The Future of CPU's

If your even the slightest bit of a "tech-head", or if you just keep up with the latest IT trends, then you'll remember several highlights along the path of your upgrade history:

2000 - The year you bought your first >1Ghz processor
2001 - The year you bought your first >2Ghz processor
2002 - The year you bought your first >3Ghz processor

But what about the year you bought your first >4Ghz processor?

Well, it hasn't gotten here yet. And according to Cnet, it will be quite some time before we do see this type of jump in processor speed.

Due to size, heat, and power restraints, both AMD and Intel are going to a multi-core architecture for their latest CPU's. But what does this mean for the consumer?

Basically, if you do a lot of multi-tasking (i.e. running many different applications at the same time) this could be a huge boon for you. Windows will pass the different applications to the different cores and will attempt to balance the load. You basically get 2 computers for the price of one.

However, if you are the type of person that runs one very processing intensive program, moving to these new CPU's may actually degrade your computing experience. Why? Because most software is not written as "multi-threaded". Multi-threaded applications are those that are designed to take advantage of multiple CPU's or cores. Without this multi-thread design, only one core of your CPU will be utilized. Chances are, this one core has less processing power than your old processor if you've been staying up-to-date on upgrades.

The problem is: no one is making this information known. It is almost like a dirty little secret. AMD and Intel want to sell you a new processor, and will do anything to make is seem like you are getting more power than you really are.

AMD is the worst offender with its "4600+" and similar naming schemes. "4600+" Supposedly means that it runs comparable to a 4.6Ghz processor, which may be true if you are running 4 different applications. However, if you are running one power intensive application, you may be better off staying with what you already have.

Open XML v. IBM

This is not the newest news in town, but...

Microsoft issued a letter/statement in February talking about Open XML and how it had recently become an international standard, like ODF, PDF, HTML, and other recognized formats. The letter (which can be found here) talks a great deal about interoperability and Open XML, then seems to (to me at least) come out of left field to lambast IBM for not playing nice.

I think this is one of those things that is over my head, but it made interesting reading.

For a little more expert insight, check out Ars Technica's take on the letter.

For more info on IBM's vote from when it happened, check out this blurb on C-Net's Open Source blog. I did notice the IBM employee blog referred to in the C-Net article is nowhere to be found (dead link and domain gives a 404 error) so I wonder if IBM decided their decision made them look bad...?

Eww

I fully admit - after doing my reading for this post I had to go get a bottle of hand sanitizer and add it to my desk supplies. Then I used it before I began typing.

Why?

Well, I'm a woman. According to a recent study by Dr. Charles Gerba (not incidentally funded by Clorox) of germs in the workplace, women are dirty.

Desks, phones, computer mice, and keyboards are all havens for bacteria and women's desks are likely to be many times nastier than men's. The blame for the latter fact falls on stashed food -- women are a lot likelier than men to stash a snack in or around their desk.

The only thing that makes it kind of okay is that the dirtiest surface in the office didn't belong to women. That's right guys, it's time to wash that wallet! Apparently the germiest surface around, including women's purses, which all the researchers thought would be top of the list, is a man's wallet.

If you want to read more, check out Clorox's press release on the subject. But make sure you have some hand sanitizer and alcohol swabs handy, you'll want them by the time you finish reading.

Sole Proprietors in the Crosshairs

It looks like the IRS will be looking a lot harder at Schedule C filers (sole proprietors) than in years past.

There is an estimated $300+ billion tax gap - a gap between what Americans should be paying in income tax and the amount they are paying - according to the US Treasury Department. The IRS recently reported to Congress that they thought they could recover over $100 billion of this money by taking a hard look at small business taxes, especially those of Schedule C and S-corporation filers.

~~~

I spent quite a bit of time tracking down the source info on this article, since it was a clip of a clip of a clip I got a few weeks ago, but, finally, I've got the scoop.

For a good idea of what the IRS thinks is wrong, check out the September 2006 Treasury report "A Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing the Tax Gap".

For small businesses and sole proprietors, some of the most relevant quotes about the tax gap and plans to fix it are found on pg 5:

There are three key characteristics of the tax gap:

• Over 70 percent of the gross tax gap is attributable to the individual income tax,
which is the largest single source of Federal receipts.

• Over 80 percent of the gross tax gap is caused by underreporting of tax (i.e., by
underreporting income or overstating deductions and credits), with roughly half this
amount (including self-employment tax) attributable to underreporting of net business
income by individuals. Eighteen percent of the gross tax gap is attributable to
underpayments of taxes or failure to file tax returns.

• Noncompliance is highest among taxpayers whose income is not subject to third party
information reporting or withholding requirements.

***

Wow. I feel targeted. A couple of groups working to make sure the IRS looks hard at everyone, not just small businesses and sole proprietors, are the National Federation of Independent Businesses and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. If you are a member of either group you might want to check with your issues and policy contact to see what you can do.

Leaping, no, Springing Forward!

I will be the first to admit I am *not* a fan of daylight savings time. What can I say, I live in the southern half of the US, we get plenty o' sunlight without Uncle Sam forcing us to mess with the clocks.

I am particularly annoyed about starting this year because now DST is starting 10 days, yes, ten full days before the official start of spring.

The vernal equinox, the traditional day the season changes from winter to spring, is the 21st of March. When does daylight savings time start this year? March 11th. That's right, DST no longer starts the first Sunday of April. The government moved it back a full three weeks to the second Sunday in March. At 2:00am this Sunday we all lose an hour, three weeks early.

DST also runs later now, too. It used to end at 2:00am on the last Sunday in October, now it is the 1st Sunday in November. All of this thanks to a federal energy policy bill passed in 2005. When I am less irked I'll look up the details and find out how much this is *really* supposed to save power. Personally, I just think Uncle Sam is out to annoy me ;-)

Just in case this isn't enough reason to be overjoyed, computers that automatically adjust for DST may have trouble with it, now. For an idea of just how this may mess things up, check out this article.

For more information on how to cope with the change if you are running a Windows system, check out Microsoft's "Daylight Savings Time Support and Help Center". If you're a Mac user, Apple has info on the switch posted here.

So, don't forget - this Sunday, March 11, 2007, at 2:00am, set your clocks FORWARD 60 minutes!

VANA is temporarily down...

Just a note to the VAs out there that read this. VANA or vanetworking.com has had a major outage, more details can be found by clicking the graphic below. Tawnya, if you see this, know that OffAssist behind you. VANA is a huge asset to the virtual assistant industry and we cannot wait for your return.

Google Enterprise Wins Award

As long as I'm talking about the Intranet Journal's Best Product of the Year Awards...

Google Search Appliance won the 2007 award for Best Enterprise Search Software. To find out more about the software and its award, check out the original article at IntranetJournal.com.

(I would go into this more, but, frankly, it's over my head. I understand it, just, but couldn't explain it if I tried.)