Sunday, December 23, 2018
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Thursday, December 6, 2018
iPhone 6s+ processor speed
Way back when I had an iPhone 4, I tried running the chess program Stockfish on it in analysis mode, and it was examining around 250,000 nodes per second, which at the time seemed to me to be pretty good for a handheld device. This was not as good as my desktop, but still a good substitute for it. Two years later when I got the iPhone 5, the speed had improved to around half a million nodes per second. Two years after that with iPhone 6+ I was impressed to reach a million nodes per second. However, I have just upgraded to the iPhone 6s+, which is a three year old phone, and the same Stockfish program on this phone is examining an amazing two million nodes per second.
Compare this to my late 2009 iMac with a quad core 2.8 ghz core-i7 processor. For its day it was a top of the line desktop computer, but today it is about average. Using one core, the Stockfish program examines around 450,000 nodes per second. If I use all 4 cores then the program sees about 1.5 million nodes per second. The iPhone 6s+ only has two cores, but it is outperforming my desktop computer by a good margin.
Since the iPhone 6s+ came out, Apple has released the iPhones 7, 8, 10, and 10s, all of which are faster than the previous generation. (The 8 and 10 are part of the same generation.) The 10s is only slightly faster than the 10, because we are reaching a point where the laws of physics won't allow them to make the circuits smaller, therefor faster. I personally wanted an iPhone 10 or an iPhone 8, because I knew that the processor on those phones kicked ass, but I didn't want to spend a fortune for a phone, so I settled for the good enough iPhone 6s+, which I got on a Black Friday sale for $300.
Speaking of kicking ass, Apple has been doing that with their processor development. No other mobile phone manufacturer comes close. Apple is using a 7 nanometer process with their latest phones and tablets. Compare that to Intel, the world's largest microprocessor manufacturer, who recently backed off of their 10 nanometer chips because of problems and instead released 14 nanometer chips. AMD, who is already kicking Intel's butt, is scheduled to release 7 nanometer chips early next year, with a whole new line of processors that undercut Intel on price.
This is an exciting time because of how much progress has been made in computer processing power. It is also impressive how much power Apple has been able to put in mobile devices. The latest iPad Pro's, which use the same processors as their latest phones, outperform many desktop computers.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
AT&T "You Will" Commercials (high quality)
These commercials go back to 1993, and everything they predicted has come true, although the company that brought it to you might be Apple, among others.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Friday, November 9, 2018
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 vs iPad Pro 11 Inch - Full Comparison
The benchmark on the iPad Pro blows my desktop out of the water.
Flash drives
Around 14 years ago 1GB flash drives were at least $90, and I felt especially privileged when my company gave me one. At the time that seemed like a lot of storage.
Now you can't even buy them. I just saw 128GB for $30.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Sunday, October 14, 2018
The future
Beginning around 5 billion years from now, the Sun will expand, becoming a swollen star called a red giant. By 7.5 billion years in the future, its surface will be past where the Earth's orbit is now, consuming the Earth.
In 500 million years the tectonic plate movement and geological activity on planet Earth will have stopped, causing it to have a similar fate to Mars. The planet will be dry, lifeless and very cold.
Within half a million years it is extremely likely that the Yellowstone supervolcano will erupt, wiping out life in several nearby states and causing an environmental catastrophe worldwide. However, we are already due for an eruption, and the underground volcano has shown increased activity over the last 30 years. This is a disaster of enormous scale waiting to happen; we just don't know when it will happen. Fortunately people are looking for ways to relieve some of the pressure that is building up beneath the National Park.
Within 100 years we will be almost completely out of fossil fuels, so we will have to rely on other energy sources. The last remaining fossil fuel will be coal, which is estimated to be gone by the year 2150.
Within 50 years machine intelligence will surpass that of all humans combined. This event has been dubbed "the singularity", and it will forever change our fate. From that moment on machines will make most of the technological advances, and possibly at an ever accelerating rate. Over time humans will become more integrated with technology, and we will no longer be purely biological.
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Friday, September 28, 2018
Cheap computers
The golden era of video games and 8 bit home computers was in the 1980's. As a side note, it was also the golden era of chess playing computers. Around 1995 the shift started moving toward PC compatible computers, but rather slowly at first, because they were still very expensive. I got my first PC compatible around that time, but at enormous cost. Prior to that I had used 8 bit computers and one 16 bit Atari ST. Even worse, around 1990 I was still using a "dumb terminal" with the slowest modem in the world (maybe 150 baud) to connect to my workplace.
