Current CITE-ings from the popular and trade computing press
Article Type: Current CITE-ings from the popular and trade computing press From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 26, Issue 9.
This issue's column has much of interest to librarians. With improvements in audio and video technology, librarians have greater opportunities to enhance the distance learning process. More competition is looming for Amazon's Kindle,which will likely expand the E-Book market. As libraries continue to explore mobile applications for their users, they are finding it difficult to keep track of new players and the constantly changing marketplace. The Web continues to create challenges for user privacy. The open source movement continues to be strong and grow and new tools and opportunities for the growth of web services by satellite will provide greater appeal for libraries to focus on cloud computing applications and continue to develop a strong web presence.
Web developments
HTML 5, based on open standards, is being launched as the latest web markup language. It competes with the proprietary Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight,and SunJavaFix. New features make it exciting and competitive. Five new features are: canvas for JavaScript to create web graphics; location API interface to locate data from GPS or other sources; video element that makes it easier to embed video on web pages; Appcache that allows websites to launch offline; and the inclusion of web workers, that are background threads that speed execution. Because it is open source, all one needs is a browser and text editor to build front-end applications in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS (Dr Dobbs Report, 2009).
There is concern that Google's Chrome operating system may not gain total traction in the marketplace. This is because large enterprise companies have applications that are not browser based, and that employees currently spend half their time outside of the browser (Conry-Murray, 2009).
Companies are trying to find how social networking tools fit in with collaborative technologies for document management, project management, and product development. Two popular enterprise social networking packages are Microsoft Sharepoint and IBM Lotus. More of these technologies are also becoming web-centric. Some companies are beginning to embrace the dynamic nature of social computing and turn it to their advantage. Wikis have been found to be helpful and more efficient in across-time-zone communication, whereby employees can focus on the free flow of work when it is time to get the work done, rather than working with batch-processed information (Soat, 2009).
E-Book devices
An article argues that the Kindle DX is still not good enough to provide another necessary medium to save publishing. The Kindle DX needs to provide the richness of print, with some of the neat tricks of the digital era such as targeted ads and animation. It also must be inexpensive. It needs to be able to handle newspapers and magazines with deep high resolution color, e-inks, and a touch screen. It also needs to be structured like a folio to mimic a magazine spread (Levy, 2009).
Barnes and Noble have added a new twist in the competitive e-Book market. It will offer up to a million books, including the more than half million books that Google is offering for free in its new E-Book Store. Barnes and Noble are making these digital books readable on a variety of devices, such as the iPhone,iPodTouch, Blackberry, and most personal computers. Beyond free titles, it will sell all other trade and traditional titles for $9.99 (Skidmore, 2009).
Plastic Logic is releasing a new e-Book device early next year that can work on wireless with AT&T as the cellular carrier. It will be a direct challenge to Amazon's Kindle, which works on a wireless connection with Sprint Nextel. This digital reader is being positioned for professionals who want to display business documents in nearly full size 8.5 11. Reading novels will be a secondary application. Plastic Logic is also partnering with major US newspapers. The e-Book reader will be able to work with Wi-Fi and used internationally with the AT&T Network (Svensson, 2009).
Mobile computing
Moren (2009) argues that the iPhone 3GS and its updated iPhone 3.0 software make it the best smart phone on the market. The iPhone 3.0 has 100 new features,and 1,000 programming tools. Some new features include copy and paste, multiple languages, better internal searching, the ability to find a lost phone through Google Maps, and the ability to remotely erase what is on the phone. The iPhone 3GS has added speed, stability, voice controls, and improved camera, and video recording features.
Apple is considering allowing the European music streaming service Spotify to be included as an application on the iPhone. Two other applications that copy iPhone functionality are Vonager VOIP and Skype. The author feels that Apple may have passed on these applications because it rejected the Google Voice, which had drawn attention from the FCC.
Research in Motion was planning to release Blackberry Desktop Software for computers in September. This release will allow smart phone users to synchronize their play lists, iTunes, contacts, calendars, notes, and tasks from their Macintosh computers. The smart phone desktop software will also allow users to update their devices with new software applications, manage multiple devices,and perform scheduled backups automatically (Staff Reporter, 2009).
