Supercomputing’s Problem Isn’t Power, It’s Software

Getting to next generation systems in high performance computing has inspired technologies that we now use everyday in data centers, but as the drive for exascale computing continues, it seems ingenuity is coming to an end. But is power consumption the real hurdle for bigger systems?

Supercomputing’s problem isn’t power, it’s software

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/ufUwhJBYDkk/

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Power To The People

As I type this, a UPS beeps furiously behind me, and the growl of half-a-dozen diesel generators is audible down the street. I'm in Leh, a city nestled in a Himalayan valley surrounded by 6,000-metre / 20,000-foot peaks, the fast-growing capital of India's northernmost territory Ladakh. It's clearly outgrown its electrical capacity; power cuts hit several times a day. Power generation is a deeply unsexy but profoundly important subject in the developing world. Technology is busily transforming lives all around the globe as you read this, but the dearth of reliable electricity is a massive obstacle even in major cities, much less faraway villages. People do find various imperfect and ingenious ways to cope.

Power To The People

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/vfJt5Y6UU0c/

With Mobile Payments, Now We're Going To See Who Really Has The Power In The Mobile Industry (GOOG, AAPL)

Google formally announced its entry into mobile payments today, a "Wallet" service backed by Citi, MasterCard, Sprint, VeriFone, and other players in the tech and finance industries.

Basically, you'll be able to use your phone to pay for stuff by touching it to a credit card terminal. Cool.

Before you know it, however, Google Wallet will probably have a bunch of competition, from the likes of:

• Apple and other cellphone makers
• AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, which have teamed up for a payments service called Isis
• Banks or credit card companies
• Companies like Square or PayPal that want to get involved in mobile payments

The early winners and losers should tell us a lot about who currently holds the most power in the mobile industry: Consumers, handset companies, OS companies, carriers, software makers, integrators, or a combination.

For example, will a Verizon Droid phone by Motorola support Verizon's payments system by default, Google's, Motorola's, a different service, a combination, all, or none?

More important: Which service, if any, will people actually use?

Over the next couple of years, we'll start to see 1) if consumers actually care about mobile payments, 2) which payments services and models they end up choosing, and 3) if that's because they're the best or because they're the ones with the strongest backers.

A lot of money and a lot of data are at stake, and everybody wants it. So it's going to be a very interesting battle to watch.

Read: Microsoft's Real Windows Phone 7 Problem: Nobody Cares

For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Nokia's App Store For Microsoft Already Sounds Way Too Complicated
• Nokia Will Churn Out New Windows Phones Every 3 Months
• Microsoft To Show Tablet Software Next Week

With Mobile Payments, Now We're Going To See Who Really Has The Power In The Mobile Industry (GOOG, AAPL)

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/Yxvc9tLtD-U/mobile-payments-2011-5

The Power of Social Networks

The Power of Social Networks

Backlink: http://www.slideshare.net/shyne/the-power-of-social-networks-7187017

Star power point_presentations[1]

Star power point_presentations[1]

Backlink: http://www.slideshare.net/lesliegvasquez/star-power-pointpresentations1

Comment on Infographic: The Selling Power of the iPad by Brett

I love my windows convertable tablet. Has come in handy and still performs better than the ipad in some situations since it has a digitizer. Microsoft just seemed hung up on the idea that a tablet should run a full fledged OS. At the time it was obvious that MS did not have the software to run a barebones OS readily available. Apple decided to run its iOS on an tablet, thus creating a great tablet OS that many people doubted would work (including myself). Loving my windows tablet, I picked up the ipad on day one. It was alright at first, but as the app market grew and diversified it has really helped the iPad meet nearly all of my educational and business needs. So there you go laughing boy, thats how MS and nearly every other company missed it. As for the article, who are those 10% that are not aware of an iPad?

Comment on Infographic: The Selling Power of the iPad by Brett

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/apple/infographic-the-selling-power-of-the-ipad/#comment-599257

New microsoft office power point presentation

New microsoft office power point presentation

Backlink: http://www.slideshare.net/sayedjavedali/new-microsoft-office-power-point-presentation-6990618

It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network

As it was during the recent uprisings in Tunisia, the role of social media in Egypt has been the subject of some debate. In the end, it's not about whether to give credit to Twitter or Facebook: it's about the power of real-time networked communication.

