Punked the Warped Tech of a Victorian World That Never Was

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F T E C H N O LO GY I N S I D E R S 10.08 steam punked the warped tech of a victorian world that never was <a href="/goto?url=http://www.spectrum.ieee.org" target="_blank">www.spectrum.ieee.org </a>volume 45 number 10 north american 10.08 updaTe 13 Open-sOurce vOting can open-source software save electronic voting? By Mark Anderson 14 virtual cOlOnOscOpy 16 car talk 18 keeping mems mOving 20 hOme fuel cells tO sell in japan opinion 9 spectral lines <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">22 </li><li style="flex:1">48 </li></ul>Is the United states ready for digital television? the transition may not be so smooth. By T e kla S. Perry 10 fOrum Futurist ray Kurzweil gets the last word on the singularity. 21 technically speaking New words are needed to reprocess old electronics. By Paul McFedries deparTmenTs 4 Back stOry on the road to tikrit. 28 sparks fly: engineers build community and more at Techshop [top left]; strange steam-powered critters inhabit 6 cOntriButOrs cover story 22 hands On 48 The sTeampunk techshop, a high-tech hands-on workshop, is expanding—perhaps to a city near you. By David Schneider conTrapTors Do-it-yourself enthusiasts are drawing on the aesthetics of the 19th-century Victorian era to create fantastic brass-adorned, steam-driven machines. All hail the steampunk subculture. By Erico Guizzo i-wei huang’s careers garage [top right]; and solar panels on a u.s. air Force base harvest energy from the sun [bottom]. 24 sam Altman is only 23 and on leave from stanford, but his software may already be on your cellphone. By Susan Karlin 28 a less well-oiled war machine One of the world’s most profligate users of energy, the U.S. military, is turning to renewable sources on a grand scale. By Sandra Upson 25 Humor can hurt your career— or help it. By Carl Selinger BOOks COVER: 26 A new book rescues the lost history of electrical engineering. By Mark Anderson JOn a t han SpRaguE/ REdux 34 Fresh phish A flaw in the Internet’s infrastructure makes it easy for scammers to thiS p agE, ClOCkwiSE fROm tOp lEft: timOthy aRChibald; JOn a t han SpRaguE/REdux; mma REnEwablE VEntuRES lure people to fake Web sites. By David Schneider 26 Does nuclear disarmament still matter? By William Sweet 40 bomb squad diary 76 the data Little text messages are a very big business. By Steven Cherry Bomb disposal has gone high-tech, as our reporter saw firsthand when his convoy encountered an IED north of Tikrit, in Iraq. By Glenn Zorpette <a href="/goto?url=http://www.specTrum.ieee.or" target="_blank">www.specTrum.ieee.or</a>g october 2008 •Ieee spectrUm <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">•</li><li style="flex:1">NA </li></ul>1volume 45 number 10 north american 10.08 www.Ieee.org/ tHeINstItUte available 6 ocTober on The insTiTuTe online conFerence looks aT paTTern recogniTion read up on the latest advances in the fields of computer vision, pattern recognition, speech and signal analysis, and biometrics. these topics and more will be discussed at the 2008 International conference on pattern recognition, scheduled from 8 to 11 December in tampa, Fla. ieee merchandise available the new Ieee online store opens its doors this month with its shelves stocked full of t-shirts, caps, umbrellas, and briefcases emblazoned with the Ieee logo. tOp: SEan mCCabE; bOttOm: Ruth fREmSOn/ thE nEw yORk timES <a href="/goto?url=http://www.s" target="_blank">www.s</a>pectrUm.Ieee.org available 1 ocTober on specTrum online commiTTee Takes on clean drinking waTer besT oF lucky Fifteen years ago, a book compendium of Robert W. Lucky’s column, Reflections, was published as Lucky Strikes...Again. Today, through the miracle of the Web, we can publish a compendium whenever we want. So we asked Bob [above] to pick his 10 favorites from his column since then. “Does the list have the one with Brutus, the telephone-answering computer that accidentally discloses the owner’s extramarital affair?” asked staffer Nancy Hantman (who arrived at IEEE Spectrum in 1981, just months