Rock on, Guys... POWER6 Revealed

I have the great privilege of working with these guys...

"This is the largest unveiling of our new baby," [Chief Architect Brad McCredie] said. "We will impress people. Nobody else in the industry is doubling the frequency (speed)."
In fact, other chip companies, including Intel Corp., have backed off their quest for huge boosts in operating speed because their chips were consuming too much power and creating too much heat.
IBM says it has navigated that problem with a commitment to power conservation that includes varying the voltages used in certain parts of the chip and being able to turn idle sections of the chip on and off in less than the blink of an eye. Much of the work was done by a few hundred engineers at Building 45 on IBM's North Austin campus.

    - Austin American Statesman, Oct 10, 2006

I got my PlayStation 3 Preorder... got yours? :-)

This morning was actually a pretty full morning. I got up early to drop my car off at the dealership, only to be forced in-doors, thanks to a line of storms rolling through at 7AM and ruined traffic.

Around 9:45, after dropping off my car and getting situated in the lab, I finally checked my email. Preorders were on! I called around to a few stores in the area, and found one, finally, up North of the IBM site on I-35 with three systems still available. I ended up sprinting through a quarter-mile of parking lots in the storm so I could get one of the last three remaining PS3 system. I got the 2nd to last. :-)

$105 and a soaked pair of jeans later, I'm number fifteen in line for sixteen PS3's on the system's launch day in November.

I got back to work at 10:15, one PS3 richer. This is one of the nicer perks of working at a company with the concept of "flextime." People ask me, "When do you put in for your vacation?" or "When do you clock in?" In my area, at least, vacation's self-managed (within reason -- you probably shouldn't leave the day before a critical deadline), and "flextime" says I can work when I want, where I want, as long as I finish meet my commitments to the business. Go IBM.