Raspberry Pi, ultrasonics, and music

My son is a musician and he’s mentioned several times that he’d like to get an instrument called a  theremin. If you haven’t encountered this instrument before, it consists of an antenna that the theraminist (yes, that is a real word) waves their hand around. The device responds with a musical tone that’s dependent on how close the theraminist’s hand is to the antenna. How does it actually work? According to Wikipedia: The theremin uses the heterodyne principle to generate an audio signal. The instrument's pitch circuitry includes two radio frequency oscillators set below 500 kHz to minimize radio interference. One oscillator operates at a fixed frequency. The frequency of the other oscillator is almost identical, and is controlled by the performer's distance from the pitch control antenna. /  The performer's hand acts as the grounded plate (the performer's body being the connection to ground) of a variable capacitor in an L-C (inductance-capacitance) circuit, which is part of the oscillator and determines its frequency.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why IT service providers are investing in North America

IT service providers set up more new IT delivery centers in North America than anywhere else in the world last year, according to new research.North American locations accounted for more the one-third of new delivery sites (29 out of a total of 76) established by service providers in 2016, according to a report from IT and business sourcing consultancy and research firm Everest Group.The need to be close to U.S. customers coupled with the increased use of automation to control costs is making North America a more attractive option for service delivery, says Everest Group.[ Related: IT service providers increase investment in onshore locations ] The demand for digital transformation related technologies specifically is driving interest in certain metropolitan areas. The share of digital services being delivered in new service provider set-ups has been steadily increasing from approximately 25 percent in 2012 to 63 percent in 2016. “This percentage is expected to continue to remain high as service providers focus on expanding and broadening their digital capabilities,” says Everest Group Vice President Salil Dani.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The modern guide to staying safe online

The internet can be a scary place. Threats come in many forms, lurking in practically any corner. Worse, yesterday’s prevailing advice for staying safe online -- avoid dodgy websites, don’t traffic in stolen or illegal goods, interact only with people you know -- no longer holds. Phishing emails from supposed family members, spyware piggybacking on legitimate apps, well-known sites hijacked with malicious code -- digital safety clearly needs new rules to meet today's evolving threatscape.Considering how much of our digital lives occurs online -- communications, financial transactions, entertainment, work, education, to name a few -- adopting even a few safe browsing practices can lead to broad benefits. And this includes how we deal with email messages as well, given how popular email is as a delivery mechanism for online attacks using exploit kits and malware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The modern guide to staying safe online

The internet can be a scary place. Threats come in many forms, lurking in practically any corner. Worse, yesterday’s prevailing advice for staying safe online -- avoid dodgy websites, don’t traffic in stolen or illegal goods, interact only with people you know -- no longer holds. Phishing emails from supposed family members, spyware piggybacking on legitimate apps, well-known sites hijacked with malicious code -- digital safety clearly needs new rules to meet today's evolving threatscape.Considering how much of our digital lives occurs online -- communications, financial transactions, entertainment, work, education, to name a few -- adopting even a few safe browsing practices can lead to broad benefits. And this includes how we deal with email messages as well, given how popular email is as a delivery mechanism for online attacks using exploit kits and malware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple reportedly working on watch-based glucose monitor

According to reports, Apple has some big plans in store for the Apple Watch. Hardly a surprise, since the company seems intent on positioning its increasingly popular wearable as a health-oriented device.Just a few months ago, word emerged that Apple has been busy hiring a slew of researchers, biomedical engineers and scientists who are working on coming up with a way for diabetics to non-invasively measure their glucose levels. Of course, the challenges Apple faces in making this a reality are immense. Indeed, many biotech companies have been trying to solve this same problem for decades, albeit unsuccessfully.Recently, word surfaced via CNBC that Apple CEO Tim Cook is already test-driving a device capable of tracking his blood sugar.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Stuff The Internet Says On Scalability For May 19th, 2017

Hey, it's HighScalability time:

 

 

Who wouldn't want to tour the Garden of Mathematical Sciences with Plato as their guide?

