Keynote Morning Session GLOBAL Technology Conference

September 1, 2010  |  Tech Worth Talking About  |  0 Comments

**Please note, we are liveblogging from the conference, please excuse grammatical errors.  Thanks.

This morning’s session highlighted the growth and roadmap for GlobalFoundries and widely focused on innovation coming in the 32 nm sector.  Development of the infamous AMD Llano APU will bridge the gap, or as they call it, “fusion” between CPU and GPU chips.  This is the next-gen space for the semiconductor industry.

The invited keynote was provided by the SVP of Tech Group at AMD.  One of the core takeaways were AMD’s short term goals for the future:

1. More density (naturally means more performance)

2. Unlock benefits of die stacking

3. Gate-first vision

Reminders of their marketing message of AMD being a “design” company was evident in their slide deck, but most importantly it’s their core differentiators against Intel. AMD is the only chip company that does both x86 and GPU parallel computing.

Couple key takeaways from GlobalFoundries speakers:

1. The first truly global semiconductor foundry

2. Everything from gaming to smartphone chips will come out of Fab 8

3. They are going stong, a year later with 10,000 employees and $4 billion in revenue

Heading to the Bay Area: GlobalFoundries Technology Conference & Live Blogging

August 31, 2010  |  Tech Worth Talking About  |  0 Comments

Portfolio PR Group will be heading to San Jose today to attend the GlobalFoundries Technology Conference,  marketing event expected to reach 1,500 customers and partners.  According to the site, the company will host this annually having a line up of keynote speakers that will address the semiconductor and design communities. Topics this year include:

• Leading edge 28nm “Gate First” HKMG and other IP enabled technology platforms
• RF CMOS and other Value Added Solution process modules
• Design enablement and Design for Manufacturing
• Automated Precision Manufacturing and Yield Management
• Global Capacity Expansion
• Multi-Fab Synchronization with Customers and Common Platform Manufacturing Partners
• MEMS
• And more!

We’re familiar with the semiconductor industry as it exists today, but to fathom what will come out of this Fab in 2012, I felt like we had to be at this event.  I’ll be particularly interested in learning about the GlobalFoundries open and non-proprietary approach to design enablement. The Global Technology Conference will feature their GLOBALSOLUTIONS partners, leading companies which provide a range of differentiated products and services from EDA, IP, design services, reticles, and assembly and test.

We know the impact that is coming to Malta – thousands of direct jobs, thousands of indirect jobs and most importantly, the ancillary businesses which naturally settle around a Fab.

One thing I’ve learned after nearly 10 years of specializing in technology public relations, is that to win the business you have to understand it.  That’s why we’re going. For those who are also attending, the goal is to spread education on Saratoga County and the resources that are here for these ancillary businesses.  Both go hand in hand, predominately because one can’t survive without the other.

Saratoga County, like many of our technology clients, IS a product.  It’s filled with resources that are hard to find, and with GlobalFoundries as an anchor tenant, we have the land and construction partners who will build much of this area into another winning technology cluster.

We’ve booked some great meetings in San Jose, and we’re looking forward to adding news ones to the list.  I’ll be swinging by to meet some old reporter/blogger friends as well.

We’ll be live blogging from GTC 2010 – so stay tuned on the site for real-time details of the show. You can also follow me on Twitter @nmessier to get real-time updates.

Cyber-bullies Could be Sent to Real-life Jail; Saratoga County Unveils Next-Gen Voting Booths

July 30, 2010  |  Tech Worth Talking About  |  1 Comments

While the internet is arguably the greatest of recent inventions, like all technological advancements, it has come with its fair share of unintended consequences. One negative side effect, Cyberbullying, has been gaining increased attention in recent years as the media sheds a light on the nefarious practice.

Locally, Albany County Legislator Brian Scavo is looking to tackle the issue head on, proposing a bill which would punish harassers with up to one year in jail or a one thousand dollar fine. If passed, the law would rank as the toughest in the nation, setting quite a precedent for not only the Empire State’s school yard bullies, but the rest of the country’s as well.

With election season bearing down, Saratoga County is putting the finishing touches on its transition to a new set of HAVA approved voting machines. These new booths aim to make the voting process more transparent and accessible, storing and processing paper ballots, keeping an electronic tab on votes cast, and accommodating nearly every type of handicap.

The machines, which performed flawlessly during a pilot run last year, will be demonstrated throughout the month of August at Townhalls and community centers throughout the county.

Monday Tech News: image depicts history of Apple Tablet

January 25, 2010  |  Tech Worth Talking About, Today's Headlines  |  0 Comments

It’s been rumored, “announced,” and named — but not really. A quick Monday morning snippet from Mashable and lalawag shows an image that depicts the history of the Apple Tablet.  Check it out.

Not the most recent rendering, due to copyright.

Will 2010 be a year of acquisitions?

