Apple Butter Post 06 Will Only One Netbook Will Rule Them All

One Net Book To Rule Them All

Link: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/10/tablets-eating-netbooks-abroad-not-just-in-us.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

 

TinyURL:  http://tinyurl.com/2ulty2g

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Apple is Really Hoping These Two Will Be 

 

The ONE

Not Everyone Agrees

Link: http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2010/10/20/apple-launches-new-macbook-air-with-old-hardware.aspx

 

TinyURL:   http://tinyurl.com/2cbgp9e

 

 

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Apple Butter Post 05 VLC on the iPad

How VLC on the iPad Illustrates 

iOS' Major Weakness

Link:  http://www.osnews.com/story/23829/How_VLC_on_the_iPad_Illustrates_iOS_Major_Weakness

VLC Portrait

VLC Landscape

Read What It Says:

Connect your iPad to Your Computer...

TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/2e5frvw

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Cydia Picks Up Rock

Cydia and Rock - or SaurikIT, LLC and Rock Your Phone, Inc. - have been existing side-by-side for a while now, both with their own advantages and disadvantages. Now, however, after months of talks, the two have come to an agreement in which Cydia will acquire Rock.

Link: http://www.osnews.com/story/23795/Cydia_Rock_To_Merge

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Apple Butter Post 04 Getting Schooled Again...

Ever Go To Apple U???

Well I've just started taking some MIT Lecture Classes on Linear Algebra with Professor Gilbert Strang.  And I think this is pretty Cool. 

It's like being in a class room all over again.  I test downloaded the first two to see how far over my head it was going to be and I found I could follow it pretty easily. So I went back and got the first 5 lectures downloaded to my iPod Touch 2G.  

At about 40-50 minutes a pop, I can sneak in a lecture when the urge comes to me.

 

I remember trying to sell a TRS-80 presentation to a community college against IBM and Apple.  And I remember being schooled by Apple's presentation back then.  We came in second and IBM got the tail end.

Looks like Apple is Still Schooling Me.

Very Impressive.

Apple Butter Post 03 Core Knowledge of Tree Fruit Expands

Apple Core Genome Sequencing

ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2010) — An international team of scientists from Italy, France, New Zealand, Belgium and the USA have published a draft sequence of the domestic apple genome in the current issue of Nature Genetics.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100829201952.htm

TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/275ld5y

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Apple Butter Post 02 - 250,000 Apple App Store Apps

250,000 Apple App Store Apps and Counting

What Does All That Mean Alfie?

The Big Picture

Link: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/08/28/apple-app-store-250000-and-counting/

TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/37yhemm

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USA Today The First Newspaper to Move to Apple's iPad Delivery System

USA Today plans 'radical' overhaul 

to focus on devices like iPad

Link:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/27/usa_today_plans_radical_overhaul_to_focus_on_devices_like_ipad.html

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What About the Zines???

Some Will Be Free, Most Will Not.

Figuring out magazine subscriptions 

in the iPad age

Link: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/08/figuring-out-magazine-subscriptions-in-the-ipad-age.ars

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Do You Know What Side You Bread is Buttered On?

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Apple Butter Post 01 Which Apple iMac Really Wins

Performance site Bare Feats has compared the performance of Apple's new Core i3, i5, and i7 27 inch iMacs and determined the high end model offers the best performance per dollar.

The report contrasts the performance benchmarks rankings of Cinebench 11 and Geekbench 2 to compare the the $1699 entry level dual core 3.2GHz Core i3 against the midrange $1999 quad core 2.8GHz Core i5 and the high end $2199 quad core 2.93GHz Core i7.

Looks Like a Winner To Me.

Link: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/06/fastest_core_i7_imac_model_rated_best_buy.html

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Blog online publisher fro Google Docs.

If you've read my recent Media Circus 2 Blog where I admitted to screwing up my Ubuntu settings and having to reinstall FC6 (Fedora Core 6). That screw-up also locked me out of my 10 plus Blogs.

Well this Google Docs resource let's me post to my Blog sites from Google.

Blade and HPC (High Performance Computing)

What has been happening in the world of HPC?

A list of the Top Ten Highlights in HPC for 2007 Jan-Jul is Posted Here for a quick look.

Having added a Live and RSS feed button in Firefox lets me view tech/news headlines from hundreds of feeds.

Great plug-in for Firefox.


