thedeadswiss - Slashdot User

Submission + - MacBook Killer?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26, 2007 @05:54AM

An anonymous reader writes: It looks like Samsung's new Q45 could be a real competitor to Apple's MacBook. The Samsung is finished in glossy black like the Apple, but weighs only 1.83kg compared the MacBook at 2.31kg. But when you consider that the Q45 is around the same price as the entry level MacBook and has 2GB RAM, DVD writer, PCMCIA slot and pretty much all the features that the Apple has, it begins to look very attractive. OK, so you're getting Vista instead of Tiger, but you're also getting a smaller, lighter, better featured and cheaper laptop! http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/200 7/06/26/Samsung-Q45/p1

Submission + - Researcher developed supercomputer 100times faster

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday June 26, 2007 @02:45AM

Anonymous writes: Computer processing power is often equated to the number of transistors. Moorse' Law states that the number of transistors on a microprocessor would double periodically approximately every 18 months. But Researchers at University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering outsmarted the Moorse' Law. They developed "A single-chip supercomputer prototype capable of running 100 times faster than the current desktop." The prototype device uses a standard computer clock speed with a special controller that allows 64 parallel processors mounted on a circuit board to work together and make programming practical and simple for software developers. The researchers claimed that the future devices would include 1,000 processors on a chip the size of a finger nail. They are now demonstrating their technology.

Submission + - TI to release HD processors for phones (zdnet.com)

Submitted by teh_commodore on Monday June 25, 2007 @10:09PM

teh_commodore writes: ZDNet (and various other sites) are reporting that Texas Instruments is ramping up their production of the OMAP 3 processor, which will be able to provide high-definition capability for phones, up to a resolution of 720x1368, on the high end. The chip can also handle video cameras that can shoot 12 megapixels per second. TI is even experimenting with a projector that can be fit inside of a cell phone, since the high-def content is more than can be appreciated on a small cell-phone screen.

Will these usher in a more dominant iPhone in the future, or be used in an iPhone killer? TI refuses to comment on whether or not they are working with Apple.

The processors are scheduled to hit the market in 2008.

Submission + - 64 GB solid state drive from Samsung (blogscorp.com)

Submitted by

jadore

on Monday June 25, 2007 @04:23PM

jadore writes: "Samsung announced a 64 GB solid state 1.8 inch hard drive for notebook PCs, becoming the largest manufacturer of high-capacity solid state hard drives. They expect such drives to take over consumer electronics in the next gew years: "The miniaturization of SSDs will give rise to new types of digital products. Over the next three years, 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SSDs will also gain a great deal of momentum for widespread use in standard notebooks and desktop PCs, respectively.""

Submission + - High-speed parallel processing box needs a name (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Monday June 25, 2007 @03:53PM

coondoggie writes: "Researchers a the University of Maryland have come up with a desktop parallel computing system they say is 100 times faster than current PCs and the kicker is, they want you to name it. That's right, researchers are inviting the public to propose names for the prototype that they say uses a circuit board about the size of a license plate on which they have mounted 64 parallel processors. To control those processors, they have developed the crucial parallel computer organization that allows the processors to work together and make programming practical and simple for software developers said Uzi Vishkin and the University of Maryland James Clark School of Engineering researchers who developed the machine. The parallel algorithms research community has developed a theory of parallel algorithms, for a very simple parallel computation model — the Parallel Random-Access Model (PRAM). That theory appears to be second in magnitude only to serial algorithmics. This machine takes advantage of that. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1672 8"

Submission + - Seagate Meets the Terabyte

Submitted by WMIF on Monday June 25, 2007 @03:15PM

WMIF writes: Seagate today finally marks its long-awaited entry into the one-terabyte drive arena.

Manufactured around a 4-platter design (as opposed to the 5 platters found in the already-shipping Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000), the new drive will be available as a consumer oriented unit, the Barracuda 7200.11, and an enterprise-targeted Barracuda ES.2.

With this new generation Seagate makes the leap to a 32-megabyte buffer, an increase bound to elevate the firm's performance to a new level.

http://storagereview.com/seagate_meets_terabyte

Submission + - Thin Clients: Eco-Friendly Alternative to PCs (linuxdevices.com)

Submitted by

mrcgran

on Monday June 25, 2007 @03:09PM

mrcgran writes: "This report is month-old, but still interesting: 'Using thin clients instead of conventional PCs would lower energy consumption by 51 percent and reduce CO2 emissions, concludes a recent study by the Fraunhofer Institute. The study compared thin clients to conventional business PCs. "The financial savings are significant but the impact on cutting CO2 emissions is what's really impressive. Saving 2.45 billion pounds of CO2 emissions would remove the equivalent impact of 106,521 average U.S. households each year."' Lots of Linux thin clients are springing up. Would you replace your conventional PC for one of them?"

