MIT creates nanotube process that could shrink, speed chips

New manufacturing technique could replace copper wires and transistors with nanotubes to build smaller, faster computer chips

Researchers at MIT have found a way to grow the carbon nanotubes that manufacturers need to build smaller, faster computer chips.

As chipmakers like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices work endlessly to find ways to build smaller and smaller chips, they often run into a multitude of problems.

A key issue that must be resolved: dealing with the tiny copper wires that connect transistors in a processor. As the chips shrink in size, so do the wires, making it increasingly difficult for them to maintain the level of current needed to meet performance requirements.

That's where the nanotubes come into play.

"When we shrink chip features, the interconnections between the transistors get smaller -- just like everything else," said Jim McGregor, an analyst at In-Stat. "And when they shrink, the performance isn't the same. Using carbon nanotubes is an interesting idea."

The question engineers have faced to date, he added, is "how do you do it?"

Gilbert Nessim, a researcher at MIT, said that chip manufacturers have consistently run into trouble by trying to build the nanotubes on a metal surface, which is needed to ensure an electrical contact.

Efforts to build carbon nanotubes on metal can face significant problems due to the heat required in the manufacturing process. The excess heat, for example, could cause the metals to form alloys that are not conducive to nanotube growth.

The MIT scientists used a combination of techniques to create a new process for using nanotubes. The techniques included vaporizing the metals tantalum and iron, which settle in layers on a silicon wafer. Then they placed the coated wafer at one end of a quartz tube, which was inserted into a furnace. The researchers also pump ethylene gas into the tube. The gas decomposes at high temperatures and the iron on the wafer catalyzed the formation of carbon nanotubes.

Nessim noted that the technique is based on processes already commonly used in the semiconductor industry. which should make them eaasier -- and cheaper -- for manufacturers to adopt.

Intel, long looking to create the next generation of chips, is an underwriter of the MIT research. Nessim said the semiconductor industry has been interested in finding ways to replace copper wires with nanotubes, but has been slowed by the effort to find a reasonable way to deal with the metal issues.

"I hope this [research] may revise that enthusiasm to some point," he said. "At some point, they'll be stuck with copper that does not work and they'll have to find an alternative. We hope that our insights ... have eased a little bit of some fabrication issues and hope this will match the requirements that they have."

Intel, in a statement responding to questions from Computerworld , said they hope such research breakthroughs can help the company switch copper wires to nanotubes by some time after 2015.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA

Saya mengucapkan selamat hari raya aidilfitri.
Moga anda semua berbahagia disamping keluarga dan org tercinta..

Happy Hari Raya Eidulfitri
Wishing you happily besides your family and beloved people

Dark matter: Black gold for IT

Solutions like Splunk 4 and ArcSight FraudView shed light on buried log files, transforming them into strategic data resources

Compliance has turned us into pack rats. Even outside the heavily regulated health and financial industries, many of us now reflexively play it safe and save anything that seems important. But surprisingly, this "structured" information -- documents, e-mail, transaction records -- accounts for only about half of all enterprise data.

The other half is so-called dark matter. Generated by servers, routers, desktops, switches, and other systems, dark matter generally takes the form of log files that record errors, system access attempts, and countless other events. Dark matter in IT, like that mysterious stuff floating in deep space, is both widely distributed and hidden despite its enormous mass.

Typically, IT pays attention to dark matter only after something goes wrong. When there's a security breach, you go straight to the log files to see when and how the breach began and which systems may have been compromised. When a server goes down, log files usually reveal the cause of the failure. Otherwise, dark matter stays in the dark.

But what if you monitored those log files en masse as a matter of course? Could you drill into dark matter and detect security breaches in progress or sound the alarm based on a pattern of errors before a server falls over?

The answer to that question points to some of the most interesting enterprise technology around -- including SEM (security event management), cloud-based distributed computing, and advanced search technology expressly designed for dark matter.

To take a timely example, ArcSight -- one of the leading SEM vendors -- just announced FraudView, which mines security log data for statistically significant patterns of nefarious activity. According to Reed Henry, senior vice president of marketing for ArcSight, FraudView is already being used to detect wire fraud in wholesale banks and "pump and dump" stock schemes in retail brokerages.

On the raw technology side, there's Apache Hadoop, a Java programming framework designed for data-intensive parallel processing. Hadoop turns out to be perfect for pulling together log files distributed across an organization for analysis. Amazon now provides turnkey Hadoop services, so customers can shovel huge quantities of log data onto Amazon servers and crunch on it mercilessly, teasing out patterns that may yield profound insights on, say, application or datacenter architecture.

Google offers Android 1.6 SDK

The development kit features a new search framework, CDMA backing, and support for additional screen sizes

The Android 1.6 SDK, which adds backing for CDMA and additional screen sizes to the Android mobile device software platform, is available for developers to download, the Google Android blog said this week.

