2009年1月30日 星期五

Femtocell

說明和預計都不清礎的宣傳?

Wikipedia article "Femtocell".

***

記者林睿康/台北報導

中華電信和台灣大哥大將在今年推動Femto cell,資策會認為,Femto cell在接取技術以及訊號傳輸上,不需要在Wi-Fi 與GSM 網路間已非授權頻段進行轉換,通話品質上有保障,未來當更多用戶在家中只使用行動裝置後,像是Wi-Fi在內的各種家庭網路技術後續成長性勢必受到擠壓。

資策會說明,在技術面上,儘管UMA標準早在2004年出爐,隨後包括北美與西歐等地區國家的電信業者已陸續商用化,但Femto cell在接取技術以及訊號傳輸上,不需要在Wi-Fi 與GSM 網路間已非授權頻段進行轉換,通話品質上有保障,相較UMA更適合行動服務商推廣,而且在服務模式部份,Femto cell用戶不需更換手機就可使用,因此行動業者十分看好利用這個技術發展FMC服務。

資策會表示,2010年後,Femto cell多項技術問題可望解決,服務業者商用化速度將加快,將成為FMC服務中主要接取技術。不過資策會認為,因為Femto cell增加用戶在家中行動寬頻傳輸速度,當更多用戶在家中只使用行動裝置後,像是Wi-Fi在內的各種家庭網路技術後續成長性勢必受到擠壓。

資策會預估,Femto cell將為行動寬頻業者增加更多Mobile at home服務的規劃,在與固網業者較勁下,將可掀起一波數位家庭的新應用浪潮。

Does Bran Make the Man? What Statistics Really Tell Us

Does Bran Make the Man? What Statistics Really Tell Us

統計學爭議

技術 Wikipedia article "Bonferroni correction".

*****
2009年 01月 29日 13:26

你的性別取決於你媽懷你時吃什麼? 此題翻譯誤會正文

2009年1月29日 星期四

萬能流感疫苗?

日開發萬能流感疫苗 可望預防新流感

日本厚生勞動省已開發可對付各種流感的萬能疫苗,經由動物實驗確認效果,但對適用於人體問題有待進一步調查研究,距離實用化可能需數年,這項開發對預防新型流感受到期待。

「讀賣新聞」今天報導,由國立傳染病研究所、國立北海道大學、埼玉醫科大學和日油公司共同組成的厚生勞動省研究小組已經開發新型疫苗,特色是對產生異變的病毒也具有效果,經由動物確認效果。

傳統的疫苗是根據病毒表面覆著的刺狀蛋白質來製造,接種後,體內一旦遭受病毒侵入,抗體會認識病毒的刺狀結構而阻止繁殖,但由於經常有一種以上刺狀有異的病毒流行,且刺狀的外形經常異變,造成每年必須重新製造疫苗,且若對流行的病毒預測不準將造成接種效果降低。

研究小組是根據和病毒表面相比較不易出現異變的病毒內部的蛋白質進行人工合成,並結合特殊的脂質膜而製造這種萬能型疫苗,接種這種疫苗後,免疫細胞可攻擊遭到病毒感染的細胞。

研究小組調查很可能經由異變成為新型流感的H5N1型以及A蘇聯型和A香港型三種病毒內部共同的蛋白質而製造萬能型疫苗,經由對體內被注入人體基內的老鼠進行接種的實驗結果,老鼠即使感染這三種病毒也未出現症狀,病毒的繁殖也受到抑制。

但是,由於這種萬能型疫苗是迄今未曾有的新型疫苗,若接種於人體是否能造成嚴重的副作用有必要慎重地加以確認,因此可能需要花數年的時間才可實用化。

報導引述研究小組負責人,國立傳染病研究所主任研究員內田哲也的發言指出,將調查對人體有效的安全量,早日加以實用化。

Nick Holonyak Jr.

紅光LED的發明家

1.日本獎

香檳大學城有位赫赫有名的發明家Nick Holonyak。1962年發明第一粒紅光二極體(LED,light emitting diodes),這是繼愛迪生發明電燈之後,最重要的燈光科技大躍進。1995年他榮獲日本政府頒贈科學界最高榮耀「日本獎」,應邀與夫人前往東京,接受 日本天皇頒獎的殊榮。頒獎儀式上,他謙稱只想在自己的研究領域散發一點微光。然而在場觀禮的人士無不奉他為科技界的「可見光LED之父」;他發明的紅光二 極體,如天上的繁星,將在世界每個角落散發光芒。

頒獎儀式宴會上,他坐在日本皇太后美智子旁邊,他告訴美智子,年輕時曾是駐紮橫濱的美軍,非常懷念日本兒童歌曲,美智子開始唱兒歌給他聽,一曲又一曲。哇,只有我們大學城的科學家才有此榮幸,在國宴上,聆聽日本皇太后美妙的歌聲。

他從日本領獎回來了。有一天在電機系館前人行道上,晨光下他看見地上閃閃發亮的一分錢,立即俯身拾起,瞬間,跟行經的我四目交接,他孩子似地興奮舉起亮晶 晶的銅幣說:「窮的時候,一分錢也寶貴得很啊!」即使才榮獲大獎,剛剛跟日本皇室比肩同座,共享盛宴。他仍然牢牢記著,自己是烏克蘭移民礦工的孩子。

2.調光器的發明

秋高氣爽的夜晚,我們邀請科學家與夫人來寒舍共享龍蝦晚餐,酒過幾巡,談天說笑間,我們的孩子回家了,急切地想看看這位了不起的發明家,迫不及待地詢問 Nick的發明。Nick站起來,用調光器關掉客廳、飯廳、廚房的電燈,屋子一片漆黑,唯有音響、電腦以及家裡其他電器產品上的小燈亮著,如夜空中燦爛的 行星,他指著那些小燈說:「這些燈的元件都是LED做的,將來電燈泡很快也要被取代。」接著他指著調光器說:「那調光器組合配件也是我發明的。」「真的? 怎麼發明的?何時發明?」容貌細緻如中國瓷器的科學家夫人,敘述了科學家發明調光器的來龍去脈:

「你們可能注意到,Nick平常想東西的時候,喜歡扭轉他的捲髮,你們或許也聽說,Nick每天喜歡泡又長又熱的熱水澡。有天,他躺在浴缸泡澡,一邊扭著 他的捲髮,一邊想著他的實驗和測量,東想想這個液晶,西想想那發光的二極管,突然望著天花板的燈,那燈光太亮了,照得他的眼睛不舒服,他真想把那光線調暗 淡一些,他想著,想著,突然靈光一閃,Eureka!Eureka!Nick差點要從浴缸跳出來。隔天跑到實驗室,開始研究調光器的組合配件。」

