Nope, the light is still traveling at something slower than c. They seem to mention a whole bunch of different frequencies in their research, but if they're using telco wavelengths it'll be traveling slower than 1/3 c, since the refractive index of silicon (not to be confused with silica) is roughly 3.5. (The other poster has the right idea in talking about the parasitic limitations in electrical transmission). However, your points about Intel and multiplexing are well placed.
It's obviously not the same, but in some ways it sounds similar to Intel's Lightpeak. I guess it is the next logical step once you get to that point.
Actually - you're correct - they're very similar technologies. Both research groups are seeking out ways to merge cmos with optical components traditionally done in non-silicon devices. From what I can tell, Intel is further along as they have actually demonstrated their technology in a discrete component. IBM, once you get past the buzz words in their press release, really is still doing basic research; they've demonstrated individual components but have not accomplished any major integration feats. While it seems that IBM's technology is considerably smaller than Intel's, they have not shown how they plan to actually generate the light used for their components.
At the end of a course, (call me greedy), _I_ want to know how to do everything in the course, not merely have a warm fuzzy WEE-WOW feeling that something exciting just went by that I can't quite reproduce.
Holy flamebait; you are talking about America's most famous physics teacher. You were expecting a "how to" book from a nobel laureate?
...because google doesn't want to stress their experiment that hard. Imagine how many torrents those kiddies would have going with a 1gbps connection. At least fu@!book doesn't require a fast connection...yet.
SSNs are used as an example. The real problem, alluded to in the article, is that the government attempts to classify personally sensitive, business sensitive, and military critical information (to name a few) under the same system. Unfortunately there is plenty of overlap and specific cases within these categories, resulting in a ridiculous number of labels - thereby resulting in mass confusion. However, this situation is often the case when one attempts to take a single system and apply it to such a wide audience. The US fed is going through a similar situation in IT and HR Management; at some point the benefits of consolidation result in less efficiency...
Totally agree. As much as owning a oscilloscope might warm the cockles of your inner nerd, a $2000 scope will likely not meet all your needs (assuming that you expect to get some millage out of the instrument.) In that price range you can buy an old (used) high end analog scope (or an old sampling scope with a negligible waveform memory) or a newer low bw digital sampling one with more recording capability. The new high end Lecroy Waverunners and Agilent Infiniiums that I use at work, but cost more than my car, combine both of these capabilities and are a electronic hobbyists wet dream. (Side note: No self respecting CS/CENG should put down 2k for an NI/Labspew product for personal use).
US federal government agencies are inept when it comes to a lot of things. (No political bias intended). Take a look at recent defense acquisition programs, business and wall street regulation... The virtues of "strong leadership [and] careful planning" seem to be in short supply thoughout the system.
Stick these transceivers on the CPU/Memory/GPU silicon, have them all connected via fibre and get rid of this stupid front side bus bottleneck.
This is actually the driving application for hybrid Si-InP integration research. (http://engineering.ucsb.edu/bowers/). The biggest limitation of this technology is the inefficiency of the laser. It seems logical that Intel is going after an electronically simpler application like an integrated tranceiver, before attempting to integrate with an already hot running microprocessor.
Slashdot Mirror
Supposedly it's in macpaint...according to the comments section of the story.
Interestingly this code is supposedly in there. (According to the comments on the page). Somebody should check the Adobe code...
Nope, the light is still traveling at something slower than c. They seem to mention a whole bunch of different frequencies in their research, but if they're using telco wavelengths it'll be traveling slower than 1/3 c, since the refractive index of silicon (not to be confused with silica) is roughly 3.5. (The other poster has the right idea in talking about the parasitic limitations in electrical transmission). However, your points about Intel and multiplexing are well placed.
It's obviously not the same, but in some ways it sounds similar to Intel's Lightpeak. I guess it is the next logical step once you get to that point.
Actually - you're correct - they're very similar technologies. Both research groups are seeking out ways to merge cmos with optical components traditionally done in non-silicon devices. From what I can tell, Intel is further along as they have actually demonstrated their technology in a discrete component. IBM, once you get past the buzz words in their press release, really is still doing basic research; they've demonstrated individual components but have not accomplished any major integration feats. While it seems that IBM's technology is considerably smaller than Intel's, they have not shown how they plan to actually generate the light used for their components.
At the end of a course, (call me greedy), _I_ want to know how to do everything in the course, not merely have a warm fuzzy WEE-WOW feeling that something exciting just went by that I can't quite reproduce.
Holy flamebait; you are talking about America's most famous physics teacher. You were expecting a "how to" book from a nobel laureate?
My wife is looking forward to when the local strip club starts using this technology. Privacy be damned.
...but it would be a great application for a lilypad arduino. (http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardLilyPad)
...because google doesn't want to stress their experiment that hard. Imagine how many torrents those kiddies would have going with a 1gbps connection. At least fu@!book doesn't require a fast connection...yet.
SSNs are used as an example. The real problem, alluded to in the article, is that the government attempts to classify personally sensitive, business sensitive, and military critical information (to name a few) under the same system. Unfortunately there is plenty of overlap and specific cases within these categories, resulting in a ridiculous number of labels - thereby resulting in mass confusion. However, this situation is often the case when one attempts to take a single system and apply it to such a wide audience. The US fed is going through a similar situation in IT and HR Management; at some point the benefits of consolidation result in less efficiency...
Totally agree. As much as owning a oscilloscope might warm the cockles of your inner nerd, a $2000 scope will likely not meet all your needs (assuming that you expect to get some millage out of the instrument.) In that price range you can buy an old (used) high end analog scope (or an old sampling scope with a negligible waveform memory) or a newer low bw digital sampling one with more recording capability. The new high end Lecroy Waverunners and Agilent Infiniiums that I use at work, but cost more than my car, combine both of these capabilities and are a electronic hobbyists wet dream. (Side note: No self respecting CS/CENG should put down 2k for an NI/Labspew product for personal use).
US federal government agencies are inept when it comes to a lot of things. (No political bias intended). Take a look at recent defense acquisition programs, business and wall street regulation... The virtues of "strong leadership [and] careful planning" seem to be in short supply thoughout the system.
Stick these transceivers on the CPU/Memory/GPU silicon, have them all connected via fibre and get rid of this stupid front side bus bottleneck.
This is actually the driving application for hybrid Si-InP integration research. (http://engineering.ucsb.edu/bowers/). The biggest limitation of this technology is the inefficiency of the laser. It seems logical that Intel is going after an electronically simpler application like an integrated tranceiver, before attempting to integrate with an already hot running microprocessor.