this is the life enjoy it

this is the life enjoy it

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DRAM Supply Shortage Will Last Until 2014, The End Of Cheap RAM?

According to Inotera Memories we will see a DRAM shortage that will last the full duration of 2013. As demand for tablet and smartphone DRAM soars exponentially, desktop RAM could see a shortage due to sluggish demand and lack of profitability. Inotera Memories chairman, Charles Kau, said that the DRAM shortage in the “high tech sector” will last the entire year and possibly into 2014.
The average DRAM price for the first half of April went up 8%, this was then followed by a further 13% rise in the second half of April. According to DRAMeXchange the average price of DDR3 4GB DRAM has jumped 70% in the past five months. Initially we had a prolonged price crash due to huge oversupply lasting most of 2011 and 2012. As DRAM manufacturers protected themselves by stopping or slowing production, this oversupply was slowly digested by the market without any new supply being added. Most DRAM companies suffered huge losses through this period and we even saw Elpida bought out by Micron to save it from a complete shutdown. Now we are at a point where demand has recovered but supply hasn’t fully kicked in again and so we will be left with dramatically rising DRAM prices over the next 12 month period until DRAM companies return to profit and increase production.
We are seeing this trend in DRAM company profit margins. For example in Q4 last year Nanya technology turned a loss of NT$8.8 billion but in Q1 of this year it turned a profit of NT$0.6 billion and is projecting an even bigger profit for Q2. Inotera posted a NT$3.7 billion loss in Q4 of 2012 and posted a reduced NT$0.6 billion loss in Q1 of 2013, it is projecting a return to profit at some stage this year.
So the message is, get your RAM soon as prices are constantly rising. If you can wait, then you’ll need to wait until mid 2014 for prices to drop back down again. Though it is unlikely prices will ever reach as low as they did in 2012 because that wasn’t economically sustainable for any DRAM company.
What are your thoughts on this rather gloomy projection courtesy of Inotera?
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Nokia sales tumble overshadows Lumia pick-up

 

A sharp fall in sales of Nokia's basic phones overshadowed a stronger performance from its Lumia smartphones in the first quarter, sending its shares tumbling.

The results renewed pressure on Chief Executive Stephen Elop, who was hired in 2010 to turn the Finnish mobile phone maker around after falling behind rivals Samsung and Apple in the smartphone race.

He made the controversial decision to switch to Microsoft's untried Windows Phone software in early 2011 and had said the transition would take two years, a period that's now over. Analysts said he was running out of time.

"Basically, he has only the second quarter," said Mikko Ervasti at Finnish investment banking and wealth management group Evli.

Nokia said it sold 5.6 million units of Lumia handsets in the first quarter, up from 4.4 million in the previous quarter and in line with expectations.

But shipments of mobile phones slumped 21 percent to 55.8 units, a far steeper decline than the 8 percent fall that markets expected, with unit sales down in every region.

As a result, overall net sales fell 20 percent to 5.9 billion euros from a year earlier, far short of the 6.5 billion euros forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Sales at its equipment venture NSN fell 5 percent to 2.8 billion euros, weaker than expected, although its underlying profit was higher than expected due to restructuring.

STAYING RELEVANT

Nokia's future is seen as depending on higher-margin smartphones as a growing number of global consumers want access to apps such as Twitter from their handsets, but it also needs to protect its position in the basic phone market so buyers of its lower-end handsets don't defect to other brands when they eventually upgrade to smartphones.

In markets such as China, Nokia faces strong competition not only from rivals such as Samsung but also from emerging, cut-price competitors.

"The fall in numbers for the low-end devices is quite alarming," said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies. "Even with Lumia doing better, we still care about those. Nokia is still a second-tier player in smartphones, and it's only because of its position in mobile phones that it's still relevant."

Elop told reporters that the main reason for the fall in mobile phone sales was tougher competition and the company would aim to fight back with more innovative, low-priced products.

Nokia recently launched a 15 euro phone in an effort to boost its share in emerging markets, and has been expanding its mid-tier offering, too, with its range of Asha feature phones to keep customers loyal.

Though Nokia said it expected Lumia sales to grow more strongly in the coming quarter, Samsung and Apple, which between them will have shipped nearly 100 million smartphones in the first quarter, show little sign of ceding market share. Samsung's Galaxy S4 is set to go on sale later this month and is expected to outsell its predecessors with monthly sales of around 10 million.

