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As so happens, an article in the "popular press" totally misses the point. As it happens I know Zoe (who wrote this) very well and would be happy to pass on co

As so happens, an article in the "popular press" totally misses the point. As it happens I know Zoe (who wrote this) very well and would be happy to pass on constructive suggestions on what folks would like to see in this article (and other tech. articles from the BBC).

FussyZeus 10y ago
I'd be surprised if Zoe picked her title, but that's a big point: > Huge home-built computer used for Tetris This makes it seem like the guy just wanted to play Tetris and took an extremely roundabout way to do it, where in fact he built the thing specifically to show the insane complexity we all carry around in our pockets and take for granted (I include myself in that statement 100%). Modern computers are nothing short of an engineering marvel and something like this, which is only a millionth as powerful and not capable of nearly as much built from scratch takes up an entire room. It reminds me a lot of that photo from not terribly long ago showing an Air Force crew unloading a 50 MB hard drive that was roughly the size of a walk in freezer. A good comparison would be someone who built their own aircraft to demonstrate how insanely complex an aircraft is, and then the news story about it says "Local Man Builds own Plane to jump down to Florida for a Burger."
qq66 10y ago
I would have appreciated a greater emphasis about the fact that a modern computer is made out of invisible transistors and that this is a fully discrete but working model, like a large cutaway steam engine in a science museum. Here, I'll take a wild stab: "You may have heard that computer processors consist of billions of transistors crunching through 0's and 1's. But what is actually happening inside these processors? A man has recently build a computer out of individual transistors, the components that control electric currents to perform computations. Instead of using one chip with billions of transistors, he has used individual transistors wired together, allowing him to visualize the individual computing structures and the electric currents that flow through them. His completed computer has "only" 40,000 transistors, which is just enough to play a game of Tetris, but he hopes that the relative simplicity of this computer, as compared to a modern smartphone, can help educate the public on how computers actually work."
- chiph 10y ago
  Or maybe: "You may have heard that computer processors consist of billions of transistors crunching through 0's and 1's. You've never seen them, but with this room-sized processor, you can."
kevin_thibedeau 10y ago
She did good by not using the word "boffin". I cringe every time I read a tech article by the British press when they casually roll out such snide commentary. It's one the same scale of disrespect as "egghead" or "mad scientist". She needs to get the message out to her colleagues to start doing the same.
- pmiller2 10y ago
  I would love for the British press to refer to me as a "mad scientist." :)

FussyZeus 10y ago

I'd be surprised if Zoe picked her title, but that's a big point: > Huge home-built computer used for Tetris This makes it seem like the guy just wanted to play Tetris and took an extremely roundabout way to do it, where in fact he built the thing specifically to show the insane complexity we all carry around in our pockets and take for granted (I include myself in that statement 100%). Modern computers are nothing short of an engineering marvel and something like this, which is only a millionth as powerful and not capable of nearly as much built from scratch takes up an entire room. It reminds me a lot of that photo from not terribly long ago showing an Air Force crew unloading a 50 MB hard drive that was roughly the size of a walk in freezer. A good comparison would be someone who built their own aircraft to demonstrate how insanely complex an aircraft is, and then the news story about it says "Local Man Builds own Plane to jump down to Florida for a Burger."

qq66 10y ago

I would have appreciated a greater emphasis about the fact that a modern computer is made out of invisible transistors and that this is a fully discrete but working model, like a large cutaway steam engine in a science museum. Here, I'll take a wild stab: "You may have heard that computer processors consist of billions of transistors crunching through 0's and 1's. But what is actually happening inside these processors? A man has recently build a computer out of individual transistors, the components that control electric currents to perform computations. Instead of using one chip with billions of transistors, he has used individual transistors wired together, allowing him to visualize the individual computing structures and the electric currents that flow through them. His completed computer has "only" 40,000 transistors, which is just enough to play a game of Tetris, but he hopes that the relative simplicity of this computer, as compared to a modern smartphone, can help educate the public on how computers actually work."

chiph 10y ago
Or maybe: "You may have heard that computer processors consist of billions of transistors crunching through 0's and 1's. You've never seen them, but with this room-sized processor, you can."

kevin_thibedeau 10y ago

She did good by not using the word "boffin". I cringe every time I read a tech article by the British press when they casually roll out such snide commentary. It's one the same scale of disrespect as "egghead" or "mad scientist". She needs to get the message out to her colleagues to start doing the same.

pmiller2 10y ago
I would love for the British press to refer to me as a "mad scientist." :)