A guide to building your computer
Thursday, March 30, 2006
ExtremeTech's Build It section gives excellent suggestions on what components to choose when building your PC. Very usefull information.
The Smoldering Ruins of Centralia
There is a small town in Pennsylvania called Ashland where Route 61's northbound traffic is temporarily branched onto a short detour. Beyond it lies a town filled with overgrown streets, smoldering earth, and ominous warning signs. It is the remains of the borough of Centralia. Very intersting article to check out!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
KDE 3.5.2 Released
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.5.2, a maintenance release for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
PlayStation 2: Computational Cluster
"The NCSA has constructed a PlayStation 2 Linux cluster as a test bench for scientific computation on "toy" hardware. The cluster consists of 65 compute nodes, 4 user login and development nodes, and 1 prototype node for software installation tests. All the nodes run the Sony Linux distribution for PlayStation 2. The compute nodes fill a 24-inch rack; 5 shelves at 13 per shelf."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Air Car (Video)
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
This is a car that literally runs on air! Great for city driving, and no emmisions.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Possibly the world's largest game collection. (Pics!)
This is the LARGEST video game collection I have ever seen. WOW! Simply amazing!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
How To: Scanning For Viruses Using Knoppix...
"Ridding a network of Windows computers of a virus or worm can seem impossible. Viruses may cause computers to reboot and infect new machines while you are in the process of removing them. Through the use of the live-software installer, Knoppix provides a solution to this catch-22"
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
First Retail holographic Storage!
That long wait for holographic 3-D storage is finally over! A company called in-phase is selling a 515 GB per square inch drive.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Dual Processor vs Dual Core
Will multiple processors or a dual core processor be beneficial to you, and what are the differences between them? These are the questions this article will attempt to lay to rest.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
PC Games to be released in 2006...WOW!
Monday, March 27, 2006
This is a comprehesive list of all promising PC games slated for 2006 release. Many screenshots, Dial up beware.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Wind Power Becoming Cheaper Than Conventional Power
Wind energy power is now cheaper than convention sources in at least two areas: Austin, Texas and Colorado. A newly published report says that this trend is will likely be seen in other parts of the U.S.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
New Evidence For Life On Mars?
A new study of a meteorite that originated from Mars has revealed a series of microscopic tunnels that are similar in size, shape and distribution to tracks left on Earth rocks by feeding bacteria.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Roll Your Own Firewall
A comprehensive user friendly guide to setting up your own firewall on GNU/Linux.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
DeviantArt reaches 20,000,000 deviations.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
DeviantArt is a webpage where you can download wallpapers, skins...
It's where artists meet.
read more | digg story
It's where artists meet.
read more | digg story
We're Too Late to Stop Global Warming
Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us. Another bit of proof that governments are too slow and that Bush should have signed the Kyoto Treaty.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Extreme Technology: Got The Time?
Extreme Technology: Got The Time?
Time travel a reality?
Time travel a reality?
Could Ethiopian skull be missing link?
"Scientists in northeastern Ethiopia said Saturday that they have discovered the skull of a small human ancestor that could be a missing link between the extinct Homo erectus and modern man."
Read more...
Read more...
Increase your productivity in Linux with these incredible tools
Extreme Technology: Extreme Undersea Habitats!
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Extreme Technology: Extreme Undersea Habitats!
An amazing new type of habitat for humans, under the sea! Very interesting.
An amazing new type of habitat for humans, under the sea! Very interesting.
Particle Found to Oscillate Between Matter and Antimatter
Scientists have announced that their data on the properties of a subatomic particle, the B_s meson ("B sub s"), suggest that the particle oscillates between matter and antimatter in one of nature's fastest rapid-fire processes-more than 17 trillion times per second.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Pentagon Putting Lasers on 747's
Laser weapons are still the stuff of science fiction, but the Pentagon is working to change that. One such weapon, now undergoing tests, is the Airborne Laser, a Boeing 747-400F that's being modified to deliver a beam that can knock missile out of the sky.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
What's What in Linux 2.6.16
Here, in detail, is why enterprise developers will love the latest version of Linux. However, this kernel is also the first one to support Toshiba, Sony, and IBM's CELL processor, which is best known as the chip that will power Sony's forthcoming PlayStation 3 game console.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
ATI: We Can Do Physics Better Than AGEIA and NVIDIA
ATI is not too impressed with AGEIA and NVIDIA and is saying it too is capable of performing heavy physics computations on its GPUs. Interesting read.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
What is your CPU's Max Temp?
