It looks like the future of CPUs is definitely 64bit+. The Itanium, Hammer, and G5 are all 64bit processors. However, it will be a long time before a lot of applications are rewritten to take advantage of 64bit architectures. In addition, some applications won't actually benefit at all, and are therefore unlikely to be recoded for quite a while. Therefore, how each of these processors runs legacy code is important.
From the look of it, both the Hammer and the G5 can run old, 32bit code natively. This means that today's apps will continue to be able to run at top speed on the new chips, because the instructions still exist in hardware. This is definitely good for people with lots of older apps(ie, almost all of us.) However, a lot of the reports on the Itanium seem to indicate that, in making a completely clean break, it is forced to emulate older 32bit instructions, resulting in an actual -slowdown- for many programs. Eventually, Intel's clean break might give it some advantage, and that advantage might come quickly for the big metal server market. However, it seems that AMD will be able to win out on the desktop. Of course, here we are comparing rumors on a rumored chip to a different unreleased chip, only Bob knows exactly what will happen between now and release time...
I remember the PB100 I had way back when. It had one cool feature that I didn't see anywhere else for the longest time, and then only with harddrive mirroring: as long as there was battery power, a ramdisk wouldn't lose its data when the computer shut down! Sorta useless of course, didn't exactly hold a load of RAM and prices were incredible, but it was pretty interesting at the time.
I think it was also the only PB to ever use a lead-acid battery, seeing how the technology has changed with batteries is one of the uncelebrated but very important parts of the portable revolution. I look forward to when they have proton-polymer batteries out, which allow super fast charging. The more power available, the more cool stuff can be run in there.
Companies have made huge investments in technology, and if they have standardized on one platform it is difficult to get them to change. But this may be the push that is needed. What Linux and Apple people must do is calculate and show how an initial investment in another system now will ultimately be far cheaper then sticking it out. If they can show that the one-time cost will be negated in a matter of months or years, their market share may increase quickly, as now is a rare time when management is actually considering alternatives. If you think about it, a few months ago many would have laughed at warnings that Microsoft was planning such a money scheme. They aren't laughing now.
One interesting thing mentioned in the USA Today article was at the end. Its Office software has better than a 90% market share, Gartner says. One of the biggest things MS has over the corporate market is its productivity software, Office. Over and over again, that is cited as one of the things that has little competition in the minds of CTOs. However, they forget that there is a fully functional, very polished and current version available for Mac OS and soon Mac OSX. Unless they have a specific program they must run on Windows, a switch may be cheaper in the long run. And now is the big chance for StarOffice and other Linux suites. If they can move fast enough, and create a viable alternative that is polished and compatable with MS Office, they may be able to convince companies to make the switch.
Online, people order with secure-http, where the information is encrypted so that it cannot be read and stolen in transit. I think that it would be very useful if someone wrote a secure-mail system, which would have a very clear and obvious button to send the message as encrypted data. Currently, it must be done manually by the user, but if it could be automated then it might become very popular. And users would certainly have an expectation of privacy for encrypted mail, because they would still have the option to send mail as plain text. Perhaps those machine IDs could even be put to good use in generating keys that would reveal whether someone had tried to intercept it in route.
As for Ashcroft's ridiculous distinction of e-mail: In his response, Ashcroft said he believed "To:" and "From:" lines of e-mail could be intercepted without a court order, but "Subject:" lines would require a judge's signature. "We're not asking that we get content or the subject," he replied. "We want information on who sent it and to whom it was sent."
That makes me think of what is quite possibly one of the most amusing messages I have every seen in an e-mail, which creates the expectation of privacy...:
This e-mail has been sent to you by GDS Publishing Ltd., registered in
Australia, England and Wales. Registered office: Tower House, Fairfax
Street, Bristol, BS1 3BN Registered Number 2877774.
This communication is intended for the addressee only, is private and
confidential, and is subject to all applicable terms and conditions.
Access to this email by any third party is unauthorised. This message
should not be read if delivered in error.
