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Our views on the Internet and society
“You’ve come a long way, Baby”: recalling a special computer
Friday, June 21, 2013
Sixty-five years ago today, the
Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine
—nicknamed “Baby”—became the earliest computer in the world to run a program electronically stored in its memory. This was a flagship moment: the first implementation of the
stored program concept
that underpins modern computing.
Earlier computers had their instructions hardwired into their physical design or held externally on
punched paper tape
or
cards
. Reprogramming them to do a different task entailed internal rewiring or altering the physical storage media. The Baby marked a new computing era, described by some as the “
birth of software
,” in which swapping programs was far simpler—requiring only an update to the electronic memory. Both instructions and data were held in the Baby’s memory and the contents could be altered automatically at electronic speeds during the course of computation.
Developed at Manchester University by
“Freddie” Williams
,
Tom Kilburn
and
Geoff Tootill
, in size the Baby was anything but:
more than 5m long and weighing a tonne
(PDF). Its moniker was due to its role as a testbed for the experimental
Williams-Kilburn tube
, a means of storing binary digits (“bits”) using a cathode ray tube. This was a big deal because up until this point, computers had no cost-effective means of storing and flexibly accessing information in electronic form.
In technical terms, the Williams-Kilburn tube was the earliest form of
random access memory
, or RAM. The Baby’s memory consisted of one of these tubes, able to store up to
1,024 bits
—equivalent to just 128 bytes. In contrast, the average computer today has RAM in multiples of gigabytes, more than a billion times bigger.
The Baby was only ever intended to be a proof-of-concept rather than to serve as a useful calculation tool. So once it had shown the new memory was reliable, attention shifted to building a more powerful and practical machine using the same concepts. This resulted in the
Manchester Mark 1
, which in turn was the model for the Ferranti Mark 1, the world’s
first computer to be sold commercially
, in February 1951.
While today nothing remains of the original Baby, a
working replica is on display
at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester. It’s well worth a visit to reflect on just how far computing has come.
Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations
Boosting Africa’s small businesses
Thursday, June 20, 2013
When Naa Oyoo Quartey used to go to Accra Central Market to get her fill of handmade craft jewellery, she was upset to see the stalls stacked with cheap imported items. She started
Roots by Naa
, a Ghanaian company creating fashion products such as headbands, brooches, and necklaces from handworked African fashion textiles.
What began as a side business is now a successful company supporting local crafts and promoting Ghanaian culture to the world - thanks to the Internet. Naa uses online dashboards to track visitors to the website and gain insight into the number of people and countries visiting, including clients from the US, UK, and France. She now plans to expand and train immigrant porter girls in Ghana - kayayee - to make handmade accessories, giving them a better standard of living and equipping them with an income-generating skill.
As one of the
world’s fastest growing economies
, with an entrepreneurial culture, diverse resources and political stability, Ghana aims to continue on its upward path by leveraging the Internet to reach regional and international markets. Google Ghana has partnered with the
Ministry of Trade and Industry
to launch
Innovation Ghana
, an initiative celebrating Naa and other
Innovation Heroes
.
Innovation Ghana highlights the recommendations of the
Dalberg study
, which equips African policy makers with data about the socio-economic benefits of the Internet, and how to capitalize on this potential. At the recent
launch
, Ghana's Minister of Trade and Industry,
Honourable Haruna Iddrisu
, stressed the importance of the Internet for Ghana’s economy and job creation.
As part of this effort, Google Ghana also supported the
Ghana Google Developer Group
and
Accra Google Business Group
to bring together over 300 developers and businesses to connect, inform and inspire them around the theme of the internet and its potential to unleash innovation. Leading Ghanaian developers shared their knowledge of Javascript, HTML5, Google Drive API and Android. The business sessions featured stories of how SMEs have successfully used the internet to market their products and services, manage customers, and build their brands - all of which are key common challenges in Ghana.
Another initiative is called Social Day for the creative industry. The country’s leading bloggers discussed how the blogging community can further promote the use of internet tools. The grand finale hosted over 60 Ghanaian personalities who were thrilled with a songwriting collaboration between award winning musicians
M.anifest
and
E.L,
MC’d by
Sister Deborah
. The evening showcased how Google+, Hangouts and YouTube are being used, both internationally and locally, to reach new audiences, create new content and strengthen an existing creative culture.
We look forward to supporting the country’s growing online entrepreneurial spirit.
