ibm

You're sitting at dinner. The phone rings. You don't recognize the number. Who can it possibly be?

Either the lover of your dreams or, slightly more likely, someone trying to sell you a landline to add to your cable package.

And yet, it might well be that this won't be some ordinary telemarketer. It might be the infamous "Jeopardy" player, Watson, the IBM supercomputer.

The way ExtremeTech tells it, Watson is being groomed for even lower things than game shows.

For IBM reportedly has a dream of turning him into the world's most efficient (… Read more

Myspace has been sold to Specific Media for a whopping $35 million & Justin Timberlake is reported to be one of the investors. Can Justin bring the sexy back to Myspace? Google's Google Plus social media site opens & closes the invites within 1 day & Antuan Goodwin might be to blame. And Donald Bell joins us to give his two cents on the HP TouchPad. It's show 1501... Join us tomorrow as we go back in time for show 1500!

IBM has solved two related problems with phase-change memory and now says the fast next-generation data-storage technology will be ready for use in 2016 in servers.

In a paper for the IEEE International Memory Workshop, Big Blue researchers describe how they squeezed two bits of data into each phase-change memory cell rather than just one. Though that's not the first incarnation of this idea, called multilevel storage, the researchers said they've made it practical by sidestepping a problem called "drift" that otherwise causes data errors the longer data is stored.

The engineering advancements help overcome significant barriers in introducing a technology that holds the potential to significantly transform computer designs. Phase-change memory (PCM), could snuggle up alongside conventional dynamic random access memory (DRAM) to improve computer performance in ways that flash memory so far can't. It's not as fast as DRAM, but IBM says it's 100 times faster at reading and writing data than flash memory, its chief competitor today.

IBM's PCM technology isn't yet ready for real-world use, but the improvements in multilevel storage and drift tolerance means the technology should be competitive in 2016 for the server applications IBM has in mind, said Haris Pozidis, one of the IBM Research paper authors.

"Our main application, being in the server business, is enterprise storage and memory applications," Pozidis said. "In the consumer market, the most important attribute is cost per bit. In enterprise applications, the most important attributes are speed, because [PCM will be] sitting close to the main memory where there are lots of transactions per second, and the endurance of device. We must make sure the device can write and read many numbers of times." … Read more

Mozilla today did its best impression of a mea culpa in response to the corporate backlash following recent comments that the company doesn't care about its enterprise customers.

In a blog post today, Mozilla tried to justify its recent fast-paced upgrade cycle by saying that such updates help secure users and provide a richer Web experience. The company once again explained that its focus has been on the individual user but admitted that Firefox has carved out a niche in the corporate world.

Mozilla also acknowledged the challenge for corporate IT, which has to test and certify their Web … Read more

100 Years of IBM milestones, scientists combine a human cell and a jellyfish into a living laser and Facebook is armed wih HTML5 and going after Apple.

A power surge mid-show knocked us, Donald's birthday celebration, and the rest of the episode offline. Here's what we managed to salvage from the wreckage ... at least you can read the stories and emails for yourselves! See you tomorrow!

The company known as International Business Machines turns 100 years old today, and it's been one hell of a ride.

In the dynamic American economy, not many companies make it this long--much less remain this successful. You can probably count them on one hand: Ford. GE. Several banks, which have merged and acquired themselves right out of recognition.

All of these companies' stories share the same theme: adaptability. Facing bankruptcy, Ford spent its way out of the latest recession. GE moved beyond lighting into infrastructure. And, as we'll learn below, IBM let data guide it to success.

All … Read more

To IBM, buildings are just another source of data its computers can crunch and make sense of.

The computing giant today at an event in New York is unveiling its Intelligent Building Management software, which collects and analyzes information to improve energy efficiency and maintenance. It's part of IBM's smarter planet initiative to use technology and its business consulting group to tackle big social problems.

Many commercial buildings are already have building management systems that use sensors to communicate information with a central computer. For example, heating and cooling equipment and offices can monitor temperature, humidity, light levels, … Read more

IBM will outline plans tomorrow to integrate its various applications for cities into one offering as it attempts to tap into a growing market.

In many respects, Big Blue is following the money. IDC reckons that information technology upgrades for cities will be worth $57 billion in 2014, up from $34 billion in 2011.

These cities are struggling with budget and infrastructure constraints as well as an influx of residents. IBM's plan is to take its software used in various projects--Rio, Memphis, and New York to name a few--and integrate them into one system dubbed the IBM Intelligent Operations … Read more