sticker on the back. Of course, Apple would have never allowed such a thing in a million years, but the thought reminded me of an old video where Steve Jobs is asked why Apple doesn't put "Intel Inside" stickers on its Macs.
The video is from August, 2007 and is of a Q&A session that followed an Apple special media event where the first aluminum iMac was introduced.
Comically, the very premise of the question elicits laughter from both Tim Cook and Phil Schiller.
Jobs, always masterful when put on the spot, evokes laughter and applause from the audience when he responds sharply, "What can I say? We like our own stickers better."
Jobs, of course, follows that up with praise for Intel.
Don't get me wrong. We love working with Intel. We're very proud to ship Intel products in Macs. I mean, they are screamers. And combined with our operating system, we've really tuned them well together, so we're really proud of that. It's just that everyone knows we're using Intel processors, and so I think putting a lot of stickers on the box is just redundant. We'd rather tell them about the product inside the box, and they know it's got an Intel processor.
Makes sense to me.
Hacker Hat Details "Black Hats, White Hats & Gray Hats"
Hackers aren’t inherently bad — the word “hacker” doesn’t mean “criminal” or “bad guy.” Geeks and tech writers often refer to “black hat,” “white hat,” and “gray hat” hackers. These terms define different groups of hackers based on their behavior.
The definition of the word “hacker” is controversial, and could mean either someone who compromises computer security or a skilled developer in the free software or open-source movements.
Black Hats
Black-hat hackers, or simply “black hats,” are the type of hacker the popular media seems to focus on. Black-hat hackers violate computer security for personal gain (such as stealing credit card numbers or harvesting personal data for sale to identity thieves) or for pure maliciousness (such as creating a botnet and using that botnet to perform DDOS attacks against websites they don’t like.)
Black hats fit the widely-held stereotype that hackers are criminals performing illegal activities for personal gain and attacking others. They’re the computer criminals.
A black-hat hacker who finds a new, “zero-day” security vulnerability would sell it to criminal organizations on the black market or use it to compromise computer systems.
Media portrayals of black-hat hackers may be accompanied by silly stock photos like the below one, which is intended as a parody.
White Hats
White-hat hackers are the opposite of the black-hat hackers. They’re the “ethical hackers,” experts in compromising computer security systems who use their abilities for good, ethical, and legal purposes rather than bad, unethical, and criminal purposes.
For example, many white-hat hackers are employed to test an organizations’ computer security systems. The organization authorizes the white-hat hacker to attempt to compromise their systems. The white-hat hacker uses their knowledge of computer security systems to compromise the organization’s systems, just as a black hat hacker would. However, instead of using their access to steal from the organization or vandalize its systems, the white-hat hacker reports back to the organization and informs them of how they gained access, allowing the organization to improve their defenses. This is known as “penetration testing,” and it’s one example of an activity performed by white-hat hackers.
A white-hat hacker who finds a security vulnerability would disclose it to the developer, allowing them to patch their product and improve its security before it’s compromised. Various organizations pay “bounties” or award prizes for revealing such discovered vulnerabilities, compensating white-hats for their work.
Gray Hats
Very few things in life are clear black-and-white categories. In reality, there’s often a gray area. A gray-hat hacker falls somewhere between a black hat and a white hat. A gray hat doesn’t work for their own personal gain or to cause carnage, but they may technically commit crimes and do arguably unethical things.
For example, a black hat hacker would compromise a computer system without permission, stealing the data inside for their own personal gain or vandalizing the system. A white-hat hacker would ask for permission before testing the system’s security and alert the organization after compromising it. A gray-hat hacker might attempt to compromise a computer system without permission, informing the organization after the fact and allowing them to fix the problem. While the gray-hat hacker didn’t use their access for bad purposes, they compromised a security system without permission, which is illegal.
If a gray-hat hacker discovers a security flaw in a piece of software or on a website, they may disclose the flaw publically instead of privately disclosing the flaw to the organization and giving them time to fix it. They wouldn’t take advantage of the flaw for their own personal gain — that would be black-hat behavior — but the public disclosure could cause carnage as black-hat hackers tried to take advantage of the flaw before it was fixed.
Today's Top 20 Sites
1. Google - Enables users to search the world's information, including webpages, images, and videos. Offers unique features and search technology.
2. Facebook - A social utility that connects people, to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos.
3. YouTube - YouTube is a way to get your videos to the people who matter to you. Upload, tag and share your videos worldwide!
4. Yahoo! - A major internet portal and service provider offering search results, customizable content, chatrooms, free e-mail, clubs, and pager.
5. Baidu.com - The leading Chinese language search engine, provides "simple and reliable" search experience, strong in Chinese language and multi-media content including MP3 music and movies, the first to offer WAP and PDA-based mobile search in China.
