2006/09/27
Open source search technology goes beyond keywords
搜索的 的结果应该不光是列表才好 。地址
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-09-27 14:26 阅读( 406) 评论( 0) 引用( 0) 我新
2006/09/21
Safer, Longer-Lasting Batteries
While recent massive recalls have highlighted safety concerns of lithium-ion batteries, today's battery technologies actually have a number of weaknesses. If damaged, overcharged, or overheated, batteries can explode (see "Safer Lithium-Ion Batteries"). But they also leak energy and lose power and longevity if used in extreme temperatures, say, on a winter day in Iowa or a heat wave in Arizona.
A new type of rechargeable battery will soon be available commercially that overcomes these problems. But at a cost.
These new batteries replace the liquid or gel electrolyte with thin layers of solid glass-like or polymer materials, which are more stable. "Nothing can leak, nothing can freeze, nothing can boil, rupture, or explode," says Tim Bradow, vice president of business development at Infinite Power Solutions of Golden, CO, a leading developer of thin-film batteries.
In a battery, the electrolyte allows positive ions to move from one electrode to the other, while forcing electrons to travel through an external circuit, providing power. Bradow's company and a handful of others are using a solid glassy electrolyte, which they deposit as one of a series of flat layers that make up the battery.
In addition to being safer, this solid material allows developers to use electrodes of pure lithium metal, which has the potential to significantly increase storage capacity. The batteries can survive extremes of cold and heat, which means, for example, they could be built into rubber tires to power air pressure sensors, says John Bates, chief technical officer at Oak Ridge Micro-Energy in Tennessee.
Thin-film cells also can be stored for decades and retain almost all their charge, developers say--and deliver a powerful burst of energy when finally needed. And, in many applications, they can be actively used for decades, since they can be charged and discharged tens of thousands of times.
These characteristics make thin-film batteries ideal for some new technologies. Remote sensors that scavenge tiny amounts of energy from vibrations, radio transmissions, or light, require batteries that can store this micro-supply of energy without leaking it away over time. And remote sensors need the high-power bursts many of these cells can deliver, to send data via radio signals to a central station.
The ability to power radio transmission is also important for future medical implants that will deliver drugs or measure glucose levels. And these applications will also benefit from the batteries' long lifetimes; they can be recharged and discharged over many years, eliminating the need for surgery to replace them. "It's the perfect kind of battery for powering any RF device, because it's pulse power--instant-on and then it goes into sleep mode," says Bradow. "That's what our battery loves and other batteries hate." His company plans to start mass-producing its batteries next year.
Nonetheless, thin-film batteries may not be the next-generation choice for most laptops. That's because the processes used to make them, such as physical vapor deposition, are still too expensive for producing large batteries. Also, these batteries, which can be a mere one-tenth of a millimeter thick, each hold only micro-amounts of energy--as little as one-thousandth the amount in today's laptop batteries. While they could be stacked to provide adequate storage capacity, the layers of packaging separating the active materials in each battery would cancel out their capacity advantages. That is, they'd likely cost more, but not necessarily be smaller.
The first applications, such as in industrial sensor packages in high-temperature equipment or oil wells, will be ones in which buyers are willing to pay $100 apiece for batteries that meet their needs. Bradow says their batteries could be made for much less in high volumes, however, eventually making them practical for distributed sensor networks.
In spite of the current drawbacks to thin-film batteries, Donald Sadoway, professor of materials chemistry at MIT, says some versions of them will power laptops--and electric vehicles--in the future. To his thinking, their key advantage, in addition to safety, is that they allow the use of pure lithium in one of the electrodes, which isn't possible using liquid electrolytes: "If you can switch to lithium, you've achieved the ultimate in anode capacity," he says.
In contrast to the glass-like electrolyte used by Infinite Power Solutions and others, Sadoway has developed a solid-polymer electrolyte (today's lithium-ion polymer batteries use a gel) for use in thin-film batteries. This electrolyte, he says, could be processed in rolls like newspaper, or some other high-throughput process. Such a process for thin-film batteries, although not now being developed by industry, could bring down costs, he says, while innovative ways of packaging electrodes could reduce size. "We've made batteries in the laboratory that are 300 watt-hours per kilogram," he says. "That's two times the best lithium-ion [battery] on the market today."