The downloadable kit is based on the "donut" branch of the Android Open Source Project. Support for CDMA and additional screen sizes enables applications to be deployed on more mobile networks and devices, the blog states.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Last week, Motorola unveiled its Android-based Cliq handheld. | Is it too late for Android to get its developers back on board? InfoWorld's Neil McAllister explores why Android developers are unhappy. | Dive deep into next-gen mobile with InfoWorld's 20-page PDF featuring hands-on reviews, analysis, and insights from our editors. ]

"You will have access to new technologies, including framework-level support for additional screen resolutions, like QVGA and WVGA, new telephony APIs to support CDMA, gesture APIs, a text-to-speech engine, and the ability to integrate with Quick Search Box," said Android SDK tech lead Xavier Ducrohet.

The 1.6 release of Android features a redesigned search framework for users to search across multiple sources such as browser bookmark, contacts, and the Web. Searches can be done via the home screen. The user interface offers an integrated camera and a faster camera experience. A VPN control panel lets users configure different types of VPNs. Also featured is a battery usage screen indicating which applications and services are consuming power.

Version 1.6 also offers the Pico multilingual speech synthesis engine. Developers also gain a framework for building and recognizing gestures and associating them with specific actions. The SDK features the GestureBuilder tool to generate libraries of gestures to include with applications.

Devices running Android 1.6 are anticipated as soon as next month, Ducrohet said. Applications written for older versions of Android will run on version 1.6.

The kit requires a new version of Android Development Tools and includes a tool to enable downloading of updates and components like add-ons or platforms.

Windows Vista less good, Microsoft exec admits

With Windows 7's launch looming , a company executive yesterday denigrated its predecessor, calling Vista a "less good product."

The comment won't surprise many analysts and users, who have condemned the 2007 operating system as bloated, slow and balky, but it's the furthest any high-level Microsoft executive has gone in criticizing Vista.

"What people underestimate is the importance of good or bad products," said Charles Songhurst, Microsoft's general manager of corporate strategy, at a investor's conference on Tuesday. "And sometimes your products are good, sometimes the products are bad. And I think Vista was a less good product for Microsoft."

Windows 7, on the other hand, is much better than good, Songhurst argued. "Windows 7 is an extremely good product from Microsoft. It's been brilliantly developed, and I think people probably underestimate the effects of the bad products and the good products."

In the past, Microsoft's top managers have limited their public criticism of Vista to oblique comparisons with the new Windows 7. Last October, for example, CEO Steve Ballmer called Windows 7 "Windows Vista, a lot better."

A month later, others, including Stephen Sinofsky, who heads Windows development, acknowledged mistakes had made with Vista, but swore that they would not be repeated with Windows 7.

Company executives' private opinions of Vista were much more revealing, however. According to internal Microsoft e-mails disclosed in 2008 during a class-action lawsuit, senior executives and a board member griped about Vista shortly after it was released in early 2007, saying it was missing drivers and crippled their new PCs.

For the most part, Windows 7's reception by analysts, users and reviewers has been positive, with Computerworld 's Preston Gralla representative of the consensus. "If you're a Vista user, you'll do well to upgrade to Windows 7; it's a superior operating system," Gralla said in his review of the final code .

At the Webcast conference, sponsored by the Jeffries investment and banking group, Songhurst also dismissed the idea that Apple and Google, with their Mac OS and Chrome OS , respectively, pose a threat to Microsoft's dominance in the operating system market.

"Apple has two very big structure advantages over us," Songhurst acknowledged. "The first is its vertical integration ... there's always the quality of experience you can do if you go vertical that you can never do as a horizontal player."

Apple, however, has maneuvered to make its operating system, and thus its computers, more attractive to CIOs. Late last month, Apple launched Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard , which includes built-in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 .

As for Google's Chrome, Songhurst was just as optimistic that Microsoft would be able to fend off that rival. "Because [Chrome OS] doesn't exist yet, it's hard to say much about it," Songhurst started. "If it comes out and it's the world's most amazing operating system, and does things that no one has ever thought of, it's a real problem for Microsoft. [But] if it's a similar version to a Microsoft operating system, but at a lower price point, or funded by search, it's much less of a threat.

"The quality of Windows 7 is the best defense we have in this space," Songhurst said.

Some analysts have agreed . In an interview shortly after Google announced Chrome OS last July, Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, was confident that Google could face the same challenges as Microsoft in the long run. "We didn't get to where we are with Windows because Microsoft set out to build a slow, massive operating system. They kept adding functionality," Cherry said at the time.

"What Google will face is application developers who say, 'Here's what we'd like to do,' and Google will realize that their OS doesn't support that. And then they'll expose an API or add functionality. And lo and behold, it's a little bigger," he said.

Google has shared little about Chrome, saying only that it will launch in the second half of 2010 .

Not surprisingly, Microsoft's Songhurst was upbeat about Windows', and Microsoft's, future.

"What you hear at the moment is a lot of commentary about how [the OS business] is commoditized, how it's hard to get more innovation in it," he said during the Q&A portion of the conference. "And I think what you'll find is a renewed belief in innovation, and a renewed belief in the Windows franchise.

