Why do I work at QNX? Reason #3: We enable cool

My previous post focused on pride. Not the selfish kind (see hubris), but rather, the pride in contributing to a company that helps create things that matter, be they systems that deliver electricity to your home, the Internet to your home, or, in the case of emergency, an ambulance to your home.

But enough with the serious stuff. Let’s focus on some seriously cool stuff instead. I also like being part of QNX because we help people create things…

like this (Audi A8 MMI system):



and this (Solar Impulse solar-powered plane):



and this (JamMan guitar pedals; jump to 1:25):



and this (Asimov Lunar rover):



and, of course, this (I never leave home without one):



For more examples of cool (and important) QNX-powered stuff, check out this overview on the QNX website.

Stay tuned for next post: “I hate being bored”
Previous post: "We help make a difference"

 

Video: QNX Hits the Airwaves with NTP Audio Routers

Imagine running a multinational radio service that broadcasts 1,500 hours of programs a day, in almost 60 languages, with transmitters that reach every nook and cranny of the globe — from Tirana, Albania to Houston, Texas.

That, in a nutshell, describes China Radio International, one of many international broadcasters that rely on QNX-powered audio routers from Danish company NTP Technology A/S.

Serving an audience of millions calls for seriously reliable equipment. It's no surprise, then, that NTP's audio routers are engineered for 24/7 operation, with self-monitoring capabilities, module hot-swapping, redundant power supplies, and, of course, the QNX Neutrino OS.

Why QNX? Because it offers the fault-tolerant software architecture that NTP needs to achieve nonstop operation. It also provides the realtime performance to handle multiple feeds and signals simultaneously, and the dynamic upgradeability to support new features without service interruptions.

Enough from me. Grab the popcorn, dim the lights, and listen NTP's Mikael Vest describe the challenges of modern broadcasting, and how QNX technology helps address them:



Before I go, I have to mention how much we enjoyed working with Mikael. When I cold-called him about doing a video, he immediately said yes. No hesitation, no maybe's, just a let's-do-it attitude. And when it came time to shoot the video, Mikael came through with flying colors, despite suffering from a flu to end all flus. A real trooper and a great guy.

For previous posts on NTP, click here and here.

 

Angus Young meets the BlackBerry PlayBook (yes, you should crank up the volume)

QNX. AC/DC. One is an OS, the other is a rock band. No connection, right?

Before you answer that, check out this video from Telus…



Crazy fast guitar… crazy fast multitasking. Works for me!
 

Digitech's JamMan guitar pedals rock with QNX

Whenever I tell people that QNX rocks, they just assume that I've donned my marketing hat. But hey, I really mean it: rock musicians the world over use QNX-based guitar pedals to practice their licks and create cool special effects.

Case in point: the DigiTech JamMan Solo Looper. Using this pedal, a guitarist can quickly build up layers of sound, transforming himself (or herself) into a one-man (or one-woman) band.

Jump to the 1:25 mark to hear what this puppy can do:



Digitech also makes other QNX-based JamMan products, including the JamMan Stereo and JamMan Delay pedals. Check out the press release on the QNX website and check out the full line of JamMan pedals on the Digitech website.
 

iPod nano gets FM radio

I'm going to have to eat my words.

A few weeks ago, I opined that Apple would never market an iPod that supports FM, for the simple reason that users would end up listening to the radio when they could be browsing the iTunes store instead.

Boy, was I wrong. The new iPod nano not only supports FM, but also lets you pause FM broadcasts and pick up where you left off. You can even rewind and fastforward through broadcasts. Think of it as the TiVo for FM radio.

But this is where it gets really interesting: You can also tag songs you hear on the radio for subsequent purchase on the iTunes store. In other words, Apple has just turned FM radio into a huge sales funnel for iTunes. Brilliant.

<commercial break>
The QNX Aviage Multimedia Suite also supports a lot of this functionality, btw.
</commercial break>

I'm ticked that Apple still isn't bringing FM to the iPod touch, especially since my second-gen touch contains a chip that supports FM reception. And you would think that Apple would want iPod touch users to also tag FM songs for subsequent purchase. But on the other hand, I now want a nano as well as a touch. So, marketing-wise, maybe the folks at Apple are one giant step ahead of me.

It wouldn't the first time. Or, no doubt, the last.

iPod touch users get Bluetooth, finally

Last October, a teardown report revealed that the iPod touch contains a chip that supports both Bluetooth audio and FM reception. At the time, it was up in the air as to whether future firmware updates would switch on either feature.

Well, no word on FM yet, but as for Bluetooth, the news is good: The new iPhone 3.0 software update allows iPod touch users to listen to music on Bluetooth stereo headphones.

Mind you, the news isn't all good: If you use a first-gen touch, you're out of luck. The Bluetooth support applies to second-gen models only.

