WI: Technologies

[Devvy]

One of the spinoffs from my other musings has had me pondering the myriad of technology what ifs, and was wondering what other ones people have thought about, or seen in other TLs?

The main ones for me have been:

• What if Firewire was more successful over USB? I'm particularly intrigued by this, as technically speaking it has the capacity to power lower powered units (and charge phones/tablets in future at far faster rates), replace HDMI/SCART for video & audio transmission, and replace Ethernet for IP transmission. I think Jobs screwed this over with some unreasonable demands for the Apple IP in it, but, what if...
• What if the CT2/DECT standards were more successful in Europe? Could they have really challenged GSM in the densely populated areas of Western Europe; it was technically simpler and cheaper to operate. BT's Onephone concept attempted to meld DECT & GSM in to one handset, and the ability to avoid the insane bidding war and licensing monies that occurred for 3G spectrum auction; possibly a way for NTL to remain a part player in mobile comms given it has cables down most streets in urban areas?
• Minidisc being more popular in mainstream usage outside of Japan. I remember them being successful within an audio enthusiast niche market, but could they have been more successful; I wonder if they could have replaced the DVD market with a v2 having a larger data capacity?

Any others people have ideas about, or comments about above?

 

[phx1138]

I like the minidisc idea. Could it have used a multi-colored laser reader? (That is, several different color beams, reading different "tracks".)

 

[Nivek]

I think Jobs screwed this over with some unreasonable demands for the Apple IP in it, but, what i

That is the thing, propertary format always loss(see betamax or HD-DVD)

Minidisc being more popular in mainstream usage outside of Japan. I remember them being successful within an audio enthusiast niche market, but could they have been more successful; I wonder if they could have replaced the DVD market with a v2 having a larger data capacity?

Depends cost, rewritable would be something consumer will love but producers/companies will hate but is feasible, the thing was again propertary of Sony..heck i even considered Minidisc for SNES-CD but that was not ready at the time

 

[Devvy]

I like the minidisc idea. Could it have used a multi-colored laser reader? (That is, several different color beams, reading different "tracks".)

That is the thing, propertary format always loss(see betamax or HD-DVD)

Depends cost, rewritable would be something consumer will love but producers/companies will hate but is feasible, the thing was again propertary of Sony..heck i even considered Minidisc for SNES-CD but that was not ready at the time

Proprietary usually loses. SD cards are pretty widely used and proprietary for example. Minidiscs I think could see usage, but I think the key is having a larger data capacity through whatever means, to be able to hold a full length film and therefore supplant the emerging CD format, as well as potentially the floppy disc medium on computers. As ever, I guess it would come down to Sony's licensing costs for people to use it. The size of it would make shipping and release of media for retail far easier.

 

[Nivek]

SD cards

Was three member, that is a group, not unlike Beta or minidisc were al sony.

As ever, I guess it would come down to Sony's licensing costs for people to use it. The size of it would make shipping and release of media for retail far easier.

That is the key and be open to licensed it for other developers too, so can be adopted as a standard, in a way minidisc would be a proto DVD for Video Minidisc later on

 

[Catsmate]

One of the spinoffs from my other musings has had me pondering the myriad of technology what ifs, and was wondering what other ones people have thought about, or seen in other TLs?

The main ones for me have been:

• What if Firewire was more successful over USB? I'm particularly intrigued by this, as technically speaking it has the capacity to power lower powered units (and charge phones/tablets in future at far faster rates), replace HDMI/SCART for video & audio transmission, and replace Ethernet for IP transmission. I think Jobs screwed this over with some unreasonable demands for the Apple IP in it, but, what if...
• What if the CT2/DECT standards were more successful in Europe? Could they have really challenged GSM in the densely populated areas of Western Europe; it was technically simpler and cheaper to operate. BT's Onephone concept attempted to meld DECT & GSM in to one handset, and the ability to avoid the insane bidding war and licensing monies that occurred for 3G spectrum auction; possibly a way for NTL to remain a part player in mobile comms given it has cables down most streets in urban areas?
• Minidisc being more popular in mainstream usage outside of Japan. I remember them being successful within an audio enthusiast niche market, but could they have been more successful; I wonder if they could have replaced the DVD market with a v2 having a larger data capacity?

Any others people have ideas about, or comments about above?

1. Cost, Jobs, power required the larger and more expensive (in cable/connector terms) 6-pin version.
2. Given the technical and other problems cellular telephony and data is significantly retarded.
3. Expensive and wiped out, except in small niches, by super-floppies, cheap recordable CDs and MP3.

 

[Emote Control]

A big technology what-if is balanced ternary computers.

Balanced ternary is a different form of computer logic than binary -- while binary famously uses 0s and 1s, balanced ternary uses 0s, 1s and -1s. This allows a more efficient implementation of Boolean logic gates. With binary, the machine code uses something like a third more operations than with balanced ternary. Scaling that up by billions of operations per second in modern computers, and you get a drastic increase in both power consumption and waste heat.

