by Don’t you just love the imaginative analogies that technologists (and marketing folks) use when explaining their new inventions or products.
Here are some of my favourite Technalogies (is this a new word), in no particular order, with sites where you can read more about them.
1. Computer Hard Disks
The distance between the read-write heads and the platters of a typical hard disk is approximately 20 microns (millionths of a meter). If you compare the read-write head to a jumbo jet flying six inches off the ground at 600 miles an hour, a human fingerprint is like the Empire State building getting in the way. Also, smoke particles and specks of dust would be boulders and trees. That’s why hard disks are sealed.
Source: Black box: Out of sight, but crucial
2. The ZFS File System
The latest file system offering from Sun Microsystems is ZFS and it is a 128-bit file system. Apparently, to energy it would take to power a storage farm with this much capacity would literally boil the world’s oceans.
Source: Dave Brillhart
3. IBM’s Power6 CPU
In an attempt to explain just how fast their latest CPU is, IBM’s Chief Technology Officer suggests that if you were to hold your index finger out in front of your face, in less time than it would take a beam of light to travel from your knuckle to your fingertip, the new IBM chip would complete one task and start looking for the next.
Source: SlashDot
There are a few more that I will resurrect from my brain at a future date. Feel free to nominate your own favourites!