Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Intel Shrinks Supercomputer Into the Palm of Your Hand
Intel's Technical Computing Group chief Raj Hazra holds a 1 teraflop Knights Corner chip.
Back in the late 1990s, Justin Rattner got a special sense of satisfaction every time he drove by a nondescript Intel building in Beaverton, Oregon. Inside, researchers from Intel and Sandia National Labs were assembling the ASCI Red supercomputer, the first computer capable of doing one trillion calculations per second.
That’s not bad for a chip that just a few years ago seemed to be a failure. Knights Corner was built from the ashes of Intel’s failed graphical processing unit (GPU), called Larrabee.
Nvidia has been making inroads with its Tesla processors.
When it goes online in January 2013, Stampede will have 10,000 times the processing power of ASCI Red
“It’s a reminder of how fast this industry moves,” he says. “I spent a lot of my life with a lot of my co-workers designing ASCI Red … to think that I can hold that in my hand now, it’s humbling.”.
How Many Neutrinos Does It Take to Screw Up Einstein?
Results from a second experiment uphold the observation that neutrinos are moving faster than the speed of light. The OPERA collaboration, which first reported the superluminal neutrinos in September, has rerun the experiment and detected 20 new neutrinos breaking Einstein’s theoretical limit.
The findings are heartening to anyone hoping to see a major physics revolution in their lifetime. But scientists, as ever, are being cautious, and it will take an independent replication of the results by another team to even begin convincing many of them.
But a great deal of scrutiny remains.
“I can now say that the probability of the result being correct has increased from 1 in a million to one in 100 thousand,” wrote physicist Philip Gibbs on the viXra log (though he stressed that those numbers were merely illustrative and not actual calculated values).
Tommaso Dorigo, a physicist at CERN, noted on his blog that there are still other possible sources of error. For instance, the OPERA collaboration’s clock might not have a fine enough resolution to determine exactly when the neutrinos arrived. “The measurement therefore is only a ‘partial’ confirmation of the earlier result: It is consistent with it, but could be just as wrong as the other,” he wrote.
Ultimately, the only thing that would convince many in the field is if another team upholds the findings in an independent experiment. Plunkett, co-spokesperson for the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) experiment at Fermilab, says that his collaboration expects to have results checking the OPERA findings in the spring of 2012.
Image: OPERA collaboration
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Microsoft Talks Portrait Mode For Windows 8!
But there’s an wrinkle on tablet systems that has to be addressed that rarely, if ever, comes up on laptops: orientation. While very few people use their display in portrait mode, it’s extremely common to do so on tablets. Many apps and webpages work better when displayed vertically. So far, so normal for a tablet interface, but it must be just a little demoralizing to be working on something that a majority of users will never once encounter. Still, it must be done and they seem to be doing it well.
The stylized look of the Metro interface means it’s no small task to redo some apps, but they understand the usage scenarios and make things work. I like that things are optimized for thumb work in portrait mode, since it’s more likely you’ll be holding it with both hands in that situation (as opposed to it sitting in a stand or on a table, when it is more likely to be in landscape).
But I don’t really agree with this sentiment here:
Toshiba Shows Mobile LCD With 2,560 × 1,600 Resolution And 498PPI Density
Needless to say, the direct-view-type screen is the first of its kind. It has a contrast ratio of 1,000:1, displays 16.7 million colors and offers a 176° viewing angle (horizontally and vertically).
Here’s how a set of Japanese characters looks like with different PPI:
Toshiba plans to showcase the LCD next week at the FPD International 2011 exhibition in Yokohama, Japan.Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Back Up Your Data on a Mac!!!!!!!!!
Hard drives fail, it's a fact of life. When yours does, unless you have a backup, you'll find yourself facing expensive data recovery services or worse: lost data.
Ideally, your backup system should be redundant. In other words, create at least two backups on two forms of media. At the very least, you should have a clone of your hard drive handy should your primary system go south.
Check out Cheap Android Tablet tries to out-cool the Fire
- Velocity Micro Cruz T408 and T410
- Tablets & E-Book Readers
- · $200 (8-inch), $300 (10-inch)
- · Velocity Micro
The battle over the mainstream tablet market all but over, smart competitors are turning to a familiar tactic to attempt to compete with the iPad juggernaut: Slashing prices.
