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Feed Is DivX working on hardware? (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Home Entertainment

We saw DivX posted looking for beta testers for "super-secret stuff" this week, but only now are we getting a slightly better idea of what's at hand. We have it from a trusted insider that DivX is at work on a connected hardware platform in the connected home devices category (PC-to-TV, see: SlingCatcher, Apple TV, Xbox 360, and countless other media streaming devices). We don't know what this hardware's actually going to be capable of, or what form it will eventually take as it makes its way into consumers' hands, but it stands to reason this is a proactive (and long overdue) approach on DivX's part to make sure more home media devices support that company's format, which is rarely found in US hardware these days.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Feed Mystery Of 5,000 Year Old Glacier Mummy Solved (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
An Italian-Swiss research team proved the cause of death of the Iceman ("Ötzi," 3300 BC) by modern X-ray-based technology. A lesion of a close-to-the-shoulder artery has been found thanks to a CT scan or multislice computed tomography, finally clarifying the world-famous glacier mummy's cause of death.

Feed Pretec shows off first miCARDs (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Storage

We know that you've been barely able to sleep since the new miCARD memory card format was announced -- who would be the first manufacturer to get these out the door, you wondered -- so you can finally rest easy with the news that Pretec is showing off its own version of the multi-functional little wafers (pictured larger than actual size, of course) at Computex in Taipei. The company's S-Diamond line already tops off at an impressive 8GB (with theoretical capacities of 2TB, but we're not holding our breath), and like the flood of other miCARDs soon to hit the market, will work with regular SD/MMC-capable devices through the use of an adapter. Pretec still isn't being forthcoming with any pricing or release info on these, but since there's no miCARD-specific hardware on the market yet anyway, we doubt that many of you care.

[Via Everything USB]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Programming

Submission + - Intel updates compilers for multicore CPUs (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Threaded
Threaded writes: With multicore CPUs becoming the norm, Intel has announced major updates to its C++ and Fortran tools. The new compilers are Intel's first that are capable of doing thread-level optimization and auto-vectorization simultaneiously in a single pass. 'On the data parallelism side, the Intel C++ Compiler and Fortran Professional Editions both sport improved auto-vectorization features that can target Intel's new SSE4 extensions. For thread-level parallelism, the compilers support the use of Intel's Thread Building Blocks for automatic thread-level optimization that takes place simultaneously with auto-vectorization... Intel is encouraging the widespread use of its Intel Threading Tools as an interface to its multicore processors. As the company raises the core count with each generation of new products, it will get harder and harder for programmers to manage the complexity associated with all of that available parallelism. So the Thread Building Blocks are Intel's attempt to insert a stable layer of abstraction between the programmer and the processor so that code scales less painfully with the number of cores.'
Biotech

Terminator Gene Ban Suggested in Canada 364

Posted by Zonk from the watch-out-for-those-expirey-dates dept.
innocent_white_lamb writes "A member of the Canadian Parliament has proposed legislation to outlaw the development and deployment of 'terminator genes' that would prevent seeds from germinating after a set span of time. This practice would require farmers to re-purchase seed every year instead of saving the seeds from last year's crop. The legislation is not expected to pass due to opposition from the Agriculture Minister. 'There is also an issue with the technology, which is based on a complicated five-gene construct. It is "inevitable" it will fail and could harm biodiversity, said Lucy Sharratt, co-ordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, which backs the ban. CFIA argues exactly the opposite, saying "the terminator approach provides an excellent method to protect against transference of novel traits to other crops and plant species."'"

Feed More on Apple's new LED-backlit MacBook Pro (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Displays


Apple left a little mystery in their MacBook Pro announcement today, and being that this marks the one of industry's first official releases of an LED-backlit laptop (sorry, Dell), we had to take out the guesswork and get confirmation on a few of our more burning questions.
  • All 15-inch MBPs now use LED-backlit displays standard; 17-inchers still use CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent)
  • Apple claims users can see a battery-life benefit of between 30 mins - 1 hour (depending on use). They did not have stats on exact efficiencies between LED and CCFL backlit displays.
  • The new LED backlight is the same brightness: 300 vs 300 nits of the previous gen's CCFL
  • The viewing angle is also the same as before
  • In other words, besides faster time from fully-off to full-brightness and an increase in battery life, Apple claims users should notice absolutely no perceivable difference between last-gen displays and the new LED-backlit ones.
Other bits
  • The MacBook is not yet using Santa Rosa
  • Even though the MBP is 0.2 pounds lighter, we're still without an internal / integrated 3G option

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Games

Establishing A Beachhead In A Crowded Genre 42

Posted by Zonk from the make-it-fun-you-ninnies dept.
simoniker writes "How do you make a game that will stand apart from countless similar titles? Harmonix designer Chris Canfield (Guitar Hero II) thinks he knows, and is talking about it in a new editorial, 'Establishing A Beachhead In A Crowded Genre'. He comments that one of the key things you can do is to 'Gut key elements of the design': "Examples of this in your genre might include: sniper rifles in an FPS, powerslides in a racing game, minigames in a Wii title, healing crates, bosses, rocket jumps, or any other big or small element. Of course, the really good features shouldn't be the only ones on the chopping block. Not only will this free up time in the schedule that would otherwise be occupied by been-done features, but it creates space for genuinely new solutions and makes producers very, very happy.""
User Journal

Journal Journal: Global Warming on Neptune

Journal by corbettw

I tried submitting this item yesterday, and, surprise!, it was rejected. (I even submitted the link to the original article, not the one to Hot Air.)
OS X

HardOCP Spends 30 Days With MacOSX 708

Posted by Zonk from the i'm-going-on-several-thousands-of-days-with-xp dept.
boyko.at.netqos writes "Hardocp.com has published "30 days with MacOSX" — with the same author from "30 days with Linux" and "30 days with Vista" doing the evaluation. Ultimately he likes the stability and security but other concerns keep him from recommending it. From the article: 'The hardware lock-in and lack of quality freeware makes owning and maintaining a Macintosh an expensive endeavor ... Mac OS X has some amazing capabilities, but you spend a lot of money. Indeed, it seems the preferred method for solving Mac computer problems is to buy your way out of it. Slow computer? Buy a new one. Want to convert a file? Buy a utility. Want to do simple tasks? Buy a commercial program. Peripherals don't work? Buy replacements.'"

Feed Pipex clings on to former customer data (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed
Ex-Pipexers discover banking details on new website

Pipex's new account management website has angered its former customers by revealing that the ISP has retained personal details, including banking information, for up to 11 months after they quit their contract.

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