Posted Estelle Akofio-Sowah, Country Manager, Ghana
Big Tent Tunisia: Free Expression in the Arab World
Friday, June 14, 2013
The Internet has spawned an explosion of online communication, allowing those who were silenced to finally speak up. During the Arab Spring, the Web became as a tool for expressing dissent and organizing demonstrations. Signs of a backlash are now emerging and the
Big Tent Tunis
will explore the threat of growing government censorship
Our event is taking place in Tunis as the Freedom Online coalition gathers there for the first time in an Arab country. The coalition was launched in The Hague in November, 2011 when Former
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
launched the coalition at our
Big Tent
. Fourteen countries including Canada, Estonia, Sweden and the USA joined to promote Internet freedom.
Since the launch, Freedom Online has grown into a promising project. It has expanded into Latin America, to include Costa Rica as well as Mexico, and to Africa, to include Kenya and Ghana. Google has continued to support Freedom Online including at its second conference in Nairobi in 2012. Tunisia is not only the first Arab country to join the coalition but it is also the first to in the region to host its members. We thought it only fitting that we hold our first-ever Big Tent in the region at the same time.
Google’s Global Head for Free Expression
Ross LaJeunesse
will outline our goal to discuss the limits of free expression online around the globe, and in particular, in the Arab world. We’ll host a debate on the state of free expression in Tunisia with
Ahmed Gaaloul,
member of the Shoura Council of the Ennahdha Party and
Slim Amamou,
a Tunisian blogger and the former Secretary of State for Sport and Youth. We’ll also hear about the perspective from other parts of the region from Reem Al-Masri, Digital Education Director of 7iber inc, which develops training material for teachers to encourage the use of digital storytelling and social networking. The event will culminate in a debate between filmmaker
Nadim Lahoud
and feminist writer
Joumana Haddad
about art, feminism and censorship in the Arab world.
Although we at Google are biased towards people’s right to free expression, we also realize that this freedom has limits. Our goal in Tunis is encourage the Freedom Online coalition to continue fighting for online freedom - and to jump-start a debate about the state of online freedom in the Arab world.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Iranian phishing on the rise as elections approach
Thursday, June 13, 2013
For almost three weeks, we have detected and disrupted multiple email-based phishing campaigns aimed at compromising the accounts owned by tens of thousands of Iranian users. These campaigns, which originate from within Iran, represent a significant jump in the overall volume of phishing activity in the region. The timing and targeting of the campaigns suggest that the attacks are politically motivated in connection with the Iranian presidential election on Friday.
Our Chrome browser previously helped detect what appears to be the same group using SSL certificates to conduct attacks that
targeted users within Iran
. In this case, the phishing technique we detected is more routine: users receive an email containing a link to a web page that purports to provide a way to perform account maintenance. If the user clicks the link, they see a fake Google sign-in page that will steal their username and password.
Protecting our users’ accounts is one of our top priorities, so we notify targets of
state-sponsored attacks
and other
suspicious activity
, and we take other appropriate actions to limit the impact of these attacks on our users. Especially if you are in Iran, we encourage you to
take extra steps to protect your account
. Watching out for phishing, using a modern browser like Chrome and
enabling 2-step verification
can make you significantly more secure against these and many other types of attacks. Also, before typing your Google password, always verify that the URL in the address bar of your browser begins with https://accounts.google.com/. If the website's address does not match this text, please don’t enter your Google password.
Posted by Eric Grosse, VP Security Engineering
Thirty ideas to change the world: EMEA Science Fair finalists
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
UPDATE, September 24, 2013:
Three winners were
named
yesterday in Mountain View, California. Unfortunately, none of the EMEA finalists was picked. Better luck next year.
Many
great scientists
developed their curiosity for science at an early age and in January we called on the brightest young minds from around the world to send us
their ideas to change the world
. Our
2013 Google Science Fair
attracted an exciting and diverse range of entries, with thousands of submissions from more than 120 countries.
After a busy few months for
the judges
, we’re ready to reveal our
90 regional finalists
for the 2013 Google Science Fair. It was no easy task selecting these projects, but in the end their creativity, scientific merit and global relevance shined through.
Thirty of the finalists come from 15 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa, from Belarus to the United Kingdom. They range from Aya Hazem, age 15, from Egypt who is working on a
SOS Phone to prevent domestic violence
to three Kenyan 14 year olds who are pursuing a project titled
Can heat and tomatoes produce electricity?