The plug-in lead me to great new Podcast about HPC called: Meat Cast.

The webpage is at Semi-Coherent Computing on The Register.

The first podcast of Meat Cast had an interview with Chris Hipp, co-founder and CTO of blade server pioneer RLX Technologies..

My simplified explanation of blades is the ubiquitous PCI card of the PC world.
The 1U box compressed the parts of a server into a stackable short box. Need more power? Stack more boxes. The Blade Idea turned the 1U boxes on it's side, compressed them a bit more and plug them into a server box that had multiple slots for power and I/O connections.

The big win for this new form-factor was more computing power for the same space, at a greatly reduced power outlay to power the units.

But, of course, the racks keep getting bigger and bigger.

Power, and cooling seem to be the big road blocks to Supercomputer design.

Some Supercomputers use more POWER than is consumed by some small states.

That is dreadful, and so the door is opening for Green-HPC designs.

The Top 500 Supercomputer List:
(Some quick highlights:)

Clusters remain the most common architecture in the Top500 list. The list has 373 clusters, representing just under three-quarters of all systems. HP Cluster Platform 3000BL and 4000BL systems, based on HP BladeSystem c-Class servers, accounted for 152 entries on the list. HP has the highest number of systems on the list with 40.6 per cent, IBM now has 38.4 per cent, and Dell holds 4.8 per cent, with no other manufacturer having more than five per cent of the systems listed.

Next Up:
I discuss the problems with using GPU's as secondary CPU's and the software snag in utilizing virtualization (the Next Frontier) in HPC and Supercomputers.

Cellphone for Dogs???

Finally, a technology that has found it's audience.

Now All we need is a Cell Phone that's a Dog, oh wait, that's coming in the latter part of June from Apple.....

Dos Possos UPDATE!

The title literally means "Two Steps".

And in computing, expands to: Two steps forward , One step back. We only gain IF we keep moving.

It also subtly refers to the writer John DosPossos. A gifted writer that seemed to be overshadowed by Papa (Ernest Hemingway). That can happen if you stand too close to brighter luminaries. But that doesn't reduce the value of the also-rans.

I remember selling computers (Trs-80's) for Radio Shack. One of my fellow salesmen was a very brilliant "Ham" operator. He was techically more gifted than I was, but I always outperformed him in selling electronics.

Mainly, because he didn't know when to shut up.

He had convinced the customer to buy in the first few minutes, but would invariably scare them away as he continued to "teach them" everything about the gadget.

Overkill, does that All the Time.

I recently read a variation of that in terms of programming. You don't need to collect all the data to a solve a problem. Often times there is just TOO Much.

These are people working on Beowulf Clusters. And they suggest: Close Is Good Enough.

I like that.

Close is often Good Enough.

Hitting The Gibson Brakes

I've mentioned on this weblog a few times that William Gibson is my current favorite author. You have to realize that my upbringing included most of the Sci-Fi greats:(In no particular order) Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury, Huxley (Aldous), and now Gibson. I read and forgot most of Neuromancer, 20 plus years ago. I picked up Pattern Recognition maybe three years ago and was hooked. I guess I wasn't the only one, the movie will be out shortly, directed by Peter Weir.

His descriptive vision of computing functions gets me every time. Those qualities, subdued in PR (above) came to full bloom in his trilogy IDORU, VIRTUAL LIGHT, and ALL TOMORROW'S PARIIES. In the tradition of Star Wars I read them backwards.

I'm 2/3's through Idoru and I've hit the brakes.

It happened with Virtual Light too. I just get to a point where I don't want the story to end. I like this realm Gibson has created, and I want to stay a while. Just a bit longer.

Good story tellers can do that to you.

Gibson is one of them.

Online Books

Good for Google, for fighting the good fight and making "books" available online.

Sure, most people thought it was a good "IDEA", but were too busy trying to think of a way to make money on it. Google finds another, maybe "better" way.

Put it out there, and the audience (do not say market), will find you, IF it's worth it.

Want to know where the AUDIENCE is? Take a glimpse at what Teenage Japanese Girls are doing. They're reading books, (a sentence at a time), on their cell phones.

I've started reading a mini-book (Online), on using Python for working on the 3D Graphics program called Blender. One Linux Desktop for the Book another Linux Desktop for the Blender Program.

Pretty cool.

