Google says the fiber-optic cable it’s building across the Atlantic Ocean will be the fastest of its kind. When the cable goes live next year, the company estimates it will transmit around 250 terabits per second, fast enough to zap all the contents of the Library of Congress from Virginia to France three times every second.
How Google Is Cramming More Data Into Its New Atlantic Cable Read More
The internet consists of tiny bits of code that move around the world, traveling along wires as thin as a strand of hair strung across the ocean floor. The data zips from New York to Sydney, from Hong Kong to London, in the time it takes you to read this word.
How the Internet Travels Across Oceans Read More
…tech companies are increasingly dominating both the use and implementation of undersea cables. … Tech giants may battle each other for Internet dominance, all while replacing old guard telecoms, but when it comes to laying undersea cable, playing nice seems to be the order of the day.
How the Internet Spans the Globe Read More
Communications of the ACM, January 2019
By Thomas Haigh
“Letting Silicon Valley steal the term “moonshot” for projects with quite different management styles, success criteria, scales, and styles of innovation hurts our collective ability to understand just what NASA achieved 50 years ago and why nothing remotely comparable is actually under way today at Google, or anywhere else.”
Hey Google, What’s a Moonshot?: How Silicon Valley Mocks Apollo Read More
Presentation by Steve Blank, Dec. 2007 & Nov. 2008
Premise of “The Secret History of Silicon Valley” is that WWII was the First Electronic War and it was the wartime urgency combined with required secrecy to create systems to counter the threat of Nazi Germany that primarily lead to the development of what is known today as Silicon Valley. The point being that popular culture and history does not include this aspect in the history of Silicon Valley, but it is nonetheless important to know this history. Further, the projects that Mr. Blank outlines were conducted in plain sight.
Hiding In Plain Sight – The Secret History of Silicon Valley Read More
Explore the many aspects of Fiber Optic Cable & Submarine Cable Systems. Global networks of hair-thin strands of highly refined silicone over which most all our data travels. Go ahead, geek out a bit. You might learn something.
The Amazing World of Fiber Optic Communications Read More
Wired.com, December 1, 1996
By Neal Stephenson
“The hacker tourist ventures forth across the wide and wondrous meatspace of three continents, chronicling the laying of the longest wire on Earth.”
Mother Earth Mother Board (Further Adventures of the Hacker Tourist) Read More
“Software has been around since the 1940s. Which means that people have been faking their way through meetings about software, and the code that builds it, for generations. Now that software lives in our pockets, runs our cars and homes, and dominates our waking lives, ignorance is no longer acceptable. The world belongs to people who code. Those who don’t understand will be left behind.”
“This issue comprises a single story devoted to demystifying code and the culture of the people who make it. There’s some technical language along with a few pretty basic mathematical concepts. There are also lots of solid jokes and lasting insights. It may take a few hours to read, but that’s a small price to pay for adding decades to your career.”
What Is Code? Read More