The reason for we use binary is because the pioneers of the computer age used parts from electrical pas ower systems -- including switches which went either ON or OFF. Thus binary was easier to implement mechanically. But today, we're stuck with a bad underlying tech.

 

[Emote Control]

On another note, Beta didn't lose to VHS because Beta was proprietary. It lost, IIRC, because each Beta tape cost about 30 percent more to manufacture than each VHS tape. This was because Beta used higher quality materials and manufacturing processes to achieve that superior playback quality.

Naturally, the bean-counters whom made the decision about what format to distribute movies on all chose VHS.

 

[herkles]

A big technology what-if is balanced ternary computers.

Balanced ternary is a different form of computer logic than binary -- while binary famously uses 0s and 1s, balanced ternary uses 0s, 1s and -1s. This allows a more efficient implementation of Boolean logic gates. With binary, the machine code uses something like a third more operations than with balanced ternary. Scaling that up by billions of operations per second in modern computers, and you get a drastic increase in both power consumption and waste heat.

The reason for we use binary is because the pioneers of the computer age used parts from electrical pas ower systems -- including switches which went either ON or OFF. Thus binary was easier to implement mechanically. But today, we're stuck with a bad underlying tech.

I wonder how things would be changed if computing went in that direction?

 

[Emote Control]

A much bigger technological what-if than things we've bought up so far -- what if nuclear power had had a different, saner development track, and therefore became widely accepted as an energy source?

 

[Nivek]

A much bigger technological what-if than things we've bought up so far -- what if nuclear power had had a different, saner development track, and therefore became widely accepted as an energy source?

It have, the thing is always the high cost(both material and human capital) to get it online and the issue of nuclear waste management.

 

[Emote Control]

It have, the thing is always the high cost(both material and human capital) to get it online and the issue of nuclear waste management.

Not right. In the 1950s, the US Navy wanted nuclear submarines as fast as they could get them. Therefore billions in funding was devoted to a reactor design that could be made small enough and simple enough to put into such a submarine, and later these same reactors were scaled up to create the civilian nuclear plants used today.

There have been other types of atomic reactor designed since. In pilot models, they proven to be much cheaper to operate and construct, are much safer, and produce much less waste (less in both quantity and waste and how radioactive the waste is). But political and societal barriers have prevented these better designs from entering service.

 

[Nivek]

Not right. In the 1950s, the US Navy wanted nuclear submarines as fast as they could get them. Therefore billions in funding was devoted to a reactor design that could be made small enough and simple enough to put into such a submarine, and later these same reactors were scaled up to create the civilian nuclear plants used today.

There have been other types of atomic designed than this type. In pilot models, they proven to be much cheaper to operate and construct, are much safer, and produce much less waste (less in both quantity and waste and how radioactive the waste is). But political and societal barriers have prevented these better designs from entering service.

A shame, that politics damage nuclear power, the navy one should be navy and civilian others, thanks for the info too buddy

 

[Peebothuhlu]

Charles Babbage seeks more and better help in actually sorting out his "Staffing issues".

The 'Bottle neck' of only having one tool smith and one apprentice is avoided. The cost of individual parts manufacture for his 'Differental Engine No 1' are both lowered and more 'Mass producable'.

Analog calculating engines (As they are fine tuned and made smaller in volume) revolutionize both science and the art of war.

Her majesties navy creates an 'All big gun, analog computer controlled (As in targeting information is processed and handeled by a babbage engine) iron clad takes to the seas almost a century earlier as Masters Disreli is brought in to puts his industial might and know how to bear.

As well as the "Great Eastern" and "Great Western" the "Warsprite" over night makes all other navie's captial ships superfluous.

Not only due to her lay out and design but because no other country can compete with the speed and accuracy with which she can bring her guns to bear.

The 'Cogwheel brain' of the ship being the game changing piece of technology that other countries have little hope of catching up in the forseeable future.

Joseph Whitworth goes on to have his long and creative career further bolstered by being ascociated with such a marvel.

With more money available to him, Whitworth's rifles have a higher production run. More are bought by the Confederate, Southern States and the American Civil war ends with a bi-partisan East coast split between the North and the South.

The central plains natives do not suffer the horrendous effects of rampant colloniaism/colonisation.



Not at work.

 

[phx1138]

Charles Babbage seeks more and better help

While I'm not sure Babbage's machine alone makes such an enormous difference in warships, I do like the idea of its impact on warfare--& society at large.

It's not clear *computers lead to rifled guns, & the technical issues preventing rifled artillery aren't waved away (AFAICT) by having *computers.

*Computer influence on signal security could be serious, both for codebreakers & codemakers.

There could be interesting influences on ship design, too, both in calcuation of hull frame-strength & flow analysis: bulbous bows in the 1850s? (I confess, IDK enough about naval architecture to predict details.)

 

[herkles]

I am still curious how the development of ternary computers changes the evolution of computing. any ideas?