royby.com

free university course

Posted on 19/10/2012 by royby

I’ve just signed up for a course from the University of Virginia in the US that’s facilitated and conducted online by a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. The company is called Coursera and their aim is to create a future where the top universities are educating not only thousands of students, but millions.

The course I’ve chosen to undertake is called, “How Things Work 1″ and it’s described as being;

Designed for non-science students, this course is a practical introduction to physics and science in everyday life. It considers objects from the world around us, identifying and exploring the scientific concepts upon which they’re based. Because it starts with objects and looks within them for science, it is the reverse of a traditional physics class. The emphasis of this semester is on mechanical objects, objects that involve fluids, objects that involve heat, and resonant objects.

I was heartened to discover that the course instructor, Louis A. Bloomfield, was a tinkerer as a child because I was just the same. I also was one of those children who loved to pull things apart to find out how they worked and try to get them back together again, and yes, I also suffered many an electrical shock and caused many a stain on the polished timber floors of my bedroom from spillages caused by odd experiments. So… this course could be perfectly tailored for me. It doesn’t begin until January 14 next year, so I’ll be chomping at the bit for a couple of months waiting to get on with it.

What a great concept Coursera have come up with, free university courses. It means that students who otherwise may not have the opportunity to attend a decent university, or in fact any university at all, will now have the chance to learn from some of the very best.

The founder of MultiUni here in Viet Nam, Huy Zing, is now a software developer at Coursera and he’ll be talking at RMIT University next Monday night.

explore a Google data center

Posted on 18/10/2012 by royby

A server room in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The pipes are painted bright colours to designate which one is which. The bright pink pipe in this photo transfers water from the row of chillers (the green units on the left) to an outside cooling tower. Photo: Google/Connie Zhou

I guess I’ve never given any thought before this to just how big Google really is, I don’t mean as an online presence but rather the physical size of their buildings set up to store data and handle traffic from the myriad Google apps. But Google have now made it possible to explore a Google data center from the comfort of your own home, office or wherever.

You view one of their data centres in this video provided through a new updated Data Centres website that features photos from inside some of the eight data centres Google already has running in the US, Finland and Belgium. Google is also building data centres in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Chile.

Apart from this video, if you’re really into this type of voyeurism, you can travel around the data centers using Google maps streetview, how cool is that!!

The photographic access to Google’s data centres coincides with the publication of a Wired magazine article about how the company builds and operates them.

Hotel International Phnom Penh

Posted on 12/10/2012 by royby

On a recent visit to Cambodia I spotted the old Hotel International Phnom Penh from my own hotel’s balcony. Obviously this old girl has seen much better days and must have been an elegant hotel in its heyday. Sadly though, I couldn’t locate any old photos of the Hotel International Phnom Penh in prime condition, it would have been great to sit the images side by side for a comparison.

If you look closely at the old building (click image for larger version), it’s been divided up into tiny apartments and even more squalid living quarters have been built (I use the term built fairly loosely), on the roof. The only thing remaining of the original hotel facade is the once elegant old domed column with its faded sign and rusty awning over what must have been the “grand entrance” at the front.

No doubt this relic from the past would have many tales and some dark secrets lurking amongst the dust and vermin within its framework.

hotel international phnompenh Hotel International Phnom Penh