January 8, 2010  |  Tech Worth Talking About  |  1 Comments

It’s only the first week of 2010 and the technology acquisition space is H-O-T. What an exciting week.  With the second day of CES off and rolling plus a slew of exciting technology acquisitions announced this week, it’s why I love this business.

Amongst the most exciting are:

Cisco acquired network security start up Rohati Systems

BMC acquired Phurnace Software (the third acquisition in six months)

Oracle acquired Silver Creek Systems

Seesmic acquired social media syndication site Ping.fm

Dot Hill acquired Cloverleaf and rumored to take on 3PAR

And in more rumors, VMware could acquire Zimbra. (Random, I know.)

Mashable today debunked the myth that AOL was going to be an acquisition and Google sweetened their offer for local On2 Technologies acquisition pending vote in February.

This is an exciting time for technology companies, to rise out of a recession and demonstrate a strong M&A strategy right out of the gates.  If we look deeper into these deals, you’ll see what areas of technology are rising in importance.  For example, managing apps better in cloud and virtual environments made Phurnace look attractive to BMC.  BMC was itself already rumored to be a 2010 possible M&A target. Dot Hill’s acquisition of Cloverleaf and rumor to take 3PAR next points to the need for storage infrastructure in virtualized environments.

In the world of social media, nothing is getting more complicated for users than managing multiple social networks.  And as big brand names begin to embrace social media more and more, it will be particularly important to be as productive as possible. Seesmic, which makes access apps for Facebook and Twitter will now have a syndication tool on its side.

I think we’ll see more social media and IT management acquisitions happen in 2010 – it’s like that saying, “when you can’t build, buy.”

Google coming to Clifton Park?

January 7, 2010  |  Tech Worth Talking About  |  1 Comments

Amendments where announced today to the pending Google – On2 Technologies acquisition:

According to Dow Jones, “Thursday that it has amended it takeover agreement with On2 Technologies Inc. (ONT). Under the revised deal, On2 shareholders will receive 0.0010 of a share of Google Class A common stock for each share of On2 common stock, as previously announced, plus 15 cents a share in cash. Google said the revision was made to reflect the significant rise in Google’s stock price since the merger was announced in August. Google said that the revised price is its final offer. On2 closed Wednesday at 59 cents.”

After a failed shareholder vote in December, where stockholders of On2 felt they weren’t being paid enough for the video platform software Google so desperately needs, new discussions and more offers ensued. Google’s offer brings the original $106 million to $132 million.

The acquisition is important to Google’s online video distribution strategy and keeping things “Googlized” meaning low cost and wide open, as consumers increasingly view media over cell phones and remote boxes.

More to come on the finalizing of this deal in February.  For more details, visit On2.com, the homepage has an excellent amount of shareholder information convincing the shareholders to be open to a second look.

WOW – @jack! From founder of Twitter, check out Square, Inc.

December 15, 2009  |  Tech Worth Talking About  |  0 Comments

I love when people have problems and then fix them. Sounds simple, right? It’s the part of me that loves tech and misses the Bay Area.¬† So this post is for you <insert local business here> who doesn’t want to navigate the murky waters of bringing credit card systems into your shop but still wants to be able to take plastic as payment.

Enter Square. This newly announced company/product is genius and founded by some of the backers of Twitter and other legendary Bay Area entrepreneurs.¬† The story goes that when a local glass artist Jim McKelvey couldn’t accept plastic as payment for his goods, he got busy thinking about how this could be easier and without the lengthy applications and hardware needed to secure the ability to accept credit cards.

Meet the Square team.

According to SquareUp.com, “today the team is focused on bringing immediacy, transparency, and approachability to the world of payments: an inherently social interaction each of us participates in daily. We‚Äôre starting with a limited beta and rolling out to everyone in early 2010.”

Square is backed by Khosla Ventures and a team of angels. Square, Inc. has offices in San Francisco (Product & Engineering), Saint Louis (Operations), and New York City (Risk & Partnerships).

The device is a square card reader that fits into any audio jack – so for example the iPhone. The software allows for photo recognition that in fact the purchaser is using their own card, then the purchaser gets an electronic receipt.¬† The business intelligence that this gathers in endless — for example, if Square is accepted at say Starbucks, you can do away with your “10 lattes, get one free card,” this would automatically be able to count that.

The security is the same as the a credit card processing machine and there are no pesty monthly charges.

Here’s an interview with Jack Dorsey about the product: (courtesy of TechCrunch)

The Tech Behind Cameron’s Avatar

December 14, 2009  |  Tech Worth Talking About, Today's Headlines  |  3 Comments

It’s rare here at 101 to 87 that we get to cover mainstream consumer topics. We try to stick to our niche and keep educating on technology innovation. Believe me, if I could write about Tiger Woods or Sarah Palin, you’d never get me to shut up. I could say a lot about their current PR efforts and comebacks gone wrong, respectively.