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-09-21 10:54 阅读( 493) 评论( 0) 引用( 0) 我新
2006/09/18
Global Firepower: Military Strength Rankings
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-09-18 17:11 阅读( 459) 评论( 0) 引用( 0) 我眸
Little Google deals hint at big strategy
手持设备会比pc用的更广泛。
地址
Monday, September 18, 2006
The US giant is gobbling up small developers as it focuses on cellphone Web services, writes Alan Sipress
When Google quietly bought a software shop called Android a year ago, neither the suitor nor the quarry revealed much about the terms of their attraction.
Google never said how Android, a 22-month-old start-up that described itself solely as a maker of software for mobile phones, would fit into its grand strategy.
Yet Android was typical of the acquisitions made by Google: a modest firm with niche expertise to help the Internet giant build on its core businesses rather than strike into wholly new frontiers.
Most of Google's purchases have been so small as to barely attract notice, and the company has done little to highlight them. But taken as a whole, the company's record of acquisitions offers a few signposts toward its future.
In the two years since it went public, the company has bought at least 15 enterprises, including four start-ups that specialize in mobile software, a clear signal of Google's interest in bringing search and other Web-based services to mobile customers.
Google has also gone to market for firms that can help it build on its core businesses of searching the Internet and selling online advertising. When Google has gone farther afield, it has not gone very far. For example, it acquired dMarc Broadcasting, a company that allows marketers to automatically place ads on the radio, and Upstartle, which provides the online word-processing software Writely to complement Google's other office applications.
As active as Google has been, the company has spent far less on acquisitions than some other technology firms, in particular Yahoo and eBay, paying out less than US$400 million (HK$3.12 billion) over the period, often for obscure, even minuscule, start-ups, according to an analyst report.
"It seems like their preference is to develop in-house," said Mark Mahaney, director of Internet research at Citigroup. "But if they're going to buy promising applications, they prefer buying them in as early a stage as possible."
During the previous year, Google also picked up Dodgeball.com and Zipdash, which provided, respectively, a social networking service and traffic information for mobile customers. Google would later buy Reqwireless, which developed software for Web browsing and e-mail on mobile phones. Together, these acquisitions helped move Google closer to achieving the aspiration of company co-founder Larry Page to develop a "smart phone."
This summer Page said: "We are bringing more of our products to mobile phone users. Since there are at least twice as many mobile phones than PCs in use globally, and mobile usage is growing faster than PCs, we want to make Google available in a device- independent way."
He added the company was developing new ways for marketers to advertise on mobile phones.
Industry analysts say the mobile Web is a natural fit for Google. A report prepared last month by Mahaney said less than 1 percent of Google searches are conducted on a phone, but that number will grow significantly as phone and network technologies advance.
Safa Rashtchy, senior analyst with Piper Jaffray, predicted that mobile search and related applications would be a substantial part of Google's business within five years.
"They have been somewhat silent on mobile," Rashtchy said. "But it's clear that's a big focus for Google." Google declined to detail its acquisitions.
"Historically, our [mergers and acquisitions] strategy has been to look for unique products, technologies and engineering teams that can help us provide innovative products to our users or enhance existing services," said Google spokesman Jon Murchinson. "Aside from that, we don't comment on future products or business plans."
Google's penchant for quietly collecting technology tuck-ins contrasts sharply with the approach of several other Internet titans.
Since 2001 eBay has spent four times as much as Google on mergers and acquisitions, embarking on new ventures through the purchases of voice-over-Internet-protocol provider Skype and online payment company PayPal, according to a Citigroup analysis. Yahoo, meanwhile, has spent nearly three times as much as Google.
While Google made its reputation on search, pride has not stood in the way of buying better search technologies when they arise, if only to keep them out of competitors' hands.
Earlier this year, it purchased the rights to a new way of searching the Web - allowing users to find and extract summaries of Web pages. Last month it bought Neven Vision, which makes image recognition software - something that could help make pictures searchable.
It has also picked up Transformic, a tiny firm that developed an engine for searching databases that reside behind Web sites, and Akwan Information Technologies, a Brazilian maker of specialized search engines.
"When we talk about search, we talk about [searching] everything," said Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive.
Even its acquisitions of firms that specialize in mapping and geographic data fall into the search arena, said John Hanke, head of Google's geographic products.
