This is a little unclear. Were Macs used to process any of the data or did she just get the completed file emailed to her and view it on a Mac?
Seems clear:
“The software, running on highly specialized supercomputers at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and MIT Haystack Observatory, was fed the radio telescope data last summer and slowly processed the image seen above. [...]
“Using a MacBook Pro, likely as a remote terminal, Bouman was among the first people in history to cast eyes on a black hole.”
No, this is the proof that it takes time to get money to renew their equipment
If they had refreshed with the new TB MBP with the worst-laptop-keyboard-ever feature we'd still be waiting for the black hole pics...
I don't know why you all are ragging on the Touchbar. When it came down to reaching into my own pocket, I didn't think it was worth the price. It does seem like a cool thing though. Say, were any AirPower charging pads spotted in any black hole images or are they already past the event horizon?
Makes sens to me. I develop massively parallel scientific computing applications to run on some of the largest supercomputers in the world. Nearly everyone in this field uses Mac laptops and workstation... and then runs on the Linux based supercomputers.
Why? Because they're UNIX based. So we can develop our software in a UNIX environment but still have all the GUI goodness of OSX and still have access to Microsoft Office (which everyone hates - but you still have to use). Oh - and they "just work" with roaming wifi and random projectors (which _still_ cannot be said of Linux laptops yet... sigh).
Microsoft has recently realized this (they don't care about scientific computing though - but the same is true in web-programming where the servers that are targeted are running Linux)... and finally made a decent Windows Subsystem for Linux. It's not 100%... but it's way better than any alternatives from before (... Cygwin).
Also: this is an awesome achievement! Congratulations Katie and the rest of the team!
The current touchbar replaces keys I use frequently and blindly. The touchbar requires one to look at it before pressing the wanted key. I specifically use the Esc key, the volume keys and the music navigation keys while typing blind. So, put that touchbar on top of the 2015 keyboard and I might even start to like the touchbar. But please, don't take away any of my physical keys.
The current touchbar replaces keys I use frequently and blindly. The touchbar requires one to look at it before pressing the wanted key. I specifically use the Esc key, the volume keys and the music navigation keys while typing blind. So, put that touchbar on top of the 2015 keyboard and I might even start to like the touchbar. But please, don't take away any of my physical keys.
You should learn how to use it. If you don't want the keys to change, and want esc and media controls present at all times, choose "Touch Bar shows Expanded Control Strip" in System Preferences > Keyboard.
If you watch the video you’ll learn the image was generated randomly first and then validated against the telescope data. Millions of images were generated. And the selected image is based on the theories of how a black hole should look rather than an actual photo of a black hole. As those theories improve or more telescopes are used or turned on for longer then a different random image could be selected.
Makes sens to me. I develop massively parallel scientific computing applications to run on some of the largest supercomputers in the world. Nearly everyone in this field uses Mac laptops and workstation... and then runs on the Linux based supercomputers.
Why? Because they're UNIX based. So we can develop our software in a UNIX environment but still have all the GUI goodness of OSX and still have access to Microsoft Office (which everyone hates - but you still have to use). Oh - and they "just work" with roaming wifi and random projectors (which _still_ cannot be said of Linux laptops yet... sigh).
Microsoft has recently realized this (they don't care about scientific computing though - but the same is true in web-programming where the servers that are targeted are running Linux)... and finally made a decent Windows Subsystem for Linux. It's not 100%... but it's way better than any alternatives from before (... Cygwin).
Also: this is an awesome achievement! Congratulations Katie and the rest of the team!
Correct. My son is a PhD Plasma Physicist working on Nuclear Fusion and they all use MacBooks.
The current touchbar replaces keys I use frequently and blindly. The touchbar requires one to look at it before pressing the wanted key. I specifically use the Esc key, the volume keys and the music navigation keys while typing blind. So, put that touchbar on top of the 2015 keyboard and I might even start to like the touchbar. But please, don't take away any of my physical keys.
One has to wonder where exactly you are looking while “typing blind.” The touchbar is really close to the screen on a MacBook Pro. Really close.
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It's worth a forum post or a comment today, maybe. But an article…oh boy.
Apple has officially cancelled AirPower.
FWIW, I like the TouchBar a lot.
Apple's Mac spotted in viral image with black hole
The headnode might run Linux, or it might run one of various other platforms. The Mac is probably what she used to submit jobs to the headnode.