21387644
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
Today’s data systems differ greatly from those of the past. While classic systems could offer crisp answers due to the relatively small amount of data they contained, today’s systems hold humongous amounts of data content—thus, the data quality and meaning is often fuzzy. In this article, Microsoft’s Pat Helland examines the ways in which today’s answers differ from what we used to expect, before moving on to state the criteria for a new theory and taxonomy of data.
12966816
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
Latency has a direct impact on performance—thus in order to identify performance issues it is absolutely essential to understand latency. With the introduction of DTrace it is now possible to measure latency at arbitrary points—the problem, however, is how to visually present this data in an effective manner. Towards this end heat maps can prove to be a powerful tool. When I/O latency is presented as a visual heat map, some intriguing and beautiful patterns can emerge. These patterns provide insight into how a system is actually performing and what kinds of latency end-user applications experience.
11970180
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
The NTP (Network Time Protocol) system for synchronizing computer clocks has been around for decades and has worked well for most general-purpose timing uses. However, new developments, such as the increasingly precise timing demands of the finance industry, are driving the need for a more precise and reliable network timing system. Julien Ridoux and Darryl Veitch from the University of Melbourne are working on such a system as part of the Radclock Project. In this article they share some of their expertise on synchronizing network clocks. The authors tackle the key challenge, taming delay variability, and provide useful guidelines for designing robust network timing algorithms.
9946316
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
By now it has become evident that we are facing an energy problem—while our primary sources of energy are running out, the demand for energy is greatly increasing. In the face of this issue energy-efficient computing has become a hot topic. For those looking for lessons who better to ask then Steve Furber, the principal designer of the ARM (Acorn RISC Machine), a prime example of a chip that is simple, low power, and low cost. In this interview, conducted by David Brown of Sun’s Solaris Engineering Group, Furber shares some of the lessons and tips on energy-efficient computing that he has learned through working on this and subsequent projects.
5779655
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
Participatory sensing technologies are greatly expanding the possible uses of mobile phones in ways that could improve our lives and our communities (for example, by helping us to understand our exposure to air pollution or our daily carbon footprint). However, with these potential gains comes great risk, particularly to our privacy. With their built-in microphones, cameras and location awareness, mobile phones could, at the extreme, become the most widespread embedded surveillance tools in history. Whether phones engaged in sensing data are tools for self and community research, coercion or surveillance depends on who collects the data, how it is handled, and what privacy protections users are given. This article gives a number of opinions about what programmers might do to make this sort of data collection work without slipping into surveillance and control.
5668919
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
During the past half-decade there has been an explosion of creativity in revision-control software, complicating the task of determining which tool to use to track and manage the complexity of a project as it evolves. Today leaders of teams are faced with a bewildering array of choices ranging from Subversion to the more popular Git and Mercurial. It is important to keep in mind that whether distributed or centralized, all revision-control systems come with a complicated set of tradeoffs. Each tool emphasizes a distinct approach to working and collaboration, which in turn influences how the team works. So how exactly do you go about finding the best match between tool and team? This article sets out to answer this question.
4483187
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
As can be inferred from the title, this article examines the limitations of the sockets API. The Internet and the networking world in general have changed in very significant ways since the sockets API was first developed, but in many ways the API has had the effect of narrowing the way in which developers think about and write networked applications. This article discusses the history as well as the future of the sockets API, focusing on how "high bandwidth, low latency and multihoming are driving the development of new alternatives.
"
180357
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
Paul Vixie of Internet Systems Consortium provides a journey into the sublime complexity of the domain name system. Although it contains just a few simple rules, DNS has grown into an enormously complex system. This article explores the supposed and true definitions of DNS, showing some of the tension between the two definitions through the lens of the philosophy of Internet development protocol.
170499
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
In this rare meeting, popular sci-fi writer and co-editor of the blog Boing Boing Cory Doctorow and Sun VP Hal Stern consider the open source approach. A very interesting interview that deals with the pros and cons of going open source as well as the issues of security and privacy. From the interview, "I worry about how we convey that individual responsibility about what you do and do not do online...Conveying the moral sense of right and wrong, the sense of individual responsibility, is a lot harder than saying, 'Don't steal candy from the 7-11.'"
2565
submission
ChelleChelle writes:
Rather than focusing so much on an explanation of ubiquitous computing and its history, this article presents an actual experimental system designed to operate within a cell biology lab. The application, known as Labscape, was intended to function as an "invisible assistant," using context to organize and record information and predicting what would be needed by the researchers as any point in time. The author nicely sums up the article at the end by providing several important lessons about building proactive applications.
