Technically Speaking

I’m just getting back from Dallas. Lovely city. I was staying in the WestEnd area of Dallas, in town for training on taxes. Specifically, 5498 and 1099-R tax forms. Of course, this is for work and we were scheduled for two days of class and quickly back home again. While I was in town, I wanted to meet up with Tiger. He lives some distance from Dallas but he was willing to travel 90 minutes just to come meet a fellow blogger. The meet was good and I must say, that it was great to see the man that does the Daily Navel Gazing, in the flesh. Before any of you ask, NO! I didn’t see his navel. I did get a picture of us together enjoying our dinner beers.

I believe that I can call Tiger a friend now that I have seen him face to face. It is good to see someone, you talk with on a fairly regular basis, in person. It may even add that extra “umph” when reading his blog for I now know some of his mannerisms. To the rest of you bloggers I talk to, I look forward to meeting you at some time. If any of you come to Atlanta then please let me know. We have a great city here and I would love to meet ya.

As you can tell, this site doesn’t look the way it used to. I’ve upgraded to a skinned site. The default screen is my favorite of the four choices. The default is there for those of you that liked the site the way it was. Go through and explore the site. I hope you like it. There are some known issues that we are working through. If you still experience them in a few days then let me know.

ALSO, just a few minutes ago, the 20,000th visitor came through. This has been a great month in the hits department. Only last month I reached 10,000 visits, within 4 months. I have done that number in just one month. Google has been really nice to me in many categories. I would love to see more bloggers stop by as well.

This is not too surprising for China is making leaps and bounds in the technology field. The biggest project, as of now, is trying to get a man into space. That’s another story… They’re driven to make a name in the science/technology arena and in a big way. A supercomputer would be a logical tool to help them reach that goal.

Chip giant Intel Wednesday teamed with China’s Ministry of Education to build a national computing grid–a network of computers harnessed to work together.

When the grid is completed, the MOE expects it to have performance of more than 15 teraflops, or trillions of calculations per second, making it one of the world’s most powerful high-performance computing grids, according to a statement from Intel.

Intel will work with server vendors starting this year to provide the schools with computers equipped with the chipmaker’s Itanium 2 processors.

Completion of the project is slated for some time in 2006. At that time, 100 universities will be connected. The grid will be used to help make advances in various fields.

The grid will be used for work in life sciences, the petroleum industry, earthquake research and commercial financial projects.

It will also be used to help power the “Digital Olympics” initiative, to support the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Building the most powerful supercomputer is like a game of leapfrog. As soon as your machine is up and running, the next one is nearing completion. I have recently seen remarks about the world being a covered by massive grid supercomputers. It looks like we are seeing the start.

Source: CNET News.com

If you are wondering what the title is all about, the answer is that I was trying to make it PG. I’m SO fighting the urge to say “Two New Moons Found Around Your Uranus”. Yesterday, scientist, with the help of Hubble Space Telescope, found two new moons in the Uranian lunar system.

The newly discovered moons are temporarily designated as S/2003 U1 and S/2003 U2 until the IAU formally approves their discovery. S/2003 U1 is the larger of the two moons, measuring 10 miles (16 km) across. The Hubble telescope spotted this moon orbiting between the moons Puck, the largest satellite found by the Voyager spacecraft, and Miranda, the innermost of the five largest Uranian satellites.

Astronomers previously thought this region was empty space, according to a statement issued today by Hubble officials. S/2003 U1 is 60,600 miles (97,700 kilometers) away from Uranus, whirling around the giant planet in 22 hours and 9 minutes.

The smallest Uranian moon yet found, S/2003 U2, is 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. Its orbital path is just 200 to 450 miles (300 to 700 km) from the moon Belinda. S/2003 U2 is 46,400 miles (74,800 km) away from Uranus and circles the planet in 14 hours and 50 minutes. The tiny moon is part of a densely crowded field of 11 other moons, all discovered from pictures taken by the Voyager spacecraft.

