Apple special event September 2010

Just another one more day to Apple special (music?) event 2010.

MacRumors predicted that new iPod nano will be released, it will be a square like rather than the existing candy bar iPod nano.

I Like the iPod nano 3rd generation form factor, but apple change the iPod nano to candy bar for the 4th and 5th generation. Refer how to identifying iPod models.

The 6th generation nano may be it will be a touch screen nano, smaller in size but still retain the original 30-pin I/O connector.

There are rumors expecting revamp Apple TV and new iPod Touch with camera.

Sony Ericsson PC Suite tested with M600i

Website support and software version

I am going to test the Sony Ericsson PC Suite with a Sony Ericsson M600i phone, the mobile PC Suite is used to synchronize mobile phone system and data, can be used to update the phone software. SE M600i is a touch screen PDA phone, released in year 2006 Q1. M600i system run Symbian OS 9.1 + UIQ 3, it is compatible with P990, but different with P910. P910 use UIQ 2.0, M600i use UIQ 3.0.

I downloaded SE PC Suite version 6 from Sony Ericsson support website.The previous version I used is version 1.3. That means Sony Ericsson still continue to develop and improve their mobile desktop software, but the PC Suite just available on Windows and not Mac OS or linux platform.

There are two ways to connect the phone with SE PC Suite, by bluetooth or usb cable. For data synchronization use bluetooth or usb cable. To update the mobile phone firmware need usb cable. Is important to check the phone is supported by the Windows system, simply connect the phone by plugging in the usb port will do. For my case here, the Windows system doesn’t recognized the M600i.

This could be a Windows problem, but I don’t find much problem with Nokia phone and Nokia PC Suite.

Installation

According to SE support website (and some other forum) the driver already included in the SE PC Suite. There is a usb driver software for all SE phone, available for download from here. If you just need to update the mobile phone software, you can try this.

Sony Ericsson PC Suite 6 looks much different from earlier version.

I have downloaded the SE PC Suite version 6, is much smaller, about 18Mb (compare with version 1.3, close to 60Mb). The installation (and uninstallation) process is much faster. Unfortunately SE PC Suite v6 doesn’t support M600i, I have to go back to SE support website, choose M600i phone, download version 1.6 which suggested by the website.

The SE PC Suite v1.6 fail to recognized M600i through usb, may be I have already mess up my Windows driver. I have used PC Suite 1.3 to synchronize with SE M600i before, it works. I have tried v1.3 this time, but I am still having USB connection problem. Even bluetooth connection can not be established.

If everything going just fine, congratulation. If anything go wrong, I need to uninstalled the existing software before I re-install a newer software. Uninstall the software (for v1.3 and v1.6) is troublesome, it can not be done from Control Panel - Add/Remove software. I must remove the software by re-install it again. I must use the same installation file that I used earlier. I have tried to use version 1.3.33 to remove version 1.3.11, it doesn’t work.

Problem to pair with phone using bluetooth
display show paired even I have deleted from the phone.

I can not find an easy solution when I encounter problems with the SE PC Suite, I have tried version 6, 1.6 and 1.3, it doesn’t work with SE M600i, for both bluetooth and USB connection. May be is easier for other non Symbian phone.

Backup and synchronization

If paring or USB connection with the phone has no problem, the backup and synchronization is just easy. SE PC Suite doesn’t have its own PIM management, it can sync to Microsoft Outlook. I don’t really want to go through the detail here. The backup and restore don’t have much problem.

Firmware update

It need an external program call Sony Ericsson Update Service, if it was not installed, it can be downloaded separately with from website. The program doesn’t backup the data, I need to backup the phone before I update the firmware. Otherwise the update program doesn’t gave me much problem.

Conclusion:

Sony Ericsson did improved their PC Suite from time to time, but SE does not have an unified PC Suite to support all their phones, which will be quite troublesome for the users. As usual the PC Suite is available on Windows only. The installation and configuration (mainly the driver support) should be improved as well.

