Technology

The Versatile Von Neumann

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Introducing Prodigy: The Versatile Von Neumann

1/9/21 by iHeartRadio

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/117548593
Episode: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chtbl.com/track/5899E/traffic.megaphone.fm/HSW9255096698.mp3?updated=1610179283

Holly and Tracy were kind enough to let me share an episode with you about John von Neumann. Hope you enjoy it! John von Neumann made major contributions to multiple fields including computers, physics, mathematics, economics and statistics. He helped design the atomic bomb, created game theory, provided the architecture for the modern computer, pioneered the concept of mutually assured destruction and developed the foundation for quantum physics. Daniel Whiteson, particle physicist and host of the show Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, joins me to describe the significance of von Neumann’s work. For more about his life, Stuff you Missed in History Class did an excellent episode on him.

Look Inside This Pioneer Tube Receiver!

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I have a bit of a fascination with vacuum tube technology these days, because they did some pretty amazing things with those tubes that glowed and threw off a lot of heat, such as this mid-1960s hi-fidelity amplifier. Wouldn't be long after this came out that they went to solid-state components -- these old beasts took a lot of maintance and adjustments to work properly as they got older.

So far I’ve been managing the data well enough with my phone as a 20 GB hotspot and a method of doing Zoom and streaming video

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So far I’ve been managing the data well enough with my phone as a 20 GB hotspot and using my cellphone for doing Zoom and streaming video. This should get me through the winter, and if it’s still remote work come the spring, I’ll either cut down to 10 GB plan or end it all together in favor of working down at the library or park.

Wi-Fi’s biggest upgrade in decades is starting to arrive – The Verge

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Wi-Fi’s biggest upgrade in decades is starting to arrive – The Verge

Wi-i is about to get a lot better. Many of this year’s new phones, laptops, TVs, routers, and more will come with support for Wi-i 6E, a new upgrade to Wi-i that’s essentially like expanding your wireless connection from a two-lane road to an eight-lane highway. It’s the biggest upgrade to Wi-i in 20 years, and connections should be faster and a lot more reliable because of it.

I am sure eventually when I get a new laptop in a few years and I'm working down at the library when they upgrade there equipment that will be nice, although I still struggle with the buggy kernel driver for my laptop which sometimes really slows things down.