Barry & Associates announced the results of its 1997 Online Database Derby, which pitted database vendors against one another in developing and enhancing a medical records application and database. Receiving the "Winners' Circle Award" for completing all the requirements were InterSystems, running on a 500-MHz Digital ALPHA station, and POET software, running on a 166-MHz Pentium system. To receive the award, each vendor delivered the application, data definition, and database build source code, and made the application available for an Internet-based availability test. The database, which needed to be available for 21 days, had over 8 million records and was about 1 GB in size. You can view the results, performance graphs, and look over the source code at http://www.odbmsfacts.com/derby/.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Motorola has gained the rights to use Mitsubishi's embedded DRAM technology that allows high-density DRAM to be placed on the same silicon with other components, including processor cores. It is a key component of true system-on-a-chip designs. In exchange, Mitsubishi can manufacture chips using Motorola's ColdFire processor core.
-- Tim Kientzle
A majority of the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) Joint Technical Committee 1 voted to approve Sun Microsystems's application to become a Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) Submitter. This means Sun can begin submitting the Java platform specifications for standardization. For background on Sun's ISO application to standardize the Java platform specifications, see http://java.sun.com/aboutJava/ standardization/index.html.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Hewlett-Packard recently unveiled a new distribution system called the "HP Supply Store" designed to offer printer and copier supplies to customers at all hours. The "store" is actually a sophisticated vending machine that accepts most major credit/debit cards, and offers 11 different types of inkjet cartridges and associated media (such as glossy paper or transparency film). The machines were developed with a combination of HP hardware and proprietary software. Features include touch-screen interfaces and networking technology that collects information about buying patterns and customer preferences. The first wave of HP Supply Stores are currently being tested at select sites in Tempe, Arizona. The company plans to have 200 machines installed in four major U.S. cities by summer.
-- Deirdre Blake
Not only are diamonds a girl's best friend, but they may also be disk drive's best buddy too. Scientists at IBM and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have come up with a way to shield disks and heads with ultra thin "overcoats" of diamond-like carbon that can survive repeated crash landings at 3600 rpm. This will enable the disk and heads to be much closer together, thereby perhaps increasing storage densities to 10 GB per square inch and more.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Texas Instruments has agreed to buy Amati Communications, a company that holds key patents on Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology that makes it possible for data to travel over regular telephone wires at up to 200 times faster than standard modems. TI said it will start selling reprogrammable DSL chipsets in the first quarter of 1998. This means that prices should start dropping on DSL equipment, thereby increasing its adoption. Amati's approach has been certified by ANSI and ISO. Licensees of Amati technology include Motorola, Northern Telecom, and Alcatel. Phone companies that currently sell DSL modems include Pacific Bell, Southwestern Bell, BellSouth, and Ameritech.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Computer-science professors at the University of California at Berkeley have a new teaching assistant -- Measure of Statistical Similarity (MOSS). MOSS is a program designed to seek out source-code similarities in homework assignments submitted by programming students. Written by associate professor Alex Aiken, MOSS is available at no charge at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/ ~aiken/moss.html.
-- Jonathan Erickson
For commuters who have seen everything from drivers shaving to eating breakfast cereal while weaving through traffic, it isn't necessarily comforting to learn that IBM, Delco Electronics, Netscape, and Sun Microsystems are showing off a prototype automobile that lets drivers check e-mail and surf the web while driving. The car uses IBM voice-recognition software to read e-mail, get directions, and the like. It also sports Delco's heads-up display that projects transparent maps onto the windshield, á la jet-fighter planes.
-- Jonathan Erickson
"Stalking the Elusive Computer Bug," an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, includes the actual bug (moth) found in the Mark 1 at the Harvard Computational Lab in 1947. Other features in the exhibit include microprocessors, notebooks, documents, photographs, and cartoons. For more information on the exhibit, which runs until March, 1998, see http://www.si.edu/.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Computer collectors and assorted old-timers converged at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California, last fall for the inaugural Vintage Computer Fair. Organized by Sam Ismail, the fair comprised an exhibit of old computers, a flea market, and a series of talks. The highlight of the event came when Lee Felsenstein and Bob Marsh, the creators of The Sol (an 8080-based computer built in 1975 and named after Popular Electronics Technical Editor Les Solomon), showcased their original prototype and turned it on for the first time in 20 years to see if it would work. It didn't, but Marsh noted, "It didn't blow up -- I consider that a tremendous victory." James Willing, sysop of an early BBS, gave a particularly interesting presentation on the history of BBSs, revealing that his BBS ran on an Altair and one phone line for 13 years, until he finally retired the Altair in 1992. Other interesting speakers included Bill Fernandez, employee #4 at Apple, and Lincoln Spector, humor columnist for Computer Currents. For more information about the Vintage Computer Fair, see http://www.siconic.com/vcf/.
-- Eugene Eric Kim