The kind of computer speeds we were talking about in the 8 bit era were typically around 1 megahertz, with some systems going up to 4 MHZ. In 1995, my first PC compatible computer ran at 16 MHZ, and when I would later upgrade it to 32 MHZ I thought it was a miracle
Compare that to today, where you can buy various versions of the Raspberry PI for $10 to $35. Each of these is a full computer, but you also have to buy some cables and accessories to make them work. These computers cost next to nothing, but depending upon the model run 1 to 4 cores (processors) at 1 to 2 *Gigahertz.*
I am seeing a ton of video game products that run classic video games from the 1980's and early 90's. These are hot consumer items right now. They use processors similar to the Raspberry PI, but usually just one core running at one gigahertz, which makes them very cheap, but that is all it takes. Likewise, these types of processors are turning up in all sorts of devices, like refrigerators with LCD displays.
We live in an interesting era where moderately powerful computing devices can made really cheaply. Of course, for your home computer you are going to want to spend more money to get something more powerful.
I also find it interesting that many high end smartphones rival desktop computers in terms of computing power. The Apple A11 chip, from last year's iPhone, benchmarks better than my 2009 $2,000 core-i7 iMac. Amazing.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Apple says that they charge so much because they make the best phone.
Apple wants to make the best so that they can have the most margin. It probably costs around $350 to make this phone, and maybe $400 for the maxed out models, but Apple screws the customer on price anyway. They could charge $750 to $800 for any of these phones and be doing well.
This is deliberate. Apple will continue to do this only as long as people are willing to throw their money away. If nobody bought the XS Max, with the ironic name, Apple would be forced to offer discounts and be more reasonable in their pricing structure.
I am still happy with my iPhone 6+, but these prices are so insane that I will not buy the latest models. I could be just as happy with a cheaper 1 to 2 year or model, or a different brand. There are $500 phones that people can be just as happy with.
A dollar per day will not pay for this phone in two years. Maybe three years, but some models would take four years.
Friday, September 21, 2018
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Friday, September 14, 2018
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
iPhone prices
I guess all those rumors that Apple was going to cut prices turned out not to be true. Anybody want to spend $1300 on a smartphone?
Every time I post an ad to Craigslist, I immediately get text messages from scammers. It is almost instantaneous, which means that they are using bots.
However, their latest pitch is rather clever. They claim that they want to verify that I am not a scammer, so therefore they are going to send me a verification code, which I should send back to them. This makes very little sense if you think about it, but what they are trying to do is connect to my email account and use the the forgot password feature to send a passcode to my phone. Then if I send them the code they get access to my email. How this does them any good I'm not entirely sure about, but I suppose they could use the account to spam or propagate other scams.
Just based on the craigslist ad, I'm not sure how they know what my email account is.
However, their latest pitch is rather clever. They claim that they want to verify that I am not a scammer, so therefore they are going to send me a verification code, which I should send back to them. This makes very little sense if you think about it, but what they are trying to do is connect to my email account and use the the forgot password feature to send a passcode to my phone. Then if I send them the code they get access to my email. How this does them any good I'm not entirely sure about, but I suppose they could use the account to spam or propagate other scams.
Just based on the craigslist ad, I'm not sure how they know what my email account is.
Friday, September 7, 2018
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Battery advancement
Chemists have successfully resolved two of the most challenging issues surrounding lithium-oxygen batteries, and in the process created a working battery with near 100 per cent coulombic efficiency. The new work demonstrates that four-electron conversion for lithium-oxygen electrochemistry is highly reversible. The team is the first to achieve four-electron conversion, which doubles the electron storage of lithium-oxygen, also known as lithium-air, batteries
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Friday, August 3, 2018
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Thursday, July 5, 2018
I went to China Just to try this.
I can think of military applications for this, and it probably has already been done. Imagine tracking an incoming object, such as a missile, and targeting it within 10 milliseconds.
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Fwd: Using wireless signals to set humans through walls
MIT has given a computer x-ray vision, but it didn't need x-rays to do it. The system, known as RF-Pose, uses a neural network and radio signals to track people through an environment and generate wireframe models in real time. It doesn't even need to have a direct line of sight to know how someone is walking, sitting, or waving their arms on the other side of a wall.
APPLE IPHONE 2018'S CHIPS HIT PRODUCTION LINES, TO BE BUILT ON 7 NM PROCESS BY TSMC
The A11 processor on the iPhone 8/10 is more powerful than my desktop computer, but Apple isn't stopping there.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Comparing AMD CPU's (corrected)
Much attention has been made in the press over the new AMD Threadripper CPU. With 16 cores and 32 threads, this thing is a monster. But it debuted at $1,000 just for the CPU, and I saw that some computer builds were costing like $4,000. It seems that buying the most expensive CPU also means that the parts to make it work are also just as pricey.