A good reference for you overclockers, here is an old but useful list of CPU's and their max operating temps. It goes all the way back to the AMD K5 processors and Intel 486 (not that many users have those anymore).
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Computer and programming books
Extreme Technology: Extreme Superyacht!
Friday, March 24, 2006
Extreme Technology: Extreme Superyacht!
The name says it all...
The name says it all...
London 'under water by 2100' as Antarctica crumbles into the sea
DOZENS of the world's cities, including London and New York, could be flooded by the end of the century, according to research which suggests that global warming will increase sea levels more rapidly than was previously thought.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
British To Flight Test 5,600 MPH ScramJet
"If everything goes to plan, the experiment will begin at a height of 35km. As the engine continues its downward path the fuel in the scramjet is expected to automatically ignite."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Thinking about installing Win XP on your Mac? Read this.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
For everyone out there excited about the prospect of dual booting Windows XP on your Mac you may be interested in reading this review from MacWorld. The article walks through the pros and cons and talks about some of the mistakes along the way. I'd say required reading if you actually want to try this.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
PhysX Card (footage of pc GRAW with/without card)
Short animation of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for PC using a PhysX graphics card. Looks like the $300 you spent on that card is beginning to pay off, starting with GRAW. Some really insane power there.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
B# - A programming language for embedded systems applications
"Because B# has its roots in the C family of languages, it will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and C# programmers...the B# language caters to the embedded systems programmer with efficient boxing/unboxing conversions, multi-threading statements..."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Dell finalizes Alienware deal
ATI Introduces first 1GB Graphics Accelerator
ATI has recently released information on its upcoming FireGL V7350. The card features and amazing 1 gigabyte of GDD3 Memory with a workstation graphics accelerator. All its features combined, "result in floating point processing power that exceeds a 3GHz Pentium processor by a staggering seven times."
Read more...
Read more...
Windows Vista delayed...
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Apparently, Windows Vista has been delayed (again) untill 2007. I have yet to find a good article on the topic, but I will post one as soon as I find it.
A Linux desktop fairy tale
Just read... then judge...
NVIDIA SLI Physics Technology
After you thought NVIDIA couldn't cram any more technology into its GPUs, they come up with this. NVIDIA SLI Physics. Yeah, thats right, physics... Here are 2 articles on the topic:
Article 1 (from [H] Enthusiast)
Article 2 (from Adrian's Rojak Pot)
Article 1 (from [H] Enthusiast)
Article 2 (from Adrian's Rojak Pot)
OpenBSD needs a major donor
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
OpenBSD (and as a result, OpenSSH) has lost and is losing some serious cash - to the tune of $20k per year for the last two years. If this continues, their hackathon won't happen this year. Surely the *nix community as a whole sees the value of OpenSSH. It's time to digg into those wallets people!! Help support OpenBSD and OpenSSH!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Next-Gen Linux Game Roundup
Here's a round-up of several next-generation Linux games. These games feature modern graphics and innovative gameplay that'll keep you coming back for more.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
PC Upgrade Planning: 2006 Edition from ExtremeTech
ExtremeTech has release their PC Upgrade Planner with a look into the future of CPUs, RAM, and GPUs.
A (Re)-Introduction to JavaScript
This is a re-introduction to JavaScript by Simon Willison.
Why a re-introduction? Because JavaScript has a reasonable claim to being the world's most misunderstood programming language.
read more | digg story
Why a re-introduction? Because JavaScript has a reasonable claim to being the world's most misunderstood programming language.
read more | digg story
MIT Light Detector May Speed Up Interplanetary Communications
Monday, March 20, 2006
MIT researchers have developed a tiny light detector that may allow for super-fast broadband communications over interplanetary distances. Currently, even still images from other planets are difficult to retrieve.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Linux 2.6.16 kernel released
A Closer Look at Intel's Advanced Liquid Cooling Technology
An in-depth review from hardwaresecrets.com with lots of pictures and diagrams of how it works.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
interview with XP on Mac winner
interview with Jesus Lopez (Otherwise known as blanka) who was part of the 2 man team that successfully got Windows XP to install and run on an Intel Mac. from ATAU
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
1000 Suns From Huge Concentrating Dish
The dish is 4,300 square feet, but the actual solar panel part is only 3 inches by 3 inches! This will soon be tested by the National Solar Energy Center in Israel.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
NASA Columbia Supercomputer pictures!
