Windows 7 trounces Windows XP at green computing

Mindteck, a company that offers embedded software development and consultancy services, has released power consumption data after testing sleep, idle, low-use, and high-use scenarios of various Windows PCs. The researchers also built a model to estimate cost savings (pictured above) by using a centralized power management policy. What really piqued our interest, though, was that Mindteck looked at the effect of processor chipset drivers on the power consumption (in watts) of Windows XP and Windows 7 with varying driver configurations and older hardware:

As you can see, the results favor Windows 7 in every single scenario. The out-of-box differences are particularly high. For Windows 7, the consumption levels are actually the same as with the updated drivers—this means that Windows 7 is taking care of the chipset drivers, even on older hardware. The same cannot be said for Windows XP, and even with updated drivers (obtained manually), it still performs worse than Windows 7.

The whitepaper actually focuses on explaining how to “maximize the impact of effective power management with Windows 7,” but the comparison to Windows XP was included in the appendix. Mindteck Smart Energy analysts quantified power consumption on five basic hardware platforms: a high-end desktop such as those used in engineering design or media processing, both a business desktop and business laptop, a Pentium 4 class business desktop to investigate prior-generation hardware, and a netbook. If you’ve already rolled out Windows 7 in your company, or are planning to, the 11-page report should help your CIOs and IT managers alike learn about leveraging Windows 7 to implement a comprehensive power management strategy. Check it out at the link below.

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Microsoft continues to emphasize “the cloud”

Microsoft held a meeting for financial analysts today to present the company’s strategy for its consumer, enterprise and small and medium business markets. A clear theme ran throughout the presentations: Microsoft’s continued emphasis on the industry transformation taking place around cloud computing.

During the past year, Microsoft’s message focused on providing customers choice. It was the customer’s decision as to whether they preferred cloud computing solutions or traditional “on-premise” solutions. Nevertheless, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner admitted that sending this message to customers was a mistake. From now on, Microsoft would be “leading with the cloud.”

Although Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, took the stage today to present the company’s consumer market strategy, he has been promoting the company’s commitment to the cloud. During a recent speech at the University of Washington, he affirmed that Microsoft is “all in” when it comes to cloud computing.

Turner touted the company’s experience and strength in enterprise computing when comparing itself to competitors such as Google and VMware. He spoke of a number of cloud computing wins with companies such as Coke Enterprises, McDonald’s and others. And he highlighted that 70% of the company’s cloud computing wins during the latest quarter were new customers. (The company reported a 22% increase in revenue in the fourth quarter over the same period last year.)

Many analysts, investors and entrepreneurs believe that the move to cloud computing is momentous and on a par with previous industry transitions such as the move from mainframe computing to desktop computing. Also, most agree that the transition is still in the early stages. According to research firm Gartner, worldwide cloud services revenues should grow from $56 billion in 2009 to $150 billion in 2013.

Although most IT providers such as Salesforce, Rackspace and Google have their own cloud initiatives, a recent report named Amazon’s cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, and IBM as “cloud champions” with other vendors (including Microsoft) relatively close behind. Judging from Microsoft’s rhetoric during today’s meeting, cloud computing will be a consistent theme for the company in the future.

[Full disclosure: I recently did some work as a contract lecturer on technology trends for Microsoft.]

Companies: microsoft

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LS9 may have just solved biofuels’ scaling problem

The biofuel market is turning into a diverse romp of venture-backed companies auditioning different microbes, catalysts and feedstocks, all with the same goal: to quickly, efficiently and cheaply transform renewable, non-food products (ranging from sugar cane to switch grass to carbon dioxide) into viable forms of fuel that can work in today’s gas tanks.

The problem is, almost all of these players hit the same ceiling: they can’t figure out a way to inexpensively scale with the technology they have. But biofuel startup LS9 may have just changed that.

The company’s scientists have published a paper, academically titled “Microbial Biosynthesis of Alkanes,” claiming that they can now implant genes into E. coli that allow the bacteria to directly churn out alkanes — otherwise known as the hydrocarbons in car and jet fuel — in one step. This is a major breakthrough for the field, one that has been chased for years.