The purchase two years ago of Keyhole, a digital mapping and satellite imaging company run by Hanke, was especially intriguing. Google kept quiet about the financial terms but trumpeted its acquisition in a press release, saying that with Keyhole, "you can fly like a superhero from your computer at home to a street corner somewhere else in the world."
Google continues to favor in-house development but has shown that it is open to new technologies.
"If Google sees something that has not been done before, or not been done well before, and is well ahead of what they have internally, they'll acquire it," Rashtchy said.
THE WASHINGTON POS
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-09-18 17:02 阅读( 522) 评论( 0) 引用( 0) 我看
2006/08/21
Google Mobile Maps Smooths Traffic Tie-Ups
用手机看地图，稍小了点，不过点子不错。
原文
Google Mobile Maps Smooths Traffic Tie-Ups
Service provides free access to real-time traffic information on cell phones
By Larry Magid, TechWeb
InformationWeek
k 21, 2006 12:00 H
Google's mission is to organize the world's information, and when you're driving in a crowded metro area, knowing your way around and what traffic conditions are like can be very important information indeed. A new free service from Google lets you get directions and traffic info, as long as you have a cell phone that can accommodate it.
The latest beta version of Google Mobile Maps works with several dozen cell phones from most U.S. carriers. If yours supports it, you can download Google Maps using your phone's Web browser. You then use the keypad and arrow keys to display a map that shows traffic directions and conditions. Although Google doesn't charge for the service or its data feed, your cell phone carrier might.
I tested the Google Maps service on the Sprint network using a Samsung SPH-A940 and on Cingular Wireless using a BlackBerry 8700c. When you load the service, you get a menu that you can use to find a business, find a location, get directions, or see a satellite view. Traffic data works by color coding: Roads that are green are running at the speed limit, yellow designates some congestion, and red indicates a traffic jam. Traffic data is turned on by default, but you can turn it off.
If you select a location, you'll see the general area around it, but you can easily scroll out to see a larger portion of the area. You also can use your phone's arrow keys to scroll around the map.
Another option is "get directions," which requires you to enter your starting point and destination. You get a route overview with distance, the time it should normally take, and the traffic delay time. The phone displays a map along with directions. Each time you need the next stage of your directions, you hit the "3" button on your phone for "Next."
Real-Time Route
To test the device, I plotted a route for a Bay Area drive from Palo Alto to Berkeley along the busy Highway 101. When I checked the map, it showed mostly green with some yellow along portions of the corridor between Palo Alto and San Francisco, and then patches of red in San Francisco and on the approach to the Bay Bridge. To see if the map was correct I called the traffic department at KCBS (the AM news station where I do daily tech reports); according to the traffic coordinator, all of the congested spots I saw matched what she had from her maps.
That's the good news. The bad news is that it's dangerous to use Mobile Maps while driving. The other problem is that it's hard to get a good overview of the area as well as advice on alternative routes. Also, Google Mobile Maps doesn't use GPS even with a GPS-enabled cell phone, so you have to use the arrow keys to track your trip, and you're on your own for finding your exact location.
Still, if you know the area and alternative routes--and don't mind pulling over to check your directions--Google Mobile Maps is a useful service to have, and it can help you reach your destination a little faster.