調光器的發明居然來自浴缸的泡澡經驗,可真神奇啊!Nick不僅發明高效率的可見光,亦能調整光的強度。從十字路口的訊號燈到調光器等等,他的發明為全球節省大量的能源。科學家頭髮猶豐,經年舉重鍛鍊的身軀依然健壯,未來定然會有更多的發現與發明。

3.簡樸的生活

Nick的父親是東歐烏克蘭移民,伊利諾州南方煤礦小鎮的工人,含辛茹苦地培植他讀完大學及研究所。Nick是兩度諾貝爾獎約翰.巴丁教授的第一個入門弟 子,巴丁是電晶體的發明人之一,也是低溫超導理論的創始者。Nick兩度進白宮接受兩位布希總統頒獎,並自俄國總統普丁手中領取「全球能源獎」;麻省理工 學院授與Lemelson-MIT發明獎,也是伊利諾州林肯獎的得主,2008年選入美國名人殿堂,集眾多榮耀於一身。你可能以為這位聞名遐邇的發明家一 定忙著四處旅行演講或者主持國際研討會。不,他過著極端規律而簡樸的生活。

去年11月3日Nick行將八十,還沒想到退休,每天風雪無阻,清早準七點搭公車上班,繼續勤勉不倦於研究工作,中午吃個三明治,再繞到大學書店翻閱科技 書籍,順便買一份《紐約時報》。假使你在書店與他不期而遇,他會告訴你正在讀那本書,他會忘情地滔滔不絕講說他的讀書心得,你肯定會被那陶醉於知識之海的 熱忱而感動,讓你感覺人生值得活千百倍。下午二點鐘,他親手研磨烹調咖啡,在辦公室接待客人、學者、記者、專利律師(注:他是大學城擁有最多專利的發明 家)。咖啡時間,最愛的還是與同事、學生談論新觀念、新影片、新發明,談他的學術恩師以及礦工父親。......

.....
Nick Holonyak, Jr.

Born November 3, 1928 (1928-11-03) (age 80)
Zeigler, Illinois
Residence United States
Nationality American
Fields Electrical engineering
Alma mater University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;BS 1950, MS 1951, PhD 1954
Notable awards National Academy of Engineering (1973)National Medal of Science (1990),National Medal of Technology (2002), IEEE Medal of Honor (2003), ,Lemelson-MIT Prize(2004), National Inventors Hall of Fame(2008)

Nick Holonyak Jr. (born in Zeigler, Illinois on November 3, 1928) invented the first visible LED in 1962 while working as a consulting scientist at a General Electric Company laboratory in Syracuse, New York and has been called "the father of the light-emitting diode".[1] He is a John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics and Professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he has been since 1993. [2]

Contents

[hide]

Inventions

In addition to introducing the III-V alloy LED, Holonyak holds 41 patents. His other inventions include the red-light semiconductor laser, usually called the laser diode (used in CD and DVD players and cell phones) and the shorted emitter p-n-p-n switch (used in light dimmers and power tools).[3] He helped create the first light dimmer while at GE.[1]

In 2006, the American Institute of Physics decided on the five most important papers in each of its journals since it was founded 75 years ago. Two of these five papers, in the journal Applied Physics Letters, were co-authored by Holonyak. The first one, coauthored with S. F. Bevacqua in 1962, announced the creation of the first visible-light LED. The second, co-authored primarily with Milton Feng in 2005, announced the creation of a transistor laser that can operate at room temperatures. Holonyak predicted that his LEDs would replace the incandescent light bulb of Thomas Edison in the February 1963 issue of Reader's Digest,[4] and as LEDs improve in quality and efficiency they are gradually replacing incandescents as the bulb of choice.

Background

Holonyak's parents were Eastern European immigrants who settled in Southern Illinois; Holonyak's father worked in a coal mine. Holonyak was the first member of his family to receive any type of formal schooling.[3] He once worked 30 straight hours on the Illinois Central Railroad before realizing that a life of hard labor was not what he wanted and he'd prefer to go to school instead. According to Knight Ridder, "The cheap and reliable semiconductor lasers critical to DVD players, bar code readers and scores of other devices owe their existence in some small way to the demanding workload thrust upon Downstate railroad crews decades ago."[5]

Holonyak was John Bardeen's first Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign[6]. He received his undergraduate, master's, and Ph.D. (1954) from the same university.[3] He created the first visible semiconductor lasers in 1960. In 1963, he again joined Dr. Bardeen, the inventor of the transistor, at the University of Illinois and worked on quantum wells and quantum-well lasers.

University of Illinois

As of 2007, he is the John Bardeen Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign[3] and is investigating methods for manufacturing quantum dot lasers. He has been married to his wife Katherine for 51 years. He no longer teaches classes, but he researches full-time. He and Dr. Milton Feng run a transistor laser research center at the University funded by $6.5 million from the United States Department of Defense through DARPA.[4]

10 of his 60 former doctoral students develop new uses for LED technology at Philips Lumileds Lighting Company in Silicon Valley.[1]

Awards and honors

Holonyak has been presented awards by George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Emperor Akihito of Japan and Vladimir Putin.[3]

In 1989, Holonyak received the IEEE Edison Medal for 'an outstanding career in the field of electrical engineering with contributions to major advances in the field of semiconductor materials and devices.' Holonyak's former student, Russell Dupuis from the Georgia Institute of Technology, won this same award in 2007.[3]

In 1995, he was awarded the $500,000 Japan Prize for 'Outstanding contributions to research and practical applications of light emitting diodes and lasers.'[4]

In 2003, he was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor.

He has also received the Global Energy International Prize, the National Medal of Technology, the Order of Lincoln Medallion, and the 2004 Lemelson-MIT Prize, also worth $500,000.[4] He has also received the Frederic Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America.[5]

Many colleagues have expressed their belief that he deserves the Nobel Prize for his invention of the LED. On this subject, Holonyak says, "It's ridiculous to think that somebody owes you something. We're lucky to be alive, when it comes down to it."[3]

On 9 November 2007, Holonyak was honored on the University of Illinois campus with a historical marker recognizing his development of the quantum-well laser. It is located on the Bardeen Engineering Quadrangle near where the old Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory used to stand.[7]

In 2008, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (Announced February 14, 2008) (May 2-3, 2008 at Akron, Ohio). [8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wolinsky, Howard (2005-02-05). "U. of I.'s Holonyak out to take some of Edison's luster", Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 29 July 2007.
  2. ^ ECE Illinois - Faculty - John Bardeen Endowed Chair - ECE Illinois - U of I
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "After Glow", Illinois Alumni Magazine (May-June 2007). Retrieved on 3 August 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d "Nick Holonyak: He Saw The Lights", Business Week (2005-05-23). Retrieved on 3 August 2007.
  5. ^ a b "Nice Guys Can Finish As Geniuses at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.", Knight Ridder, Chicago Tribune (2003-01-25). Retrieved on 3 August 2007.
  6. ^ ECE Illinois - Faculty - ECE Illinois - U of I
  7. ^ "Holonyak Historical Marker Unveiled", University of Illinois College of Engineering (2007-11-15). Retrieved on 30 November 2007.
  8. ^ News | Engineering at Illinois | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

