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ATEN Launches A New Series of Multi-console 32-port Matrix KVM Switches Anonymous writes "reviewed by Steven TurnerATEN International, a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of advanced communication solutions, introduces the latest Matrix KVM switches that have been added to its ALTUSEN Enterprise KVM Solutions line. These new Matrix KVM switches provide excellent video quality and secure control in real time over all equipment in the server room or data center. The KM0532 and KM0932 allow 5 and 9 consoles to independently and simultaneously manage up to 32 directly connected servers. The switches can be daisy chained, cascaded, or both, providing flexible expansion configurations that allow up to 9 consoles to control thousands of servers. Daisy chaining KM0032 switches offers an additional cost-saving configuration, since the use of dedicated chain ports allow all of the switch’s KVM ports to be utilized for server connections. An advanced Dual Root feature makes it possible to link two KM0932 switches to achieve an 18 console configuration that allows administrators to flexibly increase the number of consoles they deploy to match their growth requirements, and offers an ideal solution for applications that utilize multiple video displays. With non-blocked access, all consoles connected to a master switch have simultaneous access to any server on their own level, as well as having independent access to any server on any level of the installation. The KM0532 and KM0932 are the first Matrix KVM switches to offer both audio and virtual media features. Being audio enabled, the sound output and beeps from the servers allow administrators to identify and troubleshoot system problems easily. The sound capability is also ideal for presentation facilities, or studio applications. The Virtual Media function allows USB storage devices to be shared among all the servers. Operators can perform file transfers or install applications and OS patches across the installation from a single console, thereby reducing down-time and saving maintenance costs. With automatic skew compensation and Auto Signal Compensation (ASC), Matrix KVM switches ensure better video quality via Cat 5e/6 cabling - 1280x1024 @60Hz over distances of up to 300 meters. In addition, the industry’s first full-screen GUI offers a tree view list of installed devices, providing smooth navigation, in addition to convenient access and control. “The Matrix KVM switch is designed with a dual power supply to minimize downtime and offer 24/7 reliability to ensure the highest level of availability for server rooms or data centers. With high availability, high reliability, high integration, and high security, an ATEN Matrix KVM Switch is the best solution for large sever rooms and data centers.” said Kevin Chen, President of ATEN International. Servers can be power controlled remotely when the Matrix KVM Switch is used in conjunction with ALTUSEN Power Over the NET power management device. The switch's power Association function enables its KVM ports to be associated with the PN0108’s power outlets for remote power management of the servers from the switch’s interface. The Matrix KVM switch’s console modules and KVM adapter cables provide an extremely high degree of platform and interface integration. Equipment using PS/2 and USB interfaces, and Win, Linux, Mac and Sun platforms, can all work together smoothly on the same installation. The use of RJ-45 connectors and Cat 5e/6 cabling eliminates bulky traditional cables, and makes for more reliable throughput and a neat, efficient, uncluttered work environment. About ATEN ATEN International Co., Ltd. is specializes in information technology connectivity solutions. Established in 1979, ATEN is now considered the leading manufacturer of KVM Switches worldwide. This prominent position was reached through continuous high investment in research and development, resulting in numerous patents such as a sophisticated ASIC, developed in the ATEN labs, manufactured by ATEN, and used to differentiate our products from the competition. Our current product range comprises hundreds of connectivity solutions, providing complete KVM solutions from entry level to the enterprise market. ATEN's customers are made up of the entire range of the IT spectrum – from large corporations conducting global operations, to small and midrange businesses, to individual users. For further information, please visit http://www.aten.com. " |
How I Beat a Photo- Enforced Red Light Ticket by Steven A. Turner
This past winter, I made a right turn on Manchester (a fairly busy thoroughfare in downtown Saint Louis) while the light was turning yellow. I stopped for a fraction of a second while calculating whether the oncoming traffic posed a threat. While underway again, I noted a flash in my rear-view mirror, and I immediately realized I might have been captured on some kind of photo-enforcement camera.
Several weeks later, my suspicions were confirmed by a mailed summons stating that my car had been videotaped making a turn on red without stopping. I logged on to the web address to view my violation multiple times using my net book computer. Since its screen was only 11 inches wide, I displayed my transgression on a forty-inch TV screen while proclaiming my innocence to my entire family.
My son rolled his eyes and said, “Right, dad” and pointed out the video displayed a smooth progression of my car making a right turn on a red light with nary a hint of a stop. Dismayed, I viewed and reviewed the video obsessively, gradually causing me to question the very memory of my momentary stop. Had my mind confabulated the stop while my car went through that right turn during a red light- albeit at a glacial pace?
After the fifteenth viewing of the 11 second clip, I noticed jaywalker transversing 4 lanes of traffic about 150 feet from my car. What caught my eye was not the fact that he was a fellow lawbreaker caught at the same moment of time; it was the manner in which he was walking.
The jaywalker seemed to move in magical irregular spurts, his body time- shifting several inches in front of him, materializing and disappearing, as if he was a victim of some malfunctioning transport machine in a low budget Star Trek episode. At that point, I knew my one-hundred dollar fine was as good as gone.
