D4

By Allan D. Francisco

Technews
he blazing rush of blood, adrenaline geared toward overdrive muscles flexing and tightening in ground pounding workouts and extreme outdoor activities. All of this, while listening to your favorite music. Nothing else can make any athlete feel alive. Yurbuds, the most innovative creation since the invention of the iPod, makes every athletes dream a reality: a sports earphone that never falls out even during the most intense of workouts.

EVERY MONDAY July 2, 2012

Samsung Should Build Own OS

amsung predicts it will sell some 10 million copies of its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III, by July 2012. Most sane people would find it hard to disagree with that forecast. After all, the GS3 is one of the best smartphones ever, regardless of the platform. Unless the next iPhone (iPhone 5 or New iPhone) comes with a pair or more of amazingly out-of-this-world features, the Korean giant will most likely hold on to its smartphone crown for the next quarter or two. Interestingly, there are media reports of scarcity of Galaxy S III phones in the market. It seems retail outlets are hard pressed to satisfy stronger-than-expected demand for the smartphone. Shades of the iPhone and the near-crazy level of demand that the Apple smartphone generates, most observers would say. Although Samsung might not be as cool as Apple, it certainly is doing a better job than Tim Cook's company, at least in terms of creating and selling smartphones. I think, however, Samsung should never be satisfied with being a mere cog in the Android army. Of course, it accounts for that army's biggest brigade, but why settle for being a mere follower when you can have your own army to command. Samsung should build its own smartphone OS to run its wonderful lines of smartphones. It does not have to turn its back on Android and Windows Phone. The company, however, should seriously consider creating its own ecosystem. This would mean

Yurbuds: Hear The Sound And Feel State Of Pure Joy

greater control and bigger profits. Would such a move make sense? Of course, it would. How many of the millions of consumers who own a Galaxy S phone really care what OS it comes with? Did they buy the Galaxy S out of loyalty to the Android platform? $150 Billion iPhone I hate to say it, but the iPhone has generated more revenue than all the banana republics combined. Since its launch in June 2007, Steve Jobs' smartphone has brought $150 billion into Apple's coffers. Now, which among the bunch of the aforementioned countries has generated revenue anywhere near that amount? According to Strategy Analytics, they have factored out income from accessories, apps, and software and services from their calculation of the iPhone revenue. Their calculations focused solely on hardware sales. Samsung & Windows Phone 8 Some industry observers claim that Microsoft must win Samsung's support for its next-generation mobile OS Windows Phone 8 to have some meaningful traction in the market. Imagine how much of a market impact a Galaxy S III-level smartphone would have for WP8. I think aside from prompting critics and consumers to acknowledge that indeed the Windows Phone 8 has arrived, such level of support would generate some serious sales numbers for the latest (and last?) Windows mobile OS. That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.

Listen with passion According to the New York Times, studies have shown that listening to music during exercise can improve results. People exercise longer and more vigorously, and it serves a motivation from fatigue. But the workout gets interrupted when the earphones fall or conks out without warning. Many have also gone through earphones more than they can count, sometimes even as many as three in a month, which is not very environmentally friendly. Seth Burgett and Richard Daniels, founders of Yurbuds, knew this from actual experience. Burgett, an active triathlete, and Daniels, a 22-time marathoner, developed an ergonomically designed earbud enhancer that could be personally sized.

Miranda Rinny Carfrae

Ani de Leon

Ideum unveils speedy Platform and Pro multi-touch tables

Ideumhas just rolled out a pair of speed demon 55-inch, 40-point touch surfaces in the Platform and Pro. The Platform has a respectable dual 2.2GHz Core i7 and 8GB of RAM, but it also carries a pair of 256GB solid-state drives in case that museum exhibit app wont load quickly enough. Hopping to the Pro switches to two not quite as speedy 500GB hard drives in standard trim. It more than makes up for this with a quad 3.4GHz Core i7 and NVIDIAs Quadro 600 for the truly stressful projects -- the combination can juggle multiple users and tasks even more smoothly than its MT55 Pro ancestor.

Chris Macca McCormack

Yurbuds TwistLock Technology keeps it in place for a secure fit that never falls out. The Ultra Soft Silicone is soft and comfortable to use for hours on end, and is designed ergonomically to avoid nerve rich areas of the ear. The result is an acoustically driven headphone guaranteed not to fall out even in extreme activities. Australian triathlete Chris Macca McCormack, two-time winner of the Ironman World Championship, has a playlist on his Ipod that keeps him going such as: Fix You by Coldplay, Just Breathe by Pearl Jam, and New Years Day by U2. Even without a background in swimming, running, or biking, Miranda Rinny Carfrae made the Australian Junior Elite Team in 2001. With fifteen Ironman 70.3 wins to date, Rinny has clearly claimed the 70.3 distance as her own and leaves no doubt that shes a force to be reckoned with. I am so happy that I have finally found an earphone that actually fits my ears.