External links

2009年1月25日 星期日

Linux

Nonproprietary operating system (OS) for digital computers. In 1991 Linus Torvalds of Finland began asking for volunteer programmers over the Internet to collaborate on the development of a UNIX-like OS for personal computers; the "1.0" release of Linux was in 1994. A true multiuser, multitasking system, Linux contained features (e.g., virtual memory, shared libraries, memory management, and TCP/IP networking) formerly only found on mainframe computers. With its source code freely available, thousands of volunteers, as well as several companies that sell prepackaged Linux products, have contributed to the OS. A reliable, fast-performing system with good security features, Linux is popular for corporate computer network and Web servers.

Wikipedia article "Linux".

Commonwelth
Linux Torvalds(二十一歲)發展出他自己的Unix-based個人電腦操作系統時,他完全沒有想到會去挑戰世界最大的微軟,最後變成全世界電腦迷心中的偶像。

這決定性的一刻,是萊納克斯決定把他第一版的原始碼掛到網路上,讓別人可以下載、發展它。他唯一要求,就是別人要回報用Linux的心得。

結果,回饋像潮水一樣湧進來。很快地在網路上,有九十個國家,成千上萬的自願者開始使用Linux。如果沒有托佛德斯的話,這個網路會缺乏方向和目標。

Linux最大的創新,不是技術上的,而是社會上的創新。乍看之下,像是無政府主義、志工為基礎的Linux社區,結果創造出一個有效率、有創意的組織,它的成員都非常有動機,並且承諾會發展並維護Linux。

Linux社區-傳播科技帶來新網路組織的最好例子。絕大部份參與發展Linux的人,從不曾見過彼此,他們只在網際網路上認識。

Linux是世界上最有名的公開程式原始碼,每個人只要有此能力,皆可以用此原始碼,修改程式成為自己要的程式。公開程式原始碼,必須符合公開程式 條例。它主要的原則,是每個人都能上網拿到這個程式和原始碼;每個人都可以有權去修改這個程式,只要他的修改原始程式碼也掛在網路上,讓別人自由取用。

2009年1月24日 星期六

Craig R. Barrett retiring

After Three Decades at Intel, Its Chairman Plans to Retire


Published: January 23, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Intel Corporation, the chip maker, said Friday that its chairman, Craig R. Barrett, who steered the company through the dot-com collapse and has become a high-profile advocate for expanding computing in the developing world, plans to retire in May.

Mr. Barrett, 69, has spent more than three decades at Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif. He served as its fourth chief executive, a position he held for seven years until Paul S. Otellini took over in 2005.

The company said that Jane Shaw, a former pharmaceutical industry executive who has served on Intel’s board since 1993, would succeed Mr. Barrett. Ms. Shaw will serve as nonexecutive chairman.

Mr. Barrett’s tenure as chief executive was marked by his commitment to sustaining Intel’s aggressive investments in its factories during the prolonged slump that followed the dot-com slump. The strategy was seen as foolhardy by some investors as Intel’s profits shriveled, but it paid off: Intel’s cutting-edge factories are critical to maintaining its advantage over rivals like Advanced Micro Devices and making chips cheaper and more powerful.

In recent years, Mr. Barrett has worked with the United Nations and humanitarian organizations on bringing computers and other technologies to developing countries. That role also gave him an opportunity to push the inexpensive Classmate PCs that Intel designed for international schoolchildren. The Classmate has rivaled the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child project began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Barrett, who joined Intel in 1974 and has held jobs ranging from technology development manager to various vice president roles, has been chairman since 2005.

Intel is the world’s largest semiconductor company, with 80 percent of the world’s market for microprocessors, the brains of personal computers.


協助打造英特爾成為全球最大晶片公司的貝瑞特(Craig Barrett),5月將從董事長職位退休,由獨立董事蕭珍(Jane Shaw)接任,創下英特爾從公司外部延攬董事長的首例。

英特爾23日宣布的接班安排迥異於從內部舉才的傳統,即董事長往往由退休執行長出任,但現任執行長歐德寧尚未正式指派接班人,接手他仍兼任的總裁職位。貝瑞特在2005年5月把執行長職位交給歐德寧,並出任董事長。

蕭珍出任新董事長意味英特爾董事會日後將更趨獨立。舊金山Global Crown資本公司分析師大衛‧吳說,晉用外部人士可為公司帶進必要的改變。69歲的蕭珍目前以首席外部董事身份,擔任英特爾薪資與稽核委員會主席。她曾 任藥物設備製造商AeroGen公司董事長兼執行長,現在也是Talima Therapeutics公司和McKesson 公司董事。

歐德寧發表聲明說:「貝瑞特帶領英特爾的七年,使我們崛起成為全球大廠,近來更是我們產業的領袖和大使,倡導以教育與科技的利益讓世界變得更美好。」

69歲的貝瑞特在英特爾任職35年,他留下的英特爾無疑是世界半導體業的領導者,但也再度面臨十字路口。分析師說,英特爾可能即將公布22年來首見的季虧損


The Future of Display Technologies

By DAVID POGUE

At the Consumer Electronics Show a couple weeks ago, I hosted a panel on future display technologies. There were five panelists--executives from Sharp, 3M, Corning, E-Ink and Mitsubishi.

Frankly, I didn't choose the topic or the panelists, and I wasn't completely convinced that this session would be, you know, a laff riot.

But these guys turned out to be compelling and entertaining speakers, and every single one of them obeyed my request to avoid jargon and buzzwords.


Anyway, some takeaways:

* O.L.E.D. is pronounced, by insiders, "OH-led." (I've been saying "O.L.E.D." all this time.)

* O.L.E.D. stands for organic light-emitting diode. It's responsible for the shockingly fantastic picture on the $2,500, 11-inch Sony XEL-1. (You can read my review of it from last year at nytimes.com.)

* Yet despite all the fawning by the press (including me), O.L.E.D. is still years away from catching up to plasma or LCD. Corning's Pete Bocko guessed that decently sized (32-inch), reasonably priced O.L.E.D. TV screens won't reach the market until 2012 at the earliest; they're just too difficult to mass-produce at this point.

* Meantime, Bruce Tripido, my Sharp panelist, maintained that LCD is only 50 percent evolved. That's right: even though LCD has made enormous strides, even though most of its traditional drawbacks have been eliminated, it's still reaching only half its potential in picture quality and other attributes. The other panelists concurred that LCD's continued improvements will make those tiny, expensive O.L.E.D. screens an even tougher sell in the marketplace.

