A weekly summary of the more interesting technology trends to come across my desk...

• This Microsoft TechNet post describes Window 7's new Direct 2d API as a hardware abstraction layer for Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). This new technology more efficiently harnesses the power of the GPU while doing while doing 2D imaging.

• Image processing is reaching new levels of sophistication from 3D PDF files to Microsoft's DeepZoom technology as discussed in TechNewWorld roundup article.

• It looks like White Space Devices (WiFi on Steroids) could be many years out due to some serious technical obstacles related to avoiding interference with adjacent TV frequencies, as noted in this  ZDNet post.

• Experience big brother filtering the Internet as described in this eWeek post. A simple proxy system allows users to experience what it's like to surf the Internet in China.

• There were two very interesting posts this week on Cloud Computing. The first outlines an open source movement in this space, including a simulator of the Amazon EC2 experience. The second post outlines a new offering from Amazon where you can pre-install open source software on an EC2 Instance, and then sell it through Amazon with a markup over the normal EC2 pricing. I think this has enormous business potential.

• Facebook provided some amazing metrics regarding the rapid adoption of mobile device use on its popular social networking site. This post notes that when they opened up commenting via mobile devices, over a million comments were sent in the first 24 hours.

• An interesting eWeek post discusses the the standardization of testing methodologies for detecting malicious software. The "fundamentals of testing" document was put together by 40 international security and software testing experts.

More next week...

Jim