iWorth's Blog:

IT resources are generally not storable, in the sense that capacity not used today cannot be put aside for future use. Since the resources cannot be stored, there need be no link between the price for a resource now and the price that the resource (if available) will fetch at any future time (even in 1 second!). Given that it is impossible to build up inventories to smooth out the differences between supply and demand, prices can be arbitrarily volatile (this has been observed in practice for other nonstorable commodities. To avoid this price volatility and o enable planning and risk management, conventional nonstorable commodities have developed futures markets, that is, markets for reservations. The most significant non-IT commodity that is also nonstorable is electrical power (with the notable exceptions of hydroelectric and pumped storage). In electricity markets, as in several others for nonstorables (e.g., live cattle, interest rates), contracts for future delivery (forward or f...

SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. SETI@home is a scientific initiative launched by the University of California, Berkeley, with the goal of discovering radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. For this purpose, a radio telescope in Puerto Rico records a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum from outer space. This data is sent to the central SETI@home server in California. There, they take advantage of the fact that the greater part of processor cycles on private and business computers remains idle. Rather than analyzing the data in a costly supercomputer, the SETI server divides the data into smaller units and sends these units to the several million computers made available by the volunteers who have registered to participate in this project. The SETI client carries out the calculations during the idle processor cycles of the participants' computers and then sends back the results.

Peer to Peer computing: The Evolution of a Disruptive Technology, by Ramesh Subramanian & Brian D. Goodman Hype Cycles Disruptive techonologies are at the heart of change in research and industry. The obvious challenge is to distinguish the hype from reality. Gartner Research's "Hype Cycles" work charts technologies along a life-cycle path, identifying when the technology is just a buzzword through to its late maturation or productivity. Technology trigger Positive Hype Peak of inflated expectations (Don't join in just because it's 'in') Negative Hype Trough of disillusionment (Don't miss out just because it's 'out') Slope of enlightenment Plateau of productivity

A toll road (or tollway, turnpike, pike, or toll highway) is a road for which a driver pays a toll (a fee) for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds. The building or facility in which a toll is collected may be called a toll booth, toll plaza, toll station, or toll gate. This building is usually found on either side of a bridge and at exits. A whitesmith is a person who works with "white" or light-colored metals such as tin and pewter. While blacksmiths work mostly with hot metal, whitesmiths do the majority of their work on cold metal (although they might use a forge to shape their raw materials). The term is also applied to metalworkers who do only finishing work - such as filing or polishing - on iron and other "black" metals. Ironworker manufactured both for industry and the home, advertising furnaces, bleaching...