So the fact I get to write about a movie, a new James Cameron epic saga, well it‚  practically a holiday around here.

His newest movie Avatar, due this Friday, is a look at a group of human characters struggling to protect themselves from a distant planet‚ indigenous lifeforms made up of 12 computer-generated characters. The humans are transported between their world and the avatar planet. The storyline features all of Cameron’s typical cliches — war, love, struggling handicap soldier desperate to become useful again.

Ok back to tech.

The movie began filming back in 2007 in New Zealand with a $200 million budget.  It’s achieve absolute movie mayhem now with an estimated $500 million spent. But it is predicted to make profit during the holiday week and will most likely scoop all technical awards at the Oscars.

While James Cameron does admit to a god complex, and has quite the ego, you have to give him credit that he’s brilliant and passionate about making movies. This isn’t just his vision, he wrote and directed Avatar.

For Avatar, Cameron developed a new 3D camera system call FUSION with HD expert Vince Pace so that live action shows being filmed with human characters could also feature virtual ones too. No more old school green screen an Cameron will be able to direct his virtual cast members as if they are real people on a live action set, rather than making ‚ fake spots‚ for them in editing. The new 3D format is said to revolutionize the moving industry. It’s rumored that Spielberg and Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) are using the same 3D technology to do the new series of movies from The Adventures of Tin Tin.

The filming experience has been different than anything else on camera. See how Avatar’s filming will be the new Star Wars for the next generations.

There are numerous amounts of technology behind Avatar, some that will eventually change the way we watch all movies, what toys look like, video games etc. And while one trend this year was to self-animate ourselves into “avatars” Cameron gives us a real look at this type of conversion. Take my favorite girl Zoe Saldana for example.

Saldana describes the experience on filming Avatar here.

We’ll continue to cover the technology behind Avatar throughout the week.  For some unbias, user-generated reviews go here. Otherwise we’ll see you in the lines at Crossgates on Friday.

Wow Google, way to be a late adopter; are you scared of Bing?

December 8, 2009  |  Blunders, Tech Worth Talking About, Today's Headlines  |  1 Comments

If you Google Obama right now, give your search results roughly 10 seconds, you’ll notice some new things in your search window.

On Monday at a media event in Mountain View, CA, Google geeks unveiled search in real-time. So for example, when you Google a topic, you’ll not only see what is on the web, but you will also be able to view what is being written about in real-time on sites like MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. [Note: Facebook's FriendFeed property and public profiles only]

This notion of real-time search isn’t anything new. Niche search sites like Collecta and Crowd Eve currently offer the same thing, minus the robust Google search results. Microsoft Bing also has a Twitter tool that does something similar.

This development of course is nothing less than Google’s attempt to grow its market share that Bing has been eating away at. Google currently owns 65 percent market share and is fighting hard to keep it after new deals like the Microsoft and Yahoo partnership that gave Microsoft control of almost 30 percent of search.

Google users can click on “Latest results” or hit “Latest” from the options menu to view a full page of live tweets, blogs, news and other content scrolling right on Google. Users can also filter results to see only “Updates” from microblogs like Twitter, FriendFeed and Jaiku. Latest results and the new search options are also accessible via the iPhone and Android phones.

The look and feel of Google search is still the same, very simple and very mathematically complex. Real-time search results appear in the middle of the search results page in a small box with a scroll bar where users can go back to any tweets or other results that streamed by too quickly to click on. There is also a pause button to hold the stream in place.

A fun spin on real-time search?

I think this was expected of Google months ago, but my guess is these partnerships took a bit of negotiation.  I will say this greatly improves my Internet stalking results.  No, just kidding. But there are implications for both the PR and HR industry.  Now you can easily check just one site to reputation check a potential hire. And in that very same way you can also reputation-manage a brand or executive. Find out what is being said in real-time. For example, imagine if you Googled “Tiger Woods” right now.

The new features will be rolling out in the next few days and will be available globally in English only.

Welcome back Kodak! Meet the Zi8

December 6, 2009  |  Advice for local companies, Tech Worth Talking About  |  0 Comments

A friend of mine was a die hard Flip person and then the other day I realized she had a new piece of pocket camcorder bling. I was more stunned to notice that it was by Kodak.

Check out the new KODAK Zi8:

Like the Flip Camera, the Zi8 is all you need for camcorder fun and sharing. The details are stellar, and from what I can tell, the quality kicks my HD Nikon’s butt.

• Capture HD quality 1080p video with 16:9 aspect ratio
• Records up to 10 hours of HD video with the expandable SD/SDHC card slot that can hold up to 32 GB
• External microphone jack lets you record in stereo
• Takes amazing 5 MP 16:9 widescreen HD still pictures

This will definitely be making my Capital Region Tech Gift Guide this year.