Once you put the Yurbuds in, you dont have to worry about adjusting them at all. They are super comfortable and the sound quality is fantastic, says Rinny. Whos on her Ipod? Foo Fighters, Cold War Kids, David Guetta, Girl talk, Usher, and Pink. Chris Macca McCormack and Miranda Rinny Carfrae are the Yurbuds Ambassadors in the United States. Locally, they are the best of the best. Ani Karina de Leon, Allesandra Araullo Gonzales, and Miguel Lopez, have all competed locally and internationally in the field of triathlon. Whats on their Ipod? For Ani, her top five are: Walk by Foo Fighters, Pure Shores by All Saints, Pink Life by Gyskard, Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, and Hegalong Music by Diwa de Leon. Music gets me in the zone. I like songs that are fun with fast beats. It energized me in my workouts. Whats on her playlist? Harder, Better, Faster and One More Time by Daft Punk, Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5, Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO, and The Time by BEP. (J. Castillo)

The Physical Buttons On Touchscreens

No matter how we love physical keypads and buttons, gadgets today are all slowly moving into becoming touchscreens. Lets face it. Just look at the smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices out there physical keys are no more to be found. In fact, even printers, televisions, and refrigerators are using touch interfaces too. While touch input is still fun and very much popular these days, the human nature in us will surely look for something more than what is currently available, sooner or later. Thankfully, California startup Tactus Technology has started work to bring change to the usual haptic feedback of being just a vibration response into a whole new innovation level. This is the start of the real tactile feedback. Basically, gadgets with Tactus patented Tactile Layer component will feature buttons that rise out of the flat screen surface at the user's touch, and disappearing completely once they are no longer needed. The idea itself is incredible and outstanding! Through the use of innovative microfluidic technology, gadgets may soon be able to provide physical buttons that elevates from the touchscreen to give users the experience of operating a physical keyboard, and leaving no trace when not being used. The innovation of Tactus is really a good alternative for those who want to shift to touchscreen interfaces, but still love the old school QWERTY keys. This is what we call best of both worlds. To make it into a reality, Tactus Technology demonstrated a Google Android tablet prototype at the Society for Internet Display (SID) 2012 last June. It is said to be the first consumer prototype that has successfully been shown to the public after several tries of other manufacturers. Whats great about this technology is that it adds no extra thickness to the standard touchscreen displays. As such, its definitely a good idea for this technology to be implemented on smartphones, tablets, eBook readers, gaming devices, navigation devices, remote controls, and just any other electronic device that may respond to touch. If battery life is the question, it is said that this technology will have very low power consumption. Craig Ciesla, CEO of the startup, says his team expects "less than two percent battery drain for the whole day," although such figures will obviously vary based on battery capacity and the size of the display. Tactus Technology partner Touch Revolution notes that consumers are set to see new mobile devices using both of their combined technologies in 2013. Definitely, this is where the next generation electronic devices should be headed. How well do you think will this technology fly, especially that they are not popular as top brands Apple and Samsung? I am very excited! How about you? Tweet me @GlennOng or email glenn@glennong.com. (Glenn Richmond Ong)

Revving Up Market Transformation With Self-Sufficient HP ProLiant Gen8 Servers

P recently announced the industrys most self-sufficient line of servers the HP ProLiant Generation 8 (Gen8). HP ProLiant Gen8 servers are the result of a $300 million, two-year program called Project Voyager, the companys initiative to redefine data center economics by automating every aspect of the server life cycle. To date, Project Voyager has resulted in more than 900 patents filed and a new systems architecture called HP ProActive Insight architecture, which will span the entire HP Converged Infrastructure. With intelligent technologies that automate tasks and significantly improve uptime, HP ProLiant Gen 8 with HP ProActive Insight architecture addresses the top concerns of enterprises. For example, in a typical 10,000-square-foot data center:

servers based on real-time location, power, workload and temperature data, increasing compute capacity per watt of energy by 70 percent. HP 3-D Sea of Sensors also automates energy efficiency while eliminating 100 percent of manual configuration and inventory process errors. Unplanned downtime costs clients approximately $10 million an hour. With industry-first HP Active Health and HP Insight Online technologies, HP ProLiant Gen8 is the only server that automatically analyzes its own health across 1,600 data points. Through self monitoring, self diagnosing and proactive support, clients can resolve unplanned downtime issues up to 66 percent faster. The skyrocketing cost of operations in the data center is unsustainable, and enterprises are looking to HP to help solve this problem, said Mark Potter, senior vice president and general manager, Industry standard Servers and Software, HP. We are delivering innovative intelligence technologies that enable servers to virtually take care of themselves, allowing data center staff to devote more time to business innovation. Project Voyager is the third phase of HPs multiyear transformation plan for the server market, which began in November 2011 with Project Moonshot. Project Moonshot changed how servers are built for extreme-low-energy computing. Project Odyssey, phase two, redefined the future of mission-critical computing. With phase three, Proj-

ect Voyager, HP automates every aspect of the server life cycle. HP ProLiant Gen8s ProActive Insight architecture comprises powerful hardware and software that delivers server life cycle automation. At the same time, it provides continuous intelligence on server health, power usage and other important diagnostics. As a result, online system updates can be deployed three times faster, with as much as 93 percent less downtime. Tested in more than 100 realworld data centers, HP ProLiant Gen8 servers are built with more than 150 client-inspired design innovations. These innovations dramatically accelerate application performance and also allow administrators to maximize server availability by eliminating common problems that cause failures, downtime and data loss. These include: Integrated Lifecycle Automation speeds application deployment and proactively improves uptime by automating manual tasks. As a result, clients can increase productivity, reduce errors and greatly simplify operations. With these improvements, HP ProLiant Gen8 servers enable IT staff to save more than 30 days of administration time a year per person in a typical 10,000 square-foot data center. Dynamic Workload Acceleration improves data-intensive storage performance by almost seven times with a converged server and storage design that leverages intelligent, HP solid-state technologies.

Companies spend an average of $24 million over three years on manual operations to support servers. HP ProLiant Gen8 triples administrator productivity by eliminating most manual operations such as server updates, which typically take five hours of administrator time per rack of servers. The industry-first HP Smart Update feature can perform the same update in 10 minutes or less. Growing server energy and facilities expenses cost companies up to $29 million over three years. HP ProLiant Gen8 features HP 3-D Sea of Sensors, an industry-first technology that identifies overutilized