PROTECTING CASH

Some analysts said they were worried about Nokia's forecast for margins in its devices and services business to be "approximately negative 2 percent", give or take 4 percentage points in the second quarter, down from a positive 0.1 percent in the first.

Cost cuts helped its net cash position improve to 4.5 billion euros from 4.4 billion in the previous quarter, rather than fall as markets expected.

The company's first-quarter underlying loss, which excludes special items, decreased to 0.02 euros from 0.08 euros a year earlier. Markets had expected a 0.04 loss, according to a Reuters poll.

Despite such bright spots, weak sales in the bread-and-butter mobile phones briefly sent Nokia's shares down 12.7 percent to a year-low of 2.30 euros.

By 1155 GMT the shares traded at 2.47 euros, higher than their lifetime low of 1.33 recorded last year but still a far cry from their 65-euro peak in 2000.

Nordea's Sarkamies said the weak results in mobile phones might force analysts to reconsider what they see as the sum value of the company's parts, which include its handset business, Navteq mapping unit and stake in NSN. Many analysts had estimated that to be around 4-5 euros.

"Worries about the mobile phone business are now greater," he said.

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Will you buy HTC One?

The question is long overdue, particularly since I asked about Samsung Galaxy S4, the other major 1080p smartphone freshly released. After some delays, the One can now be purchased -- well, if you can find the thing -- and HTC is advertising rather aggressively. I've seen commercials in prime time, sometimes two in a row, throughout the week.
This afternoon, I hauled off to one of the two San Diego T-Mobile stores selling HTC One. Both are stocked out, but there was a live phone I could play around with. I toyed with ordering the smartphone from T-Mobile online late last night. Opportunity lost. The One is "out of stock" today. AT&T and Sprint also sell the One. Supplies are limited.

