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Weekly Tech Recap - № 229 - 50 years of Unix, iPhone repair, 64Mpx phones, Eben Upton, Insta360 Go

August 30, 2019.

Unix is half a century old

Ken Thompson (sitting) and Dennis Ritchie (standing) in front of a PDP-11.

Ken Thompson (sitting) and Dennis Ritchie (standing) in front of a PDP-11, circa 1972. © Bell Labs.

Back in the 60s, Bell Labs was collaborating with MIT and General Electric on a “time sharing” project called Multiplexed Information and Computing Service (Multics). Computers at the time were so expensive that it made sense to share a single computer’s resources among multiple users. When, in March of 1969, the management at Bell Labs decided to pull out of the project due to lack of progress, Ken Thompson, a Bell programmer who had worked on Multics, decided to write his own system. Helped by Dennis Ritchie, the future creator of C language, Thompson imagined a hierarchical file system, the concepts of computer processes and device files, a command-line interpreter and small utility programs, modeled on the corresponding features in Multics. In August of 1969, Thompson’s wife and son went on a three-week vacation to see family in Berkeley, and Thompson decided to spend that time writing an assembler, a file editor and a kernel to manage the DEC PDP-7 processor he was working on. By September, the PDP-7 was running on its own operating system. What to call it? The first, punny, suggestion was Unics, for Uniplexed Information and Computing Service, which became Unix in 1970.

DEC PDP-7.

DEC PDP-7. Wikimedia Commons (CC SA 1.0).

YouTube, “Unix History.”

Wikipedia, “History of Unix.”

Ars Technica, Richard Jensen, “Unix at 50: How the OS that powered smartphones started from failure.”

 

Apple opens the door to independent repair shops

Technician repairing a smartphone.

© iStock.

Apple has long shut out small independent repair shops, refusing to supply them with spare parts for the iPhone. But the Cupertino company seems to be softening its policy: independent repair shops will now be able to purchase parts, repair and diagnostics manuals and tools straight from Apple, just like Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs). This new program is currently limited to the United States, but should expand to other countries. Independent repair shops can apply to be part of the programme for free, though they’ll have to satisfy a number of requirements, for example completing a certification course which, according to Apple, is also free. This from a company that has lobbied against “right to repair” bills, which would allow consumers and independent companies to easily obtain parts for their devices. Note that if your phone is under warranty, you’ll still have to go to an Apple Store or an AASP.

The Verge, Jacob Kastrenakes, “Apple will let more independent repair shops buy ‘genuine’ iPhone parts.”

 

64 megapixel telephones

Redmi Note 8 Pro.

Redmi Note 8 Pro. © Xiaomi.

In a post shared on Weibo on August 27, Chinese manufacturer Realme unveiled the Realme XT, a phone with a 64Mpx camera which will probably use Samsung’s new sensor, the Isocell Bright GW1. The Realme XT comes with a 6.4-inch screen (1080x2340), a Snapdragon 712 and 4GB of RAM. The next day, on August 28, Xiaomi announced its own 64Mpx telephone, the Redmi Note 8 Pro. This device is similar to Realme’s, but it comes with a gaming-optimized, eight-core Helio G90T processor. These announcements are somewhat misleading, though, since unless available light is ideal, the Isocell Bright GW1 combines the data of groups of 4 adjacent pixels, for an output file of “just” 16Mpx. In other words, you’ll rarely have a full 9216x6912-pixel image, which is just as well if you don’t want to max out your storage too quickly. These telephones are targeted at the Chinese and Indian markets, at a price of some USD200.

Circuit Breaker, Jon Porter, “This is the first phone with a 64-megapixel camera.”

Circuit Breaker, Sam Byford, “Xiaomi announces another 64-megapixel phone because those are a thing now.”

 

Interview with Eben Upton

Eben Upton.

Eben Upton. Anthony Harvey, TechCrunch (CC BY 2.0).

Stephen Cass of IEEE Spectrum did a short interview with Eben Upton, the creator of the popular Raspberry Pi. Upton explained how the design of the mini-computer has evolved to meet the needs of an increasing number of professional developers and engineers who use the Pi for prototyping and industrial applications. Upton said that the power of the Pi has increased 40-fold since its first iteration, and that the processor will soon hit its thermal footprint limit on a Raspberry Pi. In other words, there is not enough real estate left to increase the power by another factor of 40 and there will probably never be a Pi 9.

IEEE Spectrum, Stephen Cass, “Eben Upton on the Raspberry Pi’s industrial crossover and why there will never be a Pi 9.”

 

Insta360 Go mini camera

Insta360 Go.

Insta360 Go. © Insta360.

While Insta360 literally made its name with its 360° cameras, its new Go is far more conventional, producing 1080p videos at 25fps. What is less conventional is its size (just 5cm high) and weight (a mere 18.3 grams). Thanks to its magnetized base and a clip, you can affix it just about anywhere: on your hat, around your neck (it comes with a magnetic pendant) or on your cat, to easily capture video clips of up to 30 seconds. The Go comes with superior stabilization and time-lapse and hyperlapse modes. You can also take square photos, with a resolution of 2560x2560px. As you may have guessed, the camera’s main limitation is its autonomy: the minute battery can only support the recording of 200 clips of around 20 seconds. And this fun little gadget doesn’t come cheap: USD200 (just because we hate having to write out USD199.99).

Digital Photography Review, Lars Rehm, “The Insta360 Go is a 20 gram wearable cam with FlowState stabilization.”