Slashback: Iridium, Synthesis, Drives

Slashback tonight with word on the (groan) fate of Iridium, more Speak n' Spell modding, examples of Serial ATA oozing to market, the RIAA versus mandatory DRM, and more. Read on for the updates.

In this household, we obey the laws of physics! Tuesday before last, we mentioned that two scientists had announced what they claim is the first accurate measure of the speed of gravity.

Now, Emperor_Alikar writes "In an article on Space.com, many physicists have criticized the current work on the speed of gravity, calling it 'nonsense' and 'simply incorrect.' Many of them still doubt the claims made by Fomalont and Kopeikin even before the results were even announced. Many of the physicists still hold on to the idea that gravity works instantaneously no matter what the distance, an idea that originated by Newton, but that was argued against by Einstein."

Back from the back from the back from the dead. Checkers writes "Spacedaily.com posted the following two stories about Iridium today. The first story is about the DoD committing the first of three renewal options that will use Iridium through 2005. The second story related story is about an agreement inked between Iridium and Harris Corp. that allows Iridium the right to use Harris' OS/COMET satellite command and control system for the life of the Iridium satellite network."

E.T. was also into this scene. In re: matt simpson writes "Another fantastic Speak & Spell modder is Dave Wright of the band "not breathing". You can check his work out, among other modifications to toys, at www.carrionsound.com Dave has made speak & spell/math/read for Nine Inch Nails, Meat Beat Manifesto, and many other bands. Figured you might be interested in other neat synth hackers :)"

Further evidence, never a good time to buy. SpinnerBait writes "It's seems like Serial ATA Controllers have been on the market forever but where have all the Serial ATA Hard Drives been? The wait seems to finally be over, as HotHardware shows with this review and showcase on a pair of new Seagate Barracuda V Serial ATA drives. This article covers benchmarks with the product in single drive configurations, as well as RAID 0. In addition, they show performance on two different SATA controllers, from Promise and Silicon Image. And oh, those nice thin neat little SATA cables! Gotta love 'em."

We've had a few articles about Serial ATA; I hope it lives up to its reputation.

Just to add to the confusion ... probejockey writes "A current article in the Globe and Mail claims SCO will start collecting licensing fees from some Linux users, not all Linux vendors as previously reported here."

Birds of a feather, separate rooms. Finally, Declan McCullagh sent in a few interesting links yesterday regarding the RIAA and its announced opposition to mandated DRM technologies:

"First, here are the photos from today's press conference.

Second, the supposed news of today's announcement was that the RIAA would no longer pursue mandatory-DRM technologies like the Hollings bill. But it was the MPAA that was behind Hollings from the beginning (September 2001). And when Hollings finally introduced his bill in March 2002, it was the MPAA that endorsed it, while the RIAA pointedly did not."

Thanks to Declan for the links.

Wasn't smart enough to get in, either ... Finally, thanks to the several readers who alerted me by email and in comments that the school variously rendered Cal Tech, CalTech and other things even worse is in fact properly spelled "Caltech."

Comments

Infinite speed gravity?

[Doctor Fishboy]

All general relativists (and for that matter, all physicists) I know think that gravity propagates at the speed of light. In the linked articles, the criticism is that they've measured the speed of light by virtue of the radio photons, not the speed of gravity, which they're claiming.

There's nothing about 'infinitely' fast gravity in the article that I can see, and of the two physicists claiming to disagree with the results, the one who says it is 'nonsense' then refuses to comment any further.

Dr Fish

Me fail GPS ? That's unpossible!

[OldMiner]

GPS is a passive system. It can't be overloaded.

Re:Iridium and GPS

[axjms]

I am not sure if you completely understand how the GPS system works. I am not sure if I do either for that matter but the GPS system is in very little danger of being "overloaded". It is the actual GPS device that does the triangulation calculations. All the sats do is keep track of their relative position to their peers and broadcast a unique signal. Doesn't matter if 1 device or 1 million devices are earthside it is just a broadcast.

Re:Iridium and GPS

[Russ Steffen]

GPS can never be overloaded like that. The SVs are broadcast only, they don't give a rat's arse how many things are using them.

And, GPS would never be the sole means of guidance for all weapons, by virtue of the fact that it only really works well against targets at known positions. Only laser and TV guidance work well against moving targets.

SCO is toast

[legLess]

My brother used to run a motorcycle courier service in LA, and the only bill higher than his liability insurance (think about it - what type of guy wants to be a motorcycle courier? how safe is he going to be?) was his SCO license. These folks have been squeezing blood out of the turnip for years, and now that people have abadonded their turnip (to further torture the analogy) SCO is looking for other vegetables.

They're toast, though, no matter what half-assed "intellectual property" scheme they come up with. I mean, really - who're you going to stay friends with? A girlfriend who gave you your toothbrush back and said, "Bye, and thanks for all the fish," or one who boiled your fucking cat alive? SCO is kicking its customers in the nuts while they walk out the door; they might squeeze a little cash out of them on the way, but they're only hastening the exit.

Chris Sontag, hired in October as senior vice-president of SCO's Operating Systems division, leads the intellectual property organization, sources said. Earlier in his career, Mr. Sontag led marketing and product development for Novell...

Did I mention that SCO is toast? That quote alone should get them on FC

Our Unix IP is a significant asset. And for several months, we have been holding internal discussions, exploring a wide range of possible strategies concerning this asset," the company said in a statement Monday. SCO hasn't decided how exactly to collect more Unix revenue, the company added.

Translation: "We're desperate and rudderless, checking under sofa cushions for spare change. Got any?"

Speed of gravity paradox

[nebbian]

If the speed of gravity isn't infinite, then I think you get a paradox when two bodies are orbiting each other.

Let's say we have two bodies, body 1 and body 2, both orbiting a central point.

Both of them are getting pulled in towards the central point by the other one. Right?

But if the speed of gravity isn't infinite, each body will be pulled not exactly towards the center, but towards the point at which the other body used to be, a certain time ago.

Try this experiment: You will need:
1 friend
2 tennis balls
1 roundabout (the circular playground variety)

Stand on a point on the circumference of the roundabout, and get your friend to stand opposite you. Spin the roundabout so you are both orbiting the central point.

Now throw your tennis ball at your friend. Chances are you will miss, because your friend will have moved by the time the ball gets there. So now change your aim so that the ball actually hits your friend. Get your friend to do the same.

When you've got things sorted, you should get the tennis balls hitting you from slightly 'front-on' compared to the center of the roundabout.

So what this means is that if gravity has a speed, then each orbiting body will be pulled by the phantom ghost of the other one, which will appear to be slightly behind the center of rotation. Therefore, the two bodies will keep on accelerating, pulling themselves up by their shoelaces, until the orbits around the central point become so huge that the effect isn't very big at all.

In other words, orbits won't be stable if gravity has a speed.
If we assume that 2-body orbits are stable, then gravity must be instantaneous, but this introduces a communication paradox (as pointed out by many other posters).

So we have a paradox! If you were God, would you make gravity have a speed, or not? Or do you make it so friggin' hard to measure that people give up and argue over which physicist has the bigger reputation? :-)