MetaFilter posts tagged with computers

BBS documentary author tries to raise funds work full-time on computer history

Monday, stony Monday — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:51:07 -0800

Mefi's own Jason Scott (jscott) wants to raise $25,000 using waxy's Kickstarter to work full-time on computer history. He made BBS documentary (previously), founded the Archive Team, and owns textfiles.com (previously) and, yes, sockington. So far, 237 people have pledged $20,340. On Nov. 4, Jason did a 5-hours, non-stop Scottathon. Apparently, fundraising ain't easy. Texfiles.com is quite a resource, with a wide range of topics: sex (mefi), drugs (mefi), the Vietnam War (mefi), koalas (mefi), Applesoft BASIC (mefi), and, obviously, the "Golden Ages" of BBSes (mefi). Jason has already written quite a bit on computer history, including IBM manuals, retrocomputing, the DAK catalog and Computer Shopper. He's also given many talks: nostalgics don't want to miss Apple II Pirate Lore; youger nostalgics may enjoy the Super Jason Scott Presentation 64. He's working on a documentary about Text Adventures, GET LAMP.

How To Program

grumblebee — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:37:36 -0800

A free computer-programming course on reddit. Click "prev" for more lessons. 113 lessons so far.

A Geek Itinerary

netbros — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:58:14 -0800

Technology innovation will be a large part of late 20th century American history. Now the gearheads can explore the roots of all that geekdom. The Geek's Guide to Seattle is a virtual tour of some of the region’s most interesting and notable technology locations. A Geek's Tour of Silicon Valley hits hotspots there. Don't forget The Tech Museum and the Computer History Museum. Back east, there's Research Triangle Park (pdf) in North Carolina, and The Computing Revolution at the Museum of Science in Boston.

a pink sliver of rat brain sat in a beaker

kliuless — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:21:07 -0800

The simulated brain - "The scientists behind Blue Brain hope to have a virtual human brain functioning in ten years... Dr. Markram began by collecting detailed information about the rat's NCC, down to the level of genes, proteins, molecules and the electrical signals that connect one neuron to another. These complex relationships were then turned into millions of equations, written in software. He then recorded real-world data -- the strength and path of each electrical signal -- directly from rat brains to test the accuracy of the software." Is it possible to digitally simulate a brain accurately? Can it only be analog? And are there quantum effects to be considered? (previously 1 2 3 4) + some other AI/brain robot projects:

Blue Brain is controversial, and its success is far from assured. Christof Koch of the California Institute of Technology, a scientist who studies consciousness, says the Swiss project provides vital data about how part of the brain works. But he says that Dr. Markram's approach is still missing algorithms, the biological programming that yields higher-level functions... Despite the challenges, the push to understand, replicate and even re-enact higher behaviors in the brain has become one of the hottest areas of neuroscience. With the help of a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, IBM is working on a separate project with five U.S. universities to build a tiny, low-power microchip that simulates the behavior of one million neurons and ten billion synapses. The goal, says IBM, is to develop brainy computers that can better predict the behavior of complex systems, such as weather or the financial markets. The Chinese government has provided about $1.5 million to a team at Xiamen University to create artificial-brain robots with microcircuits that evolve, learn and adapt to real-world situations. Similarly, Jeff Krichmar and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine, Calif., have built an artificial-brain robot that learns to sharpen its visual perception when moving around in a lab environment, another form of emergent behavior, a form of spontaneous self-organization. And researchers at Sensopac, a project backed by a grant of €6.7 million ($9.3 million) from the European Union, have built part of an artificial mouse brain.

BONUS MEMRISTORS - Memristor Minds, the Future of Artificial Intelligence - New Memristor Makes Low-Cost, High-Density Memory - Spintronic Memristors - The Mysterious Memristor - Understanding Memristors - "in which the memristor would be used as an analog device"*

Inside the World's Greatest Keyboard

Joe Beese — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:57:33 -0800

From the satisfying click of its keys to its no-nonsense layout and solid steel underpinnings, IBM's 24-year-old Model M is the standard by which all other keyboards must be judged. (previously)

The dry, technical language of Microsoft's October update did not indicate anything particularly untoward.

The Whelk — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:40:29 -0800

Its reach is impossible to measure precisely, but more than 3 million vulnerable machines may ultimately have been infected. : The inside story on the Conficker Worm at New Scientist.

