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Comment Just wait a little (Score 4, Informative) 294

I've built about 9 computers in the past 4 years and have run various flavors of Linux on all of them (mostly LTS builds of Ubuntu), and I've never had compatibility problems with the motherboard. Nowadays nobody can really afford not to support Linux, so I think the important thing is to wait a little while for the chipset drivers to get integrated into the newest builds of the Linux kernel, and then go from there. I've had issues with USB 3.0 support for an older CentOS version, but overall everything works for the most part. Linux even works better out of the box than a clean install of Windows 7 sometimes, because Win7 doesn't have drivers for a lot of common NICs, whereas Linux usually did. As you mentioned, in the latest computers I've built, the UEFI did give me more problems than traditional BIOS, but they weren't show-stoppers by any means, just a google search away from a resolution.

Comment Re:Faster than the nVidia GTX TITAN for $400 less (Score 5, Interesting) 157

But NVIDIA's consumer oriented cards have very slow double precision processing, something like 1/16 the processing speed of single precision. And they even artifically hobbled the DP performance of the GTX 780, which is otherwise a slightly cut down Titan (i.e. big kepler). All of AMD's 79XX cards (and its rebranded brethren the 280X card), and the new 290X card have 1/4 DP performance. I've consistently bought AMD Radeon cards for my OpenCL applications because their $300 cards are almost as fast as NVIDIA's $1000 card, and in some cases faster, for DP calculations.
Android

How Android Phone Makers Are Missing the Marketing Boat 373

An anonymous reader writes "Why are Android device commercials showing giant robots and lightning bolts and not advertising features? Here is an interesting blog post of things Android device manufacturers could be doing to get ahead of Apple, but aren't." On a similar front, as a mostly happy Android user, I must admit envy for the jillions of accessories marketed for the iPhone, especially ones that take advantage of that Apple-only accessory port; maybe the Android Open Accessory project will help.
IOS

Booktrack Adds Music and Sound Effects To Ebooks 119

Zothecula writes "There's no doubt that a soundtrack can significantly enhance the immersiveness and emotional impact of films and TV programs. But can some audio accompaniment do the same thing for books? New York City-based startup Booktrack thinks so and has released an iOS app — with an Android app also on the way — that adds soundtracks to eBooks. As the user reads they can listen to ambient background noise relevant to the book's current setting, specific sound effects synchronized to the text as it is read, and music. But does a soundtrack 'boost the reader's imagination and engagement' as the company states, or does it just create another distraction to be overcome when delving into a book on the bus on the way home?"

Comment Re:True in all fields (Score 1) 60

Hm, small world--I'm also in metabolomics (more on the computational end than the biological side of things, what I like to call computational metabolomics). I was going to write a post similar to your own, but more generalized for those who aren't familiar with the biology behind it. The issue now is that well established informatics/statistical/computer science approaches are used as general tools in biology/astronomy/biochemistry, and there is a great need to formulate novel algorithms to take advantage of the particular idiosyncrasies of their respective data sets. Otherwise you end up losing a lot of valuable information. The word "interdisciplinary" is fairly abused in academia, but it really does apply in the case of these emerging computational/informatics approaches to classical fields of biology/astronomy/etc. We need people who are equally trained in both biology/astronomy/etc and computer science/informatics to really make the revolutionary leaps in their respective fields.

Comment Thinkpad X200 Tablet (Score 2, Informative) 176

I used a Thinkpad X61 tablet pc for note taking and lecture recording while doing my bachelors in EE, and still use it as a regular notebook and note taking now as a grad student. I recently loaded Windows 7 on a SSD and it flies. The screen's 1400x1050, so no screen real-estate complaints here. Most of the time I type my notes, but when I need to write down equations and diagrams, I flip it around and draw them, then go back to typing when I need to. It's fast enough to be a regular use noebook, especially with the new SSD. I love it. The sad thing is they don't make 12.1 inch IPS high res screens anymore, as the latest incarnation, the X200 tablet, uses a 1280x800 screen that's far inferior. Still I think it's worth a look.

Comment Re:amateur students? (Score 1) 58

You hit the nail right on the head. Incidentally, I work at the Lockheed site that's funding this research, and I also went to Cornell. Let me shed some light on this. These "students" are not really students per se, and are employees of Lockheed Martin who are undergoing their ELDP (Engineering Leadership Development Program). It is a three year program in which you work full time for Lockheed while earning your MEng at Cornell (not a bad deal unless you consider the fact that it only takes 1 year to earn the same degree full time, and, honestly, the surrounding area is depressing as hell, plus you get worked to the bone for 3 years). So in fact, these graduate students are professional Lockheed Martin engineers already.
Sci-Fi

Battlestar Galactica Gets Spinoff Prequel Series 297

It was recently announced that sci-fi remake series Battlestar Galactica is getting a whole new spinoff prequel series called "Caprica." Signed on for twenty hours worth of finished product, including a two-hour pilot, the new series is to be set 50 years prior to Battlestar Galactica, and will focus on two rival families, the Graystones and the Adamas. "Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe blending action with corporate conspiracy and sexual politics. 'Caprica' will deliver all of the passion, intrigue, political backbiting and family conflict in television's first science fiction family saga."

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