] Here is an example of System-On-Chip (SOC) from
] Flextronics Semiconductor. It is a 32-bit general-purpose
] microcontroller implemented on UMC 0.18um targetting
] embedded applications with maximum clock frequency of
] 160MHz.

This is kind of neat... You can download VHDL for this CPU and drop it on an FPGA... Good educational tool at least.

Chips based on open cores hit the market

] Asked about the SiteFinder address redirect trick Verisign
] rolled out. A group of "200 technical zealots" were
] against it and they got all the headlines. Did they
] misinterpret it? Of course. We're not going to let this
] go. It is going to be the point where we answer the
] debate.
]
] He then goes on to say that we need to move the
] complexity back into the center of the Net! He says the
] edge can't be so complex. Get David Isenberg in here!
] Ross Mayfield, sitting in front of me, laughs out loud. I
] am dumbfounded. According to Verisign, the Net should not
] be open to any type of application, only applications
] that rely on single providers of services, like Verisign.

There is going to be a hell of a market in alternative DNS systems and in technology that makes it easy for people to live with multiple DNS systems...

Stratton Sclavos at Red Herring Conference

] Diplomats from 191 countries meet this week in Geneva for
] the three-day United Nations World Summit on the
] Information Society. It's the occasion for The Helloworld
] Project to project thousands of 500-foot-high laser-light
] SMS messages onto the Geneva fountain.
]
] Internet users everywhere can post billboard thoughts
] almost instantly onto the fountain -- or onto the
] northern façade of New York's U.N. building, the face of
] a mountain in Rio de Janeiro or the front of a Bombay
] skyscraper.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

] BIT ENGINEERS REPORT the Antiterror line has concluded
] public testing and is ready for use. This service enables
] every phone [home/cell/booth] to act as a networked
] microphone. For collecting live audio data on civil
] liberty infringements and other anti-terror events.

I've been wondering when something like this was going to happen. Getting harassed? Blackmailed? Get the goods on them with your cellphone in your pocket! I've played around with this before. Newer Nokia's have a recording mode that works quite well sitting in your pocket picking up a conversation in a quiet room. Works for a lot more then ratting on anti-terror police. In fact, anti-terror police might find it useful, as stupid criminals are likely to overlook the ubiquitous cellphone while searching for a wire.

My next prediction is that a super sophisticated cellphone will have a security vulnerability that enables me to hack in, turn on the mic, and spy on you...

If you have a cellphone you are wearing a wire...

norfzorf wrote:
] I'm not sure if you've heard of adiabatic computing, but
] here's a wired.com link about it which might affect moore's
] law: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61118,00.html

Very cool technology... (No pun intended. :)

The recent slashdot discussion on this annoyed me. The assumption that this particular scientific vein will be mined for improving power forever is the misconception. Intel has warned and warned about this for years. The date hasn't moved. Moore's law will end. This doesn't mean that computers are going to stop getting faster, but that the rate at which they will get faster will decrease. The engine of Moore's law has had far reaching impacts on the rate of economic growth in the past 20 years. If we wish to sustain such growth we must find a new engine in time. Otherwise the speed of computers is not the only thing thats going to stagnate.

As need is the mother of invention, one can predict with reasonable safety that nothing will be done until the situation is dire. There may be an economic recession around the time that Moore's law stops. If you are ready you can manage your investments appropriately. Conversely, one can expect short "y2k" like bursts in computer/telecom spending around the time that the IPv4 space runs out, and the time when UNIX clocks stop working. All of this is less then 30 years out.

] Hugo De Garis also predicts computers will become "trillions
] of trillions" of times more powerful than the human brain
] using molecular electronics, a subfield of nanotechnology.
] Actually, I think he mentioned using quantum mechanics to do
] this or something, but I can't make heads or tails of quantum
] mechanics.

Its nonlinear. Its not a standard computing architecture. It solves NP in P. Trouble is its extremely unstable. Like a truck driving 50 miles away will destroy it unstable. Whether that is a solvable problem is unknown.

Cool thing is that we are starting so see quantum crypto systems on the market. They really aren't all that interesting from a security standpoint, but improving the technology will eventually allow information to be transmitted across unlimited distances instantly. (Yes, I mean faster then the speed of light.) There are practical limits to the bandwidth of such systems, but there could be some interesting applications. (However, the first applications that come to mind are military... Cache enough tied photons in a remote UAV to allow the final seconds of targeting and weapon firing to be controlled in realtime for increased accuracy.)

RE: Intel scientists find wall for Moore's Law | CNET News.com

] Understand that 802.15.3 is a high data rate Personal
] Area Network with a range of about 10 meters. This isn't
] a WiFi competitor. Think of it as a kind of Super
] Bluetooth, capable of sending video over short distances
] without interference and with true quality of service,
] which 802.11 can't provide. Conventional wisdom says a
] deal will shortly be worked out in the IEEE, Multiband
] OFDM will become the standard and we'll see products
] appear in late 2004 or early 2005.

An interesting discussion of new networking protocols, related to tablet PCs. I think tablets will be great as long as you can flip them around into a laptop mode. I saw something like that at phreaknic. Little $500 machine. Perfect for couch surfing...

UWB might be coming sooner than you think

] In the Ringlers case, at least two patrons at a Nov. 18
] hip-hop show used their camera phones to document a
] police car that parked in front of the West Burnside
] Street club with a stuffed gorilla attached to the car's
] grill. Because of the racial overtones, the incident
] became a news story: Some of the photos were printed by
] the Tribune and shown on several television stations.

PortlandTribune.com | Can you see me now?

] It's called the Segway Human Transporter, but
] the Pentagon is drafting the two-wheeled scooter
] as part of a plan to develop battlefield robots
] that think on their own and communicate with troops.

Just in case you were wondering; Yes, Virginia, they are making Terminators in a lab somewhere...

The Pentagon starts building Terminators

"That's why I call telephones an interrupting technology," said Patel, whose girlfriend always seemed to be in a meeting or driving her car when he called. "I didn't want to talk to her, necessarily. I wanted instead to find a way to feel connected to her, or reassured that she was there."

What I find most interesting about this experiment is its motivation...

Ubicomp tables interconnected via the internet

Finally, I have to ask what these tools do to the old, low-tech concept of friendship. In some way, with their numbers and lists and classifications, these services can subtly make a social network into a trophy collection. Technology has made it easier than ever to count your friends -- but that doesn't mean you should.

Esther Dyson weighs in on the trends in social networking software.

Buying and Selling the Little Black Book