@babbage.bsky.social
Computer History and Architecture. Writes The Chip Letter. thechipletter.substack.com
As a quick follow-up how did Chris Columbus make it without GPS? And how did he even tell his followers on Instagram without Starlink?
04.06.2025 11:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0As a quick follow-up how did Chris Columbus make it without GPS? And how did he even tell his followers on Instagram without Starlink?
04.06.2025 11:27 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Posting my favourite die shot of all time!
AMD Radeon Fiji GPU, from Fritzchens Fritz
www.flickr.com/photos/13056...
On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
Charles Babbage
This:
'She cited the case of U.S. tech firm Palantir’s £330 million, seven-year contract with the NHS, which some hospital bosses say is no better than their current systems.'
Should tell them all they need to know about certain firms selling AI snake oil.
How important has Apple's role been in China's recent development?
Patrick McGee's new book reveals that Apple's investment in China over just the last five years has been - according to the company - more than $270 billion.
Notes about how to write notes about how to write notes ...
Substack will eat itself eventually.
That's if SLOP doesn't eat it first.
Still very good. I've been getting >10k views on Notes.
Only 3 free signups though. 😂
Tell me about it!
Did you really get 11k likes though? That's amazing.
Where did the Personal Computer come from? We look at the origins, rise and (not quite) downfall in my latest post.
15.05.2025 10:45 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0Owned by Stellantis now though.
07.04.2025 12:37 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0I'd have thought likely to lead to dreadful PR for US firms that try to pull this stunt. Maybe even campaigns to boycott.
It'll be obvious what's going on and can see some firms (eg Apple) wanting to avoid such bad publicity.
Agreed that there does seem to be quite a bit of luck involved.
Most of my posts that get traction seem to get an artificial boost onto the front page by one of the moderators and then they take off from there.
If you think you need internet speeds more than about 1Gbps, you really don't.
Netflix → 15 Mbps for 4K
8K video w/ H.265 encoding → 50 Mbps
MS Flight Sim live maps → 180 Mbps
Perhaps the best book written on making computers. Why is it so good?
04.04.2025 07:55 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
A still from Miyazaki's "Spirited Away", with a girl sat quietly in a train carriage with the supernatural creature "No-Face" and with night falling outside.
Whatever happens with the AI faux-Ghibli art generator thing, whether they get the pants sued off them, whether it remains legal or not, aside from the ethical problems - it'll still look staggeringly, face-palmingly tacky & lame to so many folk if you're seen using it.
Why would anyone want that?
I just dropped a new YouTube video that shows in a very practical way why SOTA models are still far the reach of even the best small local LLMs. Enable the English subtitles if you can't (very likely) understand Italian. (see the TLDR later):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ai...
Love the combination of the latest tech with some classic retro assembly language!
16.03.2025 18:40 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Don't disagree really. Funny how our media has bifurcated into the very short and the often ridicolously long though. I look at a 30min YouTube video and simultaneously think 'I don't have time for that' and 'Can't be an in depth treatment'!
12.03.2025 12:21 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0"If you can't say it in 60 seconds it's not worth saying"
Resumes listening to a 4.5 hour podcast epsiode.
Was Ballmer always shouty? Yes, yes he was.
Except in Nebraska!
An ad from 1986 for Windows 1.0. I’d almost forgotten that Steve ran Microsoft for 14 - yes 14! - years.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgJS...
Q. Where was the first truly modern computer built?
A. In Manchester in the UK.
Learn more about this remarkably innovative machine in 'Modern Baby'.
thechipletter.substack.com/p/modern-baby
“The Mayor of Silicon Valley”
Bob Noyce didn’t just create the first Silicon Chip. He was the driving force behind much of the innovation that took place in ‘microelectronics’ in the 1960s and early 1970s.
An outstanding engineer, innovator and visionary.
open.substack.com/pub/thechipl...
AMD's Lisa Su Named Time CEO Of The Year
open.substack.com/pub/semicona...
Fascinating - thanks Tim.
11.12.2024 09:09 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
"Still Right. Still Poor."
@alphaville.ft.com and I are of one mind on crypto. Love it.
www.redbubble.com/i/tote-bag/S...
The best analysis of Intel's travails and of a route forward that saves Intel's Fabs.
semianalysis.com/2024/12/09/i...