6. Wikipedia - A free encyclopedia built collaboratively using wiki software. (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License).
7. Windows Live - Search engine from Microsoft.
8. Amazon.com - Amazon.com seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Site has numerous personalization features and services including one-click buying, extensive customer and editorial product reviews, gift registries, gift certificates, wish lists, restaurant and movie listings, travel, and photo processing.
9. QQ.COM - China's largest and most used Internet service portal owned by Tencent, Inc founded in November, 1998. Presently, Tencent is aiming its operations at the strategic goal of providing users with a "one-stop online life service". Tencent's Internet platforms QQ, QQ.com, QQ Games, and PaiPai.com have brought together China's largest Internet community. Tencent's communications and information-sharing services include QQ.com, QQ Instant Messenger, QQ Mail, and search engine SOSO. Linked up with heavily used features such as forums, chat rooms, and QQ Groups, Tencent's Qzone has grown into China's largest personal Internet space. These services foster group interaction and resource sharing. Virtual products such as QQ Show, QQ Pet, QQ Game, and QQ Music/Radio/Live have been successful in providing entertainment and customization options to users. Mobile phone users can take advantage of a number of value-added wireless services. Tencent's PaiPai.com is a C2C on-line shopping platform that seamlessly integrates into Tencent's other community platforms.As of June 30th, 2009, the number of registered QQ Instant Messenger users has reached 990.0 million. Active users numbered at 448.0 million. Peak concurrent users have reached 61.30 million. QQ Games platform counted about 6.2 million users simultaneously on-line. QQ.com has become China's most visited Internet portal website. PaiPai.com has also become China's second largest Internet shopping platform.
10. Taobao.com - Launched in 2003, Taobao Marketplace (www.taobao.com) is a popular consumer-to-consumer (C2C) online marketplace in China. With more than 800 million product listings and more than 500 million registered users, Taobao Marketplace is the primary online shopping destination for the largest online population in the world and is one of the world’s top 20 most visited websites.
11. Blogspot.com
12. Twitter - Social networking and microblogging service utilising instant messaging, SMS or a web interface.
13. Google India - Indian version of this popular search engine. Search the whole web or only webpages from India. Interfaces offered in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil.
14. LinkedIn - A networking tool to find connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts and business partners. Allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business.
15. Yahoo! Japan - Japanese version of popular portal site.
16. Bing - Search engine developed by Microsoft. Features web, image, video, local, news, and product search.
17. 新浪新闻中心 - 包括即日的国内外不同类型的新闻与评论，人物专题，图库。
18. Яндекс - Поиск информации в интернете с учетом русской морфологии, возможность регионального уточнения. Параллельный поиск по новостям, картинкам, товарам, блогам, адресам организаций.
19. MSN - Portal for shopping, news and money, e-mail, search, and chat.
20. eBay - International person to person auction site, with products sorted into categories.
All Site Information collected from Alexa.com
Technology Used in TV Channels
LAS VEGAS – RTW will be exhibiting at its new TM3-3G TouchMonitor in booth No. C1844. The TM3-3G allows the TM3’s current hardware and software design to visualize, convert and replay 3G SDI signals in TV and video production and post production applications.
TechTV was a 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. At the height of its six-year run, TechTV was broadcast in 70 countries, reached 43 million households, and claimed 1.9 million unique visitors monthly to its website.[1] A focus on personality-driven product reviews and technical support made it a cultural hub for technology information worldwide, still existing today online through its former hosts' webcasts, most notably the TWiT Network and Revision3. More Here
RTW TM3-3G Touch Monitor to Debut
Unit features 3G-SDI interface
The TouchMonitor TM3-3G is a compact platform for metering, de-embedding and monitoring 3G SDI audio. It features a 4.3-inch touch screen for horizontal as well as vertical orientation, which can display any of the eight audio channels contained in a 3G-SDI stream.
Attendees will also have the chance to win one of three TM3-3G or TM3 units that RTW will be raffling off during the show. Winners will be chosen live at the booth at 5 p.m. local time, on Monday, April 8; Tuesday, April 9 and Wednesday, April 10. Participants are encouraged to be in attendance each day to win.
Rigol’s DSA815 Spectrum Analyzer
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| The Rigol DSA815 spectrum analyzer |
The idea of “seeing” RF has always intrigued me, but short of some futuristic goggles, an RF spectrum analyzer is about as close as one can get. And for those of us without a large engineering budget, an RF spectrum analyzer has been a luxury item—something that was rented or borrowed when needed. Rigol Technologies, a 15-year old company based in Beijing, China, is now offering a bit of relief on that budget front, with the introduction of their DSA815 spectrum analyzer product.
