VerySpatial » Hardware

And Another Great Tech Pioneer Leaves Us

Frank — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:36:31 +0000

The news around the Internet today is that Dennis Ritchie, inventor of the C programming language and the UNIX operating system, passed away over the weekend. I think it’s a mark of his impact that it might not be readily apparent exactly how important Ritchie was to our modern technology world. The fact of the matter is the majority of today’s Internet runs on some form of Unix. If I might steal a phrase from Steve Jobs, Unix largely ‘just works’. We don’t realize how much it’s humming along every single day. Arc was originally released on Unix, and I think it still impacts its current development. ERDAS’s Imagine feels like it still wants to be primarily a Unix program. Heck, even fundamental OS systems like Mac OS X and Android wouldn’t exist withouth Ritchie’s work.

On top of that, he invented arguably the most important programming language of all time. I’d bet dollars to doughnuts parts the upcoming Arc 10.1 was written in the language he invented. If programming languages were tracked like human languages, C would be the Latin of the programming world. C and it’s off shoots (C++, Objective-C, C#, and even Java) drive pretty much every technology device in the last 20 years or longer.

We lost Steve Jobs last week and his visionary designs will be sorely missed. Almost equally missed will be Ritchie’s visionary infrastructure designs. RIPC Dennis Ritchie…. RIPC.

Google Funds Offsite Windfarms on East Coast

Frank — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:54:26 +0000

Any of our long-time readers/listeners can tell you I’m a HUGE fan of offshore windfarms. I think they flat out just make the most sense for sustainable energy production. Apparently Google agrees with me. Google is funding a windfarm that is supposed to stretch from New Jersey to Virginia and generate enough power to light two million homes. They put up a bit over 1/3 the costs, but the article doesn’t say where the other 2/3rds of the money is coming. The power will be transmitted onshore via underwater cables. No word as of yet when it will go live.

UI, the next hurdle in LBS

Jesse — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:28:03 +0000

This is a great example of a rudimentary, but effective, UI for navigation. We played around a little with some heads-up devices back in the day, but we never had access to the good stuff (a la movie magic) so it never seemed appropriate. Fast forward a decade and wearable doesn’t have to mean a cockpit display as you walk down the street and augmented is more utilitarian. OK, enough with the mini-soapbox…on to the cool ideas.

First US Offshore Windfarm

Frank — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:57:25 +0000

Anyone who talks to me about energy will quickly learn I’m a HUGE fan of offshore wind energy. So this news item in the New York Times caught my eye pretty quick – regulators have approved the US’s first offshore windfarm. As the opponents point out in the article, this is just one of several hurdles that have to be overcome before it becomes reality, but it’s a pretty big one. Several other countries have experimented with this stuff with pretty good successes, so I have a lot of high hopes for US versions.

On a side note, has anyone ever wondered why windmills have three arms? Turns out there’s a good engineering reason behind it all. Slate has a good article talking about the engineering benefits of various designs. The basic punchline is that three blades have the optimal energy output, environmental impact, and manufacturing costs we seek in a good windmill. If manufacturing costs decrease with better processes, two blade systems might make more sense.

Internet Operating System?

Frank — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:22:15 +0000

A couple of days ago, Tim O’Reilly published an interesting piece entitled “The State of the Internet Operating System” I’m not going to say a whole lot about it, other than to say it touched on a lot of areas. He talked about mobile, location based services, platform integration, abstractions, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s an interesting read and I find myself mulling it over more than most other things I read in the tech world. Give it a read. I think it has a lot of applicability in the light of some of the transitions we’re seeing in the geospatial world.

Broadband Stimulus Money Going, Going, Almost Gone!

Frank — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:19 +0000

Ars Technica is reporting that the Obama administration has decided to ramp up the broadband stimulus money outlays into one more round instead of the planned two. The monies appear to be a different pool than what is funding the broadband mapping work, but the article is a tad unclear on that point. All in all around seven billion dollars are being invested, largely to tackle the “last mile” issue in US broadband. Interestingly enough, I think, most of the project seem to be focused upon projects that will help stimulate private companies toward developing that last mile, not so much making the last mile itself. I guess time will tell if this is a good strategy or not.

GPS Starts Failing in 2010?

Frank — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:00:03 +0000

Switched online is reporting an article in the UK’s The Guardian that GPS satellites could begin to fail as early as 2010. They note that the Air Force maintains the satellite network and was supposed to launch the first replacement in 2007… which it promtly didn’t do. The satellites have been up there for up to 20 years, so they’re about due for a replacement. The Guardian is certainly targeted at a more general audience so it’s not suprising they’re missing some details. For instance, there are a LOT of GPS satellites up there, so the loss of a few isn’t the end of the technology. Also, the LANDSAT program proves that satellites are often built “like they use to” as the euphamism goes. Still, it’s a good reminder that a lot of the basic technology infrastructure on which we all rely needs to be maintained every bit as much as roads and bridges.

Broadband Providers Teaming to Outlaw Community Broadband in NC

Frank — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:48:30 +0000

I should start by saying I’m not even going to pretend to not be biased on this issue. The community of Wilson, NC decided that they were tired of paying so much for so little with regard to broadband and cable. So what’s an industrious community who’s tired of their contractor to do? Well do it there darn self, that’s what. Turns out they offered a better product for less than either major cable company could. So what’s a cable company to do? Lobby the state legislature to make that type of stuff illegal! Personally, I’m a big supporter of community broadband, especially in markets where the cable companies don’t want to complete. I find this trend rather flustrating and disappointing. I understand the point about private/public competition, but if the private isn’t willing to compete, why should the public be prohibited by law from doing so?

Media Vehicle – Virtual Reality Mecha Style

Sue — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:28:45 +0000

For those of you who have always wanted to pilot your own giant mecha battle robot, Japanese researchers have taken another step toward the dream with the development of the Media Vehicle (site is in Japanese), which is a pod-like personal VR chamber that envelopes the user in a spherical display with no access to outside stimuli, while leaving the legs free to move. Definitely not for claustrophobics, but it’s still a pretty amazing machine.

Video of the Media Vehicle in action

Via DVICE

Want your own supercomputer – just grab some PS3s!

Sue — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:51:52 +0000

Last year, scientists such as Physics professor Gaurav Khanna of UMass Dartmouth and Frank Mueller, a computer science professor at NC State, made news in tech and scientific circles by creating supercomputing clusters from Sony Playstation 3s. Their clusters have the same computing power as a small supercomputer, but the cost is only around $5000, compared to the millions that supercomputers generally cost.

Now, the new PS3Cluster Guide has become available online, and gives instructions and tips on how you can set up your own supercomputer with PS3s. Written by Khanna and his colleague Chris Poulin, the guide was developed as part of the Cluster Workshop project, which is being partially funded by the National Science Foundation. and was first announced and demonstrated at the 2nd Annual Georgia Tech, Sony/Toshiba/IBM Workshop on Software and Applications for the Cell/B.E. Processor.

So, get your spare change together and start supercomputing!

Via Physorg.com