Technobriefs
April 10, 2006
Apple gives Windows the boot: tech tongues
have been wagging since Apple released a public beta of Boot Camp a
pre-release feature of Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) that will allow you to
dual boot your Intel-based Mac to Windows XP. (MS software definitely
NOT included -- BYOWXP.) The GUI of this "ALT reality" is pure
delicious Applesauce, I am confident that never before in the history
of computing has there been an easier way to re-partition a live disk.
Probably the main motivation for Boot Camp is to encourage
fence-sitting "switchers" who want to use Macs, but have a few Windows
apps they just can't do without. Virtual PC used to be the best bet,
but that became a victim of the move to Intel based Macs (but see
Parallels Workstation
2.1 Beta). Certainly
there is no risk that Mac users will boot XP then forget to came back
(as IF!).
There is a typically well-reasoned analysis
of Boot Camp and its implications at Daring Fireball. Back when
Intel-based Macs were first introduced, there was a lot of
speculation about whether the new OS X could be run on non-Apple
hardware. Boot Camp is definitely not that capability, but Cringely
suggests it might be down the road.
The X-ray observatory never blinks: This
struck me as such a very clever idea: normally telescopes alternate
between observation and "slewing" into position for the next
observation. These two states are mutually exclusive and in fact the
instrument is traditionally shuttered during the slew to protect the
optics. But operators of the space-based XMM-Newton X-ray observatory
realized that keeping the shutter open and recording the data during
slew allowed them free sky survey time. This lets them find dynamic
phenomena that might otherwise be missed: Telescope
profits from 'downtime'.
Canonical MIT/Caltech hack: MIT likes to
think it
has a friendly rivalry with its Cambridge
neighbor Harvard, while Harvard mostly ignores MIT. Similarly MIT
is generally ignored by what it considers its west coast "rival"
Caltech. MIT also has a rich history of hacks.
So it must have made the MIT geeks' hearts swell with pride to
be the target
of several hacks by Caltech in 2005.
Finally, some "respect"! Now MIT hackers (aka the Howe Et Ser Moving
Company) have pulled off a 3000
miles transplant of Caltech's 130-year-old 2-ton Fleming cannon
(more here). The big gun appeared Thursday morning, just in time for the
start of Campus
Preview Weekend. Note the exquisite workmanship
on the "brass rat"
(the MIT class ring) that adorns the barrel.
Technobits: Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room --- Seeking changes to the DMCA --- openDRM: not quite as odious as proprietary DRM --- from Mr. PGP, really secure VoIP: A Pretty Good Way to Foil the NSA --- Intellectual Property Run Amok --- Firefox breaks 10 percent, Safari comes in third --- MIT Researchers Build Tiny Batteries With Viruses --- Arctic fossils mark move to land --- spicy chemotherapy --- How Islamic inventors changed the world.