I videotaped that jaywalker, enlarged five hundred percent on my 40- inch screen. Then I researched the company that provided the photo cameras. As demonstrated by the staccato gate of the jaywalker, the video had used a proprietary video compression algorithm to save space. In other words, several frames were dropped during the eleven-second run of the video and other frames were altered by the compression software just to save space in the memory of the camera.
Not only did I find a description of the video compression software that the company produced and used with its photo enforcement cameras, I found that there were only 5 frames recorded per second of video. In contrast, a film in a movie theater uses 24 frames per second. The company used a low-tech way of compressing data- the cameras just recorded less data by capturing less real time. The compression software further compounded the loss of data by using an algorithm called (surprise, surprise) lossy compression.
Lossy compression is an algorithm that eliminates redundant information so when a file is uncompressed that redundant information is lost. However, to smooth things out, another software program called vector quantization looks at an array of data and then generalize what it sees, compressing redundant data (such as a stopped car), and while at the same time retaining the desired object- in this case, my car (which was the main object in the foreground). Then a fractal algorithm program was used to generate the sections that were lost by the compression by using similar video bit data that had been recorded.
This why the car seemed to move smoothly in the foreground, while the pedestrian in the background (not a desired object subject to a fractal algorithm reconstruction), had a disjointed time-shifting gait.
I presented this evidence in court, complete with incriminating facts from the company’s website as well as the video tape of my car and the jaywalker proving that video compression was utilized. The judge was convinced that the altered video had, in effect, lost data that could have proved my braking. The judge complemented me on my unique defense and persuasive evidence. I was found not guilty. |
Swine Flu: The Next Pandemic?By Steven A. Turner MD Swine Flu, a seasonal respiratory virus infection in pigs, rarely affects humans. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported only twelve cases of human Swine Flu infections during a four-year period from 2005 to 2009 in the United States.
The CDC reports that there are 40 current (laboratory-verified) cases of Human Swine Flu in the United States.
The virus, technically a H1N1 influenza type A virus, is constantly mutating. The virus contains genetic material from Asian Swine Flu, American Swine Flu, avian flu and human flu. And the latest transformation of this virus is keeping the CDC working furiously to identify the scope and magnitude of an infection that is rapidly spreading across the globe.
The symptoms of being infected with Swine Flu are similar to any influenza infection: sore throat, body aches, fever, runny nose, and diarrhea.
Human to human infection spreads by coughing and sneezing. Touching an inanimate object such as a doorknob, which can harbor a virus for days, also transmits the virus.
The CDC states within two days of symptoms, the virus can be treated with antiviral medications such as Tamiflu or Relenza.
The epicenter of this plague is Mexico City, where 149 people have died so far and 1,995 people have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia. There is no vaccine available.
In city that has a population of 20 million, there are only one million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu. And if things weren’t bad enough already, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico today.
Mexico City is a virtual ghost town. All schools, museums, zoos and public meeting places have been closed. Even churches have been affected: all masses, baptisms and confirmations were canceled until further notice.
The CDC confirmed yesterday that the virus samples from Mexico deceased victims were essentially genetically the same as the samples from the United States cases.
The difference is that in the United States, no one has died. In fact, only one infected American needed hospitalization.
There may be an age variance in the susceptibility for the swine flu virus.
In Mexico, most of the deaths centered on a population age range from 20 to 45 years old. In the U.S., the infections were found initially in children, all of whom recovered without permanent medical injuries. However, Mexico City has the worst air pollution in North American and its resulting lung damage prior to an influenza infection might contribute to the higher mortality rate.
Or, it may simply be a cultural difference in hand washing frequency. Hand washing with soap removes potentially pathogenic organisms including influenza viruses. Americans may be more diligent about washing their hands throughout the day than their southern counterparts. This may explain the higher prevalence of the virus in Mexico, although no firm conclusions can be made until more information is known about swine flu's incubation period.
Nonetheless, it is the ease of transmission that is worrisome. It is estimated that at any given moment, there are over 75,000 airborne passengers in commercial airline flights. These passengers have already been implicated in the international spread of this virus.
In response to this threat, the European Union's health commissioner today urged Europeans to avoid all non-essential travel to both Mexico and the United States.
