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gabbarsingh sent this in via punchcard: "What's happening at Sun on the MAJC front? They haven't released anything new on that. The first samples were promised in first half of 2000." MAJC (pronounced "magic"), stands for Microprocessor Architecture for Java Computing, and according to EDTN is the only hardware java implementation that combines both multithreading and multiprocessing. It seems that "Java on a Chip" solutions are more commonplace now, than they were when Rockwell released the first, back in 1997. Might the promise of code that you can "Write Once, Run Anywhere" soon become reality, now that there is an actual platform on which it can run (rather than piggybacking on other platforms via JVMs)?

gabbarsingh sent this in via punchcard: "What's happening at Sun on the MAJC front? They haven't released anything new on that. The first samples were promised in first half of 2000." MAJC (pronounced "magic"), stands for Microprocessor Architecture for Java Computing, and according to EDTN is the only hardware java implementation that combines both multithreading and multiprocessing. It seems that "Java on a Chip" solutions are more commonplace now, than they were when Rockwell released the first, back in 1997. Might the promise of code that you can "Write Once, Run Anywhere" soon become reality, now that there is an actual platform on which it can run (rather than piggybacking on other platforms via JVMs)?

Small Hairy Troll writes: "EDTN is running this story concerning a researcher in the UK who has come up with a method for getting those pesky Neural Nets to teach themselves to see. Called the 'Product of Experts,' the Neural Net is built using 'Experts.' If "you had one expert that preferred furry animals, whereas another expert preferred domesticated animals and another preferred small animals, their votes ... would light up dogs and cats very nicely." And an Edinburgh professor is quoted in the story as calling it "the first neural-network architecture that is both sensibly implementable and worth implementing."

Small Hairy Troll writes: "EDTN is running this story concerning a researcher in the UK who has come up with a method for getting those pesky Neural Nets to teach themselves to see. Called the 'Product of Experts,' the Neural Net is built using 'Experts.' If "you had one expert that preferred furry animals, whereas another expert preferred domesticated animals and another preferred small animals, their votes ... would light up dogs and cats very nicely." And an Edinburgh professor is quoted in the story as calling it "the first neural-network architecture that is both sensibly implementable and worth implementing."

elucidus sent us a story that talks about the current status of satellite radio. Lots of issues to deal with, and some good stuff mentioned. Personally, I think this is just a baby step before we have full custom audio stream dropped in, but my guess is that it'll be awhile before we have the bandwidth to broadcast stereo audio, from space, customized for every car in America, and do it in such a way that it's reasonably cost-competitive with old-fashioned radio.

Tei'ehm Teuw writes: "From this article on EDTN the effort to establish a standard for power-line-based home networking will take a step forward this week when the HomePlug Alliance announces it will adapt technology from Intellon Corporation for its specification. The 36-member alliance will release a complete specification based on Intellon's technology, with its 14-Mbit/second raw data rate. In Europe, meanwhile, the HomePlug Alliance has established formal liaisons with two groups working on power line home networking: the European Telecommunication Standards Institute and the International Powerline Communications Forum. Neither has defined a technology to date, but it would be possible for them to adopt the same technology as the HomePlug Alliance, even though the European power line access technology is different there than in the United States. (The European power line delivers 220 volts at 50 Hertz; in the United States, it's 110 V at 60 Hz.) The overall forecast for power-line-based home networks is now beyond the 32 million nodes initally projected."

Tei'ehm Teuw writes: "From this article on EDTN the effort to establish a standard for power-line-based home networking will take a step forward this week when the HomePlug Alliance announces it will adapt technology from Intellon Corporation for its specification. The 36-member alliance will release a complete specification based on Intellon's technology, with its 14-Mbit/second raw data rate. In Europe, meanwhile, the HomePlug Alliance has established formal liaisons with two groups working on power line home networking: the European Telecommunication Standards Institute and the International Powerline Communications Forum. Neither has defined a technology to date, but it would be possible for them to adopt the same technology as the HomePlug Alliance, even though the European power line access technology is different there than in the United States. (The European power line delivers 220 volts at 50 Hertz; in the United States, it's 110 V at 60 Hz.) The overall forecast for power-line-based home networks is now beyond the 32 million nodes initally projected."

Bruce Lane writes "Given the US Government's hype and paranoia about not allowing strong encryption out of the country, I find it particularly ironic that they should choose, as finalists competing for the next federally-blessed encryption standard, a couple of schemes developed outside the country altogether. The full story is here. Enjoy!"

rde writes "This week's (print edition of) New Scientist tells us that Motorola's BioChip Systems Unit are building a biochip that "will eventually produce hand-held machines that can perform genetic tests or detect disease" -- a tricorder by any other name. Their web page only points you to the hard copy, but details can be found on CMPNet. " Darnit-I still need to know when I can put the network jack in my head. Writing all this e-mail through thought would be a lot nicer.

DJ_Jose writes sent us a link to an excellent article that talks about Lucasfilm's plans to screen an All Digital Version of the Prequel in june. The future of film is doesn't have any film in it. Isn't that excellent?

One of the big stories of 1998 was the impact of ultracheap computers. The marketshare of computers which had stayed firmly stuck around 40% of US-households increased to 50%. Similarly Intel's market share collapsed in the mail-order and retail PC market: 75% of overall unit sales in the 1997 fourth quarter to about 49.5% in the most recent period. The cheapest computers reveal a trend of making money off services rather than hardware, with an associated lack of choice (don't expect to run Linux on these things): $300 PCs are shipping in France but you must use a specific ISP, zero-cost PCs are available if you agree to being bombarded by adverts even if you are not online (remember 1984: the TV things were always on), and finally zero-cost iMacs are available if you pledge to spend 3600 dollars over 3 years at some online mall. Moreover, the cost has already hit the industry: AMD is hurting while system development of Tier 1 manufacturers is leaving the US, being done instead by contract manufacturers in countries where electronics labour costs are less than a buck an hour. More people on the internet may be good, but at what cost?

One part of the Los Alamos new supercomputer, Blue Mountain has shipped. SGI shipped the 512 processer module to Los Alamos. Currently Los Alamos is involved in a race with Lawrence Livermore and Sandia to build a 100 tflops machine by 2004. Los Alamos will be using their machine to accurately testing the United States' aging nukes. Sandia's box is out in front. It is an Intel-built machine equipped with 9,072 Pentium Pro processors capable of performing up to 1.8 Tflops. However, Intel has dropped out of the super-computer business, and eventually the SGI box at Los Alamos and the IBM box at Livermore will be in true competition.