Tech Tuesday for 10/16 Swimming Bullets and Mortal Coil
A bit of a somber note for this weeks Tech Tuesday, as a true giant in the history of technology has passed: Paul Allen, dead at 65.
Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, died Monday. He was an investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist who influenced many aspects of modern life — from technology and science to sports and music.
Allen was 65, his investment firm Vulcan said in a statement announcing his death. He died in Seattle from complications related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma two weeks after Allen said he was being treated for the disease.
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, like the less-common Hodgkin’s disease, is a cancer of the lymphatic system.
“My brother was a remarkable individual on every level,” Allen’s sister, Jody Allen, said in a statement on behalf of his family. “He was a much loved brother and uncle, and an exceptional friend.”
Allen founded Microsoft (MSFT) with Bill Gates in 1975, several years after the two met as fellow students at a private school in Seattle. Allen left the company in 1982 after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease.
“I am heartbroken by the passing of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Paul Allen,” Microsoft founder Bill Gates said in a statement Monday. “Paul was a true partner and dear friend. Personal computing would not have existed without him.”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called Allen’s contributions “indispensable.”“As co-founder of Microsoft, in his own quiet and persistent way, he created magical products, experiences and institutions, and in doing so, he changed the world,” Nadella added.
Among his many other achievements, Paul Allen donated over $2 Billion to charitable causes over the years.
Oscar Gordon’s Tech Tuesday
[TT1] A swimming bullet
[TT2] Blue continues to be cool.
[TT3] Shrimp vision could boost the capabilities of autonomous vehicles.
[TT5] Europe is working the frosted spikes ‘do extra hard.
[TT6] How do you thwart the Smash & Grab? Don’t let the thief see anything.
[tt7] The Navy is trying out 3D printed replacement parts.
[TT8] Finding even more Fast Radio Bursts.
[TT9] High Altitude Drones have completed the first set of flight tests.
[TT10] A robot that can build it’s own tube to climb.
[TT11]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNeGc10OKo0&w=560&h=315]
TT4: No surprise to anyone who has studied the human vision system. The brain makes up an embarrassing amount of what we see, and can be readily fooled.
TT11: With no disrespect to Paul Allen the person, I spent far too much of my technical career fighting with Microsoft’s horrid technology decisions, and a number of years watching them largely halt the development of video compression algorithms by buying up and suppressing anything that looked like it might be better than their own limited tech. No kind words or thoughts about Microsoft from me. I generally disagree with “giant of technology” other than in the sense that he got obscenely rich. His largest technical contribution appears to have been buying up QDOS so they could get the original IBM contract.Report
Allen did a lot more ‘good’ by funding other people than he ever did at MS.Report
tt4 – so do we now owe Kanye an apology?Report
I wouldn’t go that far…
I’m just thinking that it’s another strike against eye witness testimony.Report
TT7: Larger ships, especially carriers, often have workshops on-board for fabricating things. I can very easily see ships, even smaller ships, buying one or two of these metal fab printers and using them to print parts, so that the only things the shop would need are the tooling to finish the part (deburring, smoothing, etc.). Loading an assortment of powdered alloys would probably take up a lot less space in the hold than all the various spares, and would make the logistics a bit easier.
On the other hand, the movement of the ship at sea might make printing a challenge.Report
Curious the logistics of RAS/UNREP for base minerals and materials involved in that.Report
Pelican cases.Report
That small a container, really?Report
Depends on how much you need, but you’d want something watertight and buoyant.
https://www.pelican-case.com/0500.html
I’m sure Pelican could be convinced to make something bigger.Report
They already have contracts for various off-sized pieces of hardware so makes since.Report
I suspect real time dynamic positioning and vibration isolation are solved problems, somewhere (eg, the integrated circuit industry has been working on those for a long time). The two I’d be worried about are speed (will hours be available to fabricate the part?) and power. Besides lasers, most of the metal printing systems require a controlled temperature electric furnace for final treatment of the printed parts. Aren’t most of the current-generation big Navy ships turning out to be electricity limited?Report
At first, a parts printer would be limited to things that are for non-critical systems. You wouldn’t want to be printing a main drive shaft bearing, for instance. But maybe something for an AC unit would be fine. As the printers get faster, that would change.
As for power, IIRC that becomes an issue during combat, when all the weapons systems and radars are online. During normal cruising, there is power to spare. But perhaps @kolohe is more dialed into the state of things and can correct me if I am wrong.Report
If anybody wants a different lefty to kick around, Seattle’s Kshama Sawant has some pointed criticism on how Paul Allen spent his money.Report
Likely the most unpopular opinion I have is Buying Yachts Is Good and more people should buy yachts. Yacht construction provides good jobs at good wages.Report