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Tuna Tartare (Barefoot Contessa) Ina Garten

30 mins (prep 30)
16 ingredients
50 servings
I just saw the Barefoot Contessa make this on her "Book Party" show, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, 2002. It reminded me of an affair I attended awhile back and they served Tuna Tartare -- I loved it! This runs the closest second to the one I had. I hope you will try it -- it is scrumptious! It requires at least 1 hour chilling time while the flavors marry.

Categories:  technique , tuna , fruit , fish , no-cook , free-of... , lime , appetizer , potluck , diabetic , time-to-make , <-30-mins , citrus , seafood , lactose-free , number-of-servings , to-go... , saltwater-fish , for-large-groups ,
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Serving Size (13.72 g)
Servings 50
Amount per Serving
Calories 54.63 Calories from Fat 53.37
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 5.93g 455.92%
Saturated Fat 0.82g 204.68%
Trans Fat 0.0 %
Cholesterol 0.0mg 0.0%
Sodium 328.99mg 685.39%
Total Carbohydrate 0.48g 7.92%
Dietary Fiber 0.16 g 31.94%
Sugars 0.15 g %
Protein 0.19g 18.6%
Vitamin A 58.97IU% Vitamin C 1.11mg%
Calcium 4.64mg% Iron 0.14mg%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your diet value must be higher or lower depending upon your calorie needs:
  Calories 2,000 2,500
Total Fat Less Than 65g 80g
Sat Fat Less Than 20g 25g
Cholesterol Less Than 300mg 300mg
Sodium Less Than 2,400mg 2,400mg
Total Carb   300g 375g
Dietary Fiber   25g 30g
Potassium   3,500 mg
Protein   50 g
Calories Per Gram
Fat 9•Carbohydrate 4•Protein 4
*Nutrition information was calculated excluding the following ingredients:
tuna steaks, very fresh, freshly squeezed lime juice, wasabi powder, hot red pepper sauce, fresh ground black pepper, minced, fresh jalapeno peppers, toasted sesame seeds


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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Bozeman Montana Luxury Real Estate Sold

 Taunya Fagan Bozeman Real Estate Agents

Stunning Bozeman Luxury Real Estate in Triple Tree Ranch: perfect setting in the luxury Triple Tree Ranch Subdivision on Bozeman's south side.
- No Longer Listed -

One of the south-side Bozeman luxury homes on 9 acres, so bring your horses. This secluded Bozeman home is only minutes from downtown Bozeman, Montana and is highlighted by a spectacular stone fireplace, vaulted ceilings, and elegant finishes throughout .
              - SOLD! -

This is one of the quintessential Montana Log Homes for sale south of Bozeman, MT, offering huge window views of the Bridger Mountains. Giant cobblestone fireplace, reclaimed, circle-sawn fir floors, in-floor radiant heat.
- SOLD! -

Taunya Fagan Real Estate, giving you the advantage...®

Taunya at - 406.579.9683

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text:
Thursday, August 19, 2010

Things in my garage that sound dirty but probably aren't

Yesterday, I went out to the garage to find...actually, I have no idea what I was looking for. It's the garage, so the odds of me ever finding what I'm after are the same as the odds I'll give up romance writing in favor of drafting texts on quantum harmonic oscillators.

Sometimes I like to just walk out there and stare at the shelves while scowling because that's what I see Pythagoras do from time to time (after which he stalks off to Home Depot to buy something else to set on the shelves and scowl at).

So there I was, staring and scowling, when I noticed that nearly everything on these shelves sounds dirty. Don't believe me? Consider the evidence:
I wasn't aware I had a stripper in my garage, let alone America's #1 stripper. I feel so fortunate.
Spray lubricant? Because sometimes the tube or the bottle just isn't quick enough?
You know, I think I just won't touch this one.
And here I was naively trusting Pythagoras' vasectomy to keep me safe, and all along we've had miracle impregnator on the premises?
I don't know about you, but I'm pleased to know my wood finish penetrates. Not so happy about the staining, however.
So there are just a few things in my garage that sound dirty but probably aren't. Do you have similar products lying around your house? I challenge you to look at them in a new (and preferably demented) light.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go rifle through the bathroom drawers. There's gotta be something good in there.

Caitlin said...

I have this sudden and powerful urge to go read all the labels in my garage now.

Sierra Godfrey said...

LOVE IT! What a filthy collection of items! I must say I do enjoy that you look for the filth in everything...I thought it was just me!

What I like especially is the order of items presented...first you strip, then you lube,then you clean the rim, then you ...ahh Wood Finish belongs here, to penetrate, then impregnate. Beautiful. You've written an erotic romance in industrial materials.

Alexa O said...

When I lived in Asheville, NC, it was a neverending source of amusement for me that "Asheville Hose" was located right next to "Asheville Screw and Bolt."

Who knew specialty hardware stores could be so intriguing?

Linda G. said...

LOL! Well, I do have some "wood polish" around here somewhere, and I think TG has a "ball washer" in his golf bag. That do you? ;)

Elizabeth Ryann said...

There's a lot of wood in my garage. Don't know who it belongs to. Does that count?

Lynda Elkin said...

I feel dirty. :)

Patty Blount said...

Not so much in the garage. My boys laugh at me because I keep seeing the hidden x-rating in sports celeb's names.

Don't believe me? These names induce belly laughs in me:

AJ Almondinger (NASCAR)
Jeff Beukeboom (NHL)
John Oduya, whose name the commentators pronounce as "I'll do ya"

There are more, but I am already snickering at work.

Margaret said...

You have such a unique outlook on life, Tawna. It's fun to sit over your shoulder.

Pamala Knight said...

You're my new hero! 'Scuse me, HEROINE!

Awesome post.

Candyland said...

You dirty, dirty kitten.

Christina Auret said...

You really can find something amusing anywhere.

Vast sections of mechanical design class was spent discussing, or at least mentioning, male and female parts.

The fact that most original mechanical engineers were male was very clear.

All things that slot in are referred to as male and all things that are slotted into, female.

Terms like male screw thread raised snickers all semester long. What made this cute instead of annoying was that quite a few of my class mates got a little red around the ears whenever any of the terms came up.

madameduck said...

Haha! I needed a lol today. I certainly got one! :)

Matthew AT Banning said...

Wow! LMAO! What a way to start the my day! :D

Now I can smile all day as I rumage through the cupboards in the house to see what I can find. Won't my parents be happy about that!

lora96 said...

I really enjoyed those pics, personally.

But I can make something scandalous out of practically anything.

For example, husband was reading aloud from one of his favorite books (a fantasy/sf series) in which one of the characters has a premonitory dream and described it as follows:
"She remembered seeing Mat in her dream. He yelled 'I'm coming! I'm coming!' but she could not understand why he seemed to be looking at her when he said it."

Now I lmao'd at that. Husband was exceedingly puzzled as to why I thought it was so damn funny. He knew that "mat" was going to rescue her from a kidnapper. That is so not what I was thinking when I was laughing.

Debra L. Schubert said...

You naughty, naughty girl! Sex in the garage. Hmm. Sounds like something worth checking into...

Marybeth Poppins said...

LOVE IT!!! You totally crack me up!

Shadow said...

Okay Twana, next book must contain scene where characters discuss items in the garage! Let them explore their dirty thoughts.

Jeannie said...

Other than some mixed nuts in the pantry, nothing is jumping out at me right now. However, I remembered seeing this webpage, and thought you'd like it:

Suz said...

You have dirty things in your garage. Ours is just dirty.

middle child said...

You have dirty things in your garage? I always seem to have dirty things in my brain. It can be amusing.

Jessica Lemmon said...

LMAO! That was *AWESOME* - I was laughing more at the idea of you dragging the items out one by one to photograph them for us.

Thanks for sharing - Mr. Lemmony had a good chuckle over them too!

Tawna Fenske said...

Caitlin, so what's the verdict? Did you find anything good in your garage?!

Sierra, yes, I gave great thought to the order of presentation.

Alexa, Asheville Screw and Bolt? That is hysterical! I hope they sold t-shirts with their logo on them.

