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Submission + - CHIP, World's First $9 Computer Could Give Raspberry Pi A Run For Its Money (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: When the first Raspberry Pi model came out just over three-years-ago, who would have guessed the kind of spark it'd have on the market? Since its release, there have been numerous add-ons available for it, a ton of different software crafted for it, follow-up models, and of course, lots of competition. Up to this point, however, there hasn't been competition quite like 'CHIP'. CHIP is a brand-new device that aims to get some computing power into the hands of anyone, something its mere $9 price tag should help with. Each CHIP sports a 1GHz processor, 512MB of memory, 4GB of storage, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0. CHIP may not boast monsterous performance, but its developers say that it can run a variety of software without issue — even the full-blown LibreOffice office suite. Other examples are VLC, Audacity, GIMP, Transmission, and Chromium.

Submission + - MIT's new defect sealing technique may enable faster, more durable water filters

Submitted by jan_jes
jan_jes writes: Scientists have successfully sealed leaks in graphene in a two-step process. The team used a process it developed previously to create tiny, uniform pores in the material, small enough to allow only water to pass through. Now, the team fabricated graphene on a copper surface using a process "atomic layer deposition" to deposit hafnium to seal intrinsic cracks. After lifting the graphene and depositing it on a porous surface, the transfer creates further holes and tears. So they plugged the remaining holes with nylon, via interfacial polymerization. The preliminary tests suggest that graphene may be a viable alternative to existing filtration membranes, although techniques to seal its defects and control its permeability will need further improvements.

Submission + - Fastest 4.5 Watt Core M 5Y71 In Asus T300 Chi Competitive With Full Core i5 CPUs (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Asus unveiled its latest addition to the Transformer series at CES in January, the Transformer Book Chi, which just recently began shipping. Available in three sizes, the new Transformer Book Chi Series features a 2-in-1 detachable design. The flagship Transformer Book T300 Chi offers a 12.5-inch screen, an Intel Core M processor, and a fanless cooling solution. The 2-in-1 detachable design employs a magnetic hinge that supports four usage modes: Attached, Detached, Flipped, and Tented. The T300 Chi measures about 0.65 inches when docked, making it slightly thinner than an Apple Macbook Air. Asus claims the T300 Chi is the world's thinnest Windows tablet, measuring just 0.28 inches thick. More interestingly, perhaps, is that Asus built this machine with Intel's fastest Core M chip, the Core M 5Y71. In the benchmarks, it competes well even with full-sized ultrabooks, though battery life does take a hit due to the system's mechanical limitations and smaller 31Whr battery.

Submission + - MIT Report Says Current Tech Enables Future Terawatt-Scale Solar Power Systems (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Even with today's inefficient wafer-based crystalline silicon photovoltaics, terawatt-scale solar power systems are coming down the pike, according to a 356-page report from MIT on the future of solar energy. Solar electricity generation is one of "very few low-carbon energy technologies" with the potential to grow to very large scale, the study states. In fact, solar resources dwarf current and projected future electricity demand. The report, however, also called out a lack of funds for R&D on newer solar technology, such as thin-film wafers that may be able to achieve lower costs in the long run. Even more pressing than the technology are state and federal policies that squelch solar deployment. For example, government subsidies to solar are dwarfed by subsidies to other energy sources, and trade policies have restricted PV module and other commodity product imports in order to aid domestic industry. Additionally, even though PV module and inverter costs are essentially identical in the United States and Germany, total U.S.residential system costs are substantially above those in Germany.

Submission + - It's Time to Close La Guardia Airport

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: George Haikalis writes in the NYT that last week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey put off, yet again, deciding between two proposals for a nearly $4 billion project to rehabilitate the dilapidated Central Terminal Building at La Guardia Airport. But piling billions of taxpayer dollars into upgrading La Guardia, which has been likened to an experience “in a third world country," won’t solve its fundamental problems. "It can’t easily expand," says Haikalis. "Its two runways and four terminals are surrounded on three sides by water, making landing difficult and hazardous. Parking is a nightmare."

There are precedents for replacing airports close to the center city with modern, more outlying airports. Hong Kong and Denver are two examples; Berlin will soon follow suit. With the consolidation of the major United States airlines and the sluggishness in the global economy, the much larger Kennedy and Newark airports could accommodate La Guardia’s passenger load, by adding more frequent service and using larger aircraft, if the F.A.A. were to lift the caps on the number of flights allowed there. Kennedy, with its two sets of parallel runways, could handle many more flights, particularly as new air-traffic control technology is introduced in the next few years. The money budgeted for the La Guardia upgrades would be better used to create a long-proposed one-ride express-rail link between Manhattan and J.F.K., by reviving a long-disused, 3.5-mile stretch of track in central Queens and completing the modernization of the terminals at Kennedy. "By avoiding the costly replacement of outmoded terminals at La Guardia and by creating a new express rail link and upgrading terminals at Kennedy, the increased economic activity could more than make up for the lost jobs," concludes Haikalis. "New York’s importance to America’s economy demands a first world vision to shutter this third world airport."