Velocity Micro — a brand better known for its ultra-pricey, high-end gaming rigs — is getting there. Its first tablet product, the 7-inch Cruz T301, was met with general disdain, and VM went back to the drawing board to upgrade its offerings. The Cruz T408 (8-inch) and T410 (10-inch) tablets are more grown-up.
VM also throws in a few preinstalled apps, namely Angry Birds and the full version of QuickOffice, for whatever business users might snap up a Cruz.
Apple Misses Q4 Earnings Estimates, Blames Excessive Rumors
For the first time in six years, Apple’s quarterly earnings missed analyst estimates. Apple’s explanation? iPhone sales slowed down as consumers entered a holding pattern in anticipation of Apple’s next smartphone release. In an earnings call Tuesday afternoon, Apple blamed rumors for the drop in sales, saying that product speculation “reached extreme highs.”
Apple reported profits of $28.27 billion this quarter, or $7.05 per share. Analysts predicted that Apple’s profit per share would reach $7.31, making this the first “disappointing” quarter in the company’s past 64. Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones during the quarter, notably short of predicted sales of about 20 million.
During the call, CEO Tim Cook said, “We can’t tell you with precision how many units we would have sold without the rumors, if people hadn’t been expecting a new iPhone. But I would say it’s substantial.”
Apple expects to hit new company records for both the iPhone and the iPad as the holiday season begins. With a successful iPhone 4S launch under its belt, those expectations don’t seem far-fetched.
Monday, October 3, 2011
NASA's Falling UARS Satellite Found in Remote South Pacific
NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) has finally returned home
after two decades in orbit, and it couldn’t have crash-landed in a
better place: a 500-mile-wide swath of the South Pacific. The falling
six-ton satellite--which had been expected to re-enter the atmosphere
for a couple of weeks, causing some degree of worry--plunged into a part
of the world that is virtually uninhabited, mere minutes after reports
said it might come crashing down in North America, NASA officials said
yesterday.
See our gallery of the space race's greatest falls to Earth. (List compiled by Jonathan's Space Report.) NASA has been tracking UARS for some time now as the decommissioned satellite’s orbit has been decaying. Much of the satellite was expected to burn up on re-entry, but experts estimated that roughly two-dozen pieces of the massive satellite would survive and could potentially be a threat to people or objects on the ground. Given UARS’s speed and the many variables involved (this is a decommissioned satellite, after all, so re-entry was completely uncontrolled) there was no telling exactly when or where UARS might land.
On
Saturday, when the final descent began, previous calculations had
placed the crash window across a large swath of northwestern North
America. The Internet rumor machine fired up and sightings across Canada
and the Pacific Northwest proliferated. But by that point updated U.S.
Air Force calculations placed the satellite thousands of miles away in
another hemisphere, and NASA has confirmed those calculations. UARS is
now resting peacefully in the South Pacific, somewhere southwest of
Christmas Island were small islands are scattered across a lot of water.
The difference between Seattle and Samoa? Just a few minutes. NASA
said UARS came in for its rough landing several minutes earlier than
they had projected. What they won’t say is how they know this--they
referred those questions to the USAF, which also isn’t talking. Were DoD
missile tracking assets employed in tracking UARS? The Air Force would
rather not say at this point, but one would think something like this
would be good practice.
UARS is not the first piece of man-made space hardware to come crashing back to Earth, and it won’t be the last. In late October or early November a German astronomy satellite will make its uncontrolled final plunge back to Earth. Though smaller than UARS, more pieces are expected to survive re-entry (a total of 30 are expected, possibly including sharp pieces of mirror). Let’s hope that one finds a nice stretch of uninhabited ocean as well.
See our gallery of the space race's greatest falls to Earth. (List compiled by Jonathan's Space Report.) NASA has been tracking UARS for some time now as the decommissioned satellite’s orbit has been decaying. Much of the satellite was expected to burn up on re-entry, but experts estimated that roughly two-dozen pieces of the massive satellite would survive and could potentially be a threat to people or objects on the ground. Given UARS’s speed and the many variables involved (this is a decommissioned satellite, after all, so re-entry was completely uncontrolled) there was no telling exactly when or where UARS might land.
Related Articles
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Technology, Clay Dillow, falling satellites, nasa, reentry, satellites, Space, space junk, uarsUARS is not the first piece of man-made space hardware to come crashing back to Earth, and it won’t be the last. In late October or early November a German astronomy satellite will make its uncontrolled final plunge back to Earth. Though smaller than UARS, more pieces are expected to survive re-entry (a total of 30 are expected, possibly including sharp pieces of mirror). Let’s hope that one finds a nice stretch of uninhabited ocean as well.
