shoestring - Slashdot User

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Why Are There No Huge Leaps Forward In CPU/GPU Power? 2

Submitted by dryriver on Friday March 03, 2017 @03:12PM

dryriver writes: We all know that CPUs and GPUs and other electronic chips get a little faster with each generation produced. But one thing never seems to happen — a CPU/GPU manufacturer suddenly announcing a next generation chip that is, say, 4 — 8 times faster than the fastest model they had 2 years ago. There are moderate leaps forward all the time, but seemingly never a HUGE leap forward due to, say, someone clever in R&D discovering a much faster way to process computing instructions. Is this because huge leaps forward in computing power are technically or physically impossible/improbable? Or is nobody in R&D looking for that huge leap forward, and rather focused on delivering a moderate leap forward every 2 years? Maybe striving for that "rare huge leap forward in computing power" is simply too expensive for chip manufacturers? Precisely what is the reason that there is never a next-gen CPU or GPU that is — say — advertised as being 16 times faster than the one that came 2 years before it due to some major breakthrough in chip engineering and manufacturing?

Comment Foreseeable future.. is how long? (Score 1) 300

by shoestring on Monday January 05, 2015 @11:23PM (#48742797) Attached to: Why We're Not Going To See Sub-orbital Airliners

How far is the foreseeable future? I'm thinking not as far as people would like to think. So the answer is "perhaps".
1) Yes economics has something to do with it.. but extrapolating concord economics to a hypersonic might be stretch.. the train is cheaper than air travel.. but you don't see near as much train travel as air travel on longer routes. It depends on the economics of the system. No you won't see a hypersonic concord, but a concord can't go hypersonic anyway. When the cost per hour (time saved) exceeds cost difference of travel.. you will see a niche. That depends on the technology and the relative cost for the energy difference. If for example you have miracle fuel where energy is cheap and the mechanicals aren't too expensive, you will see it.
Or if it fills a unique niche (time delivery or areas not easily serviced by subsonic airplanes) would also push it to execution.
2) Security.. I can imagine a number of security counter arguments.. example there is no pilot so no human error, Or the defense forces have a destruct button, or that antiballistic missile technology actually works.. for one incoming craft with a transponder. I think there are ways around the security arguments. Also the sensing arguments similar.. (infrared trackers, satellite radar, transponders, etc).
3) No, hypersonic tech isn't here, so it is rather hard to say what it would look like.. what the ground time would be for air time. But I expect if they are constructing it.. and it is economic, that the concord gives the high side of maintenance time, I would expect automatic testing, adaptive structures, advanced materials and of course engine/propulsion (and or heat/aerodynamics) would be needed to push the turn around time down. Imagine no pilot, and the craft is controlled from the ground it being so smart you mostly say go from space port A to space port B, After it lands it cycles itself through a plane service/refinish line and is ready for flight very shortly.. it might be worth while, does that make it economic.. depends on all those little details on how it does it. How well do you foresee the future?

Comment Re:Bad syllogism (Score 1) 426

by shoestring on Thursday May 08, 2014 @06:59PM (#46954521) Attached to: Mathematical Model Suggests That Human Consciousness Is Noncomputable

hmm.. I would agree with a number of people. memory is generally lossy.
However the other point would be from the argument I get the implied that:
Consciousness requires lossy memory.. lossy memory is certainly easy to generate.
Though it might not be deterministic (depends on how you loose memory).

Grad Student Invents Cheap Laser Cutter 137

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @10:53PM from the frugal-cutting dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Peter Jansen, a PhD student and member of the RepRap community, has constructed a working prototype of an inexpensive table-top laser cutter built out of old CD/DVD drives as an offshoot of his efforts to design an under $200 open-source Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printer. Where traditional laser cutters use powerful, fixed-focus beams, this new technique dynamically adjusts the focal point of the laser using a reciprocating motion similar to a reciprocating saw, allowing a far less powerful and inexpensive laser diode to be used. The technique is currently limited to cutting black materials to a depth of only a few millimeters, but should still be useful and enabling for Makers and other crafters. The end-goal is to create a hybrid inexpensive 3D printer that can be easily reconfigured for 2D laser cutting, providing powerful making tools to the desktop."

Demo For NASA MMO Coming In January 84

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday December 23, 2009 @02:32PM from the hope-you're-good-at-regolith-farming dept.

News of the upcoming NASA MMO, Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond, has been scarce since its announcement in 2008, but NASA recently revealed that a "mini demo game" is coming in January that will show off some of what they've completed so far. "Moon Base Alpha utilizes actual NASA Constellation program design details developed by NASA for mankind’s return to the Moon in 2020. Timelines in the much anticipated Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond MMO will be set even farther in the exciting future (2035+), but the ability to explore our own near-future moon missions is also planned for in the forthcoming game facilitated by the NASA Learning Technologies and Innovative Partnerships Programs." They're provided a slideshow and a brief video, and one of the developers spoke about the game with Edge last month.

Intel Launches Next-Gen Atom N450 Processor 165

Posted by Soulskill on Monday December 21, 2009 @11:22AM from the should-have-called-it-an-isotope dept.

MojoKid writes "Intel has unveiled its next-generation Atom N450 processor, and a review of the new Asus Eee PC 1005PE netbook that houses it shows decent gains in performance and lower power consumption. The Atom N450 has been re-architected similar to Intel's other notebook processors in that it now has an integrated memory controller and graphics core on the CPU itself. In addition, Intel's serial DMI (Direct Media Interface) now replaces the system bus to the Southbridge IO controller. From a performance standpoint, the Atom N450 single core chip offers a nice performance gain versus previous generation Atom CPUs and it appears Intel has dual-core variants of the chip on the horizon as well."

NASA Tests Flying Airbag 118

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 09, 2009 @03:10PM from the drop-the-cloud-anchor dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA is looking to reduce the deadly impact of helicopter crashes on their pilots and passengers with what the agency calls a high-tech honeycomb airbag known as a deployable energy absorber. So in order to test out its technology NASA dropped a small helicopter from a height of 35 feet to see whether its deployable energy absorber, made up of an expandable honeycomb cushion, could handle the stress. The test crash hit the ground at about 54MPH at a 33 degree angle, what NASA called a relatively severe helicopter crash."

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