Up close, I'm less impressed by HTC One than expected, because of software. Sense UI is still too obtrusive for my taste, and T-Mobile loads up lots of crapware, including the Lookout security app, which at first blush can be disabled but not removed. Yet there are some aspects of Sense, such as news and social feeds up close and personal on the homescreen, that conceptually appeal. I'd like to use them though to see if they're worth the trouble, something not easily done in the store.
Build quality and design really distinguish the One from every other phone I've handled, including iPhone 5, which is a beaut. The aluminum body begs to be touched, caressed and seen. If eye-pleasing is a priority, HTC's baby won't disappoint.
Regarding the display, I can only say wow. After spending just a few minutes with the One, I have to say Apple CEO Tim Cook's excuse for 3.5- or 4-inch iPhones is even more lame-ass than my first impression. During this week's earnings conference call, in response to an analyst question about smartphones with 5-inch displays (think Galaxy S4), Cook answers: "iPhone 5 has the absolute best display in the industry", which audacious claim. "Our competitors had made some significant trade-offs in many of these areas in order to ship a larger display, we would not ship a larger display iPhone while these trade-offs exist".
Well, hell, I sure am impressed by HTC's trade-offs. Apple should make some. The 4.7-inch One display is scary crisp. Oh, yeah, my Nexus 4, which has same-size screen, seems sooo much less now. But, hey.
The Right One
For anyone considering the phone, the major competitor is Galaxy S4, based on features and screen resolution, for starters. But you should consider all the major contenders. Spec-fest for your consideration:
HTC One: 4.7-inch Super LCD3 display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and 468 ppi; 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor; 2GB RAM; 32GB or 64GB storage; 4MP front-facing and 2.1MP rear-facing cameras; 1080p video recording; 4G: LTE (Asia 1800/2600 Mhz), EU (800/1800/2600 MHz), AT&T (700/850/AWS/1900 MHz), Sprint (1900 Mhz), T-mobile USA (1900 Mhz); HSPA/WCDMA (850/900/1900/2100 MHz); GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz); WiFi N; GPS + GLONASS; Bluetooth 4; NFC (carrier chooses); DLNA; ambient-light and proximity sensors; accelerometer; digital compass; gyroscope; 2300 mAh battery; Android 4.1.2 with HTC Sense. Measures 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 mm and weighs 143 grams. In the United States, AT&T and Sprint: $199.99 for the 32GB model, with 2-year contract. AT&T sells the 64GB One for $299.99. T-Mobile: $99.99 upfront and 24 $20 monthly payments for 32 gigger.
Samsung Galaxy S4: 5-inch Super AMOLED with 1920 x 1080 resolution and 441 pixels per inch; 1.9GHz quad-core or 1.6GHz dual quad-core processor; 2GB of RAM; 16GB, 32GB or 64GB storage (expandable up to 64GB with microSD card); 13-megapixel auto-focus rear-facing and 2MP front-facing cameras; 1080p video recording; 4G: LTE (Cat 3 100/50Mbps), HSPA＋ 42Mbps (850/900/1900/2100 MHz); 2.5G GSM/ GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz);WiFi N/AC; GPS + GLONASS; NFC; Bluetooth 4; IR LED; MHL 2; accelerometer; barometer; gyroscope; geomagnetic, gesture, proximity, RGB light and temperature & humidity sensors; 2600 mAh removable battery; and Android 4.2.2 with TouchWiz UI. Measures 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm and weighs 130 grams. Prices and configurations vary by carrier. In the United States, AT&T: $199.99 and $249.99 for 16GB and 32GB, respectively -- locked with 2-year commitment. T-Mobile: $99.99 upfront and $20/month for 24 months.
Apple iPhone 5: 4-inch display with 1136 x 640 resolution, 326 ppi; Apple A6 dual-core processor; 1GB RAM; 16GB, 32GB or 64GB storage (depending on model); 8MP rear-facing and 1.2MP front-facing cameras; UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz), GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), LTE (bands vary by carrier model and region); accelerometer; ambient-light sensor; gyroscope; GPS; proximity sensor; digital compass; Bluetooth; WiFi N; 1440 mAh fixed battery; carrier locked; iOS 6. Measures 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm and weighs 112 grams. With 2-year contract sells for: $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB), $399 (64GB). Carrier locked, but in United States not Verizon model. T-Mobile: $99.99 upfront and $24 $20 monthly payments.
Nokia Lumia 920: 4.5-inch display with 1280 by 768 resolution with 332 pixels per inch; 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 dual-core processor; HSPA+ and LTE (no T-Mobile USA HSPA support); 1GB RAM; 32GB storage (and 7GB SkyDrive free); 8.7MP rear-facing camera (F/2 aperture, 26mm focal length and Carl Zeiss Tessar lens) with LED flash; front-facing camera; 1080p video at 30fps (back camera), 720p (front); NFC; Bluetooth 3.1; Assisted-GPS; WiFi N; WiFi Direct; WiFi Channel bonding; DLNA compatible; magnetometer; ambient-light, proximity and orientation sensors; 2,000 mAh fixed battery; and Windows Phone 8. Dimensions: 130.3 mm high by 70.8 mm wide by 10.7 mm thick; weighs 185 grams. Sells locked for $99.99 with 2-year contract from AT&T.

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So what’s next for Microsoft's Bing?

I’ve been using Bing as my primary search engine for nearly two months now, and I like it. While I personally think it still lags behind Google in some areas, it’s definitely improving. It delivers decent results, offers some great features and does an excellent job of integrating social sources like Facebook and Twitter.
I chatted with Bill Hankes, a director at Bing, to find out more about the service and the division's future plans, and also asked him about that divisive Scroogled campaign...

BN: How does Microsoft see Bing as different from Google? What do you think you do better?
BH: Bing was designed to help people go from searching and finding to searching and doing. This focus on "getting things done" means that we’re investing heavily in three key areas: relevance of traditional search results, e.g., ten blue links; adding information beyond ten blue links to help people understand the world around them; and then bringing search results to life across different interaction modalities appropriate for different devices and platforms, like phones and tablets.