Submission + - Electricity from the People

Submitted by smitty_one_each on Monday June 25, 2007 @09:43AM

smitty_one_each writes: Some chap named Lucien Gambarota has implemented one of those ideas that likely shall have seemed obvious in retrospect: electricity from thepeople.

As the political and ecological aspects of energy rise in people's consciousness, the search for new and clean ways to generate energy is California Fitness Gym's demonstration how energy is generated from gym users gaining momentum. A fitness center in Hong Kong has joined the movement with a new idea: the energy generated by the members as they exercise is transformed into electricity to help light the facility. Claudia Blume has more.
Improving health through fitness and producing electricity as a result should please both Michael Moore and Al Gore. So we got that goin' for us.

Submission + - Analog clock driven by parallel port (blogspot.com)

Submitted by

Marisi

on Saturday June 23, 2007 @09:56AM

Marisi writes: "This is an analog clock quartz movement modified slightly and driven by a linux parallel port. Python code is included that runs on Ubuntu linux."

Submission + - Overclocking madness? (idg.com.au)

Submitted by Da Massive on Monday June 18, 2007 @11:52PM

Da Massive writes: Overclockers waged a battle of ice against fire at Computex in Taipei, pushing the performance limits of Intel's CPUs to 5GHz. The hobbyists, who are becoming an increasingly common sight at IT trade shows, are perfecting the art of pushing processors to their limits. This video is both crazy and funny at the same time — http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/fp;2;fpid; 10000;o;0;id;555745332

Submission + - CSIRO's US win for 802.11a/g patent (news.com.au)

Submitted by

CRC'99

on Monday June 18, 2007 @10:27PM

CRC'99 writes: "The Australian IT is reporting:

THE CSIRO has won another round in its lengthy battle in the US to collect millions of dollars in royalties for its 1996-patented Wireless LAN technology. Last Friday, a US federal court granted the science agency's application for an injunction to stop the Buffalo group of companies from infringing the CSIRO patent in the US. The injunction prevents the sale of products using CSIRO-patented technology until a licence is negotiated.
It's good to see that Australian Government research may finally get the rewards of inventing technology that is used by millions of people these days. The CSIRO however has yet to see a single cent from US companies using CSIRO patented technology without any licensing."

Submission + - Inside The Perfect Cell Phone

Submitted by on Monday June 18, 2007 @04:39PM

An anonymous reader writes: According to a recent CNET.co.uk article, there is no perfect phone, not even the iPhone. But rather than list a bunch of faults with other people's products, Andrew Lim, CNET.co.uk's mobile phone editor, describes his vision of the perfect phone. It's called the DUB (design, usability, battery life) phone and features an electrophoretic/OLED screen, a 5 megapixel camera with optical zoom and two separate batteries. Interestingly, Andrew doesn't opt for a touch screen and instead goes for a standard mobile keypad because 'large touchscreens drain battery power and, in general, are rather fiddly to use'. It will be interesting to see if Apple really has cracked the much-discussed touchscreen issues, or if Andrew is right and touchscreens suck.

Submission + - Intel proposes supercomputing tech for everybody

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18, 2007 @12:11AM

An anonymous reader writes: Sure, we have had multi-core processors for a while, but it is a simple fact that there are very few consumer software titles that can take advantage of multiple cores. Now, we are learning more and more about GPGPUs and other accelerators that may bring massively parallel processing to the CPU, creating a huge challenge for software developers. But Intel says that the transition will actually be very easy and developers will be able to quickly learn how to exploit new acceleration units in a heterogeneous processor. If TG Daily has a detailed analysis of the technology — and if Intel's "Exoskeleton" proposal can keep what it promises, then we may be able to run supercomputer applications on our desktop before the end of the decade.

Submission + - Disney asks visitors to give them the finger

Submitted by on Sunday June 17, 2007 @08:03PM

An anonymous reader writes: My sister recently returned from Disney World with her family and told me about a ticket ID system now in place that requires adults to have their fingerprints scanned to enter any park in addition to presenting their tickets. My sister, who's normally very "go with the flow" was very surprised and concerned about this practice asking me, the family geek, about the possible implications. What do you think?

Submission + - Hardware failure brings down RBS cash machines (pcadvisor.co.uk)

Submitted by

Liam Cromar

on Wednesday June 06, 2007 @05:30AM

Liam Cromar writes: "An IT hardware problem brought down the Royal Bank of Scotland's online, telephone banking and cash machines at the weekend, RBS has confirmed. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which includes the Nat West bank, has a UK customer base of more than 22 million. RBS has refused to give details of the hardware problem.

In other news, the RBS has warned that 62000 customers may be at risk of having their identity stolen, following the RBS losing a disc containing customer personal details in the postal service. Sounds like the RBoS has enjoyed better 24 hours."

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