* E-Ink is the company that makes those extremely low-power, non-illuminated, grayscale displays on the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and special newsstand editions of the December Esquire magazine. Sri Peruvemba made apt comparisons with the "living newspapers" featured in the "Harry Potter" movies, and showed a video of a color version of this technology working in the company's lab. So far, the color is pretty faded-looking, but they're working on it. Oddly (to me), the company still has no real competitors. Every e-book reader on the market uses E-Ink exclusively.

* Those pocket pico projectors were everywhere at C.E.S. You can hook up your iPod to watch movies on a much bigger personal "screen," or load up your PowerPoint slides for instant presentations anywhere you can find a wall.

After the panel, Steven Webster of 3M gave me a little demo of 3M's original pico projector side-by-side with its new, second-generation one. All I can say is, we have a lot to look forward to. The color on the second-gen projector was twice as vibrant and rich.

(Incidentally, another showgoer was carrying around a working prototype of a cellphone with pico projector built right in. It was a bit bulkier than a regular cellphone, of course, but give it time.)

* Frank DeMartin of Mitsubishi described laser-based projection TV screens, such as (no surprise) Mitsubishi's own LaserVue series. They reproduce a much larger range of color than plasma or LCD can, the brightness blows away even LCD, and blacks are super-black. (The reviews online back up these claims.) To top it off, laser TV's use about a quarter as much power as plasma or LCD.

So why isn't everyone getting laser? First, because they're very expensive--Mistubishi's first one, the L65A90, goes for $7,000. Second, they're still projection TV sets, about 10 inches deep, so you can't exactly hang one on the wall.

But give it time. If there's one phrase that could summarize every panelist's report, that'd be it: "Just you wait!"

Visit David Pogue on the Web at DavidPogue.com »

Liquid Wood Is Plastic of Tomorrow

Science | 18.01.2009

Liquid Wood Is Plastic of Tomorrow, Say Scientists

Plastic was one of the great innovations of the 20th century, but German scientists believe a new invention, liquid wood, could soon supplant the chemical in terms of everyday usefulness.

Though it has proven to be extremely useful in the modern world, plastic still has a number of negative selling points. It is non-biodegradable and can contain carcinogens and other toxic substances that can cause cancer.

It is also based on petroleum, a non-renewable resource that will soon be harder to come by. Increases in the price of crude oil leads to parallel rises in the price of plastics.

But there is a new chemical invention that could do away with these long-standing concerns.

Norbert Eisenreich, a senior researcher and deputy of directors at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) in Pfinztal, Germany, said his team of scientists have come up with a substance that could replace plastic: Arboform -- basically, liquid wood.

It is derived from wood pulp-based lignin and can be mixed with a number of other materials to create a strong, non-toxic alternative to petroleum-based plastics, Eisenreich said, as reported by DPA news agency.

Paper by-product

A women using a water cookerBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Household items could also be made from Arborform

This begs the question: What exactly is liquid wood?

"The cellulose industry separates wood into its three main components -- lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose," ICT team leader Emilia Regina Inone-Kauffmann told DPA.

"The lignin is not needed in papermaking, however. Our colleagues mix that lignin with fine natural fibers made of wood, hemp or flax and natural additives such as wax. From this, they produce plastic granulate that can be melted and injection-moulded."

The final product can resemble highly polished wood or have a more matted finish and look like the plastic used in most household items.

Reduced sulphur content

Car parts and other durable items made of this bio-plastic already exist, but the chemical hadn't been suitable for household use until now, due to the high content of sulphurous substances used in separating the lignin from the cell fibers.

The German researchers were able to reduce the sulphur content in Arborform by about 90 percent, making it much safer for use in everyday items.

Bolstering Arboform's environmental credentials, Eisenreich's team also discovered that the substance was highly recyclable.

"To find that out, we produced components, broke them up into small pieces, and re-processed the broken pieces -- 10 times in all. We did not detect any change in the material properties of the low-sulphur bio-plastic, so that means it can be recycled," said Inone-Kauffmann.

DW staff (dfm)

2009年1月20日 星期二

Yo-Yo Ma takes to the inaugural stage

看來馬友友先生並沒有使用這


Cold Case: The Sound of Carbon for Yo-Yo Ma?


Published: January 18, 2009

When the cellist Yo-Yo Ma takes to the inaugural stage on Tuesday, the instrument he will have may take music enthusiasts by surprise. Black, with a single-piece body, neck and peg box, and with no scroll at the top, the cello is a high-tech carbon-fiber instrument designed to withstand the cold.

Skip to next paragraph
Susana Raab for The New York Times

Master Gunnery Sergeant Marcio Botelho, a member of the Joint Service Orchestra, rehearsing on a carbon-fiber cello for the preinaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday.

Created by Luis Leguia and his Massachusetts-based company, Luis and Clark, the cello is unaffected by temperature and humidity, which can crack or split the delicate antique instruments that professionals usually use. Mr. Ma plans to play his Luis and Clark cello if the weather warrants, said his manager, Mary Pat Buerkle. His other cello, a 1733 Montagnana from Venice, is worth more than $2 million. Mr. Ma will be playing a score by John Williams with Itzhak Perlman on violin, Gabriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet. Mr. Perlman could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Ma is not the only inaugural string player using a Luis and Clark instrument. At the “We Are One” concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, the entire Joint Service Orchestra string section — 44 musicians in all — played the company’s carbon-fiber cellos, violins, violas and basses.

“My cello is a couple hundred years old,” said Staff Sgt. Ben Wensel, a cellist in the United States Army Band, before rehearsing on Friday in 14-degree weather. “I wouldn’t dare take it outside in this.”

Sergeant Wensel said that this would be the first time a major orchestra had exclusively used carbon string instruments. The orchestra is a combination of the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy and Marine bands.

Mr. Leguia, who studied under Pablo Casals and played cello for the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 44 years, came up with the idea for a composite cello after going sailing on a fiberglass Hobie 16 catamaran. He was struck by how efficiently the boat’s hulls transmitted the sound of the waves. “The greatest instruments can be heard through the din of an orchestra,” he said in a telephone interview. “I saw potential in that.”

The first cello Mr. Leguia built was of fiberglass in 1990. He then moved to carbon, partnering with Steve Clark, a champion sailor and carbon-fiber expert from Rhode Island. Mr. Clark helped refine the design and construction process, and the Luis and Clark cello was born.

About 12 Luis and Clark instruments are manufactured each week at Clear Carbon and Components in Bristol, R.I. The cello costs $7,139. Each instrument takes about a week to build and is handmade of layers of carbon fiber and epoxy. More than 600 have been produced.

