You know that commercial? Where the older, funny-looking, dumpy guy says "I'm a PC" and the young, with-it, hip guy says "I'm a Mac"? Yeah, you know the one ( Read more... )

Using applied plasmonics to control an electron's spin:The new technology, which the researchers call spinplasmonics, may be used to create incredibly efficient electron spin-based photonic devices, which in turn may be used to build, for example, computers with extraordinary capacities ( Read more... )

Bill Walker tells us Why There's No Cure for the Common ColdBill makes a good point, of course, but in the process he ignores one reality: Biotech is potentially more dangerous than computer science. Personally I would argue that this doesn't matter a hell of a lot simply because those people we don't want getting their hands on that kind of tech ( Read more... )

After two generations of being 'on the horizon', Artificial Intelligence actually looks within our grasp sometime soon. Or, if not true AI, then at least Artificial Stupidity: computers as smart as insects or fish.

Consider; actual quantum computing devices will reach the market soon and we already have robots driving across the desert and ( Read more... )

Peter Harkins has some reasons why programming is like sex.

I often claim that I use an 'archaeological filing system'; in other words I keep documents in layers by date. In actual practice I keep like papers in piles, roughly by date and/or importance, and dump the entire pile into the recycle bin when I no longer need them.

Now there is a 3D GUI which mimics an actual desktop, including physics, in a way ( Read more... )

Roger Sperberg talks about why computers and software (and anything that uses computers or software) gets cheaper over time. He then applies this thinking to alternate pricing strategies for the publishing industry:Publishers are only vaguely aware that their purchasers’ expectation of their product is about to switch from the Colgate-Palmolive ( Read more... )

There has been a lot of noise lately about Roy Mark's article Where Have All The Women Gone?"Women don't feel valued by IT. They are forced into being a certain type of person, i.e. a white male model: linear, analytical, 24/7, in-your-face, your-job-is-your life," says Barbara Annis, author of Same Words, Different Language. "Women don't see a ( Read more... )

This handy chart makes a nice map to the question.