• More relevant and organized web results: The bedrock of modern search remains core algorithmic relevance, and beautiful, relevant "algo" results should be the first thing people see. We’ve tuned Bing to make the entire page easier to scan, removing unnecessary distractions, and making the overall experience more predictable and useful. This refreshed design helps people do more with search. We’ve also made significant strides in relevance; in fact, our research shows Bing results are as good or better than the competition.
• Understand the world around you: Bing helps you understand the people, places and things around you, all of which have unique attributes and relationships to each other. In Bing’s center "snapshot" column, we present a view of these entities so that people gain the understanding they are looking for at a glance, rather than having to jump in and out of blue links to assemble the requisite knowledge.
• Cross-device. How you execute searches can and should vary across different kinds of devices that aren’t traditional PCs. It’s just not practical, or safe in some cases, to type or use a keyboard when you’re sitting in the living room, or driving or walking down the street. That’s why Bing has been working to advance the state of the art in understanding voice, gestures, touch and images -- essentially the inputs that represent intent to help with query understanding. Things we traditionally might otherwise try and type into a search box. One of the best demonstrations of this new interface thinking is the voice technology used with Xbox and Kinect. Voice commands are used as the equivalent of search box queries to access data: information about music, movies and more. Today, using Bing’s technology, Xbox users can ask for a list of action movies, or Woody Allen movies, or music by artist or genre. This same voice technology, by the way, is available on Windows Phones to help people not only access search information, but also access information on their phones like contact information or applications, e.g., "start Netflix". Just as important is contextual understanding -- understanding what people likely want based on location and their friends' interests. Windows Phone’s “Local Scout” and "For You" features allow people to find food and drink, shopping, and things to do based on where a person is on the map and what their friends like. Similarly, Bing is the underlying service for a set of pre-installed apps on Windows 8 that let users gain access to rich data on travel, weather, news, finance and other common interest areas. In the touch and tablet world, typing isn’t always as easy, so the means by which people ask for information and then interact with it has been built in to provide a graphically rich and touch optimized experience.

BN: What features are you most proud or excited about?
BH: The two areas I’m most excited about are Social Search and Mobile Search. We all know how family and friends help us make decisions on everything from restaurant recommendations to camera purchases. Bing has started to infuse that same knowledge from your Facebook friends, and other social networks like Foursquare and Quora, directly into the search results page. This is a relatively new area in search, but given the sheer volume of data being created on social networks today, we feel compelled to help people tap into this information for the benefit of their Bing searches. On the mobile front, or rather the non-PC front, we are entering an era of search that more closely resembles Star Trek than our traditional means of engaging a search box. We can now ask our phones and Xboxes for directions and information. We can use our tablets and phones to scan book titles and barcodes. We can engage in serendipitous search experiences with apps that are focused on rich travel and maps experiences, for example. The pace of innovation in this area of search is amazing.
BN: Bing does a great job of integrating social sites. What services do you include, and any future plans you can reveal?
BH: As I’ve said before, Bing is partnering with industry leaders such as Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Klout, Foursquare, and LinkedIn to help personalize results and make search more of a two-way conversation through the sidebar. We really think Social is increasingly important because for every search query there is someone who can be helpful. Naturally, we’ll keep you posted on any future updates.
BN: Bing recently updated the Windows 8 app, adding lots of welcome improvements. Was the feeds addition in response to Google Reader's imminent closure (and will we see a Bing Reader?)
BH: No, the Bing News app RSS feeds were well into development by the time Google made its announcement. The addition of feeds were a natural extension of what we set out to do with the News app, which was to deliver a visually immersive, information rich app that makes it easy for people to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the world.
BN: Will Bing introduce a similar feature to Google's Authorship program which recognizes writers for stories in search?
BH: We already have. Bing’s Author pages offer consumers additional information on news experts and include rich content from their Twitter feed, and news articles from that author in the search results. To find an author, you can go to Bing News and then enter "Author:" in the search bar, followed by the name of the author you’re searching. Additionally, News Experts show up in the Sidebar so when you search for a topic which they are considered an expert about, you can tap in to their knowledge by easily seeing their social activity and with one click go to their Author page on Bing News.
BN: What's the biggest obstacle in getting users of other search engines to switch to Bing?
BH: It takes more than just better search results to compel a change in consumers’ habits; it requires a truly different approach. From the outset, our goal with Bing has been to create a product that reflects the needs of today’s searchers. We feel our unique approach will be attractive to consumers because it provides social context to search without compromising the organic results -- ultimately helping people do more. We have seen some success already, but we have a lot more work to do.
BN: Bing generally delivers far fewer results than Google. For example, a search for Game of Thrones on Google brings up about 858,000,000 results. In Bing there's "just" 23,200,000. Does this impact on your ability to present users with the best results?
BH: This doesn’t impact our ability to provide the best results. We’ve made significant strides in relevance and have conducted research studies, which show we are every bit as good, if not better, than our competition. Bing views search as more than ten or even a million blue links, which is why we’ve introduced things like snapshot to give people a quick, at a glance view so they can actually take action instead of wading through more results. And frankly, if you don’t find what you’re looking for in the first 23 million results, there is something wrong.
BN: Why are certain features -- like the ability to sort results by time period -- only available in the US (and will that particular feature be coming to the UK)?
BH: We hope to expand our offerings globally and will announce more details when available.
BN: What do you think of the recent report that Bing searches throw up more malware sites than Google?
BH: As we made clear in our blog post on the matter, AV-TEST’s study doesn’t represent the true Bing experience. The conclusions many have drawn from the study are wrong because AV-TEST didn’t actually do any searching on bing.com. They used a Bing API to execute a number of queries and downloaded the result to their system for further analysis. By using the API instead of the user interface, AV-TEST bypassed our warning system designed to keep customers from being harmed by malware. Bing does prevent customers from clicking on malware infected sites by disabling the link on the results page and showing a message to stop people from going to the site.
BN: When will there be Bing Now and meaningful voice search?
BH: We have a meaningful voice search experience already. Voice recognition is an important space we’re focusing on, both within the Bing team and across Microsoft, as exemplified by Bing Voice search on Windows Phone and Bing on Xbox. But, voice is just one interesting area. We’re also investing in areas like gesture and touch, but we don’t have any additional new details to share at this time.