Any guesses that the FM reception will never be switched on? After all, if I were Apple, I wouldn't want my customers to be listening to local FM broadcasts when they could be downloading songs from iTunes instead...

Will iPod touch users get more than they bargained for?

My colleague Bill Graham, a huge fan of Apple products, is sure to eat this one up: Yesterday, an EDN teardown report revealed that an IC in the new iPod touch supports both Bluetooth audio and FM reception.

From what I can tell, Apple has never claimed that the "touch" supports either of these features. In fact, until now, Apple has to refused to add FM reception to any iPod device.

So will future firmware updates make these features available to users? No word on that yet. But if it happens, anyone who has bought the second-generation iPod touch will literally get more than they bargained for.

Does this mean that I'm tempted more than ever to get one? Oh yeah.

Read the report here.

QNX-based media server takes home EISA award

I know that it may come as a shock, but often, judges hand out industry awards without laying their hands on a single product. They simply review the written award submissions and dole out prizes based on what they’ve read.

The European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) takes a different approach. It insists that the products submitted for its annual awards are made available for detailed, hands-on evaluation. And this year, the evaluation process resulted in an EISA Best Product award for the QNX-based Harman Kardon DMC 1000 media server.

Equipped with a 250GB internal hard drive, the DMC 1000 can digitize and catalogue more than 60,000 songs. It comes with USB jacks and memory-card slots, so you can quickly stock up the hard drive with music, movies, and photos from all your personal devices: iPods, cell phones, digital cameras, camcorders, thumb drives, etc. Other features include a 1080p upscaling DVD player and the ability to distribute 4 audio streams throughout your home.

I’m in the process of digitizing analog tapes that I recorded almost 30 years ago. If someone told me in 1980 that I would eventually digitize this material and play it on a home media server or handheld MP3 player, I’d have stared at them as if they had 3 heads. (A tape deck with 3 heads, on the other hand, I would have gladly welcomed.) Things have changed since then, and thank goodness for that: I'll take a single, sleek DMC 1000 over a wall of cassettes any day.

For more info on the DMC 1000, check out the Design News article, "New Media Center Stops Blue Screen of Death."

Man of many patents

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 thing. Of those articles, I’ve seen only one that talks about him as an inventor, even though he held over 70 patents. The remaining articles focus on his other talent: music.

You see, Hofmann was a wizard of the piano. He could play virtually any piece, no matter how complex, after hearing it only once. I have some recordings he made from 1901 to 1918, and the perfection of his playing is unbelievable — especially when you consider he didn’t practice.

Hofmann’s talent might have been exceptional, but he was hardly the first to combine the roles of artist and technical innovator. Some other examples:

• Brian May, the lead guitarist for Queen, recently earned a PhD in astrophysics.
• Hedy Lamarr, a Hollywood actress of the 1940s, co-invented an early form of spread spectrum encoding, an essential technology for cellphones and WiFi networks.
• Ada Lovelace played the piano and wrote the first computer program.
• Samuel Morse painted portraits and co-invented the Morse code.
• Leonardo DaVinci painted the Last Supper and moonlighted as a military engineer.

But really, I don’t have to dig so far back. Off the top of my head, I can think of several software developers here at QNX who either sing, play in bands, or spend their personal time behind a camera lens. Closer to home, my son studies chemistry and excels on the Euphonium. My wife, who holds a Master’s of Science degree, has a real knack for painting.

The fact is, talent doesn’t fit in a little box labeled “engineer” or “artist” or “musician.” It often crosses boundaries, in all kinds of surprising ways.

What about you? Do you write code during day and play blues riffs at night? Or perhaps you manage a development team and moonlight as a wedding photographer? Tell us about it and reveal your inner artist!

BTW, to view one of Hofmann's patents, click here.

This week's random hits

• 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.

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

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 “Mississippi Queen,” that was the Les Paul Junior.

Fast forward 54 years. Vintage LP Juniors — which originally sold for 50 bucks — now go for $6000 or more on Ebay. Why? Well, according to some people, no one, not even the wizards at Gibson, could reproduce the unique sound of the original models.

But has the rock world suffered? Hardly. There are now hundreds of electric (and electronic) guitar models out there, many of them capable of sound-bending tricks that 50s-era guitar designers could never have imagined. The original LP Junior is a thing of beauty (can you tell I’d really like one?), but modern guitar players need something more, well, modern.

The software world isn’t any different. At one time, most vendors had closed source code and closed development processes — a model that served customers perfectly well. But the market has moved on, embedded products have become more complex, and embedded software vendors need to keep pace. To do that, they can, among other things, open up their source code and allow customers to become active participants in the product development process.

Basically, vendors have a choice. They can continue to play solo, or they can work in concert with their customers and developer community to create a thing of beauty. Personally, I like door number 2.