Linda G, my dad is a golfer, so he and my husband never tire of making ball washing jokes.

Elizabeth, so some random stranger put wood in your garage? Wow, that sounds even dirtier than my stuff.

Lynda, my work here is done.

Patty, my husband follows car racing sometimes, and the Almondinger guy never stops being funny.

Margaret, now I'm picturing you sitting behind me, breathing down my neck.

Pamala, do I get a superhero cape & mask now?

Candyland, meow.

Christina, that's hilarious! Makes me wish I'd chosen to be an engineer, just so I could snicker all the time. Wait, I do that anyway.

Madameduck, I am here to give you whatever you need. Well, only if what you need is a bunch of dirty jokes to laugh at. Then I'm your gal.

Matthew, don't keep us in suspense, what did you find in the cupboard?

lora96, I would have laughed my a** off at that, too!

Debra, wait, were you peering in my garage last week?

Marybeth, glad to amuse you!

Shadow, I do have a carpenter in my current manuscript, and there may be a "stroking the wood" reference. Just sayin.

Jeannie, OK, that link is the funniest thing I've seen all week.

Suz, that is a filthy garage. I'm glad you live far away so you can't make me clean it for you.

middle child, it really does keep life interesting, doesn't it?

Jessica, yeah, pretty sure the neighbor wondered what the hell I was doing this morning.

Thanks for reading, guys!

Margaret said...

Yeah, well, sorry about that onion sandwich I had for lunch ;).

Jemi Fraser said...

That was fun :) Gotta go see what I can find...

Brenda Sedore said...

Hilarious! I never would have thought of that. I guess that's why I read your blog. :-) Thanks for the laugh.

Brenda said...

Bawahahahha! I lost it on RIM CLEAN.

vanessapnoble said...

For work I type medical reports. Once I needed to find a particular model name of an item used in a tonsillectomy surgery. The item name ended with "mouth gag" and so I googled it. I don't think I really need to go more in detail with this story :)

Claire Dawn said...

I'm loving the Miracle Impregnator!!!

Tawna Fenske said...

Margaret, eeew!

Jemi Fraser, have you ever read Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER series? The swoon-worthy hero has a name that's very similar to yours. I always think of him when you comment :)

Brenda Sedore, wait, so are you saying I'm the only pervert here?

Brenda, (wow, two Brendas in a row, what are the odds?!) You know what's funny? That's the photo I ALMOST didn't include because I thought it might be going a little too far with the crude humor. Then I figured only the serious perverts would get it anyway, and if you're a serious pervert...well, you're not likely to be offended, are you?

vanessapnoble, OMG, that's hilarious! My dad (a middle school teacher) was trying to show one of his students how to google information on jet-skiing for a report he was doing for English class. They mistakenly used the phrase "water sports" as a search term. Suffice it to say, they saw a whole lot of stuff unsuitable for a middle school report.

Claire Dawn, no kidding, the impregnator was the last thing I spotted on the shelf. I giggled for a long time.

Thanks for reading, guys!

Matthew AT Banning said...

ok, suspense over, these are a few of the things I found in the kitchen and the bathroom.

Dish soap - "Ultra Palmolive Aroma Sensations" The top of the bottle said "More Power In Every Drop!"

Floor and Bathroom cleaner - "Tough and Tender"

SOS Pads - it was the "Cleans from A to Z!" that caught my attention, you just need the right appendages for it.

Deodorant - "Speed Stick" for ladies without men. Also has "24 Hour Protection" at the top.

Nail Polish - "Wet 'N' Wild"

Some sort of spray, "Calming Air Enhancer." I figure it can go with the "Sterile Pads" (bandages) for clean up and not seeming so obvious.

Bath Inhalent - "Anti-Cold Bath" for fun in the tub.

Sun Screen - "Water Babies" The results!

Ivory Soap - "Not too much and not too little. Just the right amount of Lather. Just a little scent. And there you go."

Conditioning - says "Heat Activated" on the top. "Thermasilk" I immediately thought "Because underwear just isn't warm enough?"

And there you have it. My list of things that are dirty that i can add to yours! :)

Tawna Fenske said...

Matthew, ha! Those are hysterical! I especially like the tough and tender floor cleaner!

squinto said...

Ah, I loved this. My garage isn't nearly as fun as yours.


text:
Janell A. Israel & Associates

1585 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1604, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814 Phone: 808-942-8817

January 2016 Tax Newsletter

What's New in Taxes:

December Tax Extender Act Renews Tax Breaks

In December 2015, Congress renewed a long list of tax breaks known as "extenders" that have been expiring on an annual basis. Many of the rules are retroactive to the beginning of 2015 and you can benefit from them as you prepare your 2015 federal income tax return.

The "Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015," which was signed into law on December 18, 2015, makes some of the rules effective through December 31, 2016. Others are effective through 2019, and some are effective permanently. Provisions in the Act also make changes to existing tax rules that were not part of the extenders. Here's a brief summary of selected provisions.

* When you're age 70 1/2 and over, you can make a tax-free distribution of up to $100,000 from your IRA to a charity. This provision was reinstated for 2015 and is NOW PERMANENT.

* The deduction for up to $250 of out-of-pocket eligible educator expenses is available for your 2015 return. It's NOW PERMANENT and will be indexed for inflation beginning with 2016 tax returns.

* You can choose to claim the itemized deduction for state and local sales taxes in lieu of deducting state and local income taxes on your 2015 return. This break is NOW PERMANENT.

* The tuition and fees above-the-line deduction for qualified higher education expenses is available for 2015 and 2016.

* If you're a homeowner, you can exclude mortgage debt cancellation or forgiveness of up to $2 million in 2015 and 2016. Discharges of qualified mortgage debt can also be excluded after January 1, 2017, if you have a binding written agreement in effect before that date. This tax break is only available for your principal residence.

* The maximum Section 179 deduction for qualified business property, including off-the-shelf software, is available for 2015 and is NOW PERMANENTLY SET AT $500,000 (subject to a taxable income limitation). The deduction is phased out above a $2,000,000 threshold. Both thresholds will be indexed for inflation beginning in 2016.

* The additional first-year depreciation deduction, known as "bonus depreciation," is available for 2015 when you buy qualified business property. The deduction is extended through 2019.

* You can claim the work opportunity tax credit for 2015 if you hired eligible individuals last year. This credit is extended for five years (through 2019).

Give us a call for more information and for help determining which changes affect you.

Charitable Donations - Keep Your Paperwork To Keep Your Deduction

While a tax deduction is only part of the reason you donate to charity, taking steps to protect your deduction is good planning. Here's what you need to know.

* When you give money. Support monetary contributions of any amount with a cancelled check, credit card statement, proof of payroll deduction, or a receipt. For monetary contributions of $250 or more, get a contemporaneous written acknowledgement. "Contemporaneous" means you have a receipt in hand no later than the date you file the return for the year the contribution is made (for your 2015 federal income tax return, that's generally April 18, 2016). The receipt must show the name of the charity, the date of your donation, and the amount donated, as well as a description and the estimated value of any nondeductible item (such as a book or dinner) provided to you.

* When you donate property. The deduction for a property donation is generally limited to the lesser of cost (or other basis) or fair market value. Support can include ads showing prices of donated clothing and household items from secondhand stores or consignment shops, along with evidence of your original purchases.

You'll need more records as the value of your property donation increases. For example, when the value is $250 or less, you'll need a receipt from the charity showing the organization's name, the date and location of the contribution, and a description of the property. When the value is between $250 and $500, combine that information with a statement indicating whether you received any goods or services in exchange for your contribution. The receipt must provide a description and estimated value for any premium. For property donations valued from $500 up to $5,000, include all of the above information and also show how and when you got the property and its cost or other basis. Finally, when the donation is valued at over $5,000, in addition to all of the other requirements, you'll also need a written appraisal from a qualified appraiser.

New Business:

IRS Lowers Business Mileage Rate For 2016

The IRS recently announced the mileage rate for business driving in 2016 will be 54 cents a mile, a decrease from the 2015 rate of 57.5 cents per mile. You can use this rate for cars, vans, pickups, and panel trucks instead of tracking the actual costs of operating those vehicles for business purposes. An annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile is used to determine what the standard mileage rate will be for a given year.

