The High Cost of Embedded Computers

Every morning I like to go for a nice 10-mile bicycle ride. There are two factors that determine how quickly I will complete my ride. The first is if there is any wind. The second is how many times I get stopped because of traffic. Constantly being stopped because of traffic lights has me despising them more and more. It also has me thinking about the large computers that run them and why they have to be so big and expensive.

This got me thinking about how home and office computers have become so powerful and relatively inexpensive while the functionality required for a traffic light has remained unchanged for decades yet the cost hasn't matched normal computer pricing trends. Furthermore it seems that computers embedded in everyday objects such as cars are equally expensive. When you buy a new car the salesperson will justify the always increasing price with the complex computer inside. The funny thing is that automotive and traffic light computers are really simple and could be handled by the same computer chips found in ancient computers from the 1980's.

If you have never seen a traffic light computer, it is the large box located on one of the corners of the intersection it guards. They are generally about 4-feet tall, 3-feet wide, and 2-feet deep. That's a big box for something that can be run by a less powerful chip than I have in my watch. Now I can understand the size when lights required so much power to remain visible during daylight hours. Now we have ultra-low-power LED lights that don't need much power at all. So what is the big box for? My guess is it has to withstand a car running into it. It probably also goes towards justifying the $70K required for each intersection. Think about it though, if you could run a traffic light off the same computer found in a watch, you could put it in a much smaller box on one of the poles and save taxpayers a significant amount of money.

I know there are a lot of embedded computers that have dropped in price as one would expect. After all we have a lot of toys available that wouldn't be possible without such inexpensive electronics. I just wish those cost savings could be passed along to more things. Things I find I am paying more and more for that I honestly don't really want nor like. 

An 8-Year Old with 8 Computers

Yesterday I talked with one of the kids in my neighborhood who is about 8 years old. He talked about how he had 8 different computers. Naturally I asked how he came to be the proud owner of so many computers. His dad answered that the local thrift store, Savers, sells used computers for around $5 and an amazing number of them actually work. That made sense and for a kid totally interested in computers, he probably loves playing with them as a hobby.

My next question amounted to what he does with all of them. He responded that he installs different operating systems. This got my mind wondering. While I imagined he played with Microsoft Windows, I wondered if he knew about the many other operating systems available for standard computers. I followed up with which is is favorite. He surprised me by answering MacOS.

While you can install MacOS on some Intel-based computers, it requires very specific hardware and I asked about that. His father responded that he has played with Hackintosh but it didn't sound very successful. That implies that you can find Mac hardware at Savers which is what is required when installing MacOS. I may have to go see if I can find a decent computer for $5.

Next I asked about Linux as that is an obvious choice for older Intel-based computers. The young man mentioned that his favorite flavor is Ubuntu and it impressed me. There are quite a few variants but Ubuntu is my current favorite flavor of Linux.

I remember being young like that and having a huge interest in computers. My dad did too and we actually had a large computer in our house. Back then it looked like 3 refrigerators and 2 dishwashers next to each other. It had a total of 256 kilobytes of memory and 20 megabytes of hard disk space. Calculators have more memory and storage than that now.

It is always interesting to see young people interested in computers and my neighbor surprised me. I enjoyed talking with the little guy and wish him the best of luck as he learns about this magnificent technology. My hope is that he continues with the hobby as it will serve him well later in life.

A Great Story About Apple

I spent the day in a special meeting where we had a former Apple employee share a very interesting story about the development of the original iPhone. It isn't protected by any confidentiality agreements and so I thought I would share it in my blog to help illustrate the point of making proper technology decisions.

Many years ago Apple decided to create a new product called the iPhone. They didn't make phones at the time but had an idea of what smartphones should look like. They had a hardware division that would create the physical device. They also had a software division that needed to build software for this new piece of hardware. The software team had to decide the basic operating system that they would use. One group felt they should take the existing operating system running on their computers and modify it so it would run on the much less powerful hardware. Another group wanted to start with a different operating system that could already run on it.

