http://blog.debic.net A Silicon Valley blog, collection of galley proofs, by Boris Debic Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:17:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Google solar installation is the largest corporate solar electric installation in the world generating about 1.6 MW which covers about 30% of our electrical need in the campus in Mountain View. The panels, 9212 of them or about 20 shipping containers, are installed on roofs and newly erected carports. ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=20 Shortly after our NASA visit we had a tour of SETI and a demo of the Senseta robotics platform we are considering for the NASA / Mars Society project. More on this with images from both places are posted now here. Moreover, I am hosting Dr. Shostak for a tech ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=18 Scientists from NASA Ames started a robotics research project with the Northern California chapter of the Mars Society. The goal of the project is to extend available commercial hardware by developing a software platform that will field test several augmenting concepts for human exploration of Mars. The hardware and guidance ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=17 The CHM is a block away from Google headquarters. I took the opportunity today to attend the demonstration of the first commercial quantum computer. The computer, designed by a collaborating network of scientists from several countries under leadership from Dr. Geordie Rose, was built by D-Wave and features 16 qubits ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=16 It's late and my eyes are a bit strained so I'll keep this short. Computer scientist and Turing award laureate Jim Gray was reported missing on January 28th. The Coast Guard and also many of his friends immediately started a search operation. The Guard with C-130s, helicopters and patrol ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=15 Continuing on Mars a little bit, one of the interesting long term consequences of exploring and eventually colonizing Mars is the fact that the colonists may be branching human civilization. Zubrin and Wagner don't go into great depths trying to describe what the civilization would look like but note that ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=14 New observations just came in from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, areas imaged in 1999 and 2000 were recently re imaged. Comparing the two sets of images revealed new features in the more recent set of images hinting strongly at the presence of liquid water on the red planet. This is ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=13 Last week a talk on fusion by Robert W. Bussard was posted on Google video. He is a physicist and proponent of fusion through inertial electrostatic confinement. An approach that does away with large scale engineering of machines that cost billions of dollars and have yet to break even ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=12 It came to my attention that Microsoft has finally, once and for all, solved the problem of computer viruses. Super IT, an ordinary IT guy, who after receiving supernatural powers from Black Hood the Overlord goes and frees the world from computer Viruses. The translation follows below. Black Hood the ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=11 This video came by email a couple of minutes ago. And a story that ran on CNN."HOST: I’m curious, have you ever googled anybody? Do you use Google?BUSH: Occasionally. One of the things I’ve used on the Google is to pull up maps. It’s very interesting to see — I’ve ... http://blog.debic.net/?p=9