What Windows Vista will do for PC gaming
Sunday, March 19, 2006
The launch of Windows Vista will not only fatten the pockets of Gates, but it will also bring with it DirectX 10. "It will offer six to eight times the graphics performance of DirectX 9.0"
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
WinXP and OSX dual boot in MacBook Pro
This person has managed to dual boot Windows XP and OSX on a MacBook Pro. He claims the process was quite simple and tells you about any errors he did encounter. Links to the original HOW-TO and downloads are also encluded on the site.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Fedora Core 5 Final Screencast
Although not officially announced yet, Fedora Core 5 is available. LinClips has a screencast (video) of the release!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
IBM follows Novell with big Australian Linux contract
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Following the announcement last week of a big Linux contract signed by Novell with the New South Wales government, IBM has gone down the same path.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Farcry: AMD 64-bit vs. 32-bit
Mouse-over the images to see the difference in Farcry graphics with a 64-bit processor, and a 32-bit processor. Big difference!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
One Week
This is the official one week anniversary of this Just Another Tech Blog!
Novell Linux Xgl Technology Demonstration
Rare 1972 Documentary on ARPAnet
I seldom-seen look at the beginnings of the Internet we know and love. Watch the architects of ARPAnet explain what it is and what they envisioned for the future of ARPAnet and networks as a whole.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
PS3 to ship with Linux - Official
...In addition to running Linux from its hard-drive, the PS3 is expected to be available with various Linux-based productivity packs that turn the game into a computing appliance for special applications such as digital video editing.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Ruby Cheatsheet
A cheatsheet for Ruby, with language elements, regex and important library functions (png and pdf). I have no idea how to program with Ruby but this may help others that do. : )
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
How to write a Makefile
"make is a utility that automates the process of converting files from one form to another, doing dependency tracking and invoking external programs to do additional work as needed. Its dependency tracking is very simple and centers on using the modification time of the input files."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Fedora Core 5 Released
It seems as though Fedora has released the next installment of Fedora Core three days early. On the Fedora Forums, there's a link to an ftp server servering isos for the x86_64 and i386 DVD versions.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Math For Programmers: It Isn't As Hard As You Think
Friday, March 17, 2006
"They teach math all wrong in school. Way, WAY wrong. If you teach yourself math the right way, you'll learn faster, remember it longer, and it'll be much more valuable to you as a programmer."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Code to Run XP on Mac May Become Open Source
The momentous achievement by narf2006 and blanka may soon be available to everyone! After successfully getting Windows XP to boot on a Mac, the team won Colin Nederkoorn's unofficial contest (and about $13800). The winner's code can be downloaded from www.onmac.net.
Read more.
Read more.
Is our universe about to be mangled?
The parallel universes suggested by Quantum Theory may not be parallel at all, but interacting! This could have some disastrous consequences, such as the destruction of our universe as we know it!
Read more.
Read more.
Smart Cars: Coming to the U.S.
One of my favorite cars from Europe is finally coming to the US! I can't wait to see them on the streets of America. The Smart Car gets 60 mpg and can reach speeds of 85 miles per hour, and will range in price from $15,000 to $25,000 fully loaded. But, is it safe with all these huge SUVs driving about?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
SuSE 10.1 Beta8 Released
The eighth beta of SuSE 10.1 has been released. As with every beta release, there are some known bugs still to be fixed and others that have been fixed since the last beta. Links to the torrents of ISOs are available.
Proving How The Universe Was Born
Physicists announced Thursday that they now have the smoking gun that shows the universe went through extremely rapid expansion in the moments after the big bang, growing from the size of a marble to a volume larger than all of observable space in less than a trillion-trillionth of a second.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
The $1000 Graphics Card! (pics)
The GeForce 7900GX2 1024MB adaptor sports a 500MHz core clock with 1.2GHz DDR3 memory support! Casual gamers "need not apply".
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Build a Quiet Gaming System
This article of off Extreme Tech shows you how to build a very quiet gaming system. Don't be fooled, the system specs are still stelar with an FX-57, 2gigs of over clocked Corsair RAM, and an nVidia 7900GTX. This is thing is supposed to be so quiet, you can't hear it from over a meter away.