FEATURES
The feature-packed DSA815 measures a mere 14 x 7 x 5-inches, and weighs about 9.4 pounds. It operates on AC mains voltages between 100 and 240, with a maximum power consumption of 50 Watts with all options. The display is an 8-inchTFT LCD with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, and can display 64,000 colors. In addition to the AC power cord, the analyzer’s rear panel ins and outs include BNC connectors labeled Trigger In, 10 MHz Out, 10 MHz In, an RJ-45 (LAN) connector, and a single USB (Type B) port.
In addition to the display panel, the front of the DSA 815 includes Print, Help, and Preset buttons, along with power switch, front USB port (Type A), and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Nine buttons located at the right of the screen provide most of the menu actions, and there are seven other groups of buttons, including Frequency, Span, Amplitude, Control, Marker, Measure, Utility and Edit. Two “N” connectors are provided on the front panel for RF input (max +20 dBm/50Volts DC, 50 ohm) and the tracking “Generator Out” (50 ohm with a maximum output of 50 Volts DC).
Frequency coverage of the DSA 815 is specified as 9 kHz to 1.5 GHz, and the unit is available with a 1.5 GHz tracking generator and demodulator. Other listed features include all-digital IF technology, up to −135 dBm displayed average noise level (DANL), −80 dBc/Hz @ 10 kHz Offset Phase Noise, 100 Hz minimum resolution bandwidth (RBW). Options include advanced measurement functions, an EMI filter and quasipeak detector kit, a VSWR measurement kit, along with LAN, USB host, USB device, and a GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus) port.
IN USE
After the unit arrived, I unboxed it and applied power. For an RF input, I attached a small “antenna” using an “N” to “F” adaptor. With this simple setup, I was able to tune the DSA 815 to local AM and FM radio stations. I connected a small headset and was able to verify the demodulator feature of the unit as well.
Over the years, I’ve had access to many spectrum analyzers, including those from Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix and Avcom, and most recently, the Agilent E4407B. I found that for anyone who has used “late generation” spectrum analyzers, the DSA815 will be comfortingly familiar. The buttons and menus are very intuitive, and the nomenclature is hauntingly similar. The learning curve on this unit is almost nonexistent.
Just after I checked out the analyzer, we began having issues with an IFB transmitter in one of our live broadcast trucks and I decided to press the Rigol into service to troubleshoot the problem. The RF output of the transmitter was 76.2 MHz and with the Rigol in my office and the truck just outside the window, I made a quick measurement of the RF peak level (−49 dBm). After swapping out a pinched coax cable, and checking the antenna, the RF returned to a healthy −30 dBm.
As a test of the Rigol’s frequency accuracy, I connected the output of our ATSC SMPTE 310 encoder to the unit. According to my HP 53132A, that frequency was 19,392,655 Hz. After a quick calibration of the Rigol, I turned on its averaging function, expanded out the span, and read a center frequency of 19,392,657 Hz. That’s two Hertz difference at 19 MHz. I need to mention that measurement was made through a Harris TFX-1transport frequency extractor which allows the use of a frequency counter to confirm compliance and monitor the SMPTE 310 stream for primary clock reference (PCR) errors. The tolerance is ±54 Hz, so 19,392,657 is well within the margin of error. Obviously most users don’t expect to use their spectrum analyzer as a frequency counter, but it’s comforting to know that the Rigol is this accurate.
During the next few days I kept the unit on, looking at our competitors’ ATSC signals, and checking out some amateur radio transmissions I found. I even looped the tracking generator back into the DSA 815 and confirmed that it works as specified.
SUMMARY
With an instrument as complex as the Rigol DSA 815, there’s no way to write about each and every menu. However, I can tell you that the unit operated for about a month in my office, and I played with it at every opportunity (I even used it to troubleshoot a couple of wireless mic problems). The buttons are very solid, and the unit feels very “stocky” when you pick it up. While it would be nice if it operated above 2 GHz (and could be powered from a 12 Volt DC supply for mobile applications), these aren’t really deal breakers, considering its price.
When you consider all of the features the analyzer possesses, it’s really amazing that it costs less than $1,300. The Rigol folks have brought the price of a quality spectrum analyzer down to the point that almost any broadcaster (or individual) can afford one.
To be Continue...
An Analysis of Structured Data on the Web
One of the grand research challenges in the field of information extraction (IE) is to develop effective techniques for Web-scale information extraction. Traditional IE techniques considered in the database community tend to be source-centric, i.e., they can only be deployed to extract from a specific website or data source. However, a range of domain-independent techniques have emerged recently [2, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 20] that seek to look at extraction holistically on the entire Web.
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