The Day Everyone Became a Manager
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There are many ways to become a manager. Read more
Blog Posts
The Modem Restart That Gave Me More Upload Speed
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There was a period when internet problems were not background annoyances. Read more
Apple Introduces the iPhone 4
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Apple introduced the iPhone 4 in June 2010 with a new industrial design, a high-density “Retina” display, front-facing camera, and Apple’s A4 processor. The 960×640 screen packed about 326 pixels per inch, making individual pixels difficult to distinguish at normal viewing distance. Read more
Liking Computers Is Not the Same as Studying Computer Engineering
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There is a very understandable way to choose computer engineering. Read more
Never Use a Floating-Point Loop Counter
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There are programming mistakes you make once and remember forever. Read more
The Algorithm for Asking Someone for Directions
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There is a special kind of problem that exists only because you decided to think about it too much. Read more
Google Open-Sources the VP8 Video Codec
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Google open-sourced the VP8 video codec in May 2010 after acquiring On2 Technologies. The codec became the core of the new WebM media format, paired initially with Vorbis audio and a Matroska-derived container. Read more
The iPad And The Question Of What A Computer Is
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Apple released the iPad this month, and the most interesting question for me is not whether it is a large phone or a small laptop. The device makes me wonder what we actually require before we call something a computer. Read more
Apple Releases the First iPad
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Apple released the first iPad in April 2010. The tablet used Apple’s A4 system-on-chip, a 9.7-inch multi-touch display, and the same basic operating-system family as the iPhone, but it was positioned for web browsing, reading, video, games, and lightweight productivity. Read more
NVIDIA Announces Fermi GeForce GTX 480
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NVIDIA announced the GeForce GTX 480 in March 2010 as the first flagship consumer card based on its Fermi architecture. Fermi was designed not only for graphics but also for increasingly important general-purpose GPU computing. Read more
The Browser Is Becoming A Platform
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For a long time, I thought of the browser as a program for reading websites. That description is becoming too small. Read more
Microsoft Azure Becomes Commercially Available
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Microsoft Azure became commercially available in February 2010. The service represented a major strategic shift for a company whose business had been built around software installed on customer-owned PCs and servers. Read more
Google Introduces the Nexus One
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Google introduced the Nexus One in January 2010, built by HTC. Unlike most Android phones of the period, it was sold as a Google-branded reference device and initially offered directly through Google’s own online store. Read more
Google Public DNS Launches
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Google launched the public DNS resolvers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in December 2009. DNS is the Internet’s distributed naming system: it translates human-readable domain names into addresses and other records computers use. Read more
When Solid State Drives Start To Feel Real
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Hard drives have always made computers feel mechanical. We can hear them spin, click, and search. A large part of the computer may be electronic, but storage still depends on a moving disk and a tiny head travelling across its surface. Read more
Google Announces the Go Programming Language
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Google introduced the Go programming language publicly in November 2009. Its designers, including Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson, wanted a compiled language that kept systems programming relatively simple while handling modern multi-core and networked software. Read more
Windows 7 Is Released
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Microsoft released Windows 7 on October 22, 2009. The system was widely seen as a recovery from Vista because it felt faster, worked with more existing hardware, and restored confidence in upgrading Windows. Read more
Windows 7 Reaches RTM
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Windows 7 reached release-to-manufacturing status in July 2009, meaning Microsoft’s code was stable enough for PC makers to prepare systems for the October launch. The milestone mattered because hardware vendors needed a final build to validate drivers and factory images. Read more
Snow Leopard Reaches Gold Master Development
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Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was completed in 2009 with an unusual goal for a major operating-system release: Apple emphasized internal engineering improvements more than visible features. Read more
The Comfort Of Long Forum Conversations
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Forums can be messy. A topic begins with one question and ends five pages later in a completely different place. People disagree. Someone writes too much. Someone disappears for months and returns as if nothing happened. I still like them. Read more