In addition to the mileage rate, a separate deduction may be claimed for parking fees, tolls, interest relating to the purchase of the automobile, and state and local personal property taxes.

The standard business mileage rate isn't applicable to automobiles used for hire, such as taxicabs, or for fleets of automobiles you use simultaneously. One other caution: You can't use the standard rate if the vehicle was previously depreciated by other than the straight-line method, including bonus depreciation or the Section 179 deduction.

A depreciation component of 24 cents a mile is included in the 2016 business mileage rate (the same as 2015). This depreciation reduces your cost basis in the vehicle.

What's New in Finances:

Get Ready For Higher Interest Rates

What do higher interest rates mean for your financial plan? When the banker for the U.S. Treasury - which you may know as the Federal Reserve - raises the rate banks use to loan money to each other, the results influence a variety of interest rates that affect your financial planning. For example, you may pay more interest when you buy a car or a home, or on your credit card balance. You may earn more interest on money market or savings accounts, and your investments might be impacted as financial markets react.

While you'll want to review your plan with an eye toward future rate changes, remember that money management is a long-term prospect. Before you commit to major decisions, give us a call. We're here to help you reach your financial goals.

How To Build An Emergency Fund

Planning for emergencies is like buying insurance: you pay into an account, and hope you'll never have to use it. But life happens. Cars break down. Roofs leak. Kids break arms. Having money in the bank to cover those unexpected expenses can reduce stress and keep you from relying on credit cards and loans to make ends meet.

Here are four ways to establish and maintain an emergency fund.

* Start small. Is the thought of setting aside enough money to cover at least six months of expenses daunting? Then lower your sights. Set a realistic and achievable amount for your emergency fund and get in the habit of contributing regularly, even if it's only a small amount each week. Then don't touch the account except for real emergencies. Leave it alone and it will grow.

* Make use of "found" money. When you get a bonus, cost-of-living adjustment, tax refund, or windfall, fight the temptation to increase spending. Instead, use a portion of that "found" money to bolster your emergency account.

* Make it automatic. Set up routine transfers from your household checking account to a separate savings account. If allowed by your employer, allocate a portion of each paycheck to an emergency fund. Establish the account at a financial institution other than your usual bank. Why? If the money never shows up in your regular checking account, you'll be less likely to use it for everyday spending.

* Sell stuff. Clear out your stash of surplus household goods, furniture, and clothing, and sell the items in yard sales, consignment shops, and online auctions. Direct the cash into your emergency account.

An emergency fund is essential to maintaining financial security. If you'd like more ideas for setting financial goals or building up your emergency fund, give us a call.

All information is believed to be from reliable sources, however we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. The information contained in this newsletter is provided by Mostad& Christensen, Inc. The information is of a general nature and should not be acted upon in your specific situation without further details and/or professional assistance. For more information on anything in this newsletter, or for assistance with any of your tax, business, or financial strategy concerns, contact our office.

Mutual funds are sold by prospectus. Investors should read the prospectus carefully and consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of each fund carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the investment company. Please contact your representative or the investment company to obtain the prospectuses.

Securities and advisory services offered through National Planning Corporation (NPC), Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser. Mosted& Christensen, Janell Israel & Associates and NPC are separate and unrelated companies. NPC does not provide tax or legal advice.

This message and any attachments contain information which may be confidential and/or privileged and is intended for use only by the addressee(s) named on this transmission. If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are notified that any review, copying, distribution or use of this transmission is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please (i) notify the sender immediately by e-mail or by telephone and (ii) destroy all copies of this message. If you do not wish to receive marketing e-mails from this sender, please send an e-mail reply or a postcard to 1585Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1604,Honolulu, Hawaii 96814.

Please visit www.janellisrael.com for up-to-date financial information & www.postoplanning.com for information regarding long term care insurance.


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Did enforcement officers know about Armstrong’s doping?

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — World Anti-Doping Agency Director-General David Howman said Lance Armstrong pursued what appears to be a systematic doping program for a decade “probably with the knowledge” of people who were charged with detecting drug cheats.

Howman told New Zealand’s LiveSport Radio on Friday that Armstrong’s repeated claim he has never tested positive for a banned substance could no longer be regarded as proof of his innocence.

WADA Director-General David Howman says Lance Armstrong's usage of PEDs was known by enforcement officials.

“What seems to have happened in this particular scenario is that it went on for many years under the noses of those who were supposed to be detecting it and at times probably with their knowledge,” Howman told the New Zealand program from WADA’s headquarters in Montreal.

Howman said Armstrong had finally been caught because fellow cyclists had broken a code of omerta (silence) and confessed their parts in a “conspiracy to defraud the sport.”

He did not specifically identify the agencies or individuals he suspected may have turned a blind eye to doping by Armstrong or his teams. But he referred to “suggestions” contained in the report of the United States Anti-Doping Agency that irregularities in some Armstrong tests might not have been investigated as rigorously as they should have been.

Howman said failed doping rug tests were no longer the benchmark needed to identify cheats.

He used the case of Olympic track and field athlete Marion Jones to illustrate flaws in the system. Once considered the fastest woman in the world, Jones served prison time and gave back her five medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics after being convicted of lying to federal investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs.

“Marion Jones didn’t fail a test either and she competed for seven years, won all sorts of gold medals and world championships, was tested about 160 times and none of them was positive,” he said.

“Lance Armstrong has (been) tested more than a couple of hundred times. None of them were positive in terms of recorded positives. There have been suggestions that there may have been a couple of them that were not fully investigated so they remain at the moment suggestions.

“What we have to say is the science can catch some but it doesn’t catch them all. What we’ve been talking about over the last few years is that where there is evidence gathered in relation to cheating – and it can be gathered by the police or by customs or by other people – then it should also be brought together to sheet home a sanction process against the cheating athlete. That’s what they’ve done in this case.”

Howman said the result of USADA’s investigation of Armstrong was a “compelling” case against the seven-time Tour de France winner.

“It’s compelling, it’s very thorough and you can’t just sit back and say it’s a collection of statements from liars,” he said. “It just doesn’t read like that.

“It reads like 10 years of systematic doping and that’s been through the mill of sworn testimony so if anyone is found out to have lied under oath they can face charges of perjury – and in the United States you can go to prison for that.

“This is compelling. This is a very compelling series of informants who have given evidence, trying to help their sport get clean and what they’ve done is broken the (code of silence) to do that and I suppose that’s taken quite a bit of courage.”

Howman said the USADA investigation had struck a significant blow against drug cheats in cycling but “I think it will take a while to get rid of the culture that still pervades the whole sport.”

“From our perspective it’s showing that cheats don’t really prosper and we don’t want them to,” he said. “To support the clean athletes you’ve got to make sure that those who have cheated for a while, when they are found out are brought to heel.”

Armstrong’s decision not to defend or contest the charges made against him was surprising, Howman said.

“To be honest I was surprised when he decided not to take part in the whole hearing process. There was his chance to tell everybody what the situation was, he would be able to cross-examine all of those who were giving evidence against him,” Howman said. “I guess he decided on the advice of his lawyers not to partake and so it has led to this.

“It’s a bit difficult now to see how he can sit on the sidelines and criticize it when he didn’t even front up. That’s not really the mark of the clean athlete.”

Howman said WADA was now waiting to see whether cycling’s governing body, the UCI, would support the sanctions against Armstrong recommended by USADA which could include a lifetime ban and the annulment of his seven Tour de France titles.

“The answer now is in the hands of the international cycling union because they have a right to appeal this and I’m sure they they’ll look at it very carefully to decide whether they accept the jurisdiction of the U.S., whether they accept the process they’ve followed and whether they accept the results they’ve achieved,” he said. “If they don’t, then they’ll appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If they elect not to do anything, then we (WADA) have got a right to appeal as well.

“We’ll consider that in the same light. But at the end of that if nobody does anything the penalties remain, the sanctions remain and Armstrong remains the recipient of the report which shows him to be a cheat for all of his career.”