I find it amazing that we are still finding new things in our solar system. Well, they aren’t really new. Also, determining the size of a moon from this distance, remarkable!

Source: Space.com

Here is a trivia question: How many planets are visible without a telescope? Most people will answer “five” (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). But if you answered “six,” congratulations, you can go to the head of the class!

That sixth world that can be spied without optical aid is the planet Uranus. This week will be a fine time to try and seek it out, especially since it is now favorably placed for viewing in our evening sky and the bright Moon is out of the way.

Of course, you’ll have to know exactly where to look. Barely visible by a keen naked eye on very dark, clear nights, Uranus — currently shining at magnitude +5.7 — is now visible during the evening hours among the stars of Aquarius, the Water Carrier. Conveniently, Mars serves as a great guidepost, being just below the more distant world in our sky.

Source: Space.com

This is the Star Trek enthusiasts dream. The dream doesn’t come cheaply though. In the UK, the set price is £449, I’m guessing the price state-side will be about $675. I would love to have this unique set, it’s just that there are other thing I can do with the money.

By order of Starfleet Command, The Borg MegaCube, a DVD Box Set Collection unlike any other is to be released to commemorate the legendary voyages of the Starship USS Enterprise-D.

The Borg MegaCube, the ultimate DVD collection, contains the Complete Star Trek: The Next Generation series 1- 7 across 48 discs and is strictly limited to just 1000 numbered copies worldwide. This collection is presented in the shape of a Borg Cube - both in recognition of the crew’s struggles against one of mankind’s greatest threats - The Borg - and in remembrance of the thousands of Starfleet lives lost at the battle of Wolf 359.

Source: DVD Debate

Flash -

Digital storage company San Disk has released a digital photo viewer that allows users to plug in the storage card from just about any digital camera and relays the images to a television screen.

The device is designed to plug into the audio jack of a TV set.

The device works with any type of JPEG image, the most common format used by consumers in the digital camera market. The viewer also lets users record the images to videotape. The company says there is no need for a computer or software for the viewer.

The viewer comes with a remote that lets users rotate images, preview them, or delete them. Other controls allow the time to be set between image changes like in a slide show.

Source: ABCNews.com

Movielink, in an effort to target college students, has developed a way to increase the download of movies over the net. The number one reason why people shy away from movie downloads is because of the great amount of time it takes to download the movie.

The company is also targeting business travelers with a technological upgrade that allows someone to download a film to a laptop and watch it later, on an airplane for example, without having to first connect to the Internet to verify the validity of the license issued to watch the movie.

“We’re providing faster downloads so college students can get off of pirate sites,” said Jim Ramo, Movielink chief executive officer.

Offering legitimate alternatives to people downloading pirated copies of movies on the Internet is a top priority for the film industry, which is trying to avoid the dilemma that faced the music industry when the file-swapping site Napster became popular.

The price of the movies will be comparable to video rental. The downloaded movie will play on Movielinks software and will self delete after 24 hrs. from download.

I think it is a good idea, but the price should be cheaper than video rental. This can really beneficial to the frequent travelers. NetFlix is still the way to go, for now. It will be interesting to see what effect this will have on the movie rental industry.

Source: ABCNews.com

WhatIsTheMatrix has posted the theatrical trailer for the movie. The art of making trailers has got me wondering; How many different angles can you give the audience without giving away the movie. If you have been keeping up with this blog then you know that there is a lot of information about this movie on the web. I’m still captivated by the images I see. I hope you are too.