Submission + - AMD Announces "Zen" Processor Core And Next Gen Radeon Graphics With HBM (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: AMD kicked off its first Financial Analyst Day in three years, this afternoon. During the hiatus, AMD had a change of leadership and the company has seen its market share erode in the processor and GPU markets. However, on the x86 side, AMD is pushing forward with the 2016 launch of processors based on its new Zen core. For starters, Zen-based processors will bring with them a significant boost in overall performance and a roughly 40% IPC improvement. We will also see a shift from Clustered Multithreading (CMT), which is currently employed in Bulldozer architecture, to Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT). Although AMD didn't offer specifics, it touts Zen as having a "high-bandwidth, low-latency cache system" and that it will be built on a 14nm FinFET process. Surprisingly, the first processor out the door will be geared for gaming enthusiasts as an FX processor with DDR4 memory support. AMD is claiming the new core technology will bring back "X86 competitive" performance versus Intel. In addition, AMD will be launching a next generation Radeon graphics architecture in Q2. Perhaps the biggest enhancement comes from what AMD claims is the world's first implementation of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). AMD's 3D-stacked HBM greatly improves memory bandwidth while at the same time reducing power consumption. AMD is claiming its HBM gives it a 3x performance-per-what advantage over existing GDDR5 memory solutions and an impressive 50 percent power savings.

Submission + - Intel Launches Xeon E7-8800 and E7-4800 v3 Processor Families (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Intel is taking the wraps off of its latest processors for enterprise server and pro workstation applications today, dubbed the Xeon E7-8800 / 4800 v3. Like its high-end desktop processors, the Xeon E7-8800 / 4800 v3 product families are based on the Haswell-EX CPU core. These new Xeons, however, offer a plethora of other enhancements and are packing significantly more cores than any current desktop processor. The highest-end Xeon E7-8800 series processors, for example, are 18 core chips. Previous generation Xeon E7 v2 processors were based on the Ivy Bridge-EX core, while the new E7 v3 parts are based on Haswell-EX, though both are manufactured on Intel's 22nm process node. Next generation Broadwell-EX based Xeons will make the move to 14nm. Xeon E7-8800 / 4800 v3 series processors have 32-lanes of PCIe 3.0 connectivity per socket, TSX is enabled in all SKUs, they offer support for both DDR3 and DDR4 memory (though, not simultaneously), and can address up to 6TB of memory in a 4-socket configuration or 12TB in an 8-socket setup. Intel has also goosed the chip's QPI interface speeds to 9.6GT/s.

Submission + - Apple Watch's Hidden Diagnostic Port To Allow Battery Straps, Innovative Add-Ons (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Apple's Watch launched two weeks ago to some unbelievable hype and coverage in the press. However, it appears one feature flew under the radar and Apple actually had just one more trick up its sleeve. You see, on one side of the watch face is a hidden door that exposes a 6-pin port. It's assumed that this could be used for diagnostic purposes, but with an Apple Watch in hand, a company by the name of Reserve Strap was able to verify that it could also be used for charging. This seems pretty huge and strange at the same time: why would Apple keep such a thing quiet, when the Apple Watch's battery-life isn't what most people would consider impressive? Even more interesting is the fact that Apple didn't make use of this port to release its own charging straps — watch straps that carry a charge themselves. Apple's lack of transparency here doesn't much matter, though, as the aforementioned Reserve Strap is planning to get such a product to market as soon as possible. The company says about its first offering: "The Reserve Strap will come in White, Gray and Black and will fit both the 38mm and 42mm case sizes. The first batch of straps will be shipped in the Fall.

Submission + - Microsoft Office 2016 Public Preview Released

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: Back in March, Microsoft made Office 2016, the next release of the company's leading office suite, available to IT professionals to test and submit feedback on. At Microsoft's Ignite conference, CEO Satya Nadella announced that the public preview of Office 2016 has now been released as well. Office 2016 comes with a range of new features that build upon Office 2013. There is far more integration with cloud, allowing a user to access documents anywhere, and Outlook now syncs with OneDrive when sending large files. So called Smart Applications extend the functionality of Office, including Tell Me, a new search tool, and Clutter, which unclutters your inbox based on machine learning. Anyone can start testing the free Office 2016 Preview right now. Just as they have done with Windows 10, Microsoft is receiving open feedback on the product.

