Introducing Smotes: The Smart Mote

The picture to the right is believed to be the smallest electronic computer yet produced. It is roughly a cubic millimetre or about the size of a pinhead. The prototype device was designed by a specialist team at the University of Michigan and is intended to be placed inside a human eye to check eye pressure and screen for glaucoma.

The solar powered device is complete with some memory, incorporates a pressure sensor and a wireless network chip with antenna. It consumes a miniscule amount of energy, goes to sleep when not in use and so can be kept charged with just 1.5 hours of sunlight (or 10 hours of indoor lighting).

The device is not expected to be commercially available for a number of years. Nonetheless this technology opens up an extraordinary range of possibilities. It may become possible to manufacture hundreds of thousands on a single wafer. The cost per item will become negligible and one can envision them being deployed in the millions or billions to monitor pollution, measure climate trends, track everyday items, perform surveillance functions and much more. In future the mote in your eye or spec of dust may be much more than it seems.

(The term Smote and Smotes are the copyright of Viewpoint)

Hot & Power Hungry - an average data centre

A recent survey (by Vanson Bourne) of 100 Chief Information Officers & data centre managers in the UK indicated that more than half have no idea of the environmental impact of their own data centres.

This matters because data centres are increasingly power hungry beasts. All those racks of servers require a lot of power and they get hot and have to be cooled, which requires even more power.

The need for data storage is not going to go away anytime soon, quite the contrary, it is increasing exponentially and according to some views the problem is going to get worse with the spread of cloud computing. With increased virtualisation and cloud computing, data moves around servers in a much more dynamic manner, this can lower the average power per server but give rise to inefficiencies in traditional data centres Most data centres, approximately 90% use raised floor cooling but at least one expert believes this is inefficient, obsolete and even irresponsible given current developments. It is however not just the design of data centres that needs to improve; the power management capabilities built into server hardware are often switched off due to confusion as to whether they interfere with IT performance. Further application software is not typically designed to use the power management features, the software will often keep background processes running unnecessarily, thus preventing the servers from switching to a low power mode. (More to follow in due course).

Cyber Warfare

Cyber Warfare is a topic of increasing concern to Governments (see also Cyber Terrorism below). The concept is not particularly new, however its importance has been elevated since the cyber attack on an Iranian nuclear reprocessing facility using the Stuxnet worm.

But what is Cyber Warfare? It turns out that as yet there is no hard and fast definition at least in legal terms and in so far as comparisons with conventional warfare are concerned where for example a border skirmish does not constitute a war. Cyber Warfare can be considered as the extreme end of a range of actions aimed at disrupting all or part of a nation's infrastructure whether physical, economic or digital using cyber weapons allied with the tactical interdiction of related key assets.

The weapons of Cyber Warfare already exist and are manifest for example in the form of denial of service attacks, computer viruses, worms and trojans coupled with a range of hacking tools and technologies. Indeed many of these are readily available on the Internet e.g. the so called "low-orbit ion cannon," a network stress testing application that can be used to attack websites through denial of service. In modern economies the Internet and digital communication technologies are deeply ingrained and an effective disruptive attack could have severe consequences. Naturally there are defences that can be and are deployed but it is not difficult to recognise that this has given rise to an "arms race" as more and more sophisticated techniques are developed.

It is not however just the Internet and digital communication that is threatened. A significant number of critical infrastructure elements including, energy production and distribution, water processing, ground and air traffic control, chemical production and many industrial and commercial processes are dependent upon local networks, intelligent instrumentation and computer controls. Typically these cannot be accessed directly via the Internet however suborned operatives (as was the case with the Stuxnet worm) can introduce malware directly into those systems. Malware introduced in this manner could have objectives ranging from mild disruption though to severe degradation and in certain extreme cases, total failure or catastrophic destruction.

A further complication is that introduced malware could well be in the form of delayed action "logic bombs" i.e. timed to activate their payload at some point in the future. A nation or group with aggressive intent may well have planned their campaign significantly in advance. Cyber security allied with good physical security coupled with a system of rigorous internal processes to manage operating system development and changes are crucial components of defence. The critical question is whether we are yet sufficiently vigilant.

