TechKnowledgey 2004
connect wirelessly to the Internet at
restaurants and coffee houses, college
campuses, sports venues, hotels, airports, and other locations.
Prices start at $199.00 for a non-wireless 312 MHz configuration,
$249.00 (after a $30.00 rebate) if you
include combination wireless capability, and $349.00 for the 624 MHz
model. All three configurations include
a built-in secure digital I/O slot, a 3. 5
inch transflective TFT color display
with 240 x 320 (QVGA) resolution, a
headphone jack and improved
recorder capability, plus a scroll dial.
The $199.00 and $249.00 configurations come with a travel sync
cable, while the $349.00 configuration comes with a sync/recharge
cradle with an extra battery charge
slot that accommodates either the
spare standard battery (950 mAh) or
the optional high capacity (1,800
mAh) battery ($99.00). Details are
available at www.dell.com
Circuits and Devices
High-End MiniDisc Player
®
Sony’s QUALIA MiniDisc player.
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If your bank account has been
looking too plush lately, Sony
Electronics has a solution in the
form of its QUALIA 017 MiniDisc
player. According to Sony,
“Individually crafted from a solid brass
block and perched on a beautifully
design charging station, the QUALIA
017 is truly an objets d’art.” It’s not all
good looks and snob appeal, though.
The construction is said to provide a
more rigid case, which reduces the
kind of wear and tear experienced by
10
all portable audio devices.
Included with the player is a set
of high quality, low profile ear bud
headphones that feature extended
bass capability. It has been reported
that the headphones can reproduce
frequencies up to 100 kHz, which will
come in handy if your dog likes to
use it. It also comes with a carrying
case that employs a magnetic lock
and it is available in chrome, silver-plated, or gold-plated finishes. As of
this writing, the device was available
only by special order, with a base
price of $1,900.00.
For an interesting twist on marketing techniques, visit www.qualia
. sony.us/qualia_main.html where
you can view/download a four
minute promotional movie that
wraps tranquilizer music around a
montage of nature scenery and tells
you absolutely nothing about the
product line. It’s impressive and kind
of relaxing, really, but I suspect that
most of us will still opt for a $29.95
player from Wal-Mart.
Industry and the
Profession
Pirated Software
Flourishing
According to a study conducted
by the research firm
International Data Corporation (IDC
— www.idc.com) and recently
released by the Business Software
Alliance (BSA — www.bsa.org),
36% of all software installed on computers in 2003 was pirated, representing a loss of nearly $29 billion to
the software industry. This year’s
BSA global piracy study incorporated major software market segments,
including operating systems, consumer software, and local market
software, as well as business software applications.
The study found that, while $80
billion in software was installed on
computers worldwide last year, only
$51 billion was legally purchased.
For its analysis, IDC drew upon world
wide data for software and hardware
shipments, conducted more than
5,600 interviews in 15 countries, and
used its in-country analysts around
the globe to evaluate local market
conditions. IDC identified the piracy
rate and dollar losses by utilizing
proprietary IDC models for PC, software, and license shipments by all
industry vendors in 86 countries.
Geographically, the piracy rates
break down as follows: Eastern
Europe, 71%; Western Europe, 36%;
Latin America, 63%; Middle Eastern
and African nations, 56%, and North
America, 23%. Summing it up, BSA
President and CEO Robert Holleyman
commented, “The fight for strong intellectual property protection and respect
for copyrighted works spans the globe
and there is much work to be done.”
New Computer Project
Announced
COLSA Corporation ( www.colsa
.com) and Apple Computer
Corporation ( www.apple.com)
have jointly announced the development of one of the largest and most
powerful computers in the world.
COLSA has contracted with Apple to
deliver the components for a supercluster computer system with more
than 3,000 processors to its customer, the US Army’s Aviation and
Missile Research, Development, and
Engineering Center (AMRDEC —
www.redstone.army.mil/amrdec).
The system will consist of 1,566
dual-processor, rack-mountable
Xserve G5 units, which employ
Apple’s 2.0 GHz G5 CPU. COLSA will
build, install, test, and operate the
system. The supercluster will be
employed to model the complex
aero-thermodynamics of hypersonic
flight, including applications related
to missile interceptors and scramjet
engine performance. It will offer
peak performance of 25 TFLOPs.
At a cost of about $5 million, it
compares favorably with Japan’s
Earth Simulator computer, which
offers 40 TFLOPS performance,
but costs $350 million. The machine
is expected to be operational late
this fall. NV
SEPTEMBER 2004