Heh. I bet that of course the FBI and other security organizations would honor such things. Oh yeah, and about that bridge you wanted me to sell you...^_^
I have used some of the earlier builds of OSX(though I haven't gotten the latest yet). It should be noted for build 5G64, which I have heard is the Golden Master, DVD playback will not work on Macs that use hardware DVD-decoding(ie. B&W G3 or Yikes G4/PCI with DVD piggyback card, Lombard G3/400 models and perhaps Wallstreet PB G3s with the DVD decoder PC Card). Since some of these computers are the very ones that would most benefit from an OS speed increase, potential owners should check with Apple, or they might have to be prepared to continue using OS9 a little bit longer. Newer macs that use software decoding work great.
Besides the obviously needed increases in speed, DVD playback finally works(even better then in OS9 in build 5G64). Also it has much improved Windows interoperability. Apple will be including an SMB client to go with Samba in 10.1.
However, one thing that worries me is whether or not they will include Dev Tools. I bought OSX 10.0 when if first came out, and it came with the disc. The Dev Tools include important things like a compiler for making other programs from the Terminal, and fun things like a Java browser, OpenGL stuff, etc. However, they were not included with my new computer. While I already owned them, so I just loaded them myself, I hope that people won't have to pay $129 just to get some tools that should come with new machines. Thanks Apple, you based the system on BSD, but don't forget the tools we need to really write with it!
"...but the businesses that rely on this type of analysis to justify purchasing decisions may find this one interesting."
One of the biggest problems with getting Linux, OpenBSD, or any new OS widely adopted is that it costs a great deal to switch to a new system once a business has standardized on a different solution. So many corporations decided to use WinNT, and having made the investment need a great deal to sway them to something better. It has to be something very big, and these virii may do it. This could be good news for OS's competing with M$, because the investment thing works both ways. Once Linux is installed, companies are less likely to go back to Windows NT...
Switch the LCD with a Head Screen!!
on
PlayStation Portable
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Yes it is expensive, but they have head-mounted screens that either are two individual small screens(one for each eye) or project directly on to the retna in the eye. Either way, they can successfully simulate a 52 inch projection TV. If you hooked one of those up to the PSp, you could forget about the LCD(and the power it takes) and have a decent screen size to boot. I would love to be able to play Chrono Cross, Resident Evil, and others from the PS's vast library(1000s of games) on plane flights, car rides, other countries etc. The PS is a very mature platform with many great games. I hope Sony takes this into consideration, as they could suddenly have something that is a serious threat to the Gameboy Advance!
In section 832, there is a part that expands the circumstances under which the new powers can be used: "...(E) an attack on the integrity or availability of a protected computer..."
How they define 'protected' could have a lot of impact on the scope of the law. Does this only apply to military computers? All government machines? Or how about any machine that is encrypted, eventually important systems on a machine that are encrypted. With the SSSCA (which required built-in copy protection), will every new machine be 'protected'? While that is probably not the aim of the framers of this bill, there are plenty of other instances where powers of slowly expanded through the use of such words, and there are other such places in this bill. Interpreting the what the law means will be up to the courts.
Spurred by AMD and IBM?
on
2.2 GHz Xeon
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I wonder if this delay to increase performance might also be to head off IBM and AMD. Intel says that they will release the new Xeon in the 1st part of 2002. This coincides with AMD's roadmap plans to release its own server.13 micron processor(the Thoroughbred). In addition, that is about the time that the G5 is supposed to be released. While obviously neither Apple nor Motorola do servers, the G5 will be the first fully Book E compliant chip to come out of the AIM alliance, and IBM has plans for Book E chips. From IBM's site:
Since 1991, IBM and Motorola have collaborated on the PowerPC architecture for personal computers, workstations, servers and embedded processor product lines, yet have developed and marketed separate implementations. Driven by the tremendous success of PowerPC microprocessors in the embedded marketplace, the companies announced in September 1997 the start of a joint effort to further enhance the PowerPC architecture to ensure greater consistency in their future embedded products. The Book E project and the new architecture it defines is the result of that effort.