before the column’s debut). Sorry, Nancy, that one didn’t make the list—but just imagine what did. Let us know if Bob left out your favorite as well. Thanks to the Web, we can do this again, whenever the mood strikes...again. the Ieee committee on earth observation has been working on a “water for the world” project aimed at creating pilot programs to provide clean, safe drinking water in areas where there is none. <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">oNLINe FeAtUres: </li><li style="flex:1">ALso oNLINe: </li></ul>rOBOtic dinOsaurs get Big: In an exclusive video, two lucky kids get a sneak peek at Kota, a plush triceratops big enough to ride. • webcasts • podcasts • News • blogs • Jobs nasa spent us $650 milliOn and four decades developing Gravity Probe B to test einstein’s equations, but the data came back noisy. cosmologist paul s. wesson explains what went wrong and how to save the experiment. • career Accelerator Forum • Ieee Xplore® digital library • white papers • opinions • more! ieee spectrum (IssN 0018-9235) is published monthly by the Institute of electrical and electronics engineers, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 by the Institute of electrical and electronics engineers, Inc., 3 park Avenue, New york, Ny 10016-5997, U.s.A. the editorial content of Ieee spectrum magazine does not represent official positions of the Ieee or its organizational units. canadian post International publications mail (canadian Distribution) sales Agreement No. 40013087. return undeliverable canadian addresses to: circulation Department, Ieee spectrum, box 1051, Fort erie, oN L2A 6c7. cable address: ItrIpLee. Fax: +1 212 419 7570. INterNet: s<a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>g. ANNUAL sUbscrIptIoNs: Ieee members: $21.40 included in dues. Libraries/institutions: $205. postmAster: please send address changes to Ieee spectrum, c/o coding Department, Ieee service center, 445 Hoes Lane, box 1331, piscataway, NJ 08855. periodicals postage paid at New york, Ny, and additional mailing offices. canadian gst #125634188. printed at w224-N3322 Duplainville rd., pewaukee, wI 53072-4195, U.s.A. Ieee spectrum circulation is audited by bpA worldwide. Ieee spectrum is a member of American business media, the magazine publishers of America, and the society of National Association publications. <a href="/goto?url=http://www.specTrum.ieee.org" target="_blank">www.specTrum.ieee.org </a>october 2008 •Ieee spectrUm <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">•</li><li style="flex:1">NA </li></ul>3back story EditOriAl Editor in chiEf Susan hassler, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>ExEcutivE Editor Glenn Zorpette, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>ManaGinG Editor Elizabeth a. Bretz, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>SEnior EditorS harry Goldstein (online), <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; Jean Kumagai, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; Samuel K. Moore (news), <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; tekla S. Perry, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; Philip E. ross, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; david Schneider, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; William Sweet, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>SEnior aSSociatE Editor Steven cherry (resources), <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>aSSociatE EditorS Sally adee, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; Erico Guizzo, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; Joshua J. romero (online), <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; Sandra upson, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>aSSiStant Editor Willie d. Jones, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>SEnior coPy Editor Joseph n. Levine, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>coPy Editor Michele Kogon, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>EditoriaL rESEarchEr alan Gardner, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>ExEcutivE