In an earlier statement, WADA President John Fahey welcomed USADA’s “reasoned decision” in the Armstrong case. But the statement said it would be inappropriate to comment further until the UCI had decided whether it would take the matter to appeal. It had 21 days to do so.

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text:
2 Main File Formats

The flow consists of many separate tools and information is exchanged with files. This chapter gives an overview of 8 file and database types manipulated by TCE applications and accessible to users of the toolset, architecture definition .adf and SW binary .tpef being the most important ones. Many files are XML so user can easily access them, if needed.

There a 3 kind of files:

  1. HW definitions: adf, hdb, and idf
  2. SW definitions: tpef, bem, opp, cc, opb
  3. Simulation and exploration data: dsdb, set of the files above

1 Architecture Definition File (ADF)

Filename extension: .adf

Architecture Definition File (ADF) is a file format for defining target processor architectures, e.g. which function units are used and how they are connected [CSJ04]. ADF can be created with ProDe manually or, e.g., by automated design space exploration tools. ADF is a specification of the target ``processor architecture'', meaning that only the information needed to generate valid programs for the processor is stored, but nothing else. This file is needed by many tools, such as tcecc, ttasim, and ProGe.

The XML snippet below gives an idea of ADF.

<adf version="1.7">

  <bus name="B1">
  <socket name="alu_comp_i1">
  <function-unit name="alu_comp">
    <port name="in1t">
      <bind name="1">in1t</bind>
  <register-file name="RF">
  <address-space name="data">

2 TTA Program Exchange Format (TPEF)

Filename extension: .tpef

TTA Program Exchange Format (TPEF) is a file format for storing compiled TTA programs which can be either unscheduled, partially scheduled, or scheduled [Cil04]. TPEF supports auxiliary sections for storing additional information related to the program, such as execution profiles, machine resource data, and target address space definitions. This file is needed, e.g. by ttasim and Pig.

3 Hardware Database (HDB)

Filename extension: .hdb

Hardware Database (HDB) is the main SQLite database used by the Processor Generator and the Cost Estimator. The data stored in HDB consist of hardware description language definitions (HDL) of TTA components (function units, register files, buses and sockets) and metadata that describe certain parameters used in implementations. In addition, HDB may include data of each implementation needed by the cost estimation algorithms.

TCE ships with an example HDB that includes implementations for several function units and register files in VHDL, and cost data for the default interpolating cost estimation plugin.

4 Implementation Definition File (IDF)

Filename extension: .idf

Describes which implementations to use for each component in the architecture. Hence, this links architectural components described in ADF files to implementation alternatives stored in HDB. Using this information it is possible to fetch correct hardware description language (HDL) files from the hardware block library for cost estimation and processor generation. This file is needed, by ProGe and PIG.

The XML snippet below gives an idea of IDF.

  <fu name="LSU">

5 Binary Encoding Map

Filename extension: .bem

Provides enough information to produce an executable uncompressed bit image from TPEF program data.

6 Operation Set Abstraction Layer (OSAL) Files

Filename extension: .opp, .cc, .opb

OSAL stores the simulation behavior and static properties of operations that can be added to the function units in the designed processors.

Simulation behavior of function unit operations is described by implementing simulation functions which can be plugged in to the simulator run time.

The .opp file is an XML file for defining the static properties of operations (for example, how many inputs and outputs an operation has). The .cc is the C++ source file that defines the behavior model for a set of operations. The .opb is the plugin module compiled from the .cc. OSAL is quite complex and further details are presented in Section 4.3.

7 Simulation Trace Database

Filename extension: .tracedb

Stores data collected from simulations and used by instruction scheduler (profiling data) and cost estimator (utilization statistics, etc.).

8 Exploration Result Database

Filename extension: .dsdb

Exploration Result Database (ExpResDB) contains the configurations that have been evaluated during exploration (manual or automatic) and a summary of their characteristics. Files that define each tested configuration (ADF and IDF) are stored in the database as well.

9 Summary of file types

Table 2.2 summarizes briefly the most common TCE file types.

Table 2.2: Summary of file types
Postfix Purpose Format
adf Architecture description XML
idf Implementation/microarchitecture description XML
hdb HW database SQLite
tpef TTA program exchange format bin
bem Binary encoding map XML
opp Operation properties XML
cc Simulation behavior of an operation C++
opb Compiled operation behavior bin
tracedb Database of simulation and cost estimation results SQLite
dsdb Database of exploration results and TTA configurations SQLite

Pekka Jääskeläinen 2016-11-24


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Saturday, June 13, 2015

The Ursulines in France

From Madame Gilflurt's salon:
The nuns taught the girls how to examine their consciences and recount their faults to a confessor. The priest had the power of absolution, but it was the nuns who ensured that the sacrament of penance took place and was effective. In my novel, the heroine, Claire Donet has made a vow to a dying girl to become a nun and worries much about the penance she may be required to pay because of her feelings for the handsome Captain Simon Powell. But, as the Mother Superior taught Claire, the Ursulines believed that holiness was achieved not be retreating from the challenges of an imperfect world, but by going into that world and meeting those challenges armed with knowledge.

Since the convent schools in France were primarily for the daughters of the French nobility and the wealthy, the girls might have been taught some mathematics along with reading, writing, Bible instruction, needlework, art and music. Art would have included art appreciation, not just learning to draw and paint. Writing classes would focus on not only on the development of a graceful hand, but the proper forms of address and the proper construction of well thought out and effective letters.

At all times there would have been an emphasis on deportment, etiquette and the social graces. In the formal sense of education, this would have been extended to include development of menus, the proper way to set the table and other things a lady would be expected to know to run her own household. (At one point, the hero in my story is disappointed to learn the heroine cannot cook.) (Read more.)

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Saturday, October 03, 2015

#DCPSRising & @anacostiahigh Representing!

Last Wednesday, my Journalism students represented our school, Anacostia SHS, very well during the Conversation with News4 anchor Jim Vance and Chancellor Henderson on State of DC Public Schools. They eloquently interviewed her 15 minutes prior to the event and were given special press seating at the front row! I'm so proud of them!

Here's our class website if you want to see the video clip:

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Promethean Planet

The following is the opinion of the writer and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Any view or opinion represented in the blog comments are personal and is accredited to the respective commentor / visitor to this blog. This blogger reserves the right to moderate comment suitability in support of respecting racial, religious and political sensitivities, and in order to protect the rights of each commentor where available.


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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Being Thankful on Facebook

Just a short post - I'm sooo excited!!  I was able to set up a Facebook page for my 365 Day Thankfulness Challenge. If you'd like to read more about what this is, you can click here (it's the lasst part of that post). If you'd like to check it out, just click here (I hope), or you can search for 365 Day Thankfulness Challenge on Facebook.  I would love for you to like the page and share things that you are thankful for every day of 2013!

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Wednesday, January 2, 2008

An Article and Resources to Share with Parents

It doesn't happen all that often, since I teach high school aged students, but occasionally I will have a student with a mystery diagnosis. The parents have been told by doctors that they don't know what is wrong, that the diagnosis is a generic MR or PDD/Autism or that the students has an unspecified neurological or, mitochondrial disease or syndrome.

Last week The New York Times published an article about microanalysis of DNA in these situations and the hope and connection it can offer to families. The article also includes a list of resources, videos and MP3s.

This might be a good clipping to hang on a parent bulletin board or have ready for when this type of conversation comes up.

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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Interactive Whiteboard Activities {Tech Thursday}

It's Thursday, and that means we are sharing another great technology resource with you! These last weeks of school are my favorite time to try something new. It's low-risk. Testing is done. Students need something fresh and new to keep their attention. And if your class loves it but you hate it, there's no need to continue using it for months to come! Today, I'm sharing a site that I discovered during a recent PD session at school. This is one I will definitely be using next year!

SAS Curriculum Pathways

My students love any excuse to touch our Smart Board, so I am always looking for new, ready to go games and activities for them. This site is chock full of interactive games, activities, and primary source documents. No matter what age or subject you teach, there's something you can use in your classroom at SAS Curriculum Pathways, and it's all FREE! You'll have to create an account to get started, but it just takes a second, and they don't even spam you with promo emails!

