Dell to offer Linux on laptops ...this time it may actually!

This has been considered a number of times, then removed from consideration, and then re-considered again by many like Dell, hp and IBM (Lenovo). It is being considered again. So what's new?...... This time the customers have asked for it and, in by no means a small measure. Dell was flooded with requests at DellIdeaStorm for Linux as a pre-installed OS option in their OS offerings. This time this may actually happen ...

10th March 2007: HP to beat Dell with Linux-loaded PCs?
14th March 2007: OpenOffice Openly Courting Dell

Reuters [Via] Engadget

Quantum Computer to be launched next week

I hope this does not turn out to be another steorm -- The perpetual machine thing remember. Anyway, the brief excitement will do for me today

D-Wave Systems is building a 'quantum' computer to solve intractable real-world problems. The secret: cooling the chip to -269 C with liquid helium.
Technology Review

...a quantum computer next week that can carry out 64,000 calculations at the same time in parallel "universes".
The Inquirer

SlashDot

Red Had advertisement - Truth Happens

This video started a train of thought. I think I read the following in a magazine called "The Week" some years back. But, am not sure so I may be off on some details. Since, it is quite old try to read it in the "old times" context, not in the current political scenario.

Once a General of some country visited America. The American General showed him around their facilities and even showed him around their research base somewhere in Nevada. The other General asks the American General - "Don't you consider this a security threat. That is me seeing all this". The American General replies "Our openness is our strength".

Open source is no different. "We have nothing to hide" its open. This is how it is. A friend of mine once pointed out - then why do they hide behind the GPL (LGPL, APL etc for that matter... makes you wonder about his intent). Well, there is foolishness and there is strength. Giving away research (and weapons) as charity will eventually lead to those being used against yourself. Without GPL someone can just borrow some open source code make some small changes and claim it to be his own work (and "close source" it). The person who creates it tosses and turns in bed because, now, he is excluded from the growth of his own creation.

The foundation of open source is to bring together honest interest and participation in creating something great. More over, one may not be free enough to show off one's skills on a payroll. There are business models around open source, but the motivation may just be a reward unmatched by any other - Fun (2).



Watch this video. The comments on YouTube are interesting too. Especially the analogy of the cake recipe does a good job.

Is GPL enforceable? Yes, it is. There have been some interesting precedents. I learn't of this during a presentation by Herald Welte in Linux Bangalore. There are couple of interesting cases you can read about at GNU Monks and GPL Violations.

Sexy Lamborghini Gallardo Promo Video

Lord I have sinned , but, I give a damn.

DIY 2: Chemistry: Potassium Permanganate + Glycerine = Exothermic reaction cool (I mean Hot)

Typical military survival kits usually have a vial of potassium permanganate. It can be used to purify water in dilute solutions, as a disinfectant when used in concentrated solutions and a marker for signaling in snow. But, it can serve one more purpose that of a firestarter. When a fine granules of potassium permanganate are rubbed with sugar or glycerine the result is an exothermic reaction. Using it in an actual survival situation, I reckon are slim. If you have access to potassium permanganate in a survival situation. It is most likely that it is, because, it was part of a survival kit. In that case you definitely have other more convenient means of starting a fire. But, sometimes just knowing a possibility exists can be a lifesaver.

14 KMnO4 + 4 C3H5(OH)3 --> 7 K2CO3 + 7 Mn2O3 + 5 CO2 + 16 H2O + Heat

Okay so what does one need to do this:
Potassium Permanganate
glycerine
glass bowl (just for effect ;-))

that's all.

Oracle 10g

Organizing my folders I came across this diagram I made sometime back to give some newbies an overview and a quick start in oracle administration. Been sometime since I have done some real admin or database work. So, don't know if this is valid, updated or even useful anymore. But, what the heck I am putting it up here. If nothing much I may look at it over and over again and decide to update it. Or may be get some constructive criticism.

Patrick Stewart on Top Gear

Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS enterprise on Top Gear.



Via TechEBlog

Pepe Le Pew

Not blogged in a while. Am just bogged down with plenty of work right now. In the meanwhile feast yourself on these Pepe Le Pew videos I came across on YouTube. One of my favorite Looney Tunes character.



and here's another one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPmqaoBG23Y

Knowledge repository of an Advanced civilization

CAUTION: Random wandering thoughts below.

