Google's 3D map

Yesterday the Internet search leader Google Inc. unveiled a new satellite
based three dimensional (3D) mapping product -- Google Earth. This free
service uses broadband streaming technology and 3D graphics to show an
aerial view of a user-requested location. The software can zoom in from
space-level close enough to see streets and buildings, and overlays the
search location on the picture. The view itself can be tilted and rotated.

The service includes local search for finding businesses, residences, points
of interest and other places. Driving instructions are also overlaid on the
aerial view, and are available in text format, which is printable.

The software for the service can be downloaded free from the search
giant's Web site. Google Earth is "much like a video game, enabling users
to interactively explore the world — either their own neighborhood or the
far corners of the globe," said Keyhole general manager in a statement.
"With many ways to access geographic information, Google provides a
very rich local search experience for users worldwide."

For an annual fee of only $20, you can also use Google Earth Plus, an
optional upgrade adding GPS device support, the ability to import
spreadsheets, drawing tools and better printing. And for professional and
commercial uses, for an annual subscription of $400, Google Earth Pro
provides the ultimate research, presentation and collaboration tool for
location information.

Cisco's AON

Last week Cisco officially unveiled a strategy called "Application Oriented
Networking (AON)", which will try to embed what Cisco calls "intelligent
application message routing" technology directly into Cisco's networking
gear. The new technology will allow the network to make routing, security,
and administrative decisions based on application-level information, in a
manner faster and cheaper than current implementations, which can
include multiple layers of hardware and software.

Such devices are becoming more important to service providers and large
enterprise users (two of Cisco's biggest customer groups) because of the
performance, security and administrative problems raised by networks
and applications that span wide geographic areas and cross multiple
network boundaries.

The first fruits of the AON effort will be blades for Cisco's larger 6500
series routers and for its smaller 2600 and 3700 series routers. The AON
announcement also provides a competitive answer to Juniper Networks'
announcement earlier this year to purchase two independent vendors,
Peribit Networks and Redline Networks, in the same technology arena.
Citrix Systems also recently announced purchase NetScaler, another
previously independent entrant in the application-acceleration arena.

Initially the AON technology will use XML hooks to link networking
hardware to applications, to allow for application performance
load-balancing, security and message-based routing tasks. Cisco said
other application protocols, such as IBM's middleware protocol, could
also be used by AON gear in the future.

IBM's Watson Blue Gene

Last week IBM unveiled its latest and greatest supercomputer. The
91-teraflop monster, dubbed "Watson Blue Gene," is capable of cranking
out a mind-blowing 91 trillion calculations per second. This ultra-powerful
-- yet remarkably affordable, practical, and accessible -- computing tool is
likely to give IBM a significant competitive advantage over competitors
such as Affymetrix, Intel, and General Electric in the life sciences,
information technology, and material sciences sectors.

The first area where the new computer will prove useful is in modeling
how proteins fold. A number of illnesses, including Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinson's disease, cystic fibrosis, mad-cow disease, and sickle-cell
anemia, are all thought to be related to improperly folding proteins. It's
expected that by better understanding the processes through which these
diseases occur, IBM researchers will find new and better ways to treat
them. Ultimately, the researchers hope to prevent the diseases from ever
occurring.

What it means for IBM is that the company could become not just a
bigger player in the life sciences sector but quite possibly the dominant
one. But the supercomputer's utility is by no means limited to examining
protein folding. Its raw processing power can be applied to any field or
discipline that requires massive crunching power, including financial risk
modeling, climate modeling, seismic exploration, and automotive design,
to name just a few.

As a result of this explosion of new data and information, IBM's consulting
business is likely to reap a lot of new contracts from companies hoping to
profit from the new findings. The computer should also strengthen IBM's
already strong position in the burgeoning field of nanotechnology. By
reducing the time it takes to run simulations from months or weeks down
to mere days or hours, Watson Blue Gene holds the potential to
exponentially increase our understanding of the complex fields of
materials sciences, quantum chemistry, and molecular and fluid dynamics.
Furthermore, because the computer is interactive, researchers will be able
to make adjustments on the fly, and that should speed up the time it takes
to translate scientific discoveries into viable commercial products.

In addition to being super-fast, Watson Blue Gene is also scalable. In fact,
IBM officials are confident that they'll be able to develop a successor
capable of a 1 petaflop performance level by the end of the decade. That's
1 quadrillion calculations per second -- 10 times as powerful as Watson
Blue Gene.

