differenceengine
Latest
Found Footage: Understanding technology's past
When I think about a computer, I usually don't think about a 5-ton assembly of brass gears, cams, and steel rods. Yet in 1847 - 1849, Charles Babbage first created his design for the Difference Engine No. 2, a large mechanical computer that used these non-electronic components.Nathan Myrhvold, former Chief Technical Officer of Microsoft, commissioned the building of a Difference Engine No. 2 based on Babbage's design. It's on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, and will soon grace the living room of Myrhvold's home. What does this have to do with Apple? In this MarketWatch video, it's mentioned that Babbage had problems getting funding for a device that was considered to be ahead of its time. It kind of reminds me of Apple's Newton MessagePad. It was the progenitor of all PDAs and smartphones, but failed in the marketplace because of its price and the fact that few people understood what it was good for.The video also highlights Daniel Janisch, PowerBook Guy, who upgrades and sells antique PowerBooks (8-year old "Pismo" PowerBooks, for example). You can run Tiger on the Pismos, but they're often abandoned for the new kids on the block.Thanks to Jomo for the link!
Computer History Museum unboxes a Babbage difference engine
Not too many people go to science museums and place orders, but former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold was apparently so impressed with the London Science Museum's replica of Charles Babbage's difference engine he commissioned a $1M duplicate, which was just recently delivered to California's Computer History Museum for a six-month stay. The nine-foot-tall machine has nearly 8,000 parts, many of which were hand-filed, and suffered months of delays while under construction due to the tight tolerances required to make it work -- but it's here now, and it's ready to start cranking out polynomials at the rate of one per six seconds. Bring it on, IBM. Check the read link for way more pics of the unboxing, which took hours and ended in applause.
DARPA hard at work on nanomechanical chips
These chips won't be blazing through Crysis any time soon, but there's certainly room in the world for mechanical nanocomputers, and thanks to DARPA we might seem them in the real world sooner rather than later. The chips harken back Babbage's 13 ton difference engine, but with a whole lot more nano. They're also more robust, generate less heat and consume less power than their solid-state counterparts. DARPA has plenty of uses for them on the battlefield (like counting bullets, oddly enough), and consumers might seem them showing up car engines and children's toys.[Via Crave]
Researchers develop nanochip based on Babbage's difference engine
In a tidbit of news which will get avid Neal Stephenson readers all hot and bothered, researches have outlined a blueprint for a mechanical nanochip similar in design to Charles Babbage's difference engine. Using the massive, steam-driven Victorian computer as a model, scientists have begun work on new type of computing architecture which would be solely based on nano-mechanical elements. The researchers say that while the devices won't compete with high-speed silicon, they could be utilized for "mundane applications" where the processors can be "slow and cheap" -- and so-very-steampunk, we might add. Of course, the original steam-computer consisted of 25,000 parts and weighed 13 tons, but the developers are hoping to knock at least a few pounds off of that design.
