Online Net Meeting

Facebook app lets Intel PCs donate processor power | Nanotech – The Circuits Blog – CNET News

Can’t donate your personal time to a good cause? Intel is providing what may be the next best option.

Intel teamed up with GridRepublic on Monday to launch a Facebook application that allows the spare processing power in a PC to be used to fight diseases and study climate change.

The massive amount of data crunching necessary for high level research is often extremely expensive or not readily available–or both. Intel’s solution is Progress Thru Processors, a computing application built on the Facebook platform that allows people to donate their PC’s available data processing capacity to research projects such as Rosetta@home, which uses computers to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases.
GridRepublic application allows computers to work on public-interest research projects when the machines are not otherwise in use.

GridRepublic application allows computers to work on public-interest research projects when the machines are not otherwise in use.

(Credit: Intel)

In addition to Rosetta@home, Progress Thru Processors participants can choose to contribute processor power to the research efforts of Climateprediction.net and Africa@home. Climateprediction.net is dedicated to increased understanding of global climate change by predicting the Earth’s climate and testing the accuracy of climate models. Africa@home is currently focused on finding optimal strategies to combat malaria by studying simulation models of disease transmission and the potential impact of new anti-malarial drugs and vaccines.

“By simply running an application on your computer, which uses very little incremental resources, you can expand computing resources to researchers,” Deborah Conrad, Intel vice president and general manager of corporate marketing, said in a statement.

The application was launched Monday as a public beta and available to all Facebook users and is available for download here.

The application will activate only when a PC’s performance is not being fully utilized. When the participant’s computer usage demands more processor performance, the application defers and sits idle until spare processing capabilities become available again, Intel said. The application runs automatically as a background process on a PC and will not affect performance or any other tasks, according to Intel.

Progress Thru Processors does not require participants to leave their computers powered up unnecessarily. By keeping their PCs on only as they normally would, participants will still be contributing, Intel said.

source >>

Credit:
Facebook app lets Intel PCs donate processor power

Boosted by government initiatives and green spending, China’s IT market in 2009 will only be minimally affected by the global economic slowdown, according to a new report from Springboard Research.

IT spending in the country will reach $51.2 billion in 2009, a year-on-year growth of 11 percent, the research firm said in a statement Friday. This is only 2 percent shy of Springboard’s previous estimate of 13.1 percent growth, or $52.1 billion.

China’s IT market growth, noted Springboard, has largely been protected by the financial crisis as its export industry, the country’s worst hit sector, is not a key buyer of technology. China’s huge domestic market and its “almost closed financial system” also play a part in helping the country cope with the market conditions, said Bryan Wang, Springboard’s country manager for Greater China.

“Moreover, a strong government investment plan will boost spending in various economic quarters and help the Chinese IT market sustain its place as a shining star in the Asia-Pacific region in 2009,” he added.

Last November, the Chinese government announced a $585.2 billion stimulus package, which includes plans to invest over $290 billion on railway network expansion from 2009 to 2011. This, Springboard noted in its report, highlights the market opportunity for IT products.

IT expenditure in key verticals such as government, education, and telecoms will grow on the back of the government stimulus package, said Wang. According to the report, government-driven infrastructure spending will bolster a large portion of investment in the country in 2009, while IT expenditure relating to 3G wireless networkswill also be a big area of spending for telecom operators in China in 2009. The banking and finance sector’s IT spending will remain firm, but IT planners will exercise more caution in their purchases.

In addition, green IT will be fast-growing in China–the market for green IT products and services is expected to have a five-year compound annual growth rate of 71 percent to reach $447 million in 2011.

“Springboard Research believes the green data centers and related green IT services will become a hot area for these organizations in 2009,” the report noted. “Enterprises will look to rapidly build out investments in green-field data centers, and this will also bring out the concept of virtualization and recycling with existing infrastructure, which is increasingly becoming a critical part of the investment moving forward.”

Players in the business process outsourcing (BPO) market, particularly small and midsize independent software vendors, may be the most affected by the global financial crisis, Springboard said in its report.

Many Chinese BPO companies located in cities including Dalian and Shenzhen, have a majority of their businesses from overseas banking and financial institutions, it explained, adding that these providers’ businesses would be affected in 2009 as a result of “very few” contracts secured in the second half of 2008.

Hong Kong and Taiwan, having been part of the global financial system for decades, would also be more affected by the global slowdown, Springboard added. The impact on Taiwan’s IT expenditure would be more severe, as Hong Kong is expected to gain financial support from mainland China.

According to Springboard, the Chinese government’s plans and policies will lead to a more stable IT market from the second quarter of 2009.

Vivian Yeo of ZDNet Asia reported from Singapore.

SOURCE

Read the original here:
Report: China IT spending remains strong

Bill Gates delivered his last scheduled speech as a full time Microsoft employee at the company’s TechEd Developers conference this week in Orlando.

Originally posted here:
Bill Gates last public speech

MSI has officially unveiled its new Wind mini-laptop that’s based on the Intel Atom processor.

Read the original here:
MSI launches Wind mini-laptop

Computex, one of the world’s largest IT hardware shows, officially opened on Tuesday. An estimated 150,000 attendees and exhibitors will stream through the doors of the show between now and the weekend to see the latest computer technology on display

See the original post here:
Mini-laptops take Computex show by storm

Taiwanese hardware maker Asus has seen its name-recognition rocket over the last year since it launched its Eee PC low-cost laptop. The machine kick-started a new segment of the portable computing industry and updated versions were launched this week

The rest is here:
Asustek CEO talks about what’s next for Eee

Bill Gates delivered his last scheduled speech as a full time Microsoft employee at the company’s TechEd Developers conference this week in Orlando.

Go here to read the rest:
Bill Gates’ last public speech

High Tech Computer has announced the Touch Pro, a business-centric version of its iPhone rival, Touch Diamond that revealed last month to great fanfare.

More:
HTC launches the Touch Pro

Computex, one of the world’s largest IT hardware shows, officially opened on Tuesday. An estimated 150,000 attendees and exhibitors will stream through the doors of the show between now and the weekend to see the latest computer technology.

See original here:
Mini-laptops storm Computex

Taiwanese hardware maker Asus has seen its name-recognition rocket over the last year since it launched its Eee PC low-cost laptop. The machine kick-started a new segment of the portable computing industry.

Source:
Asustek CEO: What’s next for Eee

Japan’s Clarion showed a new prototype of its personal navigation device that combines Internet access, a multimedia player with digital TV and GPS all-in-one.

The rest is here:
Clarion shows all-in-one GPS

Microsoft has now extended the deadline for Windows XP on low-cost desktops. They now join low-cost laptops, like the Asus Eee PC, which got the XP extension in April.

View post:
XP saved! (sort of)

How does today’s modern unified communications system compare to your stereo system components? Peter Greco of Siemens Communications outlines the piece that bring unified communications together in the enterprise.

View original here:
Unified Communications combines more than phone and e-mail

How does today’s modern unified communications system compare to your stereo system components? Peter Greco of Siemens Communications outlines the piece that bring unified communications together in the enterprise.

Excerpt from:
Unified Communications deconstructed

Asustek Computer has developed a new version of its hit Eee PC and is showing it at Computex, the massive Taiwanese hardware show that saw the launch of the first Eee PC last year.

See original here:
Asus launches Atom-based Eee PC