Acrylic from Microsoft

In the first week of May, Microsoft announced a new file format called
Metro which was meant to compete with Adobe's PDF.

If our readers remember ... in 2003 Microsoft had purchased a Hong Kong
based company called Creature House and consequently acquired its
Graphics application software, Expression.

Fast Forward to June, 2004. Microsoft now has released a test version of a
new professional graphics tool code-named Acrylic based on Expression.
Microsoft describes the software--currently (a 77MB free download) --as
bringing together pixel-based painting and vector graphics features. These
capabilities will put Acrylic in a prominent position in a market dominated
by Adobe Systems with its pixel-focused Photoshop and vector-driven
Illustrator products. The test version, or beta will expire on Oct. 1.

Although a Macintosh version of Expression was available before the
Microsoft purchase, however, the test version of Acryclic cannot be used
in Mac. Microsoft recommended an Intel Pentium 4 machine, with
Windows XP Service Pack 2, 512MB of memory, 500MB of disk space
and a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet supporting the WinTab interface
for running and using Acrylic.

Intel inside Mac.

Finally Apple announced today that it will stop using processors built
by IBM in favor of Intel chips, which could help the company cut prices
and offer more products. Apple will start using Intel chips in its Macintosh
computers beginning in 2006. Apple demonstrated Mac OS X running on
a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 processor during Steve Jobs' keynote at the Moscone
Convention Center earlier today.

Apple did not specify which Intel chips it plans to use, but an Intel
spokesman confirmed the chips will use the x86 architecture.

Intel inside Mac?

Later today ... as Steve Jobs takes to the stage of the Moscone Convention
Center in San Francisco and starts delivering his speech to the attendees
of the company’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference ... the Mac lovers
everywhere will listen with lots of interest. According to various reports,
the Apple Chief Executive Officer is probably set to announce today that it
intends to begin a transition of its computers to Intel Corp.’s architecture
over the next few years. Apple plans to begin the shift with low-end PCs in
mid-2006 and continue to high-end PCs in mid-2007. Intel, IBM and Apple
have not yet made any comment on these reports.

Let us wait and listen!

Cray XT3 Supercomputer

Supercomputer maker Cray has announced deals across several
continents for its new Cray XT3 massively parallel processing system, with
Cray's 'Red Storm' technology. The Japan Advanced Institute of Science &
Technology (JAIST), one of Japan's main academic research centres, will
soon take delivery of an XT3, which it will use to speed advances in the
development of new algorithms for massively parallel computers,
large-scale simulations and visualisation in nanotechnology and
biomechanics.

Cray will install the system with 372 AMD Opteron processors at the
JAIST facility near Kanazawa City, Ishikawa. Meanwhile the Swiss
National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) has also ordered an XT3 with
1100 AMD Opteron processors and a peak performance of 5.9 Teraflop/s.
The new system will boost CSCS' computing capability more than 5-fold
when it starts operating later in the year. It is expected to help achieve
breakthroughs in materials science, environmental science, life science,
astronomy, and chemistry research.

At home, Cray and the US Government have signed an agreement to
continue the development of next-generation supercomputer
technologies. The deal calls for Cray and the Government each to invest
approximately $17m over the next two years.
For more details, visit
www.jaist.ac.jp www.cscs.ch www.cray.com http://www.top500.org/

AMD's 'dual core' PC chip

AMD yesterday introduced its Athlon 64 X2 chips at Computex in Taipei,
Taiwan. Computex is one of the world’s largest hardware trade-shows.
Dual-core microprocessors pack two layers of silicon on a single chip in
order to enable the capability of two microprocessors. The dual-core chips
are primarily being targeted at users who like to play games or multi-task.

Hewlett Packard (HP) said it’s ready to support AMD’s dual-core chips;
the company is expected to mass ship dual-core PCs soon. In addition to
HP, custom PC builders are also ready to ship PCs equipped with
dual-core Athlon 64 X2 chips. However, the company’s dual-core offerings
will retail between $537 and $1001 depending upon the speed and other
integrated features, whereas Intel will price its dual-core processors
between $241 and $530. Intel said it’s shipping 100,000 Pentium D
microprocessors this quarter with millions expected to ship later in 2005.