3D printing a building, why not a data center?

TED has a video on a 3D building method.

The professor presenting this is an Industrial Engineer.  Which could be the reason why I have talked about the concept of robotics to build data centers as well.  Have you?

Behrokh Khoshnevis is a professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering and is the Director of Manufacturing Engineering Graduate Program at the University of Southern California (USC). He is active in CAD/CAM, robotics and mechatronics related related research projects that include the development of novel Solid Free Form, or Rapid Prototyping, processes (Contour Crafting and SIS), automated construction of civil structures, development of CAD/CAM systems for biomedical applications (e.g., restorative dentistry, rehabilitation engineering, haptics devices for medical applications), autonomous mobile and modular robots for assembly applications in space, and invention of technologies in the field of oil and gas. His research in simulation has aimed at creating intelligent simulation tools that can automatically perform many simulation functions that are conventionally performed by human analysts. His textbook, "Discrete Systems Simulation", and his simulation software EZSIM benefit from some aspects of his research in simulation. He routinely conducts lectures and seminars on invention and technology development.

He is a Fellow member of the Society for Computer Simulation and a Fellow member of the Institute of Industrial Engineering. He is a senior member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. His website: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~khoshnev/

Tencent the 800 lb Gorilla of China, resistance is futile

WSJ has an article on how well Tecent is doing in China.

 

Internet Breadth Helps Buoy Tencent

As Western social-media and Internet companies from Facebook Inc. FB +2.99% toGroupon Inc. GRPN -2.81% struggle to meet investor expectations on earnings and share price, their biggest peer in China is still going strong.

The share price of Tencent Holdings Ltd., 0700.HK -0.17% China's leading Internet company—with businesses from online gaming to instant messaging—has soared 48% this year in Hong Kong. Analysts expect that its results for the quarter ended June 30, to be released Wednesday, will show healthy growth, despite slowing online advertising outlays as the Chinese economy softens.

 

How big is Tencent?  It is referred as "life, death, or Tencent"

Tencent's speedy execution of new projects like WeChat has led Chinese technology entrepreneurs to coin the phrase "life, death or Tencent"—meaning the choice is between cooperating with Tencent or being crushed by it, so unlikely is the option of outcompeting it.

When upstart smartphone company Xiaomi launched a mobile-chat service in 2010, Chief Executive Lei Jun told a conference in May, it expected Tencent to take a while to launch a rival service.

"We thought maybe it would take six months," he said, but in fact WeChat was out within two months—and it has proved far more popular than Xiaomi's service.

At first I thought of the 800 lb Gorilla 


NewImage

But, in the WSJ article it sounds more like tho Borg.

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Facebook adds a smaller 3rd data center to Prineville site

ABC via AP Reuters via The Bend Bulletin report that Facebook is adding a 3rd smaller data center site in Prineville.

Facebook Plans Third, Smaller Oregon Data Center

 PRINEVILLE, Ore. August 14, 2012 (AP)

 

Facebook Inc. has filed plans for a third data center in the central Oregon city Prineville, but it won't bring additional jobs.

 

The social network company has a 334,000-square-foot facility up and running in Prineville and a twin under construction next door. The third facility would be smaller, about 62,000 square feet.


12 cameras remote controlled, moving images 10 seconds to editors

Taking pictures is a powerful concept.  If you have seen the hundreds of cameras scattered around the Olympics, there was big change where some of the best pictures were taken by remote control.  The below video show what Sports Illustrated did at the Olympics.

There were terabytes of generated each day.

What drove this change was the speed of what can be done.  This photographer had 12 cameras remote controlled, and could identify images within 10 seconds to send to his editors.