But if we look at its benchmark, https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+Threadripper+1950X&id=3058, compared with the next lower chip, which has half as many cores and less than half the cost, https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+7+2700X&id=3238, there is not enough difference between them that would justify the extra cost.
When I bought my Core-i7 iMac in 2010 it was close to top of the line, https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-860+%40+2.80GHz&id=6, but now it is more like average at best. After eight years I am wanting more power. I am also wanting more graphics power, because what little graphics power that came with my late 2009 iMac is pretty terrible, and these all-in-one computers are not upgradable.
If someone wants to do gaming on budget, there are videos on youtube telling you how to build a gaming PC for around $500, using the Ryzen 3 2200G https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+3+2200G&id=3186. This and the 2400G have gotten much attention because they are 'APU's', that have some limited graphics capability built into the processor. Because of the low cost of the 2200G, it has gotten the most attention, but the 2400G seems like a big step up at just $70 more in cost. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+5+2400G&id=3183 Since the processor is only a small part of the overall cost, it seems to me like it would be worth it to spend marginally more to get a more powerful system.
Likewise AMD has some older slightly slower processors that are lower in cost, but considered a good value. However, I don't see the value in settling for slightly less power to just save a few bucks on the processor.
If you want more power than what the 2200G and 2400g can deliver, then you have to give up the built in graphics and buy a seperate video card, for which you can expect to spend $300 to $500, or more, just for the card. That is the problem. People are claiming that graphics cards are coming down in price, but we are not really seeing it yet. Graphics cards have been very expensive because people have been buying them for cryptocurrency mining.
So I would like to build a Ryzen APU based computer for relatively low cost. My current computer occasionally shuts down for no apparent reason, but after I cleaned the dusty vents it seems to be doing better. I figure that eventually I will have to repair it or replace it. I would rather replace it.
According to AMD, they are coming out with new APU's in both 2019 and 2020. Newer probably means more power, which is what I want. I should try to hold out until at least 2019 to see what they come out with.
I want to do much more with a computer than just play games, but if that is all you want then the Microsoft XBox One X is graphically pretty powerful for its $500 price tag. An equivalent computer might cost $1,000. The XBOX One X also uses a custom AMD APU, but you can't buy that processor; It is only available on the XBOX One X.
Comparing AMD CPU's
Much attention has been made in the press over the new AMD Threadripper CPU. With 16 cores and 32 threads, this thing is a monster. But it debuted at $1,000 just for the CPU, and I saw that some computer builds were costing like $4,000 to $5,000. It seems that buying the most expensive CPU also means that the parts to make it work are also just as pricey.
But if we look at its benchmark, https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+Threadripper+1950X&id=3058, compared with the next lower chip, which has half as many cores and costs half as much or less, https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+7+2700X&id=3238, there is not enough difference between them that would justify the extra cost.
When I bought my Core-i7 iMac in 2010 it was pretty much top of the line, https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-860+%40+2.80GHz&id=6, but now it is more like aveage at best. After eight years I am wanting more power. I am also wanting more graphics power, because what little graphics power that came with my late 2009 iMac is pretty terrible, and these all-in-one computers are not upgradable.
If someone wants gaming on budget, there are videos on youtube telling you have to build a gaming PC for around $500, using the Ryzen 3 2200G https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+3+2200G&id=3186. This and the 2400G have gotten much attention because they are 'APU's', that have some limited graphics capability built into the processor. Because of the low cost of the 2200G, it has gotten the most attention, but the 2400G seems like a big step up at just $70 more in cost. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+5+2400G&id=3183 Since the processor is only a small part of the overall cost, it seems to me like it would be worth it to spend marginally more to get a more powerful system.
Likewise AMD has some older slightly slower processors that are lower in cost but considered a good value. However, I don't see the value in settling for slightly less power to just save a few bucks on the processor.
If you want more power than what the 2200G and 2400g can deliver, then you have to give up the built in graphics and buy a seperate video card, for which you can expect to spend $300 to $500 just for the card. That is the problem. People are claiming that graphics cards are coming down in prices, but we are not really seeing it yet. Graphics cards have been very expensive because people have been buying them for cryptocurrency mining.
I would like to build a Ryzen APU computer for relatively low cost. My current computer occasionally shut downs for no apparent reason, but after I cleaned the dusty vents it seems to be doing better. I figure that eventually I will have to repair it or replace it. I would rather replace it.
According to AMD, they are coming out with new APU's in both 2019 and 2020. Newer probably means more power, which is what I want. I should try to hold out until at least 2019 to see what they come out with.