If you take the short-term approach, there is a lot less work involved in using an operating system that could already run on the planned hardware. The downside is that Apple would then have to maintain separate operating systems for their computer and mobile devices. Taking the long-term approach meant doing more work in the beginning but simplifying maintenance and code updates in the future.

Ultimately the long-term approach won out and proved to be the better decision. This made it much easier for Apple to switch their computers from the Intel platform to the same ARM platform they run in their phones. It also shows that taking a long-term approach opens up more possibilities for future product development.

Things I am Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Generally I don't take the time to write in my blog on Thanksgiving but today I find myself with a bit of extra time by myself. My married kids are spending time with their in-laws and so I find myself alone on this peaceful Thursday. I thought I would write about some of the things I am thankful for. Naturally I am thankful for family and friends but I wanted to highlight some of the technologies that make our lives better.

We live in a marvelous time with a lot of modern conveniences such as refrigerators and microwaves. When I first started spending time on my boat in California almost 10 years ago, I didn't have a lot of these modern conveniences. In fact, my fridge didn't really work that well and I often had food spoil over the weekend. I have since fixed that. I also didn't have a microwave. I do now and use it every morning I stay on the boat. That is how I cook my oatmeal. I also use it to heat up water to clean my breakfast dishes. These are wonderful technological devices that make my life a lot easier.

I am thankful for computers. While they may actually complicate our lives, they do make certain things a lot easier. Connect one to the Internet and you have an infinite source of information. Of course, not all of it can be believed but if you know where to look you can find out anything.

I am thankful for smartphones with cameras. I don't know how we survived in the days before mobile phones. Then they added cameras and now I can take pictures of the beautiful mountain scenes I have experienced every day this week as I have ventured out to do some backcountry skiing. I get to brag a little bit as I send the pictures to my friends back in the Bay Area. I also appreciate being able to look up driving directions and answers to important questions such as if my flight is still on time.

Finally I am thankful for jet planes. Without them I would have to leave the mountains that I love and live full-time in the Bay Area for work. I tell people that the Bay Area is a great place if you are into shopping and good restaurants. It is horrible if you like spending time outside in the mountains. Locals there claim they have mountains but those are really just hills with very limited access. If you like rock climbing and skiing, you have to drive somewhere else or catch a plane.

Yes, there is a lot to be thankful for. Hopefully you are reading this after Thanksgiving and had the time to create your own list of things you are thankful for.

Lightning

Last night I flew into Salt Lake and when we landed we couldn't pull up to the gate because of a lightning storm. In my 20+ years of air travel, I have never been delayed because of active lightning and so this is not a common occurrence. When the pilot made the announcement that the ground crew could not come outside to direct the plane to the gate, I understood. Unfortunately not everyone on the plane did.

My wife grew up the the Seattle area and spent a good part of her childhood playing outside in the rain. Up there they have cloud-to-cloud lightning and so nobody came inside during a thunderstorm. Here in Utah, as well as other parts of the country, we have ground lightning and that will kill you.

Lightning is one of the more unpredictable forces of nature. We try to control its path through the use of lightning rods but the reality is that lightning will go wherever it wants and there is not much we can do about it. Should you be caught outside and can see lightning go from the sky to the ground, your best bet is to go inside a building or car (as long as it is not a soft-top convertible). Buildings are safe because they will generally keep the lightning away from the middle, which is where you want to be. Cars are safe, not because of the rubber tires but because the electrical charge will stay on the outside of the car body. Planes are equally safe and so sitting outside did not pose any danger to us passengers.

So why are people told to turn off and unplug computers during lightning storms? The best explanation is that your house electrical system is not compatible with the high voltages produced by lightning. If your house gets hit by lightning, the electricity will try to find a way to ground. All of the copper plumbing pipes and electrical wiring make a great path to ground and so lightning will seek it out. If your computer equipment is plugged in and/or has a wired network connection, part of the lightning strike will get into your computer and fry everything. More than likely you will have to replace everything that is electrical in your house should it be struck by lightning.