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Cover Story: Pacific Tea: Turning Algae into Green CrudeAlgae, the most ubiquitous renewable substance on Earth is considered a nuisance by most people. Yet, it may be our salvation for rising gas prices. Algae can grow anywhere, in brackish back-waters to vast oceans. The salinity of its environment also does not hinder its proliferation. Where other creatures find ocean life inhospitable, algae thrives. Algae grows in the desert as well as it grows at the North Pole. Algae also have the benefit of lowering the emission levels of CO2. Chlorella algae have been used experimentally in Japan to cut emissions from power stations. It uses the algae’s fixation of CO2 during the photosynthesis cycle. In other words, just passively growing algae can garner CO2 tax credits that can, in turn, be sold to power stations to offset their own CO2 emissions. Thus, algae is considered a carbon neutral source of fuel because of its CO2 fixation abilities. Algae are the scavengers of the vast mires of non-potable water. Algae efficiently extract nutrients from waste water while yielding biomass ten times the rate of land plants that use up limited fresh water supplies. One acre of corn yields only 20 gallons of fuel a year. An acre of algae can yield 3,000 to 15,000 gallons of fuel. Presently, there are scores of companies racing to find the algae best suited for bio-fuel production. While some algae can produce up to 50% of its weight in oil, production and refining costs are prohibitive. The Defense Department estimates that the cost of converting algae into a gallon of gasoline is twenty dollars. Costs must decrease to around two dollars a gallon to be economically viable. The interest of algae-based fuel has spawned a mini-oil rush as academics and private companies compete to unlock the secrets of low-cost algae fuel production. The Scripps Research Institute and the University of San Diego collaborated to start Sapphire Energy Company. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, (DARP) is working with Honeywell and the University of North Dakota to make jet fuels from algae. Roger Ruan's lab at the University of Minnesota is also active in the hunt. Ruan has called algae a near- perfect feedstock. It can be grown anywhere. Algae can utilize sewage and take out pollutants such as phosphorous and it has a high density of oils that can be converted into diesel and its cellulosic waste products into biocrude. Today’s corn-based ethanol has its share of critics. Ethanol is a low octane fuel. Ethanol is also slightly acidic and engines have to be modified to accommodate its corrosive actions. Utilizing corn for biofuel has also exacted unintended consequences. Corn-based products are utilized anywhere from bread to the sweetener dextrose. Because of this, ethanol has been implicated in the rapid rise of the United State ’s core inflation since there is less availability of corn for food derivatives as demand for corn-based fuel has increased. The United States has transformed itself from a country that once produced so much corn, and so efficiently, it had to give subsidies to farmers to support corn’s selling price. The U.S. Government, utilizing foreign food aid programs, couldn’t give corn away fast enough. Last summer, demand for corn was so high, record prices on the Chicago Mercantile exchange caused food riots in the far reaches of the globe. The once-scorned nuisance named algae may be America ’s salvation for both its food inflation and energy woes. © 2009 Steven Turner. All rights reserved. |
Isis Eyed By Pfizer- But Turned Down By Steven Turner Last Update: 11:31 AM ET Nov 21, 2008 In February of 2007, shortly after Isis (ISIS) announced its multibillion dollar, collaboration with Genzyme (GENZ), a senior executive of Pfizer (PFE) was chided, asking how they could let rival Genzyme outbid them for the rights to Mipomersen. The Pfizer executive pointed out that the mode of delivery was the key factor in their decision. This reluctance on Pfizer’s part was understandable in light of the disastrous multibillion-dollar loss with “the sure thing,” Nektar’s (NKTR) inhaled insulin product, which nobody wanted to buy. This fiasco was unfolding while Pfizer and 10 other pharmaceutical companies were engaged in a bidding war to acquire the rights to Mipomersen. |
Toxic Heparin: Another Fine Product from China By Steve Turner © 2008 Steven Turner. All rights reserved Eighty-one deaths in the United States have been linked to allergic reactions to a Chinese-concocted contaminant in the widely used blood thinner heparin. The contaminant is an animal cartilage-derived oversulfated chondriotin sulfate. This ersatz non-FDA-approved chemical poorly mimics heparin but costs one one-hundredth of the price of legitimate heparin. Last month, FDA Commissioner Andrew Von Eschenbach told the US Senate that the replacement of heparin was not inadvertent, but an intentional act that was by “virtue of economic fraud.” This fraud joins several recent Chinese-initiated toxic chemical substitutions executed to save money for the Chinese suppliers while ultimately costing their American counterparts billions of dollars in litigation expenses and product recalls. |
Avoid These 7 Deadly Dangers of Outsourcing Anonymous writes "Avoid These 7 Deadly Dangers of Outsourcingby Steve Mezak, CEO Accelerance, Inc. Here are seven dangers of outsourcing your software development. They become deadly if your career or entire company depends on the timely release of your software. " |
XPS file format – new reality of Windows VistaAnonymous writes "The official release of Windows Vista, a new operational system by the Microsoft Corporation is a landmark event for the majority of software vendors. The vendors who are able to adjust their products to this new operating system will gain significant competitive edge."
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CyberMatrix Office Version 1 ReleasedAnonymous writes "CyberMatrix Office Version 1 ReleasedCyberMatrix Corporation has released version 1.00 of CyberMatrix Office. CyberMatrix Office is a virtual office collaboration program. It is designed for those companies that would like to allow their employees to work from home yet still be accessible to others that need to interact with them. " |
VERIZON WIRELESS GIVES $40,000 GRANT TO THE ST. LOUIS FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER VERIZON WIRELESS GIVES $40,000 GRANT TO THE ST. LOUIS FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER
.Verizon Wireless Funds Survivor Intake Database . ST. LOUIS—Through the Verizon Foundation, Verizon Wireless has awarded a $40,000 grant to the St. Louis Family Justice Center (FJC) to upgrade technology for a survivor intake database and for community outreach that will be used to improve services to survivors of domestic violence. |
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