Fwd: Japan Taxi

http://gizmodo.com/the-little-known-robot-taxi-that-could-outrun-google-an-1713972578?google_editors_picks=true

 

Re: HPC

A machine at China's National University of Defense Technology in Guangzhou, called Tianhe-2 (Milky Way-2) is thought to currently be the fastest supercomputer in existence — variously reported as doing either 34 or 55 petaflops (1 petaflop is equivalent to 1 quadrillion floating-point operations per second).

The executive order, issued by Obama on Wednesday, would set up a body known as the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) to research and build what is hoped to become the first machine to hit 1 exaflop, equivalent to 1,000 petaflops…

But Industry Tap notes that such a machine would require 200 megawatts of power (compared with 3 megawatts for the current-generation machines). That means "a power plant would be required to run it."

​

​<Insert joke about global warming here.>

The president's executive order is just the latest salvo in something of an international supercomputer arms race that has broken out in recent years

​...

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/30/427727355/obama-orders-development-of-supercomputer-to-rival-chinas-milky-way

The question on my mind is why do they need it?  I wonder if the Chinese machine would be sentient with the right software running on it?​

 

​

A 100-petaflop machine is being developed in the U.S. and is expected to be ready by 2017

​...​

​But can I play Candy Crush on it?​

Bravo, Microsoft

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/07/windows_10_review_microsoft_s_new_os_is_surprisingly_futuristic.html

Fwd: Xpoint

'Much of that possibility hinges on the actual performance of 3D XPoint. Intel and Micron didn't get into specifics beyond the "1,000X" faster switching speed, but they did say 3D XPoint would offer "10X" the performance of an NVMe PCIe device. You don't have to look far to find that NVMe PCIe device either: The only one I know of today is Intel's excellent 750 series SSD, which hits in excess of 2.5GB of read speed on some loads. If that is the drive both companies are using as a reference, it's pretty easy to see that they expect 3D XPoint drives/devices to reach beyond 20GBps of read and write speed.

For reference, a typical PC with a Haswell or Broadwell CPU and dual-channel DDR3 offers around 17GB+ of memory bandwidth, while lower-end machines survive on 9GBps or less. Higher-end systems reach into the 55GBps range, while graphics card memory far outstrips those.'

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2953816/storage/what-3d-xpoint-says-about-the-pc-of-the-future.html

The Knack

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xto41p_dilbert-the-knack_fun

Fwd: NRAM

'A new low-power, high-speed memory technology on the horizon could replace solid-state drives, hard drives and DRAM in PCs, and bring higher levels of storage capacity to mobile devices and wearables.

The new memory from Nantero, called NRAM (nonvolatile RAM), is based on carbon nanotubes. The memory is hundreds of times faster than flash storage used in mobile devices and SSDs, claimed Greg Schmergel, CEO of the company.

Carbon nanotubes are cylinders made out of carbon atoms, with a diameter of one to two nanometers. The nanotubes are known to be stronger than steel, and better conductors of electricity than other known materials used in chips, making the technology an excellent candidate for storage and memory.

Nantero's NRAM operates at the speed of DRAM and is nonvolatile, meaning it can store data. The small size of carbon nanotubes allows more data to be crammed into tighter spaces, and the storage chips will consume significantly less power than flash storage and DRAM. That could bring more storage and longer battery life to laptops and mobile devices…

Nantero, which was formed in 2001, has spent 14 years refining carbon nanotubes, which has been researched for decades by universities, the U.S. government and companies like IBM and Intel. Many top chip and device makers have shown interest in NRAM, which is now ready for manufacturing, Schmergel said…

Nantero won't make the NRAM, but license the technology to device makers and manufacturers. The first NRAM chips will appear as DRAM-compatible modules that can be plugged directly into memory slots on motherboards.

"We are designing chips that are DDR3 and DDR4 compatible, you just put in carbon-nanotube memory," Schmergel said.

Devices makers will be able to put carbon-nanotube storage on top of NAND flash circuitry so it fits in mobile devices and PCs. The technology will be compatible with storage, memory systems and protocols that exist today, Schmergel said.

The NRAM chips should arrive in the next few years, Schmergel said, adding that chip and device makers are designing the memory into new products. '

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2930152/nanteros-carbonnanotube-memory-could-replace-ssds-and-dram.html

Fwd: USB-C

'It's only taken thirty years, but we'll soon have one plug that, on paper, does it all: power, video and all kinds of peripherals. Cue headlines about "one cable to rule them all". And it's reversible!

However, "soon" isn't "now". It's going to be a confusing and expensive journey before the promises are fulfilled.

The last piece in the jigsaw fell into place yesterday at Computex, and cemented the USB-C socket as the winner. Intel announced that the third generation of Thunderbolt will support USB-C plugs.