Read more...
Read more...
Automatix kicks Ubuntu into gear
Automatix installs a laundry list of applications, plugins, and utilities that are supposed to turn a barebone Ubuntu install into desktop perfection. You can pick and choose what you want to install, and in a couple seconds, you'll have it !
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
ATI Radeon X1900 XTX CrossFire and Nvidia GeForce 7900 GTX SLI
This is an excellent comparision on gamespot of the most powerful graphics cards on the market, the ATI Radeon X1900 XTX (dual in CrossFire) and the nVidia GeForce7900GTX (dual in SLI). The two cards battle each other out in the most demanding games and 3Dmark05. Who won? Well, nVidia's 7900GTX of course, but ATI's X1900 XTX put up a very tough fight. See the stats, read the article.
It can be done! Windows XP on a Mac!!!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
narf2006 has proven victorious! He has succesfully made Windows XP boot on an Intel-based Mac.
GNOME 2.14 Released
Gnome 2.14 was released today. It contatins a lot of new features including the inclusion of Beagle which is a clone of spotlight for OS X. Another new feature is the abilty to switch users quickly and without having to log out, again a clone of Windows XP fast user switiching. Although it makes it more like Windows and OS X, its all open source
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
World of Warcraft player banned for using logitech keyboard
A World of Warcraft player was banned from the game for using Logitech's new gaming keyboard. The keyboard allows you to program macro's that can make playing the game easier.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Africa Spilitting Apart, New Ocean Forming
Normally new rivers, seas and mountains are born in slow motion. The Afar Triangle near the Horn of Africa is another story. A new ocean is forming there with staggering speed...
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Power Consumption and the Modern Geek
Just how much power does a modern PC draw? What about the other gear around your house? When your monthly power bill arrives, don't be surprised at how high it is.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
A First Look at Fedora Core 5
This is a look at the latest from Fedora, Fedora Core 5. The Fedora distribution is one of the most widely used GNU/Linux distributions and is the community driven effort of Red Hat Linux.
A Mixed Reality Interface - Very amazing concept!
Check out this video, it shows an interface where in realtime 3D animated objects on a screen interact with the users.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Funny mock up of Windows
An environment in which you actually laugh at the flaws of windows instead of wanting to hurt something.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Dell denies Alienware acquisition
According to CNET.com.au, Dell has effectively denied rumours that it's acquired rival PC vendor Alienware, suggesting that all speculation should be taken "with a grain of salt".
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Dell Acquires Alienware
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Looks like Dell will be selling AMD systems afterall, through Alienware that is. Reports comfirm the deal has gone down and is closed. This is a truely sad day.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
AMD surpases intel in valves latest hardware survay
Black holes: The ultimate quantum computers?
Nearly all of the information that falls into a black hole escapes back out, a controversial new study argues. The work suggests that black holes could one day be used as incredibly accurate quantum computers...
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Linux LiveCD with XGL running
Monday, March 13, 2006
LiveCD of Kororaa Linux with a demo of the upcoming XGL graphics technology for the Linux desktop. Finally Linux catches up with OSx and blows past windows!
Screenshots and torrent file in the link!
read more | digg story
Screenshots and torrent file in the link!
read more | digg story
Icy "super-Earth" found around faraway star
Quad-Core Processors from Intel
The processor giant Intel claims that it will have Quad-Core processors for desktops and servers ready by 2007. I wonder what AMD will have out by then. Probably something that will once again beat Intel straight up... like usual.
Story from DailyTech.
The code of this blog
Today I was fiddling around with the XHTML and HTML code of this blog and made some improvements (or at least I would call them that). The nice rainbow text java script came from JavaScript Kit and actually helped me familiarize myself just a bit with the cool world of JavaScript. I really learned a lot, though, from dissecting the XHTML used in code of this blog. After re-writing the code drastically, I decided the page looked too busy and cluttered so I narrowed it down. All I used was the nice little image of Tux in the header with a hyperlink to Linux.org and the javascript mentioned above. Still, I think this adds a little character to the page and gives it a more home-pagey (ha, what a word) feel. Enjoy!