NASA UARS Satellite Crashes Into Earth: Location Unknown
In an update posted on NASA's website, the "decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite fell back to Earth between 11:23 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 23 and 1:09 a.m. EDT Sept. 24."
Of
Is this the Nokia SeaRay ?
The folks over at TheNokiaBlog(unofficial) have got their hands on a purported image of the Nokia SeaRay in what looks like marketing material of T-Mobile Germany. Highlights include a 3.7 inch AMOLED display and 3D navigation and Windows Phone Mango 7.5.We are not sure if SeaRay could be the final name of the device as it sounds more like a codename.The device does look attractive and looks very similar to the Nokia N9.We are not sure about the legitimacy of the image , so do take this news with a pinch of salt. Nokia is expected to announce it’s first Windows Phone device before the end of 2011.
Samsung Galaxy S II Now Available on AT&T
Fans of the Samsung Galaxy S II can now rejoice. The AT&T version of the handset is now available to users in USA.
The phone is available at a price of 549.99 US $ sim-free i.e. without any contract. For those who would prefer a contract, you can purchase the handset for 199.99 US $ on a 2 year contract.
This price however requires you to take a monthly data plan of at least 15 US $. You also get free shipping with online purchase.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Search websites Visually with Google
Now you can search websites visually with Google using Sites with Images option in the search results.
Rather than looking only text data from websites in search results you can also see thumbnail images in them, more like when you share a link in Facebook you see a small thumbnail along with it.
Here is the sample search for term Anna Hazare using Google Sites with images search option.
As you can see in above, the results look more appealing adding a visual interest to overall search experience.
Create PDF Files on Ipad
The Adobe CreatePDF app for iPad app is very simple to use, you just open any documents in CreatePDF app via "Open in CreatePDF" option and it will create PDF files on the fly. See the screenshot below :
At present the features of Adobe CreatePDF App for iPad are quite limited, you can print documents from it but cannot edit it, but this will improve in the coming versions and the app is priced at $9.99 which is a bit high for the simple functionality of printing PDF files.
Related: Remove Restrictions from PDF Files
Design Websites without writing Code
Adobe Muse is a photoshop like design tool but rather than creating images it creates fully validated html/css code. Using Adobe Muse, you can focus on designed rather than coding and can easily add images, text, videos and much more with great visual control which you don’t' have in any other tools like Dreamweaver or Sitegridner.
Watch the video below to know how easy it is to design profesinal looking websites without any coding in Adobe Muse.
At present websites created in Muse are hosted on Adobe Business Catalyst but you can easily export the files to use it on any other platform by going to the File > Export HTML feature which creates the local copy of all the files for you and you can then use any FTP program to upload it to your web host.
Muse is the code name of the product and Adobe is offering it for free during public beta period. The final version of Adobe Muse will be released in early 2012 and then you need to purchases license if you want to continue authoring website using adobe muse.
Also Adobe Muse will be available through yearly or monthly subscriptions once the final version is ready because this will allow Adobe to add new features to Muse regularly and you will have access to the most up to date functionality.
Related: Create Flash like Animations in HTML5 using Adobe Edge
Share your Facebook Updates with Selected Friends
You can also click on custom to share or hide your update with specific people, as you can see in the screenshot below.
Learn more about how this new feature in FaceBook works.
Free PHP Code Protector
This PHP Code Protector will secure your PHP source code, limits your PHP code to run only on certain domains and you can also add an expire date to your script.
The interface is really easy to user and in a minute you can protect your PHP source code.
Online CSS3 Generator31 August 2011 17:11Online CSS3 Generator can quickly generate CSS3 properties for your WebPages with live preview .
Here’s a quick Demo: Step 1:
Select the CSS3 property you wish to modify.
online-css3-generator-1
Here I have selected Box Shadow
online-css3-generator-2 Step 2:
Fill in the values for CSS3 property, you will see a live preview along with it.
online-css3-generator-3
Step 3:
Copy the generated code and paste it in your webpage.
online-css3-generator-4 Using this online CSS3 generator you can quickly generate CSS3 property for your WebPages and it also shows you the browser compatibility just above the code.
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