Heft on wheels

I heard an entertaining story on NPR the other night. Mike Magnuson (author of “Lummox“), wrote “Heft on Wheels” about how he got bit by the biking bug. And went from being 5’10”, 250 lbs, smoking 2 packs a day and drinking every other night to being a 175 lb racing machine. Of course, he did it all wrong, and almost killed himself in the process. But I feel some kinship for the guy.

He talked about how in bicycling, it’s all about being able to take the punishment. And he suffered a lot at the back of the pack when he was still a Lummox. Funny thing is, as you get better, you keep pushing yourself, and take on new challenges. So now he’s fit and healthy and competing in tough races and _still_ suffering. And loving it.

That’s today’s metaphor about life, kids.

Reconfigurable computing for video

Rapport today announced a new reconfigurable processing chip and an alliance with IBM. Good luck to them. Many have tried, many have failed with reconfigurable chips.

And if their performance is so great, why do they compare themselves to an ARM 7 processor, an incredibly anemic chip?




Singer said the current chip can process at least 25 billion operations per second, about five to 10 times faster than current low-power chips. He said that would enable new kinds of gadgets, from a “suitcase supercomputer” to a handheld computer that can play high-definition videos.

The company has raised $10 million to date and is raising another $20 million. It has 20 employees. IBM is working with the start-up on the second chip and has invited Rapport to join the Power.org alliance of companies that support IBM’s PowerPC technology.