Monthly Archives: January 2007

JavaChip – A Java-optimized microprocessor architecture

Back in the 90’s, during the waning years of the RISC-vs.-CISC rivalry which involved companies such as Intel, AMD, IBM, Motorola, and ARM, there was this one chip that was designed at AT&T’s Bell Labs that stood out from the crowd.

The AT&T Hobbit.

Unlike the other architectures, this processor was designed from scratch to flawlessly process instructions in C. This focus differentiated from other processors, all of which were focused on other priorities, not all of which benefitted the performance of programming language instructions.

Unfortunately, it never really caught on. It was used in AT&T’s EO Personal Communicator as well as the earliest versions of the BeBox by Be, Inc., but that was it.

Today, the big players from the 90’s are still beating their respective dead horses – AMD and intel with x86, IBM with POWER, and so on.

Yet, the rest of us have seemed to move on to bigger hardware requirements, such as higher processing speeds or graphics and networking.

So why can’t we try something new? Something modern and powerful enough to handle whatever we can throw at it?

Enter the JavaChip (beta).

This processor, in its imaginary conception, is built around, and optimized to run one of the two most heavyweighted programming paradigms of our time, Java.

This means that you can throw any possible application at it – in any programming language, such as C/++/# – and it will swallow it, digest it, and poop it out like yesterday’s prune juice.

You getting it?

Now, let’s say that we can have it used in at least 3 (THREE) processing units: Central, Graphic, and Network.

This would mean that the highest-end graphics, networking, and instructions processing known to man can be accomplished on a single personal computer.

And finally, what if this processor architecture was both free AND open source?

Think about it.

Java 6 – no more nasty coffee?

Once in a while, you’ll come across a tech forum or Digg story which involves, at some point, Java. For multiple reasons, Java tends to bring out some ardent apologists and mutually-ill feelings. The debates center around the following:

Java compared to .NET as a language platform
Java+Swing as a desktop application interface (Also known as “Java is slow/crap on the desktop”)
Java’s place as an arguably-good language that was under the rule of an inefficient, shortsighted company with a seemingly-perennial case of bad marketing

The arguments are rebutted by the apologists in similar order:

Java is just as good as .NET/C#, C++, or any other C-derivative or relative
If your Java desktop application runs slow, then it means that either 1) you have a slow computer that needs an upgrade or 2) the guy who made that application is a bad programmer
Java has been used for a long time in mission-critical environments and business institutions

It’s the same argument, traded over and over again whenever a story on some Java-based BitTorrent client is posted, or something like that.

But one ditty was more-or-less repeated by the apologists:

“Download Java 6. It’s faster than previous versions.”

So tonight, I was thinking about which version of Java SE Runtime I had installed on both the desktop and laptop. I usually only opened up Limewire if there was enough free memory to do so (as long as Firefox wasn’t reaching to upwards of 700MB at the moment).

Come to find out that I still had Java 5 (with the most recent updates) installed.

So, I went to the Java SE site and downloaded/installed Java 6.

Then, to test it out, I opened up LimeWire. And it actually opened up without a broken-up GUI!

I tried it out with WikiNews’s Java Audio Player, and it also performed better than before the installation.

I kid you not, ladies and gentlemen. JAVA IS NOW USABLE ON THE DESKTOP.

Now, for my next trick, I’m going to install and use that Java BitTorrent client.

*gasp!* That’s right, I will actually use Azureus to see if it runs faster on Java 6 than it did in Java 5 or previous.

Wish me luck!

OMG: M. Night to direct live-action Airbender TRILOGY

That’s right, folks. M. Night Shyamalan (Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, Signs) has signed up with Paramount to write, produce, AND direct THREE (3) films – LIVE-ACTION – based on Avatar: The Last Airbender (probably the highest-rated show on Nickelodeon’s roster ATM).

The Wikipedia page has been updated with the news, but an article on the films is, as of yet, forthcoming.

Interestingly, James Cameron is also directing a film titled “Avatar”, due to be released in 2009.

No More Apple Computer

Today, Apple’s dropped the “computer” from their name. They’re now known officially as Apple, Inc.

Also, they’ve announced the much-anticipated iPhone (to be released in June).

And, finally, they’ve announced Apple TV, formerly known as iTV.

Oh, and they’ve revamped their entire website. It’s mostly in black, but methinks that they did a half-job with it.

Now, for my piece.

Apple has done alot within the 10 years since Steve Jobs was brought back to the company. They went for a brand new operating system and a brand new microprocessor architecture. They’ve also jumped into the media business feet-first, and have made quite a splash into the telephone industry as of today.

So I wonder: does this most recent keynote denote a move away from the Macintosh line of computers?

OK, that’s a bit far-fetched, and flamebaiting.

But look again at what Apple has done in the second Steve Jobs period, and the side-effects of these actions.

  1. They moved from PowerPC to Intel, with full knowledge of the possibility of Mac OS X being reverse-engineered by so-called “hackers” to run it on other, non-Apple computers which share the exact same hardware architecture.
  2. Numerous users on public forums have expressed their desire to use Mac OS X without paying the premium for the hardware.
  3. Apple is no longer just a computer company, as noted by the aforementioned name change.
  4. Apple, as of today, is competing directly with Microsoft (and Sony) in the home entertainment hardware department: Apple TV vs. Xbox 360, iPod vs. Zune (btw, I’m certain that Steve Jobs, being the co-founder of Disney’s new animation department, has long held a foray into the media carriage industry as a goal for Apple.)

So, my theory is that

  1. Apple will recognize a market which only the operating system, sans the hardware, can appeal to.
  2. Apple will gradually license Mac OS X to other computer companies.
  3. They will, just as gradually, phase out the Macintosh computer line before, at least, the end of the decade.

Simply put, Apple, in the most ironic twist in computer history, will become the new Microsoft, and vice versa.

Flame me now, please.

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In other news, Yahoo demoed its custom-made Messenger for Vista earlier this week at CES.

Thought of the day: Middle class

The larger a nation’s population, the more you’re gonna hear of that country’s middle class and less about its poverty problems.

That works in most, if not all, countries, particularly the United States, India, Nigeria, Russia, Japan, and China. All of the aforementioned possess populations above 100 million, and have an admitted lower class of citizens, the size of which may or may not exceed the size of their middle classes depending upon the economic situation.

However, in the media, do you hear as much about those lower classes as you do about their middle classes?

In spite of the news about massive political conflict and rivalries coming from these countries, you’re not really going to hear about the collective hunger of a particular village in the Punjab, or the scandalous HIV epidemic in at least 5 provinces of the People’s Republic of China.

Rather, in the Western media, we’re going to hear and see software developers, oil barons, film actors, animation directors, call centers, and stock exchanges coming from these countries.

Now tell me, is this because of their huge populations? Or is it because of their particular media?