As for the sound, Mr. Leguia said that he had tried to maintain the full-bodied sound of top-end instruments, but at a much lower price. A carbon cello, he said has a “flooding, deeper sound,” though “not quite as penetrating” as Mr. Ma’s Montagnana.

René Morel, who deals in fine string instruments in Manhattan, has said the sound is as close as you can get to a traditional top cello like a Stradivarius without being one. The cellist Aldo Parisot, a longtime instructor at the Yale School of Music, has been recommending Mr. Leguia’s cellos to his students for everyday use.

Sergeant Wensel said that his instrument “sounded a little raw at first,” but that “the sound has opened up for me.”

“It’s a good cello,” he added, “not just a good carbon cello.”

中國計劃建設特高壓輸電網絡; Intelligent Electricity Meters

國電網壟斷企業國家電網公司表示﹐計劃未來三到四年投資至多146億美元﹐建設特高壓輸電網絡﹔中國將成為少數幾個採取這種先進技術的國家之一。

國家電網公司上週五宣佈﹐新輸電技術的首次商業試運行已經啟動﹐這種技術在長距離輸電時比傳統電線更有效率。國家電網公司管理人士說﹐公司正等待監管部門批准投資計劃。按產能計﹐國家電網公司是全球最大的公用事業公司。

目前全球只有俄羅斯和日本開發了類似的特高壓輸電線路。但由於成本高昂﹐需求相對疲軟﹐這些國家並未像中國所計劃的那樣大舉投資發展這項技術。

新輸電線路將用於連接中國煤炭資源豐富的內陸省份和電力短缺的沿海地區。國家電網公司副總經理舒印彪表示﹐瑞士ABB和德國西門子(Siemens AG)等外資公司將簽約幫助中國修建部分新基礎設施﹐但主要核心技術將由中國自主研發。

在去年冬季的雪災中﹐災區輸電線路嚴重受損﹐數百萬人受到了斷電的影響﹐這暴露出了中國輸電網絡的薄弱之處。

Shai Oster



Living Planet | 22.01.2009 | 04:30

Intelligent Electricity Meters Make Energy Consumption Clear

One of Germany’s biggest energy suppliers has started a campaign to install intelligent electricity meters in private homes.

Customers of the company Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) can see their energy use in real time on the Internet, which means that they can better analyse and control their energy consumption. In the trial period, more than one third of households reduced their energy use by ten percent. This means in the test period alone, CO2 emissions were reduced by around 157 tonnes.

2009年1月19日 星期一

Netbook市場

2009年 01月 20日 08:05
高科技公司進軍Netbook市場



管時下正處經濟低迷時期﹐被稱為netbook的新一代低價筆記本電腦的銷售卻異常火爆。實際上﹐許多高科技公司正在紛紛搶攻這個市場。

這 些高科技公司的熱烈響應將是消費電子產品展覽會(Consumer Electronics Show)上的熱門話題。 他們推出的產品不僅包括新型netbook──通常只售300到500美元﹐大多使用Intel Corp.(英特爾公司)的Atom晶片──而且還包括彌補現有netbook和其他筆記本電腦缺陷的多種產品。

惠普的新款dv2
比 如說﹐netbook顯示圖形和播放視頻的性能一般都稍有欠缺。 為此﹐惠普公司(Hewlett-Packard Co.)就於宣佈推出一款售價699美元的筆記本電腦﹐通過採用高級微設備公司(AMD)的晶片提高其處理圖形和視頻的性能。 惠普的新款dv2筆記本電腦厚度還不到1英寸﹐並且配置了許多高端產品──比如蘋果公司(Apple Inc.)的MacBook才有的功能﹐售價1,800美元起。

Netbook以及其他筆記本電腦面臨的另外一個問題就是它們通常啟動速 度很慢﹐耗電卻很快。 為了解決這些問題﹐Phoenix Technologies Ltd.正在嘗試推出一個可下載的軟件層HyperSpace﹐以便用戶自己可以直接操作一些簡單步驟﹐比如呼叫網站等﹐而無需等待操作系統啟動。

此類活動正是科技行業加速融合的最新跡象﹐很顯然是因為經濟蕭條使得競爭壓力更加凸顯。包括Phoenix在內的多家公司正在嘗試改進netbook以及其他便攜式電子設備﹐使之運行起來跟手機一樣簡單﹐而那些袖珍電子設備製造商也正在改進產品功能﹐使之更好地融入網絡。

另 一方面﹐手機晶片製造商高通公司(Qualcomm Inc.)和飛思卡爾半導體公司(Freescale Semiconductor Inc.)也正考慮通過消費電子產品展覽會推出它們的netbook技術。飛思卡爾高級副總裁兼首席營銷長亨利•理查(Henri Richard)預測﹐手機製造等行業也將生產可攜式電腦﹐共同角逐這一市場。 理查說﹐netbook完全改變了如何進入電腦行業的定律。

這 些有時候也被稱為迷你筆記本電腦的新產品,是由台灣華碩電腦公司(Asustek Computer Inc.)於2007年成功推出的Eee PC帶動起來的。Eee PC的早期型號最低售價僅為299美元﹐使用7英寸顯示屏﹐配置Linux而不是Windows操作系統﹐沒有驅動器﹐通過閃存晶片存儲少量數據。

自此以後﹐惠普、戴爾(Dell Inc.)以及宏基(Acer Inc.)等公司均紛紛推出各具特點的迷你筆記本電腦﹐包括採用更大的顯示屏﹐配置驅動器﹐以及使用微軟公司(Microsoft Corp.)的Windows XP軟件。

這輪風潮的一大推動力就是英特爾﹐該公司一直在協助推廣netbook這一名號﹐並於去年春天推出了低價Atom晶片作為此類迷你筆記本電腦的處理器。因特爾發言人比爾•考爾德(Bill Calder)表示﹐需求比我們預期的還要大很多。

研究公司Gartner的分析師Mika Kitagawa預計﹐2008年netbook的銷量已經超過1,000萬臺﹐超過了該公司早先預期的800萬臺﹐比起2007年的幾十萬臺更是明顯的飛躍。

一 些公司最初時預計﹐netbook的最大消費群體會是新興經濟體首次購買電腦的消費者。但是現在﹐很多行業管理人士一致認為﹐netbook的主要消費者 還是富裕家庭﹐他們購買netbook作為第二臺或者第三台電腦﹐很適合快速查閱網站﹐但是性能卻不足以用來燒錄DVD。

另外一個問題是 ﹐netbook是在擴大整個電腦市場﹐還是在侵蝕高價筆記本電腦的銷量。負責Windows消費品市場營銷的公司副總裁布拉德•布魯克斯(Brad Brooks)表示﹐netbook作為新一類電腦產品﹐對市場的影響更多的是增值﹐而不是侵吞現有產品的佔有率。