Going back to the poor ground crew that met our plane last night. I had one vocal passenger behind me ignorant of lightning danger. With all the water on the tarmac, a strike could happen a fair distance from one of the workers yet the person could still receive a lethal shock. While I would have liked to disembark the plane sooner, I would not wanted to have risked the life of ground crew.

No Instant Experts

What do playing the guitar and skiing have in common? Both require many hours of practice to become proficient. This is something I didn't understand growing up. Fortunately being a beginner skier can still be a lot of fun. When I would take guitar lessons as a child or teenager, I would practice for about a month or two and then get frustrated that I didn't know very much. This time I am making the process of learning the guitar a lot of fun and I look forward to practice every day.

So what does any of that have to do with computers and technology? The same rule of practice applies. If you want to get good, then you need to spend some time with the technology. The trick is how to make it fun. Each of us is different and so one solution might not work for everyone.

I once read about someone that wanted to learn how to program computers with a new language. He loaded his computer into his camper and headed into the woods for a week. He then spent one uninterrupted week of running through Donald Knuth's Fundamental Algorithms and turning out computer programs. My wife would never let me get away with that but I always thought that would be the perfect way to learn a new programming language.

I find that the right motivation helps people learn new things as well. I often try to marry learning tasks with something something I really want to do. Back in 2004 I had wanted to learn more about the PostgreSQL database system. I was also part owner in a restaurant and heard a great presentation about customer loyalty systems. I thought it would be fun to use PostgreSQL to help me write a web-based customer loyalty program. So I sat down and designed a system to keep track of customers and reward them with points every time they made a purchase. My program never got used but I did learn a lot about PostgreSQL and made a career of it for quite a while.

If you find yourself frustrated with your computer, just remember that there are no instant experts. It takes time to learn a lot of this stuff. Search engines are your friend and there may be someone who has already solved the problem you are having. If that doesn't work, post your question on a forum and a number of experts may be able to help you out. Who knows. One of them may have learned how to solve your problem by spending a week camping in the woods.

Tomorrowland and Imagination

Last night I went and saw the new Disney movie Tomorrowland. The previews reminded me of my first trip to Disneyland when I was very young. Back then, Tomorrowland was much different than it is today. Now it is an area used to house a few futuristic rides but when I was a kid, it was a glimpse into what life in the future might be like. It was fun and exciting to a young boy and I remember getting excited about growing up and seeing changes for a better world.

It is interesting to look back at those predictions and see how far off we were. We still don't have flying cars nor do we have super-sonic planes for the general public. We had them for a while with the Concorde, but then they started falling out of the sky and the fleet was retired.  However there are things we have today that we didn't even imagine back then. Think about home computers, mobile phones, electronic books, and large flat-screen televisions. I also think we got a few things right. One thing that comes to mind is electric cars.

I came out of the movie remembering my early trips to Disneyland and wondering what life in the future will be like for my grandchildren. Will we colonize the moon or Mars? That was one thing talked about when I was a child and then forgotten. Now it is a topic that seems to be gaining traction again. What about solar electricity? Photovoltaic cells have been around for a very long time but are just now being used effectively to generate electricity. What advances will we see there? How about life in the ocean? There seem to be a wealth of possibilities underwater.

I think our future is only limited by our imagination. We have a quote on the wall at my office from Albert Einstein that says, "Knowledge will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." I agree.

Satisfaction of a Job Well Done

This past weekend I spent 15 hours working with my sons to rebuild the top half of an engine. The 1996 Jeep Cherokee that my oldest son drives was misfiring in one of the cylinders. We worked on all of the possible causes and determined one of the valves was bad on the 3rd cylinder. I could have paid $800 for a valve job as I don't know how to do that. Instead I just purchased a new cylinder head for $300 and replaced it with my boys.