Science fiction movies, that talk about advanced alien civilizations, sometimes have a mention of them having their whole "advanced technological information" and "Knowledge" in some supercomputer's "holographic/crystal memory unit". Well if we appeared like an alien advanced civilization to some other intelligent species I think our worlds most comprehensive knowledge repository would be the Internet. A decentralized repository of human knowledge. I think it would have been very difficult to think this way before Google came along and "the way" it made this knowledge accessible. The most comprehensive index of the web. I heard mentioned that, this requires enormous amounts of power and the facility itself is huge. Squeezing out performance and memory under the constraints of power and size based on the limitations of current technology is a huge challenge for Google. Typical constraints:

Power density: Currently Fossil fuel based + some solar power planned (about 30%)
Memory density: Chip Fabrication technologies/HDD densities.
Current computational "capacities"
Connections: Network Bandwidths

If one could some day have some "crystal lattices" storing all of Google's cached pages one could possibly carry the whole human knowledge in ones pocket. Imagine that. Assuming of course, one caches complete pages with multimedia content and all during crawling and the time when almost anything worth knowing is published online.


Structure: It is interesting to see how typically "information and knowledge" structures start showing a certain amount of similarity when viewed from a suitable level of abstraction - Our own network of neurons compared to the network structure of the web. Why such an ad hoc network of connection instead of say the very well structured "structure" of typical main memory chips. Could the answer be - Unplanned unstructured nature of information and knowledge leading to hurried physical structures to contain these?



So the physical structure does take the form of the "untouchable" knowledge it stores. Wrong very wrong. The physical network structures (connections) rarely mimic the knowledge structures (connections).For Example

- The physical network connections of the web compared to the hyper links that connect the the pages (or knowledge) together.
- Different areas of the brain can take up different functions when need arises.

Physical structures are motivated by different constraints than knowledge structures.
That sounds obvious, so what is my point here?

There is a very loose form follows function here too. It may happen that knowledge of a particular nature, finds itself relocated to suitable physical areas and those physical areas reinforced, to better suit knowledge of that particular nature. So, typically different parts of the brain are loosely concerned with different aspects of our functioning. Long term memory area I bet will be having a lots of resonating neural circuits. In nature this knowledge "migration" to suitable areas happened through the process of natural selection.

The point I am trying to get at is that organization of knowledge and the structures that hold that knowledge has to come about eventually both in nature and civilizations.


Pics from:
http://www.greenspine.ca/en/dissociated_culture.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

Concept car I would love and one concept I would hate to see go into production

Recently I saw pictures of Lamborghini Miura Concept 2008 floating around. Miura was one good looking car. Well it may make a come back if this concept arouses enough interest. Audi's buying over of Lamborghini kind of makes it hard to think of the original Wild Lamborghini as it used to be... but still.

Porsche on the other hand is planning a four seater sedan - the Porsche Panamera. Come on Porsche don't take this direction. Imagine Ferrari producing a sedan it would kill Ferrari. By the way, I deliberately said Ferrari here because they did build one hatchback Ferrari sedan (Ferrari 456 GTA Venice Estate) for the Sultan of Brunei. But, that was an exception more than the rule for one occasion. My point here is, that, like McLaren concentrated on only one car at a time, what kept these super cars super was their focussed attention to a few speedy wild models. I don't think one will be able to look at Porsche with the same respect after they have a line of sedans. Now here's how I view some of the Super Cars

Ferrari - A toned down version of God (In the words of Jeremy Clarkson)
Lamborghini - A toned down version of the Devil
Porsche - Ultimate limit of practical reality and engineering.
McLaren - God

Bugatti Veyron - A serious Joke

Now imagine a Lambo sedan. You should be struck with lightning for even letting the thought cross your mind. (hmmm ... what is that smell. I smell bacon)


Finally, believe it or not McLaren may be planning a comeback. Sweet real sweet.

didigo's USB Flash Drive with Bi-Stable Cholesteric LCD

Talking about USB flash memory sticks, I already mentioned HAL 9000 usb memory unit.

Scanning blog sites I came across this neat looking memory stick. Definitely warrants a mention. This sports a Bi-Stable - Cholesteric LC display (translated: A liquid crystal display capable of holding on to the image without power and without refresh for a long time - no batteries required). I'll say this appears to be the neatest memory stick I have seen so far (if you are not too finicky like me about the size i.e.). Do check this out.
via Engadget
mfgr site: didigo