布魯克斯預測﹐目前超 過80%的netbook配置Windows操作系統﹐而這個比例在最初面市的netbook當中只有不到10%。 不過﹐大多數netbook使用XP。分析師表示﹐微軟從netbook獲得的收入和利潤要低於其來自其他筆記本電腦配置的Windows Vista軟件。英特爾也表示﹐其Atom的價格和利潤率均低於其他一些晶片。

Netbook和高端筆記本電腦之間如果還存在任何界線的 話﹐也勢必變得越來越模糊﹐原因是激烈的競爭促使企業在現有產品上增加更多特色。比如說﹐戴爾現在就在銷售一款配置了12英寸顯示屏的netbook﹐售 價為499美元﹐這其實就是它早先8.9英寸顯示屏的升級版。惠普除了推出高價dv2筆記本電腦之外﹐還將在消費電子產品展覽會上推出售價499美元的 netbook﹐不僅更加耐用﹐而且配置10英寸顯示屏﹐主要面向商業客戶。

惠普消費品筆記本電腦部的市場營銷總監約翰森•凱 (Jonathan Kaye)表示﹐直到最近﹐個人電腦公司一直在製造符合“定義相當嚴格的netbook”筆記本電腦﹐主要是由英特爾的晶片規格所決定。不過﹐他補充說﹐ 隨著製造商增加更加複雜的功能﹐這種局面可能會逐漸發生變化。

Endpoint Technologies Associates的分析師羅傑•凱(Roger Kay)表示﹐惠普的新款筆記本電腦證明﹐netbook及其引發的競爭正在拉低個人電腦價格﹐並且搶奪高價筆記本電腦的市場。 他說﹐電腦製造商實際上是在“吃掉他們自己的孩子”。

晶片製造商當然不想讓英特爾一家獨占市場。威盛電子(Via Technologies Inc.)預計將在消費電子產品展覽會上討論其具競爭性的netbook微處理器。

AMD 雖然並未銷售專門用於netbook的晶片﹐但它已表示﹐大多數消費者將更加青睞dv2這樣使用其Yukon平臺的筆記本電腦。剛於週二推出的Yukon 採用了AMD微處理器和性能更加強大的圖形晶片。 另外一家圖形晶片製造商Nvidia Corp.則希望說服netbook製造商在英特爾Atom的基礎上同時使用它製造的圖形晶片﹐該公司預測其圖形晶片的性能是英特爾微處理器附屬晶片的 10倍。

接著就是啟動Windows所需的時間問題了。Phoenix嚮個人電腦製造商銷售可以控制系統啟動過程的內置軟件。該公司預 計,它製造的HyperSpace軟件可使用戶在幾秒鐘內開始瀏覽網站﹐明顯節省耗電﹐並能避免Windows存在的安全問題。該軟件有兩個版本﹐每年的 使用費分別為39.95和59.95美元。

Don Clark / Justin Scheck

2009年1月9日 星期五

solar cells sprinkled with silver

Solar energy

Seeing red

Jan 8th 2009
From The Economist print edition

To make solar cells more efficient, sprinkle them with silver


MAKERS of solar cells face a dilemma. Purified silicon, the basic material of such cells, is expensive. The temptation, therefore, is to use less of it. As a result, the makers have developed a generation of cells whose silicon layers are only a micron or two deep, as opposed to the usual thickness of 200-300 microns. The thinner the cell, however, the less efficient it is. In particular, thin cells fail to capture much light at the red end of the spectrum. That means they produce up to 20% less electricity than standard cells of equivalent area. And that negates some of the advantage of their initial cheapness.

To remedy this problem, Kylie Catchpole of the Australian National University in Canberra and Albert Polman of the Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics in Amsterdam have been trying to redirect the light that falls onto the surface of a cell in such a way that all colours are efficiently absorbed. Their chosen tools for this task are tiny particles of silver.

When struck by light, the electrons in an atom of silver vibrate in a way that causes them to radiate small amounts of light themselves. If the atom in question is in a small particle on the surface of a piece of silicon, the result is what is known as a surface plasmon. This is a type of electromagnetic wave (ie, the same type of wave as a light wave). However, as its name suggests, it runs parallel to the surface of the material that is propagating it, rather than penetrating this material.

By travelling horizontally in this way, a plasmon passes through more of the solar cell’s silicon than any incident beam from the sun could. In effect, the cell has been turned on its side and made much thicker. That gives it the opportunity to absorb, and thus convert into electricity, most of the red light falling on it, as well as the blue. Indeed, Dr Catchpole and Dr Polman report in Optics Express that their system increases the absorption of red light tenfold—bringing the efficiency of thin cells much closer to that of the traditional sort.

Of course, silver is expensive. But so little is used that the new technique would add only a few cents to the price of a solar panel. And it would bring the day closer when solar electricity is as cheap as that generated from coal.


2009年1月6日 星期二

Data Analysts Captivated by Power of R

Data Analysts Captivated by Power of R


Published: January 6, 2009

To some people R is just the 18th letter of the alphabet. To others, it’s the rating on racy movies, a measure of an attic’s insulation or what pirates in movies say.

R is also the name of a popular programming language used by a growing number of data analysts inside corporations and academia. It is becoming their lingua franca partly because data mining has entered a golden age, whether being used to set ad prices, find new drugs more quickly or fine-tune financial models. Companies as diverse as Google, Pfizer, Merck, Bank of America, the InterContinental Hotels Group and Shell use it.

But R has also quickly found a following because statisticians, engineers and scientists without computer programming skills find it easy to use.

“R is really important to the point that it’s hard to overvalue it,” said Daryl Pregibon, a research scientist at Google, which uses the software widely. “It allows statisticians to do very intricate and complicated analyses without knowing the blood and guts of computing systems.”

It is also free. R is an open-source program, and its popularity reflects a shift in the type of software used inside corporations. Open-source software is free for anyone to use and modify. I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard and Dell make billions of dollars a year selling servers that run the open-source Linux operating system, which competes with Windows from Microsoft. Most Web sites are displayed using an open-source application called Apache, and companies increasingly rely on the open-source MySQL database to store their critical information. Many people view the end results of all this technology via the Firefox Web browser, also open-source software.

R is similar to other programming languages, like C, Java and Perl, in that it helps people perform a wide variety of computing tasks by giving them access to various commands. For statisticians, however, R is particularly useful because it contains a number of built-in mechanisms for organizing data, running calculations on the information and creating graphical representations of data sets.

Some people familiar with R describe it as a supercharged version of Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet software that can help illuminate data trends more clearly than is possible by entering information into rows and columns.

What makes R so useful — and helps explain its quick acceptance — is that statisticians, engineers and scientists can improve the software’s code or write variations for specific tasks. Packages written for R add advanced algorithms, colored and textured graphs and mining techniques to dig deeper into databases.

