On Q

This week's random hits

2008-08-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

Holy differential girdle springs, Batman — it’s a Rockwell Retro Encabulator! (thanks AZ)Literary Classics: The PowerPoint Edition (thanks JM)QNX keeps the gas flowing in East JavaCheck back every Friday for more random hits.

Neither too wet nor too dry

2008-08-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

Measuring microwaves to keep things just right Biking to work on a gravel road has given me a new appreciation of moisture. If the road becomes too wet, I get coated with mud. Too dry, and I get coated with dust. Either way, it’s a minor inconvenience. But for companies that handle coal, iron ore, and other minerals, managing moisture is serious business. If the ore becomes too dry, it releases

This week's random hits

2008-08-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

Mars as artDiner patron goes on a crash dietQNX gets cozy with XPCheck back every Friday for more random hits.

Okay, you gamers, back to work

2008-08-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

By now, you have probably played, or at least heard of, Pocket Geek, a Flash-based game created by Fuel Industries and the QNX marketing team. The game remains online, but if you were hoping to post a winning score, forget it: The contest portion of the game has come to a close and the winners are collecting their swag. I’m no gamer (the only videogame I ever mastered was Wave Race 64), so I’m

This week's random hits

2008-07-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

On the one hand, he plays a mean guitar; on the other hand, he also plays a mean guitarPeriodic table of elements — the YouTube version (thanks JM)Freescale demos QNX multimedia on an i.MX31 processorCheck back every Friday for more random hits.

Reflections on the DSO ghost site

2008-07-25T20:19:00.001-07:00

Isn’t it time someone turned off the lights at www.dso.com? It’s been two years since anything has been posted on the site. No blog entries, no interviews, no press releases, no whitepapers, no anything. Just a “New” entry dated July 28, 2006. Did you ever hear about DSO (device software optimization)? It was labeled as a “methodology” that aims to optimize embedded development through a

This week's random hits

2008-07-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Snake robotsSnake robots based on QNXThe first(?) electronic digital computerCheck back every Friday for more random hits.

Buggy medical software: Is static analysis the cure?

2008-07-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, the Baltimore Sun published an article on how the FDA is using static analysis tools to uncover software defects in medical devices. Software defects now account for about 20% of medical-device recalls, so it's no surprise that the FDA has become interested in tools that can: a) detect existing defects, and b) prevent new defects from occurring. The article has generated response from

This week's random hits

2008-07-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Using QNX to root out landminesPoint that Fulgurator somewhere else, you @$#%^!Junior, why don’t you go play in the sandbox? (thanks Bill) Check back every Friday for more random hits.

Clean socks? Thank QNX.

2008-07-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

In 2005, QNX issued a press release that described 25 ways in which people encounter QNX technology every day. I'm on a personal mission to expand the list and, in January, suggested Item 26: taking your medicine. Now let me suggest Item 27: washing your boxer shorts. Every year, Diehl Controls, a multinational headquartered in Germany, builds more than one million control panels for stoves,

This week's random hits

2008-07-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Zombie caterpillars The loudness war Berkeley DB 4.7 comes to QNXCheck back every Friday for more random hits.

In memoriam: Dan Hildebrand

2008-07-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

Dan Hildebrand, who died 10 years ago today, served as an inspiration to everyone at QNX Software Systems. When other people said no, he said yes. When other people said impossible, he said possible. When other people said give up, he said keep trying. Dan was many things at QNX: software architect, technical evangelist, invaluable teacher, and supportive colleague. He constantly amazed me

Get your gurus working

2008-07-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm embarrassed to admit that, until today, I had never heard of embeddedgurus.net, a blog community of embedded developers that includes a former editor of Embedded Systems Design magazine. The posts cover a range of topics, from "RTOS Myth #4: The RTOS is in Charge" to "Make the most of side-by-side code differencing." It's well worth checking out. I learned about the site from a recent Jack

This week's random hits

2008-06-26T00:11:00.000-07:00

QNX keeps watch at a Mumbai nuclear plant Vanilla ice cream stops Pontiac cold While my ukelele gently weeps (thanks Jess)Check back every Friday for more random hits.