I want to do much more with a computer than just play games, but if that is all you want then the Microsoft XBox One X is graphically pretty powerful for its $500 price tag. An equivalent computer might cost $800. The XBOX One X also uses an AMD APU, but you can't buy that processor. It is only available on the XBOX One X.
Monday, June 18, 2018
Miniature computer.
I am fascinated by small computers, although this one doesn't seem very practical.
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Friday, May 25, 2018
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Apple Is Greedier Than Ever, And It Will Be Their Downfall
Personally I think that the Iphone 8 and 10 are terrific phones, but way too expensive. I have seen competitive phones in the $500 to $700 range. There are even cheaper phones that are feature rich.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Coffey <john2001plus@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 20, 2018 at 11:07 AM
Subject: Let's Keep It Real, Apple Products Are Garbage!
To:
From: John Coffey <john2001plus@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 20, 2018 at 11:07 AM
Subject: Let's Keep It Real, Apple Products Are Garbage!
To:
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Intelligence Creep
I think that we are in an era of "Intelligence Creep", where devices are rapidly getting smarter. There is currently a competitive market to make more intelligent devices. Thirty years ago this was science fiction of the highest order.
Friday, May 11, 2018
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Threadripper processor
If you are willing to spend a thousand dollars for just a microprocessor, AMD is kicking Intel's butt.
Although that is expensive, when you consider that I spent $2,000 for my iMac in March 2010, it doesn't seem so bad.
This $500 to $600 mini computer looks so straightforward to build that maybe it would be a fun project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFyhn6seoow
However, I am sure that after the cost of Windows 10 you would be looking at around $700 total.
I would love to have a gaming PC, but don't want to spend a fortune on it.
Friday, May 4, 2018
Monday, April 30, 2018
iMac
My 2009 iMac shut down for no reason. It rebooted okay. If I had to guess I would say it is a problem with the power supply, which I had to replace once before. Chances are this will get worse over time until I do something about it.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
Best wishes,
John Coffey
Friday, April 27, 2018
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Sunday, April 8, 2018
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Friday, March 23, 2018
Friday, March 9, 2018
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Monday, March 5, 2018
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Printer
I struggled to print color chess diagrams using a black and white ink cartridge on my HP F2100 printer. I had done this successfully using the same type of printer belonging to someone else. However, when I tried to print the chess diagrams, the black and white squares came out blank. So I fooled around with the print settings and nothing seemed to help. However, I kept fooling with the print settings and it suddenly worked correctly. I honestly don't know what I did different to make it work.
--
Monday, February 12, 2018
iPhone battery replacement.
I'm blown away by what happened today.
I have been trying to make my 64GB iPhone 6+ that I purchased 40 months ago last as long as possible. I'm past the point where I would buy a new phone every two years, especially since modern phones are good enough that the changes from one year to the next are not as revolutionary as they used to be.
Apple received some bad press when it was revealed that they were slowing down older iPhones with worn out batteries to help preserve the battery life. Because of the bad press, Apple put their $79 battery replacement service on sale for $29. I had an appointment to get the battery replaced a month ago, but when I showed up for my appointment they didn't have any batteries available. So I waited a month to be notified that the battery had arrived and I went in today to have the service done.
I dropped off the phone at the Apple store and they told me that the repair would take an hour. So I got some lunch at the mall and wandered around to pass the time.
At this point a thought creeped into my mind, where I wondered what would happen if the repair didn't work? After all, my phone is 40 months old, so maybe something would go wrong and the phone would not work with the new battery? This might seem like an unnecessary worry, except this is actually what happened. They informed me that my iPhone did not power on with the new battery installed.
They immediately informed me that they were giving me a new 64GB iPhone 6+, and still only charging my $29. I was shocked by this, and asked if the phone was refurbished, but they told me, no, it was a new phone. So I walked into an Apple store with $29 and a 40 month old phone, and walked out with a brand new phone of the same type.
I'm impressed.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Stockfish limitation on sacrifices
In this position Stockfish completely fails to see 29... Rc1, until I make the move on the board and then take back the move. Then it has it in its hashtable and it instantly recognizes it as the best move leading to mate in 9 or 10 moves.
This is an interesting limitation on the chess program's ability to see sacrifices. However, after about a minute and 50 seconds, at a depth of 29 ply, Stockfish figures out that Rc1 is the best move. For me, the move is pretty intuitive.
If I were writing a chess program, I would have it greatly reduce its search depth on sacrificial moves, because 99% of the time they are going to be wrong. Something like 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Bxf7+ is just a bad move, and the program could waste an enormous amount of time looking at the possibilities that follow.
Friday, January 26, 2018
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