The discovery could eliminate the need for other, pricier methods to derive alkanes. It could also jumpstart the green sector’s focus on biofuels as a viable business. Before now, many of the companies in the industry, including Codexis, Synthetic Genomics and others, were focusing on creating more lucrative, renewable chemicals to replace petroleum in plastics, pharmaceutical development and other processes.

LS9 itself has been pursuing the low-volume chemical market for a while, teaming with Proctor and Gamble last spring to jointly develop chemicals to be used in consumer goods.

Because the new LS9 process consists of only one step, it also requires less feedstock to begin with, lowering costs and increasing efficiencies across the board. Prior conversion technique entailed dangerous inorganic catalysts, hydrogen, high pressures and temperatures, and a lot of intermediate steps.

In addition to being renewable, biofuels also burn cleaner than traditional fossil-fuel sources. Because they can be used in standard, internal-combustion engines, biofuels seem to have a bigger market ahead of them than electric vehicles — the other strategy to achieve cleaner, greener transportation. It’s going to take a while for plug-in cars to catch on, and very little roadside infrastructure exists today to support them. If biofuel companies can successfully scale, they have the potential to slash emissions more significantly.

These advantages have attracted the attention of venture capitalists interested in incremental clean energy innovations, rather than radical changes. For example, Khosla Ventures, one of LS9’s backers that also invests in biofuel makers Coskata and Amyris Biotechnologies, is major proponent of this category of startups.

Based in South San Francisco, LS9’s investors include CTTV Investments, Flagship Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners in addition to Khosla.

Tags: biofuels

Companies: Ls9

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First Look: Rocknor’s Donut Factory

Filed under: iPhone

Rocknor’s Donut Factory is due to hit App Store on Monday. It is an iPhone update of a Windows game that was critically acclaimed back when it was released in 2003. It offers terrific puzzles and fun gameplay that’s unfortunately hampered on the iPhone by a too-literal transition from the original game.

In this game, you move dough through a factory — shaping it, cooking it, topping it, and shipping it out — using a variety of assistive machines. You have to be clever. Some of the factory floor layouts are fiendish. Getting each donut produced to order to meet your quotas isn’t as simple as you might think.

TUAWFirst Look: Rocknor’s Donut Factory originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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YouTube will allow users to upload 15 minute videos starting soon

Section: Web, Websites, Online Music/Video, Google

For those who upload videos to YouTube often, the ten minute barrier might annoy you because you have to upload multiple videos.  According to Boing Boing, YouTube will be changing the upload limit from 10 minutes to 15 minutes, but YouTube did not release a timeframe.  While five additional minutes may not seem like a whole lot, it will certainly make a difference for users who’s video is slightly over 10 minutes and would otherwise have to make two videos. 

In addition, YouTube plans to hold a “15 minutes of fame” contest in order to publicize the increased upload limit.  No word on when the contest is set to begin, but probably after YouTube officially increases the limit from 10 to 15 minutes.

Via [Boing Boing]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Walkthrough and review of Calendar Pro for BlackBerry (plus giveaway)

For all the functions that your BlackBerry brings you natively, sometimes it just doesn’t perform those tasks with vigor. For instance, many of the native apps are stripped down. For some, like Messages, that’s a thing of beauty. For others, though, users might seek an upgrade. For me, the Calendar is one native app I’d like to enhance. Yes, it works fine as is, and even integrates with my Google Calendar. But sometimes the extras make the app more usable. That’s what I found with Calendar Pro. It’s a powerful calendar app that helps you organize yourself in a way not completely possible with the stock calendar app.

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Video: Elon Musk chats it up on The Colbert Report

Filed under: Videos, Celebrities, Humor, Tesla, Electric

Elon Musk apparently has a sense of humor. Proof of which can be found in the video after the break, where you’ll see the co-founder of Paypal, Tesla Motors and Space X sit-down with Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.

