Author Archives: Clay

About Clay

I'm a Data Center Operations Engineer in beautiful Charleston, SC. I'm happily married to my wonderful wife Nan and we have an teenage daughter Lela. I'm a total geek. I got into electronics when I was around 9 or 10 and got hooked on computers shortly thereafter. I also love Sci-Fi, (not fantasy) particularly Star Trek. My favorite outdoor activities include rollerblading, biking and hiking. I'm also a bit of a car guy and amateur racing driver.

Intel finally wakes up, smells the lack of bandwidth

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[H] Enthusiast – Intel Nehalem Technology Overview Webcast

One thing I’ve loved over the past few years is explaining to the Intel fanboys why my HPC at work is Opteron based.  Intel fans love to talk about clock speed and how the latest Core2 processor beats AMD’s Phenom in gaming benchmarks and such.  It always blows their mind when I explain how Opteron destroys anything with a FSB in the HPC space.  It seems Intel’s state of denial over AMD’s superior Hypertransport technology was largely a front for envy kept in secret.  Intel’s unveiling of their Nehalem platform reveals what is a near copycat design called QPI or QuickPath Interconnect.  It will be interesting to see AMD’s response to this design.  For now the Intel fanboys are predicting the swift death of AMD.  Let’s not forget that AMD developed this system for their 64-bit x86 platform (before Intel even had a 64-bit x86 on the roadmap) and was way ahead of the game then.  I seriously doubt they’ve been sitting on their laurels all this time.

Nanoantenna technology shows promise

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INL has created something I used to ponder as a kid.  Star Trek was one of my favorite shows growing up, but I always wondered how some of that high-tech gear could work if it was real.  I used to imagine some type of layer that would collect the heat generated within a fusion reactor and convert it directly into electrical power.  This, I thought is how it would be done in the future rather than some clunky mechanical solution like a turbine. (of course we’re still trying to make fusion self-sustaining, but that’s beside the point…)  It may not be designed for use in a fusion reactor, but INL’s device does exactly what I envisioned.  There are some technical hurdles for the new device, (namely converting the high-frequency AC it produces into DC) but once those are solved, there are all sorts of applications for this technology.

iPhone/iPod 2.0.1 firmware may corrupt 3rd party apps

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So, I was out at the Apple store in Ralleigh, NC this weekend while my brother got his iPhone. (yea, a little jealous)  While there, I thought I’d check my facebook account on their WiFi.  The facebook app came up blank for a couple of seconds and then went away.  Seemed strange, so I tried it again and then tried 3 other apps which all failed as well.

A little background:  Before leaving for the weekend I’d updated to the 2.0.1 firmware released the night before.  As it turns out this corrupted my downloaded apps and rendered them useless.  The blue shirts (specialists) at the Apple store took a look, but didn’t know what to do and suggested I try to restore it from the last backup.  Not satisfied with that answer, I messed around with it while my brother was getting his phone activated.  The quick solution I found was to delete the apps and download them again from the app store.

Apple keeps track of what you’ve purchased, so if you’re worried about having to pay for it again, don’t.  (I wasn’t concerned as all the apps I have so far have been freebies…)  The app store states that you’ve already purchased the app and asks you if you really want to download it again. This was a minor inconvenience, but much better than the restore that I wouldn’t have been able to do for a few days.  (being away from home and all…)

So how do you delete the apps you ask?  Simple:  just touch an app icon and hold until it shakes.  Then tap the (X) on each app you’d like to delete.  (only works on 3rd party apps…)  I also asked a blue shirt about the possibility of Apple releasing a Tasks app that syncs like the other included apps (ActiveSync) and was told that Apple doesn’t make apps for the app store, only 3rd parties.  Since I had an Apple branded app from the app store on my iPod at that very moment, I was no longer inclined to ask the blue shirts anything.  Apple obviously doesn’t keep them very well informed.  (not too excited about the “geniuses” either…)  Don’t worry Steve, I still love you’re gear…