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-08-21 17:06 阅读( 450) 评论( 0) 引用( 0) 我新
固步自封
人都是偏见得，包括对自己和他人以及环境的看法。不可固步自封。何必独行。不要独行。亦不能独行！
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-08-21 17:06 阅读( 460) 评论( 0) 引用( 0) 胡言乱语
2006/08/01
美国国教？？
有点意思
美女作家保守身 痛批“美国国教”
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保守派畅销书作家、专栏作者安•库特之所以闻名全美、甚至闻名全球，恐怕应归因于如下两点：其一，她是个名副其实的美女作家，即便是她的论敌，虽然对她厌恶万分，却也不得不承认她是标准的金发靓女；其二，自称“公共知识分子”的安•库特，其人其文极富攻击性，骂人尖刻到体无完肤－－她崇拜“麦卡锡主义”的创建者麦卡锡参议员，主张美国回到麦卡锡时代；她称克林顿“从阿肯色州一路手淫到白宫”；还将保守派眼中自由派大本营的《纽约时报》的发行人小索尔兹伯格斥为“从小患有诵读困难症的小白痴”；“9•11”事件后，她第一个摇旗呐喊“我们要进攻他们”……
杀气腾腾的库特
库特在过去几年推出的畅销书也同样是杀气腾腾：
《重罪和轻罪：控告克林顿的罪案》（High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton，2002年）向当时的“自由派首脑”、民主党总统克林顿开火；
在美国畅销书排行榜“横行”很久的《诽谤：自由派关于美国右派的谎言》（Slander：Liberal Lies About the American Right，2003年）指出，美国社会长期以来，尤其是在知识阶层，存在着一种傲慢的“自由主义偏见”（liberal bias）；
《叛国：自由派从冷战到反恐的变节》（Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism，2004年）指责自由派总是与敌人站在一边，共同侵害美国的利益；
《如何同自由派说话（如果你必须的话）》（How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter，2004年）则呼吁保守派不用害怕占据主流地位的自由派，要针锋相对地与他们战斗。可以说是步步为营，步步紧逼，试图给自由派以致命的打击。
库特的新著《不要上帝》更是将她一直以来对自由派的战斗提升至“理论化”、“系统化”的高度。她认为自由派虽然总是以世俗和开明标榜，但实际上他们对某些自由派教义的膜拜和神话，他们在某些问题上表现出的固执和迂腐，并不稍逊于真正的教徒，因此从本质而言亦算是一种宗教了－－一种无神的宗教，是名“自由主义教”。
“美国人的国教是自由主义教”
库特在书里这样写道，假如火星人来到地球，思索美国人的国教为何的话，他们一定会得出那一定是自由主义教，而非基督教或犹太教的结论，因为后两者在法律上实际上已经被禁止了。库特指出，这种情况不仅仅表现在这种情况不仅仅表现在麻省剑桥（MIT及哈佛大学所在地）等自由派气氛浓厚的东北部地区，而是遍布全美皆如此：在这个国家中，纳税人的钱被强制用来资助那些充满了流产婴儿、对十字架的亵渎和同性恋色情画面的所谓艺术展览，同时，若是人们试图在圣诞节里展示一下基督诞生场景，或者在公共场所树立十诫（Ten commandments）碑刻，却会被宣布成违宪的行为。
只不过，库特进而指出，“自由主义教”在教义上和基督教是截然相反的：基督教认为人类的进步来自于人类心灵中具有的神性，“自由主义教”则认为人类的进步来自于性和死亡；基督教相信发明创造及人类本身的创造繁衍，“自由主义教”则不满于人类逐渐稀缺的资源，要求人类停止消费；基督教的信念来自于《创世记》，“自由主义教”则信奉蕾切尔•卡逊（Rachel Carson）的《寂静的春天》（Silent Spring）。该书是环保主义者－－自由派里最极端的一派－－的思想源头，它清洗了几代人的头脑，使得他们真诚地相信滴滴涕（DDT）的使用将会给这个世界的鸟类带来末日，仅仅出于这个原因，即使成千上万的非洲人因为疟疾死去，而滴滴涕能阻止这一悲剧，他们仍然反对使用滴滴涕，因为他们担心那样会伤害到鸟类。
库特认为，保守派－－以及其他信仰宗教的人－－长期以来对自由派对待宗教的态度深感愤怒，但反击起来总是难以得心应手，更甭提淋漓尽致了。个中原因在于，他们并没有认识到，自由派本身其实也是一种无神的宗教。因为自由派虽然号称排斥上帝和信仰，但却拥有宗教的一切特征－－更重要的是，自由派有着强大的势力，控制了从政界、教育界到媒体、娱乐界等几乎所有软硬实力部门，因此，如果说自由派是宗教的话，完全称得上是美国的国教了。
库特列举了自由主义“不要上帝”的所有“罪证”：堕胎是“自由主义教”之圣礼；“罗诉韦德案”（Roe v. Wade，即1973年最高法院判决支持妇女选择堕胎的权利）是其圣书；从苏联间谍阿尔杰•希斯（Alger Hiss）到杀害警察的凶手阿布贾迈尔（Mumia Abu-Jamal）等自由派心目中的偶像则是其殉教者；“布什是说谎者”之类的口号是其诅咒语；公立学校的教师们是其忠实的传教士，公立学校则是自由主义者的教堂，因为这里禁止祈祷的同时却又允许避孕套的使用，在这里孩子们接受了系统的“自由主义教”训练；“自由主义教”的“教皇永不犯错” （doctrine of infallibility），教义则体现在从反战母亲辛迪•希恩（Cindy Sheehan）到越战老兵麦克斯•克里兰（Max Cleland）等人的绝对道德权威上。