. In the UK, 13 year old Isabel McNulty is one of the youngest finalists; her project is called:
Natural Electricity Production Using The Dynamo Effect
.
The 90 Regional Finalists come from all over the world.
For the second year, we’ll also be recognizing the
Scientific American Science in Action Award
. This award honors a project that makes a practical difference by addressing an environmental, health or resources challenge. From the 90 finalists’ projects, 15 were nominated for this year’s award.
On June 27 we’ll announce the 15 global finalists and the winner of the Science in Action Award. These young scientists will then be flown to Google’s California headquarters for the last round of judging and a celebratory event on September 23.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a project—we really appreciate all your hard work. Congratulations to our 90 regional finalists!
Posted by Sam Peter, Google Science Fair team
How green is the Internet?
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
More than ever, people are using the Internet to shop, read, listen to music and learn. And businesses rely on Internet-based tools to operate and deliver their services efficiently. The Internet has created all kinds of new opportunities for society and the economy—but what does it mean for the environment?
Last week we hosted a summit called “
How Green is the Internet?
” to explore that very question. At the summit, experts presented data on how the growth of Internet infrastructure, including devices like phones and tablets, can impact the environment. We also saw great excitement about the potential for entirely new Internet tools to deliver huge energy and carbon savings in areas like transportation, e-commerce and digital content. We’ve
posted the videos
from those sessions online and invite you to take a look.
We also enlisted the help of
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Berkeley Lab) to gather more data.
Their study
, released today, shows that migrating all U.S. office workers to the cloud could save up to 87 percent of IT energy use—about 23 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, or enough to power the city of Los Angeles for a year. The savings are associated with shifting people in the workforce to Internet-based applications like email, word processing and customer relationship software.
These results indicate that the Internet offers huge potential for energy savings. We’re especially excited that Berkeley Lab has made its
model
publicly available so other researchers and experts can plug in their own assumptions and help refine and improve the results. Berkeley Lab is working a European version of the study, to be released later this year.
One of our goals in hosting the summit and supporting the Berkeley Lab study was to identify and encourage new research on this topic. We’ll continue to work to answer some of these questions, and we hope others will too.
Posted by Michael Terrell, Senior Policy Counsel, Energy & Sustainability
Remembering WEIZAC: the beginning of computing in Israel
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Israel is now one of the world’s tech powerhouses,
second only to Silicon Valley as a hub for startups
, but it wasn’t always this way. Today, in honour of the 84th birthday of Professor
Aviezri Fraenkel
, we’re delighted to share a short film sharing his story of working on
the WEIZAC
, Israel’s first computer.
Short film produced with support from Google as part of our
ongoing computing heritage series
The impetus to build a computer in Israel came from Professor
Chaim Pekeris
, an MIT-trained geophysicist and mathematician, who made it a condition of accepting a job at the
then-fledgling Weizmann Institute
. An illustrious committee was set up to consider Pekeris’s request and initially opinion was divided. In particular,
Albert Einstein was skeptical
a computer in Israel would receive sufficient use and queried whether the skilled resources to build it were available. It took much convincing by another committee member, mathematician and computing luminary
John Von Neumann
, before the project got the go-ahead.
Construction of the WEIZAC (“Weizmann Automatic Calculator”) got underway in late 1953 under the leadership of Professor Pekeris and
Jerry Estrin
. A protege of Von Neumann, Estrin arrived in Israel armed with
design drawings based on the computer at the Institute of Advanced Study
in Princeton. After advertising for recruits, a small team of engineers and technicians was assembled, among them Aviezri Fraenkel.
It took the team a lot of
ingenuity to source the necessary materials
. Some were imported, but others were clever adaptations, such as the thin copper strips that came from a small local bicycle-part shop! Despite such hurdles,
progress was steady
, and the major components were in place by the time Estrin returned to the U.S. 15 months later.
The WEIZAC
performed its first calculation in October 1955
and was soon much in demand by Israeli scientists. It remained operational until the end of 1963—50 years ago this year. Nowadays it resides in the Weizmann Institute’s Ziskind Building as a fitting memorial to where computing in Israel began.
I have fond memories of passing by the WEIZAC every day when I studied at the Weizmann Institute, where I also had the privilege to attend a class by Professor Fraenkel. With the release of this short film, I’m delighted to be learning more from him about such an important chapter in Israel’s tech history.
Posted by Yossi Matias, Senior Engineering Director, Head of Israel R&D Centre
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