January 2007 Archive of engeniusBLOG

Since the very first radio transmitters went on the air at the dawn of the twentieth century, we have been rather obsessed with control of the RF spectrum. Rightly so in terms of potential interference; wrongly so in terms of political control. Governments in the 1920s through the 1950s were terrified that radio would become a subversive force that could be turned against them.

Licensing started early on and was given out for transmissions of a particular modulation, at a particular frequency, at a specific power, at a specific location. As technology evolved, the spectrum effectively increased, as we were able to go to higher and higher frequencies. But the licensing model changed little.

I am personally in favor of anarchy in the spectrum; it has been shown to work time and again. In the UK it worked when stodgy BBC radio programming failed to cater to teenage music pressure. Radio Luxembourg filled the gap and, most evenings, you could get a clear AM signal in the...  -- Click Here to Read More >>

Standing here with my toes hanging over the edge of a new year, I've started to ponder what 2007 will hold for computing and networking. From my foggy viewpoint it appears that much of the industry should progress in a predictable manner, adding increments of processing power, storage and multimedia capabilities to the venerable PC architecture -- all bundled together under the rigid strictures of Microsoft's new Vista OS. On the other hand, a slightly different reading of the tea leaves hints at the early signs of what may be deep faults in the strategy that has allowed the folks in Redmond to hold sway over our digital lives for the past couple of decades.

If it happens, I don't think it will be because Windows falls victim to a digital coup that enables Linux or any other OS to displace Microsoft from the desktop. What may happen, however, is that a number of technical trends are slowly moving the traditional PC further from the center of our digital lives. In his recent ...  -- Click Here to Read More >>

Poor Microsoft. It seems that most of the world secretly hates them and it takes little for that world to heap stuff on them. But sometimes they simply just ask for it. Microsoft Vista is now available as a download on Microsoft's web site and various professional groups have been offering the product at major discounts for a couple of months. But just as surely as a Microsoft product is released you can be sure that it is followed by reports of vulnerabilities. Whether these first weaknesses are significant, or not, there will surely be more. None of us who has some understanding of the progress of a major engineering project will believe that the pieces will always come together cleanly -- however well you think you have designed and specified the interface requirements and limitations. With software, with al...  -- Click Here to Read More >>

The news that the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) had probably succumbed to a fault in its solar array steering mechanism brought a sad although not unexpected loss of a machine that I'd come to think of as an old friend. The spacecraft, which had been built using many spare parts from my ill-fated project, the Mars Observer, went silent after mapping Mars since early 1999, nearly five times its nominal design life. Nevertheless, the news was especially poignant for me since it also echoed the passing earlier this year of G. Edward Danielson, a Principal Science Investigator on the MGS mission and an old friend who taught me so much about Mars, the Universe, and life in general.

If there's any consolation to be had, it's that both Ed and MGS l...  -- Click Here to Read More >>

The goals of big business and the Federal Government are not always in alignment, but national RoHS and WEEE laws that mirror the European Union's directives are in the best interest of the US electronics industry -- for manufacturers, distributors and end users alike. A look at the current landscape reveals why.

With no national RoHS-style legislation yet proposed (or likely even discussed), California has gone ahead and enacted its own rule (SB20/SB50).

California's RoHS rule is not as comprehensive as the EU directive, doesn't take effect until January 1, 2007, and addresses only 4 of the 6 substances that the EU RoHS addresses (cadmium, lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium). It also only applies to a select group of products sold through California retailers (laptops, CRTs and TVs with screens greater than 4 inches in size). The scope of SB20/SB50, however, is sure to expand over time.Click Here to Read More >>