So only one kind of plug is needed to support power, video and audio, and high-throughput data peripherals such as disk drives.

But that doesn't mean one cable will support everything: there will be several different kinds of USB-C supporting different capabilities, ensuring confusion continues for some time to come.

The reason is obvious to the tech-savvy, but less so for the typical user who has wandered into PC World on a Saturday morning. The plugs may be the same, but the capabilities are defined by the gadgets at each end of it.

Since the expense is defined by the capabilities of the host controller, it all depends on how much the market-conscious manufacturer wanted to spend.

Most people who'll see a USB-C socket won't be getting Thunderbolt 3 performance, as the Thunderbolt hardware is a luxury-priced item that will continue to be in high-performance hardware, rather than the value mass-market.

So the industry is moving to "one plug", but retains lots of different standards. At least in the bad old days, you knew you couldn't plug your projector monitor into the modem port and expect it to work. It wouldn't fit.'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/03/one_usb_plug_to_rule_them_all_no_wait/

Fwd: HoloLens

http://gizmodo.com/windows-10-with-holograms-looks-freaking-awesome-1701003075

The best HDMI operating system sticks | ZDNet

http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-best-hdmi-operating-system-sticks/

Fwd: malware

'Microsoft and Interpol have teamed up to derail a malware infection that compromised more than 770,000 Windows PCs worldwide.

Simda is a "pay-per-install" software nasty: fraudsters pay miscreants some sum of money for every 1,000 or so machines they compromise. The hackers effectively earn cash by selling access to the infected computers, renting out the botnet real-estate to other crooks.

The Simda malware, once installed and has set itself up to run after every system startup, kills off antivirus software, logs keystrokes made by the user so it can steal passwords and other sensitive information, downloads and executes banking Trojans and other malicious programs, upload copies of the user's files, and so on.

It opens a backdoor to a command-and-control server, so it can receive orders from the brains behind the malware, and send back any stolen data.

The botnet was seeded by compromising legitimate websites, and hijacking them to redirect visitors to sites hosting exploit kits – which are webpages booby-trapped with code that exploits software vulnerabilities to install the malware.

The most heavily infected countries were the US, UK, Russia, Canada and Turkey, although Simda spreads its tentacles worldwide. The vast majority of victims were located in the US, where there were more than 90,000 new infections since the start of 2015 alone.

In a series of raids last Thursday, 10 command-and-control servers were physically seized in the Netherlands, with additional servers taken down in the US, Russia, Luxembourg and Poland. The operation involved officers from the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), the FBI in the US, and the Russian Ministry of the Interior's Cybercrime Department "K" supported by the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Moscow.

Security firms Trend Micro and Kaspersky Lab provided the cops the technical knowhow to locate the systems. The crackdown effectively decapitated the botnet by taking away the servers that sent infected PCs their instructions and received swiped passwords and other data.

Windows PCs keelhauled into the botnet remain compromised, hence the need for a cleanup operation. In order to help victims disinfect their PCs, Kaspersky Lab has created a website that will check your public IP address against a database of machines known to be infiltrated by Simda. This database was lifted from the command and control servers during the takedown raids.'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/13/simda_botnet_takedown/

Agile

http://www.quora.com/?digest_story=10749087

Fwd: enlighten

'Enlighten 3 offers a unique method of implementing advanceddynamic lighting inside of digital content, which not only improves the image visually as compared to the older Enlighten technology, but also offers significant performance gains. "Lighting is the most critical element in producing computer graphics that reflect the realism of the natural world," said Masaki Kawase, lead software engineer, YEBIS, Silicon Studio. "Post processing is an integral part of this. With the inclusion of YEBIS 3 Post Processing Effects Middleware is Forge, artists will more easily be able to realize their creative vision."

By using Enlighten, game developers can create realistic light effects. Although this isn't entirely new, many games today still feature ambient lighting, seemingly coming from no source; or if a source is shown, the light often does not actually emit from it.'

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/geomerics-enlighten-3-dynamic-lighting,28673.html

 

Fwd: Neutrality

'While Mr. Obama's position stunned officials at the FCC, he wanted to push for strong rules ensuring net neutrality right after his 2008 election over Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). The FCC's chairman at the time, Julius Genachowski, supported Mr. Obama and aimed to write strong rules preventing broadband providers from making some websites work faster than others for fees…

​​

​...

Mr. Obama made them clear in a 1,062-word statement and two-minute video. He told the FCC to regulate mobile and fixed broadband providers more strictly and enact strong rules to prevent those providers from altering download speeds for specific websites or services.

​..​

That essentially killed the compromise proposed by Mr. Wheeler, leaving him no choice but to follow the path outlined by the president.'

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-white-house-thwarted-fcc-chief-on-internet-rules-1423097522

​I pay my Internet Service Provider for high speed access, but that ISP has been charging Netflix to provide that same access. 