We started working on the engine Friday night. We were not sure how easy the exhaust manifold bolts would be to remove and we wanted them to soak in PB Blaster overnight. We drained the radiator, removed the power steering pump, and sprayed the bolts. The next morning my son removed the air compressor for the air conditioning system without disconnecting the refrigerant hoses. By then we had enough stuff removed from the engine we could remove the valve cover and head. Sure it took a bit longer than a certified mechanic but after putting everything back together, the engine started right up. We were all very happy and there was much rejoicing.

The next morning my oldest son posted pictures of our handiwork on his Facebook page. It was a huge accomplishment for all of us and we felt like we were ready to tackle more complex automotive projects. The whole experience made me realize that experiencing success is a vital part of the human existence. More importantly, it is up to us to create our own successes. Should you be looking for your own success, my advice is to avoid computers. Most people think I am bald because of my kids. Nope, it is because I work with computers.

Chinese Crap

I had hoped to write something here last week but got stuck late at work every night. Just when we were ready to go live with a new release of some software hosted on our new hardware infrastructure, we lost one of our networking switches and had to delay. It is probably a good thing as waiting to replace our hardware gave us time to fix some configuration issues with our software. However it was really frustrating to have everything ready to go, only to have quality issues because one of our vendors decided to move all manufacturing to China. It seems like I am seeing an astronomical failure rate for products made in China.

Unfortunately it is impossible to buy anything these days that isn't made in China. If you want the best price for computers and electronics, you can bet that a lot of the components come from there. I have decided that I can no longer afford to blindly purchase goods. The first question I ask myself before purchasing a product is, "Where is it made?" If the answer is China, then I look around for the next 2 or 3 competing products. If they are also made in China, then I don't really have much of a choice. If they are made somewhere else, then there better be a significant price break or I will buy the competitor. In fact, I would much rather purchase a bicycle built in the USA than an automobile built in China. Trust me when I tell you that you will get more miles out of the bike than the car.

American Newspaper

I left my hotel room this morning to go get breakfast and was glad to see an American newspaper outside my door. I am in Japan and so it wasn't just laying on the floor like most hotels back in the States. It was in a clear plexiglass newspaper holder on the wall just outside the door. As I was coming back from breakfast I started looking at all of the other guests' newspapers. Some were Japanese while others were American. Then I noticed that there were one or two other nationalities represented as well.

When you check into a hotel outside the United States, the hotel asks to see your passport. They will generally make a copy of it before handing it back to you. The hotel also asks you for your home address and so they have a really good idea where you live. There is no need to ask where you are from or what preference you have for your morning newspaper because they already know based on information they already have.

What does this have to do with computers? Well your computer knows an awful lot about you. So do your other electronic devices. If you are watching a movie on your iPhone or tablet computer and walk into an empty room with a television, shouldn't the television take over displaying your movie? You may not want to watch on the TV, but it sure would be nice for your iPhone to at least ask. There are hundreds of other similar examples. If I was willing to spend countless hours downloading various pieces of software and even more hours configuring things, I could make some of them a reality. If only my devices already had the software installed and could discover other devices on their own, it would make my life much easier. I think it would for everyone.

Rules For Everyone

I am watching a CBS special on Hurricane Sandy. It has already pasted the East coast of the United States and they are running short stories about the storm. Among a few of the reports are mentions of people sticking around even though they were told to evacuate. I guess some people think certain rules don't apply to them. We call those people idiots.

