Three loosely-related notes on a theme:
A colleague and I were discussing this morning the relative stagnation of snowboard design in recent years. By this we meant, of course, the structural design of the boards themselves, and not the graphics (which are often fantastic to behold). Both of us are old enough to recall the swallowtail, pointy-ended designs of old, the transitions to assymetric shapes, and advances in construction. What though, we wondered, is next? Has the snowboarding industry grown comfortable, at ease with its’ increasing mainstream acceptance, stuck in convention?
I’m certain, by the way, to hear from more than a few who will take issue with the above points.
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Pak over at House of Naked, in a post that references a previous post from this site, blogs about the much-discussed notion of ‘interesting’ as defined by Russell Davies. In an effort at constant incremental (personal) growth, Pak has decided to undertake the Project 365 gauntlet, taking a photo each day, with the goal of finding something new to explore each morning.
It’s a fantastic undertaking, and one that demands not only the discipline of regimen, but also the discipline of translating the activity into seeking out the interesting around oneself. Best of luck, Pak.
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There’s a fair amount of conversation in the ether these days regarding batteries, which sounds highly ephemeral on the surface until one ponders the confluence of our increasingly wired (and mobile) lifestyles with increased awareness of our energy and waste footprints.
From Chris Jablonski of the indispensable Emerging Technology Trends blog, comes news of a research towards ‘napping’ servers – an approach to data center power management that leverages the following, surprising, findings:
Data centers waste most of the energy they draw because of strict service-level agreements that require the facilities to be ready for peak processing demands that are much higher than the average demand. Idle energy waste, coupled with the loss of power in delivery and cooling infrastructure,increase power consumption by 50-100%, according to the researchers.
“For the typical industrial data center, the average utilization is 20 to 30 percent. The computers are spending about four-fifths of their time doing nothing,” (Thomas) Wenisch said in an article published by the University of Michigan. “And the way we build these computers today, they’re still using 60 percent of peak power even when they’re doing nothing.”
The solution, a combination of the PowerNap and RAILS (Redundant Array for Inexpensive Load Sharing) methods takes advantage of sized arrays of power supplies, which can operate more efficiently under low loads. Most significantly, this approach incorporates lessons and behaviors endemic to the operation of mobile phones and laptops – each of which is designed to ‘nap’ during periods of inactivity in order to maximize battery life.
From the BBC comes news of research at MIT that would allow lithium ion batteries to be recharged in as little as 7-seconds:
Even though it is cheap, lithium iron phosphate has until now received little attention because lithium cobalt batteries can store slightly more charge for a given weight.
However, the researchers found that their new material does not lose its capacity to charge over time in the way that standard lithium ion batteries do.
That means that the excess material put into standard batteries to compensate for this loss over time is not necessary, leading to smaller, lighter batteries with phenomenal charging rates.
The impact of this, when considered, is profound: Less waste, lighter devices, improved (if not increased) mobility.
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Most of us, truth be told, are not prone to spending a lot of time and concern considering the battery (excepting, naturally, those of us on transcontinental and intercontinental flights). The story, then, becomes a green one:
- ‘Napping’ data centers lower the substantial carbon footprint inherent to these operations.
- Rapidly-recharging batteries like those described above create less landfill space and consume less wasted charging energy.
It’s the device being used to tell another story about batteries at the moment, that of the new Apple Mac Book Pro:
The story is green. The interesting is something altogether different, I think.
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What makes Pak’s adventure interesting is not Project365, but rather the adventure itself – the fresh perspective on the world gleaned from the self-imposed discipline in seeking out something new each day.
The list of brands, institutions, and organizations that have ‘gone green’ is lengthy (though padded, frankly, with the topical efforts of the insincere) to the point of relative irrelevance – akin to the offering of ‘rewards points’.
Evolution, by way of contrast, requires a proof point – something tangible and unique; the crystalization of change.
As a quick aside, the Obama campaign was itself a fantastic example of the distinction between the story and the interesting. ‘Change’ was the package, but what really distinguished the President was the promise to evolve ideas and institutions in measurable, beneficial ways. Obviously, ‘evolve’ is a package that carries a unique set of baggage with the American voter, and is decidedly less-catchy (if more accurate).
The story is a package.
The interesting is in the progress; the constant incremental growth; the evolution – and it’s the reason why, at least today, batteries are a lot more interesting than snowboards.
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