Blade servers, virtualization software and fancy accelerators might be all the rage in the server business, but Google doesn't want any part of the hype.

Google will continue crafting its own low-cost, relatively low-performing boxes to support its software-over-the-wire plans. The ad broker looks to focus on lowering energy costs, improving its parallelized code and boosting component life spans rather than messing with things such as VMware and GPGPUs (general purpose GPUs). So, those of you buying into the software as a service idea might want to have a think about Google's contrarian approach when the likes of HP, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Dell come hawking their latest and greatest kit.

Okay, sure, basing your data center designs on Google's whims might not be the most practical course of action. Google builds new data centers at an astonishing pace and works on a scale seen by only the largest service providers.

"Our applications don't run on anything smaller than a data warehouse," said Google engineer Luiz André Barroso, while speaking last week at the Usenix event in Santa Clara, California.

By data warehouse, Barroso means a facility with software spread across thousands of systems. Google has announced at least four such $600m systems in the last few months just in the US. This type of scale has Google working on software problems, energy issues and component conundrums beyond the realm of conception for most companies. For that reason, Google has largely bypassed the Tier 1 server and software vendors' pitches.

For example, Barroso noted that he "loves" the people at VMware but doesn't plan to use their software.

"I think it will be very sad if we need to use virtualization," he said. "It is hard to claim we will never use it, but we don't really use it today."

Instead, Google relies on maintaining tight control over its entire software infrastructure from the OS level on up to the applications and management packages. It's constantly fine-tuning these systems to create a data warehouse that almost asks as a single, massive virtualized system.

And rather than waiting for ISVs to write multi-threaded code for dual- and quad-core chips out there, Google has decided to do much of the work on its own.

"We might be one of the few companies on the planet that throws software away and writes it from scratch," Barroso said.

Along those lines, Google recently acquired PeakStream - a start-up dedicated to improving the performance of software written in a single-threaded model on multi-core processors such as GPGPUs. Google sidestepped right past the GPGPU technology to have the PeakStream crew focus instead on improving Google's existing code.

Google abstains from blades, VMware and the rest of the hype

A former Google contract worker is claiming $25m damages from the search monolith for allegedly stealing his idea for Google Sky - the heavenly Google Earth feature that allows users to navigate the universe.

Former contractor sues Google for $25m [printer-friendly] | Reg Developer

We've already seen plenty of evidence of the potential damage that sat navs can cause, but the UK's Network Rail has now put a figure on at least some of it, saying that the devices are responsible for damaging some 2,000 bridges per year and causing 5,000 hours of delays. That, thankfully, is not from the satellites falling from the sky, but rather from over drivers relying a little too heavily on GPS units (in particular those driving trucks too large for the bridges), a problem apparently so bad that some places in the UK have taken to putting up signs warning of the dangers. That's apparently not quite enough to solve the problem, however, and now , in addition to warning people to use a little common sense, Network Rail is also reportedly attempting to map all of the UK's low bridges and level crossings so that the information can be added to GPS software.

UK blames sat navs for damaging 2,000 bridges per year

I can't post the flash ad here but Philips Norelco's "Second Puberty" Ad is quite funny...

FYI be sure to click the 'body' link....

Philips Norelco - Second Puberty Ad

A new game for Google's Linux-based Android platform uses WiFi, GPS, and phone-camera technology, along with Google maps, to create a first-person shooter game you can play "anytime, anywhere -- against real people," according to publisher W2Pi Entertainment.

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Once a user downloads and activates the Java-based WiFi Army, says W2Pi, the game scans for other users within 300 feet and sets up a direct WiFi connection, swapping photos of each player for identification purposes. The user tracks the other player via continually updated GPS coordinates on a Google map interface, and when a positive identification is made, the user can shoot to kill using the phone's camera. The photo is then uploaded to the W2Pi site to see if there's a match, and if so, the user is awarded points.

Android game turns Linux phones into paintball guns

What is Zipit Forge ¶

Zipit Forge is the online collaboration area for the Zipit Wireless series of products. Here you will have access to:

* Wikis, Message forums and mailing lists to help you collaborate.
* Content management systems and other publication mechanisms.
* Storage facilities and webspace including versioning systems and databases.
* A project framework with mechanisms to control access and structure work.

