Posts Tagged ‘cnn’

1992 – Comp.os.minix was the location for famous thread “Linux is Dead”. 73 Posts went back and forthe before Bill Mitchell closes it.  Andy Tanenbaum (MINIX) started the thread and Linus Torvolds shot back. This is how the thread started out:

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I was in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, so I haven’t commented much on LINUX (not that I would have said much had I been around), but for what it is worth, I have a couple of comments now.

As most of you know, for me MINIX is a hobby, something that I do in the evening when I get bored writing books and there are no major wars, revolutions, or senate hearings being televised live on CNN. My real job is a professor and researcher in the area of operating systems.

As a result of my occupation, I think I know a bit about where operating are going in the next decade or so. Two aspects stand out:

1. MICROKERNEL VS MONOLITHIC SYSTEM
Most older operating systems are monolithic, that is, the whole operating system is a single a.out file that runs in ‘kernel mode.’ This binary contains the process management, memory management, file system and the rest. Examples of such systems are UNIX, MS-DOS, VMS, MVS, OS/360, MULTICS, and many more.

The alternative is a microkernel-based system, in which most of the OS runs as separate processes, mostly outside the kernel. They communicate by message passing. The kernel’s job is to handle the message passing, interrupt handling, low-level process management, and possibly the I/O. Examples of this design are the RC4000, Amoeba, Chorus, Mach, and the not-yet-released Windows/NT.

While I could go into a long story here about the relative merits of the two designs, suffice it to say that among the people who actually design operating systems, the debate is essentially over. Microkernels have won. The only real argument for monolithic systems was performance, and there is now enough evidence showing that microkernel systems can be just as fast as monolithic systems (e.g., Rick Rashid has published papers comparing
Mach 3.0 to monolithic systems) that it is now all over but the shoutin`.

MINIX is a microkernel-based system. The file system and memory management are separate processes, running outside the kernel. The I/O drivers are also separate processes (in the kernel, but only because the brain-dead nature of the Intel CPUs makes that difficult to do otherwise). LINUX is a monolithic style system. This is a giant step back into the 1970s. That is like taking an existing, working C program and rewriting it in BASIC. To me, writing a monolithic system in 1991 is a truly poor idea.

2. PORTABILITY
Once upon a time there was the 4004 CPU. When it grew up it became an 8008. Then it underwent plastic surgery and became the 8080. It begat the 8086, which begat the 8088, which begat the 80286, which begat the 80386, which begat the 80486, and so on unto the N-th generation. In the meantime, RISC chips happened, and some of them are running at over 100 MIPS. Speeds of 200 MIPS and more are likely in the coming years. These things are not going to suddenly vanish. What is going to happen is that they will gradually take over from the 80×86 line. They will run old MS-DOS programs by interpreting the 80386 in software. (I even
wrote my own IBM PC simulator in C, which you can get by FTP from ftp.cs.vu.nl = 192.31.231.42 in dir minix/simulator.) I think it is a gross error to design an OS for any specific architecture, since that is not going to be around all that long.

MINIX was designed to be reasonably portable, and has been ported from the Intel line to the 680×0 (Atari, Amiga, Macintosh), SPARC, and NS32016. LINUX is tied fairly closely to the 80×86. Not the way to go.

Don`t get me wrong, I am not unhappy with LINUX. It will get all the people who want to turn MINIX in BSD UNIX off my back. But in all honesty, I would suggest that people who want a **MODERN** “free” OS look around for a microkernel-based, portable OS, like maybe GNU or something like that.

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)

P.S. Just as a random aside, Amoeba has a UNIX emulator (running in user space), but it is far from complete. If there are any people who would like to work on that, please let me know. To run Amoeba you need a few 386s, one of which needs 16M, and all of which need the WD Ethernet card.

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2000 – 10:15 AM, Mafiaboy – a 16 year old hacker from Canada – targets 7 sites with a Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS). Amazon, Buy.com, CNN, eBay, E*Trade, MSN and ZDNet are all affected. Mafiaboy would be sentenced to eight months in a youth detention center for this DDoS.

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Other Day in Tech History items:

• 1983 – Atari Sues Coleco
• Gary Kasparov and Deep Junior 7 end in a tie
• the Cell Processor

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We saw a lot of media players. But one of the more impressive ones was Nuu Media’s Nuu Player.  A full content system companion for your TV. And the best thing is it does more than the average set top box.

Online media – Web Application – Video Call

We will start with Online media. A 160 GB internal hard drive, and it can stream the same media as the others (Pandora, YouTube, CNN, Blip, MLB.tv, Flickr, Comedy Central, etc). With a USB port on the side, SD card ready and multiple audio and video jacks, Nuu Media player can accept what you throw at it. But there was one item that really sets itself apart from Boxee, Roku, Apple TV, Vudu and others.

Built in Bluetooth.

This player showed it’s difference with the attached WebKit based browser. You can use Facebook, Twitter and others with the special interface. Connect a USB webcam and USB microphone, you might be able to create content and even Skype out – Making this the perfect conference phone for any boardroom.

Todd Cochrane talks to Danny of Nuu for this most innovative TV appliance. The Nuu player will be available by Q2 for around $300. It definitely is the closest to a PC without it being a PC.

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Started the day on a down note, the phone had some problems. A call to AT&T fixed the problem, but it made me late getting things going. Add to that a problem with uploading video last night and a show that is still in the prep area. Oh well, life doesn’t stop, so it gets left behind for now.

