david.segonds.org » Computer Science

The Cloud is Cheaper than Bare Metal

David — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:02:49 +0000

Well, I don’t know about yours but many organizations are looking into the Cloud at large to lower their cost and increase reliability. Looking at Amazon EC2, prices seem expensive when you are on a tight budget, especially if you belong to a small organization.

However, as this article demonstrates, the price gap between using the Cloud and maintaining your own servers is narrowing.

[via High Scalability]

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A crash course in modern hardware

David — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:34:48 +0000

If you have not reviewed lately how modern CPUs operate and how they differs from CPUs that you grew up with, you may want to watch this video. It is quite long but certainly instructive.

You will learn about what impacts performance today and how Donald Knuth was right all along. :-)

“We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil” — Donald Knuth

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Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

David — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:41:48 +0000

Get rid of your keyboard, screen, and mouse. Project an interface wherever you wish and interact with the Digital world in new ways. There are some of the things Pranav Mistry is describing in the video embedded below.

How fast do you think we will reach a point when the user interface we are accustomed two will be fully replaced by a new paradigm?

[via Kallokain]

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Fall in Calgary

David — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:38:37 +0000

While our friends in Houston appreciate the relief that comes with the fall and the drop in temperatures, we enjoy mother Nature colors and the sun whenever it is out. Obviously, it is getting colder in Calgary and we even had a couple a snow storms, a few inches of snow that lasted for a few days.

Yesterday was exceptionnaly gorgeous and our star was kind enough to radiate its warmth all over the house. The cats are craving such attention and they were following the rays like well programmed phototropic robots.

By sunset, we went for a walk into Nose Hill park, which is one of the largest municipal parks in North America. To my surprise, you can find solitude there. The snow capped mountains block the western horizon and downtown lays at its feet to the south.

In Calgary, Fall marks the beginning of the new season for many clubs and associations. It seems that we leave the outdoors to focus again on social activities and other human beings. For example, CAMUG and APLN local chapter seasons have begun. I was privileged to present my department work during CAMUG October session and I was pleased to share the result of our work with like-minded individuals. If you live in Calgary and are into software engineering and project management, I strongly encourage you to have a look at those two organizations.