IBM zEnterprise System event KL 2010

IBM introduce the new zEnterprise System. The seminar event take place at Shangri-la Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. The event started at 10am, I arrive there at 9.15am, the IBM people are already there. They are early and well prepared.

Opening:

Introduction by Hemanth Kalikiri, IBM Malaysia 

Introducing the zEnterprise 196 (z196), up to 96 cores, good choice for data center.

Introducing The New Enterprise System

 Greg Lotko, from IBM USA

Spend 3 years on development, running Linux and other OS. ZBX, blade center extension, with IBM Power7 blades.

60 percent improve in performance and 30 percent cost down.

It has RAID memory, for redundancy, like RAID HD storage.

Advantage with the New Enterprise System

 Juergen Roser, from IBM Germany

About the software. SPSS, Tivoli, C/C++ compiler, Lotus Sametime, Websphere, Java, DB2 version 9 and 10 (10 still in beta).

The system is 80 times faster (for specific queries).

Next 2 presentation:

Another 2 presentation by Greg and Juergen. I will skip these 2. The conclusion is IBM zEnterprise system is good for the enterprise solution.

Information Infrastructure

Freddy Lee, IBM ASEAN

Freddy started with a story how IBM fall in love with DS8000. Freddy talks on storage performance with mix of SSD, fiber channel and Sata. Some comparison with IBM and EMC storage products.

Services for zEnterprise:

Wong Choong Cheok, IBM Malaysia

Wong talks on IBM service on zEnterprise. IBM can manage the server for you.

Lunch:

Is just a half day event, have a good lunch before leaving.

The event is well organized, informative. Good marketing session during the breaks, you can sit down and chat with the others. I notice financial sectors especially banks use a lot of the IBM products.

Oracle Exadata webcast seminar 2010

I attended the Oracle Exadata webcase seminar. It is an online seminar, live. Oracle is using Cisco software call webex (version 6.5) to perform the webcast. I works on Snow Leopard too.

Exadata is a high performance hardware storage from Oracle. It was not mention here, Oracle Exadata power by Oracle Linux.

Exadata hardware

Take a look, who is using Oracle Exadata? Including mobile operators like China Mobile, SK mobile (the largest mobile operator in Korea).

Sure it is expensive, I don't now sure how much it cost. Talk to the Oracle people.

Oracle host a lot of online webcast event. Webcast save users a lot of time, but you don't meet the people face to face, less interactive.

Oracle Sun sue Google for Android Java license issues

With Oracle support Sun can sue Google over Android Java license issue. Android use Java technology, but they build a Dalvik VM on top of the Java (refer to Google Android software stack).

Sun in not into the business to sue other company for money, you can refer to Sun Jonathan Schwartz's blog post. Oracle do it a different way. You may say Oracle sue Google for Java license issue on Android platform.

Google has the money to pay Sun for Java license, Google also support open source (Java is open source), but Google try to avoid some issues may came with Java open source license. At the end Android is open source for most of the smartphone manufacturers out there. Google should have paid Sun earlier which may avoid all these issues.

Continue reading:

Java founder James Gosling blog.
Oracle sues Google over Android and Java
[Android被告侵權] 當年昇陽沒告 為何是甲骨文卯上了Google？

Tutorial: Install ubuntu net 10.4 on virtualbox

I just want to try out the Ubuntu Linux net version. It is a slim down version of the Ubuntu desktop version, suitable to install on netbook. I just install it on Sun Virtualbox (now owned by Oracle) to have a try.

I am using Virtualbox 3.1.2, Ubuntu net 10.4.

The system requirement for Ubuntu net is 4Gb hard disk, 512Mb ram.

The following are the procedure to install Ubuntu net 10.4 on Sun Virtualbox:

Step 1: Create a new virtual machine

Hard disk 3.2Gb
Ram 512 Mb
Video ram 4Mb

I just created a 3Gb hard disk for Virtualbox and name it ubuntu-net. This can be done when create a new virtual machine from Virtualbox main menu.

Step 2: Configure the virtual machine to boot from Ubuntu ISO installer file.

