Comment Re:Whisky not Whiskey (Score 1) 30
Don't feel bad, someone has to condition the barrels before they can be properly used.
Submission + - New Apple MacBook Air features next generation ultra fast PCI-Express SSD (pcper.com)
boxgamex writes: Apple may have only mentioned improvements to battery life for the Haswell-based MacBook Air at the WWDC Keynote on Monday, but that isn't all that has improved with this machine. Initial testing reveals Apple has switched to PCI-Express based SSDs for this new Air, which at over 700MB/s read speed outperform the theoretical maximum bandwidth of SATA. After digging into the hardware, it seems this may be just a preview of what is to come from M.2 NGFF SSDs, which are expected to come be released for PC platforms this Summer.
Submission + - GPU Frame Capture Performance Testing Clouds Multi-GPU Results (pcper.com)
Vigile writes: A month ago for the release of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX Titan a new GPU performance technology was introduced called Frame Rating. While at the time only a single game and single instance was tested, PC Perspective has since circled back with a full set of results on both NVIDIA and AMD high-end graphics cards in single and dual-GPU configurations. By using an external hardware-based capture system that can record uncompressed data at 2560x1440 @ 60 Hz and then post-processing software that analyzes the data after capture, the new performance results paint a startling different picture of multi-GPU scenarios, especially from AMD's CrossFire. PC Perspective has also included slow-motion captured video of the games in question for side-by-side comparison and information on how Vertical Sync can affect the results for these new test methods.
Submission + - Hardware-based capture measures GPU performance in a new light (pcper.com)
Vigile writes: A new system for testing performance of graphics cards that has been in the works for over a calendar year is being fully unveiled today, called Frame Rating. This technology uses hardware-based capture to record the output from the graphics card and GPU directly and then uses post processing to measure performance and experiences as the user would see them, not through basic logs recorded on the gaming system itself. This much more accurate representation of performance has revealed some interesting highs and some unfortunate lows for graphics vendors already. AMD's CrossFire and Eyefinity technologies take the brunt of the damage: Frame Rating proves that in many games adding a second GPU to your system will result in essentially zero improvement in performance, frame rate or animation smoothness. PC Perspective has detailed the new testing methodology and posted the first sets of data across several PC titles.
Submission + - Will Windows RT Be the Future? (pcper.com) 1
Phopojijo writes: "Microsoft might be on their way to removing legacy support from future versions of Windows. With the recent announcement from Bill Gates that Microsoft intends to evolve Windows Phone and Windows 8 into a single platform, there could be a time where the Windows Store becomes our only way to install applications on our PCs. Would this mean a government could request for Microsoft to block and remove encryption applications or games which discuss same-sex relationships from your PC? At some point will we be reliant on open-source operating systems to preserve personal computing?"
Submission + - Video Games Do Not Want to Be Art? (pcper.com)
Phopojijo writes: "Art of the past only persists today because they were based on timeless platforms such as canvas and inks. Fans want their medium to be art and will fight any critic who refutes the artistic merits of video games. These gamers also ignore community-supported platforms in exchange for proprietary and often intentionally disposable ones such as consoles and DRM in the name of simplicity and fear over piracy or used sales. If video games are intrinsically valuable art – shouldn’t we be fighting for it to be accessible forever like all other art mediums by using platforms like Linux or BSD?"
Submission + - HSA Foundation founded by AMD, ARM, Ti, Imagination, and MediaTek (pcper.com)
Phopojijo writes: "To wrap up his “The Programmers Guide to a Universe of Possibility” keynote during the 2012 AMD Fusion Developer’s Summit, Phil Rogers of AMD announced the establishment of the HSA Foundation. The foundation has been instituted to create and maintain open standards to ease programming for a wide variety of processing resources including discrete and integrated GPUs. Founding members include ARM, Texas Instruments, Imagination, MediaTek, Texas Instruments, as well as AMD. Parallels can be drawn between this and AMD’s “virtual gorilla” initiative back from the late 1990’s."