库特认为，自由派虽然口口声声称自己崇拜科学，但一旦此科学与他们的“信条”相斥时，就会选择毫不犹豫地将之丢弃。例如，自由派就死不承认有IQ（智商）一说，认为核能是可怕的，认为隆胸会造成相关疾病等等，这些看法在科学上被证明是没有道理的。库特因此提出，实际上在自由派那里，所谓科学只不过是一种工具罢了，只要能证明他们所称的“人是大自然中最无意义、最无足轻重的一种生物”信条就足够了。更为可怕的是，库特指出，环保主义者甚至希望通过灭绝婴儿、通过人口零增长率、通过降低生活水平、通过素食主义来达到他们的实现环保之目的，因此，从本质上而言，环保主义者是一群人类痛恨主义者。
至于被自由派长期奉为圭臬的达尔文进化论，库特则认为正是所谓“自由派是奉守自由探索和科学方法的理性主义者”的说法纯属虚伪的最好例证。库特提出，达尔文进化论其实是一种伪科学，因为从达尔文进化论诞生150多年来，它的许多证据至今没有得到证实，不但如此，一些曾被假定为正确的证据后来反倒被证明是虚假的，比如皮尔当人（Piltdown Man，1912年在英国皮尔当发现的头盖骨，当时认为是史前人类的化石，1953年经鉴定为伪造）。但自由派却对此视而不见，仍然奉之不误，由自由派主导的学校更是至今将达尔文进化论奉为教义，严格禁止与之相抵触的学说进入教室。
制造仇恨的“蛇蝎美人”还是“妙语成珠”的“迷人的安小姐”
《不要上帝》一书对自由派的批驳和抨击可谓酣畅淋漓，故而赢得了许多保守派的褒奖。著名保守派博客“右翼新闻”（Right Wing News）的站主约翰•霍金斯（John Hawkins）甚至从书中搜集了一些他喜欢的语句编成《库特妙语选》进行传播。在此不妨展示几个例子：一棵树被砍倒比一个婴儿被打胎更让左翼自由派伤心；民主党无法理解对基督徒的“仇恨言论”，因为在他们的眼里，那永远是基督徒应得的对待；记者皮特•布赖姆洛（Peter Brimelow）所定义的“种族主义者”是和左翼自由派争论获胜的人。
库特这种激烈的言说方式使得她在一个“分裂的美国”（参见2004年第45期《华盛顿观察》周刊关于《大分裂：乡郊美国v.s.城市美国》一书的介绍）中处于旋涡的中心，自由派认为她是“仇恨制造者”，是“疯子”，是“蛇蝎美人”，是安•“纳粹母狗”•库特（Ann "Nazi Bi-tch" Coulter）；《时代》周刊称，没有人能够像库特那样，拥有如此巨大的制造分裂、引发对立的能量。读《纽约时报》“十年如一日”的董鼎山老人在一篇题为《反美的根源，骂人的美妇》文章中，更是将库特这样的人当作是近年来愈演愈烈的“反美主义”的根源所在。但在喜欢她的保守派眼中，库特却是“迷人的安小姐”，她既漂亮又能干，在与他们的敌人自由派的斗争中，每每能击中其“七寸要害”，让他们如此解气，这样一个独一无二的人到哪儿去找呢？
有评论家认为，库特是一个极端两极化的新时代的反应。在这个新时代里，人们变得急躁，变得偏执，不再有耐心去倾听别人的观点；在这个极端的新时代里，人们只相信自己的所作所为，为此可以不择手段，可以视相反的事实如无物，甚至想方设法地去消除相反的事实－－在反美主义者眼里，美国做的任何事都是邪恶的，说的任何话都是虚伪的；在亲美主义者看来，则美国做的、说的任何事情都是绝对正确的，即使“虐俘”也是情有可原的。
其实，一个健康的社会应该是兼顾各种观点平衡行走的社会。自由派应该认识到，一味地、没有任何条件地主张所谓“宽容”，主张和平主义，将会变质为绥靖主义，在某些特定条件下武力是必须的；同样，对保守派而言，环保主义虽然理想色彩过浓，但没有它的存在，那些绿色能源的应用又怎会有可能呢？
刘见林，《华盛顿观察》周刊(http://www.WashingtonObserver.org)第28期，2006/07/26
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-08-01 09:39 阅读( 603) 评论( 0) 引用( 0) 我看
2006/06/16
Gates to give up daily role at Microsoft
Gates to give up daily role at Microsoft
By ALLISON LINN, AP Business Writer 35 minutes ago
REDMOND, Wash. -
Bill Gates plans to withdraw from day-to-day duties at Microsoft Corp., so he can focus on his charitable foundation while others run the company he co-founded and guided to industry dominance and vast personal wealth. ADVERTISEMENT
Gates, 50, said Thursday he will remain the company's chairman after transferring his daily responsibilities over a two-year period. One of the key people taking on Gates' responsibilities is technology luminary Ray Ozzie, who developed Lotus Notes and came to Microsoft when it acquired his company, Groove Networks Inc., in 2005.