Get to the hall to the keynote with Richard Jalichandra from Technorati. He tala about the state of the blogosphere. Basically, where we are in blogging and where we are going.

Richard showed us the increasing numbers of bloggers and where they come from. He then says something that got me into new media to begin with.. One thing that still hits hard today.

Be Passionate.

Next up: the panel keynote – the death and rebirth of journalism.Brian Solis, Joanna Drake Earl, Jay Rosen and Hugh Hewitt are on the panel. Special media guest – Don Lemon from CNN.

First point was the talk on the current news – like balloon boy. Don points out that with blogs, you hear about the event, but with a site like CNN, you get a full report.

Another point of new media – the ice age of Bloggers: Hitting the shelf where there will be too many to choose from for a reliable source.

The expo finally open, so myself and andy McCaskey started walking around. Talked to a few booths for more information.

Took in a session – facebook to success. Sexy scotch tape.

Then it was off to the expo floor where I got to meet a lot of great people and the products of new media. Programs like camtasia, myPRgenie, yubby are just a handful.

Angelo mandato did a piece on the blubrry player.

Some of the new media celebs are out. Watched Robert scoble on blog talk radio. Chris pirillo was at the raw voice booth. Adam corolla is on blogworldexporadio, and the keynote was Leo Laporte.

I took a little time to relax and charge the batteries. No, litterally. The iPhone was dying, the laptop battery was down to nothing and the camera was full with content.

I am not sure what happened, but I think I sat down before they had someone at the door. The floodgates opened and the room filled in a heartbeat.

Leo talked about new media and their direction. he discussed how hard it was to get a podcast noticed and advertised. Leo then showed off the new avenue of TWIT. A roku box with push content to the show. An amazing conversation.

The evening was a whirlwind of fun. Dinner with Andy Mccaskey, then off to blubrry for the nightly party. Many different celebrities in the new media area. Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda from Chad Vader, Grammar Girl, Michael Butler to name a few. Elvis was there, too. He’s smaller than I expected.

The rest of the night was consumed with drinking and networking.

Ashton hit 1 million – he was the first – on Twitter. Oprah is at 83,000. CNN, Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, Barack Obama and Shaq are those who make the top list of Twitter Followed profiles.

It seems Twitter is getting us closer to people we see on Radio, TV and Movies. You can find out what someone is doing from wherever you and they are. You can use your computer, phone, mobile device or mental telepathy – if you have an API written for it.

Then there is the chance that you might reply to @aplusk. Then you can say “Ashton talked back to me.” Well, maybe it’s his assistant who’s job it is to watch the twitter account. Even though Ashton is following 73, he can see all the @ replies.

There are those who are trying to find a way to get more followers. The best way would be if you did get a @ reply from Ashton. Really – it’s true: I have seen where I would @ a person, they would @ me back and I saw my followers jump up. And, No – it’s not all spammers and “Qwitters” (People that unfollow you after so many days hoping you will follow them).

Think about it – It’s like if you went to California, ran into Ashton and he said “Hey! Let’s go to Element and have a drink”. You walk up to the door and Ashton shakes hands with the security in the front, then says “Hey, this guy’s with me”. You then walk in without your name being on the guest list. All of a sudden you have people looking at you.

OK, I sensationalized the Twitter experience a little more than usual. But the same result is true. You have a few people going “I wonder what @geekazine is like…”

Now don’t expect to start @aplusk on every twitter he sends. It might get him to block you. It might get your account suspended by Twitter.

Twitter is a great tool to get your name across. If it wasn’t for the social Microblogger, I wouldn’t have met a lot of the people in my profession. I still have a lot to go. Maybe I’ll hit 1 million followers. I suppose I would need to create a million twitter accounts to do that….

BTW – twitter me @geekazine

I’m one of those who is going to miss part of Sirius XM . Not much, you understand. What I really miss is XM but that left the building last summer. What we have as a poor substitute are a bunch of commercial channels – except for the tired Decade Series. I’ve enjoyed addition of the BBC and at least some NPR content. but  the drumbeat of commercials on most of the channels and a constant shift of lineup has made satellite radio one of the least enjoyable portions of trips the past nine months.

Podcasts, Audible books, and of course Pandora, Heart Radio and the Public Radio player have filled the gap. It’s a shame that  XM bit the dust because I really liked the Roady Satellite receiver and FM modulator from Delphi.

The new turn of hardware by iPhone and Apple Touch reportedly will include a new Broadcom chip that will include the FM radio transmitter, Bluetooth streaming for high end automobiles that can accept that option, and improved 802.11n performance. The convenience of no satellite receiver, no FM modulator and streamlining into a single device will be contributing factors – But the real factor will be the level of commercials and promos on CNN.

Andy McCaskey is a Podcaster over at SDRNews.

Jeff’s Thoughts: I used Sirius XM when I got a rental car and when I turned on the music channels. Bars might loose out on the XM channels, especially those who use satillite TV. XM reached out to more than just a consumer subscription service.

Of course, you will have to find a new home for Howard Stern.

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Upgrading Cable – Live Show Monday 7PM EST – Upgrading Website – Win Zune or iPod – Firefox 3

On this day: Artificial Skin (1981), IE 2.0 Mac (1996), Dark Side of the Moon after 741 weeks finally left charts (1988)

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With Dell cutting 8800 jobs, and other companies like CNet and ebay laying off workers, are we seeing a trend of less IT jobs?

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Time/CNN reports about Vinyl making a comeback. Reality is Vinyl has never really left.

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