Seems like I am not alone in thinking that power-efficiency is a system issue that includes both hardware and software. A recent article at ACM shows that other leading processor architects are also thinking along the same lines. So, I ask myself what am I going to do about it. Due to recent events, I now find myself with a bit of free time. Therefore, I think that I will put my free time to some work by trying to do some interesting things.

Firstly, I will rework my existing processor into a more power friendly design. What I mean by this is not that I will make it lower in power, but I will try to make some changes to it so that the processor’s power distribution and consumption can be intelligently controlled by software. At the barest minimum, this would mean adding a programmable power and clock manager into the core. It could also potentially include lower power but slower computational units that can be used for less critical operations.

Secondly, I will try to modify Icarus Verilog to output some power information. It would not be possible to output accurate power results because power is highly dependent on manufacturing technology. However, regardless of technology, it could possibly output relative power information. So, I could possibly use it to test out different code paths that produce the same results in a similar time period but with different power profiles.

Thirdly, if I have the resources, I will try to make changes to LLVM to facilitate power information. This will probably take a bit of doing as the LLVM compiler is a pretty complicated piece of software. Using the information garnered from the simulator, I could possibly output relative power measures for different types of code. This will be a good first step towards generating power efficient code. Of course, the ultimate aim would be to have a -Op power-optimised flag that will automagically trade-off speed for lower power.

Fourthly, now this is stretching it, I will try to write a nano-kernel that is power optimised. This may just be as simple as automatically putting the processor to low power mode when the running task is idle and waiting on user input. It may also be as complicated distributing tasks over a bunch of heterogeneous cores taking power considerations into account such as sending less critical tasks to cores running at lower power configurations.

Now, if anyone thinks that this indicates that I have succumbed to being an eco-mentalist – you’re absolutely wrong. I still belong squarely in the skeptic camp. However, I do believe that efficiency is important – actually any engineer can tell you that the whole purpose of engineering is to increase production efficiency. I do believe in being more efficient, not for the purpose of saving the planet, but for the purpose of engineering elegance.

So, let me start this today.

I just watched Avatar with my sis’s family tonite. It frakkin’ blew my mind! Friends of mine know that I usually spend half my time dissecting a movie into its component parts to see how it was made and also to catch flaws in either the story-line or the acting. However, I spent most of Avatar just gawking at the visual effects and the rich world that is Pandora. By the end of the film, even I have fallen in love with the place and would gladly go native too.

Honestly, I have never seen visual effects that are this spectacular. You know what they say about CGI – it can mimic pretty much everything except human expression. Well, while they got away with a lot of things by making use of an alien race, the facial emotions and expressions were very human. And the sheer variety! Practically every Na’vi had its own characteristics and features – the avatars were even made to look like their human counterparts. It was odd seeing my favourite Alien lady in blue spotted skin but it was cool – makes me want to watch all the Alien films again.

Aside from the CGI, the world itself is pretty amazing. A lot of detail and attention had been put into the creation of the world. While it shamelessly borrows a lot of elements from Native American culture it is still unique in itself. I particularly liked the idea of a care-taker species who were conveniently born with organs that allow them to jack directly into nature. They can communicate with animals and plants by simply jacking in directly. Every living creature on the planet seemed to have a compatible organ for jacking into. As the Alien lady put it – the entire ecosystem of the planet is like a massive network and the Na’vi are capable of directly uploading and downloading information from it. Wonderful!

The film’s many messages were also clear. Any idiot can spot the obviously environmental messages being put across – about how important it is to find balance with the world. There is also a more subtle message about how we humans are a colonising force and tend to just take whatever we want as long as we can bully the natives and get away with it. Then, there is the one-line reference to fighting terrorism with more terrorism – that piece of dialogue was obviously forced into the film just for that one purpose.

I loved the film and will definitely get it on bluray when it comes out next year.

PS: I also liked the fact that the Na’vi language was subtitled in Malay with an alien script to boot. Shows attention to detail.

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF, held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

I got an email from a friend recently, telling me about this silly event and encouraging me to participate in it. There was only one problem. I do it already, anyway. The lights at my place are always turned off during the day and during the night.

I am one of those people who questions the claims of the eco-mentalists. So, I am definitely not doing this turning off the lights at night thing out of any sense of common compassion for our planet. I do it from purely selfish reasons – I am more comfortable working in the dark.

I find it interesting that they have managed to rope in so many local artistes and celebrities to promote this campaign. I guess that if you wish to reach the target masses, you will need to employ some mass appeal. I wonder how much these artistes get paid. They are being plastered everywhere from television to print.

So, earth hour day will be no different from any other day for me.

We are provided with a free flow of English tea in the engineering department, between 10am to 4pm, daily. In the earlier hours of the day, free coffee is provided instead. This is nice but there’s something particular about tea drinking in the department that I’ve found fairly surprising.

Considering that we’re all a bunch of engineers, I would think that most people would’ve figured out how to make an efficient cup of tea, by now. But for some reason, nobody else seems to be making a cup of tea the way that I do, and introduce more waste as a result. Engineers are supposed to optimise processes.

So, for the benefit of everyone else, here is my method of making tea:

1. Take an empty cup. It is essential to start with a dry, empty cup.
2. Add in sugar to taste. Amount should be proportional to size of the cup.
3. Pour in the hot tea. Pour in the tea at one side, directly onto the sugar.
4. Pour in the milk. Pour in the milk from a slight height.

Notice anything missing? If you did not, please look through the list again and try imagining the steps involved. You will notice that there is an essential step missing: stirring the cup. With this four step method, there is no need to stir the mixture. As a result, you will save the use of a spoon, which either needs to be washed or recycled later. And for a large department like ours, it quickly adds up to a lot of spoons.

The key action in this is the pouring of the tea. The hot tea will naturally dissolve the sugar and if poured correctly, will automagically stir the cup. Ditto for the milk. The only catch is with the sugar. The amount of sugar added has to be proportional to the cup to avoid leaving any sugar, after the cup is filled. It’s also essential to start with a dry and empty cup to avoid the sugar from sticking.

I can assure you that this method works with a single teaspoon of sugar. I have never tried it with more because I don’t usually take sugar at all. Feel free to experiment with the amount of sugar and the pouring technique. The two are related.

If you can come up with an even more efficient method of making an efficient cup of tea, please leave it in the comments section!

PS: I can finally classify this under my new category: ecomental issues