Spouse For Lease
Maybe not quite the typical geeky news, but I found the concept interesting.
Glamorous Bavarian wants law to allow 7-year itch
Bavaria’s most glamorous politician — a flame-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber — has shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last just 7 years.
Although, I do understand marriage as something lasting, in the light of the number of marriages that go broke today (and the number of couples that do not part although their marriage is broken), I think this could be an interesting idea. Of course there are loads of difficult issues that need to be solved to make this a viable concept, but I don’t think it should be extinguished at this early state.
Tri-Core Chips?
What Are They Thinking?
AMD Bets on Tri-Core Chips as Quad-Core Market Lags
When your larger competitor outguns you financially and can crank out powerful products at blinding speed, you work with the strengths you have. In Advanced Micro Devices’ case, that’s architecture.
On Monday, AMD executives confirmed this weekend’s rumors and admitted that the company will indeed introduce a triple-core microprocessor sometime during the first quarter of 2008.
Ok. I do agree that it looks like quad-core chips are not being adopted very quickly, dual-core seems to work fine for most people. But, last time I checked the whole computer concept was based on binary and not on ternary Math. I wonder how the extra processor will fit into this?!
Anyway, from my point of view the quad-core processors are still simply too expensive. So, if you do not run software that makes use of the extra cores, why would you pay the premium instead of just buying a dual-core processor?
I think the same reasoning applies to tri-core chips. Unless they are cheap I doubt people will go that route. I cannot see AMD coming out ahead unless they have found some type of cheap shortcut to develop that chip, and a cheap way to manufacture it.
Commuting Via “Robot”
I just mention this because I actually work with Ivan:
He writes code, exchanges notes in other developers’ offices, attends meetings and, on occasion, hangs out in the kitchen or lounge over coffee and snacks.
About the only thing he can’t do is drink the coffee or eat the snacks — or touch anything, for that matter.
It’s not that Bowman doesn’t have hands or a mouth; they’re just in Halifax, along with the rest of his body.
Belkin N1 Vision
Belkin’s N1 Vision is one of the coolest wireless routers I’ve ever seen, thanks to its integrated network display which tells you all sorts of interesting statistics about your wireless network. It’s not terribly expensive either (at least not for an 802.11n router with an integrated four-port gigabit switch) at 200USD.
MS DOS 5 Upgrade Video
I remember when MS DOS 5 came out; I thought it was the bee’s knees. And it was, compared to MS DOS 4.01.
Who Needs Traffic Lights And Signs?
Town ditches traffic lights to cut accidents
A town council in Germany has decided the best way of improving road safety is to remove all traffic lights and stop signs downtown. From September 12, all traffic controls will disappear from the center of the western town of Bohmte to try to reduce accidents and make life easier for pedestrians.
I like the idea. Make people more responsible for what they are doing in traffic. If all people involved go about it in a courteous manner I think it will work.
Now, that I find very unlikely…
Photoshop Online, Free?
“Photoshop Express” RIA sneak-peeked today:
Today the crowd at Photoshop World got a quick preview of Photoshop Express, a new application currently in development at Adobe. First hinted at by Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen some six months ago, Photoshop Express isn’t meant to duplicate/replace Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop Elements. Rather, it’s a new member of the Photoshop family that’s meant to make Adobe imaging technology immediately accessible to large numbers of people.
I’ve heard argument after argument that web applications aren’t as powerful as desktop applications because running something like Photoshop in a web browser just doesn’t make sense. Looks like that argument isn’t valid any more.
AMD Quad-Core Processors Released
AMD finally unveils Barcelona chip:
AMD has unveiled its first set of quad-core processors, three months after its original launch date.
Codenamed Barcelona, the much-awaited Opteron quad-core server chip comprises four processing cores on a single piece of silicon, and it is this “complicated” design that resulted in the delay, said AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in an earlier interview.
The delay puts the chip maker a full generation behind its archrival in terms of chip manufacturing processes. Intel’s quad-core processor, which was launched in November last year, melds two of its duo-core processors into a single package.
A lot of people (and AMD especially) are touting that AMD’s quad-core processors are better than Intel’s quad-core processors because AMD’s processors are “native” quad-cores (instead of Intel’s quad-cores which combine two dual-core processors). As an end-user, I don’t really care which design is more elegant, I just care which one is faster (and maybe which one is more efficient).
Apple Adds To The iPod Product Line
Apparently Apple has been re-vamping their iPod product line. A few changes here and there, most notably a new variant with a touch-screen and wi-fi.
Oh, and the iPhone is supposed to come down in price; too bad it is not available around here…
A more complete article can be found on BBC:
Apple overhauls entire iPod line
A touch-screen iPod has been added to Apple’s popular line of portable music players. The gadget also has wi-fi and a web browser on-board so people can buy music when they are out and about.
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