Once you log in, you'll see a menu of subjects (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, & Spanish) on the left hand side along with some featured resources in the center of the page. You can narrow your search by grade level, type of activity, and even required web browser plugins. I'm going to share a couple of resources I found for what I'm currently teaching, but there really are activities for every subject & topic, so browse around the site!

This one is a game on fraction operations. Students can use the warm-up version for practice or they can play the game. At the bottom right corner, there's an option to save, print, or email results to the teacher.

One of my favorite parts is the Primary Sources section. I found lots of resources on the Boston Massacre to show students the different accounts of the story based on first-hand reports. You can search these by grade level, too, and many of the original documents also have an excerpt version for elementary grade students!

Technology Thursday is a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Check out our Linky Parties page for details on how to link up! Then link your tech posts below!

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Sunday, April 30, 2017

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The future of Xbox gaming is finally here.

[ujicountdown id=”Xbox, A New Generation Revealed” expire=”2013/05/21 12:00″ hide = “true”]

Tomorrow, Microsoft will unveil the highly anticipated new Xbox

Here’s what to expect on May 21st as we bring you the future of Xbox straight from Microsoft’s campus:

12pm EST/ 9am PST – Pre-Show
1pm EST/ 10am PST – XBOX: A New Generation Revealed
2pm EST/ 11am PST – LIVE Post-Show

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October 8th, 2010

Flipper: A Developer Tool to save your coding time

Flipper (Now added in BrijPad) is a online web utility to swap left and right code with respect to specific char(flip char) means it will convert a=b to b=a. It is generally required for a developer, When a form is displayed, it is needed to get data from database and assign to form controls something like this:

Now, During saving, Reverse operation is required means get data from the controls and save to database. It can be done easily using Flipper.
For this, Select separator and flip char and click on convert button. In our case, separator is semicolon(;) and flip char is “Equal sign(=)“. Click on convert button,you will get flipped output. You can use this output for save operation.

It saves a bunch of time. Enjoy it.

Update: Visit BrijPad, it has flipper in simple way.


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Techmaza is already providing with many solution based stuff related to technology to use in day to day life style to make technology to be used better. Here this post is for iPhone lovers, to maintain their battery life for a whole day without power bank.  If you are seeking for it here is a solutions towards maintaining the battery life for a whole day.  Here are some methods and tips to follow to maintain battery life in your iPhone.

Method 1: Latest Operating System Updation:

Update to latest version of operating system to your phone. To know how to update your phone, here is a solution in “Apple page – update your iphone to latest version“. In each update by Apple, there will be an some solution to conserve energy.

Method 2: Avoid Ambient Temperature:

keep avoid your phone ambient temperature, the device is made up to withstand range between 16° to 22° C (62° to 72° F) this is ideal comfort zone. It is especially to avoid temperature crossing above 35° C (95° F) which can affect the battery capacity. Avoid to do charge in these extreme temperatures it may affect the battery capacity and phone performance. As said in apple page- “When using your device in a very cold environment, you may notice a decrease in battery life, but this condition is temporary. Once the battery’s temperature returns to its normal operating range, its performance will return to normal as well.”Maintian iphone  - battery charging - maximize the performance of phone - techmaza

Method 3: Iphone case Problems:

Some cases(cover) for phones will generate heat in your phone while charging, find that those cases and must be removed while charging. Don’t use such cases to while charging your phone, remove it before when you put on charge to your phone and make sure that cover of magnetic charging case is off. Try to use cases as good as possible, better Apple accessories store to buy cases which doesn’t make any harm to your device.

apple cases which generate heat to your device

Method 4: Battery Usage problem:

The ios is with version 8 has energy efficient battery life ever in all apple devices and it give control system for managing your battery. The control system in battery indicates the usage of battery functionality for each app. To view your usage, go to Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage. Make terminated which the app id doesn’t want to run at background (manually). For Mailing Application activity which is running at background make the interval longer to sync from mail server. Do it manually. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, this will increase the batter life for sure. Feel difference after this setting.

Method 5: Location Services:

Make sure that you Background Location is been switched off. It will grasp your battery power or other wise can redistrict access only to specific apps to access Location @ background. If you wan tot alter go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and for each particular app can use on/off switch.

Method 6: No Cell Coverage and Low Signal:

 This indicates that either you are in a poor cellular coverage area and your iOS device is searching for a better signal, or that you’ve used your device in low-signal conditions, which has affected your battery life. Can optimise your battery life by turning on Aeroplane mode. Swipe up to open Control Centre and tap the Aeroplane mode icon. Note that you cannot make or receive calls while in Aeroplane mode.

connect apple iphone and mac for charging easily - techmaza

Method 7: Plugin and play:

Make sure that while charging your iPhone connected to laptop, the laptop must be connected to charger, if you leftover when laptop goes to sleep the battery will drain in iPhone and then will bring power of battery to zero.  Make sure that laptop is connected to charger of no sleep case while charging your iphone with laptop. Note that iPhone 3G and iPhone 3Gs cannot be charged with a FireWire power adapter or FireWire-based car charger.

Hope so that these things will be really helpful for all apple iphone lovers to maintain their battery life if they stuck somewhere else or can be done default whose who need of full day battery.


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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Continuum and Open Source

As an avid open source contributor for nearly 15 years --- and a father with children to provide for --- I've observed intently the discussions about how to monetize open source.   As a young PhD student, I even spent hours avoiding my dissertation by reading about philosophy and economics to try and make sense of how an open-source economy might work.

I love creating and contributing to open source code --- particularly code that has the potential to influence and touch for the better millions of lives.  I really enjoy spending as much time as I can on that activity.   On the other hand, the wider economy wants money from me for things like college expenses, housing, utilities, and the "camp champions" that I get to attend this week with my 11 year old son.   So, I have thought and read a lot about how to make money from open source.

There are a lot of indirect ways to make money from open source which all amount to giving away the code and then making money doing "something else":   training, support, consulting, documentation, etc.  These are all ways you can sell the expertise that results from open source.  Ultimately, however, under all these models open source is a marketing expense and you end up needing to focus your real attention on the the thing you end up getting paid for -- the service itself.   As a result, the open source code you care about tends to receive less attention than you had originally hoped and you can only spend your "free time" on it.     I've seen this play out over several years in multiple ways.

I still believe that a model that is patterned after the original copyright/patent compromise of "limited-time" protection is actually a good one --- especially for certain kinds of software.   Under this model, there are two code-bases: an open source one and a proprietary one.   People pay for the software they want and use (and therefore developers get paid to write it) while premium features migrate from the paid-for branch to the free-and-open-source code base as the developers get paid.

While this model would not work for every project, it does have some nice features:

  • it allows developers to work full-time on code that benefit users (as evidenced by those users' willingness to pay for the software)
  • developers have a livelihood directly writing code that "will become" open source as people pay for it
  • users only pay for software that they are getting "premium benefits" from and those premium benefits are lifting the state of open-source software over time
It is a wonderful thing for developers to have a user-base of satisfied customers.   For all the benefits of open-source,  I've also seen first hand the difficulty of supporting a large user-base with no customers who are directly paying for continued support of the code-base which eventually leads to less satisfied customers.

I am thrilled to be part of a forward-thinking company like Continuum Analytics that is committed enough to open source software to both sponsor directly open source projects (like NumPy and Numba) as well as seek to move features from its premium products into open-source.   You can read more about Continuum's Open Source philosophy here: Continuum and Open Source

For example, we recently moved a feature from our premium product, NumbaPro, into the open-source project Numba which allows you to compile a python file directly to a shared library.  You can read about that feature here: Compiling Python code to Shared Library.

We will continue to develop Numba in the open --- in conjunction with others who wish to participate in the development of that project.    Our ability to spend time on this, of course, will be directly impacted by how many licenses of NumbaPro we can sell (along with our other products and services).   So, if computing on GPUs, creating NumPy ufuncs and generalized ufuncs easily, or taking advantage of multiple-cores in your Python computations is something that would benefit you, take a look at NumbaPro and see if it makes sense for you to purchase it.   Hopefully, in addition to great software you appreciate, you will also recognize that you are contributing directly to the development of Numba.


