Feb 08
For many years advances in computers and electronics have been driven by Moore’s Law that states that the number of transistors per square inch doubles roughly every 18 months. People have been ready to give up on Moore’s Law. Numerous editorials have been written about Moore’s law being dead. In scenes that mimic Monty Python we may be hearing the moribund law whispering “I’m not dead, I think I’ll go for a walk”. According to news.com:
T.C. Chen, vice president of science and technology at IBM, told the assembled audience at the International Solid State Circuit conference that shrinking transistors a la Moore’s Law is good for at least ten years. It will slow a bit, but even Gordon Moore says that.
“The infusion of new materials and device structures will continue to extend CMOS (silicon) performance for a long time to come,” he said in a paper accompanying his speech. Chen, though, said that to get to that point, chip designers, manufacturing engineers and those who make the software and hardware for semiconductor manufacturing will all have to cooperate very intensely.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Feb 03
The traditional approach to software development is called a waterfall development model: code like crazy for months, test like crazy for a while, ship, collapse, repeat. That has been replaced in some companies, particularly internet companies, by a more incremental approach: code one feature, test that feature, ship, go for coffee, repeat. I like the second approach much better. So I was at first surprised and mortified to read about the Waterfall 2006 conference:
After years of being disparaged by some in the software development community, the waterfall process is back with a vengeance. You’ve always known a good waterfall-based process is the right way to develop software projects. Come to the Waterfall 2006 conference and see how a sequential development process can benefit your next project. Learn how slow, deliberate handoffs (with signatures!) between groups can slow the rate of change on any project so that development teams have more time to spend on anticipating user needs through big, upfront design.
But upon reading in more detail, I think the site is just hilarious. They are kidding…. right?
Popularity: 2% [?]
Jan 02
Seriously, that is the title of an article on CNet.com. The once popular computer brand has been bought and a new company has been created with that name.
A Dutch consumer media company is hoping it can tap the power of the VIC 20, the PET and the Commodore 64 to launch a new wave of products, including a home media center device and a portable GPS (Global Positioning System) unit and media player.
Yeahronimo Media Ventures, which has offices in Los Angeles and Baarn, the Netherlands, acquired the rights to the Commodore name late last year in a deal worth just over $32.7 million. Earlier this year, it took on Commodore as its own corporate moniker. The rebranded company already has some products available in Europe and on its Web site, but hopes to enter the U.S. market at the Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
In an interview, Commodore CEO Ben van Wijhe said the company bought the Commodore name with the idea of tapping its reputation for games and multimedia.
“It is not only the brand name but also the heritage of Commodore that interested us,” he said.
The company has said it plans to launch three products at the show. The Commodore MediaBox is an all-in-one home entertainment box with an Internet connection, digital TV tuner and hard drive for playing music downloads, games or on-demand video. The Commodore Navigator is a Windows CE-based portable device with a 20GB hard drive for music and video storage as well as built-in GPS and a 3.6-inch touch screen.
Wow, $32.7 for a brand of a company that died. Is Commodore poised for a comeback? I am going to go with “no”.
Popularity: 2% [?]
