Month: December 2017

Off-Topic: Pocket Casts – How I Listen to Podcasts

I am an avid podcast listener, using podcasts as the main source of entertainment on my commute, when I go to gym, go shopping, cook at home, et cetera. In the past, I have used a long line of iPod nano devices  to serve my listening needs (see my review of the 7th and final generation iPod Nano), downloading podcasts to a Windows PC and then syncing them over to the device. This worked well enough, and I kind of liked separating out the battery used for listening from the battery my phone used for calls and data traffic. But nothing lasts, and now that Apple killed off the iPods I had to find a replacement solution before my last iPod broke.

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Non-Volatile Memory is Different from Non-Volatile Storage

The introduction of non-volatile memory that is accessed and addressed like traditional RAM instead of using a special interface has some rather interesting effects on software. It blurs the traditional line between persistent long-term mass storage and volatile memory. On the surface, it sounds pretty simple: you can keep things living in RAM-like memory across reboots and shutdowns of a system. Suddenly, there is no need to reload things into RAM for execution following a reboot. Every piece of data and code can be kept immediately accessible in the memory that the processor uses. A computer could in principle just get rid of the whole disk/memory split and just get a single huge magic pool of storage that makes life easier. No file system, no complications, easy programmer life. Or is it that simple?

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Intel Blog Post: Using Wind River® Simics® to Inspire Teachers and Researchers in Costa Rica

A while ago, I visited my Intel colleagues in Costa Rica and ran a workshop for university teachers and researchers, showing how Simics could be used in academia.  I worked with a very smart and talented intern, Jose Fernando Molina, and after a rather long process I have published an interview with him on my Intel blog: https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2017/12/05/windriver-simics-to-inspire-teachers-costarica

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