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The number left of the header refers to the number of items in this list.

       (1)   Project
       Short Title:New Knowledge
       Long Title:Acquiring New Knowledge
       Description:The purpose of the Acquiring New Knowledge project is to examine what achieving this objective demands. It will mean studying what the world will be like in 20 years’ time, what kinds of skills and knowledge young people will need to have when they have completed their schooling. The report will support the Government’s goal of making the Finns the world’s most competent people by 2020. The research will be done as case studies, in which the best practices in education and teaching are sought. Analysing these practices will enable us to proceed during the second phase to define development themes for acquisition of new knowledge. To conclude, we shall evaluate implementation of the themes in the present educational system and present proposals for measures by means of which acquisition of new knowledge can be promoted. In addition, we can launch pilot development projects in collaboration with schools and similar educational establishments. The study will be reported on in a series of articles. In implementing the study we can utilise the 2012 Pedagogics Day jointly with the University of Helsinki.
       Start Date:2012-03
       End Date:2014-12
       Project Page:
       Project Leader:Committee for the Future of the Parliament of Finland (ComFuture) Details


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The number left of the header refers to the number of items in this list.

       (1)   Publication
       Quotation:BAS (2014) Infos 20(180), Public consultation in Poland: its legal basis and practice
       Short Description:The article looks at public consultation, i.e. a regulatory process by which the public can express their oopinion on matters affecting them in order to improve the efficiency and transparency of policies and law-making. In the first section, the author provides legal basis for consultation process in Poland. Next, he discusses how it works in practice with particular attention given to identifying the obstacles to its efficient operation. In conclusion, some recommendations and proposals for change are given.
       Publication Date:2014-11-06
       Publication Type:policy brief
  • Makowski, Grzegorz Details
       Institution:Bureau of Research / Biuro Analiz Sejmowych (BAS) of the Polish Parliament (the Sejm) (BAS) Details


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Monday, November 22, 2010

Novell Rides Off Into The Sunset

The curtain comes down for yet another 80’s era pioneer. Novell is finally throwing in the hat (not a Red Hat mind you) and selling itself off to Attachmate for the ungodly sum of US$2.2B. There are a couple of interesting questions about this acquisition but first a moment of silence for an historic old ship that has run up on the shoals of competition. At one point they were as hot as Google. But like Sun and other companies of my youth they didn’t keep up and will soon be no more.

Why sell now? Because Novell is obviously not going anywhere. At one time they had the number two PC server operating system, have the number two server Linux and generally were number two in a many things. You can’t be number two without eventually ending up on someone’s shoe. So, if someone offers you enough money to float a missile cruiser, you take it. That’s being responsible. Or maybe the rent’s too damn high. (Caution: Sound is too damn high in this web site).

Why US$2.2B? Got me. I mean that’s not that much of a premium over Novell’s market cap but it’s a lot of money for a company that is a shade of its former self. Part of why that number is so high is because Microsoft (through CPTN Holdings LLC) dropped US$450M into the pot. They have a lot of cash. For them, this is like buying a pack of gum. Still, I have a hard time seeing this pay off for Attachmate. Unless it’s not about paying off for Attachmate per se. (I love foreshadowing…)

Who? Attachmate? I know what you mean. Who the heck are these guys that they can go out and buy Novell. That’s like Meritline (a purveyor of cheap Chinese electronics) buying Best Buy. Seems backwards. Attachmate has a product portfolio that looks like a hodgepodge of data center management products. The deal makes sense from a product point of view in that Novell has their own hodgepodge of data center tools and technology. So, depending on what stays with Attachmate and what goes to Microsoft, you will have a company with a huge collection of somewhat related technology. Combine them into certain combinations and you have a bunch of companies. The funny thing is that Attachmate is nearly as old as Novell but you don’t think of them like Novell. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.

Attachmate is owned by a group of private equity groups. That, plus it’s product portfolio mélange, makes it look like a rollup. Rollups keep going by rolling up more companies and selling them off in combinations. It’s like cooking – a little of this, and a little of that, a pinch of something else and Voila! you have a dish you can sell to investors. That might be where the pay off is.

Why should we care? Really we shouldn’t but we do. Whenever a company with a history like Novell’s gets absorbed and turns into little more than a brand it’s sad. We really should if something bad happens next like SUSE Linux goes away, reducing competition in the Linux market. But really, I doubt that will happen and if it does there’s still OpenSuse, right? If you’re a Novell customer of course you care. You don’t know what these guys at Attachmate (or Microsoft) might do and that has to mess with your head. Otherwise, it’s not a game changing acquisition.

So, what does happen next? My guess is that they package up SUSE Linux with some other stuff and spin it off to investors or another company.  If I’m the folks in Redmond I want the identity management IP. That would go along way to creating online services and backend software for trusted Internet environments. Attachmate absorbs the rest and moves on its merry way. Depending what it gets for the other pieces of Novell (like SUSE Linux and ZenWorks) and what it can combine with its own products and sell off, it might make money on this. This is not about product engineering. It’s about financial engineering. And in this type of financial engineering one plus one can equal three.

I wave my hat to Novell as it rides off into the sunset. We’ll miss you amigo.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

What! No Virtual Booth Models?

I’m “at” the Comdex Virtual event right now. It’s an unusual experience. This is not the first time I’ve participated in virtual trade shows as both an attendee and a speaker. It’s been awhile though and the experience is a bit different than it was in the past. It’s much more elaborate, more like a real conference. Unfortunately, some things are the same such as jumpy video.
I get virtual trade shows. Let’s face it, for a lot of attendees big trade shows are boondoggles. Expensive boondoggles. You have to pay to travel, pay for hotels and meals, and pay for the show. A lot of IT managers used to justify trade shows as part of employee education. That was true for some people but a lot of folks got too little “education” out of these industry confabs. Instead they got a lot of swag (the stuff they give away at booths). Marketing people even have a term for these folks. We call them trick-or-treaters. Besides junk to fill up their cubicles all that most attendees got were vendor pitches masquerading as seminars. Not a good use of limited budget dollars.
From the vendor point of view, you spend a big chunk of your marketing budget on booths and travel and came back with few qualified leads. Instead of customers with money, you waste your time on trick-or-treaters and folks too low on the totem pole to have any influence on spending. Trade shows in general have two business goals. First, spreading the word i.e. marketing. Branding, education, PR, positioning, and messaging are key activities at trade shows. In this regard, trade shows are generally successful. The press is at these events and people have little else to do but listen to your message. Unless the show is in Las Vegas. Then all bets are off. Get it? Bets? Okay we’ll move on.
The second big goal of trade shows, from a vendor perspective, is lead generation. No matter how you look at it, there are better ways to generate leads. Again, you have to pull some of your marketing and sales team out of the field so they can sift through lots of the trick-or-treater types to get a few decent leads. It’s not very efficient. To get anyone to talk to you at all, you have to sink a boatload of money into flashy booths, presentations, entertainment (magicians, comedians, etc.) and other diversions to cut through the white noise of the expo floor. That’s just to swipe the badge of someone unlikely to buy anything in the first place.
Virtual trade shows are intriguing because they are cheap for everyone. No flashy booths or expensive travel for vendors. For attendees it has the advantage of  allowing you to do other things while “attending” (like your job) and it doesn’t take a big divot out of your budget. I can see it for education and messaging. I still don’t see it for lead generation.
I’m fascinated by how much effort has gone into making Comdex Virtual mimic the experience of a real trade show. There are keynotes, breakout sessions, virtual booths and a lobby with flashing advertisements. There’s even hospitality suites that you’re not allowed into without an invite. You get to feel the same pang of of disappointment you would experience walking past a real hospitality suite that you’re not invited into. Ah, the memories.
Despite advances in show design there are still a bunch of annoying quirks. Video is jumpy and makes every speaker sound like Max Headroom. If Hulu and YouTube could figure this out you’d think Comdex Virtual could. The slides for the keynote don’t change. It’s probably a stupid technical problem but it effects the experience. Some of the virtual booths have tiny PowerPoint presentations running. It’s like business for Smurfs. And just like Smurf signs you can’t read the slides. Folks like Microsoft and EMC figured that out and had video presentations. You can hear just fine no matter how tiny the talking head is.
What Comdex Virtual can’t reproduce is, for me, the most important aspect of a real show – running into people I know. A lot of business gets done when you happen upon colleagues and old friends. They try to do this with the VAR Bar - group chat room - but it doesn’t work. It is overpopulated with vendors and the text scrolls so fast that you can’t really see anything interesting. It is tough to search for someone you know (the virtual equivalent of scanning the room) because the application had the annoying habit of suddenly jumping to the top of the list. Besides, looking around a physical room is much faster than scrolling through more than 200 names and icons.
Comdex Virtual goes a long way to making virtual trade shows more enjoyable and interesting. The structure of the event, made to appear like a live event, provides familiar context. It is certainly easier on the budget. Still, it doesn’t allow for one of the most crucial parts of a trade event – human contact.
At least the food is better than it was at live Comdex. And I don’t have to wait for a cab back to my hotel. That’s something the original event could never deliver on.