The move will end an era at Microsoft, which Gates founded in 1975 with childhood pal Paul Allen and has been the public face of ever since. Gates said he is stepping back so he can focus more time on his philanthropic foundation, the world's largest.
The Redmond company on Thursday laid out a plan for other high-ranking executives to take on Gates' duties. Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer also noted that recent corporate reorganizations have been designed to move more responsibility to lower-ranking executives, so the company could more quickly make decisions without Gates and Ballmer.
But, in an interview with The Associated Press, Ballmer conceded that there was no way to replace Gates.
"If we think anybody gets to be Bill Gates, I don't think that's a realistic hypothesis," he said.
Gates stressed that, although he was giving up day-to-day responsibilities beginning in July 2008, he would still play a role at the company.
"I'm not leaving Microsoft," he said.
Gates also said he had no plans to give up the distinction of being the company's largest shareholder.
"I'm proud of that," he said.
Ozzie will immediately assume Gates' title as chief software architect and begin working with Gates on overseeing all software technical design.
Chief Technical Officer Craig Mundie will immediately take the new title of chief research and strategy officer and will work with Gates in those areas. Mundie also will work with general counsel Brad Smith to guide Microsoft's intellectual property and technology policy efforts.
Gates' decision comes at a difficult time for Microsoft. The company recently said it was delaying the new version of its Windows operating system yet again, and it is struggling to compete with Internet rivals such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) Investors also were caught off guard this spring when Microsoft announced plans to substantially increase overall research and development costs, and sent share prices tumbling.
But Gates said Microsoft is always facing new competitors and challenges, and the recent spate didn't affect his decision.
"There isn't any time in our history when there haven't been questions about Microsoft," he said.
Gates is ranked by Forbes magazine as the world's richest man, with an estimated wealth of about $50 billion. That great wealth, he said, also brings great responsibility, and he repeated his often-spoken desire to give away the bulk of his fortune to charity.
Gates said he didn't realize when he started the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 what potential there was for addressing some of the world's greatest problems, such as global health and education. The foundation is now the world's largest philanthropy, with assets totaling $29.1 billion.
"Just as Microsoft has taken off in ways I never expected, so has the work of the foundation," he said.
The foundation is considered a leader in international public health, particularly in the fight against
HIV, malaria and tuberculosis in the developing world. In the United States, it has put its massive resources behind reforming education and accessing technology in public libraries.
Gates dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft with Allen in 1975. He took Microsoft public in 1986 and was the company's chairman and CEO until 2000, when he assumed the role of chief software architect and Ballmer, a college friend and one of Gates' early hires, took over the role of chief executive officer. Ballmer will remain responsible for all day-to-day operations and the company's business strategy.
The world "has had a tendency to focus a disproportionate amount of attention on me," Gates said, when in reality, Microsoft is a company with an extraordinary depth and breadth of talent.
"Our leadership team has never been stronger," he said.
"Bill and I are confident we've got a great team that can step up to fill his shoes and drive Microsoft innovation forward without missing a beat," Ballmer said.
Ballmer said he has no plans to step down soon.
"I'm in it for the long run," Ballmer said.
For the past six years Gates has focused on Microsoft's software development as the company's chairman and chief software architect.