The trailer comes in three sizes:
Hi-Res
Med-Res
Low-Res

What do you think of when you hear CRM? Do you know what CRM is? Well, funny enough, my job title is CRM Web Developer. To some of you non-geeks out there, this sounds really corporate and boring. Of course, to the geeks out there (To you geeks…I use the term geeks in the most non-offensive manner), you are wondering what exactly I do in the CRM field. Well, I’ll tell you that I am not here to talk about me, mainly because my job is really hush hush. I’m here to talk about others out there that are pushing CRM into undiscovered territories. I’m talking about Closer Communications.
To me, this is funny…I’m doing my normal thing, surfing for a good TECHNICAL story when I come to samablog. I check out his posts…I Wonder If This Will Start An Avalanche,Another Reason I Like Berlusconi, and on and on. I say to myself…”Wait a tick!” I spy the links to the right of the blog. “Closer Communications”, what’s this?
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Flash -

An earthquake measuring at least 7.8 hit the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido early Friday, prompting authorities to issue tsunami warnings and urge residents on the eastern side of the island to evacuate.

Another temblor of similar intensity struck less than two hours later.

Several million people live on the island but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage, although a fire broke out at an oil refinery afterward.

Less than a week ago there was another sizeable quake that hit the island. I thought that this was the big one that Yoshio was predicting.

Only six days ago a 5.5-magnitude quake shook Japan.

The September 20 earthquake was centered nearly 870 kilometers (540 miles) south-southeast of Tokyo, near Japan’s Bonin Islands, a remote volcanic island group in the Pacific Ocean.

Today, I know for a fact that Yoshio Kushida is say, “Now that is what I was talking about!”, only in Japanese. He was a week off but nonetheless I give him credit for this quake too. He said the big one was coming and it did. The other quake must have been a pre-shock, if there is such a thing, in terminology. That unexpected pre-shock must have threw off the preliminary calculations. I need to talk to this guy to see what exactly he was thinking when this all unfolded.

I wonder if he will answer he email…

Source: CNN.com

PopSci reminds me how lucky I am to have a good job. Most of us are happy to just have a job, in these time when it is just too easy to loose the one you have. If you have a job that you hate, well this article is for you. PopSci surveyed over a thousand scientist to find out what they thought were the worst jobs. The surveys were analyzed and a list of the most noxious jobs was compiled. The list names jobs like, BRAZIL MOSQUITO RESEARCHER, FISTULA FEEDER, PRISON RAPE RESEARCHER, and CARCASS CLEANER. The biggest surprise to the list is ASTRONAUT. I know a lot of you out there are saying WHAT!!!! Well, it turns out that being an astronaut is all that it’s cracked up to be. The job topping the list is FLATUS ODOR JUDGE. The description of this job is just rank…So I have quoted it for:
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Charles, of The Gagalac Style fame, connects to a Matrix Revolutions Spoiler. I haven’t read through it yet but the pictures were enough to tell me that I need to get back there and check it all out.

The original post…

Okay, it is official. The phone I posted earlier is legit. The Nokia website has all the info about it posted for all to see. Here are some of the highlighted features:

Key Features

• Digital camera & video recorder
• 65,536 color display
• WCDMA/GSM 900/1800 Dual Mode
• Multimedia messaging
• Music player for MP3 and AAC files
• XHTML browser
• Multimedia Player
• Gallery - multimedia file storage
• Bluetooth wireless technology, IR and USB connectivity
• JAVA MIDP
• Music files as ring tones
• Xpress-on™ Sleeves with new materials

This phone was designed for easier use as a camera. The 7600 also allows you to capture video, about 15 seconds worth. I am unsure if the 7600 was meant to be a wearable device, but the Nokia Medallion I definitely is. Nokia is really digging deep on their designs and accessories. To me, it all looks good. I hope that the technology is just as deep.

Take a look at the specs.

On Gizmodo, it is reported that this cool looking phone may be a fake. It is supposed to be a wearable phone with a built-in camera. I’m wondering how the camera would work on this thing if you are wearing it. You may have to take it off and point and shoot. Anyway, there is no confirmation from Nokia that this is their design. AS OF YET!!!

Sun has found that cutting out the middleman can be a good thing.

By placing the chips edge to edge, directly touching, so data can flow freely, Sun has taken out the need for the tiny wires, pads and solder points that now connect chips on printed circuit boards that help make up computer systems, Sun said.

