Today’s topics include improvements to Red Hat’s hybrid cloud management platform, some the virtual reality-enabled laptops, two in one hybrid notebooks and headsets being introduced at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, Google’s plan to integrate Android apps in the new Fiat Chrysler vehicles and Amazon’s goals to build an airborne blimp that would serve as a fulfillment warehouse.
Red Hat is updating its CloudForms hybrid cloud management platform with the new 4.2 release, providing users with enhanced capabilities. CloudForms enables organization to manage multiple types of cloud deployments including private and public clouds, as well as container-based platforms.
The CloudForms 4.2 release is based on the open-source ManageIQ Euwe release that debuted in December. Another difference between ManageIQ and CloudForms is the software lifecycle.
ManageIQ releases come out approximately every six months. Jansen explained that when a new ManageIQ release comes out Red Hat will stop supporting the previous release with future patch updates.
Microsoft’s hardware partners are gathering at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to demonstrate how they are developing the Windows device ecosystem well beyond its beige PC box roots by introducing virtual-reality enabled laptops, two-in-one hybrid and headsets.
Acer, for example, announced its new Aspire GX series of desktop PCs capable of producing immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences. Acer also introduced its high-end Predator 21 X laptop. HP took the wraps off its second-generation Sprout Pro PC.
The Windows 10 Pro-powered all-in-one system features a scanning system that neatly dovetails with the soon-to-be-released Windows 10 Creators Update’s 3D capabilities that will enable users to create and interact with virtual objects.
Google will work on integrating its collection of Android connectivity applications with Fiat Chrysler’s in-car entertainment system under a collaborative agreement between the two companies announced this week.
The goal is to give owners of FCA vehicles a way to interact more easily with Android applications using the Uconnect 8.4 inch hands-free communication system in their vehicles.
Attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show 2017 will have an opportunity to see what the end result will look like when the two companies demonstrate a Uconnect system with Android inside a Chrysler 300 sedan at the event.
Online retailer Amazon has been catching a fair amount of derision over its recently disclosed patent for an airborne fulfillment center that uses drones for delivery.
Amazon’s patent application, which was filed on April 5, 2016, describes how a blimp-like lighter-than-air aircraft would hover near potential markets carrying merchandise that would then be delivered by unmanned drones.
Those drones would pick up merchandise that had been ordered by a customer below and then descend and deliver the purchase. While there are no technical or engineering reasons why a blimp-borne warehouse wouldn’t it would face other obstacles, most of them regulatory.
As Amazon envisions its airborne fulfillment center, it would fly in the lower stratosphere—around 45000 feet—where the delivery drones would be serviced and loaded.
Other shuttle craft would deliver crew and merchandise, perform refueling tasks, and offload trash. The airborne warehouse would land only occasionally if at all.