Ming the Mechanic
The NewsLog of Flemming Funch

Wednesday, December 10, 2003day link 

 Open Source Silicon
picture It is not just software that can be open source. Slashdot writes about an open source chip design. Well, it is still related to software, but it is a step further.

Imagine for a moment the not-too-distant future when cheap nanotech matter compilers are available that can build stuff from basic atoms. It then becomes all-important to have easy access to good design blueprints for the stuff we need and want.

I would guess that for people who build complicated physical things today, like cars, there are a lot of intellectual property issues involved. The patents for the fuel injectors and the airbags and the transmission, and so forth, for hundreds of different pieces - they probably are owned by different companies, and complicated contracts and license agreements need to be worked out. Which is not such a big deal when we're talking about centralized production and billion dollar production plants and companies with 10s of thousands of people. But if I had the actual capability to build the car out of atoms directly in my garage, those issues would kill the whole thing.

So, we need high quality open source plans for building *everything*.
[ | 2003-12-10 14:22 | 3 comments | PermaLink ]  More >

 HelloWorld
picture Mentioned on SmartMobs, the helloworld project, running today through Saturday, during the UN Summit on the Information Society, lets people send in SMS messages that will be projected in a large way for all to see.
Messages will be projected almost instantly by a laser beam on mountains and buildings in Mumbai (Marine Drive), Rio de Janeiro (Ipanema Beach), New York (UN building) and lake Geneva's "Jet d'eau"(water fountain).

Message jockeys (editors based at swissinfo) will view the incoming messages in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Portuguese, and Spanish and pass them on within seconds to the projectors. Commercial, sexist or racist messages, or those containing personal insults will not be projected. A message archive will store all the sent messages.
You can see an archive of the messages so far here. And go and send your own. ... Hm, seems a bit overloaded to project the messages I tried, but they showed on their site at least.
[ | 2003-12-10 14:52 | 2 comments | PermaLink ]  More >

 What is blogging
Via Dina, Debbie Well, taking a crack at defining blogging. Yes, nothing very new, but gives an idea for people who think it is strange.
Blogging Is...

  1. A form of unedited, authentic self-expression
  2. An instant publishing tool
  3. An online journal with freshly updated content
  4. Amateur journalism
  5. Something that will revolutionize the Web (think RSS feeds)
  6. A way to create community with your voters, er... readers (think 2,200 comments posted to the Dean for America blog in one day)
  7. An alternative to mainstream media (think InstaPundit by Glenn Reynolds and TalkingPointsMemo by Joshua Micah Marshall)
  8. A tool to teach students how to write
  9. A new way to communicate with customers (think Ray Ozzie, CEO of Groove Networks)
  10. A new form of knowledge management inside big companies
  11. A way for a bunch of navel-gazers to communicate with one another
  12. Something to keep you occupied when you’re unemployed (more people than care to admit fit into this category… have you noticed?)
  13. A way to think and write in short paragraphs instead of a long essay (which no one has time to read anyway)
  14. Your email to everyone, as A-list blogger Doc Searls puts it (i.e., a way to stay in touch with family and friends)
  15. A silly word that’s fun to say (“Gotta go blog now….”)
  16. A way of writing with a distinct voice and personality (think Halley Suitt)
  17. Something to talk about at cocktail parties (“I blogged Seth Godin and he blogged me back...”)
  18. A URL to add to your resume (as in TokyoTim, my 23-year-old son, who’s working as an English teacher in Japan for a year)
  19. Something else to do with your mobile phone... think audio blogging and moblogging
  20. Something you don’t want your mother to read: what my mother says about blogging
And, since we're on the subject Xeni Jardin has a nice article on what blogging is as well.
What are weblogs? Regularly-updated websites that typically combine some mix of first-person commentary, web links, images, and news clips, and present the blend in reverse chronological order. Some are solo journals -- personal diaries open to the world; websites that function like ultra-low-budget reality TV shows where aspiring exhibitionists can document every personal detail of daily life, from boyfriends to phone bills to what they ate for breakfast. Other blogs are like collaborative online magazines that feature multiple editorial voices. Blogs can be produced by anonymous individuals with no professional writing experience just as easily as they can by career journalists or celebrity technopundits.
In case anybody has missed it, "blog" is short for "weblog". It might also be called a "newslog", a "journal", or a number of other things, which might depend on what exactly you use it for.
[ | 2003-12-10 15:17 | 2 comments | PermaLink ]  More >

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