ProducEr, SPEctruM radio Sharon Basco aSSiStant ProducEr, SPEctruM radio francesco ferorelli, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>adMiniStrativE aSSiStantS ramona Gordon, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>; nancy t. hantman, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>intErn Monica heger, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>contriButinG EditorS John Blau, robert n. charette, Peter fairley, alexander hellemans, david Kushner, robert W. Lucky, Paul Mcfedries, Kieron B. Murphy, carl Selinger, Seema Singh, John voelcker Beer, Not Bombs Art & prOductiON xecutive Editor Glenn Zorpette traveled to Iraq this past January with a secret not only among the best-trained SEnior art dirEctor Mark Montgomery aSSiStant art dirEctor Brandon Palacio Photo Editor randi Silberman military units I’ve encountered, they’re also the funniest and most irreverent,” Zorpette says. Ewish: that he would at some point get close enough to a roadside bomb to see it with his own eyes. Little could he know that dirEctor, PEriodicaLS Production SErvicES Peter tuohy EditoriaL & WEB Production ManaGEr roy carubia SEnior ELEctronic Layout SPEciaLiSt Bonnie nani WEB Production coordinator Jacqueline L. Parker WEB Production SPEciaLiSt Michael Spector Arriving at the tactical operations center of one EOD team he had been assigned to, he noticed a whiteboard in the room and, in one corner of it, a terse message heralding his arrival: “Today’s forecast: sucking up to a reporter. Talking s—t when people are not around.” The humor and bravado are a mechanism for coping with some of the most stressful duties in the war zone, Zorpette says. They’re not only was he going to see a bomb, he was also going to help two U.S. Navy bomb-disposal specialists blow it up. One of them snapped a picture [above] just as Zorpette [at right] pulled the pin on an igniter that blew up a charge placed on the bomb by a robot. Zorpette admits that his EditOriAl AdviSOry bOArd Susan hassler, Chair; Marc t. apter, francine d. Berman, Jan Brown, raffaello d’andrea, Stephen L. diamond, hiromichi fujisawa, Kenneth y. Goldberg, Susan hackwood, Erik heijne, charles h. house, david h. Jacobson, christopher J. James, ronald G. Jensen, Mary y. Lanzerotti, ruby B. Lee, tak Ming Mak, david a. Mindell, c. Mohan, fritz Morgan, andrew M. odlyzko, Leslie d. owens, Barry L. Shoop, Larry L. Smarr, harry L. “nick” tredennick iii, William Weihl, Ba¸sak yüksel EditOriAl cOrrESpONdENcE iEEE Spectrum, 3 Park ave., 17th floor, new york, ny 10016-5997 attn: Editorial dept. tel: +1 212 419 7555 fax: +1 212 419 7570 Bureau: Palo alto, calif.; tekla S. Perry +1 650 328 7570 responsibility for the substance of articles rests upon the authors, not the iEEE or its members. articles published do not represent official positions of the iEEE. Letters to the editor may be excerpted for publication. aspiration “may seem odd. But I was also a kind of social glue that helps in Iraq to report on how the military is dealing with roadside bombs, and I’ve always believed that the best draw superbly capable people into trusting, close-knit teams. The rites can even apply to journalism comes from people doing embedded journalists. “After we <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">and seeing things firsthand.” </li><li style="flex:1">blew up that IED, the EOD team </li></ul>leader turned to me and said that according to Navy EOD tradition, I owed him a case of beer,” Zorpette explains. “Now if he’ll just tell me where to send it, I’ll be happy to discharge my debt.” AdvErtiSiNg cOrrESpONdENcE He spent much of his time in Iraq embedded with U.S. military specialists trained in explosive ordnance disposal, or EOD. They search for, disable, and destroy roadside bombs. “EOD teams are iEEE Spectrum, 3 Park ave., 17th floor, new york, ny 10016-5997 attn: advertising dept. +1 212 419 7760 the publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising. rEpriNt pErmiSSiON LiBrariES: articles may be photocopied for private use of patrons. a per-copy fee must be paid to the copyright clearance center, 29 