If you go to the Red Herringwebsite, please notice the prominent "SUBSCRIBE NOW" button on the left navigation bar. So if you want to spend $34.95 for a dead magazine, you still can. But hurry up, the website is supposed to close within two weeks. Too bad!
Roland Piquepaille (Technology Trends)
In this column, you'll find my comments on both the "Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes" article, published by National Geographic News and "New DNA Computer Functions sans Fuel" story provided by Scientific American. But more importantly, you'll find the real *meat*, the abstract of the research conducted by the scientists of the Weitzmann Institute of Science. It is published in today's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
You should check these two columns, DNA supercomputers in our future? and DNA Computing to learn more about the limitations of DNA computing. For example, Len Adleman, a professor at the University of Southern California, says "that DNA computers will never be able to rival their electronic counterparts for speed without an unforeseen scientific breakthrough, he does think that they have a future niche. One day, a DNA computer programmed to react to the presence of a toxin, such as cancer, could be embedded into a cell. When it detects the toxin, the computer would respond by directing the cell to replicate and chemoluminesce or "glow." The glow could be seen with the naked eye allowing for early disease detection and saving lives."
The Compact Disc Will Turn 20 This Spring
on
The Future of the CD
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I don't really know what is the future for CDs, but I know it has already a long past. Here is what I wrote on this subject about six weeks ago. After the Internet, the compact disc also will celebrate its 20th birthday this spring. But the CDs you buy today are essentially the same that you purchased 20 years ago. Paul Boutin explains. "This spring, the compact disc celebrates the 20th anniversary of its arrival in stores, which puts the once-revolutionary music format two decades behind Moore's Law. The IBM PC, introduced about a year and a half earlier, has been revved up a thousandfold in performance since 1983. But the CD has whiled away the time, coasting on its Reagan-era breakthroughs in digital recording and storage. The two technologies, the PC and the CD, merged not long after their debuts -- try to buy a computer without a disc player. But the relationship has become a dysfunctional one. The computer long ago outgrew its stagnant partner." He aso reviews the recent offerings from record companies, the DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and the Super Audio CD (SACD). But many people prefer to use MP3 players and CD burners "because they can archive hundreds of albums on a laptop and download them to portable players smaller than a single CD jewel box." Check this column for a summary or read the original article for more details.
In this column, you'll find interesting facts about Gollum. It was based on a Los Angeles Times article, Putting a Human Face on 'It' (please note that you need to register -- it's free -- for accessing it.)
Here are short quotes.
Technically, Gollum is not a "he," but an "it" -- an agglomeration of 1s and 0s that required six years of research, scores of computer programmers and countless cycles of processing power to make the animated amphibious creature as believable as human actors.
The key, though, was a human actor -- a classically trained Shakespearean stage player named Andy Serkis whose face never appears on-screen, but nonetheless infuses Gollum with enough sadness and pain to make him perhaps the most believable computer-generated character in a movie.
Elwyn Jenkins, who is behind Google Village or Googlology Info Site wrote a comment about this story minutes after we both discovered Dan Gillmor's article. His comments are available at Google Buys Pyra: Fuel for The Blogging World!.
Here are my comments about his story.
"I agree with you, it's all about content. But there's a business aspect too. Larry and Sergey might run the technical show. But Eric Schmidt is here to take care of the business. And how Google will make money? By hosting bloggers for a fee? There were not so many paying customers for BlogSpot. And even imagine one million subscribers for $40 a year. That would not bring a great stream of revenue to Google. They must have an hidden idea."
As I wrote in this column, extreme programming is not really new.
"Extreme Programming (XP)" is just another way of saying "Team -- or pair --programming".
Programming in pairs is the most difficult aspect for many to accept (believe me). Even for XP die-hards like Edward Hiett, who works for San Francisco-based Evant, programming with someone looking over your shoulder remains disconcerting.
``Programming is a very creative process and requires a lot of concentration. It's natural to want to go away and do it by yourself,'' says Hiett, , where all programmers work in pairs. ``With pairing, you have to give up control.''
A Cash-Free France with the Moneo Smart Card? Don'
on
Cashless Society
·
· Score: 3, Informative
In this column, you can read what I thought about this.
"About a week ago, my bank asked me if I wanted a new plastic card, named Moneo. This card would be dedicated to small purchases, like newspapers or a french baguette. My bank also asked for 10 euros per year for the card..."
Personally, I don't think Moneo will be successful except if it's free.
For more details, check this BusinessWeek article or the official Moneo website (in french).
Roland Piquepaille.(http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/)
I wrote the following on Dec. 20, 2002 about phenotropics.
Jaron Lanier is mostly known for being the guy behind the expression "virtual reality." For its special issue "Big [and Not So Big] Ideas For 2003," CIO Magazine talked with him about a new concept -- at least for me -- phenotropics. "The thing I'm interested in now is a high-risk, speculative, fundamental new approach to computer science. I call it phenotropics," says the 42-year-old Lanier. By pheno, he means the physical appearance of something, and by tropics, he means interaction. Lanier's idea is to create a new way to tie two pieces of software together. He theorizes that two software objects should contact each other "like two objects in nature," instead of through specific modules or predetermined points of contact. Jason Lanier also talks about software diversity to enhance security. Check this column for a summary or the original article for more details."