Sunday Times 5 Star App for the iPad

If you have an iPad or iPhone/iTouch you will be well aware of the vast array of applications available. They range from the interesting and useful through to the bizzare and hopeless. If you are interested in news, current events, sports and the sort of things to found in good newspapers then there are already a good number of applications to choose from. Leading the way however is the brand new Sunday Times app (ST).

The developers have done their best to preserve key elements of the layout found in the normal paper. Each section from News through to Sport etc. is replicated as an individual element. Click on an image and it will enlarge, some are visually stunning, rotate the iPad and text can easily be resized. Additional dynamic elements not available in the newspaper are included as are some excellent videos.

The development team have created an App that does all the newspaper does and a good bit more but without the newsprint! This is version 1 and it will no doubt get even better.

Are there any downsides? Viewpoint found that at first sound was absent on video playback unless headphones were used, this seemed at bit strange. It turns out however not to be a fault on the App. Version 4.2 for the iPad has changed the functionality of the lock button (next to the volume control) and it has now become a mute button, a bit like the iPhone. Toggle the button and sound is restored (thanks to Simon Regan-Edwards, Production Director for resolving this issue).

At the moment each section has to be downloaded separately which is a little frustrating (but a lot less so than someone else reading the section of the printed newspaper that you want to read!) however each section can be opened after about 10% of the initial download, so you can begin to read quickly and once one section is dowloaded you can carry on reading whilst downloading another. I expect options to improve this will be introduced in due course. There is a trade-off here in that there is a lot of data to download. Once downloaded the paper can be read off-line although the video is not generally embedded and will require an internet connection.

Viewpoint wondered whether the ST App could really replace the printed version of the newspaper. What happens if two people want to read it at once? With the printed version of course different people can read different sections. It turn out however that one subscription will support two iPads so providing you have two iPads then different people can access the App at the same time.

The gripes are small. This is a stunning app that will only get better. If you read the Sunday Times and have an iPad then you need this App.

This nifty device, available from 3 mobile, connects you to the Internet via 3G (at up to 7.2 Mbs ) and provides you with your very own WiFi hot spot, to which you can connect up to five devices. It is about the size of a small mobile phone and has its own inbuilt rechargeable battery. The cost is less than £50 including three months or 3Gb of download data. Top ups are £10 for 1Gb per month, although monthly plans are available for higher usage.

Viewpoint has found that the device works very well. It provides a signal often where Vodafone and O2 fail, connects seamlessly to the network and once the WiFi has been set up provides a seamless, secure connection to your chosen devices. Once the initial set up has taken place it is really then just a question of turning it on to quickly establish a connection. With the 3G option on an iPad costing approximately £100 and similar amounts on many notebooks and netbooks, this really is a viable and better option. Viewpoint even uses it to connect an iPhone at times when the O2 service is not available.

The MiFi is only available through 3 mobile however if you pay them an extra £15 they will send you an unlock code. Viewpoint has done so although it does take some arranging.

Had enough of lugging around a hefty laptop complete with charger and cable? Then one possible answer is Sony's Vaio X Series laptop, providing that is you have a fair amount of spare cash. So what is the X Series; the answer in short is a very light, very elegant, very thin laptop with good battery life. In fact it is so thin and light that it has to be seen to be believed. Some statistics are:

• Weight: 725g
• Screen: 28.5cm diagonal (11.1 inches)
• Resolution: 1366x768 LED backlight, 16:9
• Thickness: approximately 14mm
• Case: carbon fibre
• Battery life: 5 to 6 hours with moderate use & more if you are careful
• Looks: Drop dead gorgeous

Is however the beauty skin deep? Certainly the X is no speed merchant. It uses an Atom processor to make the most of battery life; you can however specify a 2.0Ghz processor and it comes with 2Gb of Ram and a solid state flash drive in various sizes up to 256 Gb. All of which help to make the most of the Windows 7 operating system. The Vaio X is good for basic Office applications and will run Office 2010 well enough, web browsing is good but do not use it for image editing or video processing.

