For a guy who spent a lifetime in radio & records, the industries, not the trade publication, there is nothing more exciting to me today than watching technology develop at warp speed. Speed was not much of a factor in either radio or records. It's like comparing snail mail to e-mail, baseball to football. Slow and steady wins the race vs. CD to DVD to BluRay in what seems like nano seconds. Cisco, not a kid but the computer network giant has announced the development of the Nexus 7000, a network switch that can move 15 terabits of data per second. It can propel the entire contents of Wikipedia in a hundredth of a second or download every movie available on Netflix in under a minute. Digest that for a second...
The Nexus 7000 can control and direct the flow of data between connected computers hundreds or thousands of miles apart. Its bandwidth capacity is 20 times faster than anything ever used. The Nexus will be available for sale in the second half of this year. Sun Microsystems also has a similar system although it doesn't have the reach of the Nexus. The Nexus along with software will start at $75,000 and cost a typical company about $200,000 depending on number of servers and storage devices needed to be connected. Wachovia, Microsoft and the Lawrence Livermore National Labs are all lined up for the Nexus...
It's likely that banks and savings institutions will get on line before other companies. It's also likely that it will take about three years for this system to develop and spread. But think of the speed of computers in the years ahead. Now that's exciting and something to look forward to...
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1878] One ringy dingy: The first telephone switchboard is installed in New Haven (CT). Can't you just see Lily Tomlin answering that first phone call?: http://youtube.com/watch?v=k9e3dTOJi0o ...
- 1915] On Guard: The U.S. Coast Guard is created by an act of Congress...
- 1916] Mazel: Louis D. Brandeis is appointed to the Supreme Court, becoming the first Jewish judge on the panel...
- 1922] Duh Bearssss: The Decatur (IL) franchise of the NFL moves to Chicago and takes the name, the Chicago Bearsssss...
- 1953] TV Mugging: J. Fred Muggs, a chimp, joins NBC-TV's "Today Show". J. Fred was a bad boy when he made this TV game show appearance: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0LF85tVY5f4 ...
- 1958] The end of a Hall of Fame career: Brooklyn Dodger 3-time MVP catcher, Roy Campanella is paralyzed below the waist when his car overturns on an icy road in Glen Cove (LI). Campy will never play again and is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969...
- 1959] Invinceable: Vince Lombardi is named coach of the Green Bay Packers and a legend is born. Lombardi will win 5 titles in his 9 years in Green Bay...
- 1973] Premiered on this date: "Barnaby Jones" starring Buddy Ebsen debuts. It will run until the fall of 1980...1978] "Fantasy Island" starring Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize debuts on ABC-TV and goes into syndication in 1984 until life as we know it ends. Here's the shows open: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GX-pVhTZg0U ...
- 1986] Liftoff disaster: Millions of people around the world watch as the Challenger Seven explodes taking the lives of seven astronauts: Smith, Scobee, Resnik, McNair, Onizuka, Jarvis and McAulife...
- 2001] Super Bowled: Ray Lewis leads the Baltimore Ravens to a 34-7 thrashing of the Giants in SBXXXV...
Music Memories:
- 1956] Debuted on this date: Elvis Presley makes his first network appearance singing "Heartbreak Hotel" on the "Dorsey Brothers Stage Show"...
- 1985] Recorded on this date: "We Are The World" - USA for Africa with proceeds going to world wide hunger prevention. Here's the studio session: http://youtube.com/watch?v=clZE4Wrrw_w ...
Commentary:
When I first arrived in Boston in the summer of 1966, I programmed WRKO-FM. Bob Henabery was the program director of WNAC-AM and there were days when phone calls were slow to come in to our Patriots' show hosted by the coach each fall. Bob would call me and ask me to call the coach and ask some questions on occasion and I would be 'Jimmie from Dorchester' or some other alias I used. Being a big Pats fan, I knew the team well enough to ask some intelligent questions and it was just plain fun for me. The Patriots coach at the time was Mike Holovak who got the team in its first playoff in an otherwise dreary stay in Boston. Mike died over the weekend from natural causes at the age of 88. Happy Trails to you, Mike...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Joey Fatone (31) seen here with NSYNC: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8JoJqID-wJY , Elijah Wood (39), Kathryn ('Cold Case') Morris (39), Sarah McLachlan (40), Barbi Benton (58), Alan Alda (72) and Mr. Acker Bilk (79)...
Timeline Countdown: 6 days until Super Bowl XLII, 17 days until pitchers & catchers report voluntarily, 18 down and 1 to go for the Patriots and 53 days until spring...