congress St., Salem, Ma 01970. for other copying or republication, contact Business Manager, iEEE Spectrum. ocitiNg ArticlES iN iEEE SpEctrum coPyriGhtS and tradEMarKS: iEEE Spectrum is a registered trademark owned by the institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers inc. careers, EEs’ tools & toys, Ev Watch, Progress, reflections, Spectral Lines, and technically Speaking are trademarks of the iEEE. IEEEꢀSpectrum publishes two editions. in the international edition, the abbreviation int appears at the foot of each page. the north american edition is identified with the letters na. Both have the same editorial content, but because of differences in advertising, page numbers may differ. in citations, you should include the issue designation. for example, the first update page is inꢀIEEEꢀSpectrum , vol. 45, no. 10 (int), october 2008, p. 9, or inꢀIEEEꢀSpectrum, vol. 45, no. 10 (na), october 2008, p. 13. www.spectrum.ieee.org <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">NA </li><li style="flex:1">•</li><li style="flex:1">iEEE SpEctrum </li><li style="flex:1">•</li><li style="flex:1">OctObEr 2008 </li></ul>ꢀiEEE mEdiA Staff Director; PubliSher, IEEE SpEctrum James a. Vick, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>aSSociate PubliSher, SaleS & aDVertiSing Director Marion Delaney, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>recruitMent SaleS DeVeloPMent Manager MARK ANDERSON does double duty in this issue. With the U.S. PAUL McFEDRIES has been writing the Technically Speaking column since June 2002. He Michael buryk, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>buSineSS Manager robert t. ross Marketing & ProMotion Manager blanche Mcgurr, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>interactiVe Marketing Manager ruchika anand, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>liSt/recruitMent Marketing Manager ilia rodriguez, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>presidential rePrint SaleS +1 212 221 9595, ext. 319 elections looming, he looks into the long-running battle for secure electronic voting in “Open-Source Voting” [p. 13]. He also reviews Michael Brian Schiffer’s book on the history of electrical engineering prior to Edison [p. 26]. “It’s filling in a gap that says he knew it was time for this month’s “E-cycling E-waste” [p. 21] when he saw the term e‑waste in The New York Times. McFedries has written numerous books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Weird Word Origins, which was published this past DePartMent aDMiniStrator faith h. Jeanty, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>aDVertiSing SaleS +1 212 419 7760 telePhone aDVertiSing/SaleS rePreSentatiVe John restchack +1 212 419 7578 aDVertiSing ProDuction Manager felicia Spagnoli Senior aDVertiSing ProDuction coorDinator nicole evans aDVertiSing ProDuction +1 732 562 6334 ieee Staff executiVe, PublicationS anthony Durniak iEEE bOArd Of dirEctOrS PreSiDent & ceo lewis M. terman +1 732 562 3928 fax: +1 732 465 6444 <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>many people, including me, didn’t August. He also runs Wordspy, PreSiDent-elect John r. Vig treaSurer David g. green Secretary barry l. Shoop PaSt PreSiDent leah h. Jamieson <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">know existed,” says Anderson. </li><li style="flex:1">a Web site that tracks emerging </li></ul>words and phrases. JOHN BLAU, who lives in Düsseldorf, Germany, has been contributing to IEEE Spectrum for NATHAN PERKEL was aiming for “a mix of old- VicE prESidENtS evangelia Micheli-tzanakou, Educational Activities; John baillieul, Publication Services & Products; Joseph V. lillie, Member & Geographic Activities; george W. arnold, President, Standards Association; J. roberto b. de Marca, T e chnical Activities; russell J. lefevre, President, IEEE-USA fashioned taste with nearly 20 years. Though he’s written for us about such diverse topics as low-power processors, peer-to-peer TV, and robotics, his article, “Car Talk” [p. 16], about vehicle-to-vehicle communications schemes, is a natural fit. “I’m based in a country whose