With the chips being 64bit and fully capable of supporting multiple cores, it could give IBM servers and workstations a boost. The chip architecture wars are about to start to hit another exciting stretch, as long research programs begin to produce results for Intel, AMD, and AIM. 2002 should be a big year.
According to Rambus CFO Bob Eulau, the deal was less for the 'financial' implications, but rather was about the 'strategic' implications. Although the 'ole chipmonster gets complete access to Rambus' patents for fixed quarterly payments, Rambus gets the important longterm test of...uh... not dying tomorrow as users realize that RDRAMs speed increase doesn't quite make up for the fact that one can purchase gigs of DDR SDRAM for the same price as megs of RDRAM. Oh well, there are always the lawsuits to support them... The company has spent millions pursuing patent infringement suits against three memory makers.
I find this article particularly interesting, because this is the first time I have seen or thought of expanding the open-source movement beyond software. It would be a cool and different way to fight back against the DMCA and big corporations if video, music, and other forms of media began to adopt open source ideas. It would provide a totally legal, bullet-proof alternative to artists these fields which are currently totally dominated by industry interests(like the MPAA and RIAA). At the least, it might also put pressure on them to improve, like Linux has done on MS.
There has been a lot of talk about people deploying many 802.11b connections privately, thus building non-corporate owned, cooperative wireless access to the net around cities and such. This might put a bit of a damper on that, but IMO it should not stop it by any means. While people might not be able to order stuff for now, there are a great many things to do that don't require security, and such nets really seem to be the ultimate expression of a free internet. If/when firmware updates become available, the access would just be that much better. It would also put more pressure on commercial interests.
I know that in Europe, ridiculous quantities of money(billions of dollars) were spent on just obtaining 3G licenses, never mind the costs of setting up the infrastructure. Now that demand hasn't been huge, companies are scrambling to make enough to break even on those payments. Odds are even worse in the US, because we have so much more area to cover, make network construction far more expensive. The US also has far cheaper phone and broadband access(prices are so high in Europe).
I do hope this goes well in Japan, because it will help serve as a proving ground for other places. Ironically, at least in the short term, the service most likely to be popular are so-called 2.5G networks, cheap upgrades to older systems that still supply far more bandwidth(though not as much as 3G).
Recently researchers successfully linked up a couple of leach neurons to silicon, but while the connections worked it was not an actual chip. This is a step up on the complexity scale.
Leach neurons and those of other critters are useful to experiment with because they are very large, especially in comparison to most mammals. This makes it much easier to connect them to electronics. It will probably be a while before we see anything with people, because the connections must be so tiny. It seems likely though that as nanotech and neuroscience advance, this field will become one of the hottest in science.
Experiments like this were done many years ago, but with the rockets carrying wires so that the lightning would hit a pit filled with certain materials like sand. The intense heat sometimes fused stuff in unusual ways. I remember reading that it was by this method that the third molecular form of carbon, Buckminsterfullerenes(Buckyballs) was found. (The first 2 are graphite and diamond)
As the article mentioned, microbes are already used to clean up toxic water by eating dangerous heavy metals, and research has been done into the processes and genes responsible. Perhaps the genes could be switched into something land based, like a fast growing moss or other plant. Imagine if a company could make more money by covering old leaky strip mines with plants, then just harvesting them!
The problem with that is that Apple and Amiga are at very different points right now. Apple has very healthy R&D, application development, and base of people. They are again making in-roads into education, and their new OS is great. I love having a CLI available along with a consistant GUI and few driver hassles.
It is also important to remember that in an industry where many PC clone makers have margins hovering between an anemic 5 and 10 percent, Apple's is hovering around 30 percent. In fact, it was Tim Bajarin who recently wrote that in this consumer market bloodbath, many of the companies are likely to be gone. His picks for the survivors? Sony and Apple. Both have great name recognition, a focus on potentially becoming a digital hub, and enough money(Sony is obviously Sony, Apple has over $4 billion in cash in the bank) and profits to survive. The coming years should be interesting. I look forward to seeing how it all turns out!