Close to 1,600 different packages reside on just one of the many Web sites devoted to R, and the number of packages has grown exponentially. One package, called BiodiversityR, offers a graphical interface aimed at making calculations of environmental trends easier.

Another package, called Emu, analyzes speech patterns, while GenABEL is used to study the human genome.

The financial services community has demonstrated a particular affinity for R; dozens of packages exist for derivatives analysis alone.

“The great beauty of R is that you can modify it to do all sorts of things,” said Hal Varian, chief economist at Google. “And you have a lot of prepackaged stuff that’s already available, so you’re standing on the shoulders of giants.”

R first appeared in 1996, when the statistics professors Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman of the University of Auckland in New Zealand released the code as a free software package.

According to them, the notion of devising something like R sprang up during a hallway conversation. They both wanted technology better suited for their statistics students, who needed to analyze data and produce graphical models of the information. Most comparable software had been designed by computer scientists and proved hard to use.

Lacking deep computer science training, the professors considered their coding efforts more of an academic game than anything else. Nonetheless, starting in about 1991, they worked on R full time. “We were pretty much inseparable for five or six years,” Mr. Gentleman said. “One person would do the typing and one person would do the thinking.”

Some statisticians who took an early look at the software considered it rough around the edges. But despite its shortcomings, R immediately gained a following with people who saw the possibilities in customizing the free software.

John M. Chambers, a former Bell Labs researcher who is now a consulting professor of statistics at Stanford University, was an early champion. At Bell Labs, Mr. Chambers had helped develop S, another statistics software project, which was meant to give researchers of all stripes an accessible data analysis tool. It was, however, not an open-source project.

The software failed to generate broad interest and ultimately the rights to S ended up in the hands of Tibco Software. Now R is surpassing what Mr. Chambers had imagined possible with S.

“The diversity and excitement around what all of these people are doing is great,” Mr. Chambers said.

While it is difficult to calculate exactly how many people use R, those most familiar with the software estimate that close to 250,000 people work with it regularly. The popularity of R at universities could threaten SAS Institute, the privately held business software company that specializes in data analysis software. SAS, with more than $2 billion in annual revenue, has been the preferred tool of scholars and corporate managers.

“R has really become the second language for people coming out of grad school now, and there’s an amazing amount of code being written for it,” said Max Kuhn, associate director of nonclinical statistics at Pfizer. “You can look on the SAS message boards and see there is a proportional downturn in traffic.”

SAS says it has noticed R’s rising popularity at universities, despite educational discounts on its own software, but it dismisses the technology as being of interest to a limited set of people working on very hard tasks.

“I think it addresses a niche market for high-end data analysts that want free, readily available code," said Anne H. Milley, director of technology product marketing at SAS. She adds, “We have customers who build engines for aircraft. I am happy they are not using freeware when I get on a jet.”

But while SAS plays down R’s corporate appeal, companies like Google and Pfizer say they use the software for just about anything they can. Google, for example, taps R for help understanding trends in ad pricing and for illuminating patterns in the search data it collects. Pfizer has created customized packages for R to let its scientists manipulate their own data during nonclinical drug studies rather than send the information off to a statistician.

The co-creators of R express satisfaction that such companies profit from the fruits of their labor and that of hundreds of volunteers.

Mr. Ihaka continues to teach statistics at the University of Auckland and wants to create more advanced software. Mr. Gentleman is applying R-based software, called Bioconductor, in work he is doing on computational biology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

“R is a real demonstration of the power of collaboration, and I don’t think you could construct something like this any other way,” Mr. Ihaka said. “We could have chosen to be commercial, and we would have sold five copies of the software.”

2009年1月5日 星期一

Scientists dismiss 'detox myth'

Scientists dismiss 'detox myth'

Fruit
Eating fruit and vegetables is the best way to feel healthy, researchers say

There is no evidence that products widely promoted to help the body "detox" work, scientists warn.

The charitable trust Sense About Science reviewed 15 products, from bottled water to face scrub, and found many detox claims were "meaningless".

Anyone worried about the after-effects of Christmas overindulgence would get the same benefits from eating healthily and getting plenty of sleep, they said.

Advertising regulators said they looked at such issues on a case-by-case basis.

The investigation, done by research members of the Voice of Young Science network, was kicked off by a campaign to unpick "dodgy" science claims - where companies use phrases that sound scientific but do not actually mean anything.

The minimum sellers of detox products should be able to offer is a clear understanding of what detox is and proof that their product actually works
Tom Wells, chemist

They challenged the companies behind products such as vitamins, shampoo, detox patches and a body brush on the evidence they had to support the detox claims made.

No two companies seemed to use the same definition of detox - defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the removal of toxic substances or qualities.

In the majority of cases, producers and retailers were forced to admit that they had simply renamed processes like cleaning or brushing, as detox, the scientists said.

Toxins

One researcher investigated a Garnier face wash which claimed to detoxify the skin by removing toxins.

''Your body is the best detox product you have'' - Sense about Science

The "toxins" turned out to be the dirt, make-up and skin oils that any cleanser would be expected to remove, she said.

A five-day detox plan from Boots which claimed to detoxify the body and flush away toxins was also criticised for not being backed by evidence.

Evelyn Harvey, a biologist who looked into the product, said that if consumers followed the healthy diet that was recommended alongside the supplement they would probably feel better - but it would have nothing to do with the product itself.

The researchers warned that, at worst, some detox diets could have dangerous consequences and, at best, they were a waste of money.

Tom Wells, a chemist who took part in the research, said: "The minimum sellers of detox products should be able to offer is a clear understanding of what detox is and proof that their product actually works.

"The people we contacted could do neither."

Alice Tuff, from Sense About Science, added: "It is ridiculous that we're seeing a return to mystical properties being claimed for products in the 21st Century and I'm really pleased that young scientists are sharing their concerns about this with the public."

The Advertising Standards Authority said it would investigate such claims on a case-by-case basis if a complaint was made.

"If a product is making claims not substantiated by the evidence submitted by the company we would challenge that."

A spokeswoman from Boots said its five-day detox plan encouraged people to drink water and includes ingredients that "battle against toxins and help protect from the dangers of free radicals".

And Garnier commented: "All Garnier products undergo rigorous testing and evaluation to ensure that our claims are accurate and noticeable by our consumers."

