340 trillion trillion trillion is our new favorite number. This past Tuesday was World
IPv6 Launch, a huge step forward in making sure the Internet doesn’t run out of IP
addresses in the near future. Until now, the universe has been using 32-bit addresses for
devices on the Internet. The new version, IPv6, uses 128 bits, which increases the number of
available addresses from a mere 4.3 billion to more than 340 undecillion, or more
precisely, 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456. So, that’s a lot.
From astronomical numbers to a rare astronomical event: the transit of Venus across the
sun. This event was a big deal for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), a spacecraft
that studies the sun. The SDO and its humans produced this breathtaking video made up of
images from the transit. This is way better than what you saw with your welder’s
goggles.
Finally, with all this advanced technology, it’s nice to go retro now and then. You can do
that by enjoying these animated GIFs of video
games, for when you just can’t find your 8-bit game system. (Hat tip: Boing
Boing).
Each week we publish Fridaygram, featuring stuff from Google and beyond that you
might have missed during the week. Fridaygram items aren't necessarily related to developer
topics; they’re just interesting to us nerds. This week we say goodbye to Ray Bradbury as he departs
Earth.