If you like this sort of Stuff then please support me on Patreon.
  • 2 billion: Android users; 1,000: cloud TPUs freely available to researchers; 11.5 petaflops: in Google's machine learning pod; 86 billion: neurons in the human brain, not 100 billion; 1,300: Amazon's new warehouses across Europe; $1 trillion: China self-investment; 1/7th: California's portion of US GDP; more: repetition in songs; 99.999%: Spanner availability, strong consistency, good latency; 6: successful SpaceX launch in 4 months; 160TB: RAM in HPE computer; 40,000+ workers: private offices > open offices

  • Quotable Quotes:
    • Tim Bray: with­out ex­cep­tion, I ob­served that they [Per­son­al com­put­er­s, Unix, C, the In­ter­net and We­b, Java, REST, mo­bile, pub­lic cloud] were ini­tial­ly load­ed in the back door by geek­s, with­out ask­ing per­mis­sion, be­cause they got shit done and helped peo­ple with their job­s. That’s not hap­pen­ing with blockchain. Not in the slight­est. Which is why I don’t be­lieve in it.
    • @swardley: Amazon continues to take industry after industry not because those companies lack engineering talent but executive talent.
    • Continue reading

Use wired networks for Gigabit, not Wi-Fi

Thousand megabit broadband is a turning point for internet delivery speeds. Newer tech, such as virtual reality, and the incumbents, such as video streaming, will benefit. Right now, though, only about 17 percent of the U.S.’s population has access to those super-fast speeds, which are primarily delivered by fiber, according to Viavi Solution’s latest Gigabit Monitor report.Although Gigabit is kicking in, it’s not going to be particularly simple to implement at the networking level, internet metrics company Ookla said earlier this month. Upgraded, wired installs will likely handle the throughput better than existing, now commonly used Wi-Fi, among other things, the company said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Use wired networks for Gigabit, not Wi-Fi

Thousand megabit broadband is a turning point for internet delivery speeds. Newer tech, such as virtual reality, and the incumbents, such as video streaming, will benefit. Right now, though, only about 17 percent of the U.S.’s population has access to those super-fast speeds, which are primarily delivered by fiber, according to Viavi Solution’s latest Gigabit Monitor report.Although Gigabit is kicking in, it’s not going to be particularly simple to implement at the networking level, internet metrics company Ookla said earlier this month. Upgraded, wired installs will likely handle the throughput better than existing, now commonly used Wi-Fi, among other things, the company said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Use wired networks for Gigabit, not Wi-Fi

Thousand megabit broadband is a turning point for internet delivery speeds. Newer tech, such as virtual reality, and the incumbents, such as video streaming, will benefit. Right now, though, only about 17 percent of the U.S.’s population has access to those super-fast speeds, which are primarily delivered by fiber, according to Viavi Solution’s latest Gigabit Monitor report.Although Gigabit is kicking in, it’s not going to be particularly simple to implement at the networking level, internet metrics company Ookla said earlier this month. Upgraded, wired installs will likely handle the throughput better than existing, now commonly used Wi-Fi, among other things, the company said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Use wired networks for Gigabit, not Wi-Fi

Thousand megabit broadband is a turning point for internet delivery speeds. Newer tech, such as virtual reality, and the incumbents, such as video streaming, will benefit. Right now, though, only about 17 percent of the U.S.’s population has access to those super-fast speeds, which are primarily delivered by fiber, according to Viavi Solution’s latest Gigabit Monitor report.Although Gigabit is kicking in, it’s not going to be particularly simple to implement at the networking level, internet metrics company Ookla said earlier this month. Upgraded, wired installs will likely handle the throughput better than existing, now commonly used Wi-Fi, among other things, the company said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Use wired networks for Gigabit, not Wi-Fi

Thousand megabit broadband is a turning point for internet delivery speeds. Newer tech, such as virtual reality, and the incumbents, such as video streaming, will benefit. Right now, though, only about 17 percent of the U.S.’s population has access to those super-fast speeds, which are primarily delivered by fiber, according to Viavi Solution’s latest Gigabit Monitor report.Although Gigabit is kicking in, it’s not going to be particularly simple to implement at the networking level, internet metrics company Ookla said earlier this month. Upgraded, wired installs will likely handle the throughput better than existing, now commonly used Wi-Fi, among other things, the company said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Docker Federal Summit Recap and videos

On May 2nd, Docker returned to the Newseum to host the second annual Docker Federal Summit.  This one day event is designed to bring government agency developers, IT ops, program leaders and the ecosystem together to share and learn about the trends driving change in IT from containers, cloud and devops.  We expanded the agenda this year two tracks, with presentations from Docker, ecosystem partners, agency and community leaders to drive discussions, technology deep dives and hands on tutorials.

View the general session replay here:

General session table of content and slides

  • 13:05 Iain Gray, SVP Customer Success discusses how Docker delivers a unique secure supply chain for all applications and infrastructure
  • 33:35 Nathan McCauley, Director Security Engineering discusses the principles of least privilege design on which Docker is built
  • 55:30 Modernize Traditional Apps to gain portability, security and efficiency without changing source code
  • 59:13 Banjot Chanana, Senior Director Products delivers an overview and demo of Docker Enterprise Edition

In addition, the following breakout sessions dove deeper into pragmatic advice, security, development, cloud and compliance.

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