Tag Archives: Tech

All of us are familiar with the red squiggles that appear under spelling errors when we’re writing text. They appear in Emacs buffers and probably most other applications as well. One place they certainly appear is in Microsoft Word documents. … Continue reading →

As you most of you know, I live a digital life. That doesn’t mean I have no existence outside the Internet or that I don’t have real life friends and loved ones. It simply means that almost all my transactions … Continue reading →

A short quiz in two parts for you: When was the first wireless telephone invented? Who invented it? The answers are surprising and not at all what you might have expected. If you’re like me, something involving radio is probably … Continue reading →

I’ve always had a thing about desks. I really enjoy looking at pictures of people’s work areas and in particular their desks. I’ve gone through stages. Sometimes I really liked renaissance desks, sometimes colonial desks, and sometime modern desks. Basically, … Continue reading →

An old joke, known and beloved by every developer, is “A programmer is a machine for turning coffee into code.” It’s certainly true that it’s an important component of my productivity, coding and otherwise. An overwhelming proportion of Irreal readers, … Continue reading →

There are few Irreal readers, I sure, who don’t know what Stuxnet was and, whatever their feelings about the underlying politics, don’t consider it a tour de force of software engineering. Recently a new candidate for the championship of such … Continue reading →

The much predicted succession of Apple’s top management is underway. In a community letter from Tim Cook, Cook announced that he is transitioning to Apple’s executive chairman and as long expected, John Ternus, the current Senior Vice President of Engineering, … Continue reading →

The other day, I wrote about the amazing engineering behind Voyager 1. Space is a harsh environment and equipment that would be perfectly fine here on Earth would not survive in space. Artemis II, which carried the crew farther away … Continue reading →