China buys IBM PC Business - Automation next?
That venerable standard, "The IBM PC" is now Chinese. In a $1.75b
deal that announces China's ambitions to become a key global player,
Chinese manufacturer Lenovo Group is taking over IBM's PC business.
This creates the world's third-largest PC manufacturer (after
Dell and HP), and changes the structure of global PC manufacturing.
The deal, one of the biggest acquisitions ever by a Chinese company,
is expected to quadruple sales of Lenovo, already Asia's biggest
computer manufacturer. It also signals IBM's transition from leader
and innovator in PC hardware to computer services, software and
consulting.
Lenovo will take over IBM's desktop PC business, including R&D and
manufacturing for $1.25 billion in cash and shares, and IBM will
keep a 18.9% share. Lenovo also takes on liabilities, which raises
the deal value for IBM to $1.75 billion. The deal is structured
to ensure that IBM still has a say in the PC business, despite
its small stake. Lenovo will be licensed to use IBM's brand.
There's a lot of pent-up money in China from its exports to the US
and the rest of the world. Until now, US capital has been going in
the opposite direction, pumped into China's booming economy. Total
US foreign investment in China's manufacturing is about $12 billion.
Despite a trade surplus projected to reach $150 billion this year,
China has not yet put much direct investment into the US; their
cumulative investment in the US is only a miniscule $314 million.
Right now the Beijing government has tight control over conversion
of the Yuan currency, which is pegged to the US $. The Chinese
government now holds $174 billion - almost 10% of outstanding US
Treasury securities, second only to Japan. Most people feel that
the Yuan is undervalued by about 30%.
A revaluation will devalue China's US debt by a third. Unless it
simply accepts the devaluation of this huge debt, China will surely
be using this cash to do a lot more deals in the US.
Business Week - China Goes Shopping
Prospects for China's Currency Revaluation
IBM Could Lose Half Its PC Prospects To Dell, HP
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Books online with Google
Google has just announced an agreement with leading research libraries
(including Harvard, University of Michigan, Stanford, New York Public
Library, and Oxford University) to begin converting books into digital
files that will be freely searchable via the Internet.
This will be the start of a global virtual library. The goal is to
expand the Web to create a digital card catalog and searchable library
for the world's books, papers and special text collections.
Google - flush with money generated by its recent stock offering - will
finance the project, and use its own technical abilities in the gigantic
task of scanning and digitizing tens of thousands of pages a day at each
library. The cost is estimated at about $10 for each of the more than
15 million books and documents, and could take several years.
The agreement is not exclusive. Other major Internet search providers
like Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo will also offer online access to similar
libraries sooner or later. Within a decade or so, most of the world's
knowledge will be digitized and available for free reading on the Internet,
just as there is free reading in libraries today. This is information
that has, till now, been available to only small groups of students
and scholars.
Last year, Amazon.com started creation of a digital archive of more than
120,000 books. The Amazon goal is to digitize most of its multimillion
books catalog, to make every page and every book viewable on line.
This is a significant trend for the future world. Most books will be
available for free reading at any time. Beyond that, the ability to
search millions of books brings mind-boggling benefits.
NY Times - Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database
Forbes - Book 'em, Google
Wired - The Great Library of Amazonia
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My Roomba robot vacuum cleaner
Well, after hesitating for a while, I finally bought a robot to do some
real work at home. I am now the proud owner of Roomba, the home vacuum
cleaning robot made by iRobot.
I've got to tell you - my wife was cynical about my "buying a toy".
She felt I would play with it for a while, and then allow it to gather
dust till it was moved to the attic for storage. (I've done this with
other robots in the past) I don't usually hesitate too long when buying
techhy toys, but I didn't want my wife to crow, "I told you so!" on this
one. So I waited with unusual patience while I studied the possibilities.
The Roomba website has a fairly detailed description of Roomba, with
lots of good diagrams and pictures, and enough technical details
to satisfy the most discerning geek. Amazon.com has another wonderful
feature - reviews from customers who have already used the product.
I found 45 reviews, mostly very positive, but with a few not-too-happy
comments (which adds credibility).
Heck, so I bought one - $249.00 from Amazon.com, same price from anyone
else. Now it's discounted for Christmas. There are other cheaper models,
but I bought the upgraded Roomba Model 4210 Discovery Robot Floorvac.
Well, whaddyaknow - it not only worked well, but my wife is delighted!
It's easy to use. To start, I simply pressed the "clean" button and
Roomba vacuumed the carpeted floor in my home office. It's about a foot
wide, and has rotating brushes that scoop stuff into its dustbin, with
a vacuum to pick up smaller dirt, hair etc.
Roomba actually get floors clean, going under beds and other furniture
where regular vacuums can't go. My wife worried about how it could do
corners - it has an edge-cleaning spinning side brush, which removes
dirt from the base of walls, from corners, and hard-to-reach places.
Roomba detects when it's stuck and has escape routines to free itself.
It actually survey's the room and adjusts run time to clean the entire
floor. It bumps the walls and furniture very gently, backing up to find
a way to go around an obstacle. It adjusts automatically to carpet or
tiles and other floor surfaces.
We closed the doors to my office and let it run for a while, watching
to see if it picked up little things my wife had purposely scattered
around - it did. And when it was finished, it purred back to its corner
to its charging dock, to re-charge.
We moved it to our patio-room, which is mostly tiles, with a rug in
the middle. It did well, climbing on the rug, and sliding off on to
the tiled floor. It did the bedroom next, going under the bed (where
you don't usually bother). We then tried the landing upstairs. I didn't
want to trust it's "cliff sensors" which are supposed to prevent it from
falling off an edge. Instead, I used an "artificial wall" - a little
battery-operated box (two of these came with the Roomba kit) that acts
like a barrier which it cannot cross. We left it alone for about an hour,
and came back to find it happily plugged into its wall-charger.
My wife thought this was "sweet".
We have 2 guest-rooms, with a corridor in between - like a T-junction.
I put it in the corridor and closed the door, wondering whether it would
find its way to both rooms. We went out for dinner. When we returned,
it had cleaned both rooms and the corridor, and was happily re-charging
itself. Sweet....
After all this vacuuming, we wondered how much dirt it had collected.
I allowed my wife to snap open the dirt-cover without any instructions
(she is suspicious of tech-manuals) which she did with remarkable ease.
It clicked open, and she dumped the stuff away quite easily. She was
impressed.
The Roomba kit includes its battery, a charger that plugs into the wall,
a remote-clicker (if you prefer to order it around) and two artificial-wall
boxes. Nice clean box, easy to unpack and get started.
I'm happy that I finally got my Roomba Robot. But, you know what I'm
surprised about? My wife likes it! She has now put me in charge of regular
vacuuming, and is giving our regular vacuum cleaner to my daughter.
Hey, but hang on a minute - who's going to vacuum the stairs...?
iRobot's Roomba models
iRobot's website
Buy your own Roomba robot at Amazon.com
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