The record industry is going after these people that open up new channels of information. The problem with this is that there is plenty of legal material being transferred as well. One of my good friends writes and plays music in his own band, and if it weren't for mp3s there would be little chance of their work being distributed. Simply opening new channels shouldn't be illegal(though look at the DMCA...).
Can you imagine if the DMCA was around or the RIAA was around a decade ago?
News FLASH AP Wire
Today, the RIAA and MPAA sued the Defense Department for violating the DMCA, charging that this new "Internet" constitutes an illegal circumvention device. Said a head lawyer for the RIAA "This internet will be a haven for criminals and piracy, causing the US economy to plumit. It must be stopped now."
How many future possibilities do we kill with every shutdown of a new information sharing system?
While many "normal people" may think Windows is it, the importance of having even a small set of alternatives should not be underestimated, and the flourishing open source movement is far from small. And in the case of both OS, Mac, *nix etc the users are very dedicated, because the systems they have work for what they need.
Having free, open alternatives allow innovations to take place that would not be possible in Windows. There is often far more inventiveness going on at the fringe then at the core. If the innovations are important enough, they may get ported, or even convince users to leave MS. It is not necessary for everyone to know about *nix right now, good, useful new features and programs will stand on their own.
On a last quick note, I would also add that happily, windows does not seem to scale well in any direction except up:) Maybe we'll see toasters with 512MB of ram in a few years but... I doubt it. I don't want to play chess with my microwave, I just want to reheat the damn pizza! -_^
Slashdot Mirror
From the look of it, both the Hammer and the G5 can run old, 32bit code natively. This means that today's apps will continue to be able to run at top speed on the new chips, because the instructions still exist in hardware. This is definitely good for people with lots of older apps(ie, almost all of us.) However, a lot of the reports on the Itanium seem to indicate that, in making a completely clean break, it is forced to emulate older 32bit instructions, resulting in an actual -slowdown- for many programs. Eventually, Intel's clean break might give it some advantage, and that advantage might come quickly for the big metal server market. However, it seems that AMD will be able to win out on the desktop. Of course, here we are comparing rumors on a rumored chip to a different unreleased chip, only Bob knows exactly what will happen between now and release time...
I think it was also the only PB to ever use a lead-acid battery, seeing how the technology has changed with batteries is one of the uncelebrated but very important parts of the portable revolution. I look forward to when they have proton-polymer batteries out, which allow super fast charging. The more power available, the more cool stuff can be run in there.
Companies have made huge investments in technology, and if they have standardized on one platform it is difficult to get them to change. But this may be the push that is needed. What Linux and Apple people must do is calculate and show how an initial investment in another system now will ultimately be far cheaper then sticking it out. If they can show that the one-time cost will be negated in a matter of months or years, their market share may increase quickly, as now is a rare time when management is actually considering alternatives. If you think about it, a few months ago many would have laughed at warnings that Microsoft was planning such a money scheme. They aren't laughing now.
One interesting thing mentioned in the USA Today article was at the end.
Its Office software has better than a 90% market share, Gartner says.
One of the biggest things MS has over the corporate market is its productivity software, Office. Over and over again, that is cited as one of the things that has little competition in the minds of CTOs. However, they forget that there is a fully functional, very polished and current version available for Mac OS and soon Mac OSX. Unless they have a specific program they must run on Windows, a switch may be cheaper in the long run. And now is the big chance for StarOffice and other Linux suites. If they can move fast enough, and create a viable alternative that is polished and compatable with MS Office, they may be able to convince companies to make the switch.
As for Ashcroft's ridiculous distinction of e-mail:
In his response, Ashcroft said he believed "To:" and "From:" lines of e-mail could be intercepted without a court order, but "Subject:" lines would require a judge's signature. "We're not asking that we get content or the subject," he replied. "We want information on who sent it and to whom it was sent."