This morning I had to catch my weekly flight from Salt Lake to Oakland. I use the flight to catch an extra hour of sleep on Monday mornings. When the Southwest passenger took the middle seat next to me, I knew I would notice him for all of about 5 minutes. Then he pulled out his computer and started working. There is only so long before passengers are asked to turn off electronic devices and so I didn't give that a second thought. Soon the flight attendant asked passengers to shut down computers and cell phones. My neighbor did, but only long enough for the attendants to pass by. Then he pulled his computer out and began to work again covertly during the safety briefing. I thought about letting him know that he should turn it off but couldn't figure out how to do so without looking like an angry passenger. So I tried to get back to sleep. I guess he didn't think the electronics rule applied to him.

Certain rules exist to keep up safe. The electronics rule on airplanes is not because the electronics do anything to the plane or its navigation system. It is there because those electronics devices turn into projectiles during takeoff and landing. My seat neighbor was kind enough to put his computer away before it could cause harm. That was good for me as I hate getting hurt because someone else is an idiot.

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving day and I thought I would jot a quick note about what I am thankful for with regards to technology:

1. The Internet. The Internet is truly amazing. It allows us to communicate with each other over vast differences. We can send e-mails, use Skype to video conference, broadcast messages, share pictures, get directions to Grandma's, purchase Christmas gifts at the lowest cost, and find out all sorts of useful and useless information.

2. Apple. They continue to innovate and make products that really are better than their competitors. That keeps the rest of technology moving forward. If the auto industry had a company like Apple, cars would be significantly better and the world would be a better place because of it.

3. Smartphones. It took me a while to give up my regular mobile phone and get a smartphone. Now that I have one, I find myself being much more efficient.

4. Flat panel displays. I have two on my computer at home and four on my desk at work. They are much lighter than their CRT counterparts and take a lot less energy to run. Go Green!

5. Desktop and laptop computers. Let's face it, without computers, we wouldn't have the Internet. Continual computer development is what made cell phones and smartphones possible. They have also driven the advancements in display technology and are part of the reason TV technology has changed so much.

Yes, technology is great and it is what allows me to have a job. However when you put things in perspective, it doesn't matter at all when compared with the good times spent during the Holiday season with family and friends. So I am off to spend time with the people in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

Computers and the Cold

Last night I was watching the news and they mentioned that it is so cold that people are starting to have water pipes freeze in their homes. There's nothing like a news story about water damage to make you get up at 10pm to run around and check all your pipes.

I know it has been cold because my office is in my basement and it doesn't really have insulated walls. Instead I have covered the concrete with posters, flags, and other coverings to give it a warmer feel. I have a heating vent in my office but have decided it doesn't really do much. Normally my office is about 65 degrees. Lately it has been down at 61 and so I know it has been cold. This morning I came in and it was 59.

My office is great in the summer. As I mentioned before, the temperature is normally about 65 degrees and that includes during the summer. When it gets really hot outside, my office might get up to 70 degrees, but usually not much warmer. This morning it was just too cold and so I turned on an electric space heater I keep in my office for such occasions.

Those that have been to older computer installations know that they generally keep computer rooms at about 65 degrees. This is because those old computers really put out the heat and it is necessary to keep the ambient temperature relatively lower than usual or the computers would overheat.

This got me thinking about my days back in college when I was studying electrical engineering. One of the first things we learned was that electrons travel faster at colder temperatures. Following that logic, you would want to keep your computer as cold as possible so it can run faster. Unfortunately that is not the reason to keep those old computers cold. Transistors switch slower at colder temperatures. Seeing as your computer is just a bunch of electrical switches (billions of them, actually), you don't want to make your computer too cold or it starts to slow down.

Nope the real reason to keep those old computers cold is that transistors start to do funny things when they get to hot. Since computers think in terms of binary numbers or ones and zeros, zeros can become ones or visa versa if the computer gets too hot. The same thing happens when the computer gets too cold. That is why all computers come with a temperature operating range.

Realistically the chances of you using your computer outside the suggested temperature range is pretty minimal. For an Apple Mac, this is between 50 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately the same thing cannot be said about the operator. I seem to think a lot better at 70 degrees than I do at 60. Perhaps my operating temperature range is a bit more narrow than my computers'.

