Information Research Weblog

A fascinating article in today's Online supplement to the Guardian (or the Grauniad as Private Eye insists on calling it - although I think its propensity for typos has diminished in recent years). The topic is 'software radio' - i.e.:

Instead of specialist radio hardware, a software radio uses a simple receiver to throw the entire contents of a range of frequencies into computer memory, where software - and not hardware - does the signal processing. Vanu Inc, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, took an ordinary, off-the-shelf Hewlett-Packard iPaq personal digital assistant and, using only a simple radio receiver and an upgrade to the Linux operating system, was able to demonstrate the device working as an FM radio.

That should make a hole in the market for electronic radio components!