Comment Wow - must remember bay trail (Score 1) 103
Happy to know that bay trail platform finally drops PVR graphics core. Hope that some manufacturer produces small factor platform that I want in 2013.
Comment Still not good enough for me(just my opinion) (Score 2) 103
What I want for my ultimate mobile computing device:
1. Small, lightweight and have physical keyboard
I walk a lot so I want small device that fit comfortably in my backpack (so that's below 7'') and weight less than 1.5(preferrably 1) pound. I'm not all-day mobile warrior so I can live with cramped keyboard but after testing my wife's galaxy s2 touch keyboard I decided I DO NEED a physical keyboard for typing documents/playing games(like nethack, old dosbox compatible games).
2. MS application/IE compatiblity
I need to do business with MS office documents and MS IE only internet banking/payment processing. Libreoffice is not good enough if you have to edit/exchange MS office documents with other business entity(and that stupid and powerful entity is stubborn enough that it want genuine MS office docs only and complain slightest of incompatibility problems)
3. Very low power
10W - It will still need fan or huge heatsink. Moving part/high power is not good for longivity/ruggedness let alone battery life. My estimate is that you'll have to go below 2W to acheive compact & sleek design without fan/huge heatsink - Yes atom Z5XX do that and I have one now.
4. usable graphic core without fsckup.
I need graphic core that supports linux well and play angry bird. PVR core in atom don't support either. Even their xp driver don't support basic opengl well enough.
5. Support basic net tools/secure net connection I feel comfortable
I want to redirect all normal net connection via VPN using my secure home base using openvpn when I connect to untrusted/public wifi. I believe that is reasonably achievable(without heavy source modifying/manually recompliling) with only linux/winxp~7 for now. And I hate OS that don't support basic net tools.
6. Trusted application that I know What it is doing.
I don't want application that does unknown things behind my back(leaking private info for whatever reason or doing net connection I don't want it to do). So I prefer well known/open source apps and become skeptical on many android/google apps.
If you go ultrabook route, you can acheive 2,4,5,6 for now.
If you go atom route, you can achieve 1,2,3,5,6 for now. Currently I've settled for this.
If you go arm based smartphone/pad route, you can achive 1(depends on device),3,4,may be 5 (if you rooted your phone/pad) for now.
With WINRT device, may be you'll be able to achieve 1,2,3,4.
Of course things are changing so somewhere in future may be you could do things with a platform that counldn't do for now(compatibilty/standard compliance got better,intel finally make 2w non-atom processor/drop FSCKING pvr core from atom, better performance to run emulation comfortably, corporation changes their mind about privacy...). So I think it is the race between platforms which acheives the most within reasonable time.
Comment I would say: Self-modifying code (Score 2) 662
We sacrificed creativity, and some unknown possibility for the security fit for dumb majority.
Submission + - Nintendo Warns 3D Games Can Ruin Children's Eyes 1
Hugh Pickens writes: "Fox News reports that Sony has posted a cautionary note on its Japanese website that "“vision of children under the age of six has been said [to be in the] developmental stage,” adding that 3D content “delivers 3D images with different left and right images, [which] has a potential impact on the growth of children’s eyes.” The notice went to say that Sony recommends that all viewers take regular breaks while watching 3D video or playing stereoscopic 3D games (google translation). Dr. Michael Ehrenhaus, an ophthalmologist with New York Cornea Consultants, thinks Nintendo and Sony may be getting ahead of themselves with these disclaimers. "It's hard to say that it'll ruin development," says Ehrenhaus. "I don't foresee it as a major issue, they're just being overly concerned." Ehrenhaus says the disclaimer comes from worries about the eye strain people can get by focusing on something for long periods of times and that young children may suffer from a condition called amblyopia or "lazy eye," where one eye sees better than the other. Eye strain from 3D may turn out to be merely the latest in a long line of fears about television and video gaming similar to the widespread worries that arose after flashing lights in games led to rare epileptic fits, or the old wives tale about sitting too close to the television. "A lot of these myths never really play out," Ehrenhaus says."
Comment Nettop itx ATOM board done right. (Score 1) 86
Look at the picture of this board. Unlike typical atom330+945gc nettop board it has NO FAN. And if we recall the fact that 945gc chipset consumes 25w of power, way more than 8w cpu itself, I would rather call this board "Nettop ATOM board done right, powerwise". So if you already have netbook which uses 945gse mobile chipset(which is already power efficient), this would mean nothing more than minor facelift. But if you're going to buy atom330+945gc itx nettop board, this is much improved product to consider regarding power. And minor upgrade from gma950 to gma3150(slightly improved g31), would be better than nothing.
