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Free Clock Democratizes Atomic Accuracy
schliz writes "A new, trial network of software-based clocks could give data centers and networks the accuracy of an atomic clock for free. The so-called RADclock analyses information from multiple computers across the internet by collecting the time from each machine's internal quartz clock, the time it takes for this information to be transmitted across the network, and comparing all the information collected to determine a time that is most likely to be accurate, so machines are calibrated across the network with up to microsecond accuracy — as good as that provided by a $50,000 atomic clock, researchers say."
I can imagine the speaking clock:
"At the third stroke, it will be, most likely, sixish"
This reminds me of an old joke about a retired Admiral who is responsible for sounding the morning cannon at the naval base, walking past a watchmaker's shop every morning and setting his pocketwatch to the correct time from a reliable old grandfather clock in the store window.
One day, on the walk in, he happens to see the watchmaker cleaning the store windows and mentions how he finds it amazing that the old grandfather clock keeps such flawless time.
"Oh, that old thing?" says the watchmaker. "It drifts horribly, and I have to reset it almost daily."
The Admiral then asks, "Since I've always noticed that it's reliable, from where do you get the time to set it?"
The watchmaker replied, "I use the report from the morning cannon at the naval base. It's always right on time."