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Friday, March 11, 2011

And I Yawn Again at NTAP

There have been so many blogs written in just one day about the Network Appliance deal to buy the chunk of LSI called Engenio. Between Steve Duplessie at ESG, Greg Schultz of StorageIO, and Andrew Reichman of Forrester, I figured the deal was pretty much covered. This morning on Twitter I saw another half dozen links to blogs about it. With all this coverage you would think this was a game changer in the industry. It’s as if Google bought Microsoft.
I find myself bored by it.
While I like be a contrarian sometimes, that is not the case here. I don’t think it’s a bad deal. All the points have been made as to why it’s a good deal and I can’t dispute any of them. Controlling one’s technology is a good thing. Increasing gross margins on products is also a good thing. And you can’t complain about adding incremental revenue. All very good.
But not very great. Not very bold, not very exciting, not game changing, and certainly not transformative. It’s a boring move not a bold one.
Look, there are are only a few types of sustainable models for companies. They are:
  • Emerging – what every startup is. They don’t know what they will be when they grow up but that’s okay. This is where our most exciting technology comes from. Eventually, however, they will have to grow up and become something else or getting eaten but someone else.
  • Parts Supplier – you make parts for other people. Like headlights or NICs. Great work, especially if you spread it out amongst a lot of companies. The goal of a Xyratex. Qlogic, or an Atto for that matter is to be a supplier to as many people as possible and build something of an aftermarket for your components. Think Cummings (they make engines).
  • R&D Shop – companies that produce only intellectual property. You see this in Pharma and semiconductors but most computer tech companies want to control their R&D. If a big company sees something it likes in another company, they just buy it.
  • Outsourced Services – who doesn’t outsource call centers and manufacturing these days? Most of the services industry falls into this category. It’s the business process equivalent of a parts supplier.
  • Specialty Supplier – the big companies can’t make everything. High performance or special purpose products can’t be produced in enough volume for the big companies to be interested. We used to have more of these in the hardware industry. SGI was one and sort of still is. Alienware certainly was but was bought. Software is rife with specialty companies. Software can get away with it because they have almost no recurring costs. It’s all R&D and no inventory. What is important is that these companies have something that is very important to a small number of people but enough people to sustain the company. They are unique but have demand.
  • Conglomerate – a set of loosely related companies. Some are completely unrelated like GE (aircraft engines and broadcast media?). EMC looks more like a conglomerate than anything else. You can try and put a “Data Management” wrapper around them but RSA, EMC storage, Documentum, and VmWare are only loosely connected in the marketplace. Conglomerates manage companies or divisions like a portfolio. They diversify to guard against downturns. Storage is down? That’s okay because security is up and so on. Google is looking more like a conglomerate every day. And when the need growth they buy some other company in a different space than where they are now.
  • Solution Supplier – soup to nuts in a particular market. HP can provide you everything from mobile devices to laptops to storage to servers. Oracle and IBM can also provide you with almost a whole solution. For these companies, it’s a matter of defining your boundaries. Is is business hardware to business software like Oracle? Maybe it’s all software from infrastructure to desktops to game systems like Microsoft. It’s about delivering a complete end-user solution. When you need more growth, you push out the boundaries.
Then there are the odd ducks. The folks who sell directly but in a narrow non-unique space. They are too big and too old to be Emerging but sell direct rather than to other companies in their market. Not diverse enough to be a conglomerate, they don’t supply enough of the whole system solution to be considered a real solution supplier. And they don’t do anything special enough to be a specialty supplier. This is where I see NTAP now. Basically a one trick pony in a whole herd of mustangs.
NTAP was the specialty supplier when NAS was new. Now, all the solution suppliers and some conglomerates have NAS in their bag of tricks. It’s just not that special anymore. They might have superior technology (don’t know really) but they clearly are at a disadvantage when someone wants to buy a whole system. If I’m putting in a new application, I can buy most of my parts from Oracle, IBM, or HP. No one has everything (well, maybe IBM does) but their services divisions can help me to get whatever I need. Heck, even Dell is better positioned for the IT business.
For me to buy from NTAP, I have to only want storage. Just storage. Not servers, not infrastructure software, not desktops, and not mobile devices. If all I need is storage then they have to compete against the conglomerates and all the storage products that the conglomerates and systems suppliers have too. That’s not to say that NTAP is doomed. I believe all those other smart people that say they are a good company and this deal will help them. They can compete effectively in their niche. But their niche is not special enough anymore to drive people to them and them alone. It’s always a bake off for NTAP. They are no longer a specialty supplier but it’s not clear what they are anymore. What I don’t see with this deal is a growth plan. Incremental revenue is not about moving forward. It’s running in place. There is nothing in this deal that will really drive meaningful revenue growth or make them an HP or even an EMC.
LSI was smart here. They know where they are in the food chain. They supply parts. What they do is the computer tech equivalent of making headlights. A good solid business but not one where Engenio fit. They got money for it and can focus on making more of the type of parts they make best. Good move LSI.
What is unclear is what NTAP wants to become. If they stay where they are things will only get harder. If they keep patching the cracks with spackle the house won’t get any bigger or better. Maybe they should buy Brocade or merge with/get bought by Cisco. Doubling down in storage isn’t going to do the trick. To get meaningful growth they will need to do something a bit more risky and bold.


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Silverstone Vital VT02 could hold a Core i7 in under two liters
— 3:30 PM on April 28, 2017

When we saw Silverstone's first Vital chassis at Computex last year, we commented that most of the Mini-STX enclosures we had seen were...

Type: News story Tags: Cases

Deals of the week: discounts on CPUs, mobos, and more
— 11:04 AM on April 28, 2017

Howdy, gerbils! You may be itching to upgrade your decade-old system, but the high prices of desirable CPUs and motherboards is possibly an issue. Fear...

Type: News story Tags: CPUs Motherboards Power Storage Input devices

Intel document confirms that Xeons will come in Gold and Platinum
— 11:30 AM on April 27, 2017

Rumors have circulated that Intel's next round of Xeons will shed their rather nondescript "E3" and "E5" model prefixes in favor of names based...

Type: News story Tags: CPUs Servers Workstations

Deals of the week: a mighty PSU, mid-range CPUs, and more
— 11:40 AM on April 21, 2017

Greetings, gerbils! This is where I'd write something funny, stupid, or both... if I had anything today. We're buzzing bees at TR HQ right now,...

Type: News story Tags: CPUs Multimedia Cases Storage Input devices Mobile computing

Phanteks dresses up the Enthoo Evolv mATX in glass
— 10:00 AM on April 20, 2017

Phanteks chose the right name when it named the Enthoo Evolv line of cases. Since the original Evolv case debuted, Phanteks continued to iterate on...

Type: News story Tags: Cases

NZXT S340 Elite Hyper Beast case goes in for the kill
— 5:00 PM on April 19, 2017

NZXT's limited-edition H440 Hyper Beast was apparently such a hit last year thatthe company has decided to do it all over again—using the...

