For the last couple of weeks I've been trying out the Sun Weblog Publisher, an add-in for StarOffice and OpenOffice.org that enables you to publish web blog entries straight from within Writer.
Overall I'm very impressed - write your entry in Writer, adding links, formatting etc as you would with any document, and then click Send to blog and off your post goes to your chosen blog.
I can't wait to try out new servers from Sun that use the T2 CPU. Eight cores and eight threads a core make for 64 threads, all for under 95W of power.
Now folks at MIT have produced the TILE64, a CPU with 64 true cores on a single chip, for under 20W.
The Sun chip is more powerful, but for a massively parallel application the TILE64 could possibly be a better bet. Of course, the Sun solution also has the benefit of the Solaris OS to back it up and therefore making the development process easier. Developing for multiple-core environments is always difficult. The TILE64 solution uses Linux and Eclipse and a custom Multicore Development Environment (MDE).
I can't wait to try out new servers from Sun that use the T2 CPU. Eight cores and eight threads a core make for 64 threads, all for under 95W of power.
Now folks at MIT have produced the TILE64, a CPU with 64 true cores on a single chip, for under 20W.
The Sun chip is more powerful, but for a massively parallel application the TILE64 could possibly be a better bet. Of course, the Sun solution also has the benefit of the Solaris OS to back it up and therefore making the development process easier. Developing for multiple-core environments is always difficult. The TILE64 solution uses Linux and Eclipse and a custom Multicore Development Environment (MDE).
If you are not a Skype customer then you probably didn't notice the blip that wiped out Skype connectivity for the better part of 48 hours. For those of us that rely on Skype on a daily basis, losing access was pretty fundamental. Not only do I use it for business, but our home phone is now Skype based too.
The official reason, reported here gives some detail to the issues - all triggered, it seems, by a massive automated Windows update.
The only section of the report I don't agree with is this one:
If you are not a Skype customer then you probably didn't notice the blip that wiped out Skype connectivity for the better part of 48 hours. For those of us that rely on Skype on a daily basis, losing access was pretty fundamental. Not only do I use it for business, but our home phone is now Skype based too.
The official reason, reported here gives some detail to the issues - all triggered, it seems, by a massive automated Windows update.
The only section of the report I don't agree with is this one:
Wow.
That pretty much sums up my impressions of the Bioshock Xbox 360 demo. Visually, the game looks like the classic Myst did, only this time these aren't static, previously rendered images, this is interactive 3D and it looks gorgeous.
The story, or at least the 20 minutes of it you get to experience in the demo, is absorbing. You've crashed, wake up floating in a sea and find your way to a massive underground city. Once there you find out that the inhabitants have gone a little crazy. You also discover the gene-altering therapy that becomes a core part of the game.
Throughout all this you get tutorials on what is going on, and the interface and controls are very straightforward considering their potential for complexity.
Wow. That pretty much sums up my impressions of the Bioshock Xbox 360 demo. Visually, the game looks like the classic Myst did, only this time these aren't static, previously rendered images, this is interactive 3D and it looks gorgeous. The story, or at least the 20 minutes of it you get to experience in the demo, is absorbing. You've crashed, wake up floating in a sea and find your way to a massive underground city. Once there you find out that the inhabitants have gone a little crazy. You also discover the gene-altering therapy that becomes a core part of the game.
Wow. That pretty much sums up my impressions of the Bioshock Xbox 360 demo. Visually, the game looks like the classic Myst did, only this time these aren't static, previously rendered images, this is interactive 3D and it looks gorgeous. The story, or at least the 20 minutes of it you get to experience in the demo, is absorbing. You've crashed, wake up floating in a sea and find your way to a massive underground city. Once there you find out that the inhabitants have gone a little crazy. You also discover the gene-altering therapy that becomes a core part of the game.
Wow. That pretty much sums up my impressions of the Bioshock Xbox 360 demo. Visually, the game looks like the classic Myst did, only this time these aren't static, previously rendered images, this is interactive 3D and it looks gorgeous. The story, or at least the 20 minutes of it you get to experience in the demo, is absorbing. You've crashed, wake up floating in a sea and find your way to a massive underground city. Once there you find out that the inhabitants have gone a little crazy. You also discover the gene-altering therapy that becomes a core part of the game.
The Chumby, which I blogged about in November last year (Widgets for your desk, not your desktop) and the Chumby box is finally becoming available.
I think the Chumby has a lot of potential. Since November I thought up a bunch of widgets I'd love to deploy on these, from some simple clocks and counters, to context aware devices around the house that remind of things I need to do, like paint the guest room or fit the cupboard locks. I've also though about some date aware photo frames.