Submission + - Square Enix Witch Chapter Real-Time CG DX12 Demo Impresses At Microsoft BUILD (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Computer generated graphics have come a long way in the past several years and are starting to blur the line between animation and real actors. One of the more difficult tasks for CG artists is to recreate human emotions, especially crying, though you wouldn't know it after watching a tech demo that Square Enix showed off at the Microsoft BUILD Developer Conference. The real-time tech demo is called Witch Chapter 0 [cry] and is part of a research project that studies various next generation technologies. For this particular demo, Square Enix put a lot of research into real-time CG technology utilizing DirectX 12 in collaboration with Microsoft and NVIDIA, the company said. It's an ongoing project that will help form Square Enix's Luminous Studio engine for future games. The short demo shows some pretty impressive graphics, with an amazing level of detail. As the camera zooms in, you can clearly see imperfections in the skin, along with glistening effects from areas where the face is wet with either tears or water

Submission + - LG G4 And Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 Benchmarked (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: LG officially lifted the veil on its new G4 flagship Android phone this week and the buzz has been fairly strong. LG's display prowess is well known, along with their ability to pack a ton of screen real estate into a smaller frame with very little bezel, as they did with the previous generation G3. However, what's under the hood of the new LG G4 is probably just as interesting as the build quality and display, for some. On board the LG G4 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, the six-core little brother of the powerful and power-hungry Snapdragon 810 that's found in HTC's One M9. The One M9 is currently one of the fastest Android handsets out there, but its battery life suffers as a result. So with a six-core Snapdragon and a slightly tamer Adreno 418 graphics engine on board, but also with 3GB of RAM, it's interesting to see where the G4 lands performance-wise. It's basically somewhere between the HTC One M9 (Snapdragon 810) and the Snapdragon 805 in the Nexus 6 in CPU bound workloads, besting even the iPhone 6, but much more middle of the pack in terms of graphics and gaming.

Submission + - Disney replaces longtime IT staff with H-1B workers (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: Disney CEO Bob Iger is one of eight co-chairs of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a leading group advocating for an increase in the H-1B visa cap. Last Friday, the partnership was a sponsor of an H-1B briefing at the U.S. Capitol for congressional staffers. The briefing was closed to the press. One of the briefing documents obtained after the meeting stated, "H-1B workers complement — instead of displace — U.S. Workers." Last October, however, Disney laid off at least 135 IT staff (though employees say it was hundreds more), many of them longtime workers. Disney then replaced them with H-1B contractors that company said could better "focus on future innovation and new capabilities." The fired workers believe the primary motivation behind Disney's action was cost-cutting. "Some of these folks were literally flown in the day before to take over the exact same job I was doing," one former employee said. Disney officials promised new job opportunities as a result of the restructuring, but the former staff interviewed by Computerworld said they knew of few co-workers who had landed one of the new jobs. Use of visa workers in a layoff is a public policy issue, particularly for Disney. Ten U.S. senators are currently seeking a federal investigation into displacement of IT workers by H-1B-using contractors. Kim Berry, president of the Programmer's Guild, said Congress should protect American workers by mandating that positions can only be filled by H-1B workers when no qualified American — at any wage — can be found to fill the position."

Submission + - Teenager Stuns Fellow Geeks By Solving Rubik's Cube In Record 5.25 Seconds (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Some folks are better at solving the timeless classic Rubik's Cube puzzle than others. However, Colin Burns, a teenager who thrilled a crowd of onlookers over the weekend at Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown, PA, supposedly just broke the record in a big way. It took Colins a mere 5.253 seconds to solve Rubik's 3x3x3 contraption, besting the previous record held by Mats Valk from the Netherlands, who accomplished the same feat in 5.55 seconds. Colins is one of only eight people to have correctly lined up the scrambled colors in less than 10 seconds during an official competition. The video of the feat is impressive to be sure. Just be warned that the ensuing celebration is quite boisterous, so you may want to turn down the volume on your speakers or headphones.

Comment Re:Bad source (Score 1) 17

Dear Anonymous Coward, it matters not what or whom I work for. See, that's the beauty of transparency and credibility. I make no bones about it and the content I'd submit is always relevant. Do you work for Audiostream.com? Do you? I care because you clearly have an axe grind posting off-topic binspam like that.

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