The world’s oldest monastery, Saint Catherine’s, plans to use hi-tech cameras to study further into the Codex Sinaiticus. The Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest surviving bible in the world and the monastery will use cameras to photograph parchments at different wavelengths of light which will highlight faded texts masked by time and overwriting. This technology is called Hyperspectral imaging. Photographing of these documents may involve using 4 cameras taking images from different angles and then stitching the image together. Presently, a 72 mega pixel camera is being used to photograph other documents at this monastery and they hope to get these images up on a website by mid 2006. Maybe we can use this technology to test Dan Brown’s theories in ‘The Da Vinci Code’.

I can almost hear the announcer at a boxing match introducing IBM’s Supercomputer known as Blue Gene. I would like to call this event the ‘Computer Olympics’. It is held twice a year and the reason for this frequency can be attributed to the rapid development in the computer world. Every time you look around the corner, there is a faster processor released by Intel or AMD and it is no different in the supercomputing world. At the International Supercomputing Conference (held in Heidelberg, Germany), IBM’s Blue Gene clocked 136.8 trillion calculations per second, or teraflops (sounds like a Looney Tunes word).
IBM also came in second with a computer called ‘BGW’ which clocked 91.2 teraflops,
Silicon Graphics Inc’s Columbia came in third clocking 51.87 teraflops.
Did you know that the human brain processes information at about 100 teraflops? I wish I had known that during my math adventures in school.
Click on the links if you want to learn more.
Blue Gene, Linux top supercomputing list
IBM’s Blue Gene Remains Tops In Supercomputer Rankings

Mozilla Europe has come up with this funny online advertising campaign featuring Firefox. Firefox is the new browser that is taking the internet by storm and it has been grabbing market share away from Internet Explorer which many companies thought to be impossible. It is nice to know that the Microsoft will be learning a few lessons from Firefox and will include ‘tabbed browsing’ in the new version of Internet Explorer. Anyways, back on the subject of this online advertising campaign, check out the ads on the Funny Fox website.

VoIP (Voice over IP) is the method of sending voice conversations over the internet. VoIP converts analog signals from a phone into a digital format, sends it over the internet and then converts it back to analog at the other end. There are 2 ways you can place a call using VoIP. The first method is to use software like ‘Skype’ and call any number from your computer using a headset. The second method of using VoIP is to use a phone that has an adapter which is connected to a broadband connection. The advantage that VoIP has over traditional phone calls is that it is cheaper to use VoIP. The reason that traditional long distance calls are expensive is due to the fact that if you were calling someone from Canada to Australia, your telephone company would have to use the infrastructure of other phone companies which are on route to Australia to complete your call. On the other hand, with VoIP, you are using an existing infrastructure, which is the internet, to make the call. Below are some links on VoIP if you want to learn more.

How VoIP Works
Voice over IP
CNET
Get upto Speed:VoIP

Jack Kilby (November 8, 1923 – June 20, 2005), the Nobel Prize-winning engineer who invented the microchip died on the Monday, 20th of June, 2005 in Dallas. Most of us have not even heard of Jack Kilby but every time we use the computer and most modern consumer electronic appliances, we are using Mr.Kilby’s invention. He held 60 patents and also went on to become the co-inventor of the first handheld calculator. From anyone who ever used a computer, Thank you Jack.
Click here to learn more about Jack Kilby

You have seen them at the coffee shop, you have sat next to them at the movies, you may even have had conversations with them, and they lurk everywhere. Yes, I am talking about “Geeks???. People say that I qualify as one too; I disagree although the subject of this blog is not helping my cause. The geeks have a new toy, there is a new watch in the market that displays time in binary format and if you see someone wearing this, be prepared to talk in 1s and 0s. This watch displays the time using the numbers of the binary sequence. The values of the lighted LEDs are added to calculate the time; add the top LEDs to get the hour and the bottom ones for minutes. Sounds like a lot of work to me but some guy called Terence Wong says that all that one really needs is the ability to do mental arithmetic. Why??? . Why can’t I look at my ‘normal’ watch and tell the time? Ok, I get it Terence, when someone looks at the watch and asks ‘what the hell is that?’ you say it’s a watch and ONLY I CAN TELL THE TIME and then give the all knowing smile.