Google Earth

Google Earth is simply amazing... as seen from the webpage
http://earth.google.com/earth.html
but the disadvantage is that you have to download the software

Of course, Microsoft is coming up with its own version, named "Virtual Earth", and MS claims that when it is out, you don't need to download anything.

Supercomputers

You have heard of supercomputers being launched. You know they are faster than the fastest.

But which one is the fastest of them all? IBM’s Blue Gene
Where is it? The fastest supercomputer is installed at DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1150708.cms

Mac vs Windows?

I was thinking of the recent Apple initiative to use Intel chips instead of PPC chips.
and I was also thinking that this may imply that =>
Normal windows users can install Mac OS in future.

Coincidentally, I opened Google News and found this [today]: http://www.geekcoffee.net/archives/2005/06/dell_wants_some.html

Allowing Mac OS to be installed may mean that Windows users can get an Apple experience without getting a new set of hardware, and means that the market share of Mac OS may increase, considering that it is also cheaper than Windows OS.

A search on Amazon.co.uk show that Windows XP Home Edition with SP2 costs £179.99, while Mac 10.4 (Tiger) costs only £74.99.

So.... Linux, Mac, Windows on the same machine running Intel chip? A possibility?

Microsoft asks for help from hackers

REDMOND, Wash.--The random chatter of several hundred Microsoft engineers filled the cavernous executive briefing center recently at the company's sprawling campus outside Seattle.

Within minutes after their meeting was convened, however, the hall became hushed. Hackers had successfully lured a Windows laptop onto a malicious wireless network.

Matt Thomlinson, whose job it is to help make Microsoft engineers create more secure code, noticed that some of the engineers were turning red, becoming obviously angry at the demo hacking incident. Yet as painful as the lesson was, he was glad to see the crowd of engineers taking things personally.

Thomlinson frequently makes similar entreaties to the engineers on the need for secure code, but he said his own lectures don't have the same effect. "It kind of hits people up here," Thomlinson said, pointing to his head. "Things are different when a group of programmers watches their actual code exploited. It kind of hits people in the gut."

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5749234.html

MS Joke

Jean Paoli was bouncing around the offices here in building 18 today. Who's he? One of the co-creators of XML. Why was he happy?Because Office just announced their new file formats all built in XML."We just turned on 400 million new people to XML," he told us.

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=73329

Microsoft Acrylic

http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/

By MS: "Acrylic" is the codename for an innovative illustration, painting and graphics tool that provides exciting creative capabilities for designers working in print, web, video, and interactive media.

From WinXPNews (without highlighting): Microsoft's new rival to graphics programs such as Adobe PhotoShop and Corel PhotoPaint, code named "Acrylic," is now in public beta. It's a graphics manipulation program that has dozens of neat special effects image filters that let you make a photo look like a photocopy, watercolor, stained glass, painting, etc. You can also do all the usual resampling, rotating, adjustment of color, brightness, contrast, etc., layering, and most of the same functions (eh? most? better be all...) that other high-end graphics programs do.

NIST Photon Detectors Have Record Efficiency

http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2005_0602.htm#photon

Sensors that detect and count single photons, the smallest quantities of light, with 88 percent efficiency have been demonstrated by physicists at the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST). This record efficiency is an important step toward making reliable single photon detectors for use in practical quantum cryptography systems, the most secure method known for ensuring the privacy of a communications channel.

Infinity

http://www.verbose.net/
A very cool site...

Why would anyone calculate millions of digits of any irrational number?
The answer is simple and quite universal, it is what we as humans do. We strive to reach the asymptotic limits, even in the face of seeming absurdity.

Creating a Virtual Brain?

The time has come, according to IBM

IBM Computers to Create Virtual Brain

Geeklog

Introducing Geeklog...
Geeklog is a 'blog', otherwise known as a Weblog. It allows you to create your own virtual community area, complete with user administration, story posting, messaging, comments, polls, calendar, weblinks, and more! It can run on many different operating systems, and uses PHP4 and MySQL.
http://www.geeklog.net/