Applications and Linux
I keep Windows XP on one of my hard drive for use with some applications that just won't run under Linux or arn't substitutable. One of these programs is Google Earth. I love Google Earth, and find it one of the most ingenious peices of software out there. But why must I switch to my Windows hard drive just to use one application? Why doesn't Google come out with a version of Google Earth for Linux? Why must things be this way? I was suprised that Google didn't offer any of their software for use under Linux. Google is a large Open Source supporter and all their servers run on a stripped down Linux Kernel. I realize there are ways to install Google Earth on Linux using WINE (see here), but not everyone can do that. I think more companies should start offering Linux versions of their products. Doesn't the future lie in Open Source anyway?
5 things Ruby on Rails offers that Java + MVC + ORM doesn't
A list of 5 reasons Ruby on Rails really appeals to Java web developers and the list doesn't include blocks/closures or hitting refresh in your browser while developing.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Unix commands, tips, and quick reference
DOS to UNIX Comparison, UNIX Tips, and UNIX commands in alpha order, File management, Job Control, vi *commands*. In quick reference form.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
An Engineer's Guide to The Matrix
A no-symbology, no-pseudo-philosophical explanation / backstory of the Matrix movies from a programmer's perspective.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
The personal supercomputer - 16 cores under your desk
Think eight dual-core processors, 64gb (yes, GB) of RAM, but whisper quiet sitting under your desk. It's meant for researchers and scientists, but hey, so were all computers originally... (via Gizmodo)
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
The Most Intense Solar Storm In Fifty Years Is Coming
It's official: Solar minimum has arrived. Sunspots have all but vanished. Solar flares are nonexistent. The sun is utterly quiet.
"The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.
read more | digg story
"The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.
read more | digg story
Knoppix 5
About SuSE Linux 10.0
Sunday, March 12, 2006
After writing the below post, I thought I might share this article from the same website about the current stable SuSE 10.0 (which happens to be the version I use). It includes EVERYTHING you need to know about SuSE 10.0 and more!
SUSE 10.1 Beta 6 Report
This is a report from tuxmachines.org on the new SuSE 10.1 beta 6. It goes over the usual bugs and new features of the release along with some nice screenshots. I thought this was very interesting since I currently use SuSE 10.0 (which I love). Once a more stable version comes out that fixes the partioner bug, I will give this release a try.
Whisky PC
For many of you, this may be old news, but I just noticed this simply ingenious "case." Someone has actually managed to fit a computer in a whisky bottle! Wow. I am very impressed. Check it out.
Installing Slax on a USB stick
This little walkthrough shows you how to easily put Slax linux on a USB stick. I havn't tried this myself for lack of a USB stick to sacrifice, but it seems quite simple. Try it, tell me how it goes.
Forbes Richest People in the World
Forbes released its anual World's Billionaires report. Of course, topping the list was Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway). There were some new faces too and much more money involved. There are now 793 people on the list, worth a combined $2.6 Trillion. The average billionaire has a net worth of about $3.3 Billion.
What Programming Languages You Should Actually Care to Learn
This is probably my favorite tour of the popular languages we all hear debates about and which ones are actually worth their steam. It includes C, C++, Lisp, Java, Perl, Ruby, and Python.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
ac3d
Among other things today, I downloaded and installed ac3d, a 3D modeling program, for Linux. The installation, if you can call it that, was very simple. All I had to do was tar -xzvf the .tgz file and then switch to the new directory to run ac3d. My first impressions of the program were that it had a nice, simple interface (although the aesthetics seem to be lacking) and easily accessible tools. After fiddling around with it for a while, I started to like what I was using. Overall, the feel of the whole program was very smooth and simple. I am by no means a 3D modeling expert, but I feel this could be a very useful program in the real world. Sadly, the demo version only lasts 14 days and the real program costs about $60, so I don't see this application in my future, but perhaps it could be in yours! Try it out.
Three cosmic enigmas, one audacious answer
An article in NewScientist tells about audacious new idea that may do away with black holes... for ever!
Music based on the stock market and algorithms?
A band named Emerald Suspension has released an album called Playing the Market that is based on algorithms such as the Fibonacci sequence, the stock market, and economic indicators. Very interesting...
Post originally from Slashdot
What is UNIX?
A question many people have asked before, what exactly is UNIX? This article explains everything very well and proves an interesting read. Enjoy!