Submission + - The Decay of the Atom Processor (pcper.com)
Phopojijo writes: "It is easy to pass judgment on the netbook form factor but the problem was always its processing ability — the form factor just inherited the blame by association. Low-voltage adaptations of mainstream architectures will soon collide against ARM and leave low-power x86 architectures with no legitimate room to exist: “Intel is likely to continue on with Atom in computers, but only because it will be easy to offer the fruits of its smartphone endeavors in desktop and laptop PCs. There’s no particular reason for Intel to kill it but – in regards to laptops and desktops – there’s no reason for Intel to make it better.”"
Comment Re:Service Temporarily Unavailable (Score 1) 167
Don't you mean what a cyst?
Submission + - Indilinx Everest controller improves speed and lat (pcper.com)
Vigile writes: When OCZ purchased Indilinx back in March, there were a lot of questions as to what the SSD vendor would do with a controller company that seemed so far behind the performance leaders like Intel and SandForce. Today, with the release of the OCZ Octane, those questions are answered as the new Everest controller is in fact a performance beast. According to the testing done over at PC Perspective, the Octane is able to beat out even Intel's controllers in terms of low latency and high IOs per second, a feat no other controller had done, while also offering average sequential read speeds as high as 505 MB/s! Pricing is very competitive as well with the 256GB model MSRP set at $370 and a pending release of a 1TB 2.5-in model!
Submission + - Carmack on infinite detail, integrated GPUs, more (pcper.com)
Vigile writes: Co-founder of id Software and one of the better interviews in the industry, John Carmack sat down with PC Perspective during Quakecon 2011 to talk about technology for gaming going forward. Collected in this ~30 minute video interview are thoughts on the GPU hardware race (hardware doesn't matter but drivers are REALLY important), integrated graphics solutions on Sandy Bridge and Llano (with a future of shared address spaces they may outperform discrete GPUs) and of course some thoughts on infinite detail engines (uninspired content viewed at the molecular level is still uninspired content). Carmack does mention a new found interest in ray tracing and how it will "eventually win" the battle for rendering in the long run. As usual, there is a lot of information collected in a short time span so pay attention!
Submission + - Exploring how we've been reprogrammed by machines (motherboard.tv)
HansonMB writes: He started out as a producer on the zany BBC magazine show “That’s Life!” But over the years, in his free-form documentary tours of the politics of science, consumerism, and fear, Adam Curtis has become a kind of smarter, wittier Michael Moore, making the argument – in a way that manages to be digestible – that we are never as free as we think we are. In his latest series of films, “All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace,” currently being shown in four parts on the BBC, he’s turned his attention to the Internet, a topic simply begging for his medium-is-the-message critique: aside from the car, it’s hard to think of a technology that has been as pervasive – and as laden with expectation – as a tool for individual freedom and expression.
Submission + - Terry Pratchett Considers Assisted Suicide Process (boingboing.net)
cHALiTO writes: "Beloved science fiction and fantasy writer Terry Pratchett has terminal early-onset Alzheimer's. He's determined to have the option of choosing the time and place of his death, rather than enduring the potentially horrific drawn-out death that Alzheimer's sometimes brings. But Britain bans assisted suicide, and Pratchett is campaigning to have the law changed. As part of this, he has visited Switzerland's Dignitas clinic, an assisted suicide facility, with a BBC camera crew, as part of a documentary will include Britain's first televised suicide. Pratchett took home Dignitas's assisted suicide consent forms."
Submission + - Google offers $280M to help businesses go solar (networkworld.com)
coondoggie writes: "Continuing its love of all things green, Google today said it was building a $280 million fund to help businesses and home owners finance solar panels. Specifically, Google said it was investing $280 million to create a fund that will help SolarCity finance solar installations across the country. Google added that the investment was its largest clean energy project investment to date and brings our total invested in the clean energy sector to more than $680 million."
Submission + - Samsung Chromebook Series 5 Has $344 BOM (itproportal.com)
bob.grigoryan writes: Teardown specialist iSuppli has carried out its regular "bill of materials" analysis on the Samsung Series 5 laptop, the first Chromebook available in the US Market, and found out that the total cost of materials including manufacturing costs was just shy of $335, leaving the retailer, the manufacturer and other third parties to share the estimated $165 profits.
Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/06/14/samsung-chromebook-series-5-has-344-bom/#ixzz1PGFAo8tw
Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/06/14/samsung-chromebook-series-5-has-344-bom/#ixzz1PGFAo8tw
