tatsujin - Slashdot User

Multicore Requires OS Rework, Windows Expert Says 631

Posted by timothy on Sunday March 21, 2010 @07:48PM from the ok-let's-split-up dept.

alphadogg writes "With chip makers continuing to increase the number of cores they include on each new generation of their processors, perhaps it's time to rethink the basic architecture of today's operating systems, suggested Dave Probert, a kernel architect within the Windows core operating systems division at Microsoft. The current approach to harnessing the power of multicore processors is complicated and not entirely successful, he argued. The key may not be in throwing more energy into refining techniques such as parallel programming, but rather rethinking the basic abstractions that make up the operating systems model. Today's computers don't get enough performance out of their multicore chips, Probert said. 'Why should you ever, with all this parallel hardware, ever be waiting for your computer?' he asked. Probert made his presentation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Universal Parallel Computing Research Center."

Researchers Store Optical Data In Five Dimensions 239

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 20, 2009 @04:50PM from the don't-forget-time dept.

Al writes "Researchers from Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, Australia, have developed an optical material capable of storing information in five dimensions. Using three wavelengths and two polarizations of light, the Australian researchers were able to write six different patterns within the same area. The material is made up of layers of gold nanorods suspended in clear plastic that has been spun flat onto a glass substrate and multiple data patterns can be written and read within the same area in the material without interference. The team achieved a storage density of 1.1 terabytes per cubic centimeter by writing data to stacks of 10 nanorod layers."

100 Years Ago, No Free Broadband Pneumatic Tubes 293

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 16, 2008 @03:38PM from the when-brooklyn-was-a-considerable-city dept.

TheSync writes "The Division of Labour blog spotlights a report written 100 years ago by a commission appointed by the Postmaster General, that came to the conclusion: 'That it is not feasible and desirable at the present time for the Government to purchase, to install, or to operate pneumatic tubes.' Here is a scan of the original NYTimes article. If only we had gotten the free government Intertubes in 1908!"

New Generator Boosts Wind Turbine Efficiency 50% 315

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 18, 2008 @03:30PM from the reap-the-whirlwind dept.

MagnetDroid writes "A startup company based in Vancouver has developed a new kind of generator that could harvest much more energy from the wind. The design could not only lower the cost of wind turbines but increase their power output by 50 percent to as much as 100 percent, in some locations. Normally, when wind speeds drop, a turbine's engine becomes less efficient. The new engine, from ExRo Technologies, runs efficiently over a wider range of conditions. The design replaces a mechanical transmission with what amounts to an electronic one. Magnets attached to a rotating shaft create a current, but individual coils can be turned on and off electronically at different wind speeds." The company will begin field-testing a small, 5KW wind turbine by early next year.

40 Years Ago, the US Lost a Nuclear Bomb 470

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 11, 2008 @09:07AM from the chrome-dome-down dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "A BBC investigation has found that in 1968 the US abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland after a nuclear-armed B52 crashed on the ice a few miles from Thule Air Base. The Stratofortress disintegrated on impact with the sea ice and parts of it began to melt through to the fjord below. The high explosives surrounding the four nuclear weapons on board detonated without setting off the nuclear devices, which had not been armed by the crew. The Pentagon maintained that all four weapons had been 'destroyed' and while technically true, investigators piecing together fragments from the crash could only account for three of the weapons. Investigators found that 'something melted through ice such as burning primary or secondary.' A subsequent search by a US submarine was beset by technical problems and, as winter encroached and the ice began to freeze over, the search was abandoned. 'There was disappointment in what you might call a failure to return all of the components,' said a former nuclear weapons designer at the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory. 'It would be very difficult for anyone else to recover classified pieces if we couldn't find them.'"

Google To Digitize Millions of Old Newspaper Pages 201

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday September 09, 2008 @02:37AM from the all-the-news-that-fits-we-print dept.

hhavensteincw writes "On Monday Google detailed new plans to digitize millions of newspaper pages with articles, photographs, and headlines intact so they can be accessed and searched online. 'Around the globe, we estimate that there are billions of news pages containing every story ever written,' Google said in a blog post. 'It's our goal to help readers find all of them, from the smallest local weekly paper up to the largest national daily.' For example, Google noted the availability of an original article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 1969 about the landing on the moon." When you search the news archive for, e.g., "Chicago fire" or "Rosenberg trial," a significant fraction of the result pages cost money to view.

Comment Re:non-typing related problems (Score 1) 200

by tatsujin on Wednesday April 26, 2006 @01:46PM (#15206183) Attached to: Google Staff MD on Carpal Tunnel & RSI

Thanks for the pointers. Yeah, I sometimes wake up with a hand completely asleep. I did try a kind of rigid protection "thingie" to prevent bending of the wrist, e.g. during sleep. However, my experience that it actually worsened the symptoms. Maybe I'll try some elbow bending prevention stuff also. Having an "insider" is probably a good thing in these matters. :)

Futurama Returns 386

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday March 19, 2006 @11:07AM from the good-news-everyone dept.

riflemann writes "Another 26 episodes of Futurama will shortly go into production! This news comes from none other than Billy West (voice of Fry) himself, in a short post to his own message board. No further details are available, except that it's likely to be on TV, not straight to DVD." The best news is that means fresh quotes for slashteam to hide in the source code.

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