Connectivity includes WiFi (n) & Bluetooth, there is basic video out (15 pin port), 2 USB ports, headphone jack and an inbuilt memory card reader (both SD and Sony Duo). There is also a cunningly concealed gigabit ethernet port. Pay £100 extra and you can have built in 3G (HSDPA/HSUPA supporting downloads of up to 7.2 Mbs and uploads of 5.7 Mbps). Viewpont however prefers to use a MiFi for 3G WAN connectivity as it is cheaper and more flexible.

With all the bells and whistles you could expect to part with around £1700 (inc VAT), however good specified variants are available for around £1100 (inc VAT).

The built in track pad is very good but if you like your mouse to travel with you then you need to try the Vaio VGP-BMS10. It is nice and neat, the sliding cover (which can match your laptop) is also the on/off switch and it works with the inbuilt bluetooth i.e. no need for a dongle. With batteries it weighs 87g and costs around £57.

The keyboard is a reasonable size and easy enough to use with a little practice, though maybe the right shift key is a tad undersized.

So really the Vaio X is a top-end netbook with a bit more power than most, excellent screen resolution and an almost unbelievable form factor in terms of size, weight and head turning elegance. The verdict then is modest substance, adequate enough for basic tasks but truly stunning form. Viewpoint recognises that you can buy a netbook for around a third of the price but it will not be quite as good and nowhere near as nice. It is not a question of should I buy a netbook or the Vaio X but rather do I have the money!

Viewpoint has recently upgraded the primary desktop to a reasonably powerful machine running Windows 7 64 bit. This is admittedly a leap into the future but surely everyone knows that 64 bit is the way forward. Why? Well because it can handle more than 4Gb of memory and makes for more efficient processes when working with software designed with 64 bit architecture in mind. Eventutally 32 bit is destined to follow 16 bit into the dustbin of history.

Surprisingly most things have worked well. As might be expected there are one or two peripheral companies that have not bothered to produce 64 bit drivers but most "serious" companies have and some stuff just works anyway. So all in all the change has been relatively painless. Windows 7 does a good job of finding drivers where required and so far there has been only one "blue screen of death." We had almost forgotten what they looked like!

Unfortunately it seems that the Windows 7 folk at Microsoft did not fully consult with other departments. The guys responsible for OneNote (which incidentally is an astounding bit of software and one of Microsoft's best kept secrets) seemed not to have heard of 64 bit until rather too late. OneNote works but an important bit of functionality i.e. to incorporate a printed version of a file directly into OneNote has been crippled. Not really very clever!

In fairness the OneNote Chief has taken it upon himself to provide an unofficial workaround. It does the job but not nearly as elegantly. There is apparently no plan at the moment to introduce a 64 bit driver anytime soon. Is Viewpoint alone in thinking that at least Microsoft should have had its own products made compatible with the advanced software it is selling?

Addendum: Viewpoint notes that the problem is fixed in Office 2010, all one has to do therefore is upgrade!

Recent research conducted in collaboration with Durham University Business School, emphasised and reaffirmed the importance and value of IT. The report did however suggest an "attention deficit" amongst some company boards. The report enumerated six ways of reducing an IT deficit:

• Include IT on the Board AgendaInvite the CIO to Board meetings
• Elicit brief CIO presentations
• Recruit IT experience on the Board
• Get the Board talking about IT
• Realise that Boards now operate in an IT era

All of which Viewpoint considers sound advice. IT however is not a goal in itself rather the challenge and opportunity facing Boards and the strategic decisions they must take is to determine how IT can be used to accelerate the realisation of strategic goals. Such goals might include factors such as enhancing competitive edge, improving effectiveness and efficiency, providing new products and services, opening new routes to market and improving management information.

E-Readers, hand held devices that are used for reading books and magazines are on the verge of moving into the mainstream. They tend to use a technology called E-Ink which results in a display much like a book, though rather than black on white it is more like dark grey on light grey. The particular benefits are:

• One device can store many books.
• They can (with most) be read easily outdoors (unlike a notebook screen).
• Some can store audio files allowing you to listen to music (through headphones) whilst reading.
• The text size can be changed usually by selecting one of three or up to five sizes.
• Long battery life means that they are good for a week or more of reading.
• They remember your place.