Type: News story Tags: Cases

EVGA's B3 power supplies offer premium features at budget prices
— 2:30 PM on April 13, 2017

Skimping on your power supply is one of best ways to guarantee system instability or even a short life for the parts inside your rig....

Type: News story Tags: Power

Deals of the week: huge monitors, a big hard drive, and more
— 11:41 AM on April 13, 2017

Tomorrow may be Good Friday, but all that means for hardware-hungry gerbils is that today is Deals Thursday. The release of AMD's excellent Ryzen 5...

Type: News story Tags: Multimedia Storage Displays Networking

Nvidia discusses Google TPU's performance versus modern Teslas
— 5:05 PM on April 10, 2017

Just a few days back, Google published some interesting benchmarks of its Tensor Processing Unit, a custom-made ASIC targeted at AI inference applications. The...

Type: News story Tags: Miscellaneous Servers

Linksys EA8300 brings MU-MIMO Wi-Fi under $200
— 4:30 PM on April 7, 2017

Wi-Fi is a second-class service in my house, but even I am looking to replace my creaky old 802.11g access point. If like me, you're...

Type: News story Tags: Networking

Eurocom PX7 Pro SE mobile server takes ECC RAM on the go
— 9:00 AM on April 7, 2017

Some folks are content to show up at LAN parties with just a laptop and case of energy drinks. But who's packing a spare server...

Type: News story Tags: Mobile computing Servers

WD Purple 10 TB drive helps keep the peace
— 2:30 PM on April 5, 2017

Recording surveillance footage on SSDs isn't really a good idea. Storage on spinning metal platters is orders of magnitude less expensive, and 24/7 recording means...

Type: News story Tags: Storage Servers

Radeon Pro Settings joins forces with VMware vCenter
— 5:00 PM on April 4, 2017

If there's one thing that system administrators like, it's convenience. AMD is serving that up for folks running VMware's vCenter with the new

Type: News story Tags: Graphics Servers

Asus readies a salvo of ROG peripherals and networking gear
— 4:55 PM on April 3, 2017

At its Outshine the Competition event in Berlin, Asus revealed a few ROG-themed peripherals and accessories to go with its graphics cards and...

Type: News story Tags: Input devices Gaming Networking

Deals of the week: a Das Keyboard for $90 and more
— 12:48 PM on March 31, 2017

Afternoon's greetings, gerbils. If you're not aware, today is an early-April-Fools day, but that doesn't mean we're going to skip doing our weekly deals. That's...

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Fractal Design's Fur E case reviewed
— 9:00 AM on March 31, 2017

Is a PC case covered with fur as harebrained as it sounds, or does Fractal Design's fuzzy logic actually have some merit? We got our...

Type: Feature article Tags: Cases

Thermaltake's View 28 case can light up any room
— 2:30 PM on March 29, 2017

Like a mad scientist who has no idea when to stop, computer gear manufacturers are dropping more and more RGB LED lights into their wares....

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Intel lets loose Kaby Lake-based Xeon E3 v6 processors
— 4:58 PM on March 28, 2017

We love our Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs around here, particularly when it comes to gaming, but not everyone has time for such frivolity....

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Has Apple killed the grey iPhone market?

Steve Jobs has promised global price parity for the iPhone 2.0, but will it stop cheap US iPhones flooding the world? It depends on whether or not Telstra sticks to its knitting.
His Jobs-ness has promised the iPhone 2.0 will be roughly the same price everywhere in the world. Talking about the iPhone 2.0 at Apple's WWDC , Jobs only revealed the US pricing - $US199 for the 8G model and $US299 for the 16G model. A two-year contract with AT&T will be required.

I have to admit that in all the pre-iPhone 2.0 speculation, I didn't consider the possibility of a price drop AND global pricing parity. It makes sense though, as the greenback is so weak right now that buying gear online from the US can save you a bundle, but put a serious dint in local sales. Just because it make senses doesn't mean you'd expect Apple to actually do it, as Australians have become accustomed to paying outrageous markups on Apple gear sold locally compared to the US price tag.

One thing is for sure, the price drop will kill the secondhand iPhone 1.0 market stone dead. It's estimated Australia has roughly 60,000 imported iPhones and I was interested to see what happened when the bulk of them hit eBay after the iPhone 2.0 was released. I don't think iPhone 1.0 owners will bother selling them secondhand now. Australian iPhone 1.0 owners paid at least $AU430 for their US 8GB iPhone, but probably a lot more - especially if they bought it when the iPhone was first released. If Jobs sticks to his global pricing parity promise, the 8GB iPhone 2.0 will sell for around $AU220 in Australia. At that kind of bargain basement price for the iPhone 2.0, you'd be lucky to get $AU100 for your old iPhone on eBay. Most people would rather keep their iPhone 1.0 as an iPod touch, or hand it down to a friend, than sell it for a mere $100.

So what about the grey market? Is there any reason why you'd still import an iPhone 2.0 from the US? If you recently spent $AU400+ importing an iPhone 1.0 from the US, did you just shoot yourself in the foot?
Whether or not the grey market in iPhones continues depends on the outright price local telcos charge for the iPhone 2.0.

Yes, I know Jobs talked about global pricing parity, but that's $US199 for an 8GB iPhone 2.0 on a two year contract with AT&T. It might translate to $AU220, but that's almost certainly dependent on you taking out a two year contract with your local telco. Optus and Vodafone recently announced they'd be selling the iPhone 2.0 in Australia, but we're still waiting on them to confirm the pricing.

There's no word yet as to how much a US iPhone 2.0 will cost if you want to own it outright rather pay it off on a plan. Jobs didn't say anything about pricing parity for buying an iPhone outright. We don't even know if you will be able to buy them outright in the US, or in Australia.

There are plenty of reasons why Australians would want to buy an iPhone outright rather than tie themselves down to a two year plan. The biggest reason would that so far Telstra has stuck to its knitting and refrained from announcing an Australian iPhone. So all those Next G customers out there who want to get a slice of iPhone goodness will be forced to break their Telstra contracts, pay out the contract to Telstra and then sign up for a new contract with Vodafone or Optus - neither of which can match Next G's coverage footprint.

If you've got 12 months to run on a Next G contract, breaking free will probably cost you at least $AU600. You'd be crazy to do this if you could buy an iPhone 2.0 outright for a good price and then start using it with your Next G SIM card. If buying an iPhone outright from the US is cheaper than buying one outright in Australia, Next G customers will ensure the grey market for iPhones continues. If Telstra doesn't add the iPhone 2.0 to its offerings soon, it might find its customers have already bought them outright elsewhere.

If it turns out you can't buy the second-gen iPhones outright, Next G customers would probably be better off grabbing themselves a cheap iPhone 1.0 and unlocking it to work on Next G. At least you'll get EDGE data speeds. This should tide you over until your Next G contract runs out. By this time Telstra might offer the iPhone 2.0 and hopefully market pressures will have forced the telco to offer a decent data bundle to go with it. If Telstra doesn't offer the iPhone 2.0 by the time your contract expires, you can consider changing providers without penalty. By then Apple might have started selling the iPhone 2.0 outright, or you might even be able to pick up a secondhand iPhone 2.0.

So if you're locked into a long phone contract and you recently spent $AU400+ importing an iPhone 1.0 from the US, you haven't made an expensive blunder. Sit back and enjoy your first-gen iPhone while the dust settles and then evaluate your options when your contract runs out.


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Makoto Kawabata / Richard Youngs

(VHF - VHF64) Used CD $5.00

Duets by the leader of Acid Mothers Temple and the slightly less available Glasgow librarian in a relaxed yet psychedelic mood. Throughout the five untitled tracks, simple modal melodies are performed on acoustic guitar, autoharp, organ, voice and other instruments rubbing against the swirling production and layers of shifting haze. Youngs’s identifiable voice, guitar and autoharp greet Kawabata’s echo treatments on the first track, while track three reverses the process with Youngs’s minor key picking cutting against Kawabata’s thick, visceral drones. Tracks two, four and five all use a base of fingerpicked guitar melodies, layering organ, synth, tape effects and echo.