Girlputers by "Della"

Zarkonnen — Sat, 16 May 2009 05:29:48 -0800

Dell have recently opened a new sub-site called "Della" aimed at women in the most offensive way possible. Bereft of any technical information about their hardware, or indeed any information at all, the site instead includes "Tech Tips" about keeping track of your weight... Unsurprisingly, most people aren't too happy about this - and indeed Dell have already backtracked a little - the most offensively stupid "Tech Tips" (like keeping track of your weight) are now gone from the site. But the site itself is still up. It's perhaps unsurprising that Dell wanted a more "feminine" way to present itself to its customers, given the amusing "masculinity" of the main Dell site - with phrases like "engineered for maximum performance and scalability" and "HP and IMB should be very afraid".

1965 - Kemeny and Kurtz go to 1964

Artw — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:21:53 -0800

A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages

I know what's wrong and that's good.

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:46:50 -0800

"...criticism, for lack of a better word, is good. Criticism is right. Criticism works. Criticism clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit…

Wait... No Pirate Vs. Ninja?!

Bageena — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:09:13 -0800

Haven't you always secretly wondered what would happen if a ninja accidentally stumbled into, say, Bill and Ted's time traveling Phone Booth and ended up somewhere around 7th century BC, only to come face-to-face with a feisty Spartan? Have you not pondered what would happen if you locked up an Apache with a Gladiator inside some sort of 21st century battle dome? Are you frustrated because you feel like there's nobody doing proper scientific studies to see what would happen when you pit two historically violent warriors that could have never actually met in real life? Worry no more people - I present to you Spike TV's newest offering - Deadliest Warrior! The show basically goes like this; you take two crazy fighters who, previous to the show, have only been pitted against one another in heated debates between young men in line for the midnight showing of the newest X-Men movie (or really awesome drunk people). The show's 'Host, Simulation Consultant, and Blogger', Max Geiger brings in experts representing each warrior. The experts bring in weapons that are historically accurate which are then tested on a variety of dummies that are stuffed with SCIENCE! The data from said SCIENCE! all goes into a computer simulation based on an unreleased commercial game engine by these guys. Not just the SCIENCE!, which is actually pretty cool (ballistics gel, pig carcasses, high speed photography), but also, as Max aptly put it: "The simulation's inputs include real world scientific data gathered by one of my co-hosts, Geoff Desmoulin, who is getting his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. Our number crunching is balanced out by Dr. Armand Dorian, an ER doctor who keeps our work firmly grounded in the actual trauma our tests cause." The reviews are in! Variety seems to feel it might be possibly the stupidest show ever, appealing only to the lowest common denominator! Newsarama was a little nicer, pointing out that there are some people on the show trying to make it as scientific as it can possibly be, while also having a great time. Either way, do you care? Don't you want to watch a Viking fight a Samurai? Or a Pirate against a Knight? You can apparently only watch the latest episode on the website, here. Also, looking forward on the Wikipedia, it does look like the show might slip-slide from whatever tenuous grasp they have on ideas for fights as they start doing shows about William Wallace versus Shaka Zulu or finally, the IRA versus the Taliban. I have only one thought. How could they have NOT had a Pirate versus Ninja episode? FAIL!

Mmm, fully rugged.

Neofelis — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:28:31 -0800

Your laptop computer says a lot about you. Maybe my husband and I need to put more thought into our purchases. We'd want to make sure we're projecting the correct images, right? But how does my husband decide whether he's "semi-rugged" or "business rugged"? Dare he even aspire to "fully rugged"? (I hope so!) At least I know where to look first if I need "mobile computing power with that all important feminine touch."

Old School EGA Goodness in your Browser

spec80 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:31:03 -0800

Welcome to Sarien.net, the portal for reliving the classic Sierra On-Line adventure games. With its focus on instant fun and a unique multiplayer experience, Sarien.net hopes to win new gamers' hearts and promote the adventure game genre. Available currently: Leisure Suit Larry 1, Police Quest 1, and Space Quest 1.

Why Minds are Not Like Computers

jon_hansen — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:35:31 -0800

Why Minds are Not Like Computers: an in-depth analysis.

IOKIYO

Joe Beese — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:18:20 -0800

Beyond even the outrageously broad "state secrets" privilege invented by the Bush administration and now embraced fully by the Obama administration, the Obama DOJ has now invented a brand new claim of government immunity, one which literally asserts that the U.S. Government is free to intercept all of your communications (calls, emails and the like) and -- even if what they're doing is blatantly illegal and they know it's illegal -- you are barred from suing them unless they "willfully disclose" to the public what they have learned. - Glenn Greenwald. In other news... The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would, for example, give the President unfettered power to shut down Internet traffic in emergencies or disconnect any critical infrastructure system or network on national security grounds. - Center for Democracy and Technology

Wanted: Go-getter with inquisitive nature and a high tolerance for gore, sleaze, and the baser instincts of humanity.