All very well but what are the downsides:

• They tend not to be cheap costing anything from about £200 to £350, though some cost more.
• Some like the Amazon Kindle use a proprietary format so you can only dowload their content.
• Not all books are available in e-reader formats, though the list is growing.
• Contrast tends to be good but not outstanding.
• They can only display greyscale content, not colour. (A colour version of one model is available but only in Japan).
• A few can seem a little slow to turn pages or access menus.

So why bother? Well Amazon's Kindle is getting better. They have just launched a larger device with a screen of nearly 10 inches, i.e. close to A4 paper. The built in 3G means you can buy books and download them directly from Amazon's book store. The latest Sony reader has a touch screen which is handy except that it produces glare in bright sunlight, rather defeating the objective. Readers beat carrying a load of books around.

Viewpoint is hoping for the "ideal" e-reader which would have:

• Larger A4 size screen.
• Excellent contrast with good outdoor and indoor visibility.
• Adjustable text size and font.
• Touch screen for turning pages, anotation and dictionary search.
• Well placed button controls
• Built in light for darker conditions.
• Support for multiple formats.
• WiFi (& 3G) support for downloading.
• Colour, if it is not too much to ask for.

Get this right and it they have a real chance of becoming mainstream. More than that they could make a major contribution to cutting back on the vast quantities of paper we consume.

So at long last one of the worst kept secrets in computer tech has been revealed and yes it is Apple's brand new tablet device the "iPad."

The new device is rather like the iTouch only much bigger. The first variant, WiFi enabled will be available from March whilst the WiFi plus 3G model will be a month later. Each variant will come with 3 memory options, 16Gb, 32Gb and 64Gb. The UK prices have not yet been announced but guestimates suggest a range of about £300 for the most basic, rising to £800 for the top model. In addition there will be a number of additional cost options available including a case and a docking cradle with full sized key board attached.

The iPad has a powerful Apple proprietary processor, the A4, running at 1Ghz and a claimed battery life of upto 10 hours. The built in accelerometer means screen images automatically orient themselves as the tablet is changed from portrait to landscape use. There is little doubt that it looks stunning. It will run all of the apps the iPhone has access to and others written specifically to make use of its particular virtues such as email and a calendar. It has an instant (or at least very rapid) boot time and a very good multi touch screen just like the iPhone and iTouch.

On the downside, like the iPhone it will not run Flash (see article below) and it cannot multitask so you have to switch out of one application to access another. Further the screen is LCD rather than the more advanced OLED.

The jury is out as to whether it has the same impact as the iPod. Competitors will be hard on the heels with more advanced netbooks that can do more and a number of manufacturers are bringing out tablet devices. Apple however have a loyal following and a style advantage. Viewpoint suspects that the device will, like the iPhone, set the standard that others have to beat. It may be beaten however the iPad will have started a trend.

It is acknowledged by many that the iPhone, particularly the latest 3Gs has set a new standard for mobile phones. For some while others have been struggling to catch up although there are now an increasing array of new "pretenders." Some have particular features that are already superior to the iPhone although it is doubtful whether any are quite good enough to take the iPhone's crown. That being said the iPhone is not perfect and it does have an achilles heel. Apple are not keen to tell you this when you buy one but the iPhone cannot (unless "jailbroken") run Flash. Many websites incorporate aspects of Flash in their design, indeed Flash is now one of the leading web standards for displaying dynamic information such as movies or animations. To an iPhone however these are simply not visible. Make no mistake this is going to be a growing issue.

So why is the iPhone Flash blind? Many reasons; Flash is proprietary software of Adobe which means Apple would have to do some sort of deal. Further the tech folks at Apple are worried that Flash is too processor intensive and worry that the iPhone will not cope or at least that the user experience will be downgraded. Viewpoint wonders at this point given that the current user experience of Flash is already downgraded to non existent!

Until the matter is resolved webmasters need to consider how many of their potential visitors might want to access their site from an iPhone as if there is deemed to be sufficient demand then the website will need to be re-engineered to provide a suitable iPhone experience.