Y. Karp? Why Not!

Computers have come a long way since the Z1 - the first programmable computer built in the 1930s. We are now at the edge of a new computer revolution. So what is quantum computing and why do we need it? Click here to listen on Stitcher:  http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=152797&refid=stpr Click here to listen on iTunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/il/podcast/y-karp-why-not/id1291793305 Click here to listen on TuneIn:  https://tunein.com/radio/Y-Karp-Why-Not-p1038454/ Or play the episode directly from here: Some resources about quantum computing used in this episode Bernard Marr in an article on Forbes in 2017: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/07/04/what-is-quantum-computing-a-super-easy-explanation-for-anyone/#56290c841d3b Marianne Freiberger in Plus Magazine in 2015: https://plus.maths.org/content/how-does-quantum-commuting-work Phillip Ball in QuantaMagazine January 2018: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-e...

Windows XP is on it's way out. As April 8 2014 looms closer, the lights are slowly being turned off, and the shutters drawn. I remember when I first upgraded from Windows 2000 to XP. The cartoonish, Fisher-Price-like interface made me cringe. But I didn't want to use the "Classic" view because then I'd be seen as old-fashioned. So I got used to the big, bright buttons, which, over the many, many years, have become warmly familiar. But all good things must come to an end...or must they? If you think that 13 years is too old for an operating system, perhaps Microsoft should take a leaf out of Chevrolet's book. As they say, " Old Chevys never die, they just go faster! ". Well, perhaps Microsoft and Chevy have something in common: I just noticed that my modern, touch-screen, in-car navigation system is running..wait for it...Windows CE, first released in 1996, now in it's 8th major iteration. That's 18 years, folks. As hard as Microsoft i...

Be geeky - substitute these 25 computer terms for what you really want to say. Computer Term Real Meaning 1 Low disk space Slow down! You're giving me too much information. 2 Battery is running low I'm going to bed. 3 This device can perform faster I'm lazy and I know it. 4 Pairing devices I'm getting married. 5 File type mismatch I'm getting divorced. 6 This program has stopped responding I'm no longer listening to you. 7 Unexpected catastrophic failure Oh crap. 8 Driver required Can someone please take me to the mall? 9 Windows needs to restart I need a vacation. 10 Illegal operation I just did something naughty. 11 Printer offline My pen ran out of ink. 12 Save as draft I'll finish it tomorrow. 13 Loading I'm getting dressed, just hold on a minute. 14 Defragmenting drive C I'm tidying up the house. 15 Undo Forget what I just said. 16 Redo Say that again. 17 3 minutes rem...

In April 2014, Microsoft will cease support for Windows XP. This means that all computers running that ancient operating system will be sitting ducks for hackers who find and exploit security holes. Our home computer runs Windows XP. The entire whirring contraption should have been replaced about 4 years ago, but we're holding on. Now that Microsoft is giving up support for XP, I have been mulling my options. I could buy a copy of Windows 7 from eBay, assuming my desktop machine can handle it. (I'm guessing that Windows 8.1 is out of the question.) But why buy an OS when you can get one for free?  Ubuntu, a distribution of Linux, is built for the novice Linux user. It relies heavily on its well designed graphical user interface, and not so much on the command-line. That's great for those who are used to point-and-click Windows. I installed Ubuntu as a secondary operating system on my ageing PC (dual boot). Setting it up was easy and it took me only a short time to find ...

oldcomputers.net I was introduced to computing in the 5th grade. My first computer class was in the school's brand-new Apple IIe computer lab. On that first day we had no idea what to expect. Our teacher held up a 5¼" floppy disk and proceeded to demonstrate how not to treat it. He threw the disk across the room, he crumpled it in his fist, tossed it on the floor and jumped on it. He then attempted to rip the disk open with his bare hands. He let loose on the disk with a pair of scissors, dropped it into a metal waste-paper-basket and set it on fire. The folks at Verbatim would have been horrified; we thought it was funny. And from that moment on, the teacher had our attention. I probably still have a bunch of floppys sitting in a box somewhere. I used floppy disks all through university, so I still may have some assignments I wrote using Zardax , an Apple IIc word processor. Alas, the floppy disk is a relic of a bygone era. File sizes have far surpassed the capabilitie...

The Internet has run out of space. For the last 30 years or so we have been happily using up the 4 billion available IP addresses. Who would ever have thought that human kind had enough stuff to put up there to use all those addresses? Yet, somehow we managed to exhaust them all. Oops. According to the IPv4 Exhaustion Counter (above and from here ), we have until August 2011 until the world crumbles and the skies fall when we run out of addresses. The Mayans were only off by a year and a couple of months. But, have no fear. According to this article in Businessweek we are prepared. IPv6 is finally here and is in the process of being very, very carefully rolled out. IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses, which will provide approximately 11 undecillion new IP addresses. How many is that? Well, to put it in perspective, there will now be enough addresses for every person who's ever lived each to have 1 trillion IP addresses. According to Wikipedia , an undecillion is either 10 36 or...

El Vendor, a five-part advertisement for Android , is pretty funny (catch all five episodes here, on Wired .) The premise of the series of advertisements is that a vending machine falls on top of Dave, an average assistant manager in a large company. He is stuck under the vending machine for 32 hours. But it's okay because he has his Android phone with him. During that time Dave becomes much more productive than he was before and actually gets promoted -  because with the Android smartphone, he can do anything. At the end of each of the videos (aside from the first one, I believe) the following text appears: Android = SMARTER phone. Are computers making us dumber as they get smarter? Good question. Wish I was intelligent enough to answer it, but I'll give it a go. Do any of the following sound familiar: I don't have to know facts, I'll just Google it I don't have to know how to speak Korean, I'll just Google translate it I don't need to know how t...

The iPad was unleashed on the unsuspecting world of consumer electronics in April 2010. For better or for worse, being the first to market and selling nearly 12 million units , the iPad, a brand new class of device, has set the benchmark. Apple has shown the world that the tablet form factor has a market (whether it existed before the iPad or whether the iPad created the market is a whole new topic.) Most blogs on the subject of the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2011) agree that the focus of attention was on tablet computing. There are now a plethora of tablets on offer that compete head-to-head with the iPad. Most of these devices are Android-based systems - some are a serious threat to the iPad ( Samsung's Galaxy tab , for one), others are poorly designed, cheap knock-offs. Then there is the Blackberry Playbook (to be offered for sale in early 2011) which runs RIM's Blackberry Tablet OS. The Kindle 3 eBook reader , while not really a tablet computer, offer...