It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network

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Comment on It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network by Ed

http://t.co/uuDf1J5

Comment on It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network by Ed

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/2011/01/29/twitter-facebook-egypt-tunisia/#comment-583454

Comment on It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network by Răzvan

I think identi.ca is a much more suitable tool for spreading such news, because of it's distributed nature (unlike Twitter). After the Wikileaks case, we all learned that ISPs may be too obedient to government pressures, so a distributed system is a must. Facebook has one important advantage: the big number of non-technical users. Beyond that, its notoriously security and privacy issues makes it more of a pro-government tool (via secret services) than a pro-revolutionary one.

Comment on It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network by Răzvan

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/2011/01/29/twitter-facebook-egypt-tunisia/#comment-583362

Comment on It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network by DougS

While I agree that real-time communications with a world-wide reach can help give "power to the people", I sure hope that is what the case is in Egypt. Unfortunately, I think the Mubarak dictatorial regime will be replaced by an islamic extremist dictatorship that will definitely not give power to the people. That is at least a possibility. So while social media can be great for creating a flash mob in a mall or in a country, it does not necessarily mean the end result will be freedom for the people.

Comment on It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network by DougS

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/2011/01/29/twitter-facebook-egypt-tunisia/#comment-583301

Comment on It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network by Mathew Ingram

I agree that Al-Jazeera and mobile networks have also been powerful tools, Alan -- it's not about saying one is better than the other.

Comment on It’s Not Twitter or Facebook, It’s the Power of the Network by Mathew Ingram

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/2011/01/29/twitter-facebook-egypt-tunisia/#comment-583249

Comment on Kinect and the Power of Big Broadband by Tim

For the millions of people who use the 240 million copies of, just, Windows 7 sold, Redmond-based products make much of an impact in their daily lives. What's a Mac?

Comment on Kinect and the Power of Big Broadband by Tim

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/2011/01/25/kinect-the-power-of-big-broadband/#comment-582157

Skip counting power point

Skip counting power point

Backlink: http://www.slideshare.net/ajshivers/skip-counting-power-point

Twitter and the Power of Giving People a Voice

During an interview at the Web 2.0 Summit, former CEO and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams said that the network "lowers the barriers to publishing about as far as they can go." Not everyone sees this as a good thing, but the impact of it is enormous.

Post originale: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/wXuXclYpmSA/

Energy Giant Areva to Invest $3 Billion in India Solar Power

by Mridul Chadha

France-based energy company Areva (CEI.PA) is planning to invest $3 billion in India's rapidly growing solar power sector. The company plans to set up 1000 MW solar thermal power capacity in the next five to seven years. Areva already has a presence in the biomass sector with 60 MW installed capacity and launched a joint venture with Astonfield to increase the capacity to 100 MW. Apart from renewables, the company is also expected to gain significant share in India's nuclear energy market through the Indo-French nuclear deal signed last year. Areva is among several foreign companies looking to enter the Indian solar power market. This 'solar rush' is the result of the planned National Solar Mission (NSM) which aims at installing 20,000 MW of solar PV and solar thermal power generation capacity by 2022. With the current installed capacity of merely 12 MW (as of 30 June 2010) there is tremendous room for growth and foreign investors can tap the financial incentives being provided by the government to expand their presence in India. The planned 1000 MW solar thermal capacity will, however, not come under the National Solar Mission. The solar reflectors and other equipment to be used in the plants are likely to be sourced from outside India and as per policy regulations a solar plant is eligible for NSM financial incentives only if it uses Indian-made equipment. Nevertheless, Areva can take advantage of another policy initiative announced by the Indian government. Almost all the state governments have been obligated to procure a definite minimum percentage of their power demand from renewable energy-based power plants and solar energy-based power has a separate minimum quota as well. In case any state government fails to achieve the specified target it would be required to buy Renewable Energy Certificates from any renewable energy-based power producer. Thus the Areva-backed power plants can indirectly earn profits. There is also an acute shortage of skilled professionals in the solar energy sector in India. There are only a handful of companies providing consultancy services for providing engineering and logistical support for designing and setting up a solar energy plant. Areva is planning to launch such services as well. Entering the nascent solar energy sector in India is a highly intelligent move on part of the Areva management. In addition to the nuclear energy market which is comparatively difficult to enter and sustain operations in (due to stringent Indian laws), Areva is also looking to take full advantage of India's favorable solar energy policies by deploying its engineering and executional experience. Reprinted with permission from Earth & Industry

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/energy-giant-areva-invest-3.cfm

DiceTV: Spice Up Your Resume with Power Words

Powerful words in your resume - verbs that describe your tasks, accomplishments and responsibilities, or adjectives and phrases that describe your characteristics and actions - are as important as what you say.