That makes me think of what is quite possibly one of the most amusing messages I have every seen in an e-mail, which creates the expectation of privacy...:
This e-mail has been sent to you by GDS Publishing Ltd., registered in
Australia, England and Wales. Registered office: Tower House, Fairfax
Street, Bristol, BS1 3BN Registered Number 2877774.
This communication is intended for the addressee only, is private and
confidential, and is subject to all applicable terms and conditions.
Access to this email by any third party is unauthorised. This message
should not be read if delivered in error.
Heh. I bet that of course the FBI and other security organizations would honor such things. Oh yeah, and about that bridge you wanted me to sell you...^_^
I have used some of the earlier builds of OSX(though I haven't gotten the latest yet). It should be noted for build 5G64, which I have heard is the Golden Master, DVD playback will not work on Macs that use hardware DVD-decoding(ie. B&W G3 or Yikes G4/PCI with DVD piggyback card, Lombard G3/400 models and perhaps Wallstreet PB G3s with the DVD decoder PC Card). Since some of these computers are the very ones that would most benefit from an OS speed increase, potential owners should check with Apple, or they might have to be prepared to continue using OS9 a little bit longer. Newer macs that use software decoding work great.
However, one thing that worries me is whether or not they will include Dev Tools. I bought OSX 10.0 when if first came out, and it came with the disc. The Dev Tools include important things like a compiler for making other programs from the Terminal, and fun things like a Java browser, OpenGL stuff, etc. However, they were not included with my new computer. While I already owned them, so I just loaded them myself, I hope that people won't have to pay $129 just to get some tools that should come with new machines. Thanks Apple, you based the system on BSD, but don't forget the tools we need to really write with it!
One of the biggest problems with getting Linux, OpenBSD, or any new OS widely adopted is that it costs a great deal to switch to a new system once a business has standardized on a different solution. So many corporations decided to use WinNT, and having made the investment need a great deal to sway them to something better. It has to be something very big, and these virii may do it. This could be good news for OS's competing with M$, because the investment thing works both ways. Once Linux is installed, companies are less likely to go back to Windows NT...
Yes it is expensive, but they have head-mounted screens that either are two individual small screens(one for each eye) or project directly on to the retna in the eye. Either way, they can successfully simulate a 52 inch projection TV. If you hooked one of those up to the PSp, you could forget about the LCD(and the power it takes) and have a decent screen size to boot. I would love to be able to play Chrono Cross, Resident Evil, and others from the PS's vast library(1000s of games) on plane flights, car rides, other countries etc. The PS is a very mature platform with many great games. I hope Sony takes this into consideration, as they could suddenly have something that is a serious threat to the Gameboy Advance!
In section 832, there is a part that expands the circumstances under which the new powers can be used:
"...(E) an attack on the integrity or availability of a protected computer..."
How they define 'protected' could have a lot of impact on the scope of the law. Does this only apply to military computers? All government machines? Or how about any machine that is encrypted, eventually important systems on a machine that are encrypted. With the SSSCA (which required built-in copy protection), will every new machine be 'protected'?
While that is probably not the aim of the framers of this bill, there are plenty of other instances where powers of slowly expanded through the use of such words, and there are other such places in this bill. Interpreting the what the law means will be up to the courts.
Since 1991, IBM and Motorola have collaborated on the PowerPC architecture for personal computers, workstations, servers and embedded processor product lines, yet have developed and marketed separate implementations. Driven by the tremendous success of PowerPC microprocessors in the embedded marketplace, the companies announced in September 1997 the start of a joint effort to further enhance the PowerPC architecture to ensure greater consistency in their future embedded products. The Book E project and the new architecture it defines is the result of that effort.
With the chips being 64bit and fully capable of supporting multiple cores, it could give IBM servers and workstations a boost. The chip architecture wars are about to start to hit another exciting stretch, as long research programs begin to produce results for Intel, AMD, and AIM. 2002 should be a big year.