Virtualbox - virtual machine - Settings - Storage - IDE controller - CD Rom. Choose the ubuntu ISO file that downloaded from the ubuntu website, for CD/DVD device.

Select Ubuntu installer ISO as the CD/DVD Device

Step 3: Select timezone and keyboard layout.

Step 4: Prepare disk space.

The easiest way is use "Erase and use the entire disk", then goto step 6.

Since I have some Linux installation experience before, I try to partition manually:

256Mb for swap.

The remaining storage for system.

Step 5: New partition table. Select "free space", the "Add...".

Create the main partition

I partition the main storage, so it left about 250Mb for swap, remember to choose root ("/") as the mount point.

Create the swap partition, Primary or Logical is ok.

Swap partition is 250Mb. Since I have less than 4 partition (1 root, 1 swap), I can choose primary or logical. 

After partition. 1 main, 1 swap.

Note: One hard disk can have 4 primary partition, If you have more than 4 partition, just make one of the primary partition as logical partition. You can create more than 4 using logical partition.

Step 6: Create username and password. Start installing...

The installation will take a while

The Ubuntu for netbook has a nice looking interface

This ubuntu net version is one of the best Linux netbook version I ever saw. Nice interface, easy installation and update process, it even came with OpenOffice as well.

If Ubuntu can add in a few more features like the Asus Express Gate, fast system recovery from Xandros (found in EeePC Linux version by pressing F9), that will be good.

HP offer for kids

HP has some PC desktop offer for kids.

A kid don't really need a desktop. They need something much simpler with touch screen and instant on, something like iPad.

Gmail new contact interface 2010

I get a feed back request from Gmail, asking me why I am still using the old gmail. My main reason is, for the Gmail Contact only.

I don't like the previous "new" contact. It has 3 columns, looks like the Windows application or Outlook style. It leave me limited space for content editing. This type of design only suitable if you have a large display with high resolution.

The previous Gmail contact manager.

The new contact manager is more "Gmail-like".

Finally I don't have to go back the old gmail anymore.

Why iPad is good

Before iPad release, there are rumors around. Some of my friends ask my opinion on Apple iPad. My prediction on iPad, it can not sell. My prediction is base on the following guessing:

1. iPad is not cheap in price.
2. If it was just used for surfing net, people will use iPhone.

I was wrong and I am not shy to admit that I was wrong. When I see the price tag USD499 for the lowest end iPad, I know that I was wrong.

For USD499, most people don't mind to spend the money to buy an extra Apple product. iPad is not to replace your notebook or netbook, unless you are using your notebook/netbook for surfing Internet only.

The executive like it, in fact they love it. For the last 2 seminar event that I have attended, two of the speakers showing how impress they were, by the Apple iPad. The iPad is portable and easy to use.

The 2 speakers may (or may not) be an Apple fanboy. The truth is iPad is easy to use and hands on, with its touch user interface. A 3 years old kid knows how to use it, in 5 minutes time tutorial. I have seen it with my own eyes.

CNet has a post on the success factors on iPad. It includes factors like battery life, instant on, portable... I totally agree with it.

Photos: EMC Forum 2010 at Kuala Lumpur

Keynote speakers

1. Sal Fernando, EMC

Sal Fernando should be an Apple supporter, he is holding an iPad on his hand. He was using iPad while EMC have not approved a "go" yet. Sal Fernando make a point, device is out of control for cloud access, same for data. According to statistic 13 percent of the people store personal data at company server.

2. Lee Poh Wah, Vmware.

Lee Poh Wah gave an introduction on cloud computing and Vmware vCenter.

3. Damian Ryan, Cisco.

Cisco UCS machine, a blade server.

4. Rudy Phen, Riverbed.

Riverbed provide WAN (Wide Area Network) optimization solution.

The MC distributing free gifts

(Does he looks like Kent Cheng?)

Workshop track

One of the workshop track

Food

The food from the hotel is not really that great.

Tong Yam mee.