The Script

This resume is really bland, maybe I can spice it up by adding some action verbs like "achieved," "persuaded" and "delegated."


That's better, but it still needs something. How about a few adjectives like: "precise," "conscientious" and "enterprising." Magnifique! Adding those powerful words really did the trick.



Does your resume tantalize the reviewer? Will they keep reading or stop after the first section?



I'm Cat Miller and we're using power words to spice up your resume on this edition of DiceTV.

 

Powerful words can be colorful past tense verbs that describe your tasks, accomplishments and responsibilities or adjectives and phrases that describe your personality traits, characteristics or even your actions. How you say something is as important as what you say, so use descriptive language to paint a picture for the reviewer.



It's best to start with a broad list, then select power words that characterize your personality, work habits or work experience. If you don't have a robust vocabulary, download lists from the Internet or use a thesaurus to expand your repertoire. Remember to include descriptive phrases from the job posting like self-starter or cost conscious because mimicking its language and tone will entice the reviewer.



First, create a personal brand or opening statement using one or two adjectives from your list. For example maybe you're known as a tenacious problem-solver or a relentless pursuer of stealth security threats.



Next, support your brand by starting each experience bullet with a complementary past-tense action verb. Remember, don't use power words haphazardly. Your selections should work in concert to convey a cohesive message. For example a relentless security expert may have "abolished" or "thwarted" hundreds of incursions or "abated" network downtime through "persistent" and "deliberate" firewall testing.



Finally, sprinkle in a few adjectives and voila - a spicy resume. In fact this resume is so spicy; I can't wait to see what happens next. I'm Cat Miller and this has been Dice TV. We now return you to your regular desktop.

 

Post originale: http://career-resources.dice.com/articles/content/entry/dicetv_spice_up_your_resume

Engagement Ladders: Building Supporter Power

We, as social change organizations, exist to enable the power of our supporters. That is how change happens. Through getting thousands of people to take mass action. Through getting one person to pressure a decision maker. It is the power of our supporters, collective or individual, that we are trying to enable. That's why social change organizations exist--to leverage supporter power over time.

We need to know the best way to use that power. Part of it is strategy--what kinds of actions need to happen? Marches? Politics? Direct service? And part of it is knowing what power our supporters possess so they can help us get those strategies enacted.

Know Thy Supporter

We need to know where people are and we need to meet them there. We need to invite them to act in a way that is powerful for them. We need to ask the CEO to leverage her relationships with decision makers for us. We need to ask the committed student to be creative and bring his networks. We need to ask the first-time donor to sign a petition.

It's about appropriate analysis of our power base and the application of it in service of bringing about change. The Midwest Academy talks about doing a "power analysis" as part of every campaign. What are we trying to get done? Do our supporters have the amount and right kind of power to do it?

With 100 supporters, we can know them all and know how to be in relationship with them. At the scale of thousands or millions we can only do this analysis with the support of data. Data on who they are. Data on their interactions with us. Data on what they've done before. Data on what they've chosen not to do when asked.

