Daily Bits

NComputing Offers Alternative to OLPC XO Laptops

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The OLPC project was a grand vision. Making computers accessible to the young generations provides them a portal to information that should go a long way in reducing the knowledge divide. But at $188, the project is still a tad costly on a per child basis. Enter Virtualization. A concept that makes one physical computer system host several virtual systems with resources allocated to them.

California based NComputing is using virtualization to provide an alternative to governments looking to provide affordable computing resources in their learning centers. The software from NComputing turns a PC into a number of virtual PCs which can be accessed by maximum 30 people, each with their dedicated mouse, monitor and keyboard.

An excerpt from PC World:

NComputing’s virtualization software runs on a desktop PC, said Stephen Dukker, chairman and CEO of NComputing. That PC is connected through an access terminal with the “virtual” PCs, which consist of a monitor, keyboard and mice, also known as “thin clients.”

The thin client does not have any storage. All of the computing is done on the main PC. NComputing software works with Microsoft’s Windows and Linux operating systems.

A single PC has more than enough processing power to be shared by several users, Dukker said. A typical person running productivity, multimedia, e-mail and Web browsing applications uses on average just 1 to 2 percent of the capacity of standalone PCs, with occasional peaks using 10 to 20 percent of a computer’s processing power, he added.

While the XO laptop provides a personalized all time available computing resource, it is pertinent question whether laptops are the solution for the same, if at all portable computing is as much a necessity. NComputing’s virtualized solution does provide a better priced alternative to the OLPC.

AI Inches Closer to Mimicking Intelligence

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Artificial Intelligence has long been a core research interest in Computer Science. Machines making sense of information and reacting the same way as humans have just not been that easy to develop. At the University of Reading (UK), five chat programs competed to lay claim to passing the Turing Test, a simple test to determine whether machines are capable of thought.

An excerpt from Associated Press:

Typing away at split-screen terminals Sunday, a dozen volunteers carried out two conversations at once: one with a chat program, the other with a human. After five minutes, they were asked to say which was which. Some were not sure who — or what — they were talking to.

At the end of the day, human intelligence still reigned with the chatbots not being able to confuse all 12 of the judges. The bronze award was won by Elbot, a chatbot designed by Fred Roberts.

Though it might be too extreme to assume that a chatbot able to deceive a human judges should pass for true intelligence, it could well be a start. Language does possess one of those skills that takes a life time to master.

Web Applications Customized to Cell Phones

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Recent developments in the mobile space may well be the sign of the way web based services will be made available across cell phones. There is stiff competition brewing between the handset makers. Now, it seems that the same is happening on the web applications side as well with FaceBook and MySpace trying to get the better of each other with integration deals with several telecommunication companies.

The articles in BusinessWeek give details on how Hutchison Whampoa is planning to make available a $50 handset from INQ supporting integration with FaceBook. Integration would imply ease of use. There are a whole number of web applications available but only the very popular ones would be in a position to support such integration.

One could argue that availability of services integrated with mobile devices makes the phone device as such less important. Could the mobile applications do to the mobile devices what the browser is doing to the Operating System on the desktop. As long as I can access my social networks, my favorite search engine, email account and a decent feed reader, how much more does the hardware matter?

Touch Screens Are Becoming the Norm on Mobile Phones

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Without doubt it was the iPhone that explored and popularized new horizons with the multi-touch interface. In a trend that is going more mainstream, Nokia and Blackberry having announced their latest models in the touchscreen space. Then there are the devices from Samsung and of course the Google backed phone – T-mobile G1 in what could could well be a revolution in user interface technologies.

For a technology that came into being in the early 70s, Touch screens have taken quite some time to go mainstream. The concept brings with it a fresh outlook to interacting with computer applications. Mobile devices have also been gaining more processing power under the hood and with powerful devices no longer being the forte of business executives alone. Here, its significant that Apple took the mobile community by storm with the iPhone. While the device is known for its sleek looks and interface, it is the synchronization between software and hardware that makes the device tick.

Taking cue from Apple’s success mobile phone manufacturers have also begun making entries in the touch-screen enabled mobile space. Google’s Android, the much mentioned mobile device software stack will be supported by a number of hardware manufacturers ( part of the OHA – Open Handset Alliance) and with its first G1 device that supports both a slide out keyboard and a touch interface, the tone for touch-screen’s importance is set. Nokia also announced its 5800 XPressMusic handset which is the first touchscreen from the Finnish mobile giant. While Apple has its niche space, Nokia has the market share to really make a difference with a slew of devices offering touchscreen interfaces. Also, RIM has announced Storm, a touch screen based device that is targeted at going beyond the business users.

But this appears only a beginning to the application of touch screens. The technology could go on to replace the mouse and keyboards as we know them. Microsoft research had demoed the concept of platform computing, with multi-touch interfaces. Then there are is the patent filed for technology of dual touch interfaces.

While navigation and maps are applications that clearly benefit from touchscreens, the wait is on for the real killer application for mobile devices. What applications of touch screens have you found exceptional?

10 Financial Meltdowns of The Past

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You might be shocked with the latest events in Wall Street and around the world as well, but this is not the first time that we experience a financial crisis. Taking a look at what happened in the past can help us both to understand what caused the problems, and how people manage to solve them. For that purpose Neatorama published a really interesting post titled 10 American Financial Meltdowns in the Past Century.

Here is the quote from the first one, the Panic of 1907:

Background: At the time, the young US stock market was in a decline – it was off 25% since the beginning of the year and Wall Street was jittery over the tight money supply.

Trigger: Then along came Otto Heinze with his get-(even)-rich(er)-quick scheme. In October of 1907, Otto, along with his brother, a copper magnate named Augustus Heinze, and the ice king (yup, he sold ice – remember, this was before the age of household refrigerators) Charles W. Morse, aggressively bought shares of United Copper, thinking that they could corner the market on the stock. Their plan failed spectacularly, and immediately bankrupted the trust companies and banks that provided the financing.

Runs on banks immediately ensued as depositors pulled their money from banks that had dealings (or rumored to have dealings) with the trio. In a little less than two weeks in the Panic of 1907, a chain reaction had left 9 trust companies and banks bankrupt.

They also covered how each crisis was solved. Check out the post to read the complete list.

Mozilla to Launch Geo-tagging Project

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Mozilla labs is all set to include a new project called Geode that will make use of geographical information while browsing and make better use of geotagged information on the web. Geotagging is the process of adding geographic information to media ( such as longitude, latitude and altitude information to photos and videos ). This information could be utilized by services to fetch content specific to certain places.

The project would be useful for accessing location specific information on mobile devices – directions, places, street addresses. Though Mozilla does not have a big presence in the mobile browsing space. Various projects at mozilla labs have been developed to make the browsing experience much smoother and efficient. Perhaps when these set of projects mature Mozilla would be considering a major thrust in the mobile browsing space as well.

Details on the Geode project will be updated here soon.