The exponential drop in data storage costs has meant that logging historical data about a process, or billions of processes, is economically feasible.
I conjecture that the largest share of data on the planet sits in log files; these are the EKGs of the server farms that manage our cell phones, our e-mail accounts, and every other facet of our online existence — and which consume 3% of the US energy budget .
In fact, it never really frightened me that much, though of course it does jolt you awake suddenly when it happens. Mine seem to happen when I'm just on the point of going to sleep, so perhaps it's clearer to me that it's not a real sound, but something inside my head. My sounds also vary a fair bit and are rather inventive, so it often makes me smile. For example, I get the standard bangs and crashes, but also a sound like a grand piano falling on the floor from a great height, and another that sounds very like the Mac alert sound 'Sosumi', but at a deeper pitch. I quite like the fact that I have my own alert sounds, even if they do wake me up.
I never knew this had a name, or was so (relatively) common. It happens to me a couple of times a year.
This is Obama’s pensive look: arms crossed, brow furrowed in deep contemplation about this fascinating display of switches and blinking lights.
Asked about the review and the NSA review of Secret Service systems, service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said, "At our request, NSA performed an independent evaluation of our existing IT network to determine if any deficiencies or potential vulnerabilities existed. ...Results of the review suggested we needed enhancements to ensure that our systems remained sound. A number of the recommended changes have already been implemented.
Using an 1980s mainframe with 60% uptime, and they needed to call in the NSA to perform an independent audit? Their own IT people and senior management couldn't tell this was an issue?
The result of all this is that it’s even harder to find blogs that you can read for pleasure. Whereas reading offline is for downtime, reading online has been demoted to killing time, and tablogging is to blame. I think it’s time that well-meaning publishers abandoned the blog format in favour of something more suitable for their content, their audience, and their long-term prosperity.