BN: Who came up with Scroogled and how successful is it?
BH: The Scroogled campaigns are a team effort. The goal of Scroogled is to spark a conversation and raise awareness of Google’s practices with regard to consumer privacy, what they do with the information they get from people, and to ensure consumers know what’s happening to their privacy when using Google’s services. Consumers and advocacy groups have made it clear they have concerns, and millions of people have visited the Scroogled website. We’ve been pleased with the response so far.
BN: What’s next for Bing?
BH: The world is changing and people expect search to keep up. People aren’t simply sitting at their desks, typing queries into a search box -- they’re on their phones, in applications and on the go. They are constantly looking for data and information to help them get things done. Today we’re at the tip of the iceberg of what will be possible with search, and we believe Microsoft is the company best equipped to deliver a long term solution.

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Antonio Adán

Antonio Adán Garrido born 13 May 1987.Is a Spanish footballer who plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid.Adan comes in Real Madrid form Real Madrid B.Fans don't like this goalkeeper.He is 1.90m tall and have number 13.

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Roger Federer

Federer has appeared in 24 men's Grand Slam finals, with ten in a row, both records, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through to the 2010 Australian Open. He is the only man to reach at least the semifinals of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open.[19] At the 2013 Australian Open, he reached a record 35th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final and a record 33rd Grand Slam semi-final. He has also won the most matches, 252, in men's Grand Slam tournaments. He also won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and the Olympic silver medal in singles at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. He spent eight years (2003–2010) continuously in the top 2 in the year-end men's rankings and ten (2003–2012) in the top 3. His rivalries with Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray making for a "Big Four", are considered some of the greatest of all time, in what is increasingly described as a "golden era" of men's tennis.[20] Federer has won the ATPWorldTour.com Fans' Favorite Award a record ten times straight (2003–2012) and the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award (voted for by the players) a record eight times (2004–2009, 2011–2012),[21] both being awards indicative of respect and popularity. He also won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2006. In 2011, in a South African poll, he was voted the second most trusted and respected person in the world, next to Nelson Mandela.[22][23] He was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record four consecutive years (2005–2008).[24] Federer is at times referred to as the Federer Express,[25] shortened to Fed Express or FedEx, and the Swiss Maestro,[25] or just Maestro.
Roger Federer (German pronunciation: [ˈfeːdərər]; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who, as of April 2013, is ranked World No. 2 by the ATP. Many sports analysts, tennis critics and former and current players consider Federer the greatest tennis player of all time.[a] He owns several men's world records of the Open Era: holding the World No. 1 position for 302 weeks overall;[16][17] a 237-consecutive-week stretch at the top from 2004 to 2008;[18] winning 17 Grand Slam singles titles; reaching the finals of each Grand Slam tournament at least five times (an all-time record); and reaching the Wimbledon final eight times. He is one of seven men, and one of four in the Open Era, to capture the career Grand Slam, and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so separately on clay, grass, and hard courts. Federer also shares the Open Era record for most Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open with Agassi and Novak Djokovic (4 titles), at Wimbledon with Pete Sampras (7 titles) and at the US Open with Jimmy Connors and Sampras (5 titles). Federer's ATP tournament records include winning six ATP World Tour Finals, playing in the finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (a record shared with Djokovic), and being one of three players (alongside Agassi and Djokovic) to win seven.

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