Afroblanco — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:03:53 -0800

Last year, Infoworld published their list of the 7 dirtiest jobs in IT. This year, they're back with 7 even dirtier jobs. via/.

Memory lights the corners of my mind

Horace Rumpole — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:47:33 -0800

Computer data storage through the ages. From the punch card to the cassette drive to the Jaz, and much more.

They're Leasing Old Gateway Stores

Xurando — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:00:34 -0800

Microsoft announced today, it will open a small number of stores to compete directly against Apple. Some think it's a dubious idea. "In a statement, Microsoft said the first priority of Mr. Porter, who is also a 25-year veteran of Wal-Mart, will be to define where to place the Microsoft stores and when to open them."

haiku falls in place

kliuless — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:20:08 -0800

BeOS is back! Immortalised by Neal Stephenson as the Batmobile of operating systems, it's been reincarnated as Haiku :P

Yugos used Commodore Basic

mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:11:20 -0800

"The avionics system in the F-22 Raptor, the current U.S. Air Force frontline jet fighter, consists of about 1.7 million lines of software code. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter...about 5.7 million lines of code...Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner...about 6.5 million lines of software code. These are impressive amounts of software, yet if you bought a premium-class automobile recently, it probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code."

Q. Would you like tea OR coffee? A: Yes.

grumblebee — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:47:24 -0800

What real-life bad habits has programming given you? "This has actually really happened to me. I was trying to hang a glass picture frame on the wall and accidentally dropped it. And in the shock of the moment, I loudly yelled 'Control Z!' Then the glass hit the floor and smashed."

Imagine turning on your home computer to read the newspaper!

empath — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:55:03 -0800

Newspapers rush to deliver news online. A look at the future from 1981.

EVLTube - Early Computer Animation at UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory

carsonb — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:40:06 -0800

Electronic Masks and Calculated Movements are two early computer animation projects featured at EVLTube, the YouTube channel for UIC's Electronic Visualization Laboratory. In additon to the video archive, the EVL website also features a trove of interesting current EV projects like snstncntnrs and Unfolding Space, not to mention extensive notes on the fascinating research conducted and devices used at the facility. According to the video's notes, Calculated Movements is a 'later work' of Larry Cuba, who is perhaps best known for creating the Death Star computer graphics in Star Wars Episode IV.

Hail To The King

Artw — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:39:21 -0800

The Wired Vaporware Awards, an institution since 1999 has taken some heavy hits this year, and has had to resort to some pretty naked padding to make a list (products in late beta whose release date has merely slipped? come on) – however, if there is anything that remains constant in these uncertain times we live in it is that one game rules the list, debuting in the No 2. slot in 2000, it then latched on to the top spot, with only editorial edict able to to shift it. Ladies and gentlemen, Duke Nukem - FOREVER.

Mac Vs PC

Effigy2000 — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:51:34 -0800

Mac Vs. PC. Inspired by Transformers, this short visual effects piece shows us what would happen if our home computers could turn into robots and started beating each other up.

Deep Geek: Understanding Memristors

NortonDC — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:54:57 -0800

The coming memristor revolution in electronics and how it works. The newly created memristor, only the fourth fundamental fundamental type of passive circuit element, has the promise of computing advances both prosaic (faster, cheaper and "bigger" flash drives) and momentous (relatively effortless mimicry of brain cells and their activity). This is the story of the memristor's genesis, told by R. Stanley Williams, the leader of the team that created the device. Being deeply geeky myself, I've read about memristors before, but reading this article and sidebar finally let me understand how the memristor works and what happens inside it. And that felt pretty damn good. The article is fantastic, but it does leave one key connection unmade. To create a practical memristor, the team "needed [a] mechanism by which we could change the effective spacing between two wires in our crossbar by 0.3 nm. If we could do that, we would have the 1000:1 [variation in conductivity] we needed... Where would we find a material that could change its physical dimensions like that?" They did create a way to vary that spacing, in a controllable, repeatable, and extremely fast-acting manner, but Williams doesn't directly explain how the internal actions of the switching layer meet that requirement. The payoff for that setup is missing. When electrical current pushes the conductive impurities in the layer of titanium dioxide toward the other wire, the conductive portion of the layer grows toward the other wire, and the insulating portion of the layer thins. That thinning is described, but the article never tells the reader that expansion of the conductive layer is that long-sought means of moving the wires. If you read the article and made that connection before I described it, then you might have felt as smug about it as I did. Williams gets to feel more smug.