Paper or Electronic Journals

Yesterday was a long day. I got to the airport last night to catch my flight home only to discover it was delayed a half hour. The pilot did a good job making up some lost time but we still got in late. Then I had to take the shuttle bus to long-term parking so I could find my car. I think we circled the airport two or three times before we started dropping people off. I had been up since 5am and it was close to midnight before I got home.

I tried to be quiet as I came in the house so as not to wake anyone. The dog was kind enough to greet me with her silent tail in motion rather than her usual noisy bark. I quickly dropped off my laptop in my office and then headed off to bed.

Ever since December 16, 1987 I have kept a daily journal without missing a single day. I think I have written somewhere between eight and nine thousand pages. I don't have just one journal, I have a bookshelf full of them. So before going to bed, I sat down to write in my journal.

My wife was surprised I didn't write on the plane. Sometimes I will bring my journal with me on a day trip to San Francisco and write in it on the way home. I thought about doing that on this trip but I only have seven more pages to go before I start another volume and didn't want to run the risk of loosing six exciting months of my life.

So why don't I keep my journal on my computer? After all, I generally have my laptop with me on most trips. Wouldn't it be easier to type out a page every day instead of writing it by hand? Probably. However my experience with computers leads me not to trust them. I have lost too many things on the computer and so I use the method that has stood the test of time: writing in a book. I used to keep important papers on floppy disks. Now I don't have a single computer with a floppy drive. I have put important software code on CDROMs only to have them be unreadable now. I have stored priceless photographs on hard drives only to have the disk crash and the photographs lost forever.

If you look in my bookshelf, I have a first edition original copy of Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" pulished in 1984. I also have a journal compiled my one of my ancestors from the American Civil War. If I want to read them, I just have to open the book. I don't need to try to find a civil-war era device nor do I need to pull it of an old 8-inch floppy disk.

So if you want something you have written to last forever, make sure it is printed on paper and put someplace safe where it won't get lost. Otherwise it will get lost.

Increased Efficiency?

Computers are supposed to make our lives easier. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. When I first started doing database consulting to help pay my way through college, I had one of my customers question why computers were even necessary. My customer was a glove manufacturer based in Tacoma, Washington. His company had been making gloves since 1917 and didn't need computers when they started. His question caused me to think if computers have really made our lives easier or not.

Unfortunately for my customer, things had changed significantly enough that there was no way you could go back to doing business without a computer. In 1917, union rules didn't exist that do today. These rules are the reason for 90% of his computing needs. Today a seamstress in the glove factory is paid a different amount for each type of stitch used to make the glove. That and several other rules mean that the glove manufacturer would be out of business without extensive computer bookkeeping.

When I first started questioning whether or not computers were helpful in my own life, I was going to college. My primary use of computers was as a word processor to help turn in homework. Having done one or two papers on a typewriter, I felt the computer was a huge benefit for me in getting my assignments done. I would have flunked out of school without spell-check.

Today I look at my own children and see how they use the computer. My oldest daughter is in college and she uses her laptop computer constantly. She even brings it to class every day for taking notes. My three other kids are constantly using the family computer for their homework as well.

Unfortunately there is a downside to all this increased productivity. There is now more time to relax. Instead of going outside and hanging out with friends, kids are sitting at home and spending time on Facebook or MySpace. When my oldest daughter was home during the summer, she spent so much time on Facebook, I had to turn off her computer's access to our home Internet connection. Recently we have had to limit Facebook time for our youngest daughter as well.

Once again I have to ask myself if the computer is really helping me and my family. I think that having a computer is now a necessity. If you don't have a computer that your kids can use to do schoolwork, they are at a huge disadvantage. However some of the efficiencies gained through having a computer are negated by some of our leisure activities.

Oh good, my oldest son just finished his game. Now it is my turn to slay dragons or race electronic images on the Playstation 3.