Malware is beginning to show-up on mobile devices. There are PC botnets, and now there are mobile device botnets. Cell phones can become infected with malware when clicking on a link in a text message that downloads software. The infected devices are then used to send spam or for a cyber attack. Sexy Space is an example given by the author. This SMS virus, like PC botnets, communicates with a remote central server that is controlled by hackers (Giles, 2009).
Deutsche Telekom AG and France Telecom SA say they intend to combine their British mobile units T-Mobile UK and France Telecom Orange UK. They feel this would be a stable addition to an overcrowded British mobile market (Barr, 2009 a, b).
Educational applications
Anonymous Student Response Systems (SRS) for the classroom have helped give professors (and librarians) feedback on what is not being understood by students. This technology is now being applied to distance learning. The new iClicker is now available as a next generation product for remote learners. It enables more and better class participation for these students. It is designed to poll students participating from satellite campuses, home, or other remote locations. Other web-based SRS products that work over Wi-Fi or cell data networks are Turning Technologies Response Ware, WebClicker, Qwizdom, and Elnstruction (Grayson, 2009).
Videoconferencing is vastly improving. The key to good videoconferencing is quality images, decent sound, good lighting, and solid moderation at both ends. Videoconferencing is difficult because it is not interpersonal communication. It is an unnatural experience to pay attention to the medium, the message, and the nonverbal cues of communication. The author recommends Cisco Telepresence as the best videoconferencing product. This product is used in Telepresence rooms where cameras are at eye level, everyone appears like they are at the same table, and everyone is lifesize on the screen (Harrison, 2009).
Legislation
On the computer legislation front, an article discusses privacy issues with behavioral advertising that results in targeted sales pitches. Currently,internet marketeers data mine the search habits of computer users. This includes the sites they visit, the online links they click, the search queries they conduct, the products they put into online shopping carts, and the personal details revealed on social networking sites. The US congress is working on an online marketing privacy bill that would ensure that consumers know what information is being collected about them, and how it is being used, and to give them control over that information (Tessler, 2009).
Google's book settlement is still drawing concerns, The US Copyright Office head, Marybeth Peters, has joined the objection to a class-action settlement for Google to gain the digital rights to millions of out of print books. The US Department of Justice is concerned that the settlement could hurt competition in the growing market for digital books. Google would be a monopoly provider because it wants to be the only entity with digital rights to sell out of print books that are not claimed by the copyright owner. In a conciliatory tone,Google said it would allow Amazon and other online retailers to sell its digital copies of out of print books. Peters feels it is troubling that Google would be empowered to make digital copies of all books published by January 5, 2009, with no set deadline on completing the task. Google loses the digital rights to the books covered in the settlement only if the copyright holder opts out of the deal. At issue for libraries, also, is that the index of book purchases and use by consumers would only be controlled by Google (Ledtke, 2009).
A closely watched British court case concerning libel made headlines. Metropolitan International Schools Limited sued Google over defamatory complaints. The justice ruled that Google is not a publisher because searches are carried out entirely by computers, and the search engine does not choose the terms itself (Barr, 2009 a, b).
Miscellaneous computing trends and developments
In the Open Source news, Linux is the fastest growing platform. The Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin says it is advancing into supercomputing, embedded systems, and the desktop. Linux has a foothold in cloud computing, and Moblin 2, the mobile version of Linux, is rapidly being developed. Intel has handed off jurisdiction of Moblin 2 to the Linux Foundation(Krill, 2009). Fifty companies and organizations have joined Open Source for America. This organization wants to promote and educate the federal government to use open source software within its agencies (Krill, 2009).
