What the Nemesis wasn't...

I'd love to see a layout diagram of an IC with non-perpendicular interconnects like the one talked about here:

ATI GPU First X Architecture Chip:

According to the X Initiative, 'The X Architecture rotates the primary direction of the interconnect in the fourth and fifth metal layers by 45 degrees' from the traditional right angles, but remains compatible with 'existing cell libraries, memory cells, compilers and IP cores by preserving the Manhattan geometry of metal layers one through three.' The X Initive says this is the first 'production-worthy approach' to the 'pervasive use' of this design.

But I gotta say.. going above Metal 2? What wusses. The Nemesis Encryptor didn't. We'll ignore the fact that it didn't work...

vlsi, ic, nemesis encryptor

At least there was one cool wolverine out there...

I would have made the trek all the way over to Detroit just to see this. It's unfortunate that this relative of the weasel has to return to a life of mediocrity.. :-)

Michigan Wolverines, NCAA Football, Michigan State Spartans, Ohio State Buckeyes - CBS SportsLine.com:

ROYAL OAK, Mich. -- Some University of Michigan backers weren't amused to learn the Detroit Zoo's baby wolverines had been given nicknames of rival Big Ten teams.

After receiving several dozen complaints, including threats to cancel memberships or reduce donations, the zoo renamed the 3½-month-old kits last week.

A zookeeper who graduated from Michigan State University had named the kits Sparty -- for the MSU mascot -- and Bucky, either for the Wisconsin Badger mascot or a variation on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

wolverine, buckeyes, weasel

Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!

So I just felt Twiglet kick for the first and second times... hard!

I wonder if we can put that many "u"s in his middle name....


nuge, twiglet, kick

New take on an old joke

Slashdot's signal to noise ratio has gotten so low that I often skip reading the comments. Luckily The Apple Blog caught this in a recent story about Nerds Making Better Lovers:

HER DIARY:

Saturday, May 21st 2005

Saw him in the evening and he was acting really strangely. I went shopping in the afternoon with the girls and I did turn up a bit late so thought it might be that. The bar was really crowded and loud so I suggested we go somewhere quieter to talk. He was still very subdued and distracted so I suggested we go somewhere nice to eat. All through dinner he just didn’t seem himself; he hardly laughed and didn’t seem to be paying any attention to me or to what I was saying. I just knew that something was wrong. He dropped me back home and I wondered if he was going to come in; he hesitated but followed. I asked him again if there was something the matter but he just half shook his head and turned the television on. After about 10 minutes of Silence, I said I was going upstairs to bed. I put my arms around him and told him that I loved him deeply. He just gave a sigh and a sad sort of smile. He didn’t follow me up but later he did, and I was surprised when we made love. He still seemed distant and a bit cold, and I started to think that he was going to leave me and that he had found someone else. I cried myself to sleep.
MAN’S DIARY:

Saturday, May 21st 2005

Apple switched to Intel.

Absolutely gutted.

Got a shag though.

apple, intel, shag, joke

Apple + Intel take 500006

Ok, so the whole blogosphere has been peeing itself this weekend because of the rumor reported by CNET (individually confirmed by The Inquirer) that Apple will make the switch to Intel CPUs in their computers over the next couple years. People have been ranting about how tough it would be for ISVs to release software for Apple-PPC and Apple-x86. Jason Kottke actually raises a good point though:

But which chip is Intel making for Apple? (kottke.org):

Everyone's assuming that 'switching to Intel chips' meant x86 chips (found in most common desktop computers), but what if they're going to be manufacturing the PowerPC chips (or almost-compatible ones) that OS X already runs on?

Now since Apple has been involved with PowerPC since its inception (the whole AIM alliance thing which brought together design teams from Motorola (now Freescale), IBM, and Apple), might Apple have enough IP to license PPC to another chip designer/manufacturer? If so, then this could be very good news for Apple. Then they could rely on PowerPCs from multiple companies (Freescale seems more interested in the embedded market as of late). I wonder if IBM's processor design teams have been stretched thin lately designing Cell for Sony/Toshiba (PS3) and Xenon for Microsoft (Xbox360) to concentrate on Apple's low volume business.

I guess my question for the geeks out there is how tough would it be for Intel to connect different instruction decode engines (x86, PPC, etc.) to their execution engines? From my outsider's view, I would think it would be easier for Intel to do this on their more modern Pentium-4 design. Since Pentium-M is actually based on the older Pentium-III design, I would think that the Instruction decoding would be a little more tightly coupled to the execution engine (There's a good article on Pentium-M's design on Anandtech).

What are your thoughts? Could Intel-PPC be possible? Is Apple moving to x86? Or is this the outgrowth of the Vanderpool virtualization technology Intel has been touting for a couple years now?

apple, intel, ppc, microprocessor

Posting from my wall

No.. I'm not on the wall. But my computer monitor is. I finally got myself a projector and am currently using it to type this post (that's why people buy these things, right?). The purchase price became immediately worth it within 1 minute of power-up. At that point, when the Infocus logo appeared on the wall, the dog got very confused and after a minute of unease started barking at the wall.

Gotta love technology.

projector, dog, spca

The Blackwell Experience

So I went to Columbus last week to see the FEH Robot Competition (I'll toss up some pics of that in another post). My generous in-laws put Patty and me up in The Blackwell, that hotel on the business college campus. Two words:

bad ass.

Wait, one word.

badass.

Gorgeous room. Comfy bed, nice bathroom, useful desk, sweet robes, corkscrew and wine glasses.. real nice. Few cons: the same crappy UNITS tv they have in the dorms and the scariest toilet ever. If you didn't pull your hand away from the handle within a couple milliseconds of flushing, it would smack your fingers away.

I'd probably go back.. especially if someone else foots the bill again.. ;-)

osu, hotel, feh