Slashdot Mirror
If you go to the Red Herringwebsite, please notice the prominent "SUBSCRIBE NOW" button on the left navigation bar.
So if you want to spend $34.95 for a dead magazine, you still can.
But hurry up, the website is supposed to close within two weeks.
Too bad!
Roland Piquepaille (Technology Trends)
In this column, you'll find my comments on both the "Computer Made from DNA and Enzymes" article, published by National Geographic News and "New DNA Computer Functions sans Fuel" story provided by Scientific American. But more importantly, you'll find the real *meat*, the abstract of the research conducted by the scientists of the Weitzmann Institute of Science. It is published in today's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
You should check these two columns, DNA supercomputers in our future? and DNA Computing to learn more about the limitations of DNA computing. For example, Len Adleman, a professor at the University of Southern California, says "that DNA computers will never be able to rival their electronic counterparts for speed without an unforeseen scientific breakthrough, he does think that they have a future niche. One day, a DNA computer programmed to react to the presence of a toxin, such as cancer, could be embedded into a cell. When it detects the toxin, the computer would respond by directing the cell to replicate and chemoluminesce or "glow." The glow could be seen with the naked eye allowing for early disease detection and saving lives."
I don't really know what is the future for CDs, but I know it has already a long past. Here is what I wrote on this subject about six weeks ago. After the Internet, the compact disc also will celebrate its 20th birthday this spring. But the CDs you buy today are essentially the same that you purchased 20 years ago. Paul Boutin explains. "This spring, the compact disc celebrates the 20th anniversary of its arrival in stores, which puts the once-revolutionary music format two decades behind Moore's Law. The IBM PC, introduced about a year and a half earlier, has been revved up a thousandfold in performance since 1983. But the CD has whiled away the time, coasting on its Reagan-era breakthroughs in digital recording and storage. The two technologies, the PC and the CD, merged not long after their debuts -- try to buy a computer without a disc player. But the relationship has become a dysfunctional one. The computer long ago outgrew its stagnant partner." He aso reviews the recent offerings from record companies, the DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and the Super Audio CD (SACD). But many people prefer to use MP3 players and CD burners "because they can archive hundreds of albums on a laptop and download them to portable players smaller than a single CD jewel box." Check this column for a summary or read the original article for more details.
In this column, you'll find interesting facts about Gollum. It was based on a Los Angeles Times article, Putting a Human Face on 'It' (please note that you need to register -- it's free -- for accessing it.) Here are short quotes. Technically, Gollum is not a "he," but an "it" -- an agglomeration of 1s and 0s that required six years of research, scores of computer programmers and countless cycles of processing power to make the animated amphibious creature as believable as human actors. The key, though, was a human actor -- a classically trained Shakespearean stage player named Andy Serkis whose face never appears on-screen, but nonetheless infuses Gollum with enough sadness and pain to make him perhaps the most believable computer-generated character in a movie.
Elwyn Jenkins, who is behind Google Village or Googlology Info Site wrote a comment about this story minutes after we both discovered Dan Gillmor's article. His comments are available at Google Buys Pyra: Fuel for The Blogging World!. Here are my comments about his story. "I agree with you, it's all about content. But there's a business aspect too. Larry and Sergey might run the technical show. But Eric Schmidt is here to take care of the business. And how Google will make money? By hosting bloggers for a fee? There were not so many paying customers for BlogSpot. And even imagine one million subscribers for $40 a year. That would not bring a great stream of revenue to Google. They must have an hidden idea."
As I wrote in this column, extreme programming is not really new. "Extreme Programming (XP)" is just another way of saying "Team -- or pair --programming". Programming in pairs is the most difficult aspect for many to accept (believe me). Even for XP die-hards like Edward Hiett, who works for San Francisco-based Evant, programming with someone looking over your shoulder remains disconcerting. ``Programming is a very creative process and requires a lot of concentration. It's natural to want to go away and do it by yourself,'' says Hiett, , where all programmers work in pairs. ``With pairing, you have to give up control.''
In this column, you can read what I thought about this. "About a week ago, my bank asked me if I wanted a new plastic card, named Moneo. This card would be dedicated to small purchases, like newspapers or a french baguette. My bank also asked for 10 euros per year for the card..." Personally, I don't think Moneo will be successful except if it's free. For more details, check this BusinessWeek article or the official Moneo website (in french). Roland Piquepaille.(http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/)
I wrote the following on Dec. 20, 2002 about phenotropics. Jaron Lanier is mostly known for being the guy behind the expression "virtual reality." For its special issue "Big [and Not So Big] Ideas For 2003," CIO Magazine talked with him about a new concept -- at least for me -- phenotropics. "The thing I'm interested in now is a high-risk, speculative, fundamental new approach to computer science. I call it phenotropics," says the 42-year-old Lanier. By pheno, he means the physical appearance of something, and by tropics, he means interaction. Lanier's idea is to create a new way to tie two pieces of software together. He theorizes that two software objects should contact each other "like two objects in nature," instead of through specific modules or predetermined points of contact. Jason Lanier also talks about software diversity to enhance security. Check this column for a summary or the original article for more details."