Ozzie, 50, worked on the first electronic spreadsheet, VisiCalc, in the early 1980s. In 1983, he joined Lotus Development Corp. — Microsoft's archrival at the time — to develop Lotus Symphony, a business software suite.
He later founded Groove Networks, where he developed Groove Virtual Office. Microsoft acquired Groove Networks in April 2005 and named Ozzie chief technical officer.
Mundie, 56, joined Microsoft in 1992 to create and run its Consumer Platforms Division, which was responsible for non-personal computer software. Mundie also started Microsoft's digital TV efforts. His current responsibilities include global technology policy and a variety of technical and business incubation efforts.
Ozzie and Mundie will continue to report to Gates, as will the company's third chief technical officer, David Vaskevitch. At an unspecified time during the two-year transition period, they will shift to reporting to Ballmer.
The news was announced after financial markets closed. Earlier, shares in Microsoft rose 19 cents, or 0.87 percent, to close Thursday at $22.07 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Shares lost 9 cents in after-hours trading.
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-06-16 14:56 阅读( 627) 评论( 0) 引用( 0) 我看
2006/06/02
午睡有理
孔子看见弟子宰予午睡喟然曰，朽木不可雕也。殊不知宰予自有苦衷啊。
...a siesta after a hearty lunch is natural, new research suggests. why ?
Scientists at The University of Manchester have for the first time uncovered how brain cells or 'neurons' that keep us alert become turned off after we eat.
抄录如下：
Why we could all do with a siesta
The Spaniards may have been right all along – a siesta after a hearty lunch is natural, new research suggests.
Scientists at The University of Manchester have for the first time uncovered how brain cells or 'neurons' that keep us alert become turned off after we eat.
The findings – published in the scientific journal Neuron this week – have implications for treating obesity and eating disorders as well as understanding levels of consciousness.
"It has been known for a while that people and animals can become sleepy and less active after a meal, but brain signals responsible for this were poorly understood," said Dr Denis Burdakov, the lead researcher based in Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences.
"We have pinpointed how glucose – the sugar in food – can stop brain cells from producing signals that keep us awake.
Dr Burdakov's research has shown exactly how glucose blocks or 'inhibits' neurons that make orexins – tiny proteins that are vital for normal regulation of our state of consciousness.
"These cells are critical for responding to the ever-changing body-energy state with finely orchestrated changes in arousal, food seeking, hormone release and metabolic rate to ensure that the brain always has adequate glucose."
Malfunction of orexin neurons can lead to narcolepsy, where sufferers cannot stay awake, and obesity; there is also evidence that orexin neurons play a role in learning, reward-seeking and addiction.
"We have identified the pore in the membrane of orexin-producing cells that is responsible for the inhibiting effect of glucose.
"This previously unknown mechanism is so sensitive it can detect minute changes in glucose levels – the type that occurs between meals for example.
"This may well provide an explanation for after-meal tiredness and why it is difficult to sleep when hungry.
"Now we know how glucose stops orexin neurons 'firing', we have a better understanding of what may occur in disorders of sleep and body weight.
"This research perhaps sheds light on why our European friends are so fond of their siestas."
现在午睡心安理得了。
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-06-02 10:52 阅读( 541) 评论( 1) 引用( 0) 我奇
张朝阳－－看问题的时间尺度
没错，看问题需要时间尺度，当然还有其他诸如空间的尺度。所以要放眼量。
文化的传承需要代代相传，孤立的讨论能得出的结论当然也会是孤立的结论。动辄中国人，外国人的讨论失去时间尺度有何意义。可以说五四以后的中国人彻底失去自信，失去了方向。传统多么希望被踩在脚下，彻底扔掉。全盘西化。汉字要拉丁话，如薛勇类人所说，第二天醒来全民都说英语。MY God！不知当法语流行的时候，英国人是否第二天醒来时全部说法语。中文简化字割断了新中国的中国人从文字中继承传统的纽带。可能更多的人是尤恐避之不及。之乎者也。变成了腐朽的古董。正体字保留的地方没见得因为为可怕得文字阻碍了经济的发展。倒是普及了简化字教育的很多人在网上粗俗不堪。简化字就只是叫人识字？！老天那！
那些愿意启蒙别人的人。你是否是那个能造一块自己都举不起来的万能的上帝？！
freemanwqa 发表于 2006-06-02 08:09 阅读( 538) 评论( 1) 引用( 0) 胡言乱语