The breakthrough could mean sending data among chips up to 100 times faster than current top transmission rates on traditional semiconductor-chip interconnects, Sun said.

This finding also makes the electronics cheaper and use less power. One of the difficulties will be finding ways to connect the chips together so that they can create desired functionality. From my limited viewpoint, it would seem that many chip configurations would be needed in order to connect chips in the fashion they describe.

In the researchers’ paper, they write that “on-chip” performance has been increasing far more rapidly than “off-chip” communication because the number of transistors on each chip and their speed have outstripped how quickly data can be moved among chips.

“This is a chip-to-chip technology,” Gustafson said. “It could be memory, it could be processing. This is a way of building communication between them.”

Sutherland and the researchers wrote that the difference between on-chip performance and off-chip communication is because the tiny wires that connect to chips and tie them together are “about two orders of magnitude larger” than the wiring that’s on the chip itself.

By connecting chips using Sun’s design–such as lining them up as if on a checkerboard–vastly more powerful, cheaper computer systems could be designed that consume less power, Sun said.

Once again, this is very new technology. We will have to give it time to mature and see what comes of it.

Source: ZDNet

Scaled Composites, developers of the SpaceShipOne (SS1) reusable suborbital spacecraft, announced Thursday that they had selected SpaceDev to provide the propulsion system for the vehicle. SpaceDev was in competition with another company, Environmental Aeroscience Corporation (eAc), to build the hybrid propellant engine that will be used to boost SS1 onto a suborbital trajectory once it its released from its White Knight carrier aircraft. The value of the contract was not announced. Both SpaceDev and eAc had successfully tested their versions of the engine, using nitrous oxide and hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), or rubber, as propellants. Scaled Composites did not specify when powered flights of SS1 would begin, other than to say that it “now looks forward to entering into the historic phase of private manned space flight.” There had been rumors that Scaled would attempt a complete suborbital flight of the spacecraft by mid-December, the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ historic flight.

Source: SpaceToday.net

Looks like we won’t be able to benefit from 64 bit computing for at least a year. This must be a major disappointment for AMD. This will give the competitor the chance to catch up with their 64 bit solution. So now the question on most people’s minds would be, “Do I upgrade now or later?” I’ll have to do some research on that one.

On Tuesday, the day of the AMD Athlon 64 launch, Microsoft announced that it had released a beta of the so-called “Windows XP 64 Bit Edition for 64-Bit Extended Systems.” It’s unclear if this is the same beta that our tipsters say testers received the week of August 8, or an update. But one thing is for certain: Microsoft says it won’t be shipping a final release of its Windows desktop release for Athlon or its server release for AMD Opteron until “the first half of 2004.” Our guess: mid-year.

Source: MicroSoft-Watch

A rarely seen insectivore, native to Cuba, was spotted once again. It was believed to be extinct for its last sighting was in 1999.

The discovery of the male insect-eating mammal known as an almiqui (pronounced ahl-mee-KEE) raises hopes “that it will not wind up in the catalog of the irretrievable animals disappearing from the face of the Earth,” Prensa Latina said in reporting the discovery.

The creature looks like a brownish woolly badger with a long, pink-tipped snout and can measure up to about 19 inches, according to Prensa Latina’s Monday dispatch.

The nocturnal animal burrows underground during the daytime, explaining why it is rarely seen by people. After the sun goes down, it emerges to root out worms, larvae and insects.

I wonder what else is out there…

Source: Yahoo News

It is time for Kate’s word game again. I am not instituting my own rules this time for I am pressed for time. I will try where I can.

I is for…

Ith and the ideotechnic actions of a youth.(Absinthe & Cookies)

Infinitely strong nanotechnology-based fibers.

ICANN Verisign’s Technology

Intolerant behavior.

Intimate knowledge of poker.

Infest the south with infamous lovers.

Ingenuity of NASA. (Aero/astro Tech)