Continuing from my previous blog post on connected cars, the allure of the networked cars is too strong to resist for the Computer Networking engineer in me. Once the driverless cars are connected to the grid and are able to decide on an optimal route to take to reach a destination, the problem of getting the cars there becomes one that has been solved in the Internet Protocol (IP) routing world a few decades ago. While the Internet itself functions on the ability of the data to be split into “packets” that are transported from a source to a destination via routers that decide on the shortest path to take to reach the destination, it is a very real possibility to apply this thought to the world of traveling. The road networks that exist today offer a ready made infrastructure for travel without drivers and with a reduced incidence of accidents. Smart cars, which would be connected to a GPS
Technology trends
What goes around, comes around
In the 60s and 70s, bell-bottom trousers were all the rage. I remember seeing pictures of my father wearing these trousers that were shaped oh so weirdly – they would balloon out towards the feet, like a bell. Hence the name bell-bottom. Another rage during the time were over sized sun glasses. Movies made during that era showcased the heroine, in particular, sporting huge eye wear. They would cover about 30-40% of the face and not just the eyes. They might as well have been face wear and not eye wear. While the bell bottom and parallel trousers have stayed away from the male fashion industry for a while now, the eye wear has definitely remained/ had a rebirth of sorts. Nowadays, it is common for women to sport big sized eye wear that covers the eyes and then some part of the face. I cannot claim to have lived in the era of computers that would occupy an entire
Virtualization, Network Style
In the computer networking industry, the latest buzzwords are to do with Virtualization. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is the latest trend and every day, there is a lot written about and talked about on this front. At a high level, it deals with virtualizing the functions that are today being performed by dedicated hardware components. For example, if you have a Wifi router device in your house today, the idea is to move that functionality on to your PC or laptop so there is no need for a separate device that performs that function. Or in a typical use case, the equipment on the customer premises (CPE) now moves to the Service Provider domain in a virtualized form where they can deploy multiple such CPE’s (in an apartment complex for example) in a single PC or laptop device. Virtualization is probably known to all of us first-up, as Virtual reality. This link to Virtual Reality on HowStuffWorks probably explains it
Mithun's Musings 