"When Windows is executing well, Microsoft is in good shape," said Songhurst. metatag data

BAGAIMANA GEROMBOLAN JUAL NEGARA!!!

TANAH DI SERAH KEPADA PEMAJU - melayau

SELAYANG 14 Sept. - "Kami disuruh memohon tanah ini tetapi ternyata itu sekadar kata-kata untuk menyedapkan hati penduduk kerana akhirnya tanah itu diberikan kepada sebuah syarikat."

Itulah luahan penduduk sekitar Jalan 1, Bandar Baru Selayang, di sini, terhadap keputusan Pejabat Tanah dan Daerah (PTD) Gombak yang meluluskan tanah di Lot 10875 untuk Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) dan sebuah syarikat.

Mereka membantah sekeras-kerasnya pemberian hak milik tanah itu atas alasan mereka terlebih dahulu memohon tanah tersebut iaitu sejak 12 tahun lalu.

"Harapan penduduk untuk mendapatkan tanah itu berkecai kerana 'dirampas' dengan mudah oleh syarikat itu sedangkan kami sudah lama memohonnya," kata penduduk di situ.

Seorang penduduk, Abdul Majid Md. Haniff, 47, berkata, selama 12 tahun dia berusaha dan memohon untuk mendapatkan hak milik tanah tersebut tetapi usahanya ternyata sia-sia.

Menurutnya, dia juga berasa teraniaya dengan keputusan yang diambil oleh PTD Gombak itu kerana sebelum ini, dia juga pernah mengalami masalah yang sama sebelum ini.

"Dulu, masa saya tinggal di Kampung Selayang Tin begini juga jadinya. Tanah yang dahulunya hak milik nenek moyang kami dirampas dan rumah kami diroboh begitu sahaja oleh MPS tanpa memberikan sebarang pampasan ketika itu.

"Tetapi pada masa itu, tahap kesabaran kami masih boleh dikawal. Tidak sampai lima bulan kemudian, rumah kedai yang dimiliki oleh mak saya pula dirobohkan oleh MPS tanpa sebarang notis pemberitahuan sedangkan kami ada dokumen yang sah mengenai bangunan tersebut," katanya.

nota:
perhatikan dimana ketuanan melayu menjual
tanah orang melayu kepada para cukong. lihat
satu demi satu tanah hilang tuan. semuanya dilakukan
kerana ada duit masuk bawa meja.

orang melayu di tipu dengan ketuanan melayu
pada hal yang membolot harta kekayaan negara
ini ialah cukong dan towkay yang ada hubungan
dengan pemimpin gerombolan.

caranya cukup senang. nama ketua gerombolan akan
dimasukan sebagai lembaga pengarah atau dijanjikan saham
atau dijanjikan kondo bersama amoi. lalu tanah ini diluluskan.
cara ini telah berjalan selama 52 tahun. hingga habis tanah
orang melayu dalam bandar kena rembat.

inilah nama nya ketuanan melayu. pakida ke pewaris ke
pesaka ke pekatak bobok ke tidak akan bersuara kerana
dapat keluping saham atau sekurang kurangnya dapat
jadi pak gard kah kah kah

p/s : adakah anda tahu di indonesia tanah tidak
dibenarkan dimiliki oleh orang asing?

Microsoft to deliver five critical Windows patches next week

Microsoft today said it will deliver five security updates on Tuesday, all affecting Windows and all ranked "critical," the company's highest threat rating.
Unlike some months when Microsoft provides its usual advance notification for upcoming updates, this time there weren't any hints of what may be coming, said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security.
"It's a foggy advance warning," said Storms. "I'm a little bit at a loss for words. There doesn't seem to be anything here that has been disclosed publicly."
That didn't stop Storms from speculating, though. "We could see another ATL update," he said, referring to the flaws in Active Template Library (ATL), a Microsoft code "library" that it and third-party developers use to create software.
"It wouldn't be surprising if Microsoft still had some ATL bugs to fix," said Storms, "although I think it's also likely that we'll see more third-party patches than ones from Microsoft."
All five of the security updates slated to ship next week are rated critical, and all five were tagged as affecting various versions of both the client and server editions of Windows. "I guess you could say that they're batting five for five on Windows," observed Storms. "It's also batting four for five for Vista and [Windows] Server 2008."
As Storms said, four of the five updates apply to Windows Vista -- all four of those are ranked critical -- while the same four will also impact Windows Server 2008, the newest production version of Microsoft's server software. Three of those Server 2008 updates were pegged critical, while the fourth was rated as "important," the next-lowest threat level.
Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 will also receive updates Tuesday.
"We usually don't expect to see Microsoft's new OSes to be critical," noted Storms. "It's also unusual that they're all for Windows. So this is out of the ordinary."
Microsoft won't be patching the just-revealed vulnerability in its popular Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server, according to Storms. "We couldn't expect Microsoft to patch it that fast," he said, reading the tea leaves of the advance notification to dismiss any thought that the bug in IIS 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0 will get a fix next week.