 The only issue is whether Netflix can pay for preferential treatment?  I would think that technology would make this unnecessary, because I am now getting at least 60 megabits per second downloads, but I am not sure of the issues involved.  Perhaps

​all that ​

Netflix

​streaming ​

causes bottlenecks

​ on the Internet​

?

Although I don't know this for certain, it would seem that one service paying ​preferential treatment would negatively impact other services.

Fwd: Microsoft VR

'Unlike other head-mounted computing systems in the works, Microsoft's new glasses-based virtual reality device, HoloLens, doesn't need to be connected to a phone or computer. "We've unlocked the screen," one developer said during the presentation at its Windows 10 event this afternoon.

Similar to existing Kinect technology on the Xbox, HoloLens allows wearers to interact with computer programs and games in three dimensions, using their hands and speaking commands.

During the presentation, a developer walked onstage wearing HoloLens, and used her finger and a 3D-modeling program called Holo Studio to build a quadcopter drone before the audience, which could then be sent to a 3D printer.

Microsoft also showed a video of a NASA scientist sitting at a computer wearing HoloLens glasses, then stepping away from the desk into an immersive hologram of the surface of Mars. It's not yet Star Trek's Holodeck (video), but it's not so far off.'

 

http://qz.com/330837/microsoft-wants-us-all-to-play-with-holograms/

 

Fwd: Dell

'While You Weren't Looking, Dell Made Android Tablets Interesting Again

 

First off—just to get this out of the way—it's the thinnest tablet the world has ever produced. At just 6mm thick, the badass gunmetal-grey aluminum chassis handily takes the crown from Sony's 6.4mm thick Xperia Z2 slate. See how my 10.4mm Moto X looks ridiculously fat by comparison? The Dell is thin, no joke.

 

Second, this slate also comes with arguably the world's best tablet screen: a gorgeous 8.4-inch, 2560 x 1600 OLED panel with colors to die for. 

http://gizmodo.com/while-you-werent-looking-dell-announced-the-worlds-mos-1632621335

 

Fwd: The Machine

'The Machine's design includes other novel features such as optical fiber instead of copper wiring for moving data around. HP's simulations suggest that a server built to The Machine's blueprint could be six times more powerful than an equivalent conventional design, while using just 1.25 percent of the energy and being around 10 percent the size.'

 

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/533066/hp-will-release-a-revolutionary-new-operating-system-in-2015/

How did the NSA hack our emails?

How did the NSA hack our emails?

Top scientists react to the game "2048"

One of my favorite games ...

Top scientists react to the game "2048"

Average US internet speeds -- how does your state compare?

http://betanews.com/2014/08/11/average-us-internet-speeds-how-does-your-state-compare/

 

… my Internet speed in Utah is around 25 Mbs.  However, the actual speed can range from about 13 to 20.

The Trick That Makes Google's Self-Driving Cars Work

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/all-the-world-a-track-the-trick-that-makes-googles-self-driving-cars-work/370871/?google_editors_picks=true

Fwd: automation using computer software

automation

 

 

Netflix Said to Agree to Pay Comcast for Faster Web Access

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-23/netflix-said-to-agree-to-pay-comcast-for-faster-broadband-access.html

 

… something seems very wrong about this, like the cable companies are blackmailing content providers to provide the bandwidth that the customers have already paid for.  So much for “Unlimited Internet Access.”

Apple brilliantly waxes poetic in new iPad Air ad

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57617098-71/apple-brilliantly-waxes-poetic-in-new-ipad-air-ad/

Apple and Samsung Could Be Dethroned by Asus' Radical New Device (AAPL, GOOG, SSNLF)

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/12/15/apple-and-samsung-could-be-dethroned-by-asus-radic.aspx#.UrSLjni9LCQ

Is Rabbit TV a scam? We go hands on to give you the answer

Saw this for sale at Walmart...

http://m.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/rabbit-tv-real-deal-or-swift-swindle/

Doug Kass: This could be trouble for Apple

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/talking-numbers/doug-kass-could-trouble-apple-225638686.html

 

 

This woman essentially invented computer programming languages.

The Google doodle honors the birthday of Grace Hopper.

 

Although COBOL is tedious compared to modern computer languages, she got the ball rolling by inventing the first computer languages.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

 

5 Things Tim Cook Should Say (but Probably Won't)

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/5-things-tim-cook-probably-won-t-170523614.html

I am intrigued

http://www.thetileapp.com/?utm_source=AdWords&utm_medium=CPC

Take My Wi-Fi, Please – ReadWrite

http://readwrite.com/2013/07/12/take-my-wi-fi-please#awesm=~obIssQFhiYhC3F

- I have never password protected my wi-fi. The range is so poor that
at best only my nearest neighbors could connect, and I am not even
sure if that is possible. It would not bother me if they did connect.