DoE Considers Artificial Trees To Remove CO2 418
eldavojohn writes "CNN is running an article on a new angle of attack to reducing greenhouse gases. After meeting with the US Department of Energy on the concept, the researchers revealed the details that each 'tree' (really a small building structure in the concept design) would cost about as much as a Toyota and remove 1 ton of CO2 from the air per day. Don't worry, they're accounting for the energy the 'tree' uses to operate: 'By the time we make liquid C02 we have spent approximately 50 kilojoules [of electricity] per mole of C02. Compare that to the average power plant in the US, which produces one mole of C02 with every 230 kilojoules of electricity. In other words, if we simply plugged our device in to the power grid to satisfy its energy needs, for every roughly 1,000 kilograms [of carbon dioxide] we collected we would re-emit 200, so 800 we can chalk up as having been successful.' Each unit would remove 20 automobiles' worth of CO2 from the air and cost about as much as a Toyota... so the plan might be a five percent surcharge on automobiles to fund these synthetic tree farms."
Good Physics Books For a Math PhD Student? 418
An anonymous reader writes "As a third-year PhD math student, I am currently taking Partial Differential Equations. I'm working hard to understand all the math being thrown at us in that class, and that is okay. The problem is, I have never taken any physics anywhere. Most of the problems in PDEs model some sort of physical situation. It would be nice to be able to have in the back of my mind where this is all coming from. We constantly hear about the heat equation, wave equation, gravitational potential, etc. I'm told I should not worry about what the equations describe and just learn how to work with them, but I would rather not follow that advice. Can anyone recommend physics books for someone in my position? I don't want to just pick up a book for undergrads. Perhaps there are things out there geared towards mathematicians?"
Comment Bring YOUR computer with you (Score 1) 701
That's why I always bring my oqo with me when travelling.
0. Assuming you have openvpn installed in always-on trusted gateway(home or office, windows or linux)
1. When needed ask/try to find just a network connection, not a public terminal.
2. Connect to your openvpn gateway pc. Don't do anything unsafe using normal network. If openvpn says something suspicious, don't use openvpn session and just use that network connection just for absolutely safe, casual activity e.g. viewing slashdot anonymously. Beware spyware.
3. When openvpn connected successfully, route all your internet traffic via your gateway pc using openvpn session.
4. Done. Other vpn solution also works, but openvpn is free, available for windows and linux, sniffing free, man in the middle attack free.
0. Assuming you have openvpn installed in always-on trusted gateway(home or office, windows or linux)
1. When needed ask/try to find just a network connection, not a public terminal.
2. Connect to your openvpn gateway pc. Don't do anything unsafe using normal network. If openvpn says something suspicious, don't use openvpn session and just use that network connection just for absolutely safe, casual activity e.g. viewing slashdot anonymously. Beware spyware.
3. When openvpn connected successfully, route all your internet traffic via your gateway pc using openvpn session.
4. Done. Other vpn solution also works, but openvpn is free, available for windows and linux, sniffing free, man in the middle attack free.
Submission + - Sony Films Won't Play on Sony DVD Players
taxevader writes: Sony Films Won't Play on Sony DVD Players, Say Reports
Complaints have begun appearing on some tech websites that copyright-protection coding on new releases from Sony, including Stranger Than Fiction, The Holiday, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness, has made them unplayable on certain DVD players. One person complained on an Amazon.com discussion board that when inserted in Sony's DVP-CX995V player, the disks "load up to the splash title screen and then load no further, then after about 60 secs the player turns itself off!" The writer said that when he contacted Sony he was told that the company was aware of the problem and that it was working on a firmware update. The writer then asked Sony, "Would it not be a good idea to test changes you intend to make on your DVDs at least on your own equipment so that if you find a problem you could have the firmware update available instead of not only inconveniencing, but alienating your own customers?"
http://imdb.com/news/sb/2007-04-16/
Complaints have begun appearing on some tech websites that copyright-protection coding on new releases from Sony, including Stranger Than Fiction, The Holiday, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness, has made them unplayable on certain DVD players. One person complained on an Amazon.com discussion board that when inserted in Sony's DVP-CX995V player, the disks "load up to the splash title screen and then load no further, then after about 60 secs the player turns itself off!" The writer said that when he contacted Sony he was told that the company was aware of the problem and that it was working on a firmware update. The writer then asked Sony, "Would it not be a good idea to test changes you intend to make on your DVDs at least on your own equipment so that if you find a problem you could have the firmware update available instead of not only inconveniencing, but alienating your own customers?"
http://imdb.com/news/sb/2007-04-16/
Journal Journal: Vista Still Primed for Double Extension Exploits.
The Register lead me to this Mikko Hyppönen of F-Secure tells us that Vista's default file viewing behavior still "sucks".