Google - A Rare Look At How They Do It
Ever wonder how Google stays so reliable and quick? Did you know that they use a stripped down version of Red Hat? Did you know they built their own file system? This article explains it all.
read more | digg story
A Guide to Understanding /Proc, the Linux Information Location
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Many Linux users don't understand how much information the /proc file system provides, this simple guide covers the basics of understanding your Linux computer.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Alienware
Alienware is a name that has always been associated with top-quality and performance computers. Recently, I was looking around their website and happened to notice their new ALX system with quad nVidia graphics cards. Being the computer nerd that I am, I immediatly configured a system. WOW, was all I was thinking. The new 7900GTX Graphics Cards from nVidia (see here) are simply amazing. I can't even begin to imagine what 2gigs of video memory will do for gaming. If I had the money, I would much rather spend $13000 on a computer than on a car any day. Here is a link to customize the Alienware ALX with Quad SLI.
The Quantum Computer that Dosn't Run
A couple of weeks ago I recieved a very interesting email from my dad about an article in NewScientist. It was about a quantum computer that... doesn't run? Well, I though, this has got to be interesting. So I read....
Even for the crazy world of quantum mechanics, this one is twisted. A
quantum computer program has produced an answer without actually running.
The idea behind the feat, first proposed in 1998, is to put a quantum
computer into a “superposition”, a state in which it is both running and
not running. It is as if you asked Schrödinger's cat to hit "Run".
With the right set-up, the theory suggested, the computer would
sometimes get an answer out of the computer even though the program did
not run. And now researchers from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign have improved on the original design and built a
non-running quantum computer that really works.
They send a photon into a system of mirrors and other optical devices,
which included a set of components that run a simple database search by
changing the properties of the photon.
The new design includes a quantum trick called the Zeno effect. Repeated
measurements stop the photon from entering the actual program, but allow
its quantum nature to flirt with the program's components - so it can
become gradually altered even though it never actually passes through.
"It is very bizarre that you know your computer has not run but you also
know what the answer is," says team member Onur Hosten.
This scheme could have an advantage over straightforward quantum
computing. "A non-running computer produces fewer errors," says Hosten.
That sentiment should have technophobes nodding enthusiastically.
Even for the crazy world of quantum mechanics, this one is twisted. A
quantum computer program has produced an answer without actually running.
The idea behind the feat, first proposed in 1998, is to put a quantum
computer into a “superposition”, a state in which it is both running and
not running. It is as if you asked Schrödinger's cat to hit "Run".
With the right set-up, the theory suggested, the computer would
sometimes get an answer out of the computer even though the program did
not run. And now researchers from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign have improved on the original design and built a
non-running quantum computer that really works.
They send a photon into a system of mirrors and other optical devices,
which included a set of components that run a simple database search by
changing the properties of the photon.
The new design includes a quantum trick called the Zeno effect. Repeated
measurements stop the photon from entering the actual program, but allow
its quantum nature to flirt with the program's components - so it can
become gradually altered even though it never actually passes through.
"It is very bizarre that you know your computer has not run but you also
know what the answer is," says team member Onur Hosten.
This scheme could have an advantage over straightforward quantum
computing. "A non-running computer produces fewer errors," says Hosten.
That sentiment should have technophobes nodding enthusiastically.
Linus Torvalds Forbes Interview
In an interview via e-mail with Forbes, Torvalds discusses GPLv3,
digital rights management and sharks with laser beams.
Linus indicated he wouldn't adopt a new version of the license under which Linux is distributed. Torvalds' opinion matters because his program is by far the most popular open source program in the world.
read more | digg story
digital rights management and sharks with laser beams.
Linus indicated he wouldn't adopt a new version of the license under which Linux is distributed. Torvalds' opinion matters because his program is by far the most popular open source program in the world.
read more | digg story
Why People Like Linux
Here is an interesting story on why people like Linux. Surprisingly, a large survey sample found people liked Linux for its user experience, because it's challenging and fun to learn and reasons not related to Microsoft.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Shuttleworth Proposes Delaying Ubuntu Dapper
Update! Possible delay of Ubuntu Dapper. From Shuttleworth in an email dated March 10 20:23:31 GMT 2006, "I'm writing to propose a six week delay in the release date of Dapper, in order to do additional validation, certification, localisation, and polish."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Ubuntu 6.04 Dapper Drake (Flight-5) is released today
A look at the latest Ubuntu! Everything looks very promising. Great new theme and icons. The ISO files should be released soon.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
What is this blog?
This is just another Linux blog set up by a teenager obsessed with computers who hopes to one day become an icon in the tech world. Enjoy!
