Info Tech

I thought the term “New Economy” died along with the dot-coms a couple of years ago. Then it meant a cornucopia of growth and prosperity from technological evolution. But now the New York Times is using it to mean global competition for jobs and outsourcing. I guess we didn’t perceive that the New Economy is a Janus-faced proposition and now ...

First democratizing philanthropy, and now democratizing supercomputing…all in the news today. Some class science projects get out of hand. That is certainly the case with Patrick Miller’s graduate course in do-it-yourself supercomputing at the University of San Francisco. On April 3, his students plan to assemble the first “flash mob supercomputer” in the school gym. “We’re trying to democratize supercomputing,” ...

Is there a future to blogging? Well, here’s an article that suggests that blogging has room to innovate and evolve. The author suggests that it’s time for blogs to begin digging into niche topics and narrower markets of people: local discussions or just relevant, timely information about specific topics. Like cancer? Maybe. Like Relay? Maybe. And technology is not standing ...

Seems like a banner day. First stem cells, now Intel is announcing in Nature they have found ways to build fiber optics into chips using fairly conventional materials and techniques. This should make it possible to bring down the cost of high-bandwidth telecommunications gear radically. Paul S. Otellini, the president of Intel, said on Wednesday: “Think of it either bringing ...