Market success has been found in providing simple cheap fast digital tools that may not be very powerful, but do the job. Sometimes this emergence of cheap substitutes is called disruptive technology. It cites as an example the Flip Ultra video camera by Pure Digital. People are not necessarily seeking quality now. Instead, they are seeking convenience and shareability. Another market example is MP3, which the music industry ignored in favor of a more fidelity CD. The MP3 went on to become a success. Another example is the drift toward cloud computing, over stand alone PC based software. Microsoft is playing catch-up,offering Office 2010 on the cloud. Google has also announced a mostly cloud based operating system that will work in tandem with the company's Chrome browser. The digital market is now focused on three things: ease of use,continuous availability, and low price. This model even affects services. As an example, eLawyering is a service that provides contact with a lawyer over the web and provides accessibility for easy tasks (Capps, 2009). These are examples of “good enough” products and services for consumers and libraries should take note!
Microsoft is gearing up for the changing marketplace by offering a Windows 7 version for the netbook, by offering the Azure Cloud computing platform, and by integrating Office web applications with its traditional desktop version. Google is competing with products of its own. Google is offering the Chrome OS, Google Apps, and Google Voice. The Chrome OS is targeting the netbook market. It is an open source Linux-based OS for web centric computing. For Chrome to be successful, the experts say it must create an exciting rush of innovation comparable to what Apple achieved with the iPhone. Experts say the key for Chrome is how Google can create a very robust and partner infrastructure for building applications and tools that PC users depend on every day. Right now Microsoft is nipping at Google Voice, which has poor integration with Google Apps. Microsoft is going to provide Office web apps support for voice mail delivery to email in-boxes (Fontana, 2009).
Hybrid Clouds are beginning to be talked about in the cloud computing arena. IT departments are looking to run more efficiently by developing an internal cloud, and sending the heaviest workloads to an external cloud. This process is called cloud bursting. There is some work to do here. To have your work in the same format, you will want the same hypervisor, sort of a cloud computing operating system. VMWare's Vmotion and Citrix Systems' Xenmotion and IBM's Hyper-V tools can do this. Also, live migration of data can only be done between physical servers with the same chipsets. Technology vendors are working on these problems and on developing standards. Eucalyptus Systems is working on the Eucalyptus open source code APIs that are initially compatible with Amazon's EC2. They allow internal clouds to synchronize with the leading public cloud services. The Ubuntu enterprise cloud is using Eucalyptus. Other standards bodies involved are the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and The Distributed Management Task Force. Progress in interoperability will be made in the form of cloud API's and virtualization (Babcock, 2009).
Virtual desktops will complement software as a service by providing a safe haven for accessing data and applications of all types, whether inside or outside the enterprise. It would act as a terminal service (presentation virtualization), and it will not replace application virtualization. It will act as an independent operating environment. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is being built to handle web browsing and custom applications across a wide variety of operating systems and handheld devices. This article goes on to provide a tutorial on implementing desktop virtualization, including tips on return on investment (George, 2009).
The US Government is requesting bids for satellite communications (sitcom)for military and civilian use. The US Government plans to use satcom for emergency response, communications with remote locations, video broadcast,distance learning, and as a backup for continuity of operations (COOP). Civilian users are considering satcom for broadband and mobile applications that are becoming cheaper and faster to use. The latest satellites handle the problem of latency by adding application acceleration and WAN optimization features(Duffy-Marsan, 2009).
Large memory and storage is being developed with the use of solid state flash drives (SSD) for data centers. When compared to RAM and disks, they use less power, generate less heat, and perform much faster. A mirrored pair of SSD's can outperform 100 spinning disks. There are drawbacks. They are still quite expensive and because they store data on pages rather than sectors, the pages are slower to erase. The voltage it takes to erase them wears out the tiny transistors over time. There are two types of flash memory: single level cell,and multilevel cell. Vendors are working on the first generation of these devices. They are developing automated tiering, and support of a shared storage backend which is currently used by virtual servers (Marks, 2009).
Taiwan's publically funded Industrial Technology Research Institute has developed a unique technology that can control common computing platforms with single hand gestures in the air. All one needs is a web cam and the Air Cursor software. The ITRI is looking for partners to start distributing the software(Nystedt, 2009).
Lois Trapasso