Post originale: http://www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2010/11/1/engagement-ladders-building-supporter-power.html

Once in a Lifetime: Enabling Technology Risk in the Power Industry

by Lincoln E. Bleveans

Newcomers to the power industry are often staggered by the sums of money involved. For example, US$500,000,000 - half a billion dollars - buys a medium-sized combined-cycle gas plant. Not big, just medium. And it gets worse: that same half billion would buy a relatively small solid fuel plant, especially if you use the latest higher temperature, lower pollution combustion technologies. And carbon capture? Nuclear? If you have to ask, you can't afford it. And renewable energy plants at that same utility-scale? Start multiplying. The recent global enthusiasm for renewable energy has led to countless government programs around the world, aimed primarily at subsidizing the gap between fossil and renewable power. But despite the resulting proliferation of renewable plants, the two keys to truly widespread adoption, capital cost and baseload capability, remain stubbornly high and stubbornly low, respectively. And even for all those dollars, it's old technology. For example, modern concentrated solar thermal (a.k.a. CSP) technology goes back at least to the SEGS plants in California, the oldest of which celebrates its 26th birthday this year. Wind technology, for its part, has improved quite a bit over the years but would still look pretty familiar to Danish pioneer Poul la Cour, who invented the power producing windmill in the 1890s. Not the 1990s, the 1890s: when the automobile first hit the roads in large numbers, self-propelled human aviation was still a dream, and spats were still an essential part of a man's wardrobe. That's the second surprise to newcomers to the power industry: a general apprehension of technology risk that appears extreme - even irrational - to venture capitalists and other technology investors weaned on internet start-ups, mobile telephony, and the like. Unfortunately it is neither extreme nor irrational, but a logical by-product of the nature of electricity as a product and its role in society. The lights and the machines that drive our economies simply must stay on: the availability of power supply and the reliability of that supply, from the generator through the transmission lines and substations to the distribution systems have been and will continue to be paramount. This is compounded by the long economic lives of these very costly assets - any mistakes will be around for decades. So the industry (and the independent power producers and utilities which are its focal point, the lenders which finance them, the regulators which closely oversee the utilities and the politicians who appoint the regulators) is mandated to take as much risk out of the system as possible. There is no upside to the utility, either as a generator itself or as a customer of the IPPs, only downside for the careers of the utility decision-makers and the returns for the utility shareholders if it doesn't perform as expected. So out goes technology risk. That's rational but, in the current environment, inadequate. The industry has a historic opportunity to deploy renewable energy on a multi-gigawatt, global basis. This opportunity will not last forever - no opportunity does - and it is incumbent on the industry to deploy the most advanced, most efficient renewable energy generation technologies possible, even if that means taking some technology risk. Not cold fusion or perpetual motion, but bringing well-engineered new technologies - the latest solar thermal mirrors and receiver tubes; wind turbines and platforms; new storage technologies - into proven systems. Remember: these are long-lived assets and will be around for decades to come. We have the opportunity of a lifetime: let's not make the mistake of deploying less than our best. How can we make this happen? At the macro (and therefore simplified) level, it starts with the "food chain" identified above: political leaders need to provide a clear, technology-driven mandate to the regulators, which in turn can drive utility (and with it, IPP) decision-making on incorporating well-engineered new technologies into new renewable energy generation capacity. As this new mandate drives technology-friendly terms in power purchase agreements (and the corresponding regulatory prudency reviews), the financial community should find new comfort in lending to these projects. And so on. Lincoln E. Bleveans is the Chief Executive Officer of Hullspeed Energy Development & Finance, a global developer of energy projects. Photo by Chuck Coker/flickr/Creative Commons Reprinted with permission from Cleantechies

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/10/once-lifetime-enabling-technology-risk.cfm

Speakers Showcase the Power of Geographic Thinking

New Esri Video Site Delivers a Wealth of Insight and Instruction

Redlands, California—October 20, 2010—A new Esri Web site provides an extensive library of videos demonstrating the far-reaching use and potential of geographic knowledge. The site offers inspiring presentations and resources for longtime geographic information system (GIS) users as well as those who are simply interested in exploring the increasingly important role geography plays in society today.

The collection of videos on Esri Video (esri.com/video) is expanding rapidly and features expert insights on a variety of geospatial topics, full-length technical sessions, and software demonstrations. Presenters include thought leaders such as Harvard University landscape architecture professor Carl Steinitz, GIS pioneer Roger Tomlinson, and Technology/Entertainment/Design (TED) conferences founder Richard Saul Wurman.

The site features an intuitive design and offers several ways to search for content. Video transcripts allow viewers to follow along with the presenter and navigate to desired sections. Viewers can also comment on videos, mark their favorites, download full transcripts, and click to instantly share videos via social media. Visit esri.com/video to explore Esri Video content.

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About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.