economy is highly dependent on car manufacturing,” he points out. modern technology” diViSiON dirEctOrS in the photo of Jake von Slatt in our cover story, “Steampunk Contraptors” [p. 48]. Enthusiasts like von Slatt (né Sean Slattery) envision a 19th-century world that might have been. To add to the historical effect, Perkel shot the portrait with a traditional large-format 4-by-5-inch film camera instead of the digital camera he used for his other photos in the article. giovanni De Micheli (i); thomas g. habetler (ii); curtis a. Siller Jr. (iii); edward Della torre (iV); Deborah M. cooper (V); irving engelson (Vi); John D. McDonald (Vii); thomas W. Williams (Viii); frederick c. Mintzer (ix); William a. gruver (x) rEgiON dirEctOrS howard e. Michel (1); John c. Dentler (2); William b. ratcliff (3); robert J. Dawson (4); David J. Pierce (5); loretta J. arellano (6); ferial el-hawary (7); Jean g. remy (8); enrique e. alvarez (9); Janina e. Mazierska (10) dirEctOrS EmErituS eric herz, theodore W. hissey iEEE StAff huMan reSourceS betsy Davis, SPhr +1 732 465 6434, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>VIKTOR KOEN portrays entrapment in his illustrations for “Fresh Phish” [p. 34], PublicationS anthony Durniak +1 732 562 3998, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>eDucational actiVitieS Douglas gorham +1 732 562 5483, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>JONATHAN SPRAGUE wanted to capture the craftsmanship of steampunk artists StanDarDS actiVitieS Judith gorman +1 732 562 3820, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>MeMber & geograPhic actiVitieS cecelia Jankowski +1 732 562 5504, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>which describes a recently discovered flaw in the Internet’s Domain Name System. “The multiplicity of the hooks” in his underwater scene “gives it a dramatic effect,” he says. Born in Thessaloníki, Greece, Koen is on the faculty of the Parsons School of Design, in New York City. His corPorate Strategy & coMMunicationS Matthew loeb, cae +1 732 562 5320, [email protected] buSineSS aDMiniStration richard D. Schwartz +1 732 562 5311, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>I-Wei “Crab Fu” Huang and Richard “Datamancer” Nagy [p. 48]. Sprague says he focused on the intricacies of the gears and parts in such creations as the laptop computer disguised as a music box. A first-time technical actiVitieS Mary Ward-callan +1 732 562 3850, <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected] </a>Managing Director, ieee-uSa chris brantley +1 202 530 8349, [email protected] iEEE publicAtiON SErVicES & prOductS bOArd John baillieul, Chair; tayfun akgul, Duncan c. baker, John t. barr iV, Mohamed e. el-hawary, gerald l. englel, gerard h. gaynor, roger a. grice, Marion o. hagler, Jens hannemann, Donald n. heirman, evelyn h. hirt, hirohisa kawamoto, Phillip a. laplante, Mary y. lanzerotti, Michael r. lightner, george f. Mcclure, adrian V. Pais, roger D. Pollard, Saifur rahman, Suzanne M. rivoire, Jon g. rokne, W. ross Stone, James M. tien, robert J. trew, Stephen yurkovich, amir i. Zaghloul award-winning images have been contributor to Spectrum, Sprague exhibited worldwide in museums, has also shot for Travel & Leisure, galleries, and private collections. Fortune, and Men’s Journal. iEEE OpErAtiONS cENtEr 445 hoes lane, box 1331, Piscataway, nJ 08854-1331 u.S.a. tel: +1 732 981 0060 fax: +1 732 981 1721 <a href="/goto?url=http://www.spectrum.ieee.org" target="_blank">www.spectrum.ieee.org </a><ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">NA </li><li style="flex:1">•</li><li style="flex:1">iEEE SpEctrum </li><li style="flex:1">•</li><li style="flex:1">OctObEr 2008 </li></ul>ꢀspectral lines digital reception? No better. Like most people who signal distribution between the antenna and the tuner.” Our antenna cables were installed before we lived in this house. I try to imagine what’s going on inside the walls. A splitter probably sends a line into the bedroom—giving the

Punked the Warped Tech of a Victorian World That Never Was

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