Man of many patents

2008-06-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

The way I see it, the automotive industry owes a huge debt to Josef Hofmann. After all, he invented the pneumatic shock absorber. He also designed the first windshield wipers, according to Wikipedia. Chances are, you’ve never heard of Hofmann. Yet during his lifetime (1876-1957), he was quite the star. Search the New York Times archives and you’ll find dozens of articles on him. But here’s the

This week's random hits

2008-06-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

QNX tames a wildcat That’s one mammoth hairball Internet Explorer team sweetens Firefox 3 launchCheck back every Friday for more random hits.

Weather too hot? Try this cool QNX app

2008-06-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

I was snowblowing a friend’s driveway last winter when, suddenly, a plume of green stuff began to spew out of the snowblower's chute. I stopped, looked down, and was mortified to discover that the snowblower had just shredded my friend’s juniper bush. The fact is, snowblowers aren’t precision instruments. Just ask the folks who operate the massive, 20-ton snowblowers that clear major roads and

This week's random hits

2008-06-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

Say it ain’t so: Biofuels bump up price of beer Eye-Fi card phones home, nabs camera thieves It’s a bird... it’s a plane... it’s QNX ’copter!Check back every Friday for more random hits.

Do the fast-boot boogie

2008-06-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

If you have a QNX-based system that needs to boot or restart quickly, check out Andy Gryc's recent paper, Meeting Early Boot Requirements with the QNX Neutrino RTOS. He provides details on several techniques, such as changing the order of waitfor statements in your build script to reduce overall boot time. For instance, here's a boot scenario that uses the default waitfor order. As you can see,

This week's random hits

2008-06-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

The interview: Dr. Dobb’s speaks with QNX VP of R&D Multi-core scalability: Is Amdahl’s Law too pessimistic? Chaos reigns in Dutch department store (worth the download time) My schnauzer goes undercoverCheck back every Friday for more random hits.

I just downloaded QNX. Now what the @#$! am I supposed to do?

2008-06-02T07:46:00.001-07:00

I'm glad you asked. Malte, a field application engineer who works for QNX Germany, has created a video to accompany his inimitable QNX QuickStart Guide. The guide leads you through all the basics: installing QNX, configuring network connections, creating IDE projects, compiling code, debugging programs — all in 10 easy-to-follow steps. Better yet, you can download the video in English, German, or

This week's random hits

2008-05-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

Cisco on the OS behind IOS When robot programmers get bored (fast forward to 0:20) QNX puts a head on robotic dogs Leslie gets the blooze Check back every Friday for more random hits.

Today's focus: The world's biggest robotic telescope

2008-05-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

January 7, 1610 — Galileo Galilei peers through a small, homemade telescope and spies three moons orbiting the planet Jupiter. The discovery throws a wrench into the prevailing belief that everything in the universe orbits the Earth. May 28, 2008 — Astronomers in Yunnan Province, China, peer through a 40-ton, $4.5 million robotic telescope that has the power to view galaxies more than 5 billion

The don’t make ‘em like they used to (thank goodness)

2008-05-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

Back in the early 1950s, Gibson introduced a cheap, entry-level electric guitar called the Les Paul Junior. A study in simplicity, it had one pickup, two knobs, and not much else. Rock guitarists loved it. The single P-90 pickup, when hooked up to a high-gain amp, added raw grit to the sound of rock and blues anthems. If you’re old enough to remember the roaring, over-amped guitar in “

Using robots to address a serious kneed

2008-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

No doubt about it, people in developed countries are getting older and older. Case in point: The number of knee replacements in the U.S. grew from 257,000 in 1998 to 455,000 in 2004. Since doctors rarely perform knee replacements on patients under 50, those numbers can reflect only one thing: an aging and progressively nonambulatory population. Hip-replacement surgeries follow a similar trend.