Feeling Disconnected : No Wires attached

This Last week I delved into the murky waters of Wireless Connectivity on Linux. And even with a fairly recent Distro: Suse 10.0, the results were less than perfect. I must admit the WiFi card WAS a bit dated, but Linux has had wifi plug-ins for some time now, still no-go. For 4 rugged days I was without DSL and the WEB. I do believe it affected my wife more than me. I can always find other things to do with OS technology.

Ethernet cable and the onboard NIC connected and Wham, back in business.

One Step Forward, TWO Steps Back...

Problems at MS OS, again.

This week Microsoft had to inform investors that Vista was being held back until 2007.

It seems the much awaited successor to Windows XP, Windows Vista needed to be reworked.

SlashDot tells us 60% of the code has to be redone. MS PR says that's not true.

Considering the FACT that Vista is ALREADY 2 YEARS Late, this should be considered more than just a Setback, don't you think?

I bet some programming heads at Microsoft are going to roll.

Microsoft did say it would not be pulling programming staff from XBOX 360. Wall Street should applaud that.

I know I do.

The midnight oil should be burning bright (I hate using that word in this context) for the next few months at MS.

Digital Memories are made of This...

Frys AD, Wednesday, March 22, 2006: 2 GB Secure Digital (SD format) for $64.99 - 15.00 mail-in rebate = $49.99.




I paid $39 plus dollars (a few years back) for the 128 MB SD that's in my Vivitar Digital camera. (Incidently, the internal storage of the Vivicam 3705 is 8 MB.)

2 GB is 16X the capacity of the 128 MB for $10.00 more!

And my son is waiting for the 8 GB memory chip to go into his Sony PSP.

As I often say, the "Digital GIG IS UP, WAY UP!"

The Light at the End of The Virtual Tunnel

Almost done with Gibson's "Virtual Light". I slow down towards the end because I really don't want it to end.

Fortunately it's part of a trilogy, that I have been reading in reverse order (don't ask me why...). I may put off the first novel for a while and jump into Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code". I don't like to jump into things that have negative controversy, hence my reluctance in reading "Code". But the Ron Howard/Tom Hanks movie will be out soon and I don't want to be left behind. And I really liked "Digital Fortress" and "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown.

Movies rarely match the impact of the book because it has to compress too much of details. John Grisham's "A Time To Kill" being a perfect example of what hollywood can do to a good book.

That's it for now, time to hit the Books...

I Hate the Word PROJ

Every so often a writer messes with you. Take William Gibson. One of my current favorite writers. I like the way he writes. Kinda like a cross between Faulkner and Hemingway. Not an easy thing to do by the way.
Well, in my latest READ of his Virtual Light, I come across the word : proj, and I don't have a clue about what it means. I know it's street slang for something, but that's it. Even Google couldn't help me, damn. I hate it.

That, by the way is the reason behind the Yahoo Answer button to the right there >--->. I posted my question to the "Group Mind". Good idea. Real people. Real answers. Still waiting for a reasonable answer....

Maybe I should write Mr. Gibson, but I'd hate interfering work on a new novel. I really like the guy, even if some of his words tick me off sometimes.

Okay. I'm stepping off my soapbox for a while.

Two steps.

First On the Block Syndrome

I recall reading an old Byte magazine article (yeah, I've been at this that long) maybe Chaos Manor, and Jerry (or whoever) got the first modem on the block and couldn't call anyone.

I've done that over the years, it is kinda fun to be the first at trying out new technology.

I got the first SuSE 9.1 because it came with 5 + 2 CD-Roms. The +2 CD's were the 64 bit version of the Linux OS. I didn't have a 64 bit machine at the time, and still don't. But I Was First with OS that supported it.

I mention this because today February 9, 2006 I did the same thing. I signed up for a free VOIP account. VOIP stands for Voice Over IP, or Web based telephone access. I don't know anyone who uses VOIP.

That's okay.

I'll be here waiting for them when they do.

Two Steps

Dos Possos can be translated many ways. In spanish, it means literally, two steps. But wait, there's more. In computing it can refer to DOS passing into oblivion (not that I believe that). And, of course, in literature there was John Dos Possos, a writer much forgotten today, but part of the era that produced Hemingway, Faulkner and even Vonnegut.

This blog is dedicated to the small steps needed to get from point A to point B in Language, Shell programming and Literatti (literature et al).

It's for writers and programmers and language, la lingua franca. The frank tongue.

Ciao.