Tamaki

Tea break

Showcase

Lucky draw

The grand price is an iPad 3G version

and the winner is this lucky guy.

Server storage efficiency for dummies

I just pick one workshop from EMC Forum 2010 (KL) which I think is interesting. The original title for the workshop is Unified Storage.

There are 3 main factors to improve storage efficiency - capacity, flexibility and performance.

Storage efficiency

Capacity
DeDup. There is a lot of duplication data in our storage, for example the attachment in forwarded email. DeDup method to find out the duplicated data, keep just one copy. Others copies just a link to the identical data.

When there is a changes to a backup file, just backup the changes only, not all the file data. Similar like Apple Time Machine incremental backup. Could be more complicated, but just let you have an idea of it.

Flexibility
VM Aware. Able to integrate well with Vmware solution, since Vmware is a very popular software solution for virtualization and cloud computing.

Multi Protocol. Heard of iSCSI, eSATA, CIFS, NFS, be it hardware or software, just name it.

Performance
Flash Cache. Use flash drive as a cache, since flash drive is faster than normal hard disk, performance will be improved. Sure, flash drive came with a price (is more expensive).

64bit. This don't really mention in the EMC workshop, I would like to emphasize a bit here. The ZFS from Sun Solaris is a 64bit filesystem.

ZFS is an advance filesystem to eliminate all the limitation of the existing filesystem. It is easy to be managed and use software data redundancy control which may better than the hardware system.

There are rumors saying that ZFS may put storage company out of business (NetApp sues Sun for ZFS patent infringement).

Storage solution is not just the filesystem, it has an ecosystem includes hardware, software, backup solution and integration process.

EMC introduce Unified Storage, the high end scalable hardware. UniShpere (video), the software management tools which can be integrated into Vmware software system. You can check the details from EMC website.

Visit to PC Fair II August 2010

It was very crowded as usual. They even started to sell more LCD TV at PC Fair, lots of notebooks with different brand and different model, Intel core i3 and i5 is common and available on notebook.

I don't go through all the booths in detail, but just pick a few things which I think is interesting:

Apacer media player. They are selling AL670 and AL460, with offer price and free gifts. AL670 with bittorrent download capability.

Apacer media player offer.

Both players support video playback for variety of format includes rmvb and mkv. It support soft subtitles (external subtitles), you can adjust the font size of the subtitles. The interface just look like all those China made products. Both model doesn't came with internal storage, a bit disappointed with that.

A RM399 Goozee mini netbook. Is a 7" netbook, normal price selling at RM799, now the offer price is RM399 (about USD125). What OLPC can not deliver, they can do it now.

7" Gozee mini netbook.

Wimax notebook. I notice Wimax aggressive to partner with notebook companies. A few companies like Lenovo, Asus, MSI and the others came out with Wimax built-in notebook.

Wimax with Lenovo notebook.

New antivirus software. Other than Kaspensky, Avira and Trend Micro, I found more new antivirus software eg. TrustPort, ESET NOD32, Quick Heal.

Digi broadband 38 monthly plan. The cheapest plan that I know of, 3Gb quota. For casual users, this broadband package is just nice. Available during promotion period (PC Fair) only.

Tips: Rip DVD in Mac OS X

If you like to use netbook like me, you might not even want to carry the portable CD/DVD reader around. What you can do is rip the CD/DVD into iso file, copy to the hard disk, mount it as a drive when you need it. Is easy especially if you are using unix-like system eg. Linux.

You can use Disk Utility application in Mac OS X to rip CD/DVD. Mac OS X normally use .dmg file to store their disk image. You can mount dmg disk image in Mac OS X easily, but not on Linux.

This is how I rip CD/DVD into ISO file in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard using the Disk Utility.

1. Disk Utility - Menu - New - Disk Image from Folder.

Mac OS X Disk Utility, choose hybrid image.

2. Option
Image Format: hybrid image (HFS + ISO)
Encryption: none

The image file will be save as .dmg extension, but just change it to .iso will do.

Ads:
PC Magazine Basic Techniques and Utilities/Book and Disk