ict | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:15:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png ict | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Bulgarian and Romanian immigration to boost UK tech economy https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jules/bulgarian-and-romanian-immigration-to-boost-uk-tech-economy/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jules/bulgarian-and-romanian-immigration-to-boost-uk-tech-economy/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:11:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=126621 When January 2014 rolls around, 29 million Bulgarian and Romanian citizens will have free right to passage across the European Union – able to settle and work in any country they choose – without the need for additional documentation. Many to the right of politics are concerned, but KitGuru caught up with the Business Development …

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When January 2014 rolls around, 29 million Bulgarian and Romanian citizens will have free right to passage across the European Union – able to settle and work in any country they choose – without the need for additional documentation. Many to the right of politics are concerned, but KitGuru caught up with the Business Development Manager for IDG Publishing in Bulgaria and she had a more positive view.

More than most countries, the United Kingdom has been built on immigration. At various times during the last ice age, it has been connected to mainland Europe by ice and immigration was a case of ‘walking across from France and avoiding being eaten'. Then we have the numerous invasions by Vikings and others – leading up to the full French invasion around 1066. From there to the present day, each generation has brought a new wave of people – all of whom have integrated smoothly into the evolving concept of Britishness.

But there is also resistance.

As each generation of migrant worker settles, they normally take the more basic roles. Sometimes because of a superior skill set – but often because they are prepared to work harder for less money.

And they are driven.

The natives (an ever changing concept) always seem ‘softer' and less willing to push hard in order to achieve success. The newcomers work harder. This leads to cries of ‘They are taking our jobs' and ‘Taking over our neighbourhoods'. In reality, the existing people are doing fine and soon move on to new areas and their children – armed with language skills – climb the social ladder – and progress is made.

We're wondering how many will give up the horror of Bucharest for the, er, wonder of London

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Next January, when the Romanian and Bulgarian people arrive, the same cycle will be played out – probably with the Polish complaining about the ‘taking of the jobs and neighbourhoods'. But what of the benefits?

“When they first arrive, most of the purchases made will be sent back home”, said Yanka Petrovska, International Business Development Manager for IDG/ICT in Bulgaria.

“But since prices are high in the UK, initially there may be a tendency to buy second hand IT to ship back home to Romania or Bulgaria”, she explained.

We asked about salary differences and now understand that the average monthly salary in most of Romania is around €90 (around £80) – which will create quite a shock for any migrants picking up work in/around London.

Here in the UK, the minimum wage is close to €8 an hour – so working a 10 hour day will give you the ‘complete monthly income' for a Romanian back home.

Work hard, every day in the month without a break, and you can ship back 30 month's salary – twelve times a year. The red line on the following chart indicates the average Romanian salary.   Imagine if you could spend a few hours on a plane and arrive in a country where the average salary for someone in McDonalds was £250,000 a year.

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That's going to be a stack of ‘well received cash' back home, by anyone's standards. But while ‘Helping those back home' will be a primary concern – soon after it will change.

Yanka told us that after the initial rush to send money home, the new arrivals are likely to focus on themselves more.

“Migrants arriving in Britain will buy TV sets, notebooks and smartphones for their own use”, she said. And that is likely to rise even more once they have established a UK base and begin to generate a positive credit rating.

KitGuru says: Initially, there will be a drain of revenue to the East, but with a 30x ration on salaries it won't take long for ‘back home' to be doing fine. All indications are that by 2015, the UK will be enjoying a solid surge in both sales and house prices due to the influx of more workers from Bulgaria and Romania. We're left wondering which migrant population will cause the Romanians and Bulgarians to cry “They're taking OUR jobs” a few years later.

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nVidia frightened Chinese chips could take over by 2017 https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/jules/nvidia-frightened-chinese-chips-could-take-over-by-2017/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/jules/nvidia-frightened-chinese-chips-could-take-over-by-2017/#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 06:12:18 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=91355 To the uninitiated, seeing people talk seriously about Chinese chips might make you think the speaker has gone prawn crackers, but there is a threat and the threat is real. nVidia spends time and resource worrying about this – so maybe you should too. KitGuru dives into the noodle soup to see what's what. Roll …

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To the uninitiated, seeing people talk seriously about Chinese chips might make you think the speaker has gone prawn crackers, but there is a threat and the threat is real. nVidia spends time and resource worrying about this – so maybe you should too. KitGuru dives into the noodle soup to see what's what.

Roll the clock back just 10 years and, somewhere inside China's massive bureaucracy, a decision was made to no longer rely on Western companies designing the core technology on which China's future would be built.

A project was kicked off at the Institute of Computing Technology under the watchful eye of Professor Hu Weiwu.

“Professor Hu?”, we hear you ask – and the answer is “Yes – you cheeky sod”.

The first chip was a 266MHz, 32-bit processor fabricated on a ‘nice and chunky' 0.18 micron process. In modern parlance, that's 180 nanometres. China had kicked off its first salvo into the CPU market with a very basic chip that was aimed purely at products like the tills you find in shops.

Intel, you might remember, was pushing out 3.06GHz Pentium 4 chips and AMD was ruling the processor performance roost with its Athlon 64 FX range about to hit the market.

Roll the clock forward 10 years and we have a very interesting quote from nVidia's Chief Scientist, Bill Dally, circulating the web. He has been quoted as saying that China's efforts at making a processor were “Laughable”, but that the rate of development and licensing was “Frightening” to the point where nVidia is predicting that China will be matching the West very soon and pulling ahead by 2017.

In a double thumbs up with big grin “You like?” moment, China's CPU programme (Godson/Loongson) has decided that X86 and Windows should not really form any part of its future – so the main thrust is on Linux. That's not to say that other operating systems cannot be ported to the Chinese processor – just that it is more ‘for show' then a serious push.

nVidia's Chief Scientist, Bill Dally, may well be smiling at Chinese chips in 2012 - but what about 2017?

KitGuru says: As we type, the Chinese chip folks have managed to pass the 1GHz barrier, delivered a working 8 core design and in x86 emulation mode, only loses around 30% of its performance capability. Maybe nVidia is right to be frightened by these developments, but can it (and AMD/Intel) turn the Chinese chip business into some kind of partnership – or will this all result in direct ‘shots across the border' conflict?

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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