Hell yea! The new Zipit2 is a bad ass device, the cost is a little high for what it is, but now the hacking can start.... :P

ZipitForge

Hello, Stanford children. I know you’re probably not reading this right now because half of you are too busy getting drunk to even improve your literacy. And, hey, we know why most of you are here, right? Parents studied here, have millions of dollars in the bank, etc. So why are you gorging yourself on beer? It’s not even Stella Artois. It’s that cheap-as-piss, taste-like-piss beer.

Put it down. Put it down right this instant. Step away from the beer. Yes, you heard me. If alcohol is your poison of choice — as it is for millions (okay, this is America, where higher education is prohibitively expensive, so thousands) of college kids — you should at least try to enjoy it. And don’t even pretend to enjoy beer. Unless you’re into golden showers. There are better ways to get drunk, even if kegs of diluted urine are all they allow at parties. (Because, you know, Stanford kids are upright law-abiding citizens.) And chances are, since daddy went to GSB and mommy sends you LV bags for achieving that B+ in Math 51, you can afford a marginally more expensive option than bad-tasting beer.

Contrary to popular belief, a vodka shot does not a good drink make. No, that’s a recipe for liver cirrhosis in a cup. Shots are fun, if you’re a high school kid. But now you’re older than that. Or at least you will be. Grow up and start trying out mixed drinks. Because cocktails are here to stay. You’re not going to walk into an office dinner and tell the waiter, “A keg of beer please. And six vodka shots.”null

I love it back down here... I cant find good beer... If you as for a "Stella Artois" you get, "who's she? with a redneck twang... ahh the high-low life of being out in BFE...

Champagne campaign...

Caught On Camera: Lightning Over Nashville Lightning arcs across the Nashville skyline Tuesday as dangerous storms rumbled through the southern U.S.

Lightning Over Nashville

They do not like to be called “radio cops.” They insist on “frequency coordinators.” But on rare occasions at National Football League games, the NFL’s Game Day Frequency Coordinators have to get a bit insistent.

And 45 of them will be suiting up for Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz., to organize the use of some 10,000 wireless devices. (Read a related story on the stadium’s state-of-the-art wireless system.)
Read the latest WhitePaper - Enterprise Mobile Adoption - A Corporate Conundrum

The NFL launched its frequency coordination effort in 1996 at Super Bowl XXX in Phoenix. The initial goal was simple: organize the use of limited radio frequencies at the Super Bowl. Three years later, the program expanded to all NFL games, so that the ever-growing crowd of wireless users, from quarterbacks to cleaners, can use an ever-growing number of wireless devices without interfering with each other.

Sometimes things get testy.

Wireless users, such as TV crews, are required to coordinate with the NFL before the game, to get a frequency assignment. At the NFC Championship game Jan. 20, between the Green Bay Packers and the winning New York Giants, the GDCs monitoring the frequencies found an uncoordinated TV news crew, called a “CoordNot.” To link a wireless microphone to the camera, the crew was using a channel assigned to another wireless user. This crew was a “repeat offender,” says Jay Gerber, manager and founder of the NFL Frequency Organization Group. He wouldn’t identify their employer.

Click to see: Photo of University of Phoenix stadium
Photo of University of Phoenix stadium

Using the NFL’s standard-issue, radio direction-finding gear, the GDCs onsite at Lambeau Field tracked down the TV crew, a camera operator and sound man, and spoke to them. In the vast majority of cases, such unauthorized users are apologetic and work with the coordinators to find and use an open frequency.

Not this time.

Because this was a repeat offense, the crew was not given the customary option of continuing to work by using a cable connection for the microphone. First-time offenders have their wireless gear confiscated and returned at the end of the game, and can keep working using a wired connection. After consulting with League officials and NFL security at the stadium, the GDC told the TV crew to pack up. They turned in their credentials and left the stadium.

Read on... if anyone has done RDF work it is fun stuff to track people... :)

NFL's 'radio cops' organize wireless use for Super Bowl XLII

Super Bowl Sunday is here and I really couldn't care less who wins the game. At the beginning of the season I'm always hopeful that I'll be re-posting the Super Bowl Shuffle but it wasn't even close this year. Below are a few more songs from the 1990's. As always, enjoy.

MP3 | [listen] Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade
MP3 | [listen] Everything But The Girl - Missing
MP3 | [listen] Los Del Rio - Macarena
MP3 | [listen] Haddaway - What Is Love
MP3 | [listen] Aerosmith - Cryin'

Fab...!!!!

It came from the nineties (Vol. 2)