2009年1月3日 星期六

登革熱控制新法


bbc

有關報導
巴西法官指責裡約州市忽略登革熱
2008年03月29日 | 科技健康
巴西軍方將介入抗擊登革熱大爆發
2008年03月23日 | 科技健康
研究表明海參蛋白可防止瘧疾傳播
2007年12月23日 | 科技健康
全球變暖影響健康 亞洲受害最重
2007年07月02日 | 科技健康
美國推出抗瘧疾蚊子
2007年03月20日 | 科技健康
印尼民眾指責水災是“人禍”
2007年02月06日 | 國際新聞
廣東登革熱蔓延 香港作出防備
2006年09月04日 | 中國報導

其他BBC網站

澳大利亞的專家想出了新方法來控制登革熱,這個方法還有可能可以撲滅瘧疾。新方法就是以微生物感染蚊子。

專家說,感染的蚊子壽命大為縮短,降低了傳播登革熱的可能性。

每年全球各地包括華南、港澳、台灣都回出現登革熱疫情。雖然登革熱是致死性不高的傳染病。

但是登革熱會造成患者肢體疼痛、皮膚發生紅疹,出血性登革熱的患者"顧名思義"還會出現高燒、出血,不但患者不舒服,症狀也叫人"觸目驚心"。

登革熱的傳播途徑就是被攜帶登革熱病毒的蚊子叮咬。殺蟲劑固然是預防措施之一,但是效果不彰。

澳大利亞昆士蘭大學的科學家說,經過在實驗室研究之後,他們認為也許以微生物-沃爾巴克氏體Wolbachia 感染蚊蟲的方式更為有效。

被感染的蚊蟲,壽命大幅縮短到只有幾個星期,時間足以讓沃爾巴克氏體傳到下一代的成蟲。

但是這段時間卻不足以讓潛伏期相當長的登革熱病毒在蚊蟲體內茁壯。久而久之,攜帶登革熱病毒的蚊子就會越來越少。

科學家也承認,如何將沃爾巴克氏體傳布到自然的蚊蟲體內會是一個問題。而且有關部門也希望科學家能證明被感染沃爾巴克氏體的蚊蟲叮咬的人畜,不會出現所謂"新的併發症"。



2009年1月2日 星期五

Bugatti by Volkswagen、VW

【1月2日 AFP】英国北東部ニューカッスル(Newcastle)の車庫の中で半世紀にわたって埃をかぶっていた、独フォルクスワーゲン(VolkswagenVW)の高級スポーツカー、ブガッティ(Bugatti)が来月、競売に掛けられることになり、数億円の値がつく可能性があるとして話題になっている。

 このブガッティは、2月に競売大手ボナムズ(Bonhams)によってパリ(Paris)で競売に掛けられることになっている。これまでにほんのわずかしか生産されておらず、専門家の間では600万ポンド(約8億円)の値がつくとみられている。

 もともとの所有者の外科医、ハロルド・カー(Harold Carr)氏は、1950年代にこの車を購入し、車庫に放置していたとみられている。カー氏が2007年に死去した際、彼のおいが車庫を掃除していてこのブガッティを発見。さらに、これがこれまでに17台しか生産されていない、ブガッティのType 57S Atalanteだということを知ったという。

 技術者をしているというカー氏のおいは、現地のイブニング・クロニクル(Evening Chronicle)紙に対し匿名で、「まったく信じられない。50年以上も未使用なわけだから、ものすごく価値があるよ。この車は、スーパーカーの原型の1つだ。ほとんどの車が時速80キロしか出せなかった時代に、時速210キロも出していたんだ」と語った。

 ボナムズのモーター部門責任者も、「まったく素晴らしい大発見だよ。この車は信じられないくらい原型をとどめている。修復が必要だといっても、本当に『元の状態に戻す』というだけだ」と語った。(c)AFP

2009年1月1日 星期四

Jack D. Kuehler

Jack D. Kuehler, Former I.B.M. President, Dies at 76


Published: December 31, 2008

Jack D. Kuehler, an electrical engineer who became the highest ranking technologist at I.B.M. and guided strategy as president and later vice chairman while the company dominated the world’s computing landscape in the 1980s, died on Dec. 20 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He was 76.

Skip to next paragraph

Jack D. Kuehler in 1992.

The cause was Parkinson’s disease, said his wife, Carmen Kuehler.

Mr. Kuehler, who was revered by the company’s engineering rank and file, stood out in a company that was defined by its blue-suited sales force. Confronting the rise of the microprocessor-based personal computer, Mr. Kuehler guided I.B.M. into the open-standards PC workstation business. The resulting computing platform would become the basis for a system that remains the foundation of the company’s designs to this day.

Mr. Kuehler was the architect of a series of alliances for I.B.M., shoring up American technology competitiveness and restoring his company’s position in the industry as it found itself increasingly under attack from competitors.

He was instrumental in an investment that I.B.M. made in the chip maker Intel when that company was struggling because of the rise of Japanese memory chip manufacturers. He led I.B.M. into a partnership with Hitachi, once one of its most tenacious rivals. He also played a central role in the creation of Sematech, an industry-government alliance created in 1987 to help save the American semiconductor industry.

Later, as Microsoft and Intel became dominant forces in the personal computing world, Mr. Kuehler helped shape a partnership with Apple and Motorola in an effort to create a desktop competitor based on combining I.B.M. hardware and Apple’s software expertise. The resulting PowerPC microprocessor became the basis for Apple’s computers from 1994 to 2006.

Mr. Kuehler represented an engineering culture that made I.B.M. a technology powerhouse for more than three decades at the height of its dominance in mainframe computing.

“He was the best of class of a generation of computer engineers in the mainframe era,” said Andrew Grove, former chief executive and chairman of Intel. “He was scrupulously straight and passionately competitive.”

Inside I.B.M., Mr. Kuehler helped nurture a culture that protected designers known as “wild ducks,” an I.B.M. label for computer designers who refused to “fly in formation.”

One of those engineers was R. Andrew Heller, a manager who originally led the company into both the Unix and the microprocessor business in the 1980s.

“Jack was a brilliant tactician,” said Mr. Heller. “He was very helpful in protecting the engineering culture inside I.B.M.”

Indeed, Mr. Kuehler served as mentor for a generation of the company’s managers.

“Most of what I became at I.B.M. was because of him,” said Nicholas M. Donofrio, who followed Mr. Kuehler as I.B.M.’s technology strategist. “He understood the value of technology and semiconductors, and he knew that they were a key ingredient of I.B.M.’s business.”

Jack Kuehler was born in Grand Island, Neb., in 1932. He studied mechanical engineering at Santa Clara University and received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the university. Mr. Kuehler started at I.B.M. as an associate engineer at the San Jose Research Laboratory in 1958.

He was elected I.B.M. senior vice president in May 1982. He became vice chairman of the board and a member of the executive committee in January 1988. He was elected president in May 1989 and resumed the title of vice chairman in 1993.

He was a trustee of Santa Clara University, and in 2005, with his wife, he donated $1 million to its engineering school.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Kuehler is survived by five children, Cindy, Daniel and Christy Chappell, all of the San Diego area, Michael, of Darien, Conn., and David, of Cincinnati; and by 12 grandchildren.