As always, Colbert takes a lighthearted slant with the interview, making a few comic-relief jabs along the way. For instance, after detailing Musk’s seemingly heroic take on the automotive and space exploration industries, Colbert point-blank asks Musk whether he’s a super hero or a super villain. We’ll let you figure that one out…

Our favorite quote, though, is this: “You have these electric cars that uses no fossil fuels, but then you’ve also got this rocket, this Space X that puts the rocket into space, using about as much fuel as 2,000,000 Hummers. So… are you just trying to break even as spectacularly as possible?”

There are plenty more gems in the video, and we don’t want to spoil the whole thing for you. So just check out the video after the break.

[Source: The Colbert Report]

Continue reading Video: Elon Musk chats it up on The Colbert Report

Video: Elon Musk chats it up on The Colbert Report originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Automotive X Prize: Video highlights from the Finals competition

The Finals phase of the Automotive X Prize competition is coasting down, literally. This third major phase in the $10 million contest to build a market-viable car that could achieve 100 MPGe began with 15 cars from 12 teams. Since the technical inspections began on July 19th, the field has been culled down to seven cars. Along the way there was much drama and excitement, as these talents finalists vied for bragging rights and a big check. There were some real upsets, with Edison2 blowing an engine on its Alternative class car, Aptera and Zap being unable to complete the combined performance/efficiency race, and Commuter Cars’ Tango failing to meet the minimum fuel-economy requirement. These are all respected teams that made it through significant challenges to make it this far. And there were triumphs, such as the RaceAbout university team from Finland making a very strong showing in the race. The results from this phase are still being analyzed by X Prize officials, and we hope to share them soon. While Consumer Reports engineers conducted several performance tests, our CRTV team captured the action, with all the twists and turns. Now back in the studio, this is the first video from Finals. The teams approved to advance to the Validation phase are now at a coast down event at Chrysler Proving Grounds. The next step will be dynamometer testing at Argonne National Labs in Chicago in August. Then, the winners will be announced mid September. Learn more about the Finals testing. See the results from the Knockout phase. Follow our Auto X Prize coverage here in the Cars blog, as well as in our special Auto X Prize section and via Twitter @CRcars. —Jeff Bartlett See our guide to fuel economy for advice on saving gasoline. Learn about future technologies in our guide to alternative fuels.

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Keep your BlackBerry screen lit up with Leave It On

Last week we went over changing your backlight timeout options. There are certain situations you’re going to want to keep your backlight on shorter, like when you’re just periodically checking your BlackBerry. Yet there are times when you’ll want that screen lit up longer. Unfortunately, your BlackBerry only allows you to leave your backlight running for two minutes. I’m not sure why there’s not an option to enter the number of minutes, but I’m often mystified at what basic functions aren’t available natively on the BlackBerry. In any case, you probably only want to keep your backlight on for certain applications. That’s where Leave It On can help. The application lets you set custom backlight timeouts for up to eight applications.

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Motorola Droid 2 user guide leaks online

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Web, Websites

The Motorola Droid 2 is all but official at this point.  We have seen numerous rumors indicating an August launch, and today, the entire user guide for the Droid successor has been leaked online.  The 70 page report doesn’t reveal any earth shattering features, but does confirm Android 2.2 and a MotoBlur Skin similar to the Droid X. 

In case you like the MotoBlur skin featured on the Droid X, then you’ll be happy to know the Droid 2 runs the same MotoBlur skin.  In addition, the Droid 2 comes pre-loaded with the Blockbuster app and Swype.  Obviously, the most notable feature on the Droid 2 is its physical QWERTY keyboard, but combined with Swype, you have the option for speedy virtual messaging.  Based on the Google search menu, the Droid 2 will run Android 2.2 (Froyo) out of the box. 

All that we need to know now is official pricing and availability.  Feel free to download the user guide in its entirety below.

Download [Droid 2 User Guide (MegaUpload)] Via [Droid-Life]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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