According to Rambus CFO Bob Eulau, the deal was less for the 'financial' implications, but rather was about the 'strategic' implications. Although the 'ole chipmonster gets complete access to Rambus' patents for fixed quarterly payments, Rambus gets the important longterm test of ...uh... not dying tomorrow as users realize that RDRAMs speed increase doesn't quite make up for the fact that one can purchase gigs of DDR SDRAM for the same price as megs of RDRAM. Oh well, there are always the lawsuits to support them... The company has spent millions pursuing patent infringement suits against three memory makers.
I find this article particularly interesting, because this is the first time I have seen or thought of expanding the open-source movement beyond software. It would be a cool and different way to fight back against the DMCA and big corporations if video, music, and other forms of media began to adopt open source ideas. It would provide a totally legal, bullet-proof alternative to artists these fields which are currently totally dominated by industry interests(like the MPAA and RIAA). At the least, it might also put pressure on them to improve, like Linux has done on MS.
There has been a lot of talk about people deploying many 802.11b connections privately, thus building non-corporate owned, cooperative wireless access to the net around cities and such. This might put a bit of a damper on that, but IMO it should not stop it by any means. While people might not be able to order stuff for now, there are a great many things to do that don't require security, and such nets really seem to be the ultimate expression of a free internet. If/when firmware updates become available, the access would just be that much better. It would also put more pressure on commercial interests.
I do hope this goes well in Japan, because it will help serve as a proving ground for other places. Ironically, at least in the short term, the service most likely to be popular are so-called 2.5G networks, cheap upgrades to older systems that still supply far more bandwidth(though not as much as 3G).
Leach neurons and those of other critters are useful to experiment with because they are very large, especially in comparison to most mammals. This makes it much easier to connect them to electronics. It will probably be a while before we see anything with people, because the connections must be so tiny. It seems likely though that as nanotech and neuroscience advance, this field will become one of the hottest in science.
Experiments like this were done many years ago, but with the rockets carrying wires so that the lightning would hit a pit filled with certain materials like sand. The intense heat sometimes fused stuff in unusual ways. I remember reading that it was by this method that the third molecular form of carbon, Buckminsterfullerenes(Buckyballs) was found. (The first 2 are graphite and diamond)
As the article mentioned, microbes are already used to clean up toxic water by eating dangerous heavy metals, and research has been done into the processes and genes responsible. Perhaps the genes could be switched into something land based, like a fast growing moss or other plant. Imagine if a company could make more money by covering old leaky strip mines with plants, then just harvesting them!
It is also important to remember that in an industry where many PC clone makers have margins hovering between an anemic 5 and 10 percent, Apple's is hovering around 30 percent. In fact, it was Tim Bajarin who recently wrote that in this consumer market bloodbath, many of the companies are likely to be gone. His picks for the survivors? Sony and Apple. Both have great name recognition, a focus on potentially becoming a digital hub, and enough money(Sony is obviously Sony, Apple has over $4 billion in cash in the bank) and profits to survive. The coming years should be interesting. I look forward to seeing how it all turns out!
Can you imagine if the DMCA was around or the RIAA was around a decade ago?
News FLASH
AP Wire
Today, the RIAA and MPAA sued the Defense Department for violating the DMCA, charging that this new "Internet" constitutes an illegal circumvention device. Said a head lawyer for the RIAA "This internet will be a haven for criminals and piracy, causing the US economy to plumit. It must be stopped now."
How many future possibilities do we kill with every shutdown of a new information sharing system?
Having free, open alternatives allow innovations to take place that would not be possible in Windows. There is often far more inventiveness going on at the fringe then at the core. If the innovations are important enough, they may get ported, or even convince users to leave MS. It is not necessary for everyone to know about *nix right now, good, useful new features and programs will stand on their own.
On a last quick note, I would also add that happily, windows does not seem to scale well in any direction except up:) Maybe we'll see toasters